those who lay in Basque road and did nothing, as to those who went through the boom in the fireships. Gambier received no other recognition. Cochrane, however, had been promptly created a K.B. He is the only officer, except Jervis, who, as a Post-Captain, ever attained to that high distinction.2 Numerous other subordinate officers who had specially distinguished themselves received a step in rank.

The affair of Aix road led to courts-martial in France as well as in England. Captain Clément de La Roncière, of the Tonnerre, was acquitted on a charge of misconduct; but Captain Charles Nicolas Lacaille, of the Tourville, was cashiered, deprived of his cross of the Legion of Honour, and imprisoned for two years. Captain Guillaume Marcellin Proteau, of the Indienne, was condemned to three months' confinement; and Captain Jean Baptiste Lafon, of the Calcutta, was sentenced to be shot, and was duly executed on September 9th.3 It may be that these officers were to blame; but it should be recollected that when a squadron of sea-going ships does as M. Allemand's command did, and, as it were, entrenches itself to await attack behind a boom in a practically open roadstead, it invites disaster. If, moreover, M. Willaumez had been less cautious than he was, and had fought Commodore Beresford in February, Cochrane might have been deprived of the opportunity which he used so well in April. A great naval commander never loses an occasion to attack when the conditions are favourable to him; and, if he be driven to bay, he takes care to assume the offensive.

The story of the defence of Anholt will have to be told in the next chapter among the events of the year 1811. It is, therefore, well to say here that in May, 1809, Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez, Commander-in-Chief in the Baltic, detached the Standard, 64, Captain Aiskew Paffard Hollis, with a frigate, three sloops and a brig, to reduce that Danish island with a view to utilising the lighthouse which stood upon it, and which, prior to the war, had been of great assistance to vessels navigating the Kattegat. On May 18th, the island was seized by a party of seamen and Royal Marines under Captain William Selby, of the Owen Glendower, 36, and Captain Edward Nicolls, R.M., after a brief resistance, in which one Marine was killed and two were wounded.

1 April 26th, 1809.

2 Though Nelson was awarded the K.B. while he was still serving as a Commodore, but while he was actually of flag-rank.

3 Chevalier, 241.

1809.]

THE WALCHEREN EXPEDITION.

271

The naval preparations of France in the West Schelde have already been spoken of more than once. Antwerp was found to be insufficient as a port and arsenal for the fleet which was in time. collected there; and Napoleon, in consequence, induced his brother, Louis, King of Holland, to make over to him the Dutch port of Flushing, on the Isle of Walcheren. By the summer of 1809, there were ready for sea, near the mouth of the river, ten 74-gun ships 1 under Rear-Admiral Missiessy; and on the stocks at Antwerp and Flushing there were six 80's and four 74's, besides smaller craft. Missiessy waited only for the British blockading force to give him an opportunity to quit the river and sail to the southward.

2

3

The Admiralty had more than once experienced the advantages resulting from a strong offensive naval policy; and in May, 1809, it was determined, if possible, to seize the mouth of the Schelde, and to take or destroy the French fleet there ere it could leave its ports. The project, which should have been kept secret, was well advertised by the public press; and, as large British military forces were already serving in Spain and Portugal, it was not easy to quickly collect the troops necessary for an expedition of the kind intended. While, therefore, preparations were completing, the French had warning and time to perfect their scheme of defence. Not, indeed, until the early morning of July 28th, did the main body of the expeditionary force leave the Downs. When at its full strength, this huge armament, the greatest which ever left England, consisted of no fewer than 37 sail of the line, two 50-gun ships, three 44-gun ships, 23 frigates, one 20-gun post ship, 31 sloops, 5 bombs, 23 brigs, about 120 hired cutters, gunboats and tenders, and nearly 400 transports, having on board 39,219 troops, including about 3000 cavalry. The fleet was commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Richard John Strachan,5 and the army by Lieutenant-General the Earl of Chatham, brother of William Pitt. The former, as has been seen, was an excellent officer; the latter was destitute alike of energy and of military capacity. Strachan was instructed to take or destroy all the enemy's

1 Charlemagne, César, Albanais, Anversois, Commerce de Lyon, Dalmate, Dantzig, Duguesclin, Pultusk (ex-Audacieux), and Ville de Berlin (ex-Thésée).

2 Auguste, Tilsit, Conquérant, Friedland, Illustre, and Pacification.

3 Trajan, Gaulois, Superbe and another.

Many of these had their lower-deck guns removed, and the main holds fitted to receive horses.

5

Having as his immediate subordinates Rear-Admirals William Albany Otway, Sir Richard Goodwin Keats, and Alan Hyde, Lord Gardner.

ships in the Schelde and at Antwerp; to demolish the yards and arsenals at Antwerp, Flushing, and Ter Neuze, and, if possible, to render the Schelde no longer navigable for big ships. To facilitate the operations, Cadzand, on the south side of the West Schelde, and the islands of Walcheren and Zuid Beveland, on the north, were to be occupied by the army.

The Commander-in-Chief, in the Venerable, 74, Captain Sir Home Riggs Popham, anchored in West-Kapelle road in the evening of July 28th, and there found the Fishguard, 38, Captain Sir William Bolton (2). That officer had already stationed small craft as marks upon some of the neighbouring shoals. In the course of the night, the Roompot channel, between Noordland and Walcheren, was sounded, and marks were placed to show its entrance. On the 29th, a large flotilla of transports, having on board Sir John Hope's division, anchored between Noord Beveland and Schouwen, opposite Zierikzee; and a few hours later, the transports with Sir Eyre Coote's division, 17,000 strong, also arrived, in charge of RearAdmiral William Albany Otway. Coote's troops were destined exclusively for operations against Walcheren, and should have been at once landed; but bad weather prevented any disembarkation being attempted until 4.30 P.M. on the 30th, when, under cover of the hired cutter Idas, 10, Lieutenant James Duncan, and under direction of Captains Lord Amelius Beauclerk, of the Royal Oak, 74, and George Cockburn, of the Belleisle, 74, Coote's division, after very slight opposition, established itself on the northern extremity of Walcheren.1 In the evening, some bombs and gunboats entered the Veere Gat, or creek, and, on the 31st, opened fire on the fortified town of Veere, one of the chief places in the island; but, towards nightfall, after three gunboats had been sunk by Dutch shot, the flotilla had to withdraw, without, however, having lost a man. Middelburg, the capital of the island, had, in the meantime, peacefully surrendered, and Veere had been invested. In addition, a naval brigade, landed on the 30th, under Captain Charles Richardson, of the Casar, 80, and Commander George William Blamey, of the Harpy, 18, had greatly annoyed the place with guns and Congreve rockets. During the night, therefore, the Dutch commandant offered to capitulate, and on August 1st Veere surrendered. Thereupon the army advanced. Fort Rammekens fell on August 3rd, and, immediately afterwards, Flushing was besieged. Sir John Hope's 1 See maps, Vol. II. 312; and facing p. 274 infra.

1809.]

THE FLEET IN THE SCHELDE.

273

division, under the conduct of Sir Richard Goodwin Keats, had been already landed without opposition on Zuid Beveland, and had occupied some posts there, including Fort Bath,' at the eastern end of the island.

On July 29th, as soon as he had been apprised of the approach of the British fleet, Rear-Admiral Missiessy, who had been lying at anchor off the Calot Sand, had weighed and proceeded up the

(From an engraving by Ridley and Blood, after the painting by H. Matthews.)

Schelde. By the evening of the 30th, six of his ten ships of the line were above a boom which had been thrown across the river at Lillo. The other four remained below Fort Bath until a few hours before the British occupied it, and so obtained control, to some extent, both of the East and of the West Schelde.

It has been seen that one division of the British army landed

1 Or Bathz.

VOL. V.

T

on Walcheren, and another on Zuid Beveland. A third should, according to the original plans, have been almost simultaneously disembarked at Cadzand, where General Rousseau commanded a small force. Owing, however, to some mistake, the transports which ought to have put their troops ashore at Cadzand moved round to the Veere Gat. This error enabled Rousseau, on August 1st and 2nd, to send over about 1600 men in schuyts to reinforce the threatened garrison of Flushing. But on the 3rd, his efforts to send more were frustrated by the extremely gallant action of the Raven, 16, Commander John Martin Hanchett.1 That brig-sloop, by direction of Captain Edward William Campbell Rich Owen, of the Clyde, 38, stood in to cover some boats which, under Lieutenant Charles Burrough Strong, had been ordered to sound and buoy the channel between Flushing and Breskens. She quickly became exposed to a heavy fire from the batteries of both places; but, instead of withdrawing, she returned it, and, assisted by some gunboats, also drove back to the Cadzand side a flotilla of enemy's boats which had been in the act of crossing. As she returned down the river, she passed through a perfect hail of shell, grape, and red-hot shot from the batteries on both shores, and lost her main and fore topmasts, besides receiving other serious damage, having two of her guns dismounted, and drifting on to the Elboog sand, whence she could not be moved until the following morning. In this creditable affair, Commander Hanchett and eight of his men were wounded. Their plucky action produced, however, no permanent result, for, on August 4th, communication between Cadzand and Flushing was re-opened, and between that day and the evening of the 6th, General Rousseau succeeded in sending across about 1500 more men, a reinforcement which brought up the strength of the Flushing garrison to about seven thousand.

Possession of Fort Rammekens opened to the British the Sloe channel, which is one of the connections between the East and the West Schelde, and facilitated the passage into the latter of the flotilla which had been operating against Veere. Part of this was destined to watch the river opposite Flushing, and to prevent further intercourse with Cadzand and Ter Neuze; and part to proceed up

1 A Commander of September 22nd, 1807. He was posted on October 18th, 1809, and died in 1819. It is believed that he was a natural son of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.