Barbadoes, as the naval commander-in-chief on the station, accompanied by Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey, as commander of the troops, about 7000 in number (just half the number stated by the French writers), destined to act against the enemy's colonies. On the 2d of February the expedition, with all the effective troops on board, amounting to less than 6100 men, sailed from Bridgetown, bound to Martinique, and on the 5th, when it arrived off the island, consisted of the following vessels of war:

Frigates, Beaulieu, Santa-Margarita, Blonde, Solebay, Quebec, Ceres, Winchelsea, and Rose.
Sloops, Nautilus, Rattlesnake, Zebra, and Avenger; bomb, Vesuvius.
Store-ships, Dromedary and Woolwich.

General Rochambeau was still governor of Martinique, and at the head of a force, if the French accounts are to be credited (and the small number of troops that ultimately surrendered rather confirms the statement), of no more than 600 men, of whom 400 were militia. * Whatever may have been the deficiency of troops for its defence, the island possessed many commanding positions and formidable batteries ; upon which were mounted, according to the French accounts, as many as 90 pieces of cannon. The only ships of war at Martinique, except perhaps a privateer or two, were the French 28-gun frigate (mounting 30 or 32 guns) Bienvenue at Fort-Royal, and an 18-gun corvette at St.-Pierre. As the proceedings of the troops on each side properly belong to military history, and moreover, as the accounts cannot be rendered very intelligible without the aid of a map, we shall merely give a general sketch of the operations that led to the surrender of this important island.

For the purpose of dividing the force and attention of the enemy, the British troops were disembarked at three points, considerably distant from each other. The respective divisions, whose routes had been ably chosen, bore down all opposition and, by the 16th of March, the whole island, except the forts Bourbon and Royal, was in the possession of the British. This was not effected, however, without a loss of 71 killed, 193 wounded, and three missing. The seamen of the fleet, employed on shore, exerted themselves with their usual promptitude and success, dragging the cannon and mortars for several miles, to

* Victoires et Conquêtes, tome iii., p.249.