1809	Capture of the D'Haupoult	161

It was very much so. Less, however, in reference to the easily refuted mistatements of the captain of the Niemen, than, as we gather from the proceedings which afterwards took place in the admiralty prize-court, to the misconception that seems to have prevailed among the officers of the Arethusa. A little forethought in shortening sail, before the Amethyst bore up athwart the stern of her beaten antagonist, would have given quite a different tone to the letter of Captain Dupotet, if indeed any such letter had then been published ; and would have left no grounds for a second British ship, by establishing a claim for head-money, to make it appear that she had any share in producing the surrender of an already silenced and defenceless French frigate.

It was formerly stated, that early on the morning of the 22d of February, the day after Commodore Beresford was chased from off Lorient by the squadron from Brest, the three French frigates, Calypso, Cybèle, and Italienne, sailed from that port, and that they were not immediately followed by the three sail of the line at anchor in the road, because the tide did not suit. * In a few hours the depth of water became sufficient ; and commodore Amable-Gilles Troude, with the three 74-gun ships Courageux, Polonais, and d'Haupoult, having under their convoy the two armed en flute frigates Furieuse and Félicité, laden with troops, flour, and military stores, for the island of Martinique, escaped from Lorient, unseen, or at all events unmolested, by any of the British ships cruising off the French coast.

On the 29th of March, having from some prizes he had made on the passage learnt that Martinique had surrendered to the British arms (an account of which will appear in its proper place), the French commodore entered the Saintes, to watch for an opportunity of getting across to Basse-terre, Guadaloupe. Scarcely, however, had the French ships anchored, than a superior British force arrived to blockade them. The line-of-battle portion of that force consisted of the .

The Saintes consist of two small islands, each about three leagues in circumference, exclusive of three or four still smaller ones, so arranged as to form a commodious road or harbour between the larger islands ; the westernmost of which is called Terre d'en Bas, and the other Terre d'en Haut. They lie between Vieux-Fort, near the southern extremity of Basse-terre. Guadaloupe, and Pointe des Ajoupas on the west side of Marie-

* See p. 96.

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