1810	Colonial Expeditions - East Indies	314

league or two to the northward of Basse-terre, under the direction of Commodore Samuel James Ballard, of the 74-gull ship Sceptre. On the 3d of February an engagement took place between Brigadier-general Harcourt's division, and a body of French troops on the ridge Beaupère St.-Louis, and again in the evening between the British reserve under Brigadier-general Wale, in forcing the passage of the river de la Père. In both cases the British were successful ; and on the following morning, the 4th, the French hoisted flags of truce in all their positions ; on the 5th the terms of capitulation were settled ; and on the 6th the island of Guadaloupe surrendered to the British arms.

In justice to the governor, General Ernouf, and the French troops on the island, it must be stated, that a great proportion of the latter were sick : that the force opposed to them, even in the first instance, was an overwhelming one ; and that, as in the case at Martinique in the preceding year, there was a defection among the colonial militia. The British army sustained a loss of 52 officers and privates killed, 250 wounded, and seven privates missing. The navy, not having been engaged, suffered no loss. That on the part of the French troops is represented to have been between 500 and 600 in killed and wounded.

Before the 22d of the same month of February the same two commanders followed up their success, with obtaining the peaceable surrender of the Dutch islands at St.-Martin, St.-Eustatius, and Saba ; thereby completing the reduction of all the French and Dutch colonies in the Antilles.

East Indies

The British commander-in-chief on this station, Rear-admiral William O'Brien Drury, being resolved to endeavour to posses the principal settlement of the Dutch in the Molucca sea , intrusted the enterprise to Captain Edward Tucker, of the 38-bull frigate Dover, with directions to take under his orders the 44-gun frigate Cornwallis, Captain William Augustus Montagu, and 18-gun ship sloop Samarang, Captain Richard Spencer. On the 9th of February, off the island of Amboyna, the first object of attack, the Dover and Samarang were joined by the Cornwallis ; and the three ships, proceeding up the outer harbour of Amboyna, anchored, the same day, in Lætitia bay, with the view of examining the defences of the place. The principal was the castle of Victoria, and the batteries to the right and left of it, mounting altogether 215 pieces of cannon (of all calibers from 32 to half pounders), with an extremely strong sea-face. A little further to the right of the fort, close on the beach, was the Wagoo battery, mounting nine guns, consisting of four 12, one 8, and two 6 pounder long guns, and one brass 32-pounder carronade ; and, far out in the sea, built upon piles, was a battery

^ back to top ^