1811	Light Squadrons and Single Ships	362

in view. And, I assure you, not only am I deprived of a most excellent youngster, and one whom I dearly esteemed, but his country, as far as his youth may speak for him, has lost one of its brightest hopes : indeed, he is deeply lamented by all. "

On or about the 25th of March the two French 40-gun frigates Amélie and Adrienne, accompanied by the 20-gun store-ship Dromadaire, laden with 15,000 shot and shells of various sizes, and 90 tons of gunpowder, escaped out of Toulon, bound to the island of Corfu. On the 26th, Admiral Sir Charles Cotton detached the 74-gun ship Ajax, Captain Robert Waller Otway, and the 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Unité, Captain Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, to the eastward in pursuit. On arriving off Corsica, Captain Otway sent the Unité round Cape Corse, and with the Ajax pushed through the straits of Bonifacio.

On the 30th, when off the isle of Elba, the Unité fell in with and was chased by the three French ships ; who, on hauling off from her, steered for the Piombino passage, and were left working through it. On the same evening the Ajax joined company, and the two British ships proceeded in chase under all sail. On the 31st, at daylight, Captain Otway discovered the objects of his pursuit to windward. Owing to the short distance they were from the land, the Amélie and Adrienne effected their escape into Porto-Ferrajo ; but the Dromadaire was overtaken and captured. She was a fine ship of 800 tons, and had a complement of 150 men, commanded by a lieutenant de vaisseau. The two French frigates afterwards got into Genoa ; and thence reached Toulon in the succeeding July, as already mentioned. *

In the latter part of the month of April the two armed storeships Giraffe and Nourrice, each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, the first with 140, the other with 160 men, having in their company a merchant ship, also armed, and laden, as they also were, with ship-timber for the dock-yard at Toulon, lay at anchor in the bay of Sagone, island of Corsica, under the protection of a battery, mounting four guns and one mortar, and of a martello tower above the battery, mounting one gun. On the 30th, in the evening, the British 38-gun frigate Pomone Captain Robert Barrie, the frigate Unité, and the 18-gun brig-sloop Scout, Captain Alexander Renton Sharpe, arrived off the coast, with the intention of attacking these ships. The French Commodore well imagining what was meditated against his ships, moored them within a stone's throw of the battery, each with two cables on shore, so as to present their broadsides to the narrow entrance of the bay. As an additional defence, the Nourrice landed her quarterdeck guns ; and about 200 regular troops, along with her marines and those of the Giraffe, were posted on the neighbouring heights.

All these preparations were seen from the British ships on the

* See p. 329.

^ back to top ^