1816	Battle of Algiers	399

leave to co-operate in the attack with his frigate-squadron. No time was lost by Lord Exmouth in sending on shore all articles of useless lumber and in getting on board fresh supplies of provisions and ordnance stores, it being the admiral's intention to sail on the 12th. On the 11th, however, a strong levanter set in ; and, continuing over the 12th, kept the fleet from moving.

Owing to the highly commendable regulations put in force by Lord Exmouth, an unusual proportion of powder and shot had been expended by the fleet since its departure from England. Every Tuesday and Friday the signal was made for the fleet to prepare for action ; when each ship, according to directions previously given, fired six broadsides. Besides this general exercise, the first and second captains of the Queen-Charlotte's guns were daily trained at a target made of laths, three feet square ; in the centre of which was suspended a piece of wood of the shape and size of a bottle, with yarns crossed at right angles, so that a 12-pound shot could not pass through the interstices without cutting a yarn. This target, which was, in 1812, first introduced into the navy by Lieutenant George Crichdon, then belonging to his majesty's ship Rhin, commanded by Sir Charles Malcolm, and which was shown to, and approved of by Sir James Brisbane, when fitting out the Queen-Charlotte, was hung at the foretopmast stud studdingsail-boom, which was rigged out for the purpose; and it was fired at from abreast of the admiral's skylight on the quarterdeck. By the time the fleet reached Gibraltar, the target was never missed, and the average number of bottles hit daily was 10 out of 14. The confidence this gave to the ship's company was unbounded ; and, of their expertness against stone walls and living targets, we shall soon have to display the terrible effects.

On the 13th the 18-gun brig-sloop Satellite, Captain James Murray, arrived from Algiers ; and on this day every captain in the fleet received a plan of the fortifications of the place, with full instructions as to the intended position of his ship. On the 14th, early in the forenoon, the wind having shifted to the southward, the Dutch squadron, and the whole British fleet, except the Jasper sent to England with despatches, and the Saracen left behind, consisting altogether of 23 ships and brigs, five gun-boats, and an ordnance sloop, fitted as an explosion-vessel under the personal direction of Lieutenant Richard Howell Fleming, of the Queen-Charlotte (who was to have the command of her), and Major Gossett of the corps of miners, weighed and stood into the Mediterranean.

Previous to the sailing of the fleet, each line-of-battle ship took charge of a gun-boat, and had their own launches fitted for howitzers. The flat-bottomed boats put in requisition. were prepared for Congreve's rockets. On the 16th, early in the afternoon, just as the fleet had got within 200 miles of Algiers, the

^ back to top ^