the other islands might make less resistance, and apprehension of Admiral Barrington, who was with a superior force at Barbadoes. The French found 164 pieces of cannon and twenty-four brass mortars, with a great quantity of military stores and ammunition. Thus was Dominica lost to the English, before it was known in the English islands that hostilities were commenced between the two nations! A contribution of £4400, current money, was levied upon the inhabitants, and distributed among the French troops, a few days after the surrender of the island. Three Frenchmen who had resided upon the island, one of whom held an appointment under the English government, accompanied the marquis on this expedition, and served as guides to the troops. The Marquis de Bouille returned to Martinico, as soon as he had settled the new form of government, leaving the Marquis Duchilleau commander-in-chief of the island, with a garrison of 1500 men. This nobleman issued a proclamation, forbidding more than two English inhabitants to assemble in a place. He ordered that no lights were to be seen in their houses after nine o'clock that no English person should be out after that hour in the streets, without a candle, or a lighted pipe in his mouthand that no servant of theirs was to go out at night, without a ticket from his master, under a penalty, to white people, of being shot or imprisoned, or sent off the island. The servants were to be whipped in the public market, and a fine imposed on their masters. Robert Thou was shot by a centinel, for attempting to go on board his vessel after nine o'clock: he died a few days afterwards, and his murderer was promoted for the deed. All letters to the English were opened and examined by the governor. Many circumstances concurred in rendering the loss of this island grievous. Large sums had been expended upon its fortifications. Rear-Admiral Barrington, with two sail of the line, and some frigates, was at Barbadoes waiting for instructions. A French document, published at Martinico in the middle of August, amounting in effect to a declaration of war, gave him the first information of hostilities; and the capture of two of Sir P. Parker's frigates, off Española, was also the first information of the war to that admiral and the government of Jamaica. Upon the 10th of December, Commodore Hotham, with five Annual Register, 1779, pp. 38. 43. sail of the line, some frigates, and a bomb vessel, with 5000 troops, under the command of Major-General Grant, joined Admiral Barrington at Barbadoes. Without allowing the troops to land, the expedition sailed to attack St. Lucia; and on the evening of the 13th, after Captain Ferguson, in the Venus, had silenced a battery of four twelve-pounders, the reserve of the army, under Brigadier-General Meadows, were landed at the Grand Cul de Sac, in that island. That officer immediately pushed forward to the heights on the north side of the bay, which were occupied by the Chevalier de Micoud, with the regular forces and militia of the island. These posts, although very difficult of access, he soon forced, and took possession of a four-gun battery, and a field-piece which had greatly annoyed the shipping. Brigadier-General Prescot landed with five regiments, guarded the bay, and at the same time pushed on his advanced posts, to preserve a communication during the night with the reserve. At daylight, the reserve, supported by General Prescot, took possession of Morne Fortune. The French made an able defence, but were compelled to retire from one post to another. As the reserve advanced, General Prescot took possession of the posts and batteries in their rear. General Meadows pushed forward and took possession of the important post of the Viergie, which commanded the north of the Carenage; and Brigadier-General Sir Henry Calder kept up the communication with the fleet, and sent detachments to occupy several posts upon the mountains, which commanded the south side of the Grand Cul de Sac a measure which soon contributed to the preservation of the fleet and army from a danger then unexpected. No enemy was apprehended, yet every measure of security was taken which the presence of a superior foe could have induced. The event proved the wisdom of the conduct. The last French flag in sight among the neighbouring hills was not struck, when M. d'Estaing, with a large force, hove in sight. Besides his original squadron of twelve heavy line-ofbattle ships, he was accompanied by a numerous fleet of frigates, privateers, and transports, with 9000 troops on board. As the day was far advanced, D'Estaing deferred his operations until the ensuing morning. Admiral Barrington, with two seventy-fours, two sixty-fours, two fifty-gun ships, and three frigates, was in the Grand Cul de Sac: these, during the night, were formed in line across the entrance of the bay, and all the transports were warped as far into the bottom of the bay as possible. Beatson's Memoirs, vol. iv. pp. 44. 589. Admiral Barrington, in the Prince of Wales, took the post of honour and danger, on the outward and leeward extremity of the line. The Isis, supported by the frigates, who flanked the passage between her and the shore, was stationed in the opposite and interior angle to windward. It appears that Count d'Estaing did not expect that the British had extended their operations so far as to have taken possession of the Viergie, and the posts adjoining the Carenage; for in the morning he stood in with his fleet for that bay, until his own ship, the Languedoc, received such a salute from one of the batteries, as convinced him of his mistake. The whole fleet immediately bore up, and seemed for some time at a loss how to act. After much evident hesitation, the count, with ten sail of the line, bore down upon the British squadron. They were gallantly received by the ships and batteries, and obliged to haul off. At four o'clock, Count d'Estaing, with twelve sail of the line, renewed the attack: he now directed his efforts upon the centre and leeward part of the British line. This attack continued longer than the first; but the French were again obliged to retreat, in evident confusion and disorder. On the following day, December the 16th, Count d'Estaing, after several motions indicating his intention to renew the attack, abandoned the design, stood off to windward, and anchored in the evening off Gross Islet, two leagues to the northward. That night and the following morning were spent by the French commander in landing his troops in Choc Bay, which lies between Gross Islet and the Carenage. The country is a confused congeries of abrupt hills, scattered among greater mountains, every where intersected by deep defiles. General Grant, with the bulk of the forces, consisting of Prescot's and Calder's brigades, occupied all the strong holds among the hills, on either side of the Grand Cul de Sac, and commanded the ground from thence to the Carenage, a distance of about two miles. A battery on their side, and at the south point of the Carenage, with another on the opposite point of the Viergie, defended the entrance into that bay. The brigades were also possessed of two more batteries near the bottom of the bay, where it narrows into, or is joined by a creek, which, passing Morne Fortune, cuts the country for some way farther up. These batteries were covered in front by the creek, and commanded, in a considerable degree, the land approaching the Viergie, Thus General Meadows, who, with the reserve, was stationed in that peninsula, was, by his situation, and the superiority in numbers of the enemy, totally cut off from the support of the main body, except what might be derived from the batteries already Annual Register, 1779, p. 46. mentioned: but he was in possession of very strong ground; and his men, though only 1300 in number, were veteran troops, who had distinguished themselves in America. The French commanders determined to attack the peninsula by sea and land at the same time. On the 18th, about 5000 of their best troops advanced in three columns to attack the British lines, which were drawn across the isthmus.1 The right was led Annual Register, 1779, p. 46. 1 ADMIRAL BARRINGTON'S LETTER. "Prince of Wales, in the Grand Cul de Sac, in the Island of St. Lucia, December 23. "SIR,In my letter of the 24th of last month from Barbadoes, I informed you of the Venus's arrival there, with an account of Commodore Hotham's being on his way to join me; and you will now please to acquaint my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the commodore arrived there on the 10th instant, with his Majesty's ships the Nonsuch, St. Alban's, Preston, Centurion, Isis, and Carcass, and fifty-nine transports, having on board 5000 troops, under the command of Major-General Grant. "To save time, and prevent the confusion naturally arising from a change of signals among the transports, I adopted those of the commodore, and directing him to lead with the landing division, put to sea the 12th in the morning, in order to put in execution their lordships' secret instructions, and about three o'clock on the following day anchored here with the whole squadron, except the Ariadne, Ceres, Snake, Barbadoes, and Pelican, which I had stationed along the coast to intercept any vessels attempting to escape from the island. "More than half the troops were landed the same morning under the direction of the commodore, assisted by the Captains Griffith, Braithwaite, and Onslow, and the remainder next morning (the 14th), when they immediately got possession of the Carenage; and it was my intention to have removed the transports thither as soon as possible, had not that measure been prevented by the appearance of the French fleet under Count d'Estaing, of whom I received notice in the evening, by signal from the Ariadne. "It therefore became necessary to secure the transports as well as we could in the bay, and the whole night was accordingly employed in warping them within the ships of war, and disposing the latter in a line across the entrance; the Isis to windward, rather inclining into the bay, and the Prince of Wales, being the most powerful ship, the outermost to the leeward, with the Venus, Aurora, and Ariadne flanking the space between the Isis and the shore, to prevent the enemy's forcing a passage that way. "Almost all the transports had fortunately got within the line before half past eleven in the morning of the 15th, when the count thought proper to bear down and attack us with ten sail of the line, happily without doing us any material injury; and at four in the afternoon he made a second attack upon us with twelve sail of the line, with no other success, however, than killing two men and wounding seven on board the Prince of Wales, and wounding one also on board the Ariadne, who is since dead; but I have reason to believe the enemy received considerable damage, as their manœuvres betrayed great confusion, and one of their ships in particular, which fell to leeward, seemed disabled from carrying the necessary sail to get to windward again. "The next day (the 16th), the count shewed a disposition to attack us a third time; but on the appearance of a frigate standing for his fleet with several signals flying, he plied to windward, and in the evening anchored off Gross Islet, about two leagues from us, where he still continues, with ten frigates, besides his twelve sail of the line. Notwithstanding this superiority of force, he has been accompanied from his first appearance by several American privateers, one of them commanded by the outlaw Cunningham, who last winter infested the coast of Portugal. "That night and the following day, the enemy landed a large body of troops from a number of sloops and schooners, which had anchored in Du Choc Bay, and on the 18th made a spirited attack both by the Count d'Estaing, the centre by M. de Lovendahl, and the left column by the Marquis de Bouille, governor of Martinico. The remainder of the troops were kept to watch General Prescot's brigade, and to check any attempt they might make to succour General Meadows. On the approach of the columns, they were enfiladed, with great effect, by the batteries on the south of the bay. Notwithstanding this, they charged with great impetuosity, and were suffered to advance close to the entrenchments without opposition. The British front line fired but once, and then received the enemy on the bayonet. The French, with great resolution, suffered extremely before they were entirely repulsed. As soon Annual Register, 1779, p. 46. by sea and land on our post at the Carenage, but met with a very severe check, having been repulsed with great courage by a small detachment of our troops under Brigadier-General Meadows. "They have attempted nothing of consequence since, and what may be their future plan of operations I cannot conjecture; but their continuance at anchor has offered us an opportunity not only of getting in all the cruizers, except the Ceres, and all the transports except one (with only the baggage of the officers of three companies on board), which had fallen into the enemy's hands, but also of strengthening ourselves by warping the ships of war farther into the bay, and making the line more compact, removing the Venus astern of the Prince of Wales to flank that passage, and erecting batteries at each point of the bay, that to the northward under the direction of the Captains Cumining and Robertson, and that to the southward under Captain Ferguson. "This being the situation of the squadron, and the army being in the possession of all the strong holds in the neighbourhood of the bay, such a spirit of cheerfulness, unanimity, and resolution actuates the whole of our little force, both by land and sea (notwithstanding the amazing fatigue they have undergone), that we are under no apprehensions from any attempts the enemy may meditate; and from the accounts which have been transmitted to me from Captain Linzee of the Pearl, who arrived at Barbadoes the 13th instant, that Vice Admiral Byron was to sail from Rhode Island for Barbadoes the 19th of last month, with sixteen sail of the line and several frigates, there is every reason to hope he will soon be here, in which case affairs in this country must take a very decisive turn in favour of his Majesty's arms. "Should any unforeseen accident, however, prevent the vice-admiral's arrival, their lordships will, nevertheless, be pleased to assure his Majesty, that every thing that can possibly be done by so small a body of troops and so few ships, against a force so very superior, will be effected. "I cannot conclude my letter without acquainting you, that in all probability our operations here have hitherto saved the island of St. Vincent and Grenada, which we understand from some officers, who are prisoners, were the objects of Count d'Estaing's expedition, when a sloop that had escaped from this island falling in with him, and giving him notice of our being here, directed his attention towards us. I am, &c. "SAMUEL BARRINGTON. "P.S. I have the satisfaction to add, that this morning the squadron got possession of an American privateer of eighteen guns called the Bunker Hill, which at daybreak was discovered within reach of our guns; and having struck upon finding she could not escape, the boats towed her within the line before any of the French fleet could get to her assistance. sailed from Salem the 2d instant, and was intended to cruise fifteen leagues to windward of Barbadoes, but had missed that island and fallen to leeward. "SAMUEL BARRINGTON." She Naval Chronicle, vol. iv. p. 181. |