having come from Souroubaya, richly laden with supplies of every kind for the governments of Amboyna, Banda, and Ternate. The capture of a national brig with specie on board, will be noticed in our memoir of Lord Selsey, who was then senior Lieutenant of the Cornwallis.
Between Mar. 5 and April 29, 1810, Captain Tucker’s little squadron captured one ship, six brigs, and four sloops; all armed, and laden with supplies for Ternate, Banda, &c. A successful attack was also made by Captain Richard Spencer, upon the fort in the island of Pulo Ay, from whence that active officer removed the garrison, ordnance, and public property.
After sending all his prisoners from Amboyna and the other islands to Java, Captain Tucker proceeded to the port of Gorontello, on the N.E. part of Celebes, and succeeded in persuading the Sultan and his two sons, in whose hands the whole settlement was vested for the Dutch East India Company, to haul down the Batavian, and substitute the English Colours; a ceremony which they performed with every demonstration of attachment to the British government.
On the 21st June, Captain Tucker arrived at Manado, and sent a summons to the governor of fort Amsterdam, on which and some neighbouring batteries were mounted 3 twelve-pounders, 5 eight-pounders, 10 sixes, and 32 pieces of smaller calibre. The terms offered were immediately accepted; 102 Dutch officers and soldiers laid down their arms, and 11 seamen were also taken prisoners. Along with Manado fell its dependencies, the ports of Kemar, le Copang, Amerang, and Tawangwoo: the capture thereof, as well as Gorontello, was very opportune, as large supplies were preparing at all these places, and ready to be shipped for the isles of Banda, &c. Captain Tucker’s account of the reduction of Ternate, “one of the strongest islands in the Molucca seas, which he accomplished in the most gallant manner,” will be found in the Naval Chronicle, Vol. XXVI., pp. 71–78.
Important as the conquest of the Spice Islands may appear in a military point of view, by so small a force as two frigates and a sloop, yet those who know them locally, and reflecting
