tion that a fine Spanish corvette, of 20 guns and 130 men, was lying at St. Martha, Lieutenant Willoughby immediately volunteered to attack her; but it was not until after three days importunity that Captain Dunn would comply with his wishes. On the 4th Feb., himself, 3 passed midshipmen, and 30 volunteers, all young and active, parted company in the prize, taking with them 14 days’ provisions. During the first two nights, it blew so very hard that the vessel was every minute expected to go down, the sea breaking over her in such a manner as rendered it impossible for a man to remain at the helm, or for the hatches to be opened in order to get rid of the cargo. On the 6th, his little bark having weathered the storm. Lieutenant Willoughby stood into the harbour of St. Martha; a midshipman (the present Captain Samuel Roberts, C.B.) at the helm, with a check shirt on, his head decorated with a French kerchief, and his face and hands blackened with burnt cork and grease. All the rest of the gallant band below, except two men; one a black the other a mulatto. The schooner being well known, this deception had the desired effect: no interruption was given to her as she passed the batteries, and every thing seemed to promise success: unfortunately, however, the corvette had sailed a few days before; and there was not another vessel at the anchorage worth bringing out. Mortified in the extreme, Lieutenant Willoughby now put about: the enemy on shore discovered the ruse that he had been practising, and the batteries on the island that protects the harbour immediately opened upon him, keeping up a steady fire for more than half an hoar, but luckily without once striking his diminutive and slightly built vessel:– had she been hulled by a single shot, the consequences would in all probability have been fatal, as she was very rotten, and had not a boat of any description belonging to her.
This enterprise appears to have been one of the most hazardous ever recorded; and we leave our renders to judge what were the feelings of Lieutenant Willoughby, then first of a flag-ship, on finding that the opportunity of stamping his character as a hero was denied him. Had the corvette been
