safety. This was the signal for action; and hence the 25th was, at least to part of the army, a day of hostile employment.”
Above this famous bridge, five heavy gun-boats were moored with their heads towards Bayonne; and for its for their protection a strong boom, which had been constructed at St. Jean de Luz, under the immediate inspection of Rear-Admiral Penrose, was thrown across between it and the gun-boats. This boom was conveyed to the Adour by a large brig, in charge of Lieutenant George Robert Douglas, first of the Porcupine; and it was rather a curious circumstance, that while he was placing it to keep off fire-rafts, &c. the French were forming one higher up the river to prevent annoyance from below.
We should here observe, that a number of sappers and miners were embarked in the flotilla previous to its departure from Porto de Socca: these men had been instructed how to proceed in forming the bridge after the vessels were moored, and each of them had his proper part assigned him: in his official letter to Lord Keith, reporting the proceedings of the flotilla, Rear-Admiral Penrose highly approved of their conduct, and afterwards expressed himself as follows:–
“That so many chassé-marées ventured the experiment” of crossing the bar, “I attribute to there having been two or more sappers placed in each of them, and a captain and eight lieutenants of engineers commanding them in divisions. The zeal and science of these officers triumphed over all the difficulties of the navigation.”
The following are the names of the engineer officers of whom Rear-Admiral Penrose speaks so handsomely:– Captain Slade, Lieutenants Mellhuish, Read, Rivers, Robe, Savage, Tinling, Wallace, and West. For some unaccountable reason or other, the Admiralty did not allow any mention, either of them or their men, to be made in the London Gazette. Major Todd was the officer who superintended the formation of the bridge, which altogether covered a space little short of 900 yards.
Immediately after the arrival of the flotilla, Rear-Admiral
