month of September, 1761. During the long calm that preceded the war with the colonies, we find him assisting in the maritime survey of the coast of North America.
killed, and 30 wounded, on this service. On the 17th, the fleet sailed for England, and two days after came to an anchor in Portland Roads.
On the 31st of the same month, the fleet sailed again for the coast of France; and on the 3rd Sept. having come to an anchor in the Bay of St. Lunaire, about two leagues to the westward of St. Malo, the troops were landed without opposition. The next day, the General sent a detachment of 500 grenadiers to the small town of St. Briac, just above St. Malo, where they burnt about twenty small vessels, and destroyed some batteries. Upon examining more narrowly the state of St. Malo, it was found to be so strongly fortified, and supplied with so numerous a garrison, that the force which General Bligh had brought against it, was by no means considered adequate to reduce it; and, in a council of war, held on the 6th, the Commodore gave it as his opinion, that by reason of the very bad anchorage, the ships of war could not approach near enough to the town to bombard it, without great hazard of their being lost; and for the same reason it would be necessary to move the fleet into St. Cas’s Bay, in order to re-embark the troops. On the 27th, the army decamped from before St. Malo; but was so dilatory on its march, that the French had time to collect a considerable body of troops, who not only harassed them, but, getting possession of the village of St. Cas, greatly impeded the embarkation; most probably the whole army would have been cut off, had not a brisk and well-directed fire from the frigates and bombs for some time checked the progress of the enemy; but Major-General Drury having injudiciously ordered a detachment to dislodge a party of the French who had taken possession of a wood, obliged the vessels to cease firing, lest they should strike our own men. The enemy availed themselves of the interval to pour down in great numbers on the beach, where they attacked our remaining troops, who made a most obstinate defence, until overpowered by numbers, when they dispersed and fled. Some attempted to swim off to the boats; but, unluckily the sailors, contrary to their usual intrepidity on such occasions, shewed a reluctance to pull in shore, lest the fire from a French battery should destroy them. Commodore Howe no sooner observed the backwardness of the boats, than he ordered his barge to be rowed amidst the thickest of the fire; by this heroic example the sailors became animated, all fear vanished, and the lives of many brave men were saved. A great number, however, perished; and the carnage would have been still more dreadful, had not the Commodore ordered the frigates to stop firing, upon which the enemy gave quarter. Many officers of distinction were killed, wounded, and made prisoners; among the first were Major-General Drury and Sir John Armitage. The Captains Rowley, Maplesden, Paston, and Elphinstone, who under Captain Duff superintended the re-embarkation, were made prisoners. The loss sustained on this disastrous occasion amounted to 822 men, mostly the flower of the British army. A few days afterwards the fleet returned to England.
