and Fortitude, 74’s, Lowestoffe and Juno frigates, accompanied by several transports, having on board a body of troops, to co-operate with the patriotic General Paoli, who had promised, if the English would make an attack upon the town of St. Fiorenzo from the sea, he would make a simultaneous movement by land. This promise he was unable to perform; and on the 9th Feb. the Fortitude and Juno, after cannonading the tower of Mortella for two hours and a half, without having made any impression on the enemy’s works, were obliged to haul off[1]. The next day, however, some guns, which were brought to bear upon the tower from a commanding height, obliged it to surrender[2]. On the 17th, at night, the heights of Fornelli were carried by assault, and the enemy retired into St. Fiorenzo, with considerable loss. On the 19th they evacuated that town and retreated towards Bastia, the capital of the island, having previously set fire to la Fortunée, a 40 gun frigate, and leaving la Minerve, of the same force, sunk, and to all appearance destroyed by the shot from the British. She was, however, soon after weighed, and added to the navy, by the name of the place at which she was taken[3].
- ↑ The Fortitude received several hot shot in her hull, which were with difficulty cut out, and the fire occasioned thereby extinguished; she was otherwise much disabled, and sustained a loss of 6 men killed and 56 wounded. The Juno came off with very little damage, and had not a man hurt.
- ↑ The tower mounted only one 6, and two 18-pounders; the carriage of one of which had been rendered unserviceable in the course of the cannonade. It was garrisoned by 38 men, two of whom were mortally wounded.
- ↑ A remarkable instance of the intrepidity and perseverance so truly characteristic of British seamen, occurred at the attack of Fornelli. It was perceived that a rocky elevation, deemed inaccessible near the summit, commanded the Convention redoubt. Desperate as the attempt was, a party of seamen volunteered their services to gain the top of this hill, the approach to which is in many places almost perpendicular; by means of blocks and ropes they succeeded in dragging three cannon of the calibre of 18 pounders, with their carriages, up this craggy steep, where the pieces were mounted at the distance of a full mile from the sea.
The path along which these spirited fellows crept, would admit in most places only one person at a time; on the right was a descent of many thousand feet, and one false step would have led to eternity. On the left of the path were stupendous overhanging rocks, which occasionally served
