After this affair, Captain Thompson returned to Gibraltar, on which station he remained till the month of June 1798,
in-Chief, as appears from the following extract of a letter written by the noble Earl to Sir Horatio Nelson;
“My dear Admiral,
“If I obtain a reinforcement of four ships of the line, as I have reason to believe I shall, from the strong manner I put the necessity of the measure in my public letter to Nepean, and private correspondence with Lord Spencer, I will detach you with the Theseus, Culloden, Zealous, Leander, Emerald, and Andromache, with orders to attempt the surprise of Santa Cruz, in the Grand Canary. Terpsichore Bowen shall also be of the party; but I rely chiefly on the local knowledge of Captain Thompson of the Leander. Turn this in your mind; for the moment the expected ships arrive, I will dash you off.”
The plan of attack was, that the boats should land in the night, between the fort on the N.E. side of Santa Cruz bay and the town, make themselves masters of that fort, and then send a summons to the Governor. By midnight, on the 20th July l797, the three frigates, cutter, and mortarboat, having the party of seamen and marines on board which was intended for this debarkation, approached within three miles of the place; but owing to a gale of wind in the offing, and a strong current against them in shore, they were not able to approach within a mile of the landing place before day-break; and then being seen, their intention was discovered. It was now resolved, that an attempt should be made to get possession of the heights above the fort. The men were accordingly landed under the orders of Captain Troubridge; each Captain, under his direction, commanding the detachment of seamen from his own ship, and Captain Oldfield of the marines the entire detachment from that corps, he being the senior marine officer present; the line-of-battle ships stood in at the same time to batter the fort, for the purpose of distracting the attention of the garrison; circumstances, however, prevented them from getting within a league of the shore; and the heights were by this time so secured, and manned with such a force, as to be judged impracticable. Thus foiled in his plans by wind and tide, Sir Horatio Nelson still considered it a point of honour that some attempt should be made. This was on the 22d July; he re-embarked his men that night, got the ships, on the 24th, the day on which he was joined by the Leander, to anchor about two miles N.E. of the town, and made shew as if he intended to attack the heights. At eleven P.M. the boats of the squadron, containing about 700 seamen and marines, with 180 on board the Fox cutter, and from 70 to 80 in a boat which had been taken the day before; numbering, with a small detachment of royal artillery, under Lieutenant Baynes of that corps, about 1100 men, commanded by the Rear-Admiral in person, proceeded in six divisions towards the town. They were to land on the mole, and thence hasten as fast as possible into the Great Square; then form, and proceed as should be found expedient.
