23d July. On the 7th of the following month, Captain Cole communicated with the island of Goram, for the purpose of obtaining information and procuring guides.
During the whole of this long passage, the ships’ companies had been daily exercised in the use of the pike, sword, and small arms, and in mounting the scaling ladders placed against the masts, preparatory to any attempt at escalade. The expertness with which they handled their weapons, and the emulation displayed by them when imitating the storming of a fortress, added to their excellent health and high spirits, convinced Captain Cole that, however deficient in numbers, no.men could have been found better calculated to ensure success to any hazardous enterprise. The result of that in which he was then about to embark, against a strong, and generally supposed impregnable fortification, it would be difficult to describe better than in his own words. His plain and modest narrative marks so strongly the intrinsic merit of himself and his gallant associates, that it would be almost presumptuous were we to offer a word of commendation; but as official reports, however clearly written, generally require a little elucidation, we shall avail ourselves of some well-authenticated information respecting the capture of Banda, by introducing it in the shape of notes, instead of incorporating it with the substance of his public letter, of which the following is a copy:
“Sir,– I have the honor and happiness of acquainting you with the capture of Banda Neira, the chief of the Spice Islands, on the 9th Aug., by a portion of the force under my orders, in consequence of a night attack, which completely surprised the enemy, although the approach of the ships had been unavoidably discovered the day before[1].
- ↑ On the evening of the 8th Aug., when the Banda Islands were just visible, all the boats were hoisted out, and every preparation made for the attack. It was intended to run the ships into the harbour before day-light in the morning, and a hope was entertained that they might remain undiscovered till then; but they were fired at by a battery when passing the small island of Rosensgen, about 10 P.M. which island the ships had approached rather close, not knowing that it was fortified. The weather about this time changed suddenly from a fine clear moonlight to violent squalls, ac-
