POST-CAPTAINS OF 1803.
803
two men killed and the same number wounded[1]. The action afterwards fought in the Adriatic by a squadron under the command of Captain Maxwell, is thus described by him in his public letter to the senior officer on that station, dated off Lissa, Dec. 1, 1811.
“Sir,– H.M. ships under my orders having been driven from their anchorage before Lugina, by strong gales, had taken shelter in Lissa, when the telegraph on Whitby hill signalized “three suspicious sail south.” The Alceste, Active, and Unité were warped out of Port St. George the moment a strong E.N.E. wind would permit; and on the evening of the 28th ultimo, off the south end of Lissa, I met with Lieutenant M‘Dougal, of his Majesty’s ship Unité, who, with a judgment and zeal which do him infinite credit, had put back, when on his voyage to Malta in a neutral, to acquaint me he had seen three French frigates forty miles to the southward. All sail was now carried in chase, and at 9 A.M. on the 29th, the enemy were seen off the island of Augusta: he formed in line upon the larboard tack, and stood towards us for a short time; but finding H.M. ships bear up under all sail, in close line abreast, he also bore up to the N.W. and set studding-sails. At 11 the rear ship separated, and stood to the N.E.; I immediately detached the Unité after her, and Captain Chamberlayne’s report to me of the result I have the honor to enclose[2]. At 1h 20' P.M. the Alceste commenced action with the other two, by engaging the rearmost in passing to get at the Commodore; but an unlucky shot soon afterwards bringing down our main-top-mast, we unavoidably dropped a little astern: cheers of ‘Vive l’Empereur’ resounded from both ships; they thought the day their own, not aware of what a second I had in my gallant friend, Captain Gordon, who pushed the Active up under every sail, and brought the sternmost to action, within pistol-shot; the headmost then shortened sail, tacked, and stood for the Alceste, which, though disabled in her masts, I trust he experienced was not so in her guns. After a warm conflict of two hours and twenty minutes the French
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 408.
- ↑ Captain Chamberlayne reports the capture of la Persanne, a French store-ship, mounting 26 nine-pounders, with a complement of 190 men, having in her hold 120 iron guns and several pieces of brass ordnance. She kept up a running fight from noon till 4 P.M. and did not surrender whilst the least chance remained of escaping from her very superior opponent. The Unité was much cut up in her masts, yards, sails, and rigging, by a galling fire from the Frenchman’s stern-chasers, but fortunately only one of her crew was wounded. The enemy, whose masterly manoeuvres and persevering resistance reflect great credit on her commander, Mons. Satie, had 2 men killed and 4 wounded. La Persanne, being found unfit for the British navy, was sold at Malta to an agent of the Tunisian government, for 15,500l.
