combined fleets of France and Spain, then lying in that harbour. From their anchorage they had a full view of Camaret bay, and consequently of la Chevrette, the commander of which vessel felt himself as secure in that seemingly impregnable position, as if he had been riding under the immediate protection of his Admiral. The sight of the tri-coloured flag, as on all former occasions, only served to inspire British seamen with a wish to haul it down; and Captain Brisbane, aware of the impatience of his squadron to make the attempt, resolved to gratify them.
The enemy, having seen some English boats hovering about the bay, at day-break on the 20th, concluded that an attack was meditated, and although they judged it a measure of extreme rashness, were resolved to omit no possible preparation. In the morning of the 21st, they got the corvette under weigh, moved her a mile and a half farther up the bay, moored her under the batteries, and crowded her decks with troops from the shore. Temporary redoubts were at the same time thrown up upon the points, and a vessel mounting two 32-pounders was moored at the entrance of the bay as a guard-boat. Having taken these precautions, they in the afternoon displayed a large republican flag above an English ensign, as a signal of defiance.
All these manoeuvres were well observed from the Beaulieu, the crew of which ship evinced extraordinary ardour to engage in this enterprise. Lieutenant Maxwell who had just before volunteered to carry a fire vessel into Brest harbour[1], gladly embraced this opportunity of practising his boat’s crew preparatory to the grand object, and resolved, with his Captain’s permission, to head his own shipmates in the attack on la Chevrette. This resolution, so congenial to their wishes, the Beaulieu’s crew heard with much satisfaction, and at 9-30 P.M. her six boats, manned with about 90 volunteers, formed a junction with seven others belonging to the Doris and Uranie, and two sent from the Robust of 74 guns. About 9-45 Lieutenant Woodley Losack, who had been selected by the Admiral to conduct the enterprise, went with his own and five other boats in pursuit of a small vessel supposed to be on the look-out, and therefore necessary to be secured. For a considerable time after he parted company, the remainder of the boats continued as he had desired them, lying to on their oars and occasionally pulling easy. Finding the senior officer did not return, considering that the boats were yet at least six miles from the corvette, and aware of the time requisite to row that distance against a fresh breeze, Lieutenant Maxwell judged it expedient, in order that the undertaking might have the best chance of succeeding, to proceed immediately towards the entrance of the bay; a situation evidently more eligible for them, should it even be necessary to delay making the attack, than where they then were. He therefore, gave way a-head with the boats of the Beaulieu, and arrived within sight of the enemy about half an hour after midnight.
Having now taken upon himself the command, and made every arrangement for cutting la Chevrette adrift and loosing her sails immediately upon
