round) the ship could not dislodge the soldiers and those of the vessels’ crews who had made their escape on shore, and taken shelter in it. The marines and a party of seamen were therefore landed under the command of Lieutenant Eaton gravers, first of the Imperieuse, who forced his way into the battery in the most gallant style, under a very heavy fire of musketry, obliging more than treble the number of his brave companions to fly in all directions, leaving behind about thirty men and fifty stand of arms. The guns, which were 24-pounders, were then thrown over the cliff, the magazines, &c. destroyed, and the two remaining gun-vessels brought off. The Imperieuse, on this occasion, had her fore-top-sail-yard shot away, and sustained a loss of 3 men killed and wounded.
On the 19th and 21st of the same month, the boats of the Imperieuse, assisted by those of the Thames frigate, under cover of both ships, anchored close to the shore for their support, captured ten armed polacres loaded with oil, which they launched and brought off from the beach near Palinuro, on the coast of Calabria, where the vessels were banked up with sand, and defended by a large detachment of Neapolitan troops. This service was likewise executed under the direc-. tions of Lieutenant Travers, whose intrepidity and judgment we shall hereafter have frequent occasion to notice. The above capture led to one of still greater importance, as will be seen by Captain Duncan’s official report to Rear-Admiral Freemantle, dated at Melazzo, in Sicily, Nov. 7, 1811:–
