rafts and canoes filled with combustibles, for the annoyance of the British shipping. “A detail of the operations of the column,” says Sir Archibald Campbell, “affords me another opportunity of bringing to the notice of the Right Honorable the Governor-General in Council, the judgment and decision of Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin and Captain Chads; and bearing no less honorable testimony to the irresistible intrepidity so often displayed both by soldiers and sailors on this expedition.”
The naval force employed consisted of the Satellite, Diana, Prince of Wales, fifteen row gun-boats, seven boats belonging to H.M. squadron, and several flats and canoes. The officers sent under Captain Chads were Lieutenants Dobson, Keele, Kellett, and Fraser; acting Lieutenants Goldfinch and William Hayhurst Hall; Mr. Lett, master’s-mate; Messrs. Norcok[errata 1], Winsor, Wyke, Biffin, Pickey, Reed, Coyde, Tomlinson, and Scott, midshipmen; and Mr. William Watt, surgeon of the Arachne, who had invariably volunteered, and been with Captain Chads on every previous service, and whose kind care of the sick and wounded was always unremitting.
On the 5th Feb., the troops selected for this service were embarked, and the expedition proceeded up the river. On the morning of the 6th, a flag of truce was sent forward with two Burmese prisoners, conveying a proclamation issued by Sir A. Campbell, which was received by the enemy, and replied to most respectfully, explaining the inability of the chief to surrender, in a language of mildness rarely used by this vain and barbarous people.
At 5 p.m., the Satellite, towed by the Diana, advanced upon the enemy’s position, which was a strong and imposing one, upon the point of a peninsula, forming a branch of the river going off at a right angle to Panlang, measuring three-quarters of a mile on its water front, built of teak-timber, very high, strongly stockaded, and abattised down to the water’s edge, but entirely open in the rear. The boats, in three divisions, were led by Lieutenants Keele, Kellett, and Fraser.
Errata:
- ↑ Correction: Norcok should be amended to Norcock
