no one knew any thing of, they arrived within range of the enemy, whose vessels were drawn up in a line, close to the shore, and who immediately opened a heavy fire. Nothing could exceed the mortification of the British, when, on endeavouring to close, they found the Danes protected by a sandbank in their front, and that the narrow channel in which they lay, could be only entered at spring tides, and with the aid of experienced pilots. Lieutenant Haultain, two of whose vessels had got aground, was therefore obliged to content himself with endeavouring to destroy them, in which he persevered for two hours, during which nearly the whole of his ammunition was expended, and several of his officers and men killed and wounded; among the former, a midshipman of la Desirée; and among the latter. Lieutenant Francis Darby Romney, commanding a gun-boat. Having at length driven two of the Danish vessels on shore, and finding the tide ebb rapidly, he reluctantly abandoned his gallant enterprise, and returned to the squadron off Cuxhaven; on rejoining which, he received the approbation and thanks of Captain Farquhar, than whom no one more lamented, that the situation of the enemy precluded the possibility of success in such an undertaking.
About this time, Lieutenant Haultain had a narrow escape from drowning. Having been called on board la Desirée by signal, in endeavouring to reach the ship, the tide running nine or ten miles an hour, his boat, a small two-oared punt, upset, and one of his crew perished: the other man and himself were fortunate enough to reach the launch astern of the frigate, and thus escaped a similar dreadful fate.
In the following month, the gun-boat under the immediate command of Lieutenant Haultain, with three others, having suffered much by recent gales, and the firing of their exceeding heavy guns, were considered not seaworthy, and ordered to be laid up at Heligoland. Disliking the idea of going home while there was a probability of any thing to do; and hearing that the allies, under the Crown Prince of Sweden, were advancing, he wrote for, and obtained permission to join them as a volunteer. On his arrival at Bremen, he was at-
