338
commanders.
approach nearer to the shore than five leagues, I despatched the senior officer. Lieutenant John Fleming, accompanied by Lieutenant Peter John Douglas, the third; Lieutenant Mends of the marines, and Messrs. Daly, Lamb, Chalmers, and Hamilton, midshipmen, in three boats, with orders to scour the bay, and bring off such of the enemy’s vessels as they might fall in with. But from the distance they had to row, joined to the darkness of the night, and the uncertainty of their position, it was four o’clock in the morning before they could possibly arrive, long after the rising of the moon, which unfortunately gave the enemy warning of their approach, and ample time for preparation, even to the tricing up of their boarding nettings, and projecting sweeps to prevent the boats from coming alongside: although the alarm was thus given from one end of the bay to the other, and instantly communicated to the castle on shore, yet nothing could damp the ardour and gallantry of the officers and crew who had volunteered on this (as it ultimately proved) hazardous service; for that instant two of his Catholic Majesty’s brigs, one of twenty guns, and one hundred and eighty men, the other of twelve guns and ninety men, accompanied by an armed schooner of eight, and supported by seven gunboats of two guns each, slipped their cables, and commenced a most severe and heavy cannonading on the three boats, which must soon have annihilated them, had not Lieutenant Fleming, with great presence of mind, and unchecked ardour, most boldly dashed on, and instantly laid the nearest brig on board. He was so quickly supported by his friend, Lieutenant Douglas, in the barge, and Mr. Lamb, in the pinnace, that they carried her in ten minutes, notwithstanding the very powerful resistance they met with. The whole of this little flotilla pursued them for some distance, keeping up a constant fire of guns and musketry, which was so smartly returned both by the brig and boats, that they soon retired to their former position, leaving Lieutenant Fleming in quiet possession of his prize, which proved to be the Spanish monarch’s brig Raposa, pierced for sixteen, but only twelve guns mounted, exclusive of cohorns, swivels, and numerous small arms, with a complement of ninety men, but only seventy-five actually on board; the captain, Don Joaquin de la Cheva, with the senior lieutenant, the civil officers, and a boat’s crew, being absent on shore. She appears almost a new vessel, coppered, sails well, and, in my humble judgment, admirably calculated for His Majesty’s service. It is with the most heartfelt satisfaction I have to announce, that this service was performed with< out the loss of a single man, and only seven slightly wounded. But I lament to say, that that pleasure is, in a great measure, damped by the great effusion of blood on the part of the enemy, they having had an officer and four men killed, many jumped overboard and were drowned, and the commanding officer and twenty-five wounded; many of whom, I am sorry to add, are, in the surgeon’s opinion, mortally. I have, therefore, from motives of humanity, sent the whole of them on shore with a flag of truce, where the brave, but unfortunate wounded, can be better taken care of,
