arrival in west indies—cruise among the french islands—bombardment and capture of st. pierre, dominique—attack on bourbon—capture of forts—surrender of general rochambeau and the french garrison.
after a pleasant passage of thirty-four days we anchored in carlisle bay, barbadoes. two days after our arrival i had permission to go on shore with the gunner, who had been here before. i found the town not very extensive. the houses are built much in the same style as those at kingston, in jamaica, except that they have more garden ground. the streets are very sandy, but they are ornamented with a profusion of cocoa, plantain and banana trees, which afford a partial shade. it appeared to me that most of the people who inhabited bridge town maintained themselves by washing clothes. the women are well made and very indolent. the men are sufficiently conceited but active. i procured here a quantity of very pretty small sea-shells. they assort them very tastefully in cases, and for about two dollars you may purchase a tolerable collection. the natives of this island pride themselves on not being creoles, that is not being of the caribbean race, although it [pg 19]assuredly is one of the caribbean islands. if you are unfortunate enough to speak in favour of any of the other west indian islands in their presence, they immediately exclaim, “me tankey my god dat i needer crab nor creole, but true barbadeen born.” they drawl out their words most horribly. i happened one day to hear two of the dignity ladies of bridge town, as black as ink, returning the salutations of the morning. the first began by drawling out, “how you do dis maurning. i hope you berry well, m-a-a-m, but i tink you look a little p-a-a-le.” the other answered, “i tank you body, i hab berry b-a-a-d niete (night), but i better dis mording, i tank you, m-a-a-m.” this island is famed for its noyeau, guava jelly, candied fruits—particularly the pine-apple, which is put on table in glass cases—and its potted flying-fish, which i thought equal in flavour to potted pilchards. were i to make this assertion at mevagissey i fear i should stand but little chance of being invited to dine off star gazy pie2; but for fear my reader should be from that neighbourhood, i beg him to understand that i do not think them better, but, in my individual opinion, as good. after remaining among these true barbadian-born drawlers about ten days, we left them, and made sail for st. pierre dominique, where we anchored two days after. the manners and customs of the people at this island were totally different to those in vogue in [pg 20]barbadoes; all, with the exception of a few, spoke creole french.
this island is mountainous, but not very picturesque. it produces sugar which undergoes the process of being clayed—that is, after a great part of the molasses has been drained from it, it is put into forms made of clay, which extract the remaining moisture; it then becomes a beautiful straw colour; it is exported in cases. coffee also grows here, but not of the finest quality. we also saw abundance of different fruits. the purser purchased several tons of yams for the use of the ship’s crew, some of which weighed upwards of twenty pounds each. we bought for our mess some sweet potatoes, plantains, bananas, shaddocks, forbidden fruit, and limes. there were groves of oranges, but we had not time to visit them. we saw in the market melons, guavas, sour-sops, alligator-pears, love-apples and mangoes. i remarked that oxen were the only animals used for burthen. i did not see a single horse. the streets of the town of st. pierre are not laid out with much regularity, nor are the houses well built. i thought it an ugly town; it is, however, ornamented with a number of cocoanut-trees, some of which are forty and fifty feet high.
the general officer we brought from england and his suite left us at this place. the object of his visit was to raise a mongrel regiment for the purpose of acting against the french islands, as a fleet with troops from england was daily expected to effect their capture. we remained here a few [pg 21]days, and afterwards amused ourselves by cruising off the islands of martinique, guadaloupe, st. lucie and marie galante, but were not fortunate enough to effect any captures. we repaired a second time to st. pierre roads and received on board two companies of mongrels to transport to barbadoes. we wished them, and sometimes ourselves, in heaven. all the mids thought it a great pity that we had not fallen in with a first-class french frigate. we might have walked on board of her, said they, in such fine style. there were several women with the troops, some of whom had children at the breast. i pitied them, and endeavoured to assist them all in my power. for them to stay below was impossible, as we had almost as many soldiers on board as our ship’s company, and to keep their children quiet was equally difficult. to effect this they frequently gave them strong rum and water, which threw them into a state of stupor—poor, miserable little beings! after having these suffering people on board for five days we at length, to their relief and our great joy, arrived amongst our drawling—no, creole friends, and the following morning all the redcoats were disembarked. on the second day after our anchoring the expected fleet made its appearance. it consisted of the boyne, vice-admiral sir j. jervis, one 70 and two 64-gun ships, several frigates, sloops of war, bomb-ships, and transports with troops. we saluted the admiral, which he returned. all now was life and bustle, and in a short time the [pg 22]gun-boats were ready; each man-of-war received two flat boats to tow astern. in the latter end of february, 1794, we finally bid an affecting adieu to our yellow and black legged female friends at bridge town, who remained on the shore waving handkerchiefs much whiter than themselves until the fleet cleared the harbour. on making sail, needham’s fort, which commands the harbour, saluted the admiral, which he returned. the fleet and transports soon cleared the bay, when each ship took her station. it was a majestic sight to see so many vessels with all their canvas spread and swelling to a strong sea-breeze.
the second day we reached fort royale bay, martinique, in admirable order, and took french leave to let go our anchors out of range of the enemy’s shells. the nearest vessels of the fleet had been warmly saluted by pigeon island, as they were going in, which, however, we treated with contempt. on the third day after our arrival a frigate with a bomb-ship and three gun-boats engaged it, and three hours afterwards it capitulated. one of the sixty-four-gun ships, some frigates, and a bomb with transports, had gone round to subdue the northern part of the island. we were now all actively employed getting ready the gun and flat-bottomed boats for landing the troops, who were commanded by lieut.-gen. sir c. gray. the duke of kent shortly after arrived with some troops from halifax. as it was thought advisable to reduce some of the smaller towns before the attack [pg 23]on fort royale, we were ordered with one of the sixty-fours, two frigates, the bomb-ship and some gun-boats to assault the town of st. pierre. we gave three cheers in the cockpit on hearing this news. at daylight we weighed, and in the evening entered the bay of st. pierre; we were ordered to take off the hard knocks from the bomb by anchoring between her and the enemy. about 9 p.m. we all opened our fire as nearly as possible at the same time. it was a most brilliant sight; the bay was literally illuminated. the enemy’s batteries began to play with some trifling effect; this added to the splendour of the scene. the night, fortunately for us, was very dark, which made it difficult for them to strike us, as they could but imperfectly discern the object they fired at; this was evident, as they fired immediately after we did. our shot and shell could not fail every time we fired them, as we had taken the bearings of the principal places when we anchored. the cannonading ceased about 3 a.m., when all the enemy’s batteries, except one, struck their colours. this was in a great measure owing to our troops investing the back of the town. at four o’clock the remaining fort, finding the town had surrendered, hauled down the tricoloured flag. the losses on our part were twelve killed and twenty wounded. those of the enemy must have been considerable.
all the flat-bottomed boats and those belonging to the squadron were ordered to land a number of marines. i was in the first division. we landed [pg 24]about 7 a.m., and were astonished at the mischief our shot and shell had done. the roof of the municipality, or town house, was nearly knocked in. at the time some of the shells fell through it, all the wise men of the town were assembled under its, as they imagined, bomb-proof roof. two of them were killed and several wounded. the principal church had also suffered, as two sacrilegious shells had penetrated it and fallen near the altar. on entering it we found the models of three frigates. as they had not struck their colours, we did them that favour, and made prizes of them. there were also some pictures of grim-looking saints, which one of the sailors was endeavouring to unhook until another called out, “let them alone, jack, they’ll only bring you bad luck,” on which he desisted. this church was very dirty, and the ceilings of it filled with cobwebs; the priests had taken everything from the altar, as well as from the recesses or small chapels. a party of marines, with some artillerymen, took possession of the forts, and sentinels were stationed over the public buildings, and picquets round the town. terms of capitulation had been drawn out by the authorities, which, as the town was taken by assault, were not agreed to. all found in arms were considered prisoners of war; everything belonging to the republic was given up. the citizens were not molested, and allowed to keep their private effects. i was much amused at the genuine sang-froid, or more properly speaking, [pg 25]the french philosophy, of the people who kept the coffee-houses. they moved about as gay as if nothing had happened, everything was regularly paid for, and the most perfect discipline observed.
having taken on board some of the principal french officers and a party of our troops, we arrived at our former anchorage, fort royale bay, the next morning. fort royale, which was of considerable strength, had been bombarded for several days, when it was decided to carry it by storm. on the third day after our anchoring, at 3 a.m., the attack took place. the gun and flat-bottomed boats were covered by the bomb-ships and frigates. a landing was soon effected; the bamboo ladders for two men to mount abreast were placed against the outer bastion of the fort. the soldiers and sailors vied with each other who should mount first. unfortunately, some of the ladders gave way, and the men were precipitated to the ground; and, what was still more unfortunate, some few fell on the bayonets of those below and were shockingly wounded. in about ten minutes the outer works were carried, and a marine’s jacket, for want of other colours, was hoisted on the flagstaff. the enemy retreated to the inner work, but it availed them little. in less than a quarter of an hour they were compelled to give way. several of them were cut down by the sailors, who had thrown away their pistols after discharging them. most of them had abandoned their half-pikes before mounting, as they declared they were only in their [pg 26]way, and that they preferred the honest cutlass to any other weapon. the sailors and soldiers behaved well on this occasion; those who did not form the escalade covered those who did by firing incessant volleys of musketry, which brought down those of the enemy who were unwise enough to show their unlucky heads above the parapet. in about twenty minutes the british flags were floating on the flagstaffs, the french officers surrendered their swords, and were sent on board the boyne. i forgot to mention that an explosion had taken place in one of the magazines of the fort before we entered it, which killed and wounded more than fifty of the enemy. about ninety of the enemy were killed and more than twenty wounded. we had forty-six killed and wounded; among the number were eleven officers. we found in the harbour a frigate of thirty-six guns and a corvette fitted up as a receiving ship for the wounded. several merchant ships, loading with sugar when we first entered the bay, had relanded their cargoes. the warehouses were more than half filled with sugar, rum and coffee. a party of seamen were immediately employed to load the shipping.
the town had suffered considerably from the shells and shot. some of the houses were in ruins and the public buildings much damaged, particularly those in the dockyard.
we now encamped before and laid siege to the principal republican fort, commanded by the french [pg 27]general rochambeau. it had before been called “fort bourbon,” and had a garrison of 3,000 men.3
we had already taken one of its principal redoubts within gunshot of it and fort royale. a party of sailors who had the management of it under a lieutenant and three midshipmen, christened it by a name that would shock ladies’ ears. when the enemy’s shot fired at them were not too deeply entrenched in the ground, they dug them up and returned them, the middies first writing on them in chalk the names of those quack doctors who sold pills as a remedy for all complaints.
for the first fourteen days we all appeared to enjoy the novelty of our situation, although it was by no means an enviable one, as the shot and shell were flying about us in every direction, and it was no joke to scamper away from a bursting shell just as we had sat down to dinner. some were almost every day sent to “kingdom come” sooner than they expected. our camp on the plain before the enemy’s fort was picturesque enough; the officers only had tents or marquees, the sailors and soldiers made the most of their blankets. however, except when the dew fell heavily at night, these were quite sufficient. a few only suffered who were not of the strongest, and they were attacked by a low fever.
we had been before this fortress nearly three weeks, and were impatient to storm it, as what with casualties and the enemy’s shot we were losing the [pg 28]number of our mess faster than we liked, and, although our fire had been incessant, we had not been able to effect a breach of any considerable consequence. to give more facility to the operations the boyne landed some of her guns, and a party of sailors were ordered to draw them up, or rather they volunteered to do so. the guns were placed in an advanced fascine-intrenched battery, made by the pioneers and artillerymen during the night, within half a gun shot of the enemy. in getting them up they were either placed upon field carriages or sledges made out of the trunks of trees. the sailors, who were harnessed by twenties, soon had them in their places, and when they were mounted they gave three hearty cheers, which must have astonished the enemy. the guns soon after opened a most destructive fire on the nearest work, as we could see quantities of the wall fly like showers of hail. during the night we expected a sortie from the fort, and were provided for such an event. a constant fire from all the batteries was kept up all night; the shells were well directed, and an explosion took place in the enemy’s fort. at daylight we perceived that the advanced sailors’ battery had effected a considerable breach in the fort, and a consultation was held among the superior officers. when over, they acquainted the sailors and soldiers that they were determined to storm it the following night. the three cheers which followed this speech must have been heard for miles. at 10 a.m. we discerned a flag of truce advancing towards our [pg 29]lines, and shortly after a french superior officer with his aide-de-camp requested to speak to the commanding officer. as the enemy had ceased firing, we did the same. the purport of the flag of truce was that general rochambeau, finding it useless holding out any longer, wished to treat on terms, and requested a cessation of hostilities for twenty-four hours. the following morning the capitulation was arranged. at 10 a.m. the enemy marched out of the fort under arms, with drums beating and their colours flying, when we marched in and soon hoisted the colours of old england on the flag-staffs. the island was now entirely in our possession. the french garrison marched to fort royale, where they grounded their arms in the market-place. their superior officers were met by the admiral, sir c. gray, and the duke of kent, as well as other officers of the navy and army. in a few days afterwards they were embarked on board some of the transports and sent to france, the officers on parole, and the men not to serve until regularly exchanged.
