tide, to bear the full brunt of the British fire. "Foiled in its intention of getting between the Islands, when each would be exposed to the fire of the other, it passed quickly to the westward of the West Island, pulling up on the northern side of that island, the defence of which was almost wholly dependent on the flanking fire of the East Island, and made another determined effort to land." This was the critical period of the attack, since the French had succeeded in finding something very like a dead angle, where they were to a great extent out of fire. But Lieut. Bourne, in the East Island, though his guns would not bear directly on the enemy, fired some sixty-eight pounders which he had, right over his comrades in the West Island, and the French, bearing too much to the north, he was enabled to again flank them with disastrous results. The Commodore of this Division of the attack had the entire side of his vessel battered in, and it sank incontinently, | and beaten and discomfited, the whole armada drew off towards La Hogue, amidst the cheers and derisive taunts of the British seamen and Marines, who formed the little garrison, only 400 strong, and who had only fifty guns, mostly of small calibre, to oppose to the numerous artillery of the enemy. Lieut. Price's report concludes as follows:-"I am pleased to acquaint you, that Lieutenant Ensor, who commands the party of Marines under my command, behaved, with his men, in a very extraordinary good officer-like manner, having the whole face of the redoubt to attend to. Lieutenant Maughan, with a detachment of twenty-two Marines lent me from the Adamant, commanding the two detached guns and a block-house, did great execution; and it is impossible for me to describe the steady, good behaviour of Sergeant Henderson with the nine Artillery gunners,* Marines and seamen. I am sorry to announce the death of Thomas Hall, Private Marine, killed; Richard Dunn and Peter Harrison, Marines, wounded; and Thomas Banks, seaman, wounded. But considering our receiving the fire of near eighty heavy bore guns, from thirty-six to eighteen pounders, for upwards of two hours, I look upon our damage as not great. We had four guns dismounted, but I got them fit for service before night."

So ended the defence of St. Marcou, a somewhat unique instance of a victorious defence against overwhelming numbers.

The islands remained in the possession of the British for some years, apparently held by the same garrison, since, on 16th September, 1800, Lieutenant Price, R.N., of H.M.S. Badger, forwarded the following report on a gallant action by 2nd Lieutenant John M'Callum, of the Marines, who had also been present at the defence of the islands which has just been recorded.

"H.M.S. Badger,

"At St. Marcou.

"Sir, "I beg leave to represent to you for the information of their lordships, the account of a very gallant action performed yesterday by two of the boats belonging to His Majesty's gunvessel, within four miles of the West Island, under the command of Lieutenant M'Callum, of the Marines. About 2 p.m., of the 15th, I observed

1 Jones' Military Dictionary.

2 As this was before the creation of the Marine Artillery, these gunners must have been lent from the Army, and possibly or probably Sergt. Henderson was a soldier also.

a long lugger between Isigny and us, and thought I could cut her off from La Hogue: I directed Lieutenant M'Callum with 24 picked men in my ten-oared galley, and six-oared cutter, to endeavour to board her, and directed Lieutenant Stevens (by signal) to slip over and cover the boats with H.M. gun brig Sparkler, then for all boats manned and armed to support the leading boats. The service was so well performed, that the Sparkler took the fire of two batteries of two twentyfour pounders, and two twelve pounders, which prevented its being directed against the boats; the lugger perceiving the boats determined, lowered her sails, rowed on shore, cut away all her masts and rigging, and got on shore; our cutter immediately boarded her under the fire of several hundred musketry, and towed her off. She proves to be La Victoire, privateer (row-boat), Captain Barier, belonging to Boulogne, mounting four swivels, rows twenty-six oars, quite new from appearance, had at least forty men on board; she is sixty feet long, nine feet beam, and the completest boat for the service of the islands that could possibly be constructed. In performing this, I beg you will mention the gallant manner Lieutenant Stevens ran the gun-brig into two fathom water; kept up a continual fire for one hour under the batteries, which diverted their fire from the boats; Lieutenant M'Callum, of the Marines, who so determinedly led the boats; and the good conduct of the twenty-four men, who so well performed the service; and, from the continual fire of musketry, I am happy to find so small a loss as my gunner's mate wounded by a musket ball in the shoulder. The Sparkler has received no other damage than a few shot through her sails, and some of her rigging cut.

Evan Nepean, Esqr.,
Admiralty."

"I am, etc.,

CHAS. P. PRICE.

The marksmanship of the enemy with both gun and musket seems to have been extraordinarily feeble.

DEFENCE OF ACRE, 1797.

"The foe advano'd-in firm array

Stood Britain's chosen band,

And gallant Sidney led the way

O'er Syria's smoking sand.

There, as they writhed in death's cold grasp,

We cried-'Our choice is made:

Our hands the sabre's hilt shall grasp

Your hearts shall have the blade!'"-" Dibdin-The Siege of Acre."

In the early part of 1799, Napoleon Buonaparte, having practically subjugated the whole of Egypt, turned his attention to Syria, a Turkish Province, ruled over by Achmet Djezzar, whose seat of Government was established at St. Jean d'Acre, a city on the sea coast rendered famous by the exploits of Richard Coeur de Lion.

Ibrahim Bey, the late Viceroy of Egypt, had taken refuge with him on being driven out by Napoleon, and the latter had written to Djezzar as follows:

"I do not desire to make war if you are not my enemy, but you must explain yourself. Your continuing to afford refuge to Ibrahim Bey, and allowing him to remain on the frontiers of Egypt, will be considered by me as an act of hostility, and I shall in that case march to Acre." Djezzar returned no answer at all, and as he had previously refused to give an audience to Colonel Beauvoisins, who had been sent to Acre with a similar message, Buonaparte marched from Cairo with an army of 13,000 men, thirty-seven field-pieces, and eleven howitzers, to effect the conquest of Syria, and by the 18th February this force had assembled at El Arish. But the great French general had reckoned without Sir Sidney Smith, who was not only Commodore of the British squadron in the Eastern Mediterranean, but jointly with his brother, Mr. Spencer Smith, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Sublime Porte, was about this time at Constantinople arranging a plan of active co-operation with the Turks in Egypt. On 3rd March, he arrived at Alexandria in the Tigre 74, to be greeted by the news of Buonaparte's Syrian Expedition, and heard that he had that very day taken Jaffa by storm. He at once signalled the Theseus-another 74-to get under weigh, and proceed to Acre, and sent in her Colonel Philipeaux,1 a French royalist officer of Engineers, who, like Dumorier, had entered the English Service. A few days later he followed himself in the Tigre, and forty-eight hours after his arrival off Acre, the French advanced guard, mounted on asses and dromedaries, was seen marching round the base of Mount Carmel, and was fired upon and driven off by the Tigre's launch. Almost simultaneously, the look-outs on board reported several sail coming up the coast. These proved to be a Corvette and nine sailing gunboats bringing up the French siege guns and equipage, nearly the whole of which fell into the hands of Sir Sidney Smith, who at once made chase and captured seven of the sailing vessels with their cargoes. The heavy cannon which the French had intended to use in their attack on Acre were now mounted on its walls, and proved very useful in its defence, while the gunboats themselves, manned with British crews, constantly impeded the French siege operations by their fire, and flanked their approaches to the town. Thanks to the loss of their heavy artillery the besiegers were only able to arm their batteries with twelve pounders and five-inch mortars, which were unable to make any very great impression on the walls of Acre, which, under the able direction of Colonel Philipeaux, seconded by the British Naval and Marine Officers, had been put into as good a state of defence as had been possible in the time. But the French were impatient, and having opened fire on 20th March, determined to assault a tower at the east salient angle of the town, the counterscarp of which they thought they had blown in to fill the ditch, and in which they fancied they had made a practicable breach. But their stormers found that the counterscarp was almost untouched, that the ditch-15 feet wide-yawned at their feet, while they would have six feet of sheer wall to get up before they arrived at the foot of the breach. But led on by three dauntless officers, Mailley, Lescalles and Langier, they attempted the impossible, and all perished under an avalanche of stones, grenades, and musketry fire.

1 This officer had been a schoolfellow of Napoleon's at Brienne.