Journal of Occurrences ut Dominica. glad to see as many of them as volunteered to encounter the hardships of a siege. The two companies under Captains Armatrading and Beech, immediately marched off with three cheers, the rest returning with the Colonel to Roseau. · General Prevost, immediately on his arrival at Prince Rupert's, proceeded to put every thing in the best state for defending that strong post, to the last extremity. Colonel Broughton had already got a large supply of water into the tanks, (there being no spring within the garrison) and cattle were driven in from every part of the neighbourhood; he was, however, greatly disappointed at not being joined by the officer of artillery and his men, who had been induced to return to Roseau, and surrender, from being informed by some of the militia who had returned, that the roads were impassable. In the present state of the garrison they would have been invaluable, as there were only seven or eight artillery-men in the fort, and no officer; but the great mind of General Prevost was never at a loss for resources; he immediately appointed Mr. Johannet and Lieutenant Schawt, who had behaved so well on the 22d, to the charge of the artillery, and ordered an additional number of men of the 46th regiment, to be trained to the guns, who were soon, by his unremitted attention, reported fit for service. The French, on their part, were employed on the 23d, in refreshing themselves after their hard fighting; some of them were pressing negroes, to bury the dead at Point Michell; many appeared intoxicated, and were seen wandering about wherever they chose; whilst others, with officers at their head, were plundering the miserable inhabitants of what the fire had left. They dismissed the militia, ordering them to appear in coloured clothes, and the officers were liberated, on signing their parole, not to serve against Le Grange's army. On the 23d an officer was dispatched to Prince Rupert's, with a summons to General Prevost. The officer did not go himself, but sent a negro messenger: the general returned a polite answer to the summons, but declined complying with their demand, being determined to hold out to the last extremity. On the 24th, the Council and Assembly of the island were convened by order of the French general, and a contribution imposed, of £20,000 currency, which was required to be paid in 24 hours; and in order to enforce immediate compliance, a frigate was anchored under the fort, and the gentlemen were informed, if the money was not forth-coming at the appointed time, they would be put on board, and imprisoned at Guadaloupe. They saw it was in vain to resist, but declared, that owing to the destruction of the town by fire, that sum could not be raised; after much threatening they agreed to accept of £7000, which was paid them accordingly. In the afternoon of this day, and during the whole of the 25th, they were busily employed in shipping king's stores out of the commissariat, 'to * Acting Paymaster, first West India regiment, who had served as an officer of artillery during the American war. + Lieutenant Schaw commanded the party attached to the battalion guns of the regiment, and consequently knew something of the business before. Journal of Occurrences at Dominica. which the fire had not extended, and every other article of value they could lay hands on about the town. They had also been preparing all the merchant vessels found in the harbour, for sea, as the most of them were lying with sails unbent, waiting to take in cargoes for Europe: one ship they burnt, and the rest, consisting of about twenty sail, principally square-rigged vessels, they carried with them to Guadaloupe, where they were sold; several of them had just arrived from England, and had very valuable cargoes on board. One large ship with king's stores and some heavy cannon for Prince Rupert's was particularly valuable to the captors, and a very great loss to us. It is but justice to say, that during the stay of Le Grange's army at Roseau, they behaved, on the whole, better than was expected of them; they treated Major Nunn, who was lingering under the mortal wound he received on the 22d, with the greatest kindness; placed a guard at the house to prevent noise, and returned his sword, which he had sent to the French general; nor did the writer of this ever hear that any personal outrage was offered to any of the inhabitants, male or female. On their departure, however, they carried away a considerable number of negroes, some, no doubt, had wished to go with them, but the greater part had been taken off forcibly: some of them who had been landed in Martinique, were returned in a flag of truce, by Villaret, the governor of the island, much to his honour. On the evening of the 26th, the whole squadron, with their prizes, (the troops having been embarked in the morning), stood away for Guadaloupe; next morning, however, they appeared off Prince Rupert's, where it was afterwards learned they held a council of war, at which General Erneuf who had joined with some troops from Guadaloupe, of which he was governor, urged the attack of that garrison, and offered to head it; but it seems the admiral would not risk his ships, which must have been severely handled, and the attempt was given up. After manoeuvring nearly the whole of the 27th, they bore away for Guadaloupe. Thus ended their attempt upon Dominica, which, formidable as was their force, was saved by the determined bravery of a handful of men, led on by a commander whose perpetual vigilance prevented surprise, and whose known merit inspired the utmost confidence in all. The behaviour of the regular troops, very few of whom, either officers or men, had seen active service before, was beyond all praise, and was highly extolled by the general. The militia corps also behaved with the greatest spirit, and the companies who made good their retreat to Prince Rupert's, were particularly noticed in the general orders. Captains Armatrading and Beech, Lieutenant Robinson, Ensigns Hardy and Bruce, who followed the general, received the applause they so well merited. Captain Laing, with the light company of the St. George's militia, remained at the river side the whole day, and were not engaged. Having no orders sent them, they remained at their post until a large body of the enemy made their retreat to Morne Brune necessary. The general had sent back for a detachment of *This universally esteemed young man has since fallen a victim to the West India climate, Journal of Occurrences at Dominica. them after he began his retreat, fearing some of the enemy's light troops would cut him off, and they went on to Prince Rupert's: the rest of the company were much mortified that they had no share in the glory of the day. On the 28th, when the enemy's fleet were out of sight, and it was ascertained that they had embarked their whole force, and abandoned Roseau, the General sent up the Maria tender to the Commodore's ship the Centaur, which had got into Prince Rupert's, in spite of the French cruizers, with a detachment of troops composed of the 46th regiment of light infantry, and the first West India regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Wallis; to take possession of Fort Young, and preserve order in the town. The guns had been spiked, and the ammunition and every thing else destroyed as much as possible; but in the course of a few hours, by the activity of Mr. Wallis, the spikes were drawn, ammunition received from Prince Rupert's, and the fort put into a respectable state of defence. As the militia had lost their arms it was of the utmost importance to have a regular force, however small, as the enemy's small privateers, knowing the defenceless state of the town, or even the negroes, might have plundered without annoyance. The acting commissary was sent up from Prince Rupert's, to purchase every cargo of provisions which arrived, for the supply of that garrison, as the king's stores at Roseau were completely emptied. The general, since his arrival at Prince Rupert's, had taken every measure to strengthen that garrison, which is naturally very strong; the loss of the store ship was, however, very severely felt. From the 28th of February until about the 8th of March, the French admiral kept his frigates and smaller vessels constantly cruizing, and occasionally some of the line of battle ships: half of the 26th demi-brigade were landed at Guadaloupe, and the other at Martinique; General Erneuf having arged another attempt on Dominica in vain, as the admiral constantly refused to risk his ships; and without their assistance, there was but little hope of reducing it, unless by blockade, as there were now above 1500 regular troops in garrison, of whose courage they had received a pretty good sample, and the information of the expected arrival of an English squadron of equal force, made them abandon the idea of blocade. During their stay at Guadaloupe, we continued in a most anxious state in the garrison, waiting, on the one hand, for their next movement, and on the other, being in daily expectation of the arrival of an English fleet in pursuit of them. On the 3d of March three English frigates, with a reinforcement of troops, arrived at Prince Rupert's from Barbadoes, which were not received by the commanding officer, Colonel Broughton, (General Prevost having gone to Roseau, on colonial business) and they proceeded on to Antigua, where they. were very joyfully received. Sir Samuel Hood, the commander of our naval forces, had constantly kept the sea with the Centaur, of 74 guns, and such Journal of Occurrences at Dominica. frigates and sloops as he could collect, but the enemy never looked after them, although so much superior. On the 14th, the packet from England arrived, under convoy of a frigate, and brought a reinforcement of 100 men of the York light infantry volunteers, under Major Muller, and a detachment of artillery commanded by Captain George Crawford†, which were much wanted. At the same time we heard that the enemy had taken all the shipping at St. Kitt's, Nevis, and Montserrat, and that they had levied contributions on these islands; great apprehensions had been entertained for Antigua, as it was thought they would endeavour to destroy the dock-yards at English harbour; but on leaving St. Kitt's they stood to the S. E. and it was conjectured meant suddenly to attack Barbadoes, which was left very bare of troops; but they went quietly into Martinique, from whence they sailed for France on the 18th, and on the 26th, Admiral Cochrane, with six sail of the line, reached Barbadoes, and immediately pursued them, but without effect: they landed the remainder of their troops at the city of St. Domingo, and got safe into Rochfort, the same port from whence they sailed, after a fine passage. So soon as we were informed of the arrival of Admiral Cochrane's squadron, we had no farther apprehensions of the enemy, knowing they would not return to face our fleet; the general immediately ordered up the militia, and six companies of the 46th regiment to Roseau; the remainder of the regiment were left under the command of Captain M'Kenzie, to do duty at Prince Rupert's. From the 1st of April nothing of consequence occurred until the 16th of May, the first fleet for Europe had been appointed to sail from Tortola on the 1st of June, and the Dominica ships were to sail from that island in the 20th of May. General Prevost having obtained leave of abscence, had embarked all his baggage on board the Hawkesbury, Captain Carr; Brigadier General Dalrymple, who had arrived lately from England, and who had commanded for a short time at St. Vincent's, had arrived on the 10th, to relieve him in the command of the troops, when, on the 16th, in the afternoon, a dispatch vessel from St. Lucia arrived with intelligence from General Brereton, that on the preceding day 15 sail of the line, besides frigates, had arrived at Fort Royal, Martinique, being composed of eight Spanish, and seven French sail of line of battle ships; they had sustained considerable damage from the fire of the Diamond rock, on which the commander, Captain Maurice, had displayed French colours, and decoyed them. under the guns: one Spanish ship of the line, in particular, which had separated and came down by herself next day, was very severely handled. Upon the receipt of this intelligence General Prevost immediately ordered martial law to be proclaimed, the whole of the militia of the island on permanent duty, all the 46th regiment quartered on Morne Bruce, with the exception of a captain's detachment, and he light infantry of the first West India regiment, and part of the St. George's regiment began their march immediately Now Lieutenant-colonel, Royals. † A very active officer. Journal of Occurrences at Dominica. for Prince Rupert's, the general intending to make no defence elsewhere. Brigadier-general Samuel Dalrymple proceeded to Prince Rupert's, in the garrison boat, with orders to assume the command of the garrison: General Prevost himself was to remain at Roseau, until the enemy should appear, or until he was certain the island would be attacked. The two companies of the St. George's militia took post at Point Round, where they remained to keep up the communication. At Prince Rupert's every means was used to put the place in the best possible state of defence. The troops amounted to 1200 regulars, including 40 artillery men, and 500 militia were ready to march in to join them. Plenty of water and provisions were speedily got into the garrison, the whole of the first West India regiment being employed for some days on that service, and we were soon in a condition to have stood a four months siege. Until the 20th we heard nothing farther of the enemy, but saw some of their cruizers on that day. General Prevost arrived in the garrison boat, and we expected he had got some important information; however, it appeared he only came to see that every preparation was made in the garrison; he had only learned that the enemy's troops were very sickly, and that they were detaining all American vessels with provisions, in order to re-victual their fleet. On the forenoon of this day, we saw an enemy's line of battle ship, and two frigates passing down towards Guadaloupe, and at the same time another frigate standing up from that island, towards Prince Rupert's bay, which proved to be the Jason frigate, Captain Champain, just arrived on the station, and last from Tortola, having convoyed a fleet from Cork, and gone down to Surinam, with the ships bound there. She had heard nothing of the enemy's fleet, but knew the ships to leeward to be enemies; they allowed her to bear up for Prince Rupert's, without making any attempt to cut her off. The arrival of General Prevost diffused the greatest joy throughout the garrison, as in him every individual reposed the greatest confidence: the frigate was also a very seasonable reinforcement, as in case of an attack her crew would have been of most essential service at the batteries. General Prevost, after his arrival, reviewed the garrison, and closely inspected the works; he ordered parties from the first West India regiment to be employed daily in clearing the face of the inner Cabrite† of the brushwood, which might have afforded shelter to the enemy, in case of an attempt to storm. From the 20th we every day observed the enemy's cruizers passing and repassing, but none of our own. On the 25th a Swedish sloop, which the general had sent to gain information of the enemy's motions, returned with the intelligence, that they still continued in Fort Dr. Bremner, artillery surgeon, Mr. H. Gordon, of the commissariat department, Mr. Hater, ordnance store-keeper, were ordered down with the General to take charge of their respective departments. The two hills on which stands the fortress of Prince Rupert are named Cabarites, from the number of goats formerly seen running wild about them, |