DESCENT ON GUADALOUPE.

The whole armament having abandoned the design on Martinique, directed their course to Guadeloupe, another of the Caribbee islands, lying at the distance of thirty leagues to the westward, about fifteen leagues in length, and twelve in breadth; divided into two parts by a small channel, which the inhabitants cross in a ferry-boat. The western division is known by the name of Basseterre; and here the metropolis stands, defended by the citadel and other fortifications. The eastern part, called Grandterre, is destitute of fresh water, which abounds in the other division; and is defended by fort Louis, with a redoubt, which commands the road in the district of Gosier. The cut, or canal, that separates the two parts, is distinguished by the appellation of the Salt-river, having a road or bay at each end; namely, the great Cul de Sac, and the small Cul de Sac. Gua-daloupe is encumbered with high mountains and precipices, to which the inhabitants used to convey their valuable effects in time of danger; but here are also beautiful plains watered by brooks and rivers, which fertilize the soil, enabling it to produce a great quantity of sugar, cotton, indigo, tobacco, and cassia; besides plenty of rice, potatoes, all kinds of pulse, and fruit peculiar to the island. The country is populous and flourishing, and the government comprehends two smaller islands called All-Saints and Deseada, which appear at a small distance from the coast, on the eastern side of the island. The British squadron having arrived at Bassaterre, it was resolved to make a general attack by sea upon the citadel, the town, and other batteries by which it was defended. A disposition being made for this purpose, the large ships took their respective stations next morning, which was the twenty-third day of January. At nine, the Lion, commanded by captain Trelawney, began the engagement against a battery of nine guns; and the rest of the fleet continued to place themselves abreast of the other batteries and the citadel, which mounted forty-six cannon, besides two mortars. The action in a little time became general, and was maintained on both sides for several hours with great vivacity; while the commodore, who had shifted his pendant into the Woolwrch frigate, kept aloof without gun-shot, that he might be the more disengaged to view the state of the battle, * and give his orders with the greater deliberation.

* He shifted lus broad pendant on board the Woolwich, as
well to direct and keep the transports together in a proper
posture for the landing of the troops, as to cover the
disembarkation; and also to consult proper measures with the
general, who saw the necessity of Mr. Moore’s being with
him; and requested that he, with the other general officers
and engineers, might be admitted on board the Woolwich, in
order to consult, and take the earliest opportunity of
landing the troops, as the service necessarily required.

This expedient of an admiral’s removing his flag, and retiring from the action while his own ship is engaged, however consonant to reason., we do not remember to have seen practised upon any occasion, except in one instance, at Carthagena, where sir Chaloner Ogle quitted his own ship, when she was ordered to stand in and cannonade the fort of Boca-Chica. In this present attack, all the sea-commanders behaved with extraordinary spirit and resolution, particularly the captains Leslie, Burnet, Gayton, Jekyll, Trelawney, and Shuldam, who, in the hottest tumult of the action, distinguished themselves equally by their courage, impetuosity, and deliberation. About five in the afternoon the fire of the citadel slackened. The Burford and Berwick were driven out to sea: so that captain Shuldam, in the Panther, was unsustained; and two batteries played upon the Rippon, captain Jekyll, who, by two in the afternoon, silenced the guns of one, called the Morne-rouge; but at the same time could not prevent his ship from running aground. The enemy perceiving her disaster, assembled in great numbers on the hill, and lined the trenches, from whence they poured in, a severe fire of musketry. The militia afterwards brought up a cannon of eighteen pound ball, and for two hours raked her fore and aft with considerable effect: nevertheless, captain Jekyll returned the fire with equal courage and perseverance, though his people dropped on every side, until all his grape-shot and wadding were expended, and all his rigging cut to pieces; to crown his misfortune, a box, containing nine hundred cartridges, blew up on the poop, and set the ship on fire: which, however, was soon extinguished. In the meantime, the captain threw out a signal of distress, to which no regard was paid,* till captain Leslie of the Bristol, coming from sea, and observing his situation, ran in between the Rippon and the battery, and engaged with such impetuosity, as made an immediate diversion in favour of captain Jekyll, whose ship remained aground, notwithstanding all the assistance that could be given, till midnight, when she floated, and escaped from the very jaws of destruction.

* In all probability it was not perceived by the Commodore.

At seven in the evening, all the other large ships, having silenced the guns to which they had been respectively opposed, joined the rest of the fleet. The four bombs being anchored near the shore, began to ply the town with shells and carcasses; so that in a little time the houses were in flames, the magazines of gunpowder blew up with the most terrible explosion; and about ten o’clock the whole place blazed out in one general conflagration. Next day, at two in the afternoon, the fleet came to an anchor in the road of Bassaterre, where they found the hulls of divers ships which the enemy had set on fire at their approach: several ships turned out and endeavoured to escape, but were intercepted and taken by the English squadron. At five, the troops landed without opposition, and took possession of the town and citadel, which they found entirely abandoned. They learned from a Genoese deserter, that the regular troops of the island consisted of five companies only, the number of the whole not exceeding one hundred men; and that they had lain a train to blow up the powder magazine in the citadel: but had been obliged to retreat with such precipitation as did not permit them to execute this design. The train was immediately cut off, and the magazine secured. The nails with which they had spiked up their cannon were drilled out by the matrosses; and in the meantime the British colours were hoisted on the parapet. Part of the troops took possession of an advantageous post on an eminence, and part entered the town, Which still continued burning with great violence. In the morning at day-break, the enemy appeared, to the number of two thousand, about four miles from the town, as if they intended to throw up intrenchments in the neighbourhood of a house where the governor had fixed his head-quarters, declaring he would maintain his ground to the last extremity. To this resolution, indeed, he was encouraged by the nature of the ground, and the neighbourhood of a pass called the Dos d’Ane, a cleft through a mountainous ridge, opening a communication with Capesterre, a more level and beautiful part of the island. The ascent from Basseterre to this pass was so very steep, and the way so broken and interrupted by rocks and gullies, that there was no prospect of attacking it with success, except at the first landing, when the inhabitants were under the dominion of a panic. They very soon recovered their spirits and recollection, assembled and fortified themselves among the hills, armed and arrayed their negroes, and affected to hold the invaders at defiance. A flag of truce being sent, with offers of terms to their governor, the chevalier d’Etriel, he rejected them in a letter, with which his subsequent conduct but ill agreed. 504 [See note 3 U, at the end of this Vol.] Indeed, from the beginning his deportment had been such as gave a very unfavourable impression of his character. When the British squadron advanced to the attack, instead of visiting in person the citadel and the batteries, in order to encourage and animate his people by his exhortation and example, he retired out of the reach of danger to a distant plantation, where he remained a tame spectator of the destruction in which his principal town and citadel were involved. Next morning, when he ought to have exerted himself in preventing the disembarkation of the English troops, who had a difficult shore and violent surf to surmount, and when he might have defended the intrenchments and lines which had been made to oppose their landing, he abandoned all these advantages, and took shelter among the mountains that were deemed inaccessible.

But, howsoever deficient the governor might have been in the article of courage, certain it is, the inhabitants behaved with great spirit and activity in defence of their country. They continually harassed the scouring detachments, by firing upon them from woods and sugar plantations, which last the English burned about their ears in resentment. Their armed negroes were very expert in this kind of bush fighting. The natives or militia appeared in considerable parties, and even encountered detached bodies of the British army. A lady of masculine courage, whose name was Ducharmy, having armed her slaves, they made several bold attempts upon an advanced post occupied by major Melville, and threw up intrenchments upon a hill opposite to the station of this officer, who had all along signalized himself by his uncommon intrepidity, vigilance, and conduct. At length the works of this virago were stormed by a regular detachment, which, after an obstinate and dangerous conflict, entered the intrenchment sword in hand, and burned the houses and plantations. Some of the enemy were killed, and a great number taken. Of the English detachment twelve soldiers were slain, and thirty wounded, including three subaltern officers, one of whom lost his arm. The greatest body of the enemy always appeared at the governor’s head-quarters, where they had raised a redoubt, and thrown up intrenchments. From these a considerable detachment advanced on the sixth day of February, in the morning, towards the citadel, and fell in with an English party, whom they engaged with great vivacity; but, after a short though warm dispute, they were obliged to retire with some loss. Without all doubt, the inhabitants of Guadaloupe pursued the most sensible plan that could possibly have been projected for their own safety. Instead of hazarding a general engagement against regular troops, in which they could have no prospect of success, they resolved to weary them out by maintaining a kind of petty war in separate parties, to alarm and harass the English with hard duty in a sultry climate, where they were but indifferently supplied with provisions and refreshments. Nor were their hopes in this particular disappointed. Both the army and the navy were invaded with fevers, and other diseases, epidemical in those hot countries; and the regimental hospitals were so crowded, that it was judged convenient to send five hundred sick men to the island of Antigua, where they might be properly attended.

GEORGE II. 1727-1760