troops under General Maitland to assist the royalists.
Next day, the squadron arrived and anchored; and on
the 4th, the forts on the peninsula were attacked and
silenced by the Thames, 32, with some of the
small craft; and destroyed by a party of troops.
Several vessels, taken at the same time, were brought
off or scuttled. Very early on the morning of
the 6th, the armed launches, and a division of small
craft, were sent away under Lieutenant Pilford, of
the Impetueux, which completed the destruction
of the shipping in the Morbihan, bringing off six prizes,
and destroying several others, among which was the
Insolente, 16-gun brig. They landed at
the same time about three hundred troops, who carried
and dismantled a fort. The whole service was
effected with the loss of two men killed on board
the Thames, and one in the boats. By this
time, it was placed beyond doubt that the invalids
were not strong enough to warrant a descent.
Sir Edward, therefore, proposed an immediate attack
on Belleisle, which had long been a favourite object
with him, from a conviction that nothing would enable
the British to harass the enemy more effectually than
the possession of that island. He earnestly combated
the doubts of the General, and pressed the point with
all the energy of his character. Filled with
the ardour so naturally inspired by the opportunity
to attempt a long-cherished enterprise, he exclaimed,
“I will be everywhere at your side, only let
us attack the place without delay.” But
the General, who could not feel that confidence founded
on a knowledge of the place, which Sir Edward had
gained from having long cruised in the neighbourhood;
and who well knew the difficulty and loss which a
much larger force had formerly experienced in taking
it, objected to the attempt, and the enemy in a few
days decided the question by strongly reinforcing
the garrison. The troops were then landed upon
the small island of Houat, about two leagues to the
south-east of Quiberon Point, where they remained encamped,
while Sir Edward cruised with his squadron off Port
Louis.
Towards the end of July, Mr. Coghlan, who had assisted Sir Edward in saving the people from the Dutton, and was now commanding the Viper cutter, tender to the Impetueux, with the rank of acting lieutenant, proposed and obtained permission to cut out a brig of war, which lay moored within the port. Accordingly, with twelve volunteers from the Impetueux, and a midshipman and six men from the Viper, in the line-of-battle ship’s ten-oared cutter, a boat from the Viper, and another from the Amethyst frigate, he went away on the night of the 26th to attack a national brig of seven guns, three of them long twenty-four pounders, and with eighty-seven men on board.