Inspection of the Captain of the Antelope, and considerable injury appears to have been sustained; but miration and praise. I have great pleasure in conveying to their Lordships Captain Sir Home Popham's testimony to his distin guished merit, and to the zealous and active assistance which he received from Captain Brownrigg, Lieutenant Lake, and Mr. Bartholomew. MY LORD, (Signed) KEITH. Antelope, Downs, Dec. 10. I avail myself of the first moment of my return to the Downs to acquaint you, that towards noon on Saturday the 8th, the wind promised to come to the S. E. and knowing it to be your Lordship's intention to attack the enemy at every assailable point, I sent the Dart on the close of the evening, to an assigned station between Sengate and Fort Lapin, accompanied by the Susannah explosion-vessel and two carcases, with a view of making an assault against Fort Rouge. Lieutenant Steuart, of the Monarch, commanded the explosion-vessel: Mr. Bartholomew, acting Lieutenant of the Antelope, had the charge of the first carcass intended to be applied, and Captain Brownrigg requested to take the other. Your Lordship is aware how difficult it is to ascertain the precise injury done to the enemy in an enterprise of this nature, which, in most cases, must be undertaken in the night; but that you may be possessed of the best information in that respect, I sent the Fox cutter, whose Master is an active intelligent man, and well acquainted with Fort Rouge, to reconnoitre the place as close as possible without risk; and I annex his report to Lieutenant Steuart's, as the clearest account that can be given of the able and officer-like manner in which the Susannah was placed, and the evident consequences of such an application, even under circumstances of considerable disadvantage. I very much regret that Mr. Bartholomew could not fetch the port; for I am positive he would have lashed the carcass to the piles: he, however, very prudently returned with it to the Dart; and although something prevented the second carFf2 cass as two of the explosion-vessels, in consequence of the state of the weather and tide, could not be brought up, it must be allowed that the public expectation was not fully gratified. On the other cass from going off, which evidently had been striking against the piles, from the indention at one end, yet he recovered and brought it also on board. Lam most perfectly satisfied with the zeal and activity which Captain Brownrigg manifested on this occasion; the Dart was admirably placed, and every assistance afforded from her that could insure the success of this service, which must now be considered as confined to the efforts of the Susannah; and I take this opportunity of most particularly recommending Lieutenant Steuart to your Lordship's notice; which, I hope, will also be extended to Mr. Bartholomew, notwithstanding he could not fetch the battery; and your Lordship must be alive to the enterprising conduct of these two officers on a former occasion. I cannot conclude my report without assuring your lordship, that Lieutenant Lake, of the Locust gun-brig, who was appointed to cover the gun-boats, behaved in a most exemplary manner, by keeping so close in as to draw all the fire upon his own vessel; and I have great satisfaction in stating, that not an officer or man was hurt in this operation. I have the honour to be, &c. SIR, (Signed) HOME POPHAM, His Majesty's ship Dart, Dec. 10. In pursuance of your instructions, and according to the arrangement you made for the attempt on Fort Rouge only, I left this ship at two A. M. and proceeded in shore with the explosion-vessel in my charge, until the water shoaled to two and a half fathoms, when I tacked, and stood off so as to enable me to fetch the battery, which I did about half-past two, and placing her bowsprit between the piles, left her in that situation. In a few minutes I observed her swing with her broadside to the battery, in consequence of the bowsprit being carried away; and as an anchor was dropped the instant she struck the piles, I had. not hand, it must be confessed, that a fair trial, under favourable circumstances, of this new combination of mechanics and gun-powder, has not yet been made.* not the smallest doubt of her remaining there until the explosion took place, which was in a few minutes. I could not fetch the covering brig, and as it had every appearance of coming on to blow from the S. E. in which quarter it was when I left the Dart, I hope you will excuse my running in the galley to the Downs. I have the honour to be, &c. 1 (Signed) HEW STEUART. SIR According to your order, I proceeded off Fort Rouge, and examined it very strictly. As I proceeded towards the shore I saw a great quantity of plank and timber floating, and would have picked up some, but was afraid I should lose the tide, as I wished to examine it at low water. In standing in I could discern a great number of people all around the S. W. end of the fort, and from the West head all the way to the Sand Hills. I did not discover any alteration on the east side of the fort; but when I got to the westward of the fort, I could plainly discover the most part of it to be damaged, and the breast-work knocked down; and I have every reason to believe it was very much injured, by such a number of people being assembled there, and seeming at work upon it. The failure of a single experiment affords no decisive proof of the inefficacy of any new process. We shall produce a proof of this from the history of modern warfare: About the latter end of the fifteenth century, a Genoese officer, while besieging Seresanella, a castle belonging to the Florentines, attempted to introduce a mine under the walls, with intent to blow the place up by means of gun-powder. He did not succeed, however, and the project appears to have been abandoned until 1503, when Peter Navarro obtained possession of the castle Del Ovo by the means just alluded to. Ff3 Soon Soon after this Sir Home joined the Channel fleet, and it was intended that he should be entrusted with a separate command, but as an inquiry was depending, it was deemed proper on due consideration to wait the result. A select committee having been chosen for this purpose, the members after a long and minute investigation, agreed to two reports, which were ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, on the 24th of June 1805. It appeared from these: 1st. That several of the Commissioners of the Navy Board had been induced to subscribe their signatures to the report from that office already alluded to, without any previous examination, in consequence of the reliance placed on the accuracy and ability of one of their members who had drawn it up. 2. That the pamphlet entitled, "An Answer to a printed Paper called, A Concise Statement of Facts,' was published by Mr. Benjamin Tucker, with the concurrence of Lord St. Vincent, to whom it had been shewn in manuscript. 3. That several of the vouchers on which the report of the Navy board relative to Sir Home Popham was framed had been lost, and could not be produced. 4. That no precedent had been adduced to support the forcible seizure of Mr. Bartholomew, who had acted as a Master's Mate on board the Romney, and was seized by a press-gang, stationed at the Admiralty for that purpose; and that it was the concurring opinion of three nayal officers, viz. Admiral Berkeley, Berkeley, and Captains Cardin and Winthorp, that it was contrary to the usage of the navy; the first in particular describing it "to be a most arbitrary act, that must disgust all young men who have nothing but their merits to recommend them, and likely therefore to be highly injurious to his Majesty's service."* Abridgment of the First Report from the Committee relative to Sir Hoine Popham, &c. : Your committee having taken into consideration that part of the reference which relates to the repairs and stores of the Rom ney and Sensible, find, from the papers referred to them, and the evidence they have received, that there does not appear any ground whatever to impute to Sir Home Popham any fraud or connivance at any fraudulent or corrupt practice whatsoever, With respect to the Sensible, your committee observe, that Sir Home Popham appears to have ordered that ship to proceed to Calcutta from the Red Sea (instead of sending her to be repaired at Bombay) for the purpose of furnishing a convoy to several transports and merchantmen bound to Bengal: that he gave to her commanding officer Captain Sauce, at Calcutta, orders dated the 11th of October 1801, "to use his utmost exertions to repair the said ship," and "to complete her with six months stores ;" and that as Captain Sause never rejoined him after the execution of those orders, Sir Home Popham cannot be considered answerable for the manner in which they were executed. Your committee do not mean, by this remark, to impute any blame to Captain Sause, not having considered any transaction relating to the Sensible, as the subject of the reference made to them, further than as such transaction could be connected with the conduct of Sir Home Popham. Your committee observe, that Sir Home Popham appears to have gone on shore, from the Romney, a few days after her ar rival in the river Hughly, in August 1801, and before her arri vai atayapour: and to have proceeded up the country in compliance with the desires of Marquis Wellesley (with whom he was specially directed by his instructions to communicate) for the Ff4 purpose |