loss of their chief, the enemy again fell back, and sheltered themselves behind the sand-hills, and at the same moment Lieutenant Baker, with great skill and gallantry, anchored his vessel on their flank, and opened a well-directed fire. Finding that the sand-hills were no longer a protection, and that they were hemmed in between two fires, while it was impossible either to advance or retreat, the assailants held out a flag of truce, and offered to surrender upon terms; but Captain Maurice would listen to nothing less than an unconditional submission, and this corps laid down their arms and surrendered themselves prisoners of war.

The body of Danes who had attacked Fort Yorke having also meanwhile submitted, the prisoners, now more numerous than the small garrison, were no sooner secured than operations were commenced against the reserve, which had been seen retreating to the westward of the island. The governor took the field with Captain Torrens (who, though wounded, insisted on accompanying him); but, as their prisoners were so numerous, and they had no place of security in which to place them, Captain Maurice could only employ on this occasion the brigade of howitzers, under Lieutenants Richard C. Steele and John Besant, of the Royal Marine Artillery, (the former subaltern acting as adjutant,) and part of the light company commanded by Lieutenant Turnbull. When they arrived at the west end

of the island, they found that the enemy had formed on the beach, and were protected by fourteen gun-boats towed close to the shore. To attack such a force with four howitzers and forty men, seemed a useless sacrifice of brave men's lives, and Captain Maurice, therefore, with the advice of Captain Torrens, halted on the hills, from which he reluctantly saw the reserve embark under cover of the gun-boats, and the flotilla take a final leave of the island. The British loss was not so considerable as might have been expected from so desperate an attack; they having two killed and thirty wounded. The enemy suffered severely. Between thirty and forty of their dead were buried, and twenty-three wounded received into the hospital, most of whom underwent amputations. A great number were carried off the field in their boats. Major Melsteat, the Commandant, an officer of great distinction, fell in the field; Captain Borgan, the next in command, was wounded in the arm; Captain Prutz, Adjutant General to the Commander of the Forces in Jutland, lost both his legs, and, with three others, subsequently died. Thus, after a close combat of four hours and a half, the enemy received a most complete and decisive defeat, and fled back to their ports, with the loss of three pieces of cannon and upwards of 500 prisoners, a number greater by 150 men than the English garrison.

This gallant and successful defence was the

theme of universal praise: Captain Maurice received the highest approbation of the Admiralty, and Lieutenant Baker was promoted, as well as the officers of Marines who were engaged.

The Danish official narrative is very straightforward, and does not attempt to account for the repulse they experienced in any way but that most gratifying to the gallant garrison-viz., the dreadful fire which the English maintained, which rendered it impossible for their troops to advance. Besides three of their commanding officers, several others fell on the field of honour.

The English garrison consisted of 350 marines. One of these men had fired five times ineffectually at the Danish commandant, who advanced within pistol-shot, encouraging his troops; at the sixth discharge he brought him down, and, exclaiming, "Take that pinch of snuff, old fellow!" he immediately began to reload his piece with all the coolness imaginable.

A MIDSHIPMAN'S PRESENCE OF MIND.

In the year 1810, when a squadron of light frigates and sloops was blockading Corfu, the Kingfisher sloop, Commander Ewel Tritton, was stationed off the island of Fano, at the entrance of the north channel of Corfu. At daybreak one

morning (after a strong north-west wind had been blowing throughout the night), a fleet of Trabaccolas, which had left Brindisi the evening before, was descried making for the channel, and chase immediately given. The jolly-boat, manned by a young midshipman, a corporal of Marines, and four boys, with a musket and a few cartridges, was lowered down in passing, to take possession of the nearest vessel, which had lowered her mainsail, while the Kingfisher, under a crowd of sail, pursued the remainder in shore. The youngster, on nearing the stranger, saw only a woman on deck, and she was making signs, with her finger up, to preserve silence. He immediately boarded, and found, on looking down the main hatchway, that the hold was full of troops. To secure the hatch was but the operation of a moment, and lowering the foresail, he placed a hand at the helm to keep the vessel in the trough of the sea, increasing thereby the motion, and the sea-sickness evidently prevailing among the troops below; in this situation he kept them till about three o'clock in the afternoon, when his ship returned, having been unsuccessful in capturing either of the others, when he was hailed by his captain, and asked what the vessel was laden with. "Troops, troops," was his reply. "Why, boy, what do you mean-soldiers?" "Yes, sir." "How many?" "I have not ventured to count them."

The cutter was soon on board, and search made, when upwards of a hundred officers and men,

belonging to the 14th Regiment of the line, intended as a reinforcement to the garrison of Corfu, with part of a surgeon's staff, were discovered to be the cargo; the prisoners, all sturdy young men, were soon removed to the Kingfisher, and, after a fortnight's passage, during which the sloop's small crew of 75 officers and men were kept constantly under arms, they were safely landed at Malta. The most remarkable occurrence in this affair was, that the lady on deck was the wife of the surgeon, and had accidentally met the middy some months before, while he was at Prevesa in a prize, to which place she had accompanied her husband and some French officers, from the garrison of St. Maura, on a shooting excursion, when an acquaintance and exchange of civilities, not uncommon in those war days, had taken place. She stated she knew him directly in the boat.

ACTION OF THE BUCKINGHAM WITH FLORISSANT

AND FRIGATES.

Captain Tyrrell, of her Majesty's ship Buckingham, of 65 guns, having been detached from the Leeward Island squadron in November, 1758, for a cruise, and joining company with the Weazle sloop, commanded by Captain Boles, between the islands of Montserrat and Guadaloupe, soon afterwards discovered a fleet of nineteen sail, under