John Marshall

“ Upon witnessing the approach of the flotilla, Captain O’Reilly, who had somewhat recovered from the effects of his disaster in the morning, went to where Lieutenant Debenham was employed in preparing his raft, and directed him to go in the gig, and render any assistance he might be able to the different vessels requiring it. No sooner had the agent of transports received this order than he hastened to the edge of the inner breakers, and succeeded in rescuing many men, who but for him must inevitably have been drowned. ”

“ The whole of the vessels destined to enter the Adour were placed under the command of Captain Dowell O’Reilly, of the Lyra brig, who proceeded in a Spanish-built boat, selected as the safest for the service he was going upon, taking with him the principal pilot, the boats of the British squadron, and two flats, to endeavour to find a passage through the surf: a few troops were at that time seen crossing over to the French side of the river, but evidently much in want of the boats intended for their assistance. ”

“ To form a correct opinion of the difficulties of the enterprise we have been describing, a reference to the chart is necessary; and to judge of the able manner in which it was conducted, it should be known that the above-mentioned services, and the capture of 60 pieces of ordnance, many thousand stand of arms, and an immense quantity of ammunition, in different vessels, at various periods, were effected by the squadron under Rear-Admiral Penrose, without the most trifling injury being sustained by any of H.M. ships, or the loss of life to any British subject. ”

“ At day-break on the 24th, the Porcupine with her charge arrived off the bar of the Adour, where Rear-Admiral Penrose was joined by Lieutenant John Debenham, an active and zealous agent of transports, who had come in a boat from Porto de Socca, in consequence of a message from Sir John Hope, received at a late hour the preceding night, requesting him to bring all the assistance he could, as there appeared no hope of the flotilla being able to stem the adverse current, and it had been found impracticable to get a raft across the rapid Adour. ”

“ Whilst at Bourdeaux, some of Rear-Admiral Penrose’s officers met those who had belonged to the corvette burnt at Talmont, and talked over the late occurrences in a friendly way; but not one of the Frenchmen could be brought to believe that the Egmont had entered the river with all her guns on board, as the Regulus was the first ship of her class that was ever known to have been sent into the Gironde, and the pilot that conducted her thither from Aix roads, was admitted into the Legion of Honor and rewarded with a pension, though she had been lightened of her guns and stores. ”

“ Lieutenant Debenham’s boat was a 6-oared gig, with five spare men in her to take alternate spells at the oars, the distance of Porto de Socca from the mouth of the Adour being nearly 16 miles:– her lug fore-sail and mizen were at this time set, and her crew ready to give way the moment she arrived at the edge of the surf; – the extra hands sitting down in the bottom of the boat, at an equal distance from her stem and stern. When advanced so far that the surf broke just without her, the Lieutenant exclaimed “hurrah my boys, strike out;” ”

“ At the commencement of 1814, Captain Coode commanded the Porcupine, a 22-gun ship bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral, (now Sir Charles V.) Penrose, who was then employed in co-operation with the victorious armies of Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal; and whose eminent services in the neighbourhood of Bayonne and Bourdeaux, we shall take this opportunity of relating:– the means by which we are enabled to do so have been obtained from various authentic sources, since the publication of our first volume. ”

“ The tides run with such rapidity, between the bar and Boucaut, a distance of about three miles, that even a 6-oared gig can scarcely make way against them: this has been partly caused by the erection of a stone wall, about fifteen feet wide, on each bank of the river, for the purpose of guiding the current: on these walls strong posts are placed at intervals, to which the mooring hawsers of vessels waiting the change of the tide, and the warps of others going against the stream, are made fast. ”

“ Above this famous bridge, five heavy gun-boats were moored with their heads towards Bayonne; and for its for their protection a strong boom, which had been constructed at St. Jean de Luz, under the immediate inspection of Rear-Admiral Penrose, was thrown across between it and the gun-boats. This boom was conveyed to the Adour by a large brig, in charge of Lieutenant George Robert Douglas, first of the Porcupine; and it was rather a curious circumstance, that while he was placing it to keep off fire-rafts, &c. the French were forming one higher up the river to prevent annoyance from below. ”

“ As the passage of the bar was an operation of great difficulty and danger, we shall here enter into a minute description thereof.
The Adour, for about two miles from its union with the sea, has to force its way through a sandy plain; the consequence of which is, a vast accumulation of sand in that part of the ocean immediately contiguous to the shore, forming a bar of not less than a mile in breadth, on which at low water there is seldom more than two feet, and at the highest tide rarely above 15. Leading marks there are none, nor can there be any permanently established ”

“ Immediately after the arrival of the flotilla, Rear-Admiral Penrose received a letter from Sir John Hope, in which that, distinguished General expresses himself as follows:
“I have often seen how gallantly the navy will devote themselves when serving with an army ”

“ Marshal Soult’s line of defence before Bayonne was broken in no less than three points; his entrenched camp, near St. Jean Pied de Pont, was abandoned; and he was obliged to establish himself on the heights above Orthes. ”

“ To render his lordship’s scheme effectual, it was necessary to push a detachment of troops, artillery, &c. across the river in readiness to protect the formation of a bridge, to be composed of small coasting vessels, decked boats, cables, and planks, which Rear-Admiral Penrose had been for some time indefatigably employed in collecting and preparing, at Porto de Socca, and in the bay of St. ”