by John Marshall

“ Immediately on my arrival, I sent in a flag of truce, which was refused; and the enemy commenced a heavy fire on our gun-boats, sunk one [6] , and killed and wounded several men in others; on which I advanced close to the works, with the Germans and 89th, when a warm fire of musketry commenced, supported by grape from the fort. In this contest, I lament to inform your Excellency, Major Grant, of the 89th, was mortally wounded, with several others. We succeeded, however, in silencing the guns, so as to admit the boats taking a station. ”

“ Two six-pounder field-pieces, and a howitzer, were landed on the evening of 3d instant, dragged up, and placed on the ridge of a steep and rugged mountain, to the S.E. of the fort: two 12-pounders were added to the former by noon the next day. The whole remained under the command of Lieutenant Corbyn, first of the Invincible, having under his orders a detachment of midshipmen and seamen from this ship, and a most excellent fire was kept up from them, which considerably damaged the defences of the fort, and checked its fire upon our working parties. ”

“ In furtherance of this principle, a motley assemblage of troops sailed from Gibraltar, to attack the castle of Frangerola, and to co-operate with the loyalist party at Malaga, just after Lieutenant Carroll’s arrival. The conduct of the expedition was confided to Major-General Lord Blayney, whose force consisted of 300 British troops; 500 German, Polish, and Italian deserters; and the Spanish regiment of Toledo, by which corps he was joined at Ceuta. ”

“ Captain Carroll, of the Volcano; his conduct was the admiration of every body, and he was ably supported by Lieutenant Pidgely, of the Invincible, and the other officers, seamen, and marines, under his direction. From the explosion of a shell near him the night before. Captain Carroll was obliged to suspend his services until the morning of the 7th (but I am happy to state, he has perfectly recovered) , and Captain Stoddart, of the Strombolo, succeeded him in the direction of getting up the guns, &c. for the breaching battery, and deserves every credit for his active services. ”

“ From the same reason, too, the mortars could not be brought forward; and after a night of the most excessive labour, we had the mortification of being again obliged to retire; the officers and men being quite worn out.
“The weather continued very bad until the afternoon of the 6th instant, when a party was landed, and the mortars were got forward; before daylight, the seamen and marines were on the pile, and all the guns were placed on the battery ready for mounting. ”

“ My horse being previously shot, I could not go by the left sufficiently rapid to ascertain the fact, and was obliged to go by the front, when a desperate body closed in from the left, and so heavy a fire commenced, that those around me were mostly killed or wounded ”

“ In June following, he succeeded Captain Fellowes in the chief command of the Cadiz flotilla, which then consisted of twenty-five vessels, mounting in all 50 guns, manned with 650 sailors and marines, and each commanded by a lieutenant: the first division, under his immediate directions was stationed within range of the enemy’s batteries on the Trocadero, for the purpose of protecting l’Isla de Leon from invasion, and the numerous shipping in the bay from fire-rafts ”

“ We next find him serving as flag-lieutenant to Sir W. Sidney Smith, in the Pompée 74, on the coasts of Naples and Calabria. In the night of May 11, 1806, he “particularly distinguished himself” at the storming of the island of Capri; and on the 23d of the same month he was again officially praised for his “extreme exertions,” in bringing off 2 long 36-pounders, which were found in an enemy’s vessel, lying on the beach at Scalea.
In Jan. 1807, Lieutenant Carroll accompanied Sir W. Sidney Smith to the Dardanelles, on the memorable expedition against Constantinople [3] . ”