by John Marshall

“ H.M. sloop Halcyon, Gibraltar, Dec. 18, 1806. “My Lord,– I beg leave to inform your Lordship, that on the 13th instant, at 8 A.M., Cape St. Martin’s S.S.W. 6 leagues, I perceived three sail (a ship, a brig, and a xebec) standing out from under the land towards me; being on contrary tacks we closed fast. When within four or five miles, I discovered they were vessels of war, and shortly after they steered directly for me. ”

“ At the beginning of Sept. 1808, information having been received at Messina that a number of the enemy’s coasting vessels, laden with contributions in kind from the two provinces of Calabria to the Neapolitan government, were assembled in Diamante bay, near the Gulf of Policastro, under the protection of several gun-boats and land batteries. Sir John Stuart, commanding the British troops in Sicily, detached Lieutenant-Colonel Bryce, of the Royal Engineers, to co-operate with a small naval force under Captain Pearse, and endeavour to take or destroy them. ”

“ The enemy’s fire was mostly directed at our masts and rigging, in which we have suffered very materially.
“The force opposed to the Halcyon was the Neptuno dios de los Mares, 14 twelve-pounders and 72 men; la Virgine de Solidad, 14 twelve and eight-pounders, 78 men; el Vives, 12 eight and six-pounders, 65 men, I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed) ⁠“H. W. Pearse.” ”