by John Marshall

“ To extricate himself from this unparalleled state of danger without the Divine aid was impossible; for every moment increased the velocity with which the Ajax was going through the water, while the sea she threw up at her bows threatened his small boat with instant destruction: to add to the horror of his situation, the men who had been lying apparently half dead, in the bottom of the cutter, endeavoured to get upon their legs, and greatly increased the confusion which very naturally prevailed among his crew. ”

“ The Otter’s first cruise off the Isle of France was under the orders of Captain Robert Corbett, then commanding la Nereide, a frigate universally allowed to take the lead of every other “crack” one in the British navy; and Captain Willoughby, anxious that his first command should be marked by the high state of discipline in which he kept his sloop, made her vie with, and endeavour, if practicable, to excel that ship in every manoeuvre. ”

“ On the 15th June, 1810, a serious accident happened to the enterprising commander of la Nereide, then watering at Isle Platte, a small island near the northern extremity of the Mauritius.
Captain Willoughby was on shore, exercising his men at small arms, when a musket in the hands of a marine burst, inflicting upon him a dreadful wound, supposed at the time to be mortal. His lower jaw on the right side was badly fractured, and his neck so lacerated that the windpipe lay bare. The surgeon feared that it would slough away with the dressings, and of course end the life of his patient. ”

“ As I knew the French force in Port Louis consisted of three heavy frigates and a fine corvette ready for sea, and if the former squadron joined them, they would be far too strong for the Sirius, Iphigenia, and Magicienne, then blockading that port and Black River, though my anchorage was only supported by four guns (two of those upon open platforms, and only meant to protect the landing place against boats,) I felt it my duty to use every means to draw the enemy into Grand Port ”

“ Enraged at this treacherous act, the remainder of the British sailors would instantly have commenced an indiscriminate slaughter; but as Lieutenant Willoughby had kept his eye constantly fixed upon the Turkish officer, he felt convinced that it was not connived at by him, and therefore he would only allow the two guilty individuals to be slain – of the others not a man was hurt. ”

“ We were then in the most dreadful state of carnage ever witnessed – 92 dead bodies lying on the deck, many of the crew dying, and most of the remainder severely wounded: words cannot express the horrors of the scene. I have only to add, that this action was the most severe ever recorded in history, and that it was prolonged in the full hope and expectation, that some of the squadron would be able to come to our assistance; for had we sooner yielded, all chance of success would then have been destroyed, owing to the unfortunate situation of our consorts. ”

“ Their position became dreadfully critical. Let any one figure to himself these brave fellows, hemmed in, against a wooden town, by a force of treble their number, with a great river behind them, and no other means of retreat but a bridge, the passage from which was threatened by another army.
“It was in vain that St. Cyr then weakened his force by three regiments, which he despatched to the other side to meet Steingell, and whose march he contrived to conceal from Wittgenstein’s observation. Every moment the noise of the former’s artillery was approaching nearer and nearer to Polotzk. ”

“ Captain Willoughby being now a prisoner, a council was held by General De Caen, to determine whether or not he should be punished for having intrigued with the leading people of the island, and distributed proclamations, having a tendency to subvert the allegiance of the inhabitants in general. It was decided, notwithstanding his previous liability, that, as he had been taken in honorable fight, he should be treated as a prisoner of war. On this occasion, the French governor is reported to have said, “Let the foutre live; he has lost his eye and his ship, after defending her most gallantly.” ”

“ We do not believe that there is an officer in either profession who has ever exhibited greater “valour, perseverance, and devotion:” the foregoing recital of his services will prove that he “nobly earned” the latter “mark of distinction” on ten several occasions, while commanding the Otter and Nereide: the loss of an eye in battle, after he obtained the command of a frigate, was in itself sufficient to constitute a fair claim to the higher honor of K.C.B. – added to this, he received two other nearly mortal wounds when serving as a Post-Captain ”

“ After waiting some time for Lieutenant-Colonel Keating to arrive and give the necessary orders, Captain Willoughby, anxious to ascertain if the French were really there, and having taken proper precautions for ensuring a speedy retreat if necessary, landed with two of his gig’s crew, all the boats anxiously watching his motions, particularly when he disappeared over the sand hills, as it was then believed by every officer and man that the enemy were close at hand, ready to oppose them. ”

“ The restoration of the above-mentioned men, many of whose fellow prisoners had been seduced into the French service, was an immediate good result of the enterprise at Jacotel. The benefits of a more permanent nature, arising from the gallant exploit of Captain Willoughby, were an instance of the practicability, hitherto doubted, of making a descent upon the Isle of France, and a proof that the principal part of the troops in that colony consisted of militia, previously considered equal to soldiers of the line, but whose military character was now at once ruined. ”

“ On the whole of our march, we were attended by three of the Nereide’s and Staunch’s boats, with guns mounted, commanded by Lieutenant Deacon; and from the nature of the ground, they so completely commanded our road, that scarcely an enemy could shew himself; a strong party who were advancing to attack us were put to the rout by their fire, and six killed and wounded. General Van de Masson, the second in command of the island, who had arrived with a strong reinforcement upon the 14th instant, and commanded this party, was reconnoitreing us the whole of the day, retiring as we advanced. ”

“ Mortified in the extreme, Lieutenant Willoughby now put about: the enemy on shore discovered the ruse that he had been practising, and the batteries on the island that protects the harbour immediately opened upon him, keeping up a steady fire for more than half an hoar, but luckily without once striking his diminutive and slightly built vessel:– had she been hulled by a single shot, the consequences would in all probability have been fatal, as she was very rotten, and had not a boat of any description belonging to her. ”

“ The situation in which Lieutenant Willoughby was so unexpectedly placed, appears to us to have been one of the most extraordinary and dangerous nature: no one but a man of the strongest nerve could possibly have acquitted himself as he did; and no officer could have more acutely felt the official neglect which he experienced. ”

“ Our readers will not fail to observe, that those officers, the only French ones slain, belonged to la Nereide’s immediate opponents; and that Captain Willoughby’s was the only English ship that had an officer killed. The number of men on board la Bellone at the commencement of the battle, could scarcely have been less than 400 or 420, and none were wanted to attend to the sails. The enemy’s admitted loss, considering that it must nearly all have been inflicted by la Nereide, was highly creditable to the skill and exertions of her officers and crew ”

“ It is almost needless to add that poor Johnson, the black pilot, who had been Captain Willoughby’s guide in all his landings, was immediately put to death.
As for la Nereide, she was rendered so completely hors de combat before her colours were hauled down, that we doubt whether the enemy ever attempted to repair her: at all events, the British, when they captured the Mauritius, found it impossible to do so, and she was consequently sold only to be broken up. ”

“ By seven o’clock we were in possession of the first and second batteries, Lambousière and la Centière; when Captain Willoughby, of the royal navy, who commanded a detachment of about 100 seamen on shore, and to whose zeal, activity, and exertions, I feel much indebted, immediately turned the guns upon the enemy’s shipping, from whose fire, which was chiefly grape, and well directed, within pistol-shot of the shore, we suffered much, being necessarily exposed to it during our movements upon the beach, and through the town. ”

“ The passage into the harbour is so narrow, that even with a fair wmd, (and it now blew off the land) a line-of-battle ship can with difficulty enter; and the batteries that command the harbour and town, including Fort République, against which, from its situation, an attack by storm is impracticable, mounted nearly 100 pieces of cannon. In the harbour were lying the Dutch 36-gun frigate Hatslaar, and two French privateers. Under these circumstances, no alternative remained but to try the effect of a landing. ”

“ On the last day of that month, Sir John T. Duckworth appointed Lieutenant Willoughby first of the Acasta frigate, in which ship he himself was about to return home, fully expecting that his protege would be promoted immediately he struck his flag, and that he should be able to obtain him the command “of a fine sloop” as soon as he arrived in London. The Vice-Admiral’s court-martial, however, put an end to these flattering prospects, and the subject of this memoir was consequently obliged to serve as a Lieutenant for at least two years longer [14] . ”

“ Towards the evening, the boats of the two frigates, containing about 400 seamen, marines, and soldiers, under the command of Captain Willoughby, were taken in tow by the Staunch, and proceeded to attack l’Isle de la Passe; but the night becoming very dark, and the weather extremely tempestuous, so as to occasion several of them to run foul of each other, and some to get stove, la Nereide’s black pilot began to falter, and at length declared, that it was impossible to enter the channel under such disadvantageous circumstances. ”

“ At the moment when the boats were pulling up the narrow channel, with the prize praam in tow, and their capture appeared inevitable, it was observed that the French commodore, M. Duperré, instead of following la Minerve, &c., had hauled off on the larboard tack, as if intending to seek another port, in company with the Windham. Although in only a 12-pounder frigate, with so many of his men absent, Captain Willoughby thought his ship a match for the Minerve, Victor, and Ceylon, particularly if he embarked the 34 serviceable soldiers remaining upon l’Isle de la Passe ”

“ Hitherto twilight had hid our force: full day shewed to the enemy the Nereide’s small band of volunteers, consisting of 50 seamen, and the same number of marines. The strongest battery was still in their possession, to gain which it was necessary to pass the river Jacotel at the foot of a high hill covered with wood, and defended by the commandant of the Savanne district. Colonel Etienne Bolger, 2 cannon, and a strong body of militia. Owing to the late heavy rains, we found the river swollen, and the current so strong that the tallest men could scarcely wade across ”

“ On returning to our boats, we burnt the signal-house, flag-staff, &c., a mile from the beach; and having sounded the harbour, and done all I wished, I again embarked and returned to the Nereide.
“I now beg you will allow me to express how highly I approve of the gallant and regular conduct of every officer and man landed. Indeed, I feel myself under the greatest obligation to the senior officers. Lieutenants Burn, Laugharne, and Deacon; also to Lieutenant Cox, commanding the marines, with Lieutenant Desbrisay under him. ”

“ Finding the Dutch governor determined upon resistance, the signal was made by Captain Newcome for all the armed boats of the squadron to assemble near the Orpheus, as he intended that they should proceed under the command of one of his own Lieutenants to secure and bring out the Constantia, she being an impediment to the debarkation of the troops.
Lord Camelford (of whom we have twice had occasion to speak [2] ) , was then a Lieutenant of the Resistance, and he commanded one of the boats that first reached the Orpheus. ”