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Updated: June 20, 2025
I was sent first to the James Adger, a passenger-steamer then being converted in New York for blockade duty, for which she was very fit; but in ten days more I was moved on to the Pocahontas, a ship built for war, a very respectable little steam-corvette, the only one of her class if such a bull as a class of one may be excused. She carried one ten-inch gun and four 32-pounders, all smooth-bores.
About March, 1782, she was equipped with 48 carronades namely, 20 68-pounders on her main-deck, 22 42-pounders on her upper deck, 4 32-pounders on her quarter-deck, and 2 32-pounders on her forecastle, her broadside weight of metal being thus 1238 pounds, whereas in her former armament of long guns, the broadside weight of metal was only 318 pounds.
At the back of the mosque there was a piece of green sward, which separated us from the royal buildings. Passing through the mosque we strolled over this piece of pasture, when, close to the water's edge, we discovered several fine old brass 32-pounders, dismounted and half-buried in the swamp.
His report was anything but reassuring, for the news he brought was to the effect that we had been hulled no less than seventeen times, four of the shot that had hulled us being 32-pounders, one of which and two of the pirate's 12-pounders had struck us between wind and water.
We built four batteries on the bank of the river, three of them mounting three guns each, and the lower one six guns. These guns were 32 and 64 pounders. Three miles further up, above the mouth of Hatchie river, another battery of three 32-pounders was built. Our rations at this time were neither very lavishly given nor very choice in quality, yet there was no actual suffering.
The bridge was destroyed, and the creek was too deep to be forded. A strong picket of the enemy was on the opposite bank behind entrenchments, and about three-quarters of a mile off were two 32-pounders and five 12-pounders bearing on the spot. The pontoons must be laid for the infantry and artillery to cross, and that quickly or the movement would be a failure.
The Glatton, one of the purchased Indiamen, of 1256 tons, commanded by Captain Henry Trollope, and fitted on the main-deck with 28 carronades, 68-pounders, the rest of her guns being 32-pounders, making altogether 54 guns; but, as the ports were too small to allow the larger guns to traverse properly, and she had no bow or stern chasers, they could only be pointed right abeam.
The ordnance consists of four ancient brass guns; two of them about 9-pounders and the others 32-pounders, but I did not see a spot from which either of them could be safely fired; and even if there were bastions strong enough, I doubt if cannon could be depressed sufficiently to sweep the precipitous sides of the hill.
Pierre de la Regina, two miles off for the night; no wonder, for nineteen 68- and 32-pounders were firing from the lantern battery, and a fire of ten or twelve guns returning the salute from the town on this point alone. 'Away I trudged, and, after some lost time, found the General in his bed. He had been up like me three nights, this was my third, and was ill with fatigue and anxiety.
Wait a little till you see the 32-pounders that are now within half-a-mile. There was a good deal of Yankee bluff in this warning, especially as the 32-pounders could not be mounted in time. But the British officer seemed perfectly satisfied that the way was completely blocked; and so the Americans felt sure that Carleton would surrender the following day.
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