The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald Volume II Part 17

MY LORD,

I have the honour to acquaint you that General Church arrived before Vasiladhi on the 2nd inst.; and I resigned to him that fort on the third, requesting him to refund the expenses of taking it; these consist of five dollars per man bounty, besides the provisions of the flotilla employed in the blockade. The General has promised to repay this, although not without expressing some surprise at the demand; yet the guns he receives in the fort would pay the whole sum.

On the same day I received an official letter from General Church, requesting me to inform him what co-operation he might expect from the navy in a projected attack of his on Anatolico. According to the wish of General Church, I agreed to send all the boats at my disposal that night, to attempt to capture an island named Poros, commanding the entrance into the Lake of Anatolico, where the Turks had a post, and we heard he was filling up the pa.s.sage, and about to place guns on another island, which would render him entirely master of the entrance. I soon discovered that what General Church calls the cooperation of the navy is in reality the navy executing the service, and the army looking on at its leisure, ready to take possession if success attended the arms of the former. I had understood that I was to be supported by two rocket-boats of General Church, and by the launch of the Psarian brig, carrying a carronade to throw grenades; but these did not appear. A dozen policaries arrived from General Church, and were embarked in the expedition. At half-past three A.M.

of the 4th inst. I arrived with five boats out of nine (the rest having unaccountably kept behind) at a narrow part of the pa.s.sage of the lake, across which the Turks had built a wall, and stationed a gunboat behind it. The Turkish boat was soon put to flight; the sailors jumping into the water soon cleared away a pa.s.sage for the boats, and the five of our boats rowed upon Poros, the Turks keeping up a brisk fire of musketry from that island, and of cannon from Anatolico. We were now within pistol-shot of Poros, when I found, to my surprise, a fort on it--which I had been a.s.sured there was not, or I would not have attempted the attack, knowing that in our warfare their holds are not to be thus taken. Seeing no reasonable hope of succeeding, I ordered a retreat; and having repa.s.sed by the way we entered, found General Church's detachment lying flat in the bottom of their boats out of gun-shot. To say that my officers, Captain Hane, M.A., and Lieutenant Falanga, also M. Fabricius, commanding the gunboat _Helvetia_, accompanied me, is to commend them for their accustomed zeal and gallantry. I cannot conclude without mentioning the name of Chrysanto, who, after having aided at Vasiladhi, was with me here in his own boat, and displayed much courage. He had one man wounded, the only loss we sustained. Perceiving that Anatolico was not to be taken by us; that General Church's troops were (without provisions) somewhere in a marsh, where our boats could not get to embark them, and that they might have marched on the mainland close to Anatolico; being without provisions in this s.h.i.+p, and seeing no possibility of rendering any service by remaining longer before Vasiladhi, I returned to this port to provide for our immediate wants, and in the hopes of meeting Dr. Gosse, and procuring from him some funds for the maintenance of my crew, which I think your lords.h.i.+p will see the necessity of providing me with, as I have not received more than two thousand dollars during five months, and I have latterly been maintaining this s.h.i.+p in provisions and fuel, besides furnis.h.i.+ng money and provisions to the gunboat and flotilla inside Vasiladhi.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

F. A. HASTINGS.