mination. One of the most daring and successful on record was
the capture of the French 20-gun ship-corvette _Chevrette_, while lying
under some batteries in Camaret Bay, by the boats of the _Doris_,
_Beaulieu_, and _Uremic_, forming part of the Channel Fleet under
Admiral Cornwallis, stationed off Brest Harbour. At the first attempt
the boats were discovered, and the _Chevrette_ ran a mile and a-half
farther up the bay, and took on board a party of soldiers.
Notwithstanding this, the next night, the 21st, the boats of the three
frigates, joined by the barge and pinnace of the _Robust_, 74, amounting
in all to 15, and containing about 280 officers and men, under the
command of Lieutenant Losack, the second in command being Lieutenant
Keith Maxwell of the _Beaulieu_, left their ships at 9:30 p.m. As they
were pulling into the bay, Lieutenant Losack, with six boats, went in
chase of a boat supposed to be sent as a look-out from the _Chevrette_,
and as he did not return, Lieutenant Maxwell proceeded on without him.
About 1 a.m. the flotilla coming in sight of the _Chevrette_, she opened
a heavy fire on them of grape and musketry, and at the same time they
were assailed by a fire of musketry from the shore. Undaunted by this,
the British boarded the ship, some on the starboard bow and quarter, and
others on the larboard bow, bravely opposed by the Frenchmen, who were
armed with muskets and pistols, sabres, tomahawks, and pikes. Some,
indeed, attempted to enter the boats, but were driven back by the
British, who, having lost their pistols and muskets, made their way
cutlass in hand. Some who had been directed to loose the sails, fought
their way on to the corvette's yards. Here they found the foot-ropes
strapped up, but, notwithstanding every obstacle, the sails were let
fall in less than three minutes after the boarders had gained the deck.
The cable having, in the meantime, been cut outside, a light breeze
blowing from the land, and the quartermaster of the _Beaulieu_, Henry
Wallis, fighting his way to the helm, and though bleeding from his
wounds, taking charge of the wheel, the ship drifted out of the bay. On
seeing the canvas loose, some of the Frenchmen leaped overboard, and
others sprang down the hatchways, thus allowing the British to gain
possession of the quarter-deck and forecastle, now nearly covered with
the bodies of the slain. For some time, however, the Frenchmen who had
fled below kept up a sharp fire