d completed this he laid trains to blow up the magazines in
case it was necessary to evacuate the fort. Being thus prepared, he waited
for the assault. Commanded as the tower was by the batteries on the cliff,
nothing could be done to prevent their making this breach, and for the
same reason there were no means of preventing the scaling parties placing
their ladders and climbing up. Interior barricades were, however, formed,
and when they made an attack before daybreak we repulsed them with ease.
Forty of the enemy who got on to the top of the breach were destroyed by
our musketry fire as soon as they reached it; shells were dropped down
upon those waiting below, hand-grenades thrown, and after suffering severe
loss they drew off. The French erected fresh batteries, and at last the
place became absolutely untenable; so we took to the boats, blew up the
castle, and got safely on board the _Imperieuse_. After capturing some
more prizes and doing other service the _Imperieuse_ returned to Plymouth,
and Cochrane was appointed to go out and take the command of some
fire-ships, and to attack the French fleet in the Basque Roads.

"Admiral Gambier, who was in command of our fleet on that coast, was in
strong opposition to the plan, and had denounced the effort as desperate;
but the ministry were extremely unpopular, and they desired to strike a
blow that would excite enthusiasm. They themselves did not believe in
success, but offered Cochrane the command in order that, should it fail,
the blame could be thrown wholly on his shoulders. He at first declined
altogether to have anything to do with it, and drew up a memorandum
showing the number of batteries that would have to be encountered, and the
extreme improbability of their ever arriving near enough to the French
squadron to do them any harm. His objections were overruled, and he was
ordered to sail for the Basque Roads, where six transports prepared as
fire-ships were to join him. This appointment caused, as was natural, very
great dissatisfaction among the captains commanding the ships in Gambier's
squadron. They were all senior to Cochrane, and regarded his appointment
on such a service as being a slur, and indeed an insult on themselves
personally, their anger however being excited rather against Lord Gambier
than against Cochrane himself. The fleet, indeed, was in a state of
general disorganization approaching mutiny, at the inactivity in which
they had been kept and at v