ong enough to
warrant a descent. Sir Edward, therefore, proposed an immediate attack
on Belleisle, which had long been a favourite object with him, from a
conviction that nothing would enable the British to harass the enemy
more effectually than the possession of that island. He earnestly
combated the doubts of the General, and pressed the point with all the
energy of his character. Filled with the ardour so naturally inspired by
the opportunity to attempt a long-cherished enterprise, he exclaimed, "I
will be everywhere at your side, only let us attack the place without
delay." But the General, who could not feel that confidence founded on a
knowledge of the place, which Sir Edward had gained from having long
cruised in the neighbourhood; and who well knew the difficulty and loss
which a much larger force had formerly experienced in taking it,
objected to the attempt, and the enemy in a few days decided the
question by strongly reinforcing the garrison. The troops were then
landed upon the small island of Houat, about two leagues to the
south-east of Quiberon Point, where they remained encamped, while Sir
Edward cruised with his squadron off Port Louis.

Towards the end of July, Mr. Coghlan, who had assisted Sir Edward in
saving the people from the _Dutton_, and was now commanding the _Viper_
cutter, tender to the _Impetueux_, with the rank of acting lieutenant,
proposed and obtained permission to cut out a brig of war, which lay
moored within the port. Accordingly, with twelve volunteers from the
_Impetueux_, and a midshipman and six men from the _Viper_, in the
line-of-battle ship's ten-oared cutter, a boat from the _Viper_, and
another from the _Amethyst_ frigate, he went away on the night of the
26th to attack a national brig of seven guns, three of them long
twenty-four pounders, and with eighty-seven men on board.

The object of his attack, _La Cerbere_, was moored with springs on her
cable, within pistol-shot of three batteries, surrounded with armed
vessels, and not a mile from a seventy-four and a frigate.
Notwithstanding her formidable position, and though her crew were
prepared, while the boats of the _Amethyst_ and _Viper_ had not been
able to keep up with the cutter, he pushed on with the single boat, and
made a dash at the brig's quarter. In the act of springing on board, he
became entangled in a trawl-net, and before he could disengage himself,
he was pierced through the thigh with a pike, and knocked ba