The War for All the Oceans

by Roy Adkins

  On 19 July news arrived of the French victory against the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram two weeks earlier. It was now too late for the diversion to save Austria. The weeks of delay also meant that Napoleon was long forewarned of unusual activity along the English coast and of a possible attack on the Scheldt, and he had already ordered increased fortifications and additional troops to be brought in. A few days before the expedition sailed, Rear-Admiral Strachan received word from Captain William Bolton of the frigate Fisgard that ‘the enemy’s fleet, amounting to eleven sail of the line, have this instant dropped down the Scheldt, and are anchored close off the town of Flushing’.45 In order to cope with this unexpected news, the expedition plans began to be altered, most notably in deciding to land the troops on the north side of Walcheren rather than close to Flushing.

  Although they did not yet know their destination, the soldiers learned that ‘a certain number of seamen from the different line of battle ships are to serve on shore with us, they will be employed in dragging guns, ammunition stores etc. These men are to be equipped with a cutlass and pistols, a broad canvass belt to fasten to the gun . . . This will prove a treat to the seamen, some of whom has not been on shore many years.’46 Gunner Richardson in the Caesar likewise recorded that while waiting for the order to sail, they were employed ‘in training up eighty seamen for a brigade to land with the army, and emptying all the 32-pr. cartridges and filling more 24-pdr. cartridges, intending, if necessary, to put half the main-deck guns (24-prs.) on the lower deck, so that we might fight both tiers, one side or the other, or all on one side, as our lower-deck guns were left on shore to make room for the troops’.47

  The expedition began to set sail from the Downs at dawn on Friday 28 July, with Strachan and Chatham on board the flagship Venerable. One Scottish soldier, just back from Corunna, later commented: ‘Never will I forget the glorious sight of the most powerful and numerous fleet which ever left the British shores, - the sea looked as if it groaned under the weight of so many vessels, and as far as the eye could reach a wilderness of masts was seen.’48 There was huge excitement at Deal, as portrayed by Robert Blakeney of the 28th Regiment: ‘Thousands of superbly dressed women crowded the beach; splendid equipages were numerous; all the musical bands in the fleet, as well military as naval, joined in one general concert, playing the National Anthem, which, with the loud and long-continued cheering on shore, enlivened the neighbourhood for miles around, and caused the most enthusiastic excitement throughout the whole . . .The show was august, the pageant splendid, the music enchanting.’49

  That evening scores of ships anchored a few miles off the north-west coast of Walcheren at the entrance to the East Scheldt, and the remaining ships set sail from the Downs over the next few days. The role of pilots was crucial in ensuring that the vessels did not ground on the sandbanks in the shallow waters, but there were never enough good pilots, and years later Captain Edward Brenton commented that ‘the North Sea pilots, during the late war, were shamefully and alarmingly ignorant of their business . . . The fault is with our own Government, which never gave encouragement to young officers to become pilots . . . Two were generally put on board a ship of war at a time, and both supposed to possess equal knowledge; but this was far from being the fact.’50 Brenton thought it a ridiculous policy to rely so heavily on pilots from the enemy, who were in effect traitors to their own country. Many of those employed for this expedition, though, were previously engaged in the thriving smuggling trade to and from Flushing and therefore knew the waters well. In a memorandum written by Lord Castlereagh, the employment of the smuggler Tom Johnson was specifically authorised:Lord Chatham being of opinion that Mr. Johnson’s assistance may be materially useful in carrying into execution the service with which he is entrusted, Lord Castlereagh authorizes him to employ him on the following terms: he is to receive [blank] shillings a day, while employed, and travelling charges at the rate of [blank] per mile. Mr. Johnson having represented that he has a plan, which he has undertaken to carry into execution in person, by which he conceives Flushing can be taken by a coup de main, upon Lord Chatham and Sir R. Strachan certifying that this object has been accomplished by Mr. Johnson’s means, he will receive full pay at the above rate, or the value of it, for life. For any other extraordinary service Mr. Johnson may render of less importance, he will receive such reward as his services may appear to Lord Chatham and Sir R. Strachan to merit.51

  Once news of their arrival reached the French commander at Flushing, General Louis-Claude Monnet, he sent his second-in-command, the Dutch general Pierre-Jacques Osten, with troops to defend the north side of the island. Osten was astonished at the sheer number of ships and knew he was unable to prevent a landing, but would do his utmost to harass the British troops as they made their way to Flushing. The weather now intervened, because the next morning it became cloudy and windy, followed later in the day by rain and gales, and an attempt to land troops on the exposed beaches of northern Walcheren was abandoned owing to the high seas.

  A squadron of ships that had anchored off Blankenberge (where Madame Derikre was helping escaped prisoners-of-war) was supposed to land troops on the beaches of Cadsand, aided by boats from Lord Gardner’s squadron, which was blockading the West Scheldt. The instructions and arrangements were confused and the winds were initially too strong. Gardner also refused to help, not having received precise orders, and so insufficient small boats were made available to land the troops in one go. French reinforcements were by now pouring into Cadsand, and the plan to take the island was abandoned. Captain Hanchett of the sloop Raven, who had volunteered to be the first to take Flushing, was involved in trying to stop the French reaching Cadsand:The batteries soon opened on the gun-boats, when Capt. Hanchett most spiritedly ran his vessel up between the gun-boats and the fire of the enemy, which was instantly transferred to his ship. He was fired at from five batteries on Cadsand, from the whole sea-front of Flushing, and from thirty-nine gun-boats. For four hours he bravely maintained the unequal contest, and . . . silenced the battery of Breskens, in Cadsand, though not before he had three of his own guns dismounted51, his vessel dismasted, and several times set on fire, and above a thousand shot discharged against him from all sides . . . it has been achieved without much comparative loss, only the gallant Captain and 18 of his brave crew having been wounded, none of them badly, and not a single man having been killed.52

  In calmer weather another attempt was made to land troops on the north side of Walcheren. Private Wheeler of the 51st Regiment recorded the action:The Gunboats had taken up their position along the shore, the flats [shallow-draught landing craft] full of soldiers and towed by the ship’s boats, formed in rear of the Gunboats. On a signal the flats advanced. All now was solemn silence, saving the gunboats, who were thundering showers of iron on the enemy [Osten’s troops]. Their well-directed fire soon drove them to shelter, behind the sandbank. The flats had now gained the Gunboats, shot through the intervals and gained the shallow water, when the troops leaped out and waded ashore, drove the enemy from behind the hills where they had taken shelter from the destructive fire of the Gunboats. Some batteries and forts were soon taken, the enemy fled and we lost sight of the contending parties.53

  William Richardson was watching the events from the Caesar and commented that ‘it was a grand sight to see so many heroes in boats extending for miles dashing along to meet their enemies on a foreign shore’,54 adding: ‘A firing of musketry was soon heard between the sandhills, and in the evening we had fifty-two prisoners brought on board (two of them female). Our naval brigade of eighty seamen under the command of Captain Richardson [no relation] were landed at this time.’55

  Throughout the day the British troops advanced across Walcheren, capturing fortifications. Many villages and the main town of Middelburg surrendered, and on the morning of 31 July the fortified town of Veere, on the north-east coast of Walcheren, was surrounded by troops. The bomb vessels pounded the area and gunboats began a sustained attack.
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  Map of Walcheren, South Beveland and the River Scheldt

  This was described in his journal by Surgeon W. Cullen Brown, who commented on the power of the large mortars on board his ship, the bomb vessel Aetna:Eleven o’clock. The ice is now broken! We have fired off our ten and thirteen-inch mortars, from the explosion of which I had been taught to apprehend so much. By stuffing my ears with cotton, and pressing them with my fingers on the word for making ready being given, I find no manner of inconvenience from the concussion. I have had the hardihood, standing close by the great brass mortar, to try the effect of its sound on my ears open, and never experienced a more disagreeable sensation. My ears have continued ever since ringing. At the very first firing of the mortar, the lock of my cabin has been forced off, and the boards of the bulkhead have drawn their nails. This, however, is but the prelude to what is to follow . . . The tide is now turning; and such a force of bomb-vessels, gun-brigs, gun-boats, and flat-bottomed boats, will shortly assail the place, almost in close contact with it, as there will be no resisting. The multiplicity of ships to be seen almost as far as the eye can carry, forms a beautiful sight, and highly gratifying to the feelings of an Englishman.56

  In the evening incendiary rockets were fired into the town, and Gunner Richardson of the Caesar was in the thick of the action:Next morning [31st] an order came for me to land and bring the Congreve’s rockets I had on board along with me for the investment of the place [Veere] . . . I was soon landed with the assistance of the seamen’s brigade, who were my shipmates; we cut off the upper part of a small tree and put the rocket ladder for elevation against it, placed and primed the rockets, and began to blaze away at a fine rate, and I was soon covered with volumes of smoke. In a short time one part of the town was set on fire by the rockets, and soon after two other parts; some of our gunboats were also firing shot at the town at the time, and two of them got sunk; a shell burst over our heads without hurting a man. However, the rockets terrified them so much (having never seen such things before) that in the evening they sent out a flag of truce to capitulate. 57

  Once Veere had surrendered, the garrison troops became prisoners-of-war. Afterwards Richardson was one of the first to enter the place: ‘I next took a ramble round this neat and clean town, which put me in mind of Portsea (only it has a harbour in the middle of the town) . . . Great havoc had been made among the houses by the shot from our gunboats; one had begun at the corner of a house, and ripped its way along the front of eight more before it stopped; at the outside of the gate lay three of the 71st and two horses dead and unburied, and a painter’s shop burnt down by one of the rockets. I was told that a rocket entered into one of the embrasures, killed seven men at the gun, and wounded another.’58

  The rout of Osten’s troops (comprising French, Dutch, Prussians and Irish) continued as far as Flushing, and many islanders also fled in that direction. Once the troops and civilians were safely inside, the city’s guns were turned on the pursuing British, forcing them to halt. Another British army division headed towards Ramakins, a small fortress east of Flushing that controlled a strategic waterway. Although under fire from the fortress, the British engineers began to construct a gun battery, finishing it by evening. Some of the warships also sailed from Veere towards Ramakins, where they came under fire. Surgeon Cullen Brown on board the Aetna noted some of the injuries:August 2d . . . At half-past eleven, in consequence of being sent for, I went on board the Harpy brig. A poor man, belonging to one of the gun-boats, manned from the Bellona, had been shot through both arms from Rammekens, and was brought, in consequence, for assistance to the Harpy. Before my arrival, Mr. Parsons, surgeon of the Harpy, with Mr. Mortimer, assistant-surgeon of the Charger gun-brig, had amputated the right arm; and the tourniquet was already fixed on the other. Both arms had been shockingly fractured and lacerated. The man expired in five or six minutes after my arrival. He had been shot an hour and a half before getting on board of the Harpy: his death, as it appeared to myself, Mr. Mortimer, Mr. Parsons, and the assistant-surgeon of the Safeguard, was imputable to the loss of blood he had sustained, and the shock the nervous system had received. I dressed another man, who had been shot in the integuments of the head by a grapeshot, or musket-ball, and one who had received a severe bruise on the nose, without any of the bones being shattered, in the same gun-boat.59

  Ramakins surrendered on the 3rd before the British fired a shot in return. Now only nearby Flushing needed to be captured on the island of Walcheren, and Johnson the smuggler was involved in these plans. At the instigation of General Sir William Congreve, the sloop Galgo had been fitted out as a rocket ship from which to fire his missiles, but the Galgo was too late reaching Ramakins. At Ramakins Seaman Joseph Wrangle on board the Galgo observed that ‘A great deal of small craft lay about the place, and a complete fleet of Deal men were employed on this service. Johnson the smuggler was a conspicuous character: this man was much esteemed in the fleet and was of great service, having been employed by the government to buoy the channel and point out the difficulties attendant on the coast. I saw his brig pass through the fleet with his yards manned giving three cheers.’60

  Another army division had been transported further up the East Scheldt so that the troops could land on the island of South Beveland, to the east of Walcheren, but bad weather delayed disembarkation. Six thousand troops were eventually landed, only to find that the key positions had already been abandoned by the Dutch troops, including Fort Batz in the south-east corner of the island, which commanded the confluence of the East and West Scheldt. The British now controlled all of South Beveland and were ever closer to Antwerp.

  What was remarkable was that a few tourists sailed across the North Sea from England to view first-hand what was happening, including Sir William Curtis in his yacht. After Ramakins was taken Surgeon Cullen Brown met two such tourists when he and other officers from the Aetna went ashore on South Beveland, ‘where a torrent of rain forced us to scamper in different directions. Mr. Steele, the marine artillery officer, and myself, took refuge in a barn, where we entered into conversation with two very agreeable men in uniform, who had betaken themselves to the same retreat. They afterwards proved to be Lord Yarmouth and Major Dormer, who are here at present, in a small vessel they have hired from Dover, for the purpose of observing the operations of the Expedition.’61

  The British now needed to push on towards Antwerp, but according to Rear-Admiral Strachan, it was impossible to reach Antwerp by sailing further up the East Scheldt, ‘on account of the shallowness of the water, and the intricacy of the narrow channel’.62 It was also impossible to sail up the West Scheldt while Cadsand and Flushing remained in enemy hands - but Gunner Richardson of the Caesar strongly disagreed, bemoaning that ‘our commanders were misled by the Dutch pilots, who told them that the batteries in Flushing and Cadsand would soon destroy any ships that passed between them’.63 With the surrender of Ramakins, though, ships could pass from the East Scheldt to the West Scheldt via the Slough - the waterway between the islands of Walcheren and South Beveland - which bypassed Flushing and Cadsand. The way was open to Antwerp - if only the commanders could agree a plan of action.

  FOURTEEN

  DISASTER

  Such a fleet and army never left the shores of Great Britain together before.

  Gunner William Richardson, who took part in the expedition1

  Less than a week after landing on South Beveland, some of the troops unaccountably began to fall ill, and Rifleman Harris related that many men were struck down with fever:The first I observed of it was one day as I sat in my billet, when I beheld whole parties of our Riflemen in the street shaking with a sort of ague, to such a degree that they could hardly walk; strong and fine young men who had been but a short time in the service seemed suddenly reduced in strength to infants, unable to stand upright - so great a shaking had seized upon their whole bodies from head to heel . . . Under these circumstances, which considerably confounded the doctors, orders were issued (since all ho
pes of getting the men upon their legs seemed gone) to embark them as fast as possible, which was accordingly done with some little difficulty. The poor fellows made every effort to get on board; those who were a trifle better than others crawled to the boats; many supported each other; and many were carried helpless as infants.2

  The assault continued, despite the increasing numbers of sick troops, but Lord Chatham decided that Flushing should be taken before the expedition could tackle Antwerp. Surgeon Cullen Brown commented that ‘the wise ones afloat begin to accuse the Earl of Chatham of dilatoriness’.3

  A severe gale prevented ships being anchored above and below Flushing, as was planned, and the unseasonal weather was described by Cullen Brown as ‘a continued gale of wind, accompanied by heavy rains, and as much cold as we might expect to find in the month of December’.4 By 7 August improved weather meant that an effective blockade of Flushing was at last in force by land and sea. Lieutenant Dillon’s Aigle was one of the blockading ships, and two days later he wrote with irritation: ‘I was surprised at the appearance of Capt. Wolfe, who had returned from the Court Martial on Lord Gambier to resume the command of his ship. This placed me in rather an awkward situation, as we were blockading Flushing, and I had no means of quitting the ship, but was obliged to remain on board. Capt. Wolfe did not fail in his attentions, but I could not help noticing the familiarity of the seamen who came into his cabin as suited them, to compliment him upon his return . . . He brought the report of Lord Gambier’s trial, who had been exonerated.’5