tenant Willoughby’s command, was Mr. Edward Nicholls; and his principal naval assistant, the midshipman above mentioned.
The cannonade between the batteries was resumed on the 6th Feb.; but Lieutenant Willoughby, finding it in vain to point any of his guns at fort République, directed them against Fort Amsterdam and the shipping: the Hatslaar would probably have been destroyed had not two large merchant vessels, purposely placed between her and the shore, received almost every shot intended for that frigate.
“In this way passed a number of successive days, the force of the British gradually decreasing, not merely by loss from the cannon of the forts, and in the different skirmishes, but from fatigue and sickness[1],” till at length, the only officers left at the advanced battery, of those originally stationed there, were Lieutenant Willoughby and his right-hand man, Mr. Eaton Travers. 63 men were obliged to be re-embarked, owing to an attack of dysentery; “a circumstance not to be wondered at, considering that both officers and men lay upon the ground, without any of those conveniences deemed indispensable in the encampment of an army. The force of the Dutch too, instead of amounting to only 160 regulars,” as Sir John T. Duckworth had been led to believe, “consisted of 250 effective men, besides a body of local militia, and the crews of the vessels in the harbour. In addition to all this, the Dutch learnt by deserters, 9 of whom quitted in one night, the weak state of the British force, and that the squadron must soon raise the blockade for want of provisions[2].”
In this state of affairs. Captain Bligh despatched Mr. Fitton to apprise the commander-in-chief of his intention, unless any thing favorable should happen, to re-embark his people on the 4th of March. In the course of the same day, Feb. 23, the Dutch received a reinforcement; and in the evening the
