two of whom he was attacked and nearly overpowered, when Mr. Maitland, and a seaman of the name of Daniel Lyons, flew to his relief, and buried their pikes in the bodies of his antagonists, at a moment when one of them, a French officer, was about to stab him as they lay struggling together on the ground. We have been told by a gentleman of indisputable veracity, that “no less than seven or eight of the enemy’s garrison were slain that day by the hands of Mr. Maitland, whose extraordinary bravery and exertions” he himself had an opportunity of witnessing.
During the subsequent operations carried on in Guadaloupe, with a view of recovering that island from the French republicans, Mr. Maitland, then an acting Lieutenant of the Boyne, served on shore with the seamen, under the orders of Captain Robertson, and was engaged in repeated skirmishes with the enemy previous to the unsuccessful attack made upon Point a Pitre, when he succeeded to the command of the naval brigade, in consequence of all the officers senior to himself being either killed, wounded, or knocked up through excessive fatigue[1].
- ↑ The reduction of the French colonies in the West Indies by the naval and military forces under Sir John Jervis and Sir Charles Grey, was completed by the surrender of Guadaloupe, April 22, 1794, on the same terms as had been previously granted to Martinique and St. Lucia. After putting those islands in the best possible state of defence, the Commander-in-Chief proceeded to St. Christopher’s, from whence they were on the point of sailing for England, when intelligence reached them that an armament, consisting of two frigates, one corvette, two 44’s armed en flute, and two other vessels, had arrived from France, under the direction of two commissioners from the national assembly, and landed a body of 1500 men on Grande Terre; and that after two unsuccessful efforts, the enemy had succeeded in carrying Fort Fleur d’Epée by storm. The British commanders instantly determined to return to Guadaloupe, and the fleet accordingly pushed under a press of sail for Basse Terre, where the General was landed on the 7th June; and on the following day the Admiral anchored off Grozier, in the bay of Point à Pitre, from whence he had a view of the enemy’s squadron lying in the harbour. From this period a variety of operations were carried on, attended with much hard fighting, till the night of July 1st, when the British were repulsed in an attempt made to obtain possession of the town of Point à Pitre, and thereby compelled to evacuate Grand Terre. An account of these operations will be given under the head of Commissioner Isaac Wolley, in our next volume.
