| After the visit of Sir Edward Pellew's squadron to the coasts of the Morbihan, in June, part of that squadron, together with other ships, was put under the orders of Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, and detached from the Channel upon an expedition against six Spanish ships of the line which lay ready for sea in the port of Ferrol. On August 25th, Sir John reached the bay of Playa de Dominos with some small craft and transports, conveying troops under Lieut.-General Sir James Pulteney. That evening, after a fort had been silenced by the fire of the Impetueux, Brilliant, Cynthia, and St. Vincent, gunboat, the troops, with sixteen field-guns, were disembarked without loss, and, aided by a detachment of seamen, drove back a body of the enemy. This skirmish was followed by a somewhat more serious one at daybreak on the 26th, the upshot being that the British made themselves masters of the heights overlooking the town and harbour. But the General, deterred, as his dispatch suggests, by the strength of the enemy and of the defences, made no further effort, and later in the day re-embarked his men. It seems likely that he allowed himself to be misled by the reports of prisoners, and that, in fact, he could have easily taken Ferrol had he seriously attempted the task. |