| After the battle of Lissa, the French frigates Danae and Flore took refuge in Ragusa, where, apparently, they soon began to lack supplies. The Belle Poule, 38, Captain James Brisbane, and Alceste, 38, Captain Murray Maxwell, cruising off the coast of Istria on May 4th, sighted a French brig of war, which they suspected to be the bearer of the wished for stores, and drove her into Parenzo, where she anchored under a battery. Brisbane and Maxwell stood in as close as they dared, and cannonaded her, until she hauled on shore under the town, out of gunshot. In the mouth of the harbour is the island of San Nicolo, from which the town can be commanded. That night the boats, under Lieutenants John M\'Curdy, Robert Ball Boardman, Edward A Chartres, Alexander Morrison, John Collnian Hickman, and Richard Lloyd, quietly took possession of it, and by the early morning of the 5th, mounted two howitzers, two 9 prs., and a field piece there. At dawn the French opened on the works, but, after a five hours\' hot engagement, the brig having been sunk and the object accomplished, the British re-embarked with their guns and ammunition. Their loss was 4 killed and 4 wounded. |