I cannot conclude this letter without stating to your lordship the many obligations I have to lord Keith and the navy, for the great exertions they have used in forwarding to us the necessary supplies,and from the fatigue they have undergone in the late embarkation of a considerable number of troops and stores, who were embarked on the new lake, and proceeded to the westward under the orders of major-general Coote.

The utmost dispatch has also been used in sending the French troops, lately captured, to France; which, in our present position,was a service of the most essential consequence.

*

I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) J. Hely Hutchinson, lieutenant-general.

Extract of a Letter from Lieutenant-
General the Honourable Sir John
Hely Hutchinson, K. B, to the
Right Honourable Lord Hobart.

Head-quarters, Camp before
Alexandria, August 19.

I was honoured with your lordship's dispatches of the 19th May, at Cairo, where I remained to settle some essential business with his highness the grand vizier, on the subject of the Mamalukes; I have put their affairs in a train of negotiation, and I hope to bring them

to a fortunate issue.

The siege of Alexandria will probably be attended with many difficulties; the works towards the east side, where we are encamped, are prodigiously strong, and can hardly

narrowness of the space between the lake and the sea, and the nature of the ground; towards the west the works are not so strong, but, however, the difficulties in approaching them are also numerous; the corps there is completely in the desert, the communication with us (by whom they must be supplied with every thing) is tedious, and the boats employed have a most severe duty to perform; general Coote has, however, been so fortunate as to find water. On the whole, I cannot flatter myself that Alexandria will be in our possession in a short time, unless some event takes place, of which we are not at present aware.

The reinforcements from England, Minorca, and Malta, are all arrived, except the 48th regiment from the latter place; they are very fine troops, and in a perfect state of health, order, and discipline.

Admiralty Office, November 14.

Copy of a Letter from the Right
Honourable Lord Keith, 'Admiral
of the Blue, &c., to Evan Nepean,
Esq.

Foudroyant, Bay of Aboukir,
September 2.

Sir,

I have the honour and satisfaction of acquainting you, for the information of the lords commissioners of the admiralty, that the important object of this expedition is fully accomplished; a capitulation (of which a copy is enclosed) has been this day signed, providing for the delivery to the allies, to-morrow, of the enemy's intrenched camp on the eastern side of Alexandria, and

the

the fort Triangulaire, and the other important posts on the western side; and for that of the town itself, the public effects and the shippingin the harbour, at the expiration of ten days, or sooner,if the enemy'stroops can be sooner embarked. As soon as I can obtain returns of the ships and effects,they shall be transmitted to you. The merchant vessels are very numerous, and one old Venetian ship of the line, with the French frigates Egyptienne, Justice, and Régêneré, and some corvettes, are known to be in the port.

Their lordships will not fail to have observed, from my former details, the meritorious conduct of the officers and men who have been, from time to time, employed on the various duties which the debarkation of the army and a cooperation with them has required. Though opportunities for brilliant exertion have been few since the 8th of March, the desire for participating in it has been unremitted. But the nature of this expedition has demanded from most of the officers and seamen of the fleet, and particularly from those of the troop-ships,bomb-vessels, and transports, the endurance of labour, fatigue, and privation, far beyond what I have witnessed before, and which I verily believe to have exceeded all former example, and it has been encounteredand surmounted with a degree of resolution and perseverance, which merits my highest praise, and gives both officers and men a just claim to the protection of their lordships, and the approbation of their country. The number of officers to whom I owe this tribute of approbation, does not admit of my mentioning them by name; but most of the

captains of the troop-ships have been employed in the superintendance of these duties, and I have had repeated and urgent offers of voluntary service from all. The agents for transports have conducted themselves with laudable diligence and activity in the service of the several departments to which they are attached, and displayed the greatest exertion and ability in overcoming the numerous difficulties with which they had to con

tend.

.

The captains and commanders of the ships appointed for guarding the Porte, have executed that tedious and anxious duty with diligence and success. During my absence from the squadron, the blockade has been conducted much to my satisfaction by rear-admiral sir R. Bickerton; and justice requires me to mention, that when I was with the squadron, captain Wilson, of the Trusty, was unwearied in his attention to the direction of all the duties in this bay.

The capitan pacha has uniformly manifested the most anxious desire of contributing, by every means in his power, to the promotion of the service. Having been generally on shore with his troops, the ships have been submitted, by his orders, to my direction, and the officers have paid the most respectful attention to the instructions they have received from me.

Captain sir Sidney Smith, who has served with such distinguished reputation in this country, having applied to be the bearer of the dispatches announcing the expulsion of the enemy, I have complied with his request; and I beg to refer their lordships to that active and

intelligent

of their lordships, that the embarkation of general Belliard's corps was carrying into execution with all possible dispatch; but, on account of the difficulty of getting forward the immense quantity of baggage that they brought with them from Cairo, the operation was protracted till the 8th. The ships of war, as well as the transports, however, were directed to proceed by divisions. The Braakel, with the first division, sailed on the 4th; the Inflexible, Dolphin, and Ulysses, with the second, on the 6th; and the Experiment and Pallas, with the last, on the 10th, carrying with

them between 13 and 14,000 individuals of all descriptions.

The army from Cairo moved on forthwith to the camp before Alexandria; and the general, who did me the honour of spending some days with me while the embarkation of the French was going on, resolved on transporting by the Mareotis,to thewestward ofAlexandria, a corps of about 5,000 men, under the orders of major-general Coote, to divide the enemy's force and attention, to invest the town closely on that side, and cut off all farther hope of reinforcement or supplies by land. On the 12th, I proceeded with lieutenant-colonel Anstruther, the quarter-master-general, to examine the enemy's position on the side of the lake, and the strength of the flotilla that they had assembled there; and having ascertained that their armed force could be easily subdued, and that a debarkation could be effected with little or no difficulty, the general determined to carry the measure into immediate effect. To secure the landing from interruption, captain Stevenson, of the Europa, who

is continued in the command of the flotilla, was forthwith directed to take a station in front of the gunboats and armed boats which the enemy had assembled on the lake, and drawn up in a line under the protection of batteries thrown up for their defence, to keep them in check till they could be seized or destroyed. On the evening of the 16th, all the boats of the ships of war and the transports in this bay, were assembled in the Mareotis, with as many germs as could be collected from the Nile, for the purpose of receiving the troops, who were embarked in the night, and landed without opposition the next morning, under the superintendance of captain Elphinstone, considerably farther to the westward than was intended, the wind not admitting of the boats reaching the shore nearer to the town; the enemy, seeing no prospect left of saving their armed boats, set fire to them, and blew them all up in the course of this and the following day, except two or three which have fallen into our hands. Whilst the landing was carrying into effect, captain sir W. S. Smith, of the Tigre, was directed with some sloops of war and armed boats to make a demonstration of attack upon the town.

On the night of the 17th, majorgeneral Coote was enabled to establish batteries against Marabout, a small fortified island that protects the entrance into the great harbour of Alexandria, on the western side, and distant from the town about seven or eight miles, which, for many reasons, it was important to possess. Rear-admiral sir Richard Bickerton, having the command of the squadron blockading the port,

directed armed launches from the ships to cooperate with the troops; and the garrison, consisting of near 200 men, unequal to farther resistance, surrendered as prisoners of war, on the evening of the 21st. Mr. Hull, midshipman, and one seaman of the Ajax, were killed on this service, and two seamen, of the Northumberland, wounded.

On the afternoon of the same day, the rear-admiral ordered the Cynthia, Port Mahon, Victorieuse, and Bonne Citoyenne, with three Turkish corvettes, to proceed into the harbour under the direction of the honourable captain Cochrane, of the Ajax, (a channel having been previously surveyed with great industry and precision by lieutenant Withers, ofthe Kent,) and on the morning of the 22d. major-general Coote's detachment moved forward four or five miles on the narrow isthmus leading to the town, formed by the Mareotis or inundation of the south side, and the harbour on the north; captain Stevenson, with the gun vessels on the lake, covering the right flank, and captain Cochrane, with the sloops of war, and armed boats, protecting their left. The position which the major-general took up, and that occupied by our little squadron, which has since been reinforced by the Diana, completed the blockade of the town. rear-admiralgives great commendation to the honourable captainCochrane, for the zealous and judicious manner in which he executed the service intrusted to him. Soon after our ships entered the harbour, the enemy sunk several vessels between our advanced ships and their vessels in the port, to obstruct our farther progress to the eastward,

The

and

and moved their frigates and corvettes from Fig-tree Point close up

to the town.

General Menou, finding himself closely pressed on the eastward of the town by the commander-inchief, who had carried some of the enemy's redoubts, and established strong batteries against their intrenched lines; and on the western side by major-general Coote, who had, during the preceding night, driven in several of their outposts, and advanced up to an important position,whichtheenemy seemed conscious of being unable to defend, sent out, on the evening of the 26th, proposals for an armistice of three days, to arrange terms of capitulation, which I have no doubt will soon terminate in the surrender of the town.

I have the honour to be, sir, &c.
Keith.

London Gazette, May 12, 1801. Extracts from Dispatches from Rear. Admiral Duckworth, Commanderin-Chief of his Majesty's Ships and Vessels at Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands, to Evan Nepean, Esq., Secretary of the Admiralty.

Leviathan, at Sea, March 27. Sir,

Having consulted with lieutenantgeneral Trigge, on the subject of the orders of the lords commissioners of the admiralty, we determined not to wait for the expected reinforcements, but collect the troops that the general thought might be employed with dispatch; and we sailed on the 16th, with about1,500 troops, for the purpose of attacking the various islands specified in our:

orders, the general and myself considering it most judicious to commence with the weathermost one, St. Bartholomew, though by calms and very variable winds we were prevented from getting to Grand Saline Bay (our intended place of landing) till the morningof the 20th, when, having prepared every thing for that purpose, and placed the Andromeda, L'Unité, and Drake brig to cover it, the general and myself deemed it expedient to prevent delay, by sending brigadiergeneral Fuller, and captain King of the Leviathan, with a summons, which, after some little hesitation, was accepted, and the capitulation I transmit entered into. I then detached the Andromeda with the Alexandria tender to assist inwatching St. Thomas's, when every exertion was used to land a garrison, and form such temporary arrangements as the urgency of the service would admit; all of which were effected by the morning of the 22d. We found here two Swedish ships, nearly laden with produce of this country, a Danish ship in ballast, besides a variety of small craft, Swedish, and three small French vessels; and I left captain Thomas. Harvey, in L'Unité, to cooperate with the commandant of that island, and at ten o'clock, A. M., were in the act of weighing, when ten sail were seen from the mast head; I therefore ordered the Drake brig and L'Eclair schooner to reconnoitre, keeping the wind, myself concluding they were our troops from England, which the general and myself had sent orders to Barbadoes to follow us after landing their sick, with women and children; this, from light airs, was not ascertained till ten o'clock at night, when they

proved