This was an excellent beginning, but the work was only half done; and Captain Dyneley, having taken possession of his prize, lost no time in giving chase to the “Napoleon,” which vessel appears to have been occupied chiefly in demonstrating how much faster than the “Attentive” she could sail, and in declining the action which the latter offered. In this prudent course she found no difficulty; but when the “Duke of Montrose,” an incomparably swifter vessel bore down and offered fight, her crew flushed with the victory which had robbed the expedition of its most powerful component, the commander of the “Napoleon” judged that the time for Fabian tactics had gone past, and sought refuge in flight.
Unfortunately for himself he had delayed a little too long. Not only was the “Duke of Montrose” in a position whence she could have overhauled the “Napoleon” in a comparatively short space of time, but there were already in view, rounding a point of the coast, the white sails of an English cruiser, which, attracted by the firing, was running down to see if she could be of use. Captain Dyneley continued the chase long enough to assure himself that the newcomer, which proved to be H.M.S. “Wasp,” Captain Bluett, could not miss the “Napoleon,” and then returned to Rozeau Bay where he found the circumstances completely changed.
The “Attentive” had succeeded in capturing the row-boats, and as the “Duke of Montrose” reappeared on the scene of action had just scuttled them. There remained only one vessel of the whole flotilla, and about this one it was unnecessary for either the “Attentive,” the “Duke of Montrose,” or the “Wasp” to concern themselves. For the apprehension of a conflict on shore was no sooner removed by the capture of “L’Imperial,” than the soldiers who were in charge of the land defences became impatient of their inaction; and Lieutenant Hamilton, having obtained leave, manned a couple of boats with soldiers of his own, the 48th, regiment, pulled out to the French ship, and captured her after a brief encounter.
Thus of the whole expedition not one ship or man escaped; and an hour’s energetic action had turned the well-founded apprehensions felt for the safety of Dominica into security. Captain Dyneley was undoubtedly the saviour of the island. Had he not checked the course of “L’Imperial,” that vessel, which doubtless carried General Hortade, would have executed her plans without impediment. The “Attentive” could not overhaul her; the “Wasp” was too far away to be of use in preventing a landing. Had the French troops been disembarked there must have been desperate and bloody fighting, the result of which could not be forecast. The loss of property would have been immense, the discredit to England and the loss of prestige in the West Indies would have been greater still.
Whether the merchants expressed their acknowledgments to Captain Dyneley in any form is not recorded in the official papers from which these facts are drawn; but General Dalrymple in his despatch to the Admiralty stated the case not unfairly, though it cannot be said that he wrote with any undue appreciation of the services of the Post-Office commander. He admitted that the capture of the two most formidable ships in the hostile flotilla was due, the one directly, and the other indirectly, to Captain Dyneley’s enterprise and pluck; and added, “his zeal and disinterestedness are highly commendable, as from his instructions he had a good deal to lose.”
On Captain Dyneley’s return to England his own chiefs were well able to interpret this carefully guarded language, and from them at least he obtained the admiration which was his due. The Postmaster General prevailed on the Admiralty to convey to him a special expression of thanks and approval, and marked their own sense of his conduct by an honorarium of a hundred and fifty guineas. The Patriotic Society voted him a handsome piece of plate, and congratulations reached him from every quarter.
It is satisfactory to read that recognition of his gallant conduct reached him promptly, because the time within which it could serve to gratify him was already short.
The “Duke of Montrose” lay at Falmouth until the middle of November, when she sailed again for the West Indies. A month later she was within fifty leagues of Barbados, that fatal region in which so many Packets had to fight for their existence, when in the early dawn a strange sail was descried from the masthead. An hour made it plain that the newcomer had altered her course and was chasing the Packet: in the course of the morning she drew so near that no doubt was left of her being a French Privateer.
Captain Dyneley put his ship to her best point of sailing, and did all in his power to avoid an action as his instructions enjoined. Well as the “Duke of Montrose” sailed, however, the enemy sailed better, and throughout the day she gradually gained steadily. During the night she was not shaken off, and about 9 A.M. on the following day, December 12th, she came within range, opened fire, and almost at the same moment ran down and grappled the “Duke of Montrose,” hoping to capture her by a sudden assault.
In an attack of this kind the superior numbers of the Privateer’s crew (she carried eighty-five men against twenty-eight on the Falmouth vessel) gave her an immense advantage, and this advantage was turned into an overwhelming preponderance by the fact that she possessed a long 12–pounder (called in one report a 24–pounder) fixed upon a traverse, and so capable of being directed on any spot with ease.