On the very eve of the sailing of this powerful force, young Yorke wrote home a letter to his father which shows the spirit of the young sailor and the enthusiasm which animated the fleet.
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'MY DEAR FATHER,
'We are hove to for a Packet, and she is coming up fast, so my stave will be short, with a strong breeze, which is to say I am quite well. We have a great deal to do, shall be at Gibraltar to-morrow if the wind holds. We clear for action there, and leave all our chests, bulkheads, and everything we have except guns, powder, shot, &c. &c. of which we have not a little.
'I have the honour to command one of H.M.S. Queen Charlotte's boats on service, and if there is any work, expect to cut no small caper. I have seen the plan of attack; all our fire is to be on the mole head. Us, the Leander, Superb and Impregnable are to be lashed together and as near the walls as possible. Minden engages a battery called the Emperor's Fort, and Albion stands off and on to relieve any damaged ship. As soon as the Mole is cleared, we are to land; glorious enterprise for the boats.
'Give my love to dearest Uranie and Lady C. [Footnote:
Dowager-Marchioness of Clanricarde, his stepmother.] &c. &c.
'Your affecte.
'C. YORKE.'
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The British fleet with its allied Dutch squadron arrived off Algiers on August 21. Lord Exmouth had sent in advance a corvette with orders to endeavour to rescue the British Consul, a humane effort which, however, succeeded only in rescuing that gentleman's wife and child, and resulted, on the other hand, in the capture of the boat's crew of eighteen men. The captain of the corvette reported that the Dey refused altogether to give up that official, or to be responsible for his safety, and also that there were 40,000 troops in the town, in addition to the Janissaries who had been summoned from distant garrisons. The Algerine fleet, he said, consisted of between forty and fifty gun and mortar vessels, as well as a numerous flotilla of galleys. Works had been thrown up on the mole which protected the harbour, and the forts were known to be armed with a numerous artillery and to be of excellent masonry with walls fourteen to sixteen feet thick. The Dey, thinking himself fairly secure behind such defences, was prepared with a determined resistance.