The Albanians at D’Jebail did not seem disposed to give up their castle. On the 12th I sent 220 marines and 150 armed mountaineers, with orders to Captain Martin to turn them out: his report will show that it was not easily done; the officer in command rather incautiously advanced to the castle, and met with a severe loss. The mountaineers in this district came in also for arms in great numbers. Captain Martin, with great zeal, pushed on to Batroun, a little to the northward of D’Jebail, and drove the Albanians from that neighbourhood, which gave him an opportunity of distributing more arms to the warlike inhabitants.
“Sir,
“H.M.S. Carysfort, D’Jebail,
September 13, 1840.
“I have the honour to inform you that, pursuant to your directions, I anchored yesterday off D’Jebail. The enemy have evacuated the town; the mountaineers are coming in fast for arms, and, as far as I can judge from their words and professions, the most enthusiastic feeling prevails among them. I trust that the results will, in some degree, excuse the loss we have sustained. I shall now proceed to detail the circumstances of the attack.
“At noon I anchored, with springs, within musket-shot of D’Jebail. The Dido took a good position ahead of the Carysfort, and the Cyclops astern; groups of mountaineers immediately came down to the beach, and many were brought off by the boats. Having given a sufficient time for the marines to prepare for landing, and for their commanding officer to reconnoitre the place of disembarkation, at 1 P.M. the ships opened their fire upon the castle and upon the points which the mountaineers designated to us as occupied by the Albanians. This was returned by occasional musket shots.
“When the fire had been continued with great precision, and apparently some effect, for about an hour, the marines, accompanied by a large party of armed mountaineers, pushed off from the Cyclops, and to cover their landing the ships re-opened upon the castle. About half-past 3[3] P.M., observing the detachment formed upon the beach to the south of the town, and believing all the effect likely to be produced by our shot was already done, and that the gardens had been swept by the launch’s caronnades, I made the signal to push on. The marines advanced briskly to the assault, but the cliff soon obstructed my view of their progress through the gardens in front of the castle. They reached within thirty yards of the tower, when a destructive fire was opened upon them from a crenelled outwork, having a deep ditch in front, which was completely masked from the fire of the ships. Finding his men were falling fast, that the wall of the castle was impracticable, that there was no gate accessible, and nothing but the muzzles of the enemy’s muskets visible through the loopholes, Captain Robinson very judiciously drew his men off. The marines retired to the beach steadily and in good order. Captain Austin, who superintended the landing, and accompanied the marines, having sent to me to say that nothing could be done unless the tower was levelled, the ships again commenced firing upon it. Finding, however, that the immense solidity of the building prevented our making a sufficient impression upon it, at half-past 5 I ordered the marines to be re-embarked and the firing to cease.
“An English flag, which had been planted on the garden wall as a signal to the ships, was accidentally left there by the pilot of the Cyclops after the marines had retired; Lieutenant Grenfell and — Macdonald, a seaman of the Cyclops, volunteered to recover it, and brought it off most gallantly amidst the cheers of the ships.
“At night a party of the mountaineers, whom we had armed, were established in the town; and at daylight this morning I found that the Albanians had evacuated the castle during the night, leaving three behind, one of them badly wounded, and since dead. The conduct of a Turkish soldier, who was sent up in the Cyclops, has been admirable in organizing and keeping together parties of the mountaineers.
“Having distributed all the arms, I now send the Cyclops for a fresh supply. I think we may dispose of more; and I take the liberty of suggesting that they should be sent immediately, before the present enthusiasm has time to subside.