Other Vessels not in the Action.
A schooner, 8 four-pounders—Sent from their fleet for provisions.
A galley, said to be of greater force than those mentioned above——Fitting out at Ticonderoga.
G. C.
[Over]
COPY of a LETTER from Captain DOUGLAS, of the Isis, to Mr. STEPHENS, Secretary to the Admiralty.
Quebec, 21st October, 1776.
Having for the space of six weeks attended the naval equipment for the important expedition on Lake Champlain, I on the 4th instant saw, with unspeakable joy, the re-constructed ship, now called the Inflexible, and commanded by Lieutenant Schank, her rebuilder, sail from St. John’s, twenty-eight days after her keel was laid, towards the place of rendezvous; taking in her 18 twelve-pounders beyond the shoal which is on this side the Isle aux Noix, in her way up.
The prodigies of labour which have been effected since the rebels were driven out of Canada, in creating, re-creating, and equipping a fleet of above thirty fighting vessels of different sorts and sizes, and all carrying cannon, since the beginning of July, together with the transporting over land, and afterwards dragging up the two rapids of St. Terese and St. John’s, thirty long-boats, the flat bottomed boats, a gondola weighing about thirty tons, and above four hundred batteaus, almost exceed belief. His Excellency the Commander in Chief of the army, and all the other generals, are of the opinion, that the sailors of his Majesty’s ships and transports have (far beyond the usual limits of their duty) exerted themselves to the utmost on this great and toilsome occasion; nor has a man of that profession uttered a single word expressive of discontent, amidst all the hardships they have undergone, so truly patriotic are the motives by which they are actuated.—To crown the whole, above two hundred prime seamen of the transports, impelled by a due sense of their country’s wrongs, did most generously engage themselves to serve in our armed vessels during the expedition, and embarked accordingly. Such having then been our unremitting toils, I am happy beyond expression in hereby acquainting my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the destruction of almost the whole of the rebel fleet, in two several battles on the eleventh and thirteenth instant, is our reward. I have recived a letter from Captain Pringle, of the Lord Howe armed ship, who commands the officers and seamen on the Lake, and who bestows the highest encomiums on their behaviour in both engagements. The rebels did by no means believe it possible for us to get upon Lake Champlain this year; were much surprized at the first fight of the van of our force; but ran into immediate and utter confusion the moment a three-masted ship made her appearance, being a phenomenon, they never so much as dreamt of. Thus have his Majesty’s faithful subjects here, (contrary to a crude but prevailing idea) by straining every nerve in their country’s cause, out-done them in working as much as in fighting. The ship Inflexible, with the Maria and Carleton schooners, all reconstructions, did the whole of the second day’s business, the flat-bottomed radeau called the Thunderer, and the gondola called the Loyal Convert, with the gun-boats, not having been able to keep up with them. The said gondola was taken from the rebels the day the siege of Quebec was raised.—The loss we have sustained, considering the great superiority of the insurgents, is very small, consisting of between thirty and forty men killed and wounded, seamen, soldiers, artillery-men, and all; eight whereof were killed outright, and six wounded, on board of the Carleton.—As to farther particulars, I must refer you to Lieutenant Dacres, who, in justice due to his merit, for the part he bore in destroying the rebel fleet, I am happy in sending upon this occasion to their Lordships in the Stag transport, as also in thereby complying with the General’s desire, who, for the same reason, is pleased to honour him with the conveyance of his dispatches.