Abercromby's division of ten thousand men set sail from England on August 13th, 1799, and with it went the 49th Regiment under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Brock who was then just thirty years of age. After a stormy passage they landed near the Helder on the 27th of that month. A short engagement ensued, when the British troops compelled the enemy to retreat and Sir Ralph Abercromby took possession of the peninsula, entrenched himself there, and occupied the evacuated batteries. When the Dutch fleet saw the entrenchments of the Helder occupied by the English they slipped their cables and tried to escape, but were chased by the British fleet and compelled to surrender.
The second division of the army, under the Duke of York, followed on September 9th, as soon as news was received of the successful landing of the first. It consisted of thirty battalions of infantry, five hundred cavalry and a train of artillery. The fleet remained at anchor off the coast of North Holland. It was certainly unfortunate, as results proved, that the chief command, by the arrival of the Duke of York, was taken from Sir Ralph Abercromby, for the position of the army on a hostile shore opposed by that skilful French general, Marshal Brune, required a leader of consummate experience. Abercromby's methods had inspired the troops under him with confidence, while, to say the least, the Duke of York had but an indifferent reputation as a commander.
Isaac Brock was accompanied on this campaign by his younger brother Savery, who had entered the navy some time before as a midshipman but had been compelled to retire from that service on account of some breach of discipline. He had volunteered for this expedition and had been allowed to join his brother's regiment as paymaster.
The account of the landing and subsequent events is related by Brock in a letter to his brother John, who was then stationed at the Cape of Good Hope in command of the 31st Regiment. Brock says:—"After beating the seas from the 8th to the 27th of August we landed near the Helder. The fourth brigade was under General Moore and consisted of the Royals, 25th, 49th, 79th and 92nd. To our utter astonishment the enemy gave us no annoyance. On the contrary he evacuated the town which we took quiet possession of on the following morning. The next evening a reinforcement of five thousand men arrived, but could not land for two days, and in the meantime our troops lay exposed on the sand hills without the least shelter to cover them from the wind and rain. At length the army moved forward eleven miles and got into cantonments along a canal extending the whole breadth of the country from the Zuyder Zee on the one side to the main ocean on the other, protected by an amazingly strong dyke running half a mile in front of the line."
Egmont op Zee
The army, by the arrival of sixteen thousand Russians, was now increased to thirty-five thousand men, but these allies became rather a source of trouble than a help. Though brave, they were undisciplined, and in the advance on Bergen, on September 19th, after driving the enemy before them, they dispersed for plunder, whereupon the French rallied, and drove the disorganized Russians at the point of the bayonet before them, without giving them a chance to reform. At last they encountered a British brigade whom they blamed for not coming sooner to their support. The Russians had, unfortunately, been entrusted by the Duke of York with the principal attack, while Sir Ralph had been detached with ten thousand men to attack the town of Hoarn. October 2nd was fixed upon for a final assault on Bergen. In this, Abercromby led the right column along the sand to Egmont op Zee. He was successful, but by the failure of the other division the victory was of no avail in the final disaster that overtook the English troops.
In his letter to his brother, Brock, who was in Abercromby's column, describes the battle known as Egmont op Zee. He says:—"No commanding officer could have been more handsomely supported than I was on that day, ever glorious to the 49th. Poor Archer brought his company to the attack in a most soldier-like manner; and even after he had received his mortal wound he animated his men, calling on them to go on to victory, to glory, and no order could have been more effectually obeyed. I got knocked down soon after the enemy began to retreat, but never quitted the field, and returned to my duty in less than half an hour."
On this occasion Brock's life was saved, it is said, by his wearing, as the weather was cold, a stout cotton handkerchief over a thick, black silk cravat, both of which were perforated by the bullet. The violence of the blow was so great that it stunned and dismounted him. Another fellow-officer wounded at the same time was Lord Aylmer, afterwards governor-general of Canada.
The letter continues: "Savery acted during the whole of this day as aide-de-camp either to Sir Ralph or to General Moore, and nothing could surpass his activity and gallantry. He had a horse shot under him, and had all this been in his line he must have been particularly noticed as he has become the astonishment of all who saw him. We remained that night and the following on the sand hills; you cannot conceive our wretched state as it blew and rained nearly the whole time. Our men bore all this without grumbling, although they had nothing to eat but the biscuits they carried with them which were completely wet. We at length got into Egmont, and the following day, the 5th, into Alkmaar, where we enjoyed ourselves amazingly."
Savery Brock