Extract of a Letter from Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Hotham, K.C.B., addressed to Captain Maitland of H.M.S. Bellerophon, dated Quiberon Bay, July 6, 1815.
"It is impossible to tell which information respecting Buonaparte's flight may be correct; but, in the uncertainty, it is right to attach a certain degree of credit to all: that which I now act on, is received this morning, from the chief of the Royalists, between the Loire and the Vilaine.
"Although the force of the Bellerophon would be sufficient for the ships at Isle d'Aix, if they were to give you an opportunity of bringing them to action together, you cannot stop them both, if the frigates separate; I am, therefore, now anxious you should have a frigate with you: therefore if any of them should be with you, keep her for the time I have specified; but if you have no frigate, and this should be brought to you by a twenty-gun ship, keep her with you for the same time; she will do to keep sight of a French frigate, although she could not stop her.
"If this is delivered to you by Lord John Hay of the Opossum, do not detain him, as her force would be of no use to you, and I want him particularly, to examine vessels which sail from the Loire."
Extract of an Order from Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Hotham, K.C.B.; addressed to Captain Maitland of H.M.S. Bellerophon, dated Superb, Quiberon Bay, 6th July, 1815.
"Having this morning received information that it is believed Napoleon Buonaparte has taken his road from Paris for Rochefort, to embark from thence for the United States of America, I have to direct you will use your best endeavours to prevent him from making his escape in either of the frigates at Isle d'Aix; for which purpose you are, notwithstanding former orders, to keep any frigate which may be with you, at the time you receive this letter, in company with the ship you command, for the space of ten days, to enable you to intercept them in case they should put to sea together: but if you should have no frigate with you at the above time, you will keep the ship delivering this, (which will probably be the Slaney or Cyrus,) in company with the Bellerophon, ten days, and then allow her to proceed in execution of the orders her Captain has received from me."
The Slaney brought the letter and order, parts of which are extracted above, and having no frigate in company, I detained her as part of the force under my command, though she was, on the 8th, sent down to the Mamusson passage, with orders for Captain Green of the Daphne, and did not return until the evening of the 11th.
On the 8th of July, I was joined by a chasse-marée bringing a letter from Sir Henry Hotham, part of which is as follows:—
Extract of a Letter from Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Hotham, K.C.B., addressed to Captain Maitland, of H.M.S. Bellerophon, dated Superb, Quiberon Bay, July 7, 1815.
"Having sent every ship and vessel out from this bay, to endeavour to intercept Buonaparte, I am obliged to send the chasse-marée, which has been employed in my communications with the Royalists, with this letter, to acquaint you that the Ferret brought me information last evening, after the Opossum had left me, from Lord Keith, that Government received, on the night of the 30th, an application from the rulers of France, for a passport and safe conduct for Buonaparte to America, which had been answered in the negative, and, therefore, directing an increase of vigilance to intercept him: but it remains quite uncertain where he will embark; and, although it would appear by the measures adopted at home, that it is expected he will sail from one of the northern ports, I am of opinion he will go from one of the southern places, and I think the information I sent you yesterday by the Opossum is very likely to be correct; namely, that he had taken the road to Rochefort; and that he will probably embark in the frigates at Isle d'Aix; for which reason I am very anxious you should have force enough to stop them both, as the Bellerophon could only take one, if they separated, and that might not be the one he would be on board of. I have no frigate to send you; if one should join me in time, I will send her to you, and I hope you will have two twenty-gun ships with you. I imagine, from what you said in your letter by your barge, that you would not have kept the Endymion with you, especially as the Myrmidon would have rejoined you, by the arrangements I sent down by the Phœbe for Sir John Sinclair to take her place off the Mamusson; therefore, I trust that my last order to Captain Hope will not have deprived you of his assistance, but hope it may have put him in a better situation than before. The Liffey is seventy or eighty miles west from Bourdeaux, and the Pactolus, after landing some person in the Gironde, goes off Cape Finisterre, where the Swiftsure is also gone; and many ships are looking out in the Channel and about the latitude of Ushant.