On the 16th of July we marched through Dover to Deal, where innumerable boats lined the shore for the purpose of conveying troops to the various ships anchored in the Downs for their reception. Large bodies of soldiers were pouring into the town by all the roads to join the vast armament about to rendez-vous at this point. Hurrying into the boats, the hardy sailors pulled away: the beach and the bay were covered with thousands of soldiers, intermixed with the fair daughters of Albion, who had come from afar to witness this brilliant spectacle.
The army was in a fine state of discipline, and filled with enthusiasm, while the ensigns of many naval victories floated in the breeze from the mast heads of those men of war, that had for years swept the ocean, opened the whole commerce of the world to this island, and filled the coffers of England with almost inexhaustible resources.
We had no sooner arrived on board the York seventy four, commanded by Captain Barton, than the usual bustle prevailed on such occasions, which had in some measure subsided, when a large fat man in a small boat was seen making towards the ship, dressed in light fawn-coloured breeches, white cotton stockings and shoes, with a loose coat, evidently of provincial cut. Coming alongside, he eagerly demanded the number of the regiment on board, which proved to be the identical one he was in search of; he then mounted the side of the ship with breathless exertion, and attempted to bustle through the crowd of soldiers huddled together. However, the butt ends of some firelocks falling heavily near his toes, formed a sufficient hint to arrest his progress, and he was much confounded at finding himself jostled amongst such a concourse of troops for the first time in his life. After waiting some time with intense anxiety, he at length succeeded in clearing the way, crying out in accents of one whose patience had been quite exhausted by hopelessness of redress, "Will any man in this ship have the goodness to point out the Paymaster's berth? for really, gentlemen, I have striven in vain to obtain an answer of the many persons whom I have already addressed." A voice from the crowd replied, "Why, there is no such thing,"—at which unwelcome intelligence the countenance of the applicant underwent a painful transition from hope to despair.
While at anchor in the Downs, the wind blew sufficiently strong to cause the unpleasant motion of the ship which produces sea sickness, and, being one of the junior officers, I was not so fortunate as the Paymaster, who had secured a berth, for I wandered for three days into different quarters of the ship, in a state unnecessary to describe to those who have experienced the heaving of a ship at anchor. A midshipman about my own age kindly offered to provide me with such accommodation as the cock-pit afforded, which offer I thankfully accepted, in hopes of at least getting into a quiet uninterrupted corner. I had scarcely entered the hammock hung for my reception, when I was assailed by quantities of cock chafers crawling over my face, and under the blankets, (the ship having just returned from a cruise from the West Indies.)
The prodigious armament consisted of thirty-five ships of the line; two of fifty guns, three of forty-four guns; and one hundred and ninety-seven sloops, bombs, and other armed small craft,—with an army of thirty-nine thousand, two hundred and nineteen men, including officers, all assembled in the Downs on the 27th of July, 1809. The whole were under the command of Rear-Adm. Sir R. Strachan and Gen. the Earl of Chatham, in conjunction. These Commanders sailed in the Venerable at daylight, on the 28th of July, and arrived in the East Kapelle roads, off the island of Walcheren on that evening; but, owing to the boisterous state of the weather, and contrary winds, a landing could not be effected on the Domburg beach. The other two divisions of the fleet followed in succession from the Downs. The object of the expedition was, to capture or destroy the enemy's ships, building at Antwerp and Flushing, or afloat in the Scheldt; also the destruction of the arsenals and dock-yards at Antwerp, Ternuese, and Flushing; to reduce the island of Walcheren, and render, if possible, the Scheldt no longer navigable for ships of war; with directions to the commanders, should they not be able to effect all these objects, that after the reduction of Walcheren, (which was to be kept possession of, and a force left for its protection,) the remainder of the troops were to be re-embarked, and to return to England.
The island of Walcheren is thirty-four miles in circumference, including St. Jootsland, and is situated between the mouths of the East and West Scheldt, inclosed by Cadzand on the south, South Beveland and Wolfertsdyck on the east, and North Beveland on the north east. Our division of the fleet sailed from the Downs at half-past ten o'clock a. m. on the 30th, and came to anchor the next afternoon, in the East-Kapelle roads off Walcheren, when we observed the mortar and gun-vessels keeping up a heavy fire on the small town of Ter Veere, whilst a small body of English troops were lying behind the sand-hills, keeping watch on the road towards Middelburg, the capital of the island. Part of the fleet had already entered the Veere Gat, and had landed a large force, with three divisions of sailors (three hundred) the day before, at half-past four in the afternoon, on the Bree-sand, a little more than a mile west of Fort de Haak, the fire of which had been previously silenced by the gun-boats and mortars. The peaceable inhabitants sent a deputation from Middelburg to the head-quarters; the army advanced the next day, the 1st of August, and took possession of that place, drove the enemy into Flushing, and took from them some field-pieces.
Gen. Sir John Hope landed his divisions in South Beveland the same day, and took possession of Ter Goes, the capital of the island, which is thirty-five miles long. The French fleet had retired beyond the chain which was drawn across the Scheldt near Fort Lillo. On the 3d, a few vessels were observed leaving Flushing; some boats were sent in chase; the weather was fine, the wind S.S.W., and the flood tide nearly down, which gave every hope of their effecting a safe return. The Raven sloop of war went to their protection, when the enemy's vessels again retreated into Flushing. The wind suddenly flew west in a squall, first blowing hard and then baffling. The boats got safe off, but the fire continued on the sloop for four hours without intermission, round shot passing through her from the Breskens batteries, and grape dropping on board from the ramparts of Flushing. She suffered severely in the hull, masts, and rigging, and had two guns dismounted, the top-mast shot away above the lower caps, the main-mast, bowsprit, and main-boom, rendered unserviceable, the sails and rigging completely cut in pieces, and her Commander, Capt. Hanchett, and eight men, wounded. Night coming on, she grounded on the Ellboog; at daybreak two brigs were sent to her assistance, and at seven she floated.
The enemy were very apprehensive lest our army should make an attempt to pass the East Scheldt, near Zandvliet, opposite fort Bathz, which they attacked on the 5th with twenty-eight gun-boats, but were driven off by the batteries. The weather continued so bad until the 7th, the wind blowing S.W. and S.S.W., that the sea blockade of Flushing could not be accomplished, and the enemy continued to convey their wounded soldiers to Cadzand, and also threw one thousand men across the Scheldt, one mile and three-quarters, to reinforce the town. At half-past five o'clock in the evening of the 7th the enemy made a sortie on the right of the line from Flushing, but were repulsed and pushed back at the point of the bayonet. While all these things were going on, our regiment had been removed from the line-of-battle ship into small craft, and anchored in the Sloe passage, between Walcheren and South Beveland. On the morning of the 9th, ours, the light brigade, composed of the second battalions of the 43rd, 52nd, and the Rifle corps, part of Earl Rosslyn's division (two thousand and twenty-two men) were under the command of Major Gen. Stewart. He considered, from the nature of the service we were likely to be employed on, and probably cut off from our baggage by dykes and rivers, that small black knapsacks, with brown straps, would prove of essential service to the officers: for these we had paid half-a-guinea each, previously to our leaving England. However, subsequently, as he expected us to carry them at brigade field-days, some little discussion arose on that head, behind a wind-mill.
A day's salt pork and biscuit being served out, and all the officers with their knapsacks strapped on their backs, we began our march; the day was extremely sultry, without a breath of air; the road was perfectly flat, as well as the whole face of the country, which was intersected with ditches, covered with a thick ooze or vegetable substance, and high dykes rising on each side of the way. The Paymaster had joined the column, as the place of the greatest security. As guns from the gun-boats were sounding at intervals, in front and rear, we persuaded him that it was probable we might become engaged without any previous warning, by a front, flank, or rear attack, which information, added to the heat of the atmosphere, put him into such a state of perspiration, that when we halted, a liquid stream of hot water poured from his forehead, such as I have never before, nor since beheld; added to which, his tailor had fitted his corpulent sides to a nicety, although equal praise could not be bestowed on his hatter, who had manufactured his cap so large, that it fell over his face like an extinguisher, and the worst of it was, both his hands were occupied; in his right he held his wig and drenched pocket-handkerchief, while his left was in momentary request to disentangle his sabre from betwixt his legs. "Well," said he, with a good-tempered smile, "if ever I knew any thing like this!" and, notwithstanding his uncomfortable plight, he cracked his jokes, and proved himself a man of more ready wit, and possessing a greater fund of anecdote and humorous stories, than any one I ever met with, so that he became a general favourite throughout the regiment: but such a figure in a light infantry jacket! such skirts, with pockets large enough to have stowed away half the striplings of the corps! When the brigade was put in motion, he remained in the middle of the way, as they passed him right and left, and waited for the light waggons carrying our baggage; then stowing himself comfortably away in one of them, he was brought to our cantonments perfectly sick of campaigning.
As we passed along, we were much struck at the great cleanliness of the cottages, and at the contented air of the well-dressed peasantry. The females were decorated with silver or gold ornaments about their persons, and many of them wore a plate of the same metal across their foreheads. The little boys of five or six years old held pipes in their mouths, smoking with all the gravity of men, and wore their hair long behind, broad-brimmed hats, brown jackets, short breeches, shoes, and silver buckles, precisely similar to the elders. We passed through Ter-Goes, a fine old brick town, surrounded by earth ramparts and a wet ditch; it opened its gates without making any resistance to Sir John Hope's corps.