“I have, &c.
“J. BRENTON.”
“Captain Spranger, &c. &c. Warrior.”
Prisoners.
| Officers | 9 |
| Non-commissioned ditto | 6 |
| Rank and file | 89 |
| 104 |
Guns taken.
| Twenty-four pounders | 1 |
| Eighteen ditto | 3 |
| Fifteen ditto | 1 |
| Fourteen ditto | 4 |
| Nine ditto | 21 |
| Six ditto | 4 |
| Two ditto | 2 |
| One ditto | 1 |
| Eighteen ditto Carronades | 2 |
| 39 |
It is stated in the official letter respecting the capture of Cerigo, that the Governor of this Island was made a prisoner on the taking of Zante, and that papers containing much useful information had been found upon him. Amongst others, was the copy of a letter from him to the Governor of Corfu, stating that some Mainotes (natives of the Morea) having landed on the Island of Cerigo, he had endeavoured in vain to drive them off again, but not succeeding by his arguments—he added,—“Enfin je me suis avise de leur fair empoisoner les eaux, et par ce moyen quelques uns de ces misérables ont péri, et les autres s’enfuirent.” Appalling as such an acknowledgment may be, and evidently given to the Governor of Corfu as a happy stratagem, for which the abominable perpetrator took credit, it had quite escaped the recollection of Captain Brenton; and his whole party might have become the victims of this unheard of system of treachery, but for the advice of a Greek Priest, who came to the British officers in the night, whilst on their march to attack the Castle of Capsali, and recommended that they should immediately place sentinels on the stream from which they took their water, and accurately examine it, if possible, to its source. He then repeated the story of poisoning the Mainotes, and explained how it had been done. A vast quantity of arsenic had been put into the body of a dead hog, and placed in the stream, above the spot where these people had encamped, and the water filtering through it became a deadly poison. On taking possession of the castle, Captain Brenton asked the Governor’s housekeeper whether the story was true; her answer was quite in character with the establishment to which she belonged, “E vero,” said she, “ma non cattivo.”
After the capture of the Ionian Islands, the squadron under Captain Spranger with the troops returned to Sicily, and Captain Brenton was left to cruize off the Islands, in order to be in readiness to give any assistance that might be required.