At fifteen minutes before three P.M. the Queen Charlotte came to an anchor by the stern, at the distance of sixty yards from the beach, and, as was ascertained by measurement, ninety yards from the muzzles of the guns of the mole batteries, unmolested, and with all the quietude of a friendly harbour; her flag flew at the main, and the colours at the peak; her starboard broadside flanked the whole range of batteries from the mole head to the lighthouse; her topsail yards (as were those of the squadron,) remained aloft, to be secure from fire, and the sails brought snugly to the yards by head-lines previously fitted; the topgallant sails and small sails only were furled, so that we had no man unnecessarily exposed aloft.
The Leander, following the motions of the admiral, was brought up with two anchors by the stern, let go on his larboard beam, veered away, until she obtained a position nearly a-head of him, then let go an anchor under foot, open by this to a battery on the starboard side at the bottom of the mole, and to the Fish-market battery on the larboard side. At this moment Lord Exmouth was seen waving his hat on the poop to the idlers on the beach to get out of the way, then a loud cheer was heard, and the whole of the Queen Charlotte's tremendous broadside was thrown into the batteries abreast of her; this measure was promptly taken, as the smoke of a gun was observed to issue from some part of the enemy's works, so that the sound of the British guns was heard almost in the same instant with that to which the smoke belonged. The cheers of the Queen Charlotte were loudly echoed by those of the Leander, and the contents of her starboard broadside as quickly followed, carrying destruction into the groups of row-boats; as the smoke opened, the fragments of boats were seen floating, their crews swimming and scrambling, as many as escaped the shot, to the shore; another broadside annihilated them. The enemy was not slack in returning this warm salute, for almost before the shot escaped from our guns, a man standing on the forecastle bits, hauling on the topsail buntlines, received a musket bullet in his left arm, which broke the bone, and commenced the labours in the cockpit. The action became general as soon as the ships had occupied their positions, and we were engaged with the batteries on either side; so close were we, that the enemy were distinctly seen loading their guns above us. After a few broadsides, we brought our starboard broadside to bear on the Fish-market, and our larboard side then looked to seaward. The rocket-boats were now throwing rockets over our ships into the mole, the effects of which, were occasionally seen on the shipping on our larboard bow. The Dutch flag was to be seen flying at the fore of the Dutch Admiral, who, with his squadron, were engaging the batteries to the eastward of the mole. The fresh breeze which brought us in was gradually driven away by the cannonade, and the smoke of our guns so hung about us, that we were obliged to wait until it cleared; for the men took deliberate and certain aims, training their guns until they were fully satisfied of their precision. But our enemies gave us no reason to suppose that they were idle; so great was the havoc which they made amongst us, that the surgeon in his report stated, that sixty-five men were brought to him wounded after the first and second broadsides.
About four o'clock, a boat, with an officer, came with orders from the admiral to cease firing, as an attempt to destroy the Algerine frigates was about to be made. Accordingly three boats pushed into the mole, running the gantlet in gallant style; they boarded the outermost frigate, which was found deserted by her crew; and in a few minutes she was in a blaze; in doing this the boats' crews suffered severely. The smoke of our last broadside had scarcely left us, when the Algerines renewed their fire of musketry upon our decks, fortunately the men were lying down by the guns, and the officers alone were marks for them, but one midshipman was their only victim at this time. The masts began to suffer in all parts, splinters were falling from them, and shreds of canvass from the sails came down upon us in great quantities; traces, bowlines, and other running gear, suffered equally; the shrouds, fore and aft, got cut up so quickly, that the rigging men attempted in vain to knot them, and were at last forced to leave the rigging to its fate.
When the boats returned, we recommenced our fire with renewed vigour; occasionally a flag-staff was knocked down, a fact which was always announced with a cheer, each captain of a gun believing himself to be the faithful marksman. The Algerine squadron now began, as it were, to follow the motions of the outer frigate; the rockets had taken effect, and they all burned merrily together. A hot shot, about this time, struck a powder-box, on which was sitting the powder-boy, he, poor fellow, was blown up, and another near him was dreadfully scorched.
Through the intervals of smoke, the sad devastation in the enemy's works was made visible; the whole of the mole head, near the Queen Charlotte, was a ruin, and the guns were consequently silenced; but we were not so fortunate with the Fish-market; the guns there still annoyed us, and ours seemed to make no impression. A battery in the upper angle of the town was also untouched, and we were so much under it, that the shot actually came through our decks, without touching the bulwarks, and we could not elevate our guns sufficiently to check them.
As the sun was setting behind the town, the whole of the shipping in the mole were in flames; their cables burned through, left them at the mercy of every breeze: the outermost frigate threatened the Queen Charlotte with a similar fate, but a breeze sent her clear on towards the Leander; a most intense heat came from her, and we expected every moment to be in contact; the flames were burning with great power at the mast heads, and the loose fire was flying about in such a way that there seemed little chance of our escaping, but we checked her progress towards us, by firing into her, and in the act of hauling out, we were rejoiced to see a welcome sea-breeze alter the direction of the flames aloft, the same breeze soon reached her hull, and we had the satisfaction in a few minutes to see her touch the shore to which she belonged.
The guns were now so much heated by the incessant fire kept up, that we were forced to reduce the cartridges nearly one-half, as well as to wait their cooling before reloading; the men, too, were so reduced at some guns, that they required the assistance of the others to work them; the aftermost gun on the gangway had only two men left untouched, Between seven and eight o'clock, the fire of the enemy's guns had sensibly diminished, and their people were running in crowds from the demolished works to the great gate of the city; they were distinctly seen in all their movements by the light of their burning navy and arsenal. The battery in the upper angle of the town, which, was too high to fire upon, kept up a galling fire, and another further to the eastward was still at work. To bring our broadside to bear upon it, a hawser was run out to the Severn, on our larboard bow, the ship was swung to the proper bearing, and we soon checked them. At 45 minutes past nine, the squadron began to haul out, some making sail, and taking advantage of a light air off the land, while others were towing and warping: the only sail which we had fit to set, was the main-topmast staysail, and this was of too stout canvass to feel the breeze; the boats of our own ship were unable to move her, after a kedge anchor, which was run out to the length of the stream-cable, had come home; thus we were left, dependant either on a breeze or the assistance of the squadron. An officer was sent to tell the admiral our situation, but the boat was sunk from under the crew, who were picked up by another; a second boat was more successful, and the admiral ordered all the boats he could collect to our assistance. At this time the Severn, near us, had caught the breeze, and was moving steadily out; a hawser was made fast to her mizen-chains secured to its bare end, which had just sufficient length to reach the painter of the headmost boat, towing; by this means the Leander's head was checked round, and we had again the gratification to see her following the others of the squadron. The small portion of our sails were set to assist our progress; but without the help of the Severn there we should have remained; our mizen-topmast fell into the maintop, shot through. When the Algerines saw us retiring they returned to the guns which they had previously abandoned, and again commenced a fire on the boats, which made the water literally in a foam; this fire was returned by our quarter guns, but with very little effect. As we left the land, the breeze increased; the Severn cast off her tow, and our boats returned on board: at 25 minutes past eleven we fired our last gun, and the cannonade was succeeded by a storm of thunder and lightning. At midnight we anchored within three miles of the scene of action; the report of a gun on shore was still heard at intervals, but all was soon quiet, except the shipping in the mole, which continued to burn, keeping all around brilliantly illuminated. We now attempted to furl sails, but the men were so thoroughly stiffened by the short period of inaction since the firing had ceased, that they stuck almost powerless to the yards; after great exertion, the gaskets were somehow passed round the yards, and the labours of the day ended; grog was served out, and the hammocks piped down, but few had the inclination to hang them up.
Soon after daylight we mustered at quarters, and found that 16 officers and men were killed, and 120 wounded; the three lower masts badly wounded, every spar wounded, except the spanker-boom; the shrouds cut in all parts, leaving the masts unsupported, which would have fallen had there been the least motion; the running gear entirely cut to pieces; the boats all shot through; the bulwarks riddled with grape and musketry; 96 round-shot in the starboard side, some of them between wind and water; the guns were all uninjured to any extent, and remained, the only part of the Leander, efficient.
The ship's company were again at work, clearing decks, unbending sails, and making every preparation to renew the action; but at noon we had the satisfaction to hear that the Dey had accepted the terms which were offered him the day before; at the same time that this information was conveyed to the squadron, a general order was issued to offer up "public thanksgiving to Almighty God for the signal victory obtained by the arms of England."—United Service Journal.