“We reached Palo-Penang on the 30th May, in the year 1810. There the captain persuaded the governor to let him have about twenty artillery-men and a lot of scaling-ladders; and having learned something more about the chief place in Banda, called Banda-Neira, he kept to the resolution he had all along in his mind, to try and get possession of it. In spite of the south-east monsoon, away we sailed, therefore, for the Java Sea. As it would not have done to let the Dutchmen in other places guess what we were about to do, he determined to take the ship through the passage between the big island of Borneo and Malwalli. It was a touch-and-go matter to get through, for in every direction there were coral-reefs, which would pretty soon have brought us up if we had run on them; but we had look-outs at the jib-boom-end and the topsail-yard-arms, and as the water was clear, and the weather fine, we escaped all danger.
“Early in the morning, on the 8th of July, we made the Banda Islands, and by night were up with the place called Banda-Neira. As we stood in, the guns from the fort opened on us; but seeing they did us no harm, they soon left off throwing away their powder. That very evening there was a sudden change in the weather, and it came on to blow and rain very hard.
“‘Too good a chance to be thrown away,’ thought the captain. ‘We shall never be able to take this place in common ship-shape fashion; but as the Mynheers won’t be expecting us on such a bad night as this, and what’s more, won’t hear us coming, I’ll just see if we can’t get on shore in the boats and give them a surprise.’
“Now, anyone looking at Banda-Neira would have thought that it would be quite impossible to take it with the small force we had got with us; but, as I said, our captain wasn’t a man to trouble his head about impossibilities.
“The place was two miles long and half a mile wide, and protected by no less than ten sea-batteries and two strong forts—one called Belgica, and the other Nassau. They commanded each other, as they did the ten sea-batteries. The first alone mounted fifty-two heavy guns; and altogether there were no less than one hundred and thirty-eight guns in the place. Having run in within two cables’ length of the shore, we dropped our anchors, and at 11 p.m. the boats under the command of Captain Cole shoved off with three hundred and ninety men, including officers. The place we were to pull for was the east point of Banda. What a night it was—blowing and raining like fury and dark as pitch! but that, in many respects, was all the better for us. Captains Cole and Kenah arrived first at the appointed spot in their gigs, and only by degrees did some of the other boats get up there—it was so difficult to find our way. The boat I was in, with several others, grounded on a coral-reef, not a hundred yards from a sea-battery, which we found mounted no less than ten long 18-pounders; and as they pointed directly on the reef, they could very soon have knocked us all to pieces. Fortunately, the garrison slept so soundly, or the rain and wind made such a clatter, that they did not discover us. Overboard we all jumped, and soon had the boats afloat, and pulling on, we reached a snug little sandy cove, surrounded by trees or jungle. Here the captain mustered us, and found that he had only got about a hundred and forty seamen and marines, and forty red jackets, with Captain Kenah, five lieutenants, and some soldier officers. Among the lieutenants was one called Lieutenant Edmund Lyons, with whom I afterwards was at the taking of another place, of which I’ll tell you presently. Well, as I was saying, it was pelting and blowing and as black as pitch; and though we had little more than half our force on shore, our captain did not like to give up the enterprise, so says he, ‘My lads, I should just like to take possession of some of these forts, but we are a small number to do it, I own; yet, if I thought all would follow, I’d lead the way.’
“We didn’t shout, but we told him that, to a man, we were ready to go wherever he thought fit to lead us.
“‘Then,’ said he, ‘we’ll just walk into the Dutchmen’s castles before they’ve time to rub their eyes.’
“Captain Kenah, with a party of us armed with pikes, on this at once advanced to the rear of the nearest battery. Not a word was spoken, and the noise of the storm drowned the sound of our footsteps. We got close up to the fort—a sentry was marching up and down—a pike was into him before he could discharge his musket—and in an instant we were over the ramparts. We could see the Dutchmen, match in hand, at their guns on the sea side, and very much surprised were they to find us in their rear, knocking them down right and left, before they had time to fire a shot. They cried for quarter, and we had sixty of them prisoners in a few minutes. Leaving a few men to take charge of the battery, Captain Kenah was pushing on to take possession of the next, when Captain Cole sent to say he had got hold of a guide, and was going to take Fort Belgica itself.
“Away we went along a narrow winding path, towards the castle. The Dutchmen’s bugles were sounding in all directions, showing us that they were awake; but probably they didn’t know where their enemies were to be found. We had got close up to the citadel before we were discovered; and then, though they began firing away pretty briskly, as they could not see us, and were, I guess, in a mortal fright, none of us were hit. Those in front had the scaling-ladders, and, with their help, we managed to climb up the steep bank on which the castle stood; and in no time, it seemed, we were in possession of all the lower works. We were not in though yet; but we soon hauled up the scaling-ladders, and began to place them against the wall of the citadel, when we found out that they were too short—more’s the shame to the fellows who made them! The enemy discovering this, began peppering away at us with musketry, and fired several round-shot into the bargain. Here was a sell! We began to think that we should have to be about-ship, when what should we see, but the gates open to let in the governor and some other officers who had been sleeping outside the walls. The opportunity was not to be lost. Led by our gallant captain, we made a dash at the gate. The colonel defended it bravely, but he and several of his men were killed in a minute, and on we rushed into the very centre of the fort. Never were fellows in such a mortal fright as were the Dutchmen. Daylight just then breaking, we saw them scrambling and leaping, like a flock of sheep, over the walls. However, some of the officers, and forty artillery-men, gave themselves up as prisoners.
“We now had the British Jack flying away on the flagstaff above our heads. Still, we were a very small band to hold the forts we had conquered, and we looked out with no little anxiety for the arrival of the rest of our force. What had become of the boats we could not tell; but as the sun rose, we saw the Caroline and the other ships standing in towards the town.