not be amiss to remark, that the great battle of Eylau had afforded Napoleon Buonaparte sufficient leisure, and ample means, to prosecute the siege of Dantzic, and that the investment of that city was completed on the 2d April, 1807.
Captain Chetham, having taken the Charles hired armed brig under his orders, arrived off Dantzic, in company with that vessel, on the 12th of the same month, and immediately volunteered to protect the entrance of Fairwater haven, which had previously been attacked by part of the powerful French army under Marshal Lefebvre. This handsome offer was thankfully accepted by the Prussian commander-in-chief. General Kalereuth; and the Sally accordingly moved into Fairwater, where she was moored so as to flank an isthmus that the enemy would be obliged to pass in order to renew their attack.
On the 17th April, Captain Chetham made a desperate attempt to open the communication between Dantzic and Fort Weeickselmunde, by crossing the bar, and warping and towing his ship up the Vistula, towards the Great Hollands, a position on the Nehrung, at the point of the Holmen, which the enemy had taken possession of, in order to intercept all supplies intended for the Prussian garrison, and at the same time to secure a ready communication between the different divisions of Marshal Lefebvre’s army[1]. On this occasion Captain Chetham lightened his ship sufficiently to pass the bar, by putting all her stores on rafts in Fairwater haven.
At 6-30 P.M., the Sally commenced action with upwards of 2000 French troops, who had strongly entrenched themselves at the Great Hollands, where they were also sheltered by the ruins of some houses lately burnt, and supported by three pieces of artillery, as likewise by a small battery at Legan, on the opposite bank of the river. General Kalereuth and his brave garrison were the admiring spectators of this heroic act, which, although not completely successful, had
- ↑ The Nehrung, or Frisch Nerung, is a tongue of land extending from the main branch of the Vistula nearly to Pillau, and separating Fairwater from the Baltic sea.
