The two latter, I am sorry to add, have received contusions by the splinters of shells. There were many other officers, during the fire, who gave every aid; but it is impossible to speak of them individually, when all have a claim to my approbation. Captain M‘Kenzie, who is acting as commissioner, was zealously employed; and Captain Webley, of the Centaur, assisted in carrying the necessary orders into execution with promptitude. I shall have the honor of transmitting you an account of the wounded, as soon as it can be collected.
In 1808, Lieutenant Carroll served under Sir W. Sidney Smith, in the Foudroyant 80, on the South American station. His subsequent appointments were, about June 1809, to be first of the Achille 74, Captain Sir Richard King; and, in Oct. 1810, to the Gibraltar flotilla, under the command of Commodore Penrose.
At this latter period, Cadiz being closely invested by the French army under Marshal Victor, it appeared from the geographical position of the neighbouring country, that the most effectual mode of interrupting the siege, and harassing the enemy, would be to send detachments to various parts of the Spanish coast; which, by occupying their attention, would oblige them to weaken the besieging army, in order to succour the points menaced with attack. In furtherance of this principle, a motley assemblage of troops sailed from Gibraltar, to attack the castle of Frangerola, and to co-operate with the loyalist party at Malaga, just after Lieutenant Carroll’s arrival. The conduct of the expedition was confided to Major-General Lord Blayney, whose force consisted of 300 British troops; 500 German, Polish, and Italian deserters; and the Spanish regiment of Toledo, by which corps he was joined at Ceuta. His lordship embarked on board the Topaze frigate. Captain Henry Hope; and was accompanied by the Sparrowhawk brig, Captain James Pringle; together with several gun-boats, under the command of Captain Robert Hall.
It having been reported at Gibraltar, that much dissatisfaction reigned in Malaga, that the guns on the Mole had been removed, and that the inhabitants would readily unite their efforts with any force that might be sent to assist them in driving the French out of the town, Captain Hall express-
