Nuova and Fort Espagnol, mounting 6 brass guns, 19 iron ditto, and 7 swivels, and garrisoned by 299 officers and men. He also informed him, that General Gauthier, with about 600 men, had retired into Fort St. John, a very strong place about 15 miles up the river, and the only one in the Boco di Cattaro, then possessed by the enemy. “I cannot mention in too warm terms,” he added, “the conduct of Captain Harper; he is ever ready, and most indefatigable: the capture of Isle St. George does him, the officers, and men, the greatest credit.”
Captain Harper now received directions to blockade Fort St. John; but owing to a foul wind, with heavy flaws off the land, and the current setting constantly against him, he found it quite impossible either to beat or warp the Saracen up the river. A hawser was, therefore, made fast to her fore-masthead, the inhabitants were called upon to man it, and, to the astonishment of every body, the brig was thus tracked 3 miles along a rugged and rocky shore. On the morning of the 20th she anchored near Cattaro, and preparations were immediately made for erecting a battery on the opposite heights of Theodore, although they could not even be climbed without difficulty, and that only in a zigzag manner. After closely reconnoitring the city, in company with Captain Harper, the senior officer took his departure for a time, leaving the Saracen to trust to her own resources.
Whilst Captain Harper was proceeding to besiege Cattaro, his tenders were employed protecting Mezzo, watching Ragusa, and looking out for a favorable opportunity to attack Stagno, through which town all the supplies for the blockaded garrisons were necessarily forwarded. On the 23d Oct. his first lieutenant addressed to him the following letter:–
