fired. The cannonade was kept up with great spirit for nearly twenty minutes, when the enemy struck her colours, cut, and drifted on a reef. While an officer and party went to take possession, la Sybille brought her broadside to bear on the battery, the fire from which soon ceased.
The prize proved to be la Chiffonne, of 42 guns, four of which, from her unengaged side, were mounted in the battery on shore, and a complement of 250 men, 23 of whom were killed, 30 wounded, and about 100, including those stationed at the battery, effected their escape. La Chiffonne had sailed from Nantz on the 14th April preceding, for the purpose of landing 32 persons on the Seychelles, who had been suspected of conspiring against the life of Napoleon Buonaparte, at that time First Consul of the French republic. She was quite a new frigate. Her fore-mast had been taken out and landed, in order to have the cheeks, a fish, and some hoops replaced. La Sybille had only 2 men killed, and a Midshipman slightly wounded[1].
Although la Chiffonne would certainly have been no match for la Sybille in an action at sea, the dangerous circumstances under which she had been approached and attacked, entitle Captain Adam, his officers, and crew, to a considerable degree of credit. The enemy was, it is true, inferior to the British frigate in point of guns and men but she had such advantages of position, as more than counterbalanced the deficiency.
On his arrival at Madras, in company with la Chiffonne, Captain Adam was presented by the Insurance Company of that place with an elegant sword, value 200 guineas. He returned to England in la, Sybille, April 20, 1803, and at the renewal of the war was appointed to the command of his prize, which had been added to the British navy as a 36-gun frigate. He subsequently served in the North Sea.
- ↑ Captain Adam at the same time took possession of a schooner and a grab ketch, under French colours; the former he gave over to Lieutenant Campbell, late of the Spitfire schooner, who had been wrecked on the Sherhome Duboplam, an African island hitherto unknown to the English, and recently discovered by the inhabitants of the Seychelle islands. Lieutenant Campbell having charge of despatches from Bombay, bound to the Red Sea, was thus enabled to proceed on his voyage.
