ployed in removing this obstacle. On the 8th, he conveyed Colonel Stewart, Lord Blaney, the 89th regiment, and a party of dragoons, to the vicinity of Shurafia, at which place the allies were joined by 600 cavalry, sent from the Grand Vizier’s army at Belbeis: these troops were Syrians, almost naked, badly armed, miserably mounted, and totally undisciplined[1].
At 10 A.M. on the 9th May, Captain Curry, with four flats and three launches, commenced an attack on the enemy’s forts at Rahmanié, and continued in action with them till four P.M., when his division was relieved by the Turkish gun-boats. In this very creditable affair the British had 4 men, including Lieutenant Hobbes of the Delft, killed, and 7 wounded[2].
The capture of Rahmanié cut off all communication between the French armies at Grand Cairo and Alexandria, secured the command of the Nile, and contributed in a great degree to the final expulsion of the enemy from a country which they had invaded with a view of humbling Great Britain by seizing on her possessions in the East. Though repulsed, however, the republicans were not much weakened, the total number of prisoners taken being no more than 160, the greater part of the garrison having previously retreated[3].
- ↑ Captain Morrison, of the Thisbe, walking by himself on the morning of the 8th, was seized by half a dozen Arabs, who, mistaking him for a Frenchman, stripped off his cloaths, and were on the point of putting him to death, when fortunately some Turks coming that way claimed him as an ally, and obtained restitution of his apparel, watch, and other property.
- ↑ Captain James Stevenson, of the Europa troop-ship, was at this period in command of the flotilla, but remained at a place called Mehallet Malik, to regulate the disposition of the Turkish gun-boats, and the djerms under his orders, only one of which (the Betsy) was called to Captain Curry’s assistance, and she was soon obliged to retire in consequence of her carronade upsetting on the tenth discharge. Captain Stevenson died on his passage from Leith to Aberdeen, May 10, 1818.
- ↑ At 9 P.M. on the 9th May, Captain Curry, with two flats and four launches, pushed past the French batteries, and anchored on the Delta side, four miles above Rahmanié. About four o’clock the next morning, observing the fugitives on the banks of the river, he placed his division about mid channel, arid by a well-directed fire compelled them to file off towards the desert with considerable loss. They were subsequently at-
