same officer, after the surrender of Earl Cornwallis to the combined armies of France and America[1].
During the subsequent operations at the island of St. Christopher, Captain Inglefield was several times sent with flags of truce to the Marquis de Bouille and the Count de Grasse. He was also employed in the hazardous service of establishing signals between the fleet and the garrison of Brimstone Hill, by means of personal communication with the officer commanding there[2].
The Centaur formed part of the red division of Sir George
- ↑ After the partial action off the Chesapeake, September 5, 1781, which we have already noticed in our first volume, p. 133, the British fleet, commanded by the Rear-Admirals Graves, Hood, and Drake, returned to Sandy Hook, and took on board 7000 troops under Sir Henry Clinton, destined for the relief of Earl Cornwallis, who was closely invested at York and Gloucester, by the French and rebel armies. On the 24th October the armament arrived off the Chesapeake, when the British commanders had the mortification to find that his Lordship, owing to the exhausted and sickly state of his army, and being without any hopes of relief, had entered into a capitulation for the surrender of those important posts on the 17th. By this unfortunate event 6000 British troops, and 1500 seamen, fell into the hands of the enemy.
- ↑ Sir Samuel Hood, after his return from America, remained in Carlisle Bay, with his fleet moored in order of battle, in daily expectation of a visit from the French, till January 14, 1782, when he received intelligence that the Count de Grasse had relinquished his plan of attacking Barbadoes, and gone to St. Christopher’s; on his arrival at which island the Marquis de Bouille was landed with 8000 troops, and the British garrison consisting of only 600 men, under Brigadier-General Fraser, obliged to retire into the fort at Brimstone Hill. The Rear-Admiral, notwithstanding the superiority of the enemy, determined on a measure of unusual boldness, for the preservation of that valuable island. Instead of waiting their approach, he resolved to confound the enemy by an immediate attack, and to engage them as they lay at their anchors. For this purpose he immediately put to sea from Carlisle Bay, embarked General Prescott and the few troops that could be spared from Antigua, and proceeded without loss of time to attack the enemy in Basseterre Road.
At day-break on the 24th the signal was made to form the line of battle, for the purpose of bearing down to the attack; but the untoward accident of the Alfred’s running foul of the Nymph, arrested the prosecution of this well-concerted design, and obliged the fleet to bring to whilst the former vessel repaired her damages. Towards the evening of the same day the Count de Grasse quitted his anchorage and put to sea, that his ships might have full room to act, and thus secure the advantages of their superiority in point of number.
