Lieutenant John Bayly, R.M.) wounded. Thirty-one French soldiers were taken prisoners.
This appears to have been a busy period with Mr. Smyth. In consequence of his having acquired an accurate knowledge of the circumjacent coast and channels, he had been charged with despatches for Lieutenant-General Graham, while that distinguished officer was on his route from Tariffa; and he arrived at the southern end of the Sancti-Petri, just after the enemy was repulsed in his last attack upon General Zayas: he consequently witnessed the termination of the battle of Barrosa, and remained on the field until the imbecile La Pena and his 7,000 Spaniards crossed the ground of which they should have shared the glories. He only returned to Cadiz in time to take charge of a large flat, armed with a 32-pounder carronade, and accompany a force ordered up to the naval arsenal, on the 10th of March: but when inside Matagorda, his boat was nearly sunk by the enemy’s batteries, and had three men mortally wounded. On the 14th, the Milford’s barge, under his command, while pursuing a privateer near Rota, was hailing one of the Implacable’s boats when the latter was struck by a shot, which killed three men, badly wounded another, and tore away her quarter. On the 16th, he rendered essential assistance to a water-logged American ship, which had been ashore near Cape Trafalgar. On the 18th, he was towing some spars from the Casa-Blanca to the squadron, when they were repeatedly struck by the enemy’s shot. And, on the 20th, he commanded a boat in an unsuccessful expedition against some piratical privateers at Chipiona.
During the night of the 27th of March, a tremendous gale blew from the S.E., and at day-break on the 2Sth, signals of distress were flying in every direction. In the afternoon it was ascertained, that about fifty-three sail of merchantmen had been wrecked, and at least one hundred others more or less damaged: the number of lives lost was computed at 250. Mr. Smyth, who then had the charge of a heavy armed boat, was driving before the blast, when he was very opportunely assisted by the Undaunted frigate, and received the kindest
