The National Register.
London, England, 1811-07-07 00:00:00

TUESDAY'S LONDON GAZETTE.

ADMIRALTY-OFFICE. /LILY 2, 181 1.
Extract of a Letter from Vice-Admiral Drury, Commander is,
Chief of his Majesty's ships and vessels in the East Indies, to
John Wilson Croker, Esq. dated on board the Samarang, in
Madras Roads, Jan. 3, 1811.
You will be pleased to lay before the Right Honourable the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the enclosed copy of a
letter I have received from Captain Christopher Cole, of hit
Majesty's ship Caroline, detailing his successful enterprize
against the strong, and generally supposed impregnable fortress
of the valuable island of Banda, the principal of the Spice Islands
in the Molucca seas, with a handful of men, led on to the storm
of the place by Capt. Cole, Lieut. Richard Kenah, acting cum•
initialer of the Barracouta.
His Majesty's ship Caroline, Banda Harbour,
SIR, August 10, 1810.
I have the honour and happiness of acquainting you with the
capture of Banda Neira, the chief of the Spice Islands, on the
9:h August, by a portion of the force under my orders, in con.
seqaense of a night attack, which completely surprized the ene-
my, althouah the approach of .the ships had been unavoidably
discovered the day before.
'1 he attempt was made with less than two hundred men, con.
sisting of the sea:: en and marines, and about forty of the Ma-
dras European regiment.
A dark cloud with rain covered cur landing within one bun.
dead yards of a battery of ten guns, where by the promptitude
and activity of acting Captain Kenah and Lieutenant Carew,
who were ordered with the piketnen to the attack, the battery
was taken in the rear, and an officer and his guard were made
prisoners, ithina a musket being fired, although the enemy
were at quir alias with matches lighted. From the near ap-
proach of day-light our situation became critical, but we had
preaa red a native guide to carry os to the walls of the Castle of
Belgica ; and leaving a guard nver the prisoners, and in charge
of the battery, the party made a rapid moveine, t round the
skirts of the town, where the sauna of the bugle was spreading
alarm among the enemy. In twenty minutes the scaling ladders
were placed against the walls of the outer pentagon of Belgica -
and the first markets were fired by the enemy's sentries. 'l'he
gallantry and activity with which the scalitt ladders were hauled
up after the outwork was carried, and placed for the attack of
the inner work, under a sharp fire from the garrison, exceed all
praise. The enemy, after firing three guns,_ and keeping up an
eieffectual discharge of musketry for ten or fifteen minutes, fled
in all directions,.«ntt.hroagh the gateway, leaving the Colonel
Commandant and ten others dead, and two officers, and thirty
prisoners in our bands. Capt. Kenah, Lieutenants Carew, Allen,
Pratt, Walker, and Lyona of the navy, Lieut. Yeates and Ensign
Allen (a Volunteer) of the Madras service,_ were among the
foremost in the escalade ; and my thanks are dtit to 'Capt. Lieut.
Nixon of • the Madras European regiment, for the steady ard
officer-like conduct with which he directed the covering party
entrusted to his charge, and to Lieutenants Brown and' Decker
of that reginient attached to the marines. ...; -
The day now beaming on the British flaga discovered to us
the fort of Nassaui and the sea defences at our feet, and the
enemy at their guns, at the different ports. I dispatched Capt
Kenah with a flag of truce to the Governor, requiring the ins.
mediateaurrender of Na au, and with a promise of protection
for private property: At sun-rise the Dutch flag was hoisted in
Nassean, and the sea bUtterits opened a fire'on the Caroline: I
way induced to send a:second 0.4, statinginy determinatiOn to
storm Nassau that instant, and to.ley the town in ashes, if the
co:our& were not immediately struck. This threat, andawen-
vlacfs4 4biot from Belgka intavne of flail 110-bibtiltir•, proilscal
•