The Sun.
London, England, 1807-09-03 00:00:00

THE LATE CAPT. WRIGHT.

The following is an Extra& from a Letter from
the lamented Capt. WRIGHT, the celebrated com-
panion and fellow-prisoner of Sir SIDNEY SMITH.
—II gives a more detailed account than any that
has yet appeared, of the manner in which Sir SID-
NEY SMITH and Captain \Valuta became prison-
ers :---

"'Paris, Dec. 6, 1795.
" Seven months of captivity has indeed broken off
almost all means of intercourse between us, but it
has, not• blunted the remembrance of my friends at
borne; I,still retain a grateful sense of the sincere
interests which I \knOw yOu all feel in whatever per•
sonally concerns me.' For nearly three months pre-
vious to my capture, I had tew opportunities of
writing to my friends. Many interesting events,,
"therefore, which have occurred since we parted, must
remain undescribed till we meet, or at least till I
shall be under less inauspictous influence. It may
be useful, however, to give you some idea of our Ex-
pedition and .misadventure, it will corre& some false
Impressions which have gone abroad, and •which, in
&Et, have been circulated by the Enemy.. •
" Sir iIIDNEY and tnyhelf are treated in a manner
which has no parallel in Military History. The Ene-
my endeavours•to justify this treatment by affixing to
our Expedition a motive and char:it-ter 'incompatible
with the Laws of War.

"The following is the manner in which we fell
into the hands of these Barbarians :

" Having anchored, on the morning of the 17th
of April, in the Outer Road of Havre de Grace,
with the Diamond alone, we discovered, at anchor in
the Inner Road, an armed Lugger. A project was
immediately conceived of boarding her in the night
by means of our boats. In justice to the merit, and
indeed necessity, Of this projed, in a National point
of view, it is necessary to inform you, that this was
the only remaining vessel which continued to annoy,
the English Trade Within the limits of our Squa-
dron. She had been recently equipped at Havre ;
carried to three-pounders and 45 men,; was com-
manded by a bold, enterprising man, with a private
commission ; and sailed so well in light winds as to'
have more than once eluded the pursuit of our Frir
gate, when returning, from the English coast. Her
. first depredations on our Trade were of atnagnitude
to warrant the risk of a small sacrifice in her pap-
tore ; and Sir SIDNEY had established it as a point of
honour in his
,Squadron, that an Enethy's Vessel
within the limits of his command, should not .evert
pass from Part to Port.
" The force employed in our enterprise consisted
Of the launch, armed with an 18 pounder carronade
and muskets, four other boats with muskets, includ-
ing a two armed wherry, in which Sir SIDNEY corn-.
manded in person, and carry tug in all 52 persons ;
viz. nine Officers, six of whom were from I 2 to 16
years of age, three servants, and'4o seamen. We
were all Volunteers; were disposed to surmount all
obstacles that Should oppose our purpose ; not a
breath of air—not a ripple rat the water ; the tiers
were mufiled; . and every thing promised the happi-
est :ilia:esti. We qeit RA the ship about ten o7elock,
preceded by Sir 'SYDNEY Saturn in his wherry.—
Arrited wit hiu sight of the Prageur, we lay upon our
oar, tO !wen noitre her position, and to receive deft-
,nitiv (MIC,A• This done, we took a brad sheer be-
tweeu -e r. and the :.shere, in order to assume the
appearatice of fishing boats coming out .of the Har-
bour, anti thereby pretrad the moment of alarm ;
in this we succeeded beyond expectation, and after-
wards rowed directly towards her, reserving our fire
till she should canuhence the action. This hap-
pened after hailing us within about half-pistol shots:
the Boats returned it in the instant, and within less
than tethuinutes we had got possession of the vessel.
was now that we first discovered our difficul-
ties. They Enemy had very wisely, cut their cable
during the action, the vessel had therefore, been
drifting towards the shore all this time. On perceiv-
ing it, we sought in vain fora second anchor: heavy
enough to hold her against the strength of a very
rapid tide, that rushed into the Seine. All- the
boats were sent a-head to tow, and every sail was
set ; but it was all in vain. After all these fruitless
efforts, we tried the effect of a small slvdge, with-
out hope of its holding. The vessel dragged it a long
way, and at length brought up.
Here, therefore we lay, anxiously expecting
day-light to discover the extent of the evil we -had
to encounter, or for a propitious breeze to assist our
escape. Day-light at length appeared, and 'termi-
nated our suspense. Our position was in the last
degtee critical :'we were 11# a league higher up the
liver than Havre, the Town and Harbour of which
was now in motion, in hostile preparation. No-
thing now remained for cis,' but t 6 -make every pos-
sible preparation on our parts for a desperate and un-
`equal confliet. The vessel, however, was &Istituto of
every Material article of defeuce, such cis grape -shot
and match. There was not a single rsemd of the
former, and the latter wag so bad, that it would never
lire upon the first applivation. , It was resolved,
however, to fight as loog as the lugger would swim,
in ti eexpedation that, by protrading one surrender,
a prosperona wind might deliver us, even in the
last extremity. AR Havre was now in motion to
attack us : some shot had reached us whilst we were
in the ad of discharging our prisoners, and sending
them on their parole to Honfleur ; for, with his
usual humanity, Sir SIDNEY 'SMITH proposed to
send them away clear from the dangers of a battle
in which they could not co-operate. They received
his kindness with gratitude:
The attack now commenced. We got under
weigh to attack a large lugger which was advancing,
whilst the boats were detached to rake her with
grape shot and musketry.
,The result was,
that she sheered off. We had not, howeVer, esbaped
clear : her grape and musketry had considerably
disabled our rigging, and wounded some of our best
men : your young friend CI-IMO-ES B. was amongst
the number. This action was scarcely ever When
we were surrounded on all sides by a variety of
small craft, crowded with troops ; and another ac-
tion immediately commenced, more desperate and
more unequal than the former. Sir Sitisty ordered
all the muskets to be colle&ed and loaded, aud-
-made such a distribution of them that each man was
enabled to fire several rounds without the necessity
'of re-loading; the Midshipmen re-loaded thent as
fasl as they were discharged. In this manner an
incessant fire was kept up for -some time.—No
breeze, however, appeared, and resistance was evi--
dently in vale, as the:country was :ISt'lDbling.---ID
a word, we were compelled to surrender."