The Sun.
London, England, 1814-11-28 00:00:00

c'veri 1m they been successful, It woul4 116 t. iu
the least have, assisted tie.troops in storming ale
battoies ;"Avhercas, "brul our troops taken their
batteries first, it would have.ohliged the enemy's
squadron to quit the bay, al)(l,given onus a
_hair
(quince. 1 have the honour, &c.

(Signed) JAMES LUCAS YEO.
Conajoiore and Connnander-in-Chief.

United States ship Saratoga, Mittslint; Bay,
Lake Cimm S4t.'l2, 1814.
SlR,—The painful task of making you acquaint •
ediwith the'circtunstances attendlng the capture
of ltis Majesty's,squadron, yesterday, by that 91:
the ilmericans, under .Commodore
it grieves me to state, hccomei 'hay to per-
'form, - from the ever-to-he-lamented loss of that
worthy and gallant officer, .Caytain Downie, who
unfortunately fell early in the action.

In consequence of' the earnest solicitation of
his YaTeellency SFr George Prevost for the. (70-ope-
ration of the naval force-On this Lake to attack
that of the enemy, who were placed for*Che stip-
port'of their works at Plattsburgh,. which it was
proposed should be stormed by the troops, at the
same moment the naval action shOuld commence
in the bay ; every possible exertion was used to
accelerate the armament of the tinv ship, that the'
military movements might not be postpinied at
such an advanced season of the year, longer than
was-absolutely necess;(ry.

On. the 3d instant, I was directed to proceed in
command of the flotilla 'of gun-boats to protect
the left flank of our army advancing • towards
Plattsburgh, and on the following' day, after tak-
ing possession and paining the Militia of Isle la
Alotte, I caused a, battery of three long eighteen-
pounder gnus to he constructed for the sup-
port of. our position abreast of Little Chazy,
where the supplies for the army were ordered -to
be landed.

The fleet came up on the Bth-instant, but for
want of stores for the equipment of the guns,
could not move forward until the 11 th ; at day-
10.it we weighed, and at seven were in fall view
of she .enemy's fleet, consisting of a ship, brig;
schooner, and one sloop, moored in pine, abreast
of their eticatopment, with a division of five Otlll=-
IX):its on each flank ; at 40 minutes i►ast seven,
after the Officers commanding vessels and the fin-
tiliJ had received their final instructions as to the
plan of attack, we made sail in order of battle.
Captain Do \vnie had determined on laying his ship
athwart-hanse of the enemy's, directing Lieut.
M`Gliee, of the Chub, to support me in the Lin;
Fret, in engaging the- twig to the right, and Lieut.
Hicks, of the Finch, with the flotilla of gun-boats,
ta attack the schooner and sloop on the left of the
enemy's line.

At right the enemy's gun-boats and smaller ves-
sels -commenced a heavy and willing tire oil our
liue; at ten Aninutes after eight, the Confiance
having two anchors shot away from her larlipArd
bow, an,d, the wind bafl-ling, was obliged to an-
chor (though not in the simation pro'pos,ed) with-
intwo cables length of her adveivtry ; the Linnet
and Chub soon afterwards•tool: their allotted sta-
.
something short of that distance, when the
crews on both sides cheered, and commenced a
spirited. and dose action ; a short time, how-
ever, deprived me of the .valttAble services of
Lieutenant Al.`Ger, who, front having his cables,
bowsprit, and tmaim boom shot away, drifted
irithin,the enemy's line, and was obliged to •sur-
render,.

From the light airs and smoothness of the wa-
ter, the fire
,on .eoc:1 side proved very dostruttive.
from. the commeitrfcment of,tlie engagement, and
with the exception Of the brig, that .of the ene-
my appeared united against the Contiance. ra-
ter two hours severe conflict with our opponent,
she cut her_Cable, run down, and took shelter he-
twecif the ship and schooner which enabled ns to
direct ourfiN against the division of the enemy's
gun-boats, and ship, which had so long annoyed
us during our :close engagement with the brig,
without any return on our part ; at this time the
fire of the enemy's ship slackened considerably,
,having several of licr guns dismounted, wllen she
cut her cable and winded her larboard broadside
to bear on the Confiance, who, in vain, endea-
voured to effect the same operation ; at 33-mi-
nutes 'after ten,l was much distressed to observe
the Confiance had struck her colours. The whole
attention of the enemy's force then became di-
rected towards the Linnet : the shattered and dis-
abled state of the masts, sails. rigging, and yards.
precluded the most distant hope of being able to
effect an escape by cutting the cable, the re-
sult of doing so, most in a fes%. minutes have
been, her drifting alongside the eneniy's vessels,
close tinder our lee ; but in the hope that
the flotilla of gun-boats, who had abandon-
ed the object -assigned them, would perceive
our wants. and come to our assistance, which
wmild afford a reasonable prospect of being towed
clear, I determined. to resist the then destructive
cannonading of the whole of the enemy's fleet, and
at the same time dispatched, Lient.ii, Drew to
ascertain the state of the Confiance. At 45 mi-
nutes after ten, 1 was apprized of the irreparable
loss she had sustained by the death of her brave
Commander (whose merits it would be presump-
tion in me to extol), as well as the great slaughter
which had staken place on board, and observing;
from the manoeuvres of the flotilla, that I could •
enjoy no further expectations of relief, the sitita-
tion of my gallant aonirades who had so nobly
fought, and even now fast falling by my side, de-
manded the surrender of his Majesty's brig en-
trusted to my con nand, to prevent a useless waste
of valuable lives, and, at the request of the sue-‘
viving Officers and men, 1 gave the paillful orders
for the colours to be struck.
'Lieutenant Hicks, of the Finch, had the mor-
tification to strike on a reef
,of rocks, to the-east-
ward of Crab Island, about the niiodle of the en-
gageincnt, which revented his rendering that
assistance to the squadron that might, from an
OffiCer of such ability, have been expected. . •
The misfortune which this day betel us by elp-
tnre Sic, I trust, npologjze for the len:thy'
detail, which, in justice to the sufferers, I ,have
deemed necessary to give of the particulars which
led to' it ; and when it is taken into consideration.
that. the Cootiance. was sixteen nays before on the
stockl,with 01%-4atiizeti crew, COW poSed of se Ve I'3l
emits of men wit o'ho,d recently arrived train dif-
ferent ships at Quebec, many of whbin only joined
the day before, and were totally unknowu either