The Sun.
London, England, 1810-07-30 00:00:00

NAVAL NEWS.

From the LONDON GAZETTE, jut,' ig.lo.

Atimitally,olfire, July 28, 1810.

Copy of a Letter from Captain Mends, of his Majesty's ship
the.Arethusd, addiessed to (\Unwed Lord • Gambler, and •
transnlitted by Ins Lordship tobolin, Wilson (.10/Kr,
His Majesty's_ ship A rethusa, off
Benno.), futy't tgia.

SI R,

After a consultation with the. Junta of Agitur.jas.
.on.the 24th ult. 1 consented to receive On hoard of

the squadron your Lordship has
.been pleased to
place under my command, the Spanish
.Brigadier-
. General Kober, and 'five hundred of InS Solders,
with the int titiOtt of beating-up the, enetny's quar-.
ters along the coast of Cantabria and Biscay, in_ order
to
,make a diversion of his troops towards the sea-
ports in his possession,. and thus afford an opportu-
nity for a combined InOvement of the Spanish armies..
in Asturias, by compelling the enemy to 'detach
more of his forces to ()prose us, and thereby weaken
the. interior of that plovince and St. Andero, or to-
suffer hii:sea-defence4; to be destroyed and his slap-
. Tiles coustways cut ,off, the*one or other alternative
. appearing to me an, ineritaale result of such move-
ments. I hive cow the pleasure of informing yOur
Lordship. tn-it N liave completely succeeded in the
maritime part of tne expedition-without the loss of.
a.single man, tiavii4 •destroyed all the
.batteries
(with the exception of CAstri) from St. Seb:stian to
Sr. Ander on whiCh were round about one hun-
clet.i -pieces of heavy cannon altogether, and laid
that whole extent of sea-coast entirely bare of de.
-'l6l-:ce. • •

Communications are thus opened with these pro-
' vinces, and the zealous attachment of the ihhabi-
tail's .to the independence of their country aster-
tamed, should it hereatter be deemed expedient to
atit it..

The strong port of Santona, and the numerous

batteries rouidßerrneo,-heing dismantled, our ships
will have. in tuture rwo good anchorages on: the
coast in westerly ?,ale, as it will be n ork of .con-
siderable time and lauour tole-Mount heavy. cannon
on the %qui' us eminences of those ..places,, which
must all be conveyed by sca,. tht country being so
extremely mountainous .and the roans so bad that
land-carriage is almost iinpradicable.
The brig. aue of seamen and tnarines-from the squa-
dron being commanded by she lion. Capt. Aylmer,
of the Naicissus, his letter to tne of the 9th instant
will inform your Lordship of the events which. took
place on their landing at Santona, -and. during the
short' time they' occupied it. To the zeal and ability
of that excellent officer I am much indebted, asvell
as to that of Captain Bowle,i,, of the Medusa, who
most anxiously so:icited to be attached to the bri-
gade, and acted as second in command; Mr. Hugh
Pearson, my First Lieutenant, ant Lieutenant
Desbrisay, commanding the marines, distinguished
tiemselves by their exemplary condutl, as, in short,
din all the other officers and men composing the.

brigade.

ttie disposition of the boats made by Captain Gal
way, of tile DryadLassisted by Captain Joyce of the
Atnazon, at our different landings, was so judicious
as to prevent either confusion or loss where the surf
was trequealy extremely dangerous to approach;
nor were the services of Captain Digby, of the Cos-

sack, less itnpOrtant in forwarding every part of.the
variuns duties goin'g on both. night and day, and I
:have only to regret that the early retreat of the
enemy on the 7th deprives me of an opportunity of

announcing your -Lorkls4ip his entire defeat and

surrender.

Having by our land;ng at Santona induced the
etwiny to abandon several positions in the interior,
as well as on the sea-eoast, in order to collect a suf-
ficient force to prevent our continuing in possession
of that place, 1 shall be happy to find that the ar-
mies of Asturias, and of the mountains of An-
dero, have been put in motion, during the absence of
the French, wnieh was the principle agreed upon
bet ween the Junta of Asturias and myself, but as yet
I have no intormation on that head.

This expedition has however cost the enemy up-
wards of 200 men, besides an infinity of trouble and
marching, and added nigh Jut) volunteers to General
?orlier's little army. I an► also happy in having
this opportunity of bearing testimony to the talents
of that distinguished officer, and the gallantry
of his small band of officers and soldiers, who on
every occasion were emulous for their own and coun-
try's honour.
I am now proceeding Westward, to land the Ge-
neral and his men at ltibadeo, and shall feel happy
if the complete success of this little expedition, the
zeal with which it. has been executed, and the, prin-
ciple on which it was undertaken, be honoured with
your Lordship's approbation.
I have the honour to be, &c.
It. MENDS.

Right Hon. Lord Gambier, Admiral
of the Blue, &c.

SIR,

Narcissus, j ul}• g, 121 D.

Herein I beg leave to detail the. proceedings of
the battalion or seamen and Royal Marines which
you did me the honour to place under my command,
atting in conjunction with, and under the orders of
Brigadier-General Porlier.
On the morning of the sth inst. we landed with
the Spanish force on the beach to the westward of
Santona, and immediately went forward to the town,
which we entered without any loss, the Fiench re-
tiring across the river; our advanced' guard under
Lieutenant Desbvisay, of the the marines of the
Amazon, with the Spanish tirailteurs, succeeded in
stopping a part of the rear guard of the French,
alter killing two, and wounding a Jew more, and
taking some prisoners : in the course, of the day,
Brigadier-General Porlier, sent off some of his men,
on the road to St. Auden), and, Lieutenant Pearson,
of the Arethusa, was detached with a party of sea.-
men to destroy the guns in the lons, which was cotn.
pletely effected.

The dth was employed in examining the place, in
case of being attacked by the French, whom we had
reason to exped would advance in force from St.
Andero.

On the morning of the 7th we placed the boats'
carfonades on a hill which commanded the Isthmus
leading to the town, and posted the men along the
hedges' and vineyards in trout of the position, the
Spaniards on the right on a sand-hill, and the Eng-
lish wi?h the Spanish tirsilkurs; in the• centre and
left. At about eleven o'vl.,ck, A.M. a firing was