Star.
London, England, 1810-02-08 00:00:00

1 "VIM • T 0

OCTOBER 10.

The Expedition which sailed from Messina nn It.
23d of September, under convoy of the WARRIOR, o:
74. guns, consisting of the 35th Regiment, Roydl
Corsican Rangers, two companies of the 44th, and

company of Artillery, the whole amounting to 2000,
arrived at Zante on the Ist of October, and were.
then joined by:the MAGNIFICF2iT, of 74 guns, L.
JUDAS, SPARTAN, and BELLE POULE frigates. On
the 2d of October the troops were landed. The fri.

gates bombarded a battery, consisting of three guns,
and one battery of one dun, for near three hours
and at the same time a battery, with seven gnu'
mounted, fired occasionally from the town, but not
an English or Frenchman was killed or wounded.
On the 3d the Commandant surrendered the Islavi,
when 150 French (but most of them Italians) and
400 Albanians became prisoners. Not a gun wa,
found mounted at the Castle, which is situated on t
very high hill, comanding the town, and which
gable of being made a very strong place.
The town of Zante is situated in a Bay, and is a
very beautiful town;--the country is beautiful ; the
Island is about twenty miles in length, and contains

35,500 inhabitants, according to a census lately taken
•of them by order of the French Commandant, a na .
tive of Paris. The town is at no great distance horn
the Morea, (ancient Greece) I believe about 20 07
30 miles ; but so near that the houses can be seen.

On the 4th we sailed, leaving the 35th Regiment,
and two companies of the Corsican Rangers, as a ur-
rison, and in four hours we arrived off the harbour of
Cephalonia, which we soon entered. On the East-side
of the harbour was mounted an old gun, which was
discharged twice : shortly afterwards the troops were
landed, and the French retreated to an old Castle,
r five miles from the town. Next day the Commandant
(born in Corfu) surrendered' lilinself, with 49 French
and Italians, and about 100 Albanians.—Any forti.
fications that could be made -here would be useless,
and the Island is not worth. keeping, as it is very
mountainous, and does not produce sufficient to main-
tain the inhabitants.

We have sent. off a ship for provisions to Malta;
the garrison left here is the Corsican Rangers, anck
two companies of the 44th Regiment, General Os-
WA LD will probably leave some transports here, to
take us away in the event, of the French landing on
the Island, which cannot be prevented during the
winter, as they have at StrMaura, (on the Continent)
a very strong place, a garrison of 2000 men. The
French Commandant himself informs me, that as
soon as affairs are arranged ori the Continent, the
French army will take possession of Greece.
This day the WARRIOR sailed, with k detachment
of the 35th, to take Serigo, between Candia and the
Morea. One Russian merchantman was taken here,
but our prize-money will not be worth accepting.—
The length of the harbour is about 10 miles, but only
about twe miles where the men of war anchor. The
harbour is on the West side, and the Eastern port is
towards the Continent. The inhabitants of the Island,
with the exception of some merchants in the town,
appear to be in a most wretched state ; five years ago
they had a good deal of trade here, but at present
they have only some old ships left in the place.
The fleet is going off in a hurry, which makes me
conclude.

Lord PAGET and his brother Major PAGET, of the
7th Light Dragoons, have been at Portsmouth, on a
visit to their brother.

A Troop of Horse Artillery is expected to arrive a'
Portsmouth Monday next, and embark for Portugal.
A detachment of the 2d Battalion sth Regirarra
of Foot, have arrived from Ireland with the heavy
baggage of the regiment.
Monday morning in consequence of an order re-
ceived on Sunday, Captain LENEBRE'S troop of Hors....
Artillery marched from Canterbury, on its route via
Maidstone and Guildford for Portsmouth, in order to
embark for Portugal. • The two other troops of the
same corps will shortly follow, as also the 13th Light
Dragoons, which we some time since stated we:e tin-
der orders for that purpose.
A Court-Martial has been held at Portsmouth I
:
on Captain LAKE, of the Ulysses, for leaving a man
on an uninhabited Island, in his passage from the c
West Indies, and Captain LAKE has been dismissed ,
the service. -
We have received some inforination from the
Cape by letters conveyed in the last ships. One of
the most remarkable facts in the history of geogra-
phy is communicated by this opportunity. The Isia:cl
of Bossen, or Penguin, sometimes called Seal Island,
at the Western extremity of Table Bay, has entirely
disappeared beneath the waters. A convulsion \yds
felt at Cape Town, in December, only two leaf2,ll:.
distant, by which some damage was occasioned t‘.
the houses, but we do not find that any lives wer.:
lost at that place, and it is supposed that the earth-
quake extended to Bossen. The island was about
two miles in length and one in breadth, and was, al•
though flat, somewhat more elevated above the stn•
face of the sea than the contiguous Island of Eliza-
beth. The Dutch, when in =ion of the Cape,
kept a guard of 24, men on , and it was em•
ployed as a place of banishment for criminals, to the
number of from 70 to 100, who dug limestone to
supply materials for the buildings on the adjace.ril
continent. No women were then permitted to restut.
here, not even the wife of the Port-master. It Scas
not allowed that strangers should visit it, since a Da-
nish ship which had lost great part of her crew, and
was refused assistance at the Cape, sent a boat en
c
shore, dispersed the guard, and received on board as
many malefactors as was necessary to n. ;gate her to
'Europe. At the southern extremity the Island, 3
flag was hoisted on the approach of any vessel.