1811	Light Squadrons and Single Ships	342

themselves felt the laudable desire of recovering possession of an island which had formerly belonged to them, certain it is, that preparations for the attack began to be made in the summer of 1810. But, so long as the sea remained open, British cruisers continued to hover round the island ; and the same hard weather, which at length drove the ships into more southern waters, shut up in their lakes and harbours the Danish gun-boats and transports.

The spring came, the ice melted, and the sea of Denmark and its vicinity again admitted the barks of the bold and adventurous to traverse its bosom. So early as on the 23d of March a flotilla, consisting of 12 gun-boats, each mounting two long 24 or 18 pounders, and four brass howitzers, and manned with from 60 to 70 men, having under their protection 12 transport vessels, resembling the gun-boats in appearance, and containing between them, according to the Danish official account, about 1000 troops, including an organized body of 200 seamen, assembled in Gierrild bay. On the 24th the island was reconnoitred, or, in other words, was visited, by an intelligent officer of the Danish navy, first Lieutenant Holstein, in the sacred character of a flag of truce. He soon ascertained that the garrison consisted of less than 400 men, that the lighthouse-fort was the only fortification of importance, and that the sole vessel of war cruising off the island was a small armed schooner. Nothing could be more satisfactory. Accordingly, on the 26th, the flotilla set sail from Gierrild bay ; and on the 27th, at 4 A.M., in the midst of darkness and a heavy fog, the Danish troops disembarked, in perfect order, at a spot distant about four miles to the westward of Fort Yorke, the head-quarters of the garrison, and, being unseen, were of course unopposed.

Since the 10th of February Governor Maurice had received an intimation of the intended attack upon his sovereignty, and had made use of every resource in his power to give a proper reception to the assailant. It was just before dawn on the 26th, that the out-pickets on the south side of the island made the signal for the flotilla's being in sight. The garrison was immediately under arms, and the brigade of four howitzers, covered by 200 rank and file, commanded by the governor in person, having with him Captain Torrens, major-commandant of the battalion, quitted the lines to oppose the landing ; when Captain Maurice, having advanced to a ridge of sand-hills, that runs nearly the whole length of the south side, to reconnoitre, discovered that the Danes had already landed and were then proceeding along the beach beneath him. As the two Danish wings out-flanked the British brigade, and, if the latter continued to advance, would get between the British and their works, Captain Maurice ordered a retreat. Before this could be effected, the corps of 200 Danish seamen, under Lieutenant Holstein, had gained the heights and were advancing with rapidity, cheering the retreat of the howitzers ;

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