. The life of Napoleon I, including new materials from the British official records . ecessitated to steer large for Calais. Onthe score of battle, she has one long 18-pounder, without breeching ortackle, traversing on a slide, which can only be fired stem on. The8-pounder is mounted aft, but is a fixture : so that literally, if one ofour small boats was to lay alongside there would be nothing butmusketry to resist, and those [s/c] placed in the hands of poorwretches weakened by the effect of seasickness, exemplified when thisgun-boat was captured — the soldiers having retreated to the hold, i
. The life of Napoleon I, including new materials from the British official records . ecessitated to steer large for Calais. Onthe score of battle, she has one long 18-pounder, without breeching ortackle, traversing on a slide, which can only be fired stem on. The8-pounder is mounted aft, but is a fixture : so that literally, if one ofour small boats was to lay alongside there would be nothing butmusketry to resist, and those [s/c] placed in the hands of poorwretches weakened by the effect of seasickness, exemplified when thisgun-boat was captured — the soldiers having retreated to the hold, in-capable of any energy or manly exertion. ... In short, Sir, thesevessels in my mind are completely contemptible and ridiculous, andI therefore conclude that the numbers collected at Boulogne are to 1 Jurien de la Gravifere, Guerres Maritimes, vol. ii., p. 75 ; Cheva-lier, Hist, de la Marine Fran^aise, p. 105; Capt. Desbriferes Pro-jets de D^barquement aux lies Britanniques, vol. i. The accompanyingengraving shows how fantastic were some of the earUer French schemesof I -aoo ;-! O a, coo o XXI THE BOULOGNE FLOTILLA 449 keep our attention on the qui vive, and to gloss over the real attackmeditated from other points. The vessel which provoked the contempt of our admiralwas not one of the smallest class : she was 58^ ft. long,14r| ft. wide, drew 3 ft. forward and 4 ft. aft: her sidesrose 3 ft. above the water, and her capacity was 35 secret intelligence of the Admiralty for the years1804 and 1805 also shows that Dutch sailors were equallyconvinced of the unseaworthiness of these craft : AdmiralVerhuell plainly told the French Emperor that, howeverflatterers might try to persuade him of the feasibility ofthe expedition, nothingbut disgrace could be same volume (No. 426) contains a report of the cap-ture of two of the larger class of French chaloupes offCape La Hogue. Among the prisoners was a youngFrench royalist named La Bourdonnais : when force
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnapoleo, bookyear1901
