Chandernagore Taken From The French.

the attack for three or four days . In the meantime , he sent Lieutenant Key with a flag of truce to the Governor , demanding a surrender of the place , which the Governor politely , but absolutely , refused to give up . Mr . Key having observed ,

as lie passed between the vessels' masts which were sunk in the channel of the river , that thenhulls were not deep under water , Mr . John Delamotte , a brave and active officer , and who was master on board the Admiral ' s ship , was the next

day sent to sound them , and , notwithstanding all the efforts of the enemy to interrupt him , by an incessant firing of their camion , he brought back the agreeable news that there was room for four ships to pass between them ; but besides the

obstruction which we expected to meet from these sunken vessels , the French had taken care to erect two batteries of heavy cannon , to render this narrow passage still more difficult and dangerous . One of these was constructed in

the form of a half-moon , and lay on the very brink of the river , within musket shot of the sunken vessels ; the other was a fascine battery on the glacis of the fort , and was intended to rake our ships fore and aft . The cannon on their south bastion could also be brought to fire down the

. The disposition made for attacking the fort was as follows : —The Tyger was to be placed against the north-east bastion ; the Kent against the curtain , between the bastions opposite the gate ; and the Salisbury against the south-east bastion .

Before we began the attack , it was judged absolutely necessary that Colonel Olive should erect a battery on the side of the river to fire on the south face of the enemy's south-east bastion , and , in case of an obstinate resistance , that we might breach

that bastion by a cross fire from the ships aud from this intended battery . Preparations were accordingly made for this purpose , but before they could be carried into execution , the army were obliged to make themselves masters of the

half-moon battery , which they did with great gallantry , driving the enemy before them into the fort .

All things being ready , on the 22 nd the Admiral appeared extremely anxious to begin the attack , but the flood time in the afternoon was so very late , that the ships could not possibly be placed in their proper stations while there was sufficient daylight to direct our fire ; the enemy , therefore , would have a great advantage over us , for though

the nights were too dark for us to distinguish the embrasures of their fortifications , yet they could plainly see the hulls of our ships , which would have lain so near the fort that a shocking carnage would have been made amongst their crews .

That another day , however , might not be lost , the Admiral the same evening ordered lights to be placed on the masts of the vessels that had been sunk , with blinds towards the fort , that we might see how to pass between them a little before daylight , and without being discovered by tha

enemy . At length , on the morning of the 23 rd March , the ships getting under sail , the colonel ' s battery which had been furnished behind a dead wall , began firing upon the south-east bastion . The Tyger ,

with Admiral Pocock ' s flag flying , took the lead , and about six o ' clock in the morning got very well into her station , the north-east bastion . The Kent , with Admiral Watson ' s flag , quickly followed her ; but before she could reach her proper station ,

the ebb tide made down the river , which made her anchor to drag ; so that before she brought up , she had fallen abreast of the south-east bastion , the place where the Salisbury should have been ,

and , from her mainmast aft , she was exposed to the flank guns of the south-west bastion also . This accident of the Kent's anchor not holding fast , and her driving down into the Salisbury ' s station , threw this last ship out of action , to the

great mortification of the captain , officers , and crew ; for she never had it in her power to fire a gun , unless it was now and then , when she could sheer on the tide . The French , during the whole time of the Kent and Tyger ' s approach towards

the fort , kept up a terrible cannonade upon them , without resistance on their parts ; but as soon as the ships came properly to an anchor , they returned it with such fury as astonished their

adver-. Colonel Olive ' s troops at the same time got into those houses which were nearest the fort , and from thence greatly annoyed the enemy with their musketry . The fire now became general on both sides , and was kept up with extraordinary spirit ,

The flank guns of the south-west bastion galled the Kent very much ; and the admiral's aides-decamp being all wounded , Mr . Watson went down himself to Lieutenant William Brereton , who commanded the lower deck battery , and ordered him particularly to direct his fire against those guns , and they were accordingly soon afterwards