Fusiliers

Author:Mark Urban [Urban, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Having awaited the arrival of a reinforcement of several ships under his successor, Lord Howe had sailed from New York on 1 August. His vessels were older and less heavily armed than d’Estaing’s, but he felt it vital to draw the French away from Rhode Island and was ready to give battle if he had to.

Howe’s flagship, the Eagle, was a 64, and among the diverse officers who crowded the admiral’s stateroom for dinner each evening was Lieutenant Colonel Nisbet Balfour of the 23rd. The regiment itself had been split into parcels of men aboard each of Howe’s larger ships. The largest were aboard the Cornwall (under the direction of Thomas Mecan, once more fighting fit), the Saint Albans and the Nonsuch. They were all two-deckers, but only the Cornwall mounted 74 guns in the modern style, the remainder being older vessels like the Eagle.

Among the other ships making up Howe’s force was the Isis, a large frigate or small battleship, according to one’s prejudice, of 50 guns under the command of Captain Raynor. Lionel Smythe’s light company had piled on board at New York on 29 July and pitched into the cramped quarters below decks.

Isis displaced about 1,000 tons and its hull was 150 feet long. It had sailed with a full complement of 350 men, who squeezed themselves into two gun decks and the orlop. The heady air of patriotic outrage triggered by the appearance of d’Estaing’s fleet had brought sailors volunteering from the merchantmen or transports, so the matelots who sailed under Captain Raynor included a sizeable reinforcement from the Philippa, Betsy, Bowman, Thames and Echo. These men had to be melded quickly by the gun captains or bosuns into an effective crew.

Smythe had thirty-five Fusiliers with him, comprising a lieutenant, serjeant, two corporals and thirty-one rank and file. Among the latter was Robert Mason, the company drummer (or bugler). The throwing together of disparate men on Howe’s fleet hardly seemed to matter, one Fusilier noting that they were ‘in the highest spirits, anxiously wishing for an opportunity to signalise themselves in the service of their country against its ancient and perfidious enemy’.

Sailing towards their rendezvous with the French, the Light Bobs had to practise climbing the shrouds with weapons and ammunition. It was in the tops, the platforms on the frigate’s masts, that many of these lubbers would be expected to take their place in battle, ready to act as snipers. Whatever the terrors of racing up, clinging on for grim life as the ship pitched and rolled with the sea, escaping New York had at least removed the soldiers from a stultifying heat.

Even once they were under way, the decks were roasting hot. There was a general expectation that such crazy weather would have to be broken by storms and lightning. Howe’s squadron had arrived off Newport on 9 August, forcing d’Estaing to put to sea and prepare for action. It took days of manoeuvre for the fleets to form their battle lines but on 12 August barometers plunged and trouble arrived.

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