In 1798 the regiment was moved to Canterbury, where it made the acquaintance of a naval officer who was destined to exert some influence on a part of its career. This was Captain, afterwards Sir Home, Popham. Just then he was full of a scheme for blowing up the lock-gates of the Bruges Canal, which lock-gates were situated at Saas, a village just a mile from the entrance to Ostend harbour. The canal itself from Bruges to Saas was thirteen miles long, one hundred yards wide, and thirteen feet deep, and had recently been completed at a cost of five millions. For the invasion of England it was of great importance to the enemy; for any number of vessels could be fitted up therein and brought down to Ostend without risk of facing the British cruisers at sea. If an invasion were intended, Ostend was obviously the best port of embarkation for the invading army; and even if the project of a descent on England should prove to be no more than a scare, the destruction of the lock would at any rate spoil a seaport and stop all internal navigation from Holland to West Flanders. [Sidenote: April.] So Captain Popham argued; and his arguments were held to be good. Accordingly the whole plan of operation was entrusted to him; and preparations for the little expedition went forward with the utmost secrecy all through the month of April. By the second week in May everything was ready, and on the 13th the troops were embarked at Margate on seven transports. The force consisted of four companies of the 1st Guards, the flank companies of the Coldstream Guards, 3rd Guards, 23rd, and 49th Foot; the 11th Foot, artillerymen with six guns, and, lastly, one sergeant and eight men of the 17th Light Dragoons, the only mounted men of the expedition. [Sidenote: 16th May.] On the morning of the 16th May the little fleet got a fair wind and sailed away, arriving, without further mishap than leaving the 1st Guards hopelessly astern, in Ostend at 1 A.M. on the 19th. [Sidenote: 19th May.] For a time everything went like clockwork. Sir Eyre Coote, who commanded the expedition, summoned the French commander at Ostend to surrender, as a feint, to make him believe the town was the object of attack. Then having received a high-flown reply, and seen all the French troops drawn into Ostend, he quietly landed his men on the opposite side of the river, and blew up the lock-gates with the greatest success. By 11 A.M. Coote was back on the beach and anxious to re-embark, having accomplished his object with the trifling loss of five men killed and wounded. But meanwhile a gale had sprung up, and the surf was so great that re-embarkation was impossible. After several futile attempts, in which boats were swamped and the men nearly drowned, Coote decided to entrench himself where he lay and wait for better weather. [Sidenote: 20th May.]