As soon as news of this incident reached England the country was roused to immediate action, and a punitive expedition was got together and sent out under Admiral Lord Exmouth. He had been delayed by head winds, but got under way in the last week of July. His flagship was the 120-gun _Queen Charlotte_, Rear-Admiral Sir David Milne being second in command in the 90-gun _Impregnable_. There were also three 74-gun ships in addition to a number of frigates, brigs, bombs, fireships and several smaller ships well supplied with shrapnel and the ordinary means of warfare of those times. By the 9th of August the fleet had arrived and anchored at Gibraltar, where it was joined by the Dutch fleet of five frigates and a corvette under Admiral Van Cappillen. Meanwhile H.M.S. _Prometheus_ had been dispatched ahead to Algiers to bring away the British Consul and his family, but did not succeed in the entire task. By disguising them in midshipmen’s uniform the Consul’s wife and daughter were able to escape, but the Consul had been seized by the Dey and thrown into chains. For the Algerine had learnt from French papers of the forthcoming British expedition, and having heard of the escape of Mrs. and Miss Macdonell, he immediately ordered the detention of two of the boats from the _Prometheus_ which chanced to be ashore. The crews were thrown into slavery; but when this information reached the ears of Lord Exmouth, this, if anything were wanting, completed his eagerness to wipe out the plague-spot of European civilisation. So the fleet left Gibraltar and arrived before Algiers on 27th August. An interpreter was sent ashore with Lieutenant Burgess (the Admiral’s flag-lieutenant), under a flag of truce, with a letter to the Dey demanding reparation, and while this was being done the fleet, taking advantage of a light breeze springing up, came into the bay and hove to about a mile from Algiers. But after waiting beyond the stipulated time, since no answer was forthcoming, Mr. Burgess and the interpreter returned to the flagship, where every one was ready and anxious for the order to blaze away at the enemy. The Admiral now made a signal to know whether all the ships were prepared, and the affirmative answer being returned, the _Queen Charlotte_ led the line towards the shore, and to the amazement of the enemy ran across all the batteries without firing or receiving a single shot. She then brought up within eighty yards of that mole which the reader will recollect had been built long years before by Christian captives. The spot selected by the Admiral was where an Algerine brig was seen lying. The rest of the fleet, including the Dutch vessels, then took up their assigned positions in regular order. [Illustration: THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALGIERS When Lord Exmouth attacked this den of piracy and cruelty, even the British women served at the same guns as their husbands, and never shrank.]