Isaac Brock was accompanied on this campaign by his younger brother Savery, who had entered the navy some time before as a midshipman but had been compelled to retire from that service on account of some breach of discipline. He had volunteered for this expedition and had been allowed to join his brother's regiment as paymaster. The account of the landing and subsequent events is related by Brock in a letter to his brother John, who was then stationed at the Cape of Good Hope in command of the 31st Regiment. Brock says:--"After beating the seas from the 8th to the 27th of August we landed near the Helder. The fourth brigade was under General Moore and consisted of the Royals, 25th, 49th, 79th and 92nd. To our utter astonishment the enemy gave us no annoyance. On the contrary he evacuated the town {16} which we took quiet possession of on the following morning. The next evening a reinforcement of five thousand men arrived, but could not land for two days, and in the meantime our troops lay exposed on the sand hills without the least shelter to cover them from the wind and rain. At length the army moved forward eleven miles and got into cantonments along a canal extending the whole breadth of the country from the Zuyder Zee on the one side to the main ocean on the other, protected by an amazingly strong dyke running half a mile in front of the line." [Sidenote: Egmont op Zee] The army, by the arrival of sixteen thousand Russians, was now increased to thirty-five thousand men, but these allies became rather a source of trouble than a help. Though brave, they were undisciplined, and in the advance on Bergen, on September 19th, after driving the enemy before them, they dispersed for plunder, whereupon the French rallied, and drove the disorganized Russians at the point of the bayonet before them, without giving them a chance to reform. At last they encountered a British brigade whom they blamed for not coming sooner to their support. The Russians had, unfortunately, been entrusted by the Duke of York with the principal attack, while Sir Ralph had been detached with ten thousand men to attack the town of Hoarn. October 2nd was fixed upon for a final assault on Bergen. In this, Abercromby led the right column along the sand to {17} Egmont op Zee. He was successful, but by the failure of the other division the victory was of no avail in the final disaster that overtook the English troops.