The forts of the harbour of Carthagena having been demolished, the fleet sailed to Jamaica. The FIFTEENTH, and several other corps, afterwards sailed to the island of _Cuba_, where they landed, and a camp was formed twenty miles up one of the large rivers of the island. At this camp, the regiment was stationed some time; and the country was reconnoitred in various directions by detachments. The design of forming a British settlement on that part of the island of Cuba, was, however, abandoned; in November the troops returned on board ship, and were re-conveyed to Jamaica. [Sidenote: 1742] Having sustained a severe loss in killed and wounded at Carthagena, and also from the effects of climate, the regiment returned to England in 1742, and commenced recruiting its numbers. [Sidenote: 1743] [Sidenote: 1744] During the years 1743 and 1744, the regiment was stationed in Great Britain. [Sidenote: 1745] In the meantime, a British army was supporting the interest of the house of Austria on the Continent; but the French monarch brought so great a superiority of numbers into the field, that the allied army, under His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, was unable to prevent the enemy gaining possession of several fortified towns in the Austrian Netherlands, during the summer of 1745. Under these circumstances the regiment was sent from England to _Ostend_, with the view of contributing to the preservation of that place, where it arrived on the 27th of July. The French besieged Ostend, which was defended by a garrison of British and Austrian troops under Lieut.-General Count Chanclos, of the Austrian service, who capitulated after a siege of thirteen days, the garrison being permitted to march out with the honors of war, and proceed to the Austrian territories. The FIFTEENTH joined the army. At this period, Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, had aroused the Highland clans to arms, and asserted his father's pretensions to the British throne. This rebellion occasioned the regiment to be recalled from Flanders: it arrived in the river Thames, and landed at Gravesend, on the 25th of October; but it was not ordered to march against the insurgent clans--it was destined to remain in the south of England, to oppose the threatened invasion of the French. [Sidenote: 1746]