[Sidenote: 1760.] In the course of the year 1760 the THIRTY-SIXTH regiment was encamped at Sandheath under Lieut.-General the Earl of Ancram. [Sidenote: 1761.] In the spring of 1761 a force proceeded under the command of Major-General Studholme Hodgson against _Belle-Isle_, a French island in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of Brittany. The expedition appeared before _Belle-Isle_ on the 7th of April, and a landing was attempted on the following day, but without success;--other endeavours to secure a landing on different points of the island proving also unsuccessful, orders were given to desist from the attempt, and the men returned to the boats, and proceeded back to their several ships. Many of the boats were destroyed or damaged in these efforts, and about five hundred men were lost in killed, wounded, and missing. Major-General Hodgson subsequently received the following reinforcements, of which the THIRTY-SIXTH formed part:-- Regiments. Commanding Officers. Men. Third foot, Major J. Biddulph 800 Thirty-sixth foot, Lieut.-Colonel W. Preston 800 Seventy-fifth foot (afterwards } Lieut.-Colonel C. Parry 800 disbanded) } Eighty-fifth foot, Second } battalion, (afterwards } Major Sir Hugh Williams 600 disbanded), } ----- 3,000 ===== A landing was effected by Brigadier-General Hamilton Lambert on the 22d of April, on the rocks near Point Lomaria, where the difficulty of ascending the precipice had made the enemy least attentive to that part. Beauclerk’s grenadiers (Nineteenth foot), with Captain Patterson, of that regiment, gained the summit before the enemy saw what was intended, who immediately marched a body of three hundred men to attack them; the grenadiers, however, maintained their ground till the remainder of Brigadier Lambert’s troops arrived. The success thus gained was promptly followed up; the French were eventually repulsed, and three brass field-pieces, with a few prisoners, were captured. The cannon was afterwards landed from the ships and dragged up the rocks; the lines which covered the town of Palais were carried by assault, and the siege of the citadel was prosecuted with vigour. The garrison, under their governor, the Chevalier de St. Croix, made a gallant defence; but on the 7th of June were forced to surrender, and were permitted to march through the breach with the honours of war, in consideration of their bravery. The capture of the island was thus achieved, with the loss of about eighteen hundred men killed and wounded.