forenoon) that morning from Cette, bound to Marseilles. I enclose a return of the killed and wounded, as far as I have been able to ascertain it, “And am, your very humble servant, “FRANCIS WM. AUSTEN. “To Robert Dudley Oliver, Esq., “Captain of H.M. Ship _Mermaid_. “Return of killed and wounded in an action between his Britannic Majesty’s sloop _Peterel_, Francis Wm. Austen, Esq., Commander, and the French national brig _La Ligurienne_, commanded by François Auguste Pelabon, lieutenant de vaisseau. “_Peterel_: Killed, none; wounded, none. “_La Ligurienne_: Killed, the captain and one seaman; wounded, one gardemarin and one seaman. “(Signed) FRANCIS WM. AUSTEN.” The captures, “as per margin,” are of a French bark, name unknown, about two hundred and fifty tons, and of a French bombarde, _La Vestic_, about one hundred and fifty tons, both laden with wheat, and both abandoned by their crews on the _Peterel’s_ attack. [Illustration: _PETEREL_ IN ACTION WITH _LA LIGURIENNE_ NEAR MARSEILLES, MARCH 21, 1800] If, as is stated, _La Ligurienne_ was intended to go to Egypt, it seems not improbable that the reason for her peculiar construction was that she might be taken to pieces, carried across the desert, and launched again in the Red Sea, there to take part in an attempt on India. This exploit, though related in a matter-of-fact way by Captain Austen in his letter, was not inconsiderable in the eyes of the authorities, and the result was his immediate promotion to post rank. He himself knew nothing of this advancement until the following October; only an instance of the slowness and difficulty of communication, which was so great a factor in the naval affairs of that time. It should be mentioned that the frigate _Mermaid_ was in sight during part of this action, which perhaps had something to do with the two French vessels running themselves ashore, also that the capture of _La Ligurienne_ was within six miles of Marseilles. The _Peterel_ took her three prizes to Minorca, where the prisoners were sent on board the _Courageuse_, one of Perrée’s frigates captured in 1799 as already described. The next voyage was to Malta, where the fortress of Valetta was still in French hands, with a few ships under the command of Rear-Admiral Villeneuve. The British blockading squadron had just taken the _Guillaume Tell_ in the endeavour to escape from Valetta harbour, after eighteen months’ stay. This ship of the line was the only one remaining to the French from Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt and the Battle of the Nile.