assisted by Colonel Douglas of the Marines and by Colonel Philpoteaux, an engineer officer and a French Royalist refugee. A very usual operation was for one or two of our ships to set about the capture of a number of the enemy's merchantmen and small craft that had sought refuge in some harbour on the Mediterranean coast. If there was a battery defending the entrance the ship would engage it, and after its guns were silenced, it would be stormed by the bluejackets and marines. After this the latter would take up a covering position while the seamen brought out the shipping. We have a somewhat amusing account of a naval brigade of seamen which was put on shore during the unfortunate Walcheron Expedition of 1808. It was written by a soldier, so perhaps may have been a bit overdrawn, but it must be remembered that there was no attempt to teach seamen infantry drill in those days, and none of them was enlisted for longer than a ship's commission. "These extraordinary fellows", says the writer, "delighted in hunting the 'Munseers', as they called the French, and a more formidable pack was never unkennelled. Armed with a long pole, a pike, a cutlass, and a pistol, they annoyed the French skirmishers in all directions by their irregular and unexpected attacks. They usually went out in parties as if they were going to hunt a wild beast, and no huntsman ever followed the chase with more delight.... They might be seen leaping the dykes by the aid of their poles or swimming across others, like Newfoundland dogs; and if a few French riflemen appeared in sight, they ran at them helter-skelter, and pistol, cutlass, or pike went to work in good earnest. The French soldiers did not at all relish such opponents--and no wonder, for the very appearance of them was terrific, and quite out of the usual order of things. Each man seemed a sort of Paul Jones, tarred, belted, and cutlassed as they were. Had we had occasion to storm Flushing I have no doubt they would have carried the breach themselves." The writer gives a humorous description of their drill, of which they wisely only attempted enough to assist them in moving from place to place. "'Heads up, you beggar of a corporal, there', a little slang-going Jack would cry out from the rear rank, well knowing that his diminutive size prevented his being seen by his officers. Then, perhaps, the man immediately before the wit, in order to show his sense of decorum, would turn round and remark: 'I say, who made you fugleman,[63] Master Billy? Can't you behave like a sodger afore the commander, eh?'"