On January 12th, 1861, the hired transport _Avon_ arrived at the Gambia to convey the wing of the 1st West India Regiment to the West Indies, and Colonel D'Arcy proceeded in her to Sierra Leone to make arrangements for the services of a portion of the garrison of that settlement. On February 2nd, he returned to the Gambia in the _Avon_ with three companies of the 1st West India Regiment and one of the 2nd West India Regiment. The expeditionary force now consisted of six companies of the 1st West India Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Murray, and four of the 2nd West India Regiment, under Major W. Hill; the Gambia Militia were called out, and the West India detachments at McCarthy's Island, Cape St. Mary's, and Fort Bullen replaced by pensioners. Everything being in readiness, the Governor decided to make one last endeavour to arrive at a peaceful solution of the difficulty (although the king's people had recently, on several occasions, fired on the schooners blockading the river), and despatched H.M.S. _Torch_ with a flag of truce to Swarra Cunda Creek. Commander Smith returned with the intelligence that the natives had prepared stockaded earthworks, were assembled in large numbers, and had refused to hold any communication with the ship. On February 15th, the expedition left Bathurst, and steaming up to Swarra Cunda Creek, some forty miles up the river, anchored there for the night. The troops were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Murray, 1st West India Regiment, and were thus distributed: The gunners of the 1st and 2nd West India Regiment on board H.M.S. _Torch_. Nos. 1 and 7 Companies, 1st West India Regiment, on board the Colonial steamer _Dover_. Nos. 2 and 3 Companies, 1st West India Regiment, on the schooner _Elizabeth_. Nos. 4 and 7 Companies, 2nd West India Regiment, on the schooner _Margaret_. The _Dover_, after distributing her contingent amongst the other three vessels lying in the creek, returned to Bathurst the same night to bring up Nos. 4 and 6 Companies of the 1st West India Regiment and two companies of the 2nd West India Regiment. On February 16th, the whole force being collected, the _Torch_ and the _Dover_ steamed up the creek to the trading landing-place of Swarra Cunda, towing the schooners. The earthworks were observed to be full of armed men, who shouted and brandished their weapons, amid a tremendous beating of war-drums. The _Torch_ anchored about 180 yards from the earthworks, the two schooners lying above her and the _Dover_ below, in such positions as to be able to bring a cross-fire to bear. The Governor, being still anxious to avoid bloodshed, hailed the enemy through his interpreter, calling upon them to surrender. They replied with yells of defiance, and were then informed that if they did not abandon their works the ships would open fire in half-an-hour.