History Vault

Turks' Island — 8 March 1783

2 min read

Turks’ Island — 8 March 1783

Generated illustration. Not a historical photograph. A coastal battery. Not a named portrait of Turks’ Island.

Overview

The Albemarle fishing-schooner release stays on Albemarle Fishing Schooner — Boston Bay. The Elsinore call stays on Albemarle at Elsinore. This note covers the 8 March 1783 landing only.1

The Landing

Nelson’s letter to Hood, dated Albemarle, 9 March 1783, says that on Thursday the 6th he fell in with Resistance to windward of Monte Christi and learned that the French had taken Turks’ Island on 13 February with one hundred and fifty regulars and three vessels of war. Albemarle, Resistance, and Drake anchored on Friday evening. Tartar could not keep the bank and went to sea. Dixon went ashore under a flag of truce; the French commander refused to surrender.

On Saturday morning, at daylight, one hundred and sixty-seven seamen and marines landed under Captain Charles Dixon. When the brigs stood in toward the town, a battery of three guns opened. The master of Drake was wounded; the boatswain and six men were hit aboard Admiral Barrington. Dixon reported that seamen fought the guns, that troops waited with field-pieces, and that a hill post had two pieces of cannon. Nelson wrote that with that force and that situation he did not think anything farther could be attempted.2

This page does not invent a rate for Albemarle. The later Boston-Bay schooner and the Elsinore visit stay off this page.

Sources

Same Subject

Cross-Domain

Footnotes

  1. Fishing-schooner release only: Albemarle Fishing Schooner — Boston Bay. Elsinore only: Albemarle at Elsinore. ↩

  2. Thursday 6 March; French took the island 13 February with 150 regulars and three vessels of war; Friday evening anchored; Saturday daylight landing of 167 seamen and marines under Dixon; three-gun battery; Drake’s master wounded; boatswain and six men hit on Admiral Barrington; withdrawal. @nicolas1844dispatches vol. 1, pp. 73–74 (1844). Do not invent a rate for Albemarle. ↩

Graph View

Backlinks