Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/442

 Towards the latter end of the same year, Captain Thompson hoisted a broad pendant as second in command of the squadron sent under Sir John Jervis to attack the French settlements in the West Indies. On the arrival of the armament in Fort Royal Bay, Lieutenant Williams was selected to command a division of the gun and guard-boats to be employed in the approaching siege of Martinique. While on that service, and under the orders of Lieutenant Bowen, of the Boyne, he distinguished himself by his gallantry in boarding the Bienvenu, a French frigate, lying in the Carenage close to Fort Louis. This enterprise was undertaken for the purpose of rescuing a number of English prisoners said to be confined on board her, and consequently exposed to the fire of the British batteries on Point Carriere. The attack was made at noon on the 17th March, 1794, in the presence, and to the astonishment of the whole fleet and army. The instant the boats appeared at the entrance of the Carenage, the enemy prepared to give them a warm reception. The walls of Fort Louis were covered in an instant with troops, who kept up an incessant fire of musketry on the assailants; at the same time the frigate endeavoured to keep them off, by plying both her great guns and small arms; but at length, intimidated by the boldness of the attempt, her crew fled from their quarters, the greater part retreating to the shore. The British now boarded the frigate, and turned her guns upon the fort, but was prevented bringing her out of the harbour in consequence of the wind blowing directly in, her sails being unbent, and the impracticability of sending men aloft to bring them to the yards, exposed as she was to the enemy’s fire. Lieutenant Bowen, therefore, after ascertaining that the English prisoners were in another vessel further up, from whence it was impossible to release them, contented himself with bringing off the French Captain, a Lieutenant, and about 20 men, whom Lieutenant Williams had discovered on the lower deck, and forced into his boat through the bow port of the frigate, by which he had entered. Being distributed among the other boats, they were conveyed in triumph to Sir John Jervis, who, in his official letter to the Admiralty, declared that “The success of this gallant action determined the General and