XI

Англ. гос. архив.

Record Office, С. О. 118, № 3.

5 ноября 1810 г.

Extract of a dispatch from mr. Nicholas to marquis Wellesley, dated Heligoland, 1-st Nov. 1810.

In my last dispatch of the 27-th Ult° N 41 I had the honour to inform your Lordship, that a detachment of French Troops, with 19 pieces of Ordnance, was expected to take possesion of the island of Nieuwork on the 31-st Ult°; and I am now sorry to acquaint you that they succeeded in their attempt. 700 men, consisting of Infantry and Cavalry, marched over on the morning of that day, with 8 guns, 120 ammunition waggons, 100 casks of beer, 200 oxen and 5 Casks of Brandy; but a smalle detachment of nearly 200 men returned in the evening.

The force which I formerly had the honour to acquaint Your Lordship was in the Ems, consisting of 12 Brigs, 12 Gun boats, and 1 Schooner, still remains in that river. At the entrance of the Jahde near Eckwarden, and on the opposite side two batteries are erecting, each of 3 Guns and 3 mortars.

The measures which the enemy are now adopting on the opposite coast appear to be of greater magnitude and more general, than would be necessary for an attack on the island, and I take the liberty of submitting to Your Lordship that they appear to me to have three separate objects in view. First, to exclude trade, and prevent all communication with the Continent; secondly to bring round, if necessary to support any further plans they may have in the North, a port of their flotilla from Holland into the Baltick by the Kiel Canal, and thirdly (and which appears to me of the greatest importance) to obtain by that Canal and the Elbe supplies of ship timber and naval stores for the Dock Yards in Holland and at Antwerp.

If the enemy continues in possession of Nieuwork, I feart that the timber belonging to the French government left at Copenhagen, the Prussian d?p?t taken at Hamburgh, and what other stores they may have purchased in the Baltick, must get to Holland, either the whole way by the Shallows, or to the Jahde, whence they might be transported by a land Conveyance to the Ems.

Endorsed

Extract of a dispatch from mr. Nicholas to the marquis Wellesley, dated Heligoland 1-st november, 1810.

m mr. Culling Smith’s 5-th nov. 1810.