'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎127] (146/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY.
127
obliged to retreat; those who got in were joined by about one
hundred and fifty others, who had crawled along and succeeded
in passing unobserved round the left field-work. Finding their
retreat cut off, after losing some men in attempting it, they
made a rush at the heights commanding the wall; but on re
ceiving two shots, and losing one of their number, they retreated,
and tried another part of the hills, where Mr. Nott, a midship
man of the Indian Navy, w^ts placed with a party of seamen
and a gun ; on receiving the first shot from which, they fled in
great confusion, and made a desperate rush to pass outside the
left field-work, where Mr. Cameron of the European regiment
was placed; here the slaughter was dreadful, about thirty of
their number being mowed down upon the spot; some made
good their retreat, and .a few fled away into the hills, where
they were either taken, or shot next day. In the meantime,
the firing from the artillery was kept up from the front, and
by Lieutenant Hamilton from the flank, till only about five
rounds of grape shot remained at the wall, when an order was
given to cease firing; the enemy being at a considerable dis
tance. On this the Arabs, taking it for granted that all the
ammunition of the defenders was expended, rushed with a loud
yell in five columns again to the wall, within a short distance
of which they were once more fatally checked by the destructive
fire of grape and musketry in front and flank. Daylight had
just broken on the scene, and showed the Arabs in full retreat
in a dense mass extending from side to side of the broad part of
the isthmus, their numerous camels loaded with dead, those
very camels, some of which carried small guns, and all of which
were intended to be laden with the plunder of the English, of
whose wealth they had formed most extravagant notions. The
ex-Sultan had persuaded them that 6 all the buttons worn by
the English were of solid gold, and that precious stones and
valuables of all kind awaited their expected victory.'
Lieutenant (now retired Captain) B. Hamilton was the same
officer who had distinguished himself by his conspicuous gal
lantry at the capture of Aden, when, single handed, he drove
before him as prisoners, thirty armed Arabs.
The following was the Government Order on the repulse of
this formidable attack on Aden :—
" Political Department, Bombay Castle, December 2, 1839.
" The following extract from Station Orders, by Lieutenant-
Colonel Capon, commanding at Aden, is republished Extract
from Station Orders, by Lieutenant-Colonel Capon, dated Aden,
the 11th of November, 1839.
a The Commanding Officer congratulates the troops on the
gallant manner in which they repulsed an attack along the
whole front of the field-work by bodies of Arabs, five thousand,