ABSTRACT
Out in the darkness to the eastward in the deep water where the great ships lay, a single rocket soared to extinguish the stars in a shower of sparks. It was the signal for the waiting boats, which began to pull away from the side of their parent ships towards their rendezvous with the troops . .& each boat carne alongside its appointed troopship and made fast, the infantry drawn. up on the deck were given the order to embark. In the big two-deckers the men filed off by ranks through the upper gunports and down the gangways. In single-decked ships they handed their muskets to soldiers stationed at the bulwarks and clambered down the side of the ship on ladders. With their feet firmly planted on the bottom boards of the boat, they took th~ muskets which were handed down to them and found their places, sitting down in strict silence with their weapons between their knees. l
The boats were now loaded and ready, and at three o'clock a second rocket blazed its bright tail into the dark sky. The boats pulled clear· and the oarsmen began the long haul towards the forming-up line. Some of the boats had five or six miles to row to where the Mondovi brig marked the flank of the line about a gunshot from the shore.2
