The young Rear Admiral sent an officer in all haste to warn Talmash.

But Talmash was so completely possessed by the notion that the French were not prepared to repel an attack that he disregarded all cautions and would not even trust his own eyes.

He felt sure that the force which he saw assembled on the shore was a mere rabble of peasants, who had been brought together in haste from the surrounding country.
Confident that these mock soldiers would run like sheep before real soldiers, he ordered his men to pull for the beach.

He was soon undeceived.

A terrible fire mowed down his troops faster than they could get on shore.