The Admiral says he would fix a salary here but he is sure you will be able to get me more than he is authorised to give. I feel extremely grateful for your kindness and shall do everything in my power to deserve it.’8

Cockburn meanwhile was writing an official despatch to John Wilson Croker, Secretary to the Admiralty (unaware that Croker was privy to recent developments through Dr O’Meara’s letters to the clerk Finlaison). He asked the Lords of the Admiralty to advise on ‘the expenses to be incurred for the maintenance of General Bonaparte and his followers on this island’.

The admiral was in a quandary. His instructions, while exasperatingly vague, specified ‘that, as far as it may prove practicable, such comforts and establishment as are usually enjoyed by officers bearing the rank of full General should be allowed to General Bonaparte, and a table of eight covers kept for him, with everything else in a similar ratio’. He was obliged to do this without a budget allocated by government. The French themselves, as far as he knew (they had managed to deceive him), had carried little apart from some silver plate, a handsome set of Sèvres porcelain and a negligible amount of money, the last since confiscated and transmitted to Treasury. In the circumstances, Cockburn proposed drawing such sums as were needed from the island’s commissary. He explained that to enable him to do this at the cheapest rate and avoid being exploited, ‘I have engaged a Mr Balcombe, a respectable inhabitant, strongly recommended to me by Colonel Beatson before I quitted England, and by the Governor since my arrival, as most conversant and efficient in such matters, to purvey for me, and generally to assist me in procuring the several things it becomes necessary for me to purchase upon the island’.9

Bonaparte had asked for a carriage, arguing that this offered the only exercise he could take (although his feet actually offered better exercise equipment). The admiral promised to enquire if Governor Wilks had a spare conveyance, and sent to the Cape for some horses.

Cockburn instituted the new shipping regulations decreed by the Admiralty. Foreign vessels were forbidden to anchor in the shipping roads; if they attempted it, they would be fired upon. All fishing boats, rowing boats and other small vessels owned by St Helena residents were to be ashore between six in the evening and six in the morning or risk all hands being shot. Two British frigates were permanently at anchor off the port and two brigs circled the island night and day. ‘My cruisers,’ Cockburn reported, ‘are so well posted round the island that the devil himself could not get out of it.’10

The drawbridge in the town wall was raised at sunset, so cutting off access to the sea, and a general curfew instituted. Locals were forbidden to stir from their houses except in daylight hours. It caused little inconvenience at The Briars as they rarely went out at night; if they did, it was necessary to obtain the governor’s permission, easily granted to any ‘respectable inhabitant’.11

The fortifications were greatly extended, with cannon placed at regular intervals along the cliffs. An officer remarked: ‘Sir George is at his old work of fortifying . . . He is building a redoubt at Egg Island, about half a mile from St Helena, to defend the bay or beach . . . Indeed there would be great difficulty landing anywhere on the island (but just at James’s Town) from the tremendous surf. To the northward of the island it is always impossible; and to the westward, except James’s and Lemon Valleys, you see nothing but an abrupt rock rising out of the water.’12

Captain James Mackay and the sentries guarding The Briars camped in a tent at the front gate and were relatively unobtrusive. The French had few restrictions on their movements during daylight hours—with the exception of Bonaparte, who was to be accompanied on outings beyond the gates by an English officer at all times, and his visitors were subject to clearance. When General Gourgaud came up from Jamestown on 19 October, he was offended to be questioned before admission to the grounds.

Betsy wrote very little about Gourgaud in her Recollections. He wrote much more about her in his fascinating and scurrilous Journal, written in code and never intended for publication. Before actually meeting her he had been intrigued to hear of pretty Betsy Balcombe, an English rose. It seems that on encountering a mere cheeky schoolgirl, his fantasies turned to disdain.

Gaspard Gourgaud was born in 1783 to a court musician and a domestic at Louis XVI’s palace. As a boy he saw the King carted off to the guillotine, a frightening experience which may have contributed to his emotional instability. After military college he gained a commission as an artillery officer; he was wounded at Austerlitz, fought bravely at Pultusk, and for his courage and loyalty was made a baron in the new Napoleonic peerage.