their shells into the enemy troops on the opposite side of the Scheldt. The following day forty-one more shells were fired. During the first week in September South Beveland was evacuated and the fiasco of the Walcheren expedition drew to a close. Cockburn in his dispatches after the campaign noted that "the constant and correct Fire from the Ætna, Captain Lawless, particularly drew my Attention." Commander John Bowker replaced Lawless and then sailed Aetna for Cadiz on 8 April 1810. Defence of Cadiz Aetna was subsequently employed in the defence of Cádiz. On 23 November Aetna, and Thunder, with a division of Spanish, and two divisions of British gun-boats, bombarded Fort Catalina at the southern end of the Bay of Bulls, while mortar and howitzer boats threw about 100 shells into French gunboats in the Guadalete river by El Puerto de Santa María. On 24 November the mortar and howitzer boats threw several hundred shells into Santa Maria whilst Aetna, Devastation and Thunder, with part of the Spanish flotilla and the British gunboats drew the fire from Catalina. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the then still surviving participants in action on 28 November the NGSM with the clasp "Boat Service 23 Nov." At the beginning of December Aetna burst her large mortar, the fourth time she had done so during the siege. One of these events had resulted in the death of 13 of her crew, and the wounding of numerous others. In November 1811 Commander Richard Kenah replaced Bowker. He sailed Aetna to the Baltic in 1813. War of 1812 Aetna then sailed for North America. In April 1814 Aetna sailed to America to join the squadron of Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. Potomac River expedition On 17 August the frigate , bombs Devastation, Aetna, and Meteor, the rocket ship , and the dispatch boat Anna-Maria were detached under Captain Gordon of to sail up the Potomac River and bombard Fort Washington, about ten or twelve miles below the capital. Contrary winds meant they had to sweep for more than 50 miles over a period of five successive days, and lacking a pilot through Kettle-Bottoms, meant that it took ten days to reach the Fort. On the evening of the 27th they began a bombardment of the fort that continued until the powder magazine exploded. When the British took possession the following morning they found that the Americans had retreated