 A detachment of the British landing force then separated from the main body and seized a third battery named la Neuf , routing a force of local militia that attempted to block their advance with artillery assistance from the British squadron in the bay . The militia had come down from their garrisons in the surrounding hills and been joined by 110 French soldiers who had disembarked from Caroline , but the small French force was easily brushed aside by the British landing party . Keating and Willoughby then destroyed the guns in the first two captured batteries and stormed the remaining two fortifications , once again capturing them and using their own cannon to fire on the shipping in the harbour . 
