Note 16 — Chapter V · CAMPAIGN OF 1810—BATTLE OF THE COA.

George Simmons writes in his diary for the 17th of September, 1810: “I removed to Pedroso for the convenience of sea-bathing, my thigh being much better, which enabled me, with crutches, to move about. Lieutenant Harry Smith was also with me. I found great benefit from the sea-bathing.” Sir Harry Smith, writing to Major George Simmons on the 16th of June, 1846 (soon after the battle of Aliwal, when he had driven the Sikhs into the Sutlej), refers to their bathing together at this time, though he says at Belem, not at Pedroso (both places are close to Lisbon): “Dear George,—We little thought at Bellam [Belem], when hopping about there, I should become a master of that art we were both ‘girning’ under, or a swimming master for pupils in the Sutledge!”