While the blockade was still in force, the wing of the 2nd West India Regiment, which had been wrecked in the troopship _Perseverance_ at Maio, one of the Cape Verde Islands, while on its way to relieve the wing of the 1st West India Regiment, arrived in West Africa in various vessels, three companies at the Gambia and three at Sierra Leone; and as in January, 1861, the blockade had manifestly failed in its object of inducing the King of Baddiboo to indemnify the plundered merchants, Governor D'Arcy determined to take advantage of the presence of an unusual number of regular troops to organise a formidable expedition; which step was rendered necessary from the fact that the numerous Mohammedan tribes around the settlement and on the banks of the river were narrowly watching events, and had, owing to the long delay in punishing the King of Baddiboo, already commenced to show signs of lawlessness.
On January 12th, 1861, the hired transport _Avon_ arrived at the Gambia to convey the wing of the 1st West India Regiment to the West Indies, and Colonel D'Arcy proceeded in her to Sierra Leone to make arrangements for the services of a portion of the garrison of that settlement. On February 2nd, he returned to the Gambia in the _Avon_ with three companies of the 1st West India Regiment and one of the 2nd West India Regiment.
The expeditionary force now consisted of six companies of the 1st West India Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Murray, and four of the 2nd West India Regiment, under Major W. Hill; the Gambia Militia were called out, and the West India detachments at McCarthy's Island, Cape St. Mary's, and Fort Bullen replaced by pensioners.
Everything being in readiness, the Governor decided to make one last endeavour to arrive at a peaceful solution of the difficulty (although the king's people had recently, on several occasions, fired on the schooners blockading the river), and despatched H.M.S. _Torch_ with a flag of truce to Swarra Cunda Creek. Commander Smith returned with the intelligence that the natives had prepared stockaded earthworks, were assembled in large numbers, and had refused to hold any communication with the ship.
On February 15th, the expedition left Bathurst, and steaming up to Swarra Cunda Creek, some forty miles up the river, anchored there for the night. The troops were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Murray, 1st West India Regiment, and were thus distributed: