noon
The captain went and quieted the people . A strong breeze was blowing from the land , and he knew full well that the _ Xenophon _ could not possibly come near enough to harm them for several hours . He gave some directions concerning the strengthening of the fort , and went home and retired to bed . Next morning the ship-of-war , the _ Xenophon _ was reported lying without the harbor , and at noon , being unable , owing to contrary winds , to enter the harbor , they saw her long-boats landing troops on the northern point of land . Soldiers to the number of two hundred were landed on the point of land , which , two miles north of Duck Island , projected far out into the sea and was called O'Connor 's Point . Mariana was situated on a peninsula from half a mile to two miles wide and the troops hurried to the narrowest neck of this peninsula where they halted and proceeded to throw up light earthworks , so as to completely cut off all retreat of the inhabitants . That evening some officers and a marine guard with a white flag were seen coming down the great road leading from the neck of the peninsula to the mainland and thence to Baltimore .