205
COCKBURN.
for his conduct at the capture and defeat, while proceeding from Gibraltar to Elba, and in presence of the Spanish fleet, of the Sabina of 40, and Matilda of 34 guns, 20 Dec. 1796.[1] The former ship struck her colours, after a combat of three hours, and a loss, out of 286 men, of 14 killed and 44 wounded; the other was compelled to wear and haul off at the close of a sharp action of half an hour; the collective loss of the Minerve on both occasions amounting to 7 men killed and 44 wounded.[2] Capt. Cockburn, who had previously assisted in destroying L’Etonnant national corvette, of 18 guns, next took the privateer Maria, of 6 guns and 68 men, and, after witnessing the evacuation of Porto Ferrajo, bore a very active part in the battle off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797. He also brought out from under the severe fire of two strong batteries on Grand Canary Island the Marseillais, a French letter-of-marque of 24 guns. On the night of 5 Nov. in the same year, while the Minerve was lying stripped in the mole of the dockyard of Gibraltar, we again find her intrepid Captain attracting the official notice of his superiors by a signal exploit he performed in putting off with only three gun-boats to the protection of a convoy, which had been observed to be baffled by light and contrary winds near the Spanish shore, whence it was threatened by a flotilla of 30 of the enemy’s gun-boats. By pulling directly between the in-shore part of the convoy and the position occupied by the Spaniards, he successfully checked their career, and by his spirited exertions kept them at bay during the whole night, and until the merchantmen had reached their anchorage. In April, 1798, the Minerve returned to England to refit, but towards the close of the year she again sailed for the Mediterranean, where Capt. Cockburn continued to be employed on various important services, frequently in command of a small squadron, until the conclusion of the war. Among other operations, he joined in the hostilities against Malta – was in company with the Emerald at the taking of La Caroline privateer, of 16 guns and 90 men – witnessed Lord Keith’s capture of three frigates and two brigs under Rear-Admiral Perrée, 19 June, 1799 – took, during the year 1800, the three privateers Le Furet, La Mouche, and La Vengeance, carrying altogether 49 guns and 357 men – made prize, 11 Feb. 1801, of a Danish man-of-war brig – and, on 2 Sept. following, captured and destroyed the Succès, of 32, and Bravoure, of 42 guns.[3] Assuming command, 12 July, 1803, of the Phaeton 38, the subject of this memoir, after serving for some time off Havre de Grace with a squadron of frigates under his orders, took out Mr. Merry, the British Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, and thence proceeded to India with the first instalment of a sum of money, which it had been arranged should be paid by the government of the latter, as a compensation for the losses sustained by the loyalists in the first establishment of American independence. He was subsequently employed in blockading the Isle of France, where he frequently came into warm collision with the enemy’s batteries; and on eventually exchanging, 5 June, 1805, into the Howe, returned to England with the Marquis of Wellesley, then Governor-General of India. Capt. Cockburn, whose succeeding appointments were, 1 July, 1806, and 10 and 25 March, 1808, to the Captain, Aboukir, and Pompée 74’s, was next present, in the first-named ship, at the capture, by a squadron under Sir Thos. Louis, of Le Président French frigate of 44 guns, 27 Sept. 1806. On his passage to the West Indies in the Pompée, he captured Le Pilade corvette, of 16 guns and 109 men; and being intrusted by Sir Alex. Cochrane, on his arrival on that station, with the management of all the naval operations on shore in the attack on Martinique, he hoisted a broad pendant, and by his exertions, which were unremitting and beyond praise, greatly contributed to the reduction of the island.[4] The enemy offering to capitulate on 24 Feb. 1809, Commodore Cockburn, with Gens. Prevost and Maitland, was directed to meet the French commissioners to settle the terms, and under their signatures Martinique became a British colony. For his services on this occasion the Commodore was personally thanked by both Houses of Parliament, and appointed Captain of the Port of St. Pierre. Removing in March to the Belleisle 74, he returned to Europe in charge of the ships taken at Martinique, and of the surrendered governor and garrison, and soon after his arrival in England was ordered to accompany the expedition to the Scheldt. Thither proceeding, he took command, with his pendant in the Plover, of a division of the British flotilla, consisting of sloops of war, bomb-ships, brigs, and gun-boats; and, taking up a most judicious position near the south-east end of Flushing, continued to bombard that town until the French commandant signified his intention to surrender; when, with an officer from the army, he entered bhndfolded into the fortress, and finally arranged the terms of capitulation.[5] On the retreat of the British down the Scheldt, he subsequently took the post of honour, and formed the rear-guard; on which occasion the Plover was the last vessel to leave the river, checking by her fire the pursuit of the enemy. The Belleisle, of which ship Capt. Cockburn had resumed command, being paid off in Oct. 1809, he next, in Feb. 1810, joined the Implacable 74, and was invested with the conduct of the naval part of an expedition having for its object the liberation of Ferdinand VII. of Spain from his confinement at Valançay. He afterwards proceeded to Cadiz with the flag of Sir Rich. Keats, and effectually co-operated in the defence of that place, particularly by the able and cheerful assistance he afforded with two brigs and some armed boats to an attempt made to dislodge a French force at Moguer, to the northward of the town.[6] Towards the close of 1810 he safely escorted two Spanish line-of-battle ships, of 120 guns each, to the Havana; after which he proceeded to Vera Cruz, and thence returned to Cadiz with 2,000,000 dollars. Arriving in England early in 1811, on board the Druid 32, Capt. Cockburn was, by the Admiralty, again appointed a Commodore on 26 Nov., and directed to hoist his broad pendant on board the Grampus 50. About the same period he was selected to act as joint commissioner with Mr. T. Sydenham and Mr. J. P. Morier, for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation between Spain and her transatlantic colonies. The scheme, however, in consequence of the narrow-minded policy pursued by the Spanish Cortes, proving abortive, the Commodore, after proceeding as far as Cadiz, returned home, and on 12 Aug. 1812 was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral – previously to which he had been appointed, 1 Aug. 1811, a Colonel of Marines. He soon, with his flag in the Marlborough 74, again sailed for Cadiz, in order to assume command of the British squadron employed in its defence; but the siege having been raised prior to his arrival, he was ordered to North America, where hostilities had been recently declared against Great Britain. We have now arrived at an era in the history of the distinguished subject of our memoir which, for brilliancy of achievement, has rarely been equalled. The dashing exploits, indeed, which have perpetuated the name of Cockburn crowd on our attention in such rapid succession, that, anxious as we are to chronicle every occurrence at all invested with interest, we fear that in what we yet have to recount we must content ourselves with a statement of the chief of those gallant performances which, by enforcing on the enemy a proper respect for the British flag, in the end induced them to long for peace. Arriving in the Chesapeake on 3 March, 1813, the Rear-Admiral commenced a desultory mode of war-
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1797, p. 200.
- ↑ In testimony of the opinion he entertained of Capt. Cockburn’s gallant conduct on the occasion of the capture of the Sabina, Nelson subsequently presented him with a gold-hilted sword.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1801, p. 1355.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, pp. 399, 482.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1321.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1445.
