After being docked at Bombay, the Psyche convoyed some vessels from thence to Point de Galle; and on her arrival there, Captain Edgcumbe received directions to embark a number of troops at Columbo, and carry them to the coast of Travancore, where he served for some time under the orders of the late Captain Charles Foote[1], who sent him to co-operate with the Hon. Colonel St. Leger in the suppression of a mutiny amongst the native troops; and whilst thus employed we find him silencing a battery, and his boats, under Lieutenant Henry Garrett, destroying several vessels which were defended by black soldiers on shore, armed both with muskets and bows and arrows. On this latter occasion the Psyche had one man wounded: she subsequently captured two vessels having elephants on board for the use of the mutinous army.
Captain Edgcumbe next accompanied Captain (now Sir Christopher) Cole on his important mission to Manilla, and also to Macao, in quest of two French frigates, which were reported to be cruising in the China seas. The sufferings of the Pysche and her consort on their return from thence to India, have been noticed in our memoir of the senior officer, and it is therefore only necessary to state that the former ship had but one day’s provision left when she arrived at Prince of Wales’s island, from whence she escorted their valuable Dutch prize to Bombay.
The Psyche afterwards conveyed Brigadier-General Malcolm and his suite once more to Persia. In the same year (1810) she assisted at the capture of the Isle of France; and in 1811, she was attached to the expedition sent against Java. Unfortunately, a severe attack of the hepatitis obliged Captain Edgcumbe to invalid immediately after the surrender of Batavia; but before the reports of survey were signed the Psyche was ordered to receive some troops intended to attack a post which had not yielded according to the capitulation, whereupon he immediately wrote to the commander-in-chief,
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part II, note †, at p. 510.
to Mr. Heath the following morning, he was advised not to attempt it again.
