cued by this honest fellow from a lingering and painful death. Not satisfied with what he had done, the sailor, through the opening he had made, descended into the lower-deck, while chests, bags, and hammocks, floated up against the side (to which the water reached within one foot) and prevented the approach of those who might yet be alive. Another man, however, was taken hold of by the persevering tar; but the poor Dutchman, exhausted and feeble, slipped from his grasp, and sunk to rise no more!"”
The following extract from the same volume brings us to the close of the author’s services as a Lieutenant.
“No sooner were the preliminaries of peace signed in Europe, than it became necessary to send a strong squadron of observation to the West Indies. By one of the articles of the treaty, the French were to be permitted to send a large force to reconquer the island of St. Domingo. Hopeless attempt! but nevertheless, at the instigation of the planters, it was undertaken. The army of le Clerc, consisting of 30,000 men, was embarked in ships of war and transports, and sailed for their fatal destination, whence few, if any, were ever to return; it was supposed that the chief consul was willing thus to dispose of a supernumerary body of men, which the leisure of peace did not permit him to employ at home: glad to rid himself of their importunities, he sent them on a forlorn hope, where, whether successful or not, a great object would be gained to the state.
“To watch this formidable armament, the scene of whose operations was within sight of Jamaica, it became absolutely necessary to send a fleet of ships to the West Indies, besides those already on that station. Rear-Admiral Campbell sailed with six ships of the line in Feb. 1802; he was followed by Commodore Stopford with seven more, in the month of March. These squadrons, having touched at Barbadoes and Martinique, ran down to Jamaica, where Sir John Duckworth, having formed a fleet of twenty-two sail of the line, sent them under the orders of Rear-Admiral Campbell to cruise off the Navassa, a small island between Point Morant and Cape Dona Maria. This service lasted until the month of July, when the news arrived of the signing of the definitive treaty: the fleet was divided into squadrons, one of which was sent to England, another to Halifax, and a third, consisting of the best ships, was retained upon the station until the renewal of the war in the following year. Commodore Stopford remained commander-in-chief at Martinique, Rear-Admiral Totty having then recently died of the yellow-fever.
“The author was at this time third Lieutenant of the Theseus, commanded by his respected and valuable friend Captain (now Rear-Admiral) John Bligh: from this ship he was, by the kindness of the Earl of St. Vincent, appointed commander of the Lark sloop of war, and he returned to England in Aug. 1802.”
During the short peace. Captain Brenton sent to the Admiralty the model of a gun-boat, sharp at both ends, and car-
