The Aetna was the only vessel of her class that assisted, or was even present, at the destruction of the French ships in Aix Roads, which anchorage she entered nearly half an hour before Lord Cochrane opened his fire, on the 12th April 1809. The following is an extract of the commander-in-chief’s official despatch:
“I should feel that I did not do justice to Captain Godfrey, of the Aetna, in bombarding the enemy’s ships on the 12th, and nearly all the day of the 13th, if I did not recommend him to their lordships’ notice.”
From the evidence given by this officer at the trial of Lord Gambier, it appears that the Aetna’s 13-inch mortar was split on the 13th, at night; and that she had fired away all her 10-inch shells by the evening of the 14th. He also deposed that she shifted her anchorage eight times for the purpose of bombarding the enemy more effectually, and that she did not quit the mouth of the Charente until the 29th. In consequence of the above recommendation, Captain Godfrey was advanced to post rank as soon as the investigation alluded to was over; by commission dated back to the 11th April.
Agent.– ___ M‘Inerheny, Esq.
JOSEPH SPEAR, Esq.
Post-Captain of 1809.]
This officer was born at Weymouth, in Dorsetshire; and he appears to have first embarked as a midshipman, in 1779, under the protection of Captain Taylor Penny, a native of the same place, then commanding the Marlborough 74.
The commencement of Mr. Spear’s naval career was by no means an unpromising one, as the Marlborough formed part of the fleet sent under Sir George B. Rodney to the relief of Gibraltar, in Dec. 1779; and she consequently assisted at the capture of a Spanish convoy, and the defeat of Don Juan de Langara, Jan. 8 and 16, 1780. On these occasions the enemy lost eight sail of the line, six armed ships belonging to the Royal Caraccas Company, and fourteen transports laden with naval stores, provisions, &c. Returning from Gibraltar to England, Mr. Spear also witnessed the capture of a French 64-gun
