22 guns and 120 men, from Toulon bound to Ajaccio. Her companions were a gaberre of 30 guns and 150 men, laden with stores; and a national schooner of the largest class. Captain Napier’s subsequent visit to Marseilles, in company with Captain Ussher, is noticed at p. 356 et seq. of Supp. Part I.
In June, 1814, the Euryalus sailed from Gibraltar for Bermuda, in company with a squadron under the orders of Captain Andrew King, and a fleet of transports having on board part of the troops recently employed against Genoa. On her arrival at Bermuda, she was placed under the orders of Sir Alexander Cochrane, whom she shortly afterwards accompanied to the mouth of the Potowmac river. The laborious naval operations against Alexandria, in which she bore a very active part, are noticed at considerable length under the head of Sir James Alexander Gordon, who commanded the squadron employed on that brilliant service, and in whose official report we find the following mention made of her skilful and gallant commander:
“To Captain Napier I owe more obligations than I have words to express. The Euryalus lost her bowsprit, the head of her foremast, and the heads of all her top-masts, in a tornado which she encountered on the 25th (Aug.), just as her sails were clewed up, whilst we were passing the flats of Maryland point; and yet, after twelve hours work on her refittal, she was again under weigh, and advanced up the river.”
During the subsequent operations against Baltimore, we find Captain Napier commanding a division of boats sent up the Ferry branch of the Patapsco river, for the purpose of causing a diversion favourable to the intended assault upon the enemy’s entrenched camp at the opposite side of the city. The rain poured in torrents, and the night was so extremely dark that eleven out of twenty boats pulled, by mistake, directly for the harbour. Fortunately, the lights on shore discovered to the crews their perilous situation in time for them to retreat. The remainder, containing 128 officers, seamen, and marines, led by Captain Napier, passed up the Ferry branch to a considerable distance above fort M‘Henry, and opened a heavy fire of rockets and shot upon the shore, at
