Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/218

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204
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1810.

which island he was ordered to convey the bearers of the naval and military despatches to England[1].

On his return home (March 1810), Captain Elliot received an official letter from the Secretary of the Admiralty, acquainting him, that in consequence of his meritorious services in the West Indies, the Lords Commissioners had been pleased to order a minute to be made for his promotion to post rank, to take place at the expiration of twelve months, from the date of his confirmation as a Commander; and in December following, on his arrival from Newfoundland, he had the gratification of receiving a commission, dated, according to promise, Oct. 16, in the same year.

From the above period. Captain Elliot was obliged through ill-health, occasioned by his wounds and repeated change of climate, to remain on shore till June 1812, when, considering himself sufficiently recovered to serve again afloat, he applied for employment, and was immediately appointed to the Crocodile of 28 guns, in which ship he continued, on the Guernsey and Lisbon stations, till she was ordered to be paid off in June 1815.

Captain Elliot was nominated a C.B. in 1815: his next appointment appears to have been September 5, in the same year, to the Florida 20; and from her we find him removed April 8, 1816, to the Scamander frigate, fitting for the West Indies, where he evinced great zeal in protecting British commerce, and preventing the principles of our trade from violation, by seizing ten vessels of different descriptions, for various breaches of the navigation laws.

On the 21st Oct. 1817, Captain Elliot encountered a most destructive hurricane, near Barbadoes, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the Scamander escaped its dreadful ravages. – For his subsequent exertions in saving numerous vessels which had been dismasted and driven ashore in Carlisle Bay, he received a very flattering letter from the mer-

  1. The Hazard led Commodore Ballard’s squadron into Ance le Barque, and assisted in taking possession of the enemy’s batteries, which enabled the troops under Brigadier-General Harcourt, to land without opposition. Captain Elliot was afterwards attached to the second division of the army. – See the extract of Sir George Beckwith’s General Orders, inserted at p. 879 of our first volume.