Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/256

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242
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1810.

the Penmarks as possible, and at day-light on the 7th, saw twenty-five sail close among the rocks, protected by one small armed ship: fifteen of this number were taken and destroyed; the remainder ran between the rocks, in such a manner as rendered any attempt to pursue them fruitless. Out of eight brought off, two were laden with ship-timber, one with bale goods, and one partly with sugar, indigo, and linen. Several of those destroyed were set on fire by Lieutenant Evans, who, on entering the cabin of one, found a slow match burning, and a train laid from it to a barrel full of powder: when about to quit another, he was surprised to see twelve well-armed Frenchmen come up from the hold, where they had secreted themselves in hopes of being able to recover possession of their vessel.

In June, 1795, la Concorde accompanied the expedition under Sir John B. Warren, to Quiberon Bay, and Lieutenant Evans was entrusted with the command of the seamen and marines, landed from her to assist at the reduction of fort Penthievre, a strong work commanding the peninsula, of which possession was obtained on the 3d of the following month. He subsequently commanded a division of boats in an expedition up the Morbihan river, under the orders of Captain Albemarle Bertie, whose thanks he received for his gallant conduct in boarding, near Vannes, a 24-gun corvette, a cutter of 10 guns, and an armed lugger, the whole of which vessels were carried and destroyed.

Several merchantmen being captured on the same occasion. Lieutenant Evans took charge of a large brig, which he brought out under a tremendous fire of musketry, from at least 600 republican troops, then posted at every point of the river. We should here observe, that in the course of the above service, he was accidentally but severely wounded by a pike, and that his conduct throughout the whole affair was very highly approved by the commander of the expedition[1].

  1. On arriving at a certain point of the Morbihan, Lieutenant Evans found himself obliged to go so close to the shore, that every person on board the prize would inevitably have been picked off by the enemy, had