Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/35

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POST-CAPTAINS OF 1809.
27

before Nov. 1811; at which period Captain Mounsey received orders to take charge of the outward-bound Lisbon and Mediterranean trade. During the remainder of the war with France, he was very actively employed under the command of Sir Edward Pellew, by whom he was, at first, attached to the inshore squadron off Toulon[1]; secondly, sent on a cruise off Corsica, where his boats captured a French tartan loaded with wheat; and, thirdly, placed under the orders of the senior officer on the coasts of Naples and Sicily. In Nov. 1812, and Jan. 1813, he captured the French privateers Nebrophonus and Argus, each mounting 4 guns; the former carrying 54, and the latter 85 men. His gallant and officer-like conduct at the capture of Ponza, Feb. 26, 1813, was highly spoken of by Captain Charles Napier, a copy of whose official letter, reporting the manner in which that island was obtained possession of, will be found at p. 5 et seq.

On the 7th of May following, the boats of the Furieuse, commanded by Lieutenants Walter Croker and Williams Sandom, cut out, from under the tower and batteries of Orbitello, a xebec mounting 2 six-pounders; in the performance of which service, Mr. Webb midshipman, and three seamen were wounded, the former dangerously and the others severely.

The result of an attack made upon a French convoy about six miles to the eastward of Civita Vecchia is thus described by Captain Mounsey:

H.M.S. Furieuse, at sea, Oct. 8, 1813.
“On the 4th inst., running along the coast to the island of Ponza, at 1 P.M., I observed a convoy of nineteen vessels in the harbour of Marinelo, protected by two gun-boats, a fort of two long 24-pounders, and a strong fortified castle and tower; and it appearing practicable to cut them out, as the wind was fair for that purpose. Lieutenants Croker and (William) Lester, with Lieutenants (James) Whylock and (William) Davies, R.M., gallantly volunteered to storm the fort on the land side, with the whole of the marines and boats’ crews, whilst the ship anchored before it, which service was promptly performed; and after a few broadsides, I had the satisfaction of seeing the battery carried, and guns spiked, by our gallant