Mr. Bowker, who had commanded a party of seamen on shore during the occupation of Toulon, was promoted into the St. Fiorenzo frigate, Captain Sir Charles Hamilton, Bart. July 10, 1794; and paid off from her in the month of Nov. following. On the 8th Dec. in the same year, he received a commission appointing him to the Mars 74, Captain Sir Charles Cotton, Bart, to whose notice he had been recommended by Rear-Admiral Cosby, and under whom he served as fourth lieutenant during the memorable retreat of Cornwallis, on which occasion the Mars, it will be remembered, bore the brunt of the enemy’s attack, she being the sternmost ship of the British line[1].
On Sir Charles Cotton’s advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral, he was superseded by Captain Alexander Hood, under whose command the Mars pursued and engaged l’Hercule, a new French 74, which ship was ultimately subdued and taken possession of by the subject of this memoir, then second lieutenant, who on boarding her after the republican crew had cried for quarter, was met in an hostile manner by the first and second French captains with about 60 men, whom they had treacherously rallied around them.
This latter circumstance has never yet been noticed by any naval historian, nor was it even mentioned by the first-lieutenant of the Mars, in his official letter to Lord Bridport; it therefore becomes our task to relate the fact as it occurred.
Towards the close of the battle Captain Hood received a mortal wound, and was consequently carried below. The yards of the hostile ships had been for some time locked together, and Lieutenant Bowker, who commanded on the lower-deck was obliged, at all risks, to fire the guns under his superintendence at nearly the whole length of their breechings, as they could not be run out without bringing them in contact with those of l’Hercule. Finding that the enemy’s fire had at length ceased, and imagining that she had surrendered, he proceeded to the quarter-deck for the purpose of receiving further orders; but seeing no officer
