privateer so close to Cadiz light-house that her shot went into the town. On the following morning, the Marquis Solano sent off his aide-de-camp to acknowledge the honor of the salute, and to request that the next time Captain Gore gave him one he would not shot his guns. The Spanish officer also handed to him a note requesting his company at dinner, and inviting the officers of the frigate to a bull fight in the evening: these invitations were accepted, and the Medusa immediately entered the harbour, where she anchored not far from l’Aigle French 74, and two ship corvettes, which Captain Gore had been for some time watching, in order to prevent them from pouncing upon a fleet of merchantmen then expected from England. We should here observe, that Captain Gore had lived on terms of intimacy with the Marquis during his detention at Cadiz, after the capture of le Censeur.
On the 5th Oct. 1804, the Medusa assisted at the capture of three Spanish frigates laden with valuable merchandize, and having on board specie to a very large amount. During the action that took place on this occasion, a fourth frigate blew up, by which dreadful accident 240 persons perished[1].
On the 8th of the following month, Captain Gore returned to Portsmouth in company with the Matilda 36, which ship had been intercepted and detained by order of Sir Richard J. Strachan, when proceeding from Cadiz to Vera Cruz, with a cargo of quicksilver worth 200,000 pounds.
The Medusa being in want of considerable repairs, Captain Gore now obtained leave of absence; and whilst his frigate was in dock, the following correspondence took place between him and the first Marquis Cornwallis;– his god-father, and steady friend through life:–
