Captain Hardinge’s official letter to his Admiral, the present Sir Edward Thornbrough, was very brief, and did not contain the least mention of himself: the following is an extract:–
“The attack has not been attended with the loss of one man on our part, and only 5 wounded. I beg leave to say how much I am indebted to the zeal and gallantry of Captain Pelly, Lieutenants Bluett, White, and Shields, with Messrs. Williams and Fair, masters, and the petty officers and men, for their cool, steady, and determined conduct throughout.”
One of the wounded was Lieutenant Bluett, whose promotion to the rank of Commander took place April 10, 1804, the day on which Captain Hardinge’s letter arrived at the Admiralty. He was soon afterwards presented by the Patriotic Society, at Lloyd’s, with a sword value Fifty Pounds.
In 1805, Captain Bluett commanded the Wasp sloop, stationed at the Leeward Islands. On the 24th May, 1806, he captured le Napoleon French privateer, formerly H.M. armed cutter Dominica, which vessel had been run away with by her crew, and carried to Guadaloupe, from whence she was sent, with 73 sailors and soldiers on board, to attempt cutting out some British merchantmen lying in Rosseau bay. In the course of the same day. Captain Bluett witnessed the surrender of his prize’s consort, a national schooner of 3 guns and 65 men, to the Duke of Montrose packet and Cygnet sloop of war.
On the 12th Oct. 1810, Captain Bluett, then in the Saracen brig, on the Jamaica station, captured la Caroline French privateer, of 1 gun and 42 men. His next appointment was to the Childers, in which vessel he continued until posted, Aug. 12, 1812. From Jan. till Nov. 1815, we find him commanding the Leven a 20-gun ship, and in her he appears to have been very actively employed on the coast of la Vendee, during the last usurpation of Napoleon Buonaparte.
Captain Bluett married. Mar. 11, 1813, Emily, daughter of T. Powell, of Hammersmith, co. Middlesex, Esq. by whom he has had a large family: six of his children, we believe, are still living.
Agents.– Messrs. Stilwell.
