18, which sloop joining Sir Edward Pellew’s fleet, was selected by that officer to form a part of Captain Ussher’s squadron employed off the French coast, in the neighbourhood of Marseilles. It is needless to say, that, so commanded, the little squadron was in a state of unceasing activity, few days passing in which it was not engaged with the enemy. Captain Spencer’s gallant and judicious conduct at the attack of Cassis, near Toulon, Aug. 18, 1813, has been described at pp. 353-355 of Supp. Part I.
On the 19th Jan. 1814, Captain Spencer was appointed to the Carron of 20 guns, which ship he continued to command after his advancement to post rank, June 4, 1814.
The Carron was one of the small squadron under Captain the Hon. William Henry Percy, at the attack of Fort Bowyer, near Mobile, in West Florida, Sept. 15, 1814. It will be seen by the official account of that gallant but unsuccessful enterprise (inserted at p. 66 et seq.), that after the senior officer anchored, the wind died away, and a strong ebb tide prevented Captain Spencer from getting his ship into the position wished for. He therefore left her distantly engaged, hastened to the assistance of his gallant friend, and remained with him on board the Hermes, until the boats of the squadron came alongside to take out her surviving officers and crew, the greater part of whom, including many of the wounded, were received on board the Carron.
Sir Alexander Cochrane’s despatches to the Admiralty, dated Jan. 18, 1815, acquaint us that Captain Spencer was very usefully employed in the expedition against New Orleans, of which we have spoken at pp. 637-639 of Vol. I. Part II.
Captain Spencer, from his knowledge of the French and Spanish languages, was selected by Sir Alexander Cochrane to obtain information respecting the state of Louisiana; in the course of which service, and in procuring guides, pilots, &c. for the approaching expedition, he gained the marked approbation of his chief. He narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by General Jackson’s cavalry, while in company with an officer of the Quarter-Master-General’s department, looking into the fort of Pensacola, into which place the enemy’s
