cluding- many liberated African slaves, to destroy the ship; but it being the general opinion that they would not float with so many persons in them, he had no other alternative but to yield his charge to the enemy. The greater part of her cargo, however, was afterwards retaken in la Venus, by means of which the ships and vessels under Captain Rowley were again rendered perfectly effective[1].
Among Lieutenant Cator’s fellow prisoners, at the Isle of France, were Captains Pym, Lambert, Curtis, and Willoughby. They all remained in captivity until the reduction of that colony; but he was allowed to depart in a cartel, time enough to conduct a detachment of troops from the Cape, to assist in subjugating it; for which purpose he was appointed to command a country ship, called the Bombay Anna.
After the conquest of the Mauritius, Vice-Admiral Bertie gave his nephew an order to act as commander of the Actaeon brig, and sent him home with the duplicate despatches relative to that important event[2]. Fortunately for Lieutenant Cator, he got the start of Captain Rowley, the bearer of the original expresses, and was consequently promoted on the day of his arrival at the Admiralty, Feb. 13, 1811: he also received 500l, as a gratuity for bringing such welcome intelligence.
Captain Cator was next employed in carrying one letter from England to Calcutta, and fetching back an answer, a service which, from unavoidable casualties, and the sickly state of his crew, he spent ten months in performing, the Actaeon being obliged to remain stationary at least as many weeks. He subsequently cruised off Cherbourg, assisted in conducting the Russian fleet from the Baltic to Gottenburgh, and encountered a long series of Norwegian winter gales. During one of those tremendous storms, his brig’s main-boom was carried away, but, notwithstanding her proximity to a rocky and hostile coast, he repaired the damage at sea, and would not quit his station until ordered into port.
The Actaeon was then docked at Sheerness, and afterwards
