Corsicans, and which was a post of considerable consequence[1]. In this position, early in the ensuing morning, he sustained the attack of two French gun-boats, supported by three batteries, for upwards of an hour, and succeeded in compelling the former to retreat into the harbour; upon which Lord Hood directed the Scout to be removed out of the reach of the latter. Two days after this affair, our officer was promoted by his Lordship to the command of the Romney, of 50 guns; but, although confirmed in his rank, he had the mortification of being superseded on the 19th of the following month, in consequence of being the junior of three Captains who had been appointed by the Admiralty to command the only two vacant ships on the station[2].
In consequence of this official error, Captain Hanwell was under the necessity of returning to England[3], and notwithstanding the recommendations he brought with him from his late Commander-in-Chief to the nobleman then at the head of naval affairs, all his efforts to obtain a frigate were ineffectual. On the 9th April, 1795, he was nominated to regulate the Quota Men raised in Derbyshire, and to survey all the vessels employed on the canals in that county. He afterwards held a similar appointment in Aberdeenshire; and from July 1799, till the end of the following year, we find him employed in raising volunteers at Jersey; from whence he was removed to be Regulating Captain at Exeter, where he continued until the breaking up of the Rendezvous, in Oct. 1801. Captain Hanwell’s next appointment was March 28, 1805, to the Majestic of 74 guns, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Russel, in the North Sea. The command of that ship he was obliged to resign through ill health, in Dec. 1806; from which
- ↑ “Sir.– Lord Hood desires that you will move the Scout directly, and anchor her as near the Tower which the Corsicans took last night as possible. I think you may anchor nearer Bastia than the Tower we landed at yesterday; it is of the greatest consequence, maintaining the post taken by the Corsicans, therefore I trust long before day-light you will be anchored there. Believe me, Yours truly,
“Horatio Nelson.”
- ↑ Berwick 74, and Romney, 50 guns.
- ↑ On this occasion, Captain Hanwell accompanied Captain A. Hunt, who had been sent overland with the despatches relative to the capture of Bastia; an account of which event will be found at p. 251, et seq.
