592
VICE-ADMIRALS OF THE BLUE.
Cadiz, on which station we find him at the period when Nelson arrived from England to resume his former command.
On the 17th Oct. 1805, four days previous to the decisive battle of Trafalgar, the Donegal being short of water, and, in consequence of the extraordinary length of time she had been kept at sea, greatly in need of a refit, was ordered to Gibraltar. On the 20th, Captain Malcolm received information that the enemy’s fleets were quitting Cadiz. His ship was then in the mole nearly dismantled; but, by the greatest exertions, he succeeded in getting her out before night, and on the 23d joined Vice-Admiral Collingwood in time to capture El Rayo, a Spanish 3-decker, forming part of the division under Admiral Gravina, which on its return to port after the battle just alluded to, had been immediately ordered to sea again for the purpose of attempting the rescue of some of the disabled prizes.
The following article, extracted from the Gibraltar Chronicle of Nov. 9, 1805, will convey to our readers a better idea of the efforts of Captain Malcolm, and those under his command, at that memorable epoch, than any other statement thereof we have ever met with:
“All the Spanish prisoners who have been brought to this place, to the amount of upwards of 3,000, have been sent to Spain, except one wounded officer now in the Hospital, who earnestly requested to remain under the care of the English surgeons till his wound was cured. We have also the pleasure to learn that the Spaniards, since their return to Spain, have universally expressed the liveliest sense of gratitude for the generosity and humanity they universally experienced whilst they were prisoners onboard the different ships; where it seemed to be the study of the conquerors to make them forget their misfortunes. Indeed our Navy well deserve this tribute of applause from their enemies. Upwards of 100 of our gallant seamen perished in the gale of wind after the action, in their generous efforts to save the prisoners out of the different prizes. To record the numerous and singular exertions that were made on this occasion by all the ships of the fleet, would far exceed the limits prescribed to us; we cannot however pass over in silence the heroic conduct of Captain Malcolm and his ship’s company in the Donegal, who, at the imminent hazard of being totally lost, rescued hundreds of the enemy from a watery grave. During the violence of the gale, when she was riding at anchor near the Berwick, then in possession of the English, some of the French prisoners on board, in a fit of frenzy, cut the cables of the Berwick, by which means she immediately drove towards the rocks of St. Lucar, then to leeward,
