tures were placed in a large unoccupied store-house, and every one of them sabred in cold blood[1].
The Ferret returned to England towards the latter end of 1792[2]; and on the commencement of the war with the French republic, was placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral M‘Bride, on the Downs station, where she captured six of the enemy’s privateers. For this service Captain Nowell was presented with a handsome piece of plate by the merchants of London. We next find him serving with the Channel fleet under Earl Howe; but being sent to the North Sea previous to the great battle of June 1, 1794, he unfortunately missed that promotion to which, as the senior Commander, he would otherwise have been entitled. His disappointment on that occasion, however, was in some measure compensated by his success in intercepting several vessels laden with upwards of 300,000 quarters of wheat, coming from the Baltic, Holland, &c, bound to France. In the autumn of the same year he was sent, at the request of Earl Howe, to attend upon their late Majesties at Weymouth; and from thence ordered to Ostend, where he met with a serious accident, which compelled him to retire for a time from active service[3]. His advancement to the rank of Post-Captain took
- ↑ In our memoir of Admiral Russell, p. 142, et seq., we have already mentioned the case of a British officer, named Perkins, who had been doomed to an ignominious death by the French, under the pretext of having supplied the blacks with arms. We avail ourselves of this opportunity to correct a few passages in that statement; The Ferret, instead of heaving-too off Jeremie Bay, actually entered it, and in consequence of the north wind setting in towards the evening, had some difficulty in working out again to join the Diana. Lieutenant Perkins was not confined in a dungeon on shore, but was kept a close prisoner in a brig of war lying off the town, from whence he was received on board the Ferret. The time fixed for his execution was two days from that of his rescue, and not the next morning, as before stated. The other parts of our statement are, we believe, perfectly correct. Captain Nowell, on landing, was surrounded by at least 300 villains armed with sabres, and together with Lieutenant Godby, who accompanied him, had occasion to keep his hand on his sword during the whole of the conference which took place.
- ↑ It is somewhat remarkable, that the Ferret did not bury a man during the twelve months she was employed in the West Indies.
- ↑ As the paucity of Captain Nowell’s services during the late wars may occasion some surprise to those who have perused the preceding part of
