Another of them observed, that “the Captain always slept with ‘one eye open,’ and looked out for them all.” It is but an act of justice to say, that the Trent, whilst on the Jamaica station, was considered as a most perfect frigate in her appearance and discipline, and is spoken of even to this day at Port Royal.
From the Trent, Captain Otway was appointed to the Royal George, a first-rate, bearing the flag of his friend Sir Hyde Parker, Avith whom he afterwards removed into the London, of 98 guns, and sailed for the Baltic. During the battle off Copenhagen, April 2, 1802[1], he was sent in an open boat with orders to Lord Nelson, and remained with that hero until the engagement had ceased. He arrived at the Admiralty with the official despatches relative to that glorious event, on the 15th of the same month; but soon after rejoined the London in the Baltic, where he continued until the final dissolution of the Northern Confederacy.
Captain Otway subsequently commanded the Edgar, of 74 guns, in which ship, after serving for some time with the Channel fleet, he was sent with several others to the West Indies, from whence he returned to England after the signing of the definitive treaty of peace between England and the French republic. The Edgar was paid off at Chatham in July 1802. It is here worthy of remark, that the ensuing Christmas night was the first he had slept on shore since 1784, a period of 18 years.
On the renewal of the war, in 1803, our officer was appointed to the Culloden, 74; but ill-health, and a severe domestic calamity, prevented him joining her. His next appointment was to the Montagu, another third-rate, in which we find him employed in the blockade of the enemy’s ports from Brest to the Dardanelles. In 1805, when the gallant and veteran Cornwallis made a dash at the enemy’s fleet close in with Brest harbour, Captain Otway was one of his supporters, and on that occasion poured a well-directed fire into l’Alexandre, a French 80-gun ship, killing and wounding many of her men. The Montagu had her gaff disabled, and sustained some damage in her sails and rigging, but had not a man hurt.
