as might have been expected; only 2 men were killed, and 8, including Lieutenant Davis, wounded, 2 of them mortally; but the ship was so much cut up, that although the whole of the artificers of the French squadron were employed in repairing her damages, it was six days before the Indivisible, by which ship she had been taken in tow, cast her off to make sail. The enemy’s loss amounted to 33 killed and wounded.
When Lord Keith despatched the Swiftsure for Malta, he took out many of her best men, by which means she was 86 short of complement, besides having 59 sick on board, from a bad fever brought off by those who had acted with the army before Alexandria. Had it been Captain Hallowell’s good fortune to have had with him such a force as might have attacked the French squadron with any fair estimate of success, the result cannot be questioned[1].
In his public letter, our officer speaks highly of the handsome treatment received from the French Rear-Admiral, who did everything in his power to render the situation of his prisoners as comfortable as possible; and in M. Ganteaume’s account of the action, the gallant defence of the Swiftsure was correctly admitted.
Having obtained permission to return from Toulon to Minorca on his parole, a court-martial was assembled, Aug. 18, 1801, on board the Généreux, at Port Mahon, to try Captain Hallowell for quitting the convoy, and for the loss of his ship. After a minute investigation, the court were of opinion, and it appeared to them from the narrative of Captain Hallowell. supported by the best possible evidence to be obtained, that the fleet under his charge was of very little importance in any point of view; that his determination to leave the said fleet and join Sir John B. Warren, was dictated by sound judgment and zeal for the service of his King and Country; and the Court were farther of opinion, that the loss of the Swiftsure was unavoidable, and that the conduct of Captain Hallowell, his officers and ship’s company, in her defence, was highly meritorious, and that Captain Hallowell displayed great judgment in the mode he adopted, to avoid so superior a force, and equal gallantry in the execution of the plan so formed; they did there-
- ↑ The Swiftsure was retaken at the glorious battle of Trafalgar.
