following letter was sent to Captain Ryves, by the masters of the vessels who had accompanied him:
“Sir.– We the undersigned Masters of vessels under your convoy from Cadiz, sensible of the advantage we derived from your very great protection and attention during the whole course of the voyage, beg leave to present our sincere acknowledgments for the same, and to offer our best wishes for your future happiness. We are respectfully, Sir,
(Signed by the different Masters.)
“Geo. Fred. Ryves, Esq.”
The Gibraltar was paid off July 30, 1804, and Captain Ryves did not obtain another appointment until March 1810; at which period he was commissioned to the Africa of 64 guns, and ordered to the Baltic station, where he was employed in a variety of hazardous services, particularly that of blockading Copenhagen, keeping the numerous gun-boats by which he was constantly surrounded in check, and in conducting two hundred sail of merchantmen through the Great Belt, during the prevalence of a heavy gale of wind, without the loss of a single vessel. The manner in which this latter service was conducted, excited the surprise of officers who had been several years on the station, one of whom addressed a most gratifying letter to Mrs. Ryves on the occasion.
According to the orders received by Captain Ryves, on quitting the Baltic with the above fleet, he was to part company with his valuable charge off Yarmouth, and from thence proceed to Portsmouth. On his passage thither, he experienced a most severe gale of wind from the southward, with very thick weather; and fearing lest the Africa should be driven back into the North Sea, he immediately resolved to bring her up, although in deep water, and against the advice of the pilots, who considered such a step unsafe, and relinquished all charge of the ship. The event answered Captain Ryves’s expectations; the Africa rode very comfortable for four days, at the end of which time the gale abated, and she was found to be exactly in the same place where the anchor was let go. Had such a measure been adopted by the St. George, Hero, and Minotaur, they would in all probability have avoided the melancholy fate which befel them about that time.
