collect these observations with correctness. I shall only add, that to your firmness I consider we owed much of that lenity we continued to experience; for had it not been for those exertions, and the support you gave your officers, the very undisciplined state of the crews with us, must have made it necessary for the government to be much more rigorous.”
After commanding the Wolverene sloop of war for a very few days, Captain Mackellar was appointed to the Charon, a 44-gun ship, fitting for the Mediterranean station[1]; and on his arrival at Gibraltar, April 27, 1799, he received a post commission dated that same day, as a reward for his conduct at Ostend, but particularly for remaining on shore with the certainty of being made a prisoner, for the express purpose of giving his aid to Major-General Coote, by assuming the command of the seamen who had unavoidably been left without an officer of sufficient rank to direct them, at a moment when the presence of one was absolutely necessary.
From Gibraltar, Captain Mackellar proceeded to Constantinople with presents for the Grand Seignior, and a transport having on board a number of artificers and artillerymen, sent to instruct the Turks in their respective branches of military science. On his return he called at Smyrna, Sicily, and Minorca, for the homeward bound trade collected at those places; the whole of which he conducted in safety to the rock, where he was charged with despatches for England. On his passage thither, he chased a privateer schooner, which escaped, after throwing overboard her guns, 14 in number, boats, spars, and anchors. He subsequently assisted at the evacuation of the Helder.
Captain Mackellar’s next appointment was to the Jamaica of 26 guns, in which ship he escorted a fleet of merchantmen to and from the Baltic, re-took an English mast-ship, and a brig laden with corn; and obliged a large privateer, commanded by the famous Blackeman, to lighten herself of guns, &c., in order to avoid capture. In March 1801, he was appointed to the Terpsichore frigate, employed blockading Boulogne and Calais; on which service he continued till June following, when he received orders to sail for the East Indies with despatches, and a large quantity of specie.
In Dec. 1801, whilst the Terpsichore was under repair at
