timony of the sense this Committee entertain of the protection he has thereby afforded to the commerce of Great Britain.”
“At a Court of Directors of the Royal Exchange Assurance, July 20, 1796.
“The Committee of Averages of the 14th inst. having recommended a piece of plate, of the value of 50 guineas, to be presented to Captain Tomlinson, of his Majesty’s sloop la Suffisante, in consideration of his spirited and active conduct in the capture of the Morgan French privateer, and the re-capture of six merchant ships, her prizes, on the 27th June last, off the French coast:
“Resolved,– That the Court do approve thereof; that the secretary do acquaint Captain Tomlinson with the resolution of the Court; and that the Company’s silversmith be directed to prepare a piece of plate accordingly, with a suitable inscription thereon.”
Unfortunately for Captain Tomlinson, his post commission was not accompanied by an appointment; and having no prospect of immediate employment, his eagerness to distress the enemy led him beyond the limits of his profession, and caused him to incur the displeasure of the Admiralty.
In imitation of the Raleighs, the Cavendishes, and the Drakes of former days, he appears to have made an offer of fitting at his own expense, and commanding in person, a private ship of war; but not being able to obtain the sanction of the Board for that purpose, he determined to send a vessel into the Mediterranean, under the superintendence of a man of approved ability; and having procured leave of absence for three months, he embarked in the Lord Hawke privateer, belonging to himself, for the purpose of establishing a correspondence for her at Oporto. In the course of the voyage seven of the enemy’s merchant vessels, and a Spanish packet returning from the West Indies, worth about 12,000l., were captured; a valuable British brig was retaken, and a French privateer destroyed. The crew of the packet threw the mail which she was conveying overboard, but it was recovered by one of the Lord Hawke’s men, who jumped into the sea after it.
The displeasure of the Lords of the Admiralty, alluded to above, proved of very serious consequence to Captain Tomlinson; as we find by their Secretary’s letter of Nov. 20, 1J98, that his name was struck off the list of Captains in the royal navy, in consequence of a complaint made against him by two of his brother officers, for having used the private signals
