Towards the close of 1808, Captain Schomberg escorted a fleet consisting of 168 transports, having on board a fine and gallant army, 14,000 strong, under Sir David Baird, from Falmouth to Corunna, where every ship was safely anchored, without casualty or loss of any description, on the fourth day from England. The only men-of-war in company with the Loire when this important service was so ably, expeditiously, and successfully conducted, were the Amelia of 46 guns, and Champion 24, Captains the Hon. Frederick Paul Irby and James Coutts Crawford. The Sybille 46, Captain Clotworthy Upton, had also been placed under the orders of Captain Schomberg, but was unable to accompany him in consequence of a leak in her magazine.
Captain Schomborg was afterwards employed in co-operation with the Spanish patriots, on the coasts of Galicia, Asturias, and Biscay. He subsequently visited Cadiz, proceeded from thence to the Tagus, and there received on board 100 Russian prisoners of war, for a passage to England. On his return homeward, Feb. 5th, 1809, he captured, after an anxious chase of eight hours, and a short night action, the French national ship Hebe, pierced for 34 guns, but mounting only twenty-two 24-pounder carronades and two long 12-pounders, with a complement of 168 men. This little frigate was quite new, and full of stores under hatches, then cruising, but ultimately bound to St. Domingo. She was added to the British navy, under the name of “Ganymede.”
In the beginning of 1810, after convoying a battalion of the 60th regiment from Spithead to Barbadoes, Captain Schomberg was entrusted with the command of a squadron stationed to windward of Guadaloupe, to intercept any reinforcements or supplies intended for the enemy’s garrison; and on the surrender of that vahiable island, he was ordered to convey the French “Captain-General” (Ernouf) and his suite to England, where he arrived in the month of March. On the passage home, he encountered a violent hurricane, in which two of the transports under his convoy, full of French prisoners, foundered.
In May, 1810, Captain Schomberg, then on the coast of
