the great utility afforded the public service by the protection thus given which I attribute solely to the judgment and exertion of Captain Westphal in placing his vessel, and which cannot be better exemplified than by stating, that no accident or capture occurred during that period; but when the Anaconda was ordered on another service, and before a suitable force could be sent to occupy her place, several boats were captured on the re-embarkation of the troops, thereby occasioning the loss of many men and stores.
“During the many visits Sir Thomas Hardy paid the Anaconda, he constantly expressed to me his satisfaction of her excellent position, and the protection she thus afforded: my opinion is therefore greatly strengthened by the superior judgment of an officer of such merit as Sir Thomas Hardy; and I must take the liberty of adding, that I consider Captain Westphal most highly meriting the protection of their Lordships, for his able conduct on the occasion above alluded to.
(Signed)“Charles Dashwood.”
“2d May, 1818.”
In Feb. 1815, Captain Westphal was sent in the Anaconda, from Mobile, with the Shelburne schooner under his orders, to cruise off that part of the coast of Florida lying north of the Havannah; on which station he continued until the final cessation of hostilities. He then returned to Jamaica, where his fine brig was surveyed and condemned, in consequence of the injury she had sustained during the operations against New Orleans. In the ensuing summer, we find him coming home as a passenger on board the Moselle sloop, Captain John Moberly. He obtained post rank in Aug. 1819.
Captain Westphal’s next appointment was, May 27th, 1822, to the Jupiter 60, in which ship he conveyed Lord Amherst and suite to Bengal. Soon after his return to England, in Dec. 1823, he received the honor of knighthood; for which, as the Right Hon. (now Sir) Robert Peel informed him, “he had been recommended, more in consideration of his gallant and distinguished services against the enemy, than of his having taken out the Governor-General of India.” To this the Secretary of State added, “that other officers, who might hereafter be similarly employed, were not to consider his being knighted as establishing a precedent in their favor.” We have now only to remark, that from his first entry into the service, until the conclusion of the war with
