A Sailor of King George (Illustrated)

In a memorial presented in 1835 to the Lords of the Admiralty, theauthor of the journals which form this volume details his variousservices. He joined the Navy in October, 1793, his first ship beingH.M.S. Blonde. He was present at the siege of Martinique in 1794, andreturned to England the same year in H.M.S. Hannibal withdespatches and the colours of Martinique. For a few months the shipwas attached to the Channel Fleet, and then suddenly, in 1795, wasordered to the West Indies again. Here he remained until 1802,during which period he was twice attacked by yellow fever.The author was engaged in upwards of eighteen boat actions, in oneof which, at Tiberoon Bay, St. Domingo, he was wounded in thehead, and entirely lost the hearing of his left ear.As first lieutenant of H.M.S. Volage, while attempting to cut out anenemy’s vessel laden with tobacco from under the guns of the MoroCastle, St. Jago de Cuba, after a running fight of two hours with threeSpanish privateers, he was obliged to surrender, and was carriedprisoner to St. Jago, where he remained for six weeks untilexchanged. In 1802 he returned to England in the Volage, which wasthen paid off.In 1803 he was appointed lieutenant of H.M.S. Minotaur on theChannel Service, but in 1804, in consequence of a very severe attackof rheumatic fever, which completely prostrated him and for severalmonths necessitated the use of crutches, he resigned his post.On his recovery, in the summer of 1805, he was appointed to H.M.S.Tonnant, and was senior lieutenant of her lower deck quarters in theBattle of Trafalgar, concerning which he gives several new andinteresting details. During the battle he was slightly wounded in theleft hand.His next ship was H.M.S. Diamond (to which he was appointedMarch 8th, 1806), ordered for service on the West Coast of Africa. In1807 he became commander of the Favourite sloop of war inconsequence of the death of her captain, and three monthsafterwards took the last convoy of slave ships to the West Indies.In 1808, while in Jamaica, he was attacked by fever, which affectedhis eyesight, nearly producing blindness; and, on the advice of thedoctor at Port Royal Hospital, Admiral Dacres gave him permissionto exchange into the Goelan sloop of war, which was shortlyafterwards ordered to England with convoy.