might be turned into a merchant ship. It was charged and proved and admitted that an immense quantity of merchandise was brought home in the ship; and that this was in direct contravention of one of the articles of war, was established by the opinion of several of the leading counsellors of the day; but the court-martial, accepting Duckworth's declaration that the articles brought home were for presents, not for sale, pronounced the charges ‘gross, scandalous, malicious, shameful, and highly subversive of the discipline and good government of his majesty's service,’ and ‘fully and honourably acquitted’ him of all and every part. This sentence, so contrary to the letter and strict meaning of the law, was brought before parliament by Captain Wood's brother on 7 June; but his motion, ‘that there be laid upon the table of this house the proceedings of a late naval court-martial … also a return from the customs and excise of all articles loaded on board the Acasta that had been entered and paid duty,’ was negatived without a division; the house apparently considering that Duckworth's character and the custom of the service might be held as excusing, if they did not sanction, the irregularities which he had certainly committed (Parl. Debates, 7 June 1805, vol. v. col. 193; Ralfe, Naval Chronology, i. 107).
In the September following Duckworth, with his flag in the Superb, was ordered to join the fleet before Cadiz, which he did on 15 Nov. He was then left in charge of the blockade; but on 30 Nov., having received intelligence that the French squadron, which had escaped from Rochefort, was cruising in the neighbourhood of Madeira, he hastily sent off a despatch to Collingwood, and sailed in hopes to intercept it. The enemy had, however, quitted that station before his arrival, and after looking for it as far south as the Cape Verd Islands, he was returning to Cadiz, when, on the morning of Christmas day, he sighted another French squadron of six sail of the line and a frigate, a force nominally equal to that under his command. He chased this for thirty hours; when, finding three of his ships quite out of sight, one hull down, and the other about five miles astern, the Superb being herself still seven miles from the enemy, he gave over the chase. For so doing he has been much blamed (James, iv. 92), on the ground, apparently, that the Superb might and could have held the whole French squadron at bay till her consorts came up. But as after thirty hours' chase the Superb was still seven miles astern, it must have been many hours more before she could have overtaken the enemy; nor is there any precedent to warrant the supposition that one English 74-gun ship could have contended on equal terms with six French.
Being in want of water, Duckworth now determined to run for the Leeward Islands, despatching the Powerful to the East Indies to reinforce the squadron there, in case the ships which had escaped him should be bound thither. At St. Christophers, on 21 Jan. 1806, he was joined by Rear-admiral Cochrane [see Cochrane, Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis] in the Northumberland, with the Atlas, both of 74 guns, and on 1 Feb. had intelligence of a French squadron on the coast of San Domingo. He naturally supposed this to be the squadron which he had chased on Christmas day, and immediately put to sea, with a force of seven sail of the line, two frigates, and two sloops. On 6 Feb. he sighted the French squadron abreast of the city of San Domingo. It was that which he had vainly looked for at Madeira, and consisted of five sail of the line—one of 120 guns—and three frigates, under the command of Vice-admiral Leissègues. On seeing the English squadron the French slipped their cables and made sail to the westward, forming line of battle, with the frigates in shore. In the engagement that ensued Duckworth won a complete victory, three of the enemy's ships being captured, the other two driven ashore and burnt; the frigates only made good their escape, the English frigates being occupied in taking possession of the prizes. Some English writers have blamed Duckworth for not having also secured the frigates (James, iv. 103). But in fact, the average force of the French ships was much greater than that of the English; and the best French writers, attributing their defeat principally to the wretched state of their gunnery practice, lay no stress on the alleged inferiority of force (Chevalier, Histoire de la Marine Française sous le Consulat et l'Empire, p. 255). Duckworth's force was no doubt superior both in the number of guns and in the skill with which they were worked, and he cleverly enough utilised it to achieve one of the completest victories on record. This the admiralty acknowledged by the distribution of gold medals to the flag-officers and captains, by conferring a baronetcy on Louis, the second in command, and by making Cochrane, the third in command, a K.B. A pension of 1,000l. was settled on Duckworth; the corporation of London gave him the freedom of the city and a sword of honour; and from other bodies he received valuable presents; but notwithstanding these tangible rewards, Duckworth felt that the conferring honours on his subordinates, but not on him, was a slur on his reputation, and he almost openly expressed his discontent.
