POST-CAPTAINS OF 1807.
215
EDMUND PALMER, Esq.
A Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath.
[Post-Captain of 1807.]
Son of the late John Palmer, Esq. M.P., projector of the present mail-coach system, and Comptroller General of the Post-office.
This officer was made a Commander, May 8, 1804; and advanced to the rank of Post-Captain, Oct. 10, 1807. We first find him commanding the Wizard brig, at the reduction of Alexandria, in Mar. 1807[1]; and subsequently the Hebrus of 42 guns, on the Channel, and North American stations, in the Gironde river, and before Algiers. The following is a copy of his official letter to Sir Michael Seymour, Bart., reporting the capture of l’Etoile French frigate, after an arduous chase and a well fought action. Mar. 27, 1814:
“Sir,– When the Hannibal and H.M. ship under my command separated on the morning of the 26th, in chase of the two French frigates we had fallen in with” (off the Isle de Bas), “we continued in pursuit of the one you were pleased to detach us after, the whole day, with all our canvas spread. About midnight she reached the Race of Alderney, and the wind scanting, we began to gain upon her fast; by the time she had run the length of Point Jobourg, leading into the bay of la Hague, she was obliged to attempt rounding it almost within the wash of the breakers; and here, after an anxious chase of 15 hours, and running him upwards of 120 miles, we were fortunate enough, between one and two A.M., to bring the enemy to battle; we crossed his stern, our jib-boom passing over his taffrail, and shot in between him and the shore, in eight fathoms water; and it falling nearly calm about this time, the ships continued nearly in the same spot until the conclusion of the action. At its commencement we suffered severely in our rigging; the enemy firing high, he shot away our fore-topmast and fore-yard, crippled our main-mast and bowsprit, and cutaway almost every shroud, stay, and brace we had. Our fire from the first, and throughout, was directed at our opponent’s hull; and the ships being as close together as they could be without touching, he suffered most severely, every shot which struck passing through him. About four o’clock his mizzen-mast fell by the board, and his fire ceased; when, after an obstinate contest of two hours and a quarter, he hailed us, to say that he had struck his
