a British detachment under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley, whom he released from a considerable encumbrance by taking charge of, and embarking all the arms, ammunition, and stores found at that place, and also the arms, &c., thrown away by the enemy in their flight.
A day or two after this event, Captain Phillimore was sent to reconnoitre the harbour of Copenhagen; and whilst thus employed his brig got becalmed close in shore, which obliged him to let go an anchor with a spring on the cable. Perceiving his situation, the Danish governor immediately ordered sixteen gun-vessels to attack him, each of them mounting 2 long 24-pounders, and rowing 40 oars. This formidable flotilla approached pretty close to the Bellette; but three of them being sunk by her well-directed broadsides, the remainder retired to a greater distance, where they continued engaging her for a very considerable period. In the mean time, two boats from every ship in the fleet were despatched to tow the brig out of danger, and on their approach the enemy retreated.
Captam Phillimore’s gallant conduct on this occasion was so highly approved by Admiral Gambier, that, upon the surrender of Copenhagen, he selected the Bellette to carry home the officers charged with the naval and military despatches, in consequence of which her commander was promoted to post rank, Oct. 13, 1807; but he appears not to have been superseded until Feb. in the following year.
After landing Captain Collier and Lord Cathcart’s aide-de-camp, the Bellette returned to the Baltic, where she continued affording protection to the trade until Dec. 1807. At the latter period, Captain Phillimore was ordered to Gottenburgh, for the purpose of collecting the homeward bound merchantmen i and on his way thither he fell in with the only two ships of war then belonging to Denmark, – a two-decker and a frigate; from which he escaped by running his brig into 2½ and ¼ less 3 fathoms water, thereby rendering it impracticable for the enemy to come near him[1].
The Bellette conveyed Lord Hutchinson from Gottenburgh to England, in Feb. 1808; and the subject of this memoir re-
- ↑ The above ships were proceeding from Christiansand to Copenhagen.
