highly becoming; from among the latter I beg leave to recommend Messrs. Harris, Bray, Grace, and Marjoribanks, as young officers deserving of promotion.
“Captain Troubridge speaks in the highest terms of the Harrier; he has requested me to make known the great assistance he received from Mr. Mitchell, the first Lieutenant; and the very exemplary conduct of acting Lieutenant Charles Hole[1] In expressing his approbation of the conduct of the warrant and petty officers, he mentions Messrs. Coffin and Mitford, midshipmen, especially: and I take the liberty of adding, that both of them have served their time.
“To Sir Thomas Troubridge, Bart., &c. &c. &c.”
In this action the British suffered considerably in their masts and rigging; but the loss they sustained was trifling, when compared with that of the enemy: it amounted to no more than 1 man killed, and 11 persons wounded: among the latter was Mr. George Marjoribanks, master’s-mate of the Greyhound. The Dutch had 12 killed and 39 wounded, 8 of whom mortally. We should here observe, that the force of the combatants would have been nearly equal, if the Indiamen had not been “armed for the purpose of war;” but, as they took an active part in the engagement, the preponderance was possessed by the enemy; the Greyhound being only a 32-gun frigate, and the Harrier a brig, mounting 16 carronades (32-pounders) and 2 long sixes.
Captain Troubridge’s father was, at this period, commander-in-chief of the naval force employed to the eastward of Ceylon; and we believe that the last official letter he ever transmitted to England was the one which we have just transcribed: his lamentable fate now demands our attention.
Viscount Exmouth, then Sir Edward Pellew, having been ordered to assume the chief command in the Indian seas. Sir Thomas Troubridge, who had but for a short time shared the patronage and emoluments of that desirable station, proceeded from Pulo Penang to Madras, where his flag-ship, the Blenheim 74 then under jury-masts, was found to be totally unfit
