Lougen, mounting 18 Danish long 18-pounders[1] and 2 sixes (the latter stern chasers), with a complement of 160 men and boys. Captain Dillon dees not state his reason for attacking so superior a force; but we know that his object was to prevent her from making any attempt upon the convoy then expected from Scotland, and which hove in sight the day after the action. It is sufficient to say that the Admiralty duly appreciated his brave and skilful conduct, and that he received the thanks of the Board in terms of the most flattering description; as also a sword, value 100 guineas, from the Patriotic Society at Lloyd’s. His post commission bears date Mar. 21, 1808.
Captain Dillon’s next appointment was, pro tempore, to l’Aigle frigate, and in her he accompanied the grand expedition to the Scheldt. He subsequently acted as captain of the Camilla 20, a«d Bellerophon 74; after which we find him commanding the Leopard of 50 guns. In the latter ship he was stationed for some time at Lisbon, and also actively employed on the south coast of Spain, under the orders of Rear-Admiral Hallowell, by whom he was entrusted with the command of a small squadron sent to act in conjunction with the British troops stationed at Carthagena, to prevent that place from being taken by surprise. The Leopard likewise saved several villages on the coast of Murcia from being ravaged by the common enemy.
On the 18th Jan. 1814, Captain Dillon was appointed to the Horatio 38, in which frigate he successively served at Newfoundland, in Davis’s Straits, and, as senior officer, at Guernsey. Proceeding from thence to watch the Harbour of Cherbourg, the Horatio struck on a rock in the Little Russel Passage, beat off 25 feet of her main-keel and the garboard streak, whereby her timbers were left completely bare, and she was only saved from foundering by the most extraordinary exertions, as she made eight inches of water in a minute, and continued to do so until her arrival in Portsmouth harbour. After undergoing the necessary repairs, she was sent
- ↑ The shot that fell on board the Childers weighed 20 pounds.
