which the enemy invariably stationed at the extreinities of the different shoals, as marks for the guidance of the ships of the line. The Frenchmen, however, seem to have penetrated his design; for, before their last ship got abreast of the outer brig, the latter either cut or slipped her cable, and was under a crowd of sail in an instant. The Quebec, a small 32-gun frigate, commanded by Captain Hawtayne, was in company with the Nymphen on this occasion, as were also the Cretan and Primrose brigs. Captain Hancock concludes his report to Admiral Young in the following energetic terms:– “This sort of service does us all a great deal of good; keeping us on the constant alert, and I trust not without a useful lesson to the enemy, that he must not commit himself loosely in this intricate navigation, even before two of his Majesty’s frigates.”
From this period the Nymphen experienced constant and very hard gales of wind from S.W. to N.W., with a heavy sea; but still Captain Hancock was enabled to keep his anchorage at the entrance of the Duerloo, until superseded by Commodore Owen, Nov. 3, 1811. Having ascertained, by sweeping the Nymphen’s bottom frequently during the preceding summer, that she had sustained considerable injury by striking violently on Rasen sand (whilst under the command of his predecessor), he now made a representation thereof to the commander-in-chief, and was consequently ordered to Chatham, where, on his ship being docked, it was found that his report was by no means exaggerated, 18 feet of the false keel being entirely gone, and the main keel much injured.
In Feb. 1812, Captain Hancock commanded the squadron of observation stationed off the Texel; and at the latter end of March he resumed his honorable post as senior officer of the inshore squadron off Flushing; which he had scarcely done when the first division of the enemy’s fleet came down the Scheldt, from their winter quarters, and took up their former position between the islands of Walcheren and Cadsand. The importance, at that particular time, of the discovery of a more expeditious passage into the Wieling than had ever before been known, will be duly appreciated by our na-
