The Trent subsequently proceeded towards the Spanish Main; and on the 7th July, 1799, being then about 14 or 15 leagues to the northward of Laguira, Captain Otway received information that the Hermione frigate, whose crew had murdered their captain and most of the officers[1], was lying in that port, under the protection of several heavy batteries. Having long most anxiously sought to discover the place of her retreat, that brave and enterprising officer immediately determined on making an attempt to restore her to the British navy.
For this purpose the barge and cutter were again manned with volunteers, and again placed under the command of Lieutenant Ussher, assisted by Mr. M‘Cleverty; Captain Otway accompanying the former officer as a volunteer; which appears to have been his general practice, whenever the service to be performed by boats was considered particularly dangerous, and the situation of his ship did not render it unsafe for him to leave her.
At midnight, after a fatiguing row of eleven hours, the barge got sight of a light on shore; and shortly afterwards she fell in with a fishing vessel, from which a pilot was procured. At 1 A.M. (July 8), both boats entered the harbour with their oars muffled, and pulled in every direction without being discovered, although it was then a perfect calm, and not a sound could be heard in any part of the anchorage. Severe was the disappointment of every officer and man when they ascertained that the Hermione was not there. The fact is, that she had sailed only a few days before for Porto Cabello, where she was afterwards captured in the manner described at p. 824 of our first volume.
Returning from the inner part of the harbour, the mortified party perceived a long low ship, which the pilot described as a corvette lately arrived from Spain: the cutter was immediately directed to pull for her larboard bow, and the barge to board her on the larboard gangway. The use of fire-arms on this, as on all similar occasions, was strictly forbidden by a standing order of Captain Otway’s.
- ↑ See Brenton’s Nav. Hist. Vol. II. pp.435–437.
