that immense ship in flames, Lieutenant Cathcart very prudently gave orders to cut the Bellerophon’s cable, and after drifting some miles from the scene of action, he had the good fortune to bring her up with the kedge, her only remaining anchor. So great were the subsequent exertions of himself and the surviving officers and men, that the ship, although totally dismasted, was again ready for service, and at anchor near Nelson, on the third day after she had withdrawn from the line of battle[1].
The gallantry, good judgment, and zeal displayed by Lieutenant Cathcart, being reported to Earl St. Vincent at a time when he was about to address the Admiralty on another subject connected with Nelson’s victory, his lordship was pleased to recommend him to the Board for promotion, in the following terms:
“Permit me to name Mr. Robert Cathcart of the royal navy, senior Lieutenant of the Bellerophon, as an officer highly deserving the reward which would have been the lot of Mr. Daniel, had he survived the action. The wording of the Secretary’s letter upon these occasions, confines the commander-in-chief to give the commissions to those only who were first Lieutenants at the commencement of the action; but it appears to me that they are the fair inheritance of the surviving senior Lieutenants.”
The Earl’s despatch was dated Nov. 25, 1798, at which period the Bellerophon was refitting in the mole of Gibraltar, where Lieutenant Cathcart continued until the arrival of his commission as a Commander, it having been signed and sent out immediately after the receipt of his lordship’s recommendation;
From this period we lose sight of Captain Cathcart until his
- ↑ The Bellerophon, being very close to l’Orient, was set on fire in several places, and very great exertions were required to extinguish the flames. In drifting along the rear of the French line, she received a broadside from the Tonnant 80, and a few distant shot from the Heureux 74. Her loss amounted to 49 killed, and 148 wounded. The wreck that floated about Aboukir bay in all directions appears to have been very serviceable to Lieutenant Cathcart: spars, and many articles necessary for the re-equipment of the ship, being picked up and converted into jury-masts, &c. &c.
moir of his services. The death of the Bellerophon’s first Lieutenant has been noticed at p. 656 of Vol. II. Part II.
