Shortly after this appointment, the government of Bengal determined to send an expedition against Manilla, in consequence of which Captain Halsted was ordered to proceed to Calcutta, and there take the command of the Vulcan bomb, a vessel purchased and fitted for that service. The enterprise, however, was abandoned before the armament left Prince of Wales’s island; and in Nov. following, he was appointed to succeed the Hon. George Murray in the Heroine 32, the latter being removed by the Admiralty to the Crescent frigate, on the Cape station; but as that officer had some private affairs to settle in India, Captain Halsted exchanged with him at the particular request of Rear-Admiral Rainier, and lost no time in proceeding to join his ship, the commander-in-chief having charged him with despatches for Europe, to be forwarded from the Cape.
On his arrival there. Captain Halsted was informed that Rear-Admiral Pringle had sailed for England, with his flag in the Crescent; and as an opportunity offered, he felt it his duty to follow with the despatches, which he delivered at the Admiralty in June, 1798; when, to his great mortification, he found that instead of confirming his post commission, the Board would only grant him the rank of Commander from the date of his arrival.
Captain Halsted was next appointed, in 1804, to the Lord Nelson, defence ship, on the Downs station; and, in 1807, he accepted the situation of principal agent for transports in the expedition destined against Copenhagen; but was again unfortunate with regard to his promotion, owing to the Captain of the Fleet having failed to report his meritorious conduct on that extremely arduous service, for which neglect Sir Home Popham was very justly censured by the Transport Board, and also by Lord Gambier.
Captain Halsted subsequently proceeded to Gibraltar, and was very actively employed until after the Convention of Cintra, when he at length received a post commission, dated Nov. 21, 1808. In the following year, he gave up his appointment as agent for transports; and towards the close of 1810, we find him commanding the Bellerophon 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Ferrier; with whom he continued, in that ship
