POST-CAPTAINS OF 1808.
417
Lieutenant Brenton was subsequently appointed first of the Raven sloop, commanded by the late Captain John W. T. Dixon, with whom he continued until that vessel was wrecked in the river Elbe, Feb. 4, 1798. We next find him joining the Agincourt 64, at the request of Captain John Bligh; in which ship he served, under the flags of Vice-Admiral Waldegrave and Sir Charles M. Pole, on the Newfoundland station, for a period of three years.
In 1801, Lieutenant Brenton was again applied for by Captain Bligh, and accordingly appointed to the Theseus 74, then fitting for the flag of Lord Radstock, who had recently been nominated commander-in-chief in India, but whose appointment was cancelled in consequence of the preliminaries of peace being signed on the 1st Oct., same year. The following anecdote is related at p. 416 et seq. of the “Naval History.”
“The Dutch ships which surrendered to Admiral Mitchell
[1] hoisted the Orange flag, and were stationed in different British ports, victualled and paid by England; they were not expected to perform much service, but were merely kept in passive neutrality. In order to give the reader an idea of the seamanship of the officers, and the efficiency of these ships, we shall mention a fact to which the author was a witness. The Ambuscade, of 32 guns, had just received a very expensive repair in the dock-yard at Sheerness, and was ordered thence to the Nore; in coming out of the harbour, it blew nearly a gale of wind; instead of having a sail suitable to the weather, they set their top-gallant-sails. The ship, when clear of the garrison-point, would not steer, and in a minute after upset, and went down: fortunately, the spot, where the accident took place, was in four fathoms water, consequently most of the people who were on deck were saved upon the side of the vessel; those who were below were all drowned except one. * * *. "The author, at that time Lieutenant of the Theseus, was, with many other officers, very soon on the wreck of the ship; and as they walked on her larboard bends, her guns pointing to the zenith, and the sea washing over her, a sailor of the Theseus begged that he might be permitted to break open a lower-deck port (the Dutch frigates having generally two of a side); the officer replied that he might do so, but what purpose would it answer? ‘Please your honor,’ said the sailor, ‘I think there is some poor devil of a Dutchman alive below.’ The officer, though not so sanguine in his hopes, gave permission, and the sailor went to work with his axe (one was always kept in each boat). The port was opened, and up rose a Dutchman, who made but one spring into the Theseus’s cutter,
res-
