before getting on board of the Harpy; his death, as it appeared to myself, Mr. Mortimer, Mr. Parsons, and the Assistant-Surgeon of the Safeguard, was imputable to the loss of blood he had sustained, and the shock the nervous system had received.”
“Aug. 4.– A gun-boat. No. 47, has been upset by a squall just under the fort (Rammekens), and three poor fellows unfortunately drowned: two of them were below at the time coiling away the cable. The life of the other, who was swept away by the current, might easily have been saved, had they had a row-boat of any description, which, however, none of these gun-boats are allowed; the bad consequences of which has already been repeatedly experienced by them * * * * * *. They appear to be little attended to; the service in them is peculiarly severe; officers and men are almost equally destitute of comfort and accommodation: their victualling is neglected, and the risk they run extreme. It was but the other night that a sailor was wounded in one of them, and died without being seen by a medical man. Another, who was suddenly taken ill, probably with a spasm in his stomach occasioned by exposure to all manner of hardships, died before there was an opportunity of applying to any ship for assistance. The immediate employment of one or two doses of a powerfully diffusable stimulus, in all likelihood would have saved the man’s life * * * * * *. It is an apparent mismanagement, which, however, I fancy, is inseparable from the nature of this service.”
Speaking of the arrangements made for completing the evacuation of Walcheren, and covering the retreat of our land forces from that pestilential island, Sir Richard J. Strachan, in a letter to the Admiralty, dated Dec. 20, 1809, says:–
“Their Lordships have already been apprised of the excellent arrangements of Commodore Owen, for the naval defence of the Slough and Terveere; nevertheless, the enemy has made several attempts to molest our flotilla in that navigation, but in all of which he has been foiled; the gallantry of the commanders, officers, and seamen, under Captain Carteret, under all the difficulties to which they have been exposed, have been conspicuous, and as I expressed in my memorandum on that occasion, ‘all have supported the character of British seamen!’ * * * *. I enclose for their Lordships’ information the commanders’ communications connected with this important service, together with Captain Carteret’s reports, and my memorandum, thanking the officers and men for their distinguished behaviour.”
Commodore (now Sir Edward W. C. R.) Owen, in a letter to the commander-in-chief, detailing the operations which had taken place under his immediate directions, expresses himself as follows:
