worthy conduct was afterwards represented by that officer to the Admiralty, in a private communication, and duly appreciated by their Lordships.
Lieutenant Willoughby’s discharge from the Royal George took place July 13, 1807; immediately after which we find him proceeding to the Rio de la Plata, as a passenger on board the Otter sloop, for the purpose of assuming the command of la Fuerte, a very fine Spanish corvette, pierced for 28 guns, which vessel had fallen into the hands of the British, at Monte Video, in the month of Feb. preceding[1].
On his arrival in that river. Lieutenant Willoughby had the mortification to find that la Fuerte was not destined to wear an English pendant, the Spaniards having compelled Lieutenant-General Whitelocke to retire from South America, and the shipping taken at Monte Video being again in their possession. From thence, our disappointed officer proceeded in the Otter to the Cape of Good Hope, where he succeeded Captain John Davies (a) in the command of that sloop, Jan. 10, 1808. His commission as a Commander was confirmed by the Admiralty, April 9, in the same year.
The Otter’s first cruise off the Isle of France was under the orders of Captain Robert Corbett, then commanding la Nereide, a frigate universally allowed to take the lead of every other “crack” one in the British navy; and Captain Willoughby, anxious that his first command should be marked by the high state of discipline in which he kept his sloop, made her vie with, and endeavour, if practicable, to excel that ship in every manoeuvre. On her return to the Cape, Vice-Admiral Bertie, then commanding on that station, received an anonymous letter, which led him to believe that Captain Willoughby had exceeded the usual esprit de corps in striving to effect his object, and he therefore thought proper to have his conduct investigated by a court-martial; the result of which was an honorable acquittal of the whole of the charges upon which he had been tried. During his next cruise, Captain Willoughby, with volunteers from the same sloop, performed services which induced the Vice-Admiral,
