Thomas Stones, Purser, absent on duty at Bourbon.
Lieutenant Davies, Mad. Eng. absent on board Sirius.
_______ Aldwinkle, Mad. Art. Killed.
_______ Morlett, 33d Regt. . . .
_______ Needhall, 69th do. severely wounded.[1]
Vice-Admiral Bertie, when reporting the destruction of the Sirius and Magicienne, and the surrender to the enemy of the Iphigenia and Nereide, says “the latter after a GLORIOUS resistance, almost unparalleled even in the brilliant annals of the British navy.” In another part of the same letter he acquaints the Admiralty that, “having found it practicahle to equip the Venus,” a French frigate captured by Captain Rowley, on the 18th Sept. 1810, he had not hesitated “to commission her for the time being, under the name of the Nereide, in commemoration of the gallant defence of his Majesty’s late ship bearing that name.”
Captain Willoughby being now a prisoner, a council was held by General De Caen, to determine whether or not he should be punished for having intrigued with the leading people of the island, and distributed proclamations, having a tendency to subvert the allegiance of the inhabitants in general. It was decided, notwithstanding his previous liability, that, as he had been taken in honorable fight, he should be treated as a prisoner of war. On this occasion, the French governor is reported to have said, “Let the foutre live; he has lost his eye and his ship, after defending her most gallantly.”
- ↑ We believe that la Nereide had only four midshipmen on hoard, one of whom, Mr. George Timmins, was killed; another, Mr. Samuel Costerton, severely wounded. Some of the circumstances attending her famous defence, strongly remind us of the last battle fought by Sir Richard Grenville, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. That heroic officer, being advised to trust to the good sailing of his ship for safety, peremptorily refused to fly from the enemy, telling his officers, “that he would much rather die than leave such a mark of dishonor on himself, his country, and the Queen’s ship.” In consequence of this resolution, he was presently surrounded by the whole Spanish fleet, which he most gallantly fought from about 3 P.M., August 31. 1591, until the break of day next morning, continuing to give his orders although wounded early in the action. Of his officers and crew, only 103 in number, 40 were killed and almost all the rest wounded: his masts were shot away, and his ship reduced to a perfect wreck, unable to move one way or the other. See Campbell’s Lives of the Admirals, edition of 1813, Vol. I, p. 448.
