him, as the senior commander of the inshore squadron under Captain Puget, almost daily engaged with the enemy; particularly on the 31st Aug., when the Charles armed transport was blown up close to the Despatch, by a shell from the Three Crowns buttery; and the British sustained a loss of 10 killed and 21 wounded. Strange as it may appear, although 17 commanders, many of them junior to himself, were included in the general promotion that followed the surrender of the Danish navy, Captain Lillicrap did not obtain superior rank until more than three years afterwards. The subjoined correspondence will enable our readers to judge whether he was entitled to claim advancement.
“Sir.– Having, to our great disappointment, not found your name among the promotions of the officers of the royal navy who were on the late expedition to Rugen and Copenhagen, we have great reason to fear, that the essential service you rendered by your indefatigable exertions and active measures, when superintending the disembarkation of the 1st and 2nd divisions of the King’s German Legion at Rugen, are not sufficiently known; and we therefore now consider it a particular duty (as the respective Generals then in command of the said divisions) to assure you in this public manner, that the reports we received during the aforementioned disembarkation from the different commanding officers of regiments and battalions, as also from the Assistant-Quarter-Master-General, Lieutenant Colonel Offeney, are so highly to your credit that we shall feel happy in bringing it to the knowledge of the Right Honorable the Lords of the Admiralty, should this letter not sufficiently answer that purpose. We have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servants,
“Frederick Baron Dreckfel, Major-General.
“To Captain Lillicrap, R.N.”
