an absence of nine years. We subsequently find him serving as first of the Assistance 50, Captain Robert Hall, on the Halifax station, from whence that ship brought home H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, Aug. 31, 1800. During the passage to England, Lieutenant Blamey had the good fortune to obtain the favourable opinion of that illustrious personage, whoso warm friendship ho enjoyed until his lamented demise.
Early in 1801, Lieutenant Blamey again joined the Leviathan, then bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Duckworth, who had recently succeeded Lord Hugh Seymour in the chief command on the Leeward Islands station; and in whose despatches announcing the surrender of the Danish and Swedish colonies we find the following passage:–
“I intend giving an acting order to Captain John Miller Garnier, of the Hawke, and my first Lieutenant, George William Blamey, an officer whose exertions in the present expedition entitle him to my warmest support.”
Lieutenant Blamey was accordingly appointed to succeed Captain Garnier, and he continued in the Hawke sloop until the cessation of hostilities. While commanding that vessel he sailed round the island of Trinidad, and keeping within a mile or two of the shore, with the lead constantly going, visited every settlement, made a rough sketch of the coast, and furnished the Hydrographical Office with soundings which may always be depended upon. The whole of this service was performed in the course of a week.
Captain Blarney’s next appointment was, in 1804, to an armed vessel, employed protecting the trade in the British and St. George’s Channels, on which irksome and unprofitable service he remained nearly three years. We afterwards find him commanding the Mediator frigate, armed en flûte, and fitted for the conveyance of supplies to the different blockading squadrons.
In that ship Captain Blarney continued until the early part of 1809, when, having recently assisted at the embarkation of the British army at Corunna, and received on board a great number of sick and wounded soldiers, he was attacked with violent fever and ague, which induced the Admiralty to appoint the late Captain James Wooldridge to act for him until his recovery.
