merous troops, who, together with her crew, kept up a continual fire as the Lowestoffe’s boats advanced. This vessel was laden with powder, and her capture greatly accelerated the fall of Bastia.
Lieutenant Mounsey returned home in the Imperieuse frigate, and was afterwards appointed in succession to the Trident 64, Impregnable 98, Duke of similar force, Defiance 74, and Clyde 38; the latter ship commanded by that excellent officer. Captain (now Commissioner) Cunningham, with whom he continued until his promotion, April 29, 1802.
On the 6th July, 1801, the boats of the Clyde and her consorts[1], under the directions of Lieutenant Mounsey, set fire to, and totally destroyed the wreck of the Jason frigate; a service most gallantly executed, under a heavy fire from two French batteries, and in the presence of two large frigates, a corvette, and eight gun-vessels, then lying at St. Maloes[2]. From May 17, 1802, until the autumn of 1808, Captain Mounsey commanded the Rosario sloop; and was successively employed protecting the revenue, carrying despatches to the Mediterranean, cruising on the Irish, Boulogne, and Havre stations, reconnoitring the enemy’s ports in the north of Spain, assisting at the capture of the Danish West India islands[3], and escorting a fleet of merchantmen from the Leeward Islands to England. During the above period he captured two Dutch ships from Surinam and Berbice, laden with colonial produce, and ten other of the enemies’ merchant vessels: he also assisted at the capture of l’Atalante, French ship privateer, of 22 guns and 120 men.
Captain Mounsey’s next appointment was, April 18, 1800, to the Bonne Citoyenne, a flush-decked ship, mounting 18 thirty-two-pounder carronades and 2 long nines, with a complement of 120 officers, men and boys. In that sloop he first proceeded to Lisbon, with despatches for Karl St. Vincent; and subsequently sailed from England in company with the trade bound to Quebec. On his way thither he fell in
- ↑ Weazle sloop, two gun-brigs, and two luggers.
- ↑ See Vol. II, Part I. p. 80.
- ↑ See Vol. I, Part I, last par. at p. 263.
