of the navy; a gentlement of exemplary worth, and considerable literary acquirements.
Mr. Thomas Burton entered the navy, in Dec. 1792, as a midshipman on board the Hermione frigate, Captain John Hills, with whom he proceeded to Jamaica, at the commencement of, the French revolutionary war. The first services witnessed by him were the occupation of Jeremie, in St. Domingo, Sept. 20, 1793; and the capture of more than 1900 tons of French shipping, laden with colonial produce; two neutral vessels with cargoes, and one small armed schooner, at l’Islet and Bay des Flamands, on the 23d and 29th of the same month[1]. In the following year he assisted at the reduction of Port-au-Prince, on which occasion the Hermione had 5 men killed, and 6 wounded[2]. Her loss by fever, while subsequently co-operating with the British troops in their vain attempt to complete the subjugation of the French posts in St. Domingo, appears to have been very great, as was likewise that of the whole squadron employed in the same disastrous service.
After continuing about four years on the Jamaica station, Mr. Burton removed with Captain Hill’s successor, the present Vice-Admiral Stephens, into the Success of 32 guns, and returned to England under that officer’s command, in May 1797.
Immediately on his arrival, Mr. Burton joined the Scourge sloop. Captain Samuel Warren, then about to sail for the Leeward Islands, where he served in that vessel, and the Prince of Wales 93, flag-ship of the late Sir Henry Harvey, until promoted to be a Lieutenant of the Amphitrite frigate, Captain (now Rear-Admiral) Ekins, Jan. 1, 1799. On the 26th June following, he assisted at the capture of le Duquesne, French privateer brig, mounting 16 guns, with a complement of 129 men.
About this latter period. Lieutenant Burton became first of the Amphitrite, in which capacity he assisted at the capture of Surinam, and the destruction of a settlement on the Devil’s
