POST-CAPTAINS OF 1811.
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have received from grounding; at present she makes nearly two feet water an hour; and as the prizes are not in a condition to proceed by themselves, I have judged it right to make the best of my way to Spithead with them, which I trust will meet with your approbation. I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed)“H. Bourchier.”
Captain Bourchier was advanced to post rank on the very day that his letter reached the Admiralty, Aug. 22, 1811. His next appointment was to the San Josef, a first rate, fitting for the flag of Rear-Admiral Foote, who was then preparing to assume a command on the Mediterranean station. The narrow escape of that noble ship from destruction, in Mar. 1813, is thus described by a gentleman then resident at Plymouth:–
“His Majesty’s dock-yard here has been again placed in considerable hazard, by a fire which broke out in the Captain 74, lately converted into a hulk, and moored off the jetty-head. When this alarming circumstance was first discovered, the San Josef lay alongside, for the purpose of removing her stores, in order to be docked, and in a few minutes she would probably have been involved in a similar calamity; but every heart and every hand being on the alert, the lashings which fastened her to the hulk were cut, and she was fortunately separated: hawsers were got out, and she was speedily removed, with other ships of war, to a safe distance. By midnight, the conflagration, aided by the fanning of a light wind, had taken possession of most of the upper parts of the ship, and by 2 A.M. the internal parts were so completely ignited, that they presented the appearance of iron in a state of red heat, without losing their original shape and connexion. At this period, the spectacle was one of the most magnificent, but awful sights that can be conceived. The paly lustre of the moon contrasted itself at first with the fiery glare, but the latter soon assumed the predominance, and flung its influence over every object in the vicinity, imparting a singular hue to the countenances of the numerous spectators on shore, and of those on duty in the surrounding boats. Fearing the ship would drift when the fire came to the bitts that hold the mooring-chain, the shipwrights of the dock-yard drove large clamps in the bow, and ring-bolts through the stem, to which were attached chains, and sundry boats to convey her to the western shore. All attempts to scuttle her by the common means being found impracticable from the intense heat, some carronades and field-pieces were conveyed as near as possible in dock-yard lighters, and they discharged at intervals more than 200 shots, which penetrated between wind and water, but without effect; for as the hulk became more buoyant by the operation of the flames, she rose considerably, and the shot-holes appeared above water. This novel
