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POST-CAPTAINS OF 1810.

ing, Captain Stanfell immediately went in search of that vessel, and had the good fortune to capture her, on the 3d Dec, after a chase of 12 hours. This latter ketch mounted 10 guns, with a complement of 60 men; and was well known at Lloyd’s to have done more mischief than all the privateers out of St. Maloes, having run two years with uninterrupted luck.

We next find Captain Stanfell employed blockading Basseterre, Guadaloupe; near which anchorage, and under the fire of a land battery, he captured, after an action of two hours, l’Oreste French national brig of 16 guns and 130 men, including several naval and military passengers. The enemy, on this occasion, had 2 killed and 10 wounded; the Scorpion not a man slain, and only 4 wounded. This gallant service was performed in the night of Jan. 11, 1810[1].

The following are extracts from Sir Alexander Cochrane’s letter to the Admiralty, announcing the subsequent conquest of Guadaloupe:

“Captains Stanfell, Elliott, and Flin, with detachments of seamen, were attached to the second division of the army; * * * * with all of whom the General is highly satisfied[2].

“I have entrusted this despatch to Captain Stanfell, who has been actively employed on this service, and will consequently be able to give such further particulars as their Lordships may require: and I take leave to mention him as an officer whose zeal and merit entitle him to their lordships’ protection.”

Captain Stanfell returned home in the Hazard sloop; arrived at the Admiralty, March 15, 1810; and was promoted to post rank on the 19th of the same month. His subsequent appointments were to the Druid 32, Cossack 22, and Bacchante 38; in which latter ship he proceeded from the Mediterranean to Bermuda and North America, at the close of the war with France, in 1814.

The Bacchante formed part of the squadron under Rear-Admiral Griffith (now Colpoys), at the capture of Castine; and was afterwards sent to take possession of Belfast, a town on the western side of Penobscot bay, through which the

  1. See Nav. Chron. Vol. xxiii. p. 429; and Vol. xxv. p. 461.
  2. See Sir George Beckwith’s General Orders of Feb. 7, 1810; at p. 879. of Vol. I. Part II.