the Phoenix and Garland had been watching, whilst the Undaunted scoured the coast to the northward. The commanders of these ships were at length induced to hoist the colours of their restored monarch, Ferdinand IV.; and Captain Austen soon afterwards received the unqualified approbation of Lord Exmouth for his conduct during the whole of that short campaign.
We next find Captain Austen proceeding to the Archipelago, with the Phoenix, Aquilon (32), Garland, and Reynard sloop, in search of la Junon French frigate, la Victorieuse corvette, two heavy brigs, two huge schooners, and several piratical vessels which had lately given interruption to the trade in that quarter. On his arrival among the islands, he had the mortification to find that the enemy’s squadron was no longer there; and the speedy restoration of peace left him nothing more to do than the suppression of piracy, a service which, for the time being, he effectually performed. We now come to the most unfortunate event in his professional career – the loss of the Phoenix, on the coast of Asia Minor, Feb. 20, 1816.
Having received orders, when at Smyrna, to join Sir Charles Penrose, who was about to accompany Lord Exmouth on an expedition to the coast of Barbary, Captain Austen put to sea immediately, although the wind was foul and the weather very unsettled. Being unable to clear the Archipelago before the commencement of a violent gale, he was obliged to bear up and seek shelter in the port of Chismé; but scarcely had he anchored when the wind flew round from S.W. to North, and blew a perfect hurricane. Every thing possible was done to save the ship, notwithstanding which she drove on shore, with three anchors a-head, after her masts were cut away. Happily no lives were lost, and he succeeded in saving the guns, stores, &c. which were conveyed to Malta by the Reynard and a merchant ship chartered for that purpose. It now only remains for us to add, that this disaster was solely owing to the ignorance of the Greek pilots, and that Captain Austen was fully acquitted of all blame, by a court-martial assembled on board the Boyne, in Tunis bay, April 22, 1816.
Captain Austen’s last appointment was, June 2, 1826, to
