84
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1810.
destruction of l’Echoué 28[1]. His promotion to the rank of Lieutenant took place about May 1796; and he appears to have continued in the Phaeton, under Captain Stopford and the present Sir James Nicoll Morris, until he was made a Commander, at the close of 1800. The manner in which he obtained that step will be seen by the following official letter:
“Phäeton, off Malaga, Oct. 28, 1800.
“My Lord,– I have the honor to acquaint your lordship, that on the 25th instant, H.M. ship under my command chased a polacre, which showed Spanish colours, ensign and pendant, to an anchor under the fortress of Frangerola, where a French privateer brig also took refuge. As the wind was on the shore, and they were close into the surf, and directly under a battery of five heavy guns, there was no prospect of bringing them off then. The following night, the brig escaped to the westward, and the ship made two attempts for Malaga, but was driven back. Last night, the hard breeze appearing favourable, I sent the boats under the command of Lieutenant Francis Beaufort” (first of the Phäeton) “who, at five o’clock this morning, in opposition to a very obstinate resistance on first boarding, at the hatchways, with musketry, and on reaching the quarter-deck, with sabres, got possession, and brought her out; she proves to be his Most Catholic Majesty’s armed ship the San Josef, alias l’Aglies, mounting two 24-pounders, iron ordnance, in the bow; two brass eighteens for stern-chasers; four brass twelves, and six 4-pounders; most completely found in small arms of all kinds; commanded by an auxiliary officer of the navy; manned by 49 seamen (of whom 15 were absent in her boat), and 22 soldiers as marines; employed as a packet, and carrying provisions between Malaga and Velilla. From the force of the ship, her state of preparation, and situation with respect to the fort, also the unfortunate circumstance of the launch (from whose carronade much was expected in the plan for the attack), having not been able to keep up with the other boats, and being distant when they were discovered and fired on by a French privateer schooner, that had come in unseen by us in the night, and was so placed as to flank the ship, and give the alarm; on which the barge and two cutters immediately pulled to the ship and boarded. I am convinced more determined bravery could not have been displayed than has been showed by Lieutenants Beaufort and Huish, Lieutenant Duncan Campbell, of the marines, Messrs. Hamilton and Staunton, midshipmen, Mr. Deagon the gunner, and the boats’ crews employed upon this service. It is with extreme concern I add, that one seaman was killed on coming alongside, and that their very gallant leader, in whom I have ever found a most capable and zealous assistant, was first wounded in the head, and af-
