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Lieutenant Thomas’s next appointment was to the Antelope 50, bearing the flag of Sir John T. Duckworth, and then about to convey H.M. Ambassador to Cadiz. We subsequently find him first of the Nereus 36, Captain Peter Heywood; but after equipping that frigate for foreign service, he was sent from the Nore to Plymouth, with directions to take out a detachment of seamen destined for the flotilla service in Spain. His subsequent services are detailed in a memorial which he presented some years since to the government of that country, with the view of obtaining an honorable mark of distinction; the following are extracts thereof:–

“The Memorialist arrived at Cadiz, in the ship with his Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador, at the period when the French armies invested the province of Andalusia, and so completely environed the city of Cadiz with their cordon of various out-posts and patrols, that to obtain information of the interior movements, or intentions of the enemy, was a service of extreme difficulty and danger. The Memorialist, nevertheless, did, by his influence and exertions, procure certain information advantageous to the cause of Spain, which the Memorialist communicated to the British government, in Dec. 1809; and the Memorialist voluntarily undertook, at the most imminent risk, the critical and important service of taking a survey of the enemy’s lines and fortifications, with their naval situation, and forces, and the soundings of the ground they occupied, which the Memorialist communicated, by chart, addressed to the First Lord of the Admiralty, and which was the first information given to Government of the approximation of danger to the city of Cadiz; the importance of which communication was duly acknowledged in the following letter from Lord Edward O’Brien, secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty:–

“Admiralty, March 30, 1810.

“Sir,– I am desired by Lord Mulgrave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th inst., and to return you his Lordship’s thanks for the important information it contained, and for the chart by which it was accompanied. I am. Sir, your obedient humble servant,

“Edward O’Brien^[1].”

“The Memorialist, through the same authentic channel of communication, procured various intelligence conducive to the interest of Spain, during the war in the Peninsula; and afforded the first information to Government of the enemy’s intention of attacking the valuable fortresses of Tariffa and Ceuta, and which intelligence could not have been obtained through the medium of any other person. The enemy having subsequently attacked

1. It was shortly after the date of this letter that he joined the Nereus.