protected by numerous batteries, was unable to capture either. “A. very meritorious piece of service performed by the boats of that ship, and of the Magnificent 74,” is thus detailed by Captain Knight, in a letter to Earl St. Vincent:–
“On returning westward yesterday, before l’Orient, I saw, at noon, a small convoy of brigs, sloops, &c. taking refuge in Port Danenne, which I approached, and prepared the armed boats of the two ships to attack. While placing the Montagu to cover them, I despatched her boats, under the direction of Lieutenants Bissell and Knight, who were followed and ably supported by those of the Magnificent, in which were Lieutenants Dunlop and Griffiths: notwithstanding the fire kept up from two armed vessels, and a battery firing round and grape, under which the convoy lay, touching the ground, they boarded, took possession of, and brought out eleven vessels, after burning one; another had been sunk by the enemy’s shot; leaving only one, whose situation in the creek would not admit of getting her out.
“This service, completely and expeditiously performed, with the loss of only one seaman killed and three wounded, has won my approbation, and, I trust, will merit your lordship’s. On this duty Lieutenants Alexander, Montgomerie, Mitchell, and Jordan, of the marines, were employed, as was Lieutenant Samarin, of the Russian navy, who volunteered his services.”
A few days after this affair, the Montagu received two shot in her hull while covering some boats sent by Captain Knight to bring out a large brig from under the walls of Port Louis. On the 26th of the same month, a brig and two sloops were boarded and captured “with great intrepidity and alacrity,” close to the batteries at the entrance of the Loire; on which occasion 5 of her crew were killed and wounded. On the 28th her boats destroyed three other vessels lying within Isle Noirmoutier.
Early in 1801, the Montagu, then commanded, pro tempore, by Captain Robert Cuthbert, was detached from the Channel fleet, with other ships under Sir Robert Calder, in quest of a French squadron; but being dismasted off Cape Ortegal, she was obliged to put into the Tagus. After being refitted there, we find her proceeding to Martinique, from whence she soon returned home in company with a convoy. Lieutenant Knight’s next appointment was, about July 1801, to be first of the Surprise frigate, on the North Sea station, where he continued until the conclusion of the war.
