ing the Commodore, who, together with all under his command, displayed the most intrepid courage and resolution. Unfortunately, the army under General Clinton all this time remained inactive, not having been able to cross that part of the river which the guides had represented as fordable. Upon the approach of night, Sir Peter Parker finding all hopes of success at an end, called off his shattered ships before the ebb tide was too far spent, and retired out of reach of the enemy’s shot. In this dreadful cannonade, which continued above ten hours, the Bristol had 111 men killed and wounded.
The high opinion which Commodore Parker entertained of Lieutenant Nugent’s exertions during the attack upon Sullivan’s Island, is handsomely expressed in his official despatches on that occasion, from which we make the following extract; “Lieutenants Caulfield, Molloy, and Nugent, were the Lieutenants of the Bristol in the action; they behaved so remarkably well, that it is impossible tosay to whom the preference is due.”
After this failure, the fleet repassed the bar, and proceeded to New York, in the reduction of which town[1] Lieutenant Nugent was again actively engaged. On the llth Dec., in the same year, Sir Peter Parker and General Clinton were sent to reduce Rhode Island. On the approach of the squadron, the Americans abandoned their strong posts, and the island was taken possession of without the loss of a man. This was the last service of importance in which our officer was engaged during his stay on the American station. In the spring of 1778, he was made a Commander, and on the 2nd May 1779, promoted to the rank of Post Captain in the Pomona, of 28 guns, stationed at Jamaica, under the orders of Sir Peter Parker, who had by this time attained the rank of Vice-Admiral.
In the autumn of 1779 the bay men on the Musquito shore, and in the bay of Honduras, being in great danger of an attack from the Spaniards, who had landed at St. George’s Quay, the inhabitants of which they plundered and treated with great cruelty, Sir Peter despatched the Porcupine sloop to co-operate with a detachment of troops sent from Jamaica for their protection. About the same time the Hon. Captain
