In 1775, Mr. Knight was second Lieutenant of the Falcon, commanded by Captain John Linzee, in which sloop he arrived at Boston three days previous to the fight at Lexington. The Falcon was one of the vessels that covered the attack on Bunker’s Hill; some time after which event, Lieutenant Knight had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the enemy, when attempting to bring off an American vessel that had been driven ashore.
After a residence of several months, on parole, at Northampton and South Hadley, in the province of Massachusetts, an exchange of prisoners took place, about Dec. 1776, and our officer once more returned to the duties of his profession. In Feb. 1777, he was appointed by Lord Howe to the command of the Haerlem, of 12 guns and 65 men; and his judicious and spirited conduct, in entering an enemy’s port, and taking from thence several small vessels, was so much approved, that that nobleman directed his personal share of the prize-money to be distributed among the immediate captors.
In the month of July, 1778, the Haerlem fell in with the French fleet under Count d’Estaing, and narrowly escaped capture, having received several shot from a 50-gun ship, then in chace of a British frigate. Lieutenant Knight immediately gave intelligence of his falling in with the enemy to the Commander-in-Chief; and was thereupon removed into the Eagle, of 64 guns, bearing the flag of Lord Howe, with whom he returned to England in the ensuing October. Towards the conclusion of the American war, Mr. Knight had the good fortune to be appointed First Lieutenant of the Barfleur, of 98 guns, the flag ship of Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, on the Leeward Island station; and to that excellent officer he owed his advancement to the rank of Post-Captain, Sept. 21, 1781; on which occasion he was appointed to the Shrewsbury, of 74 guns, her former commander, Captain Mark Robinson, having lost a leg in the action with the French fleet, off the Chesapeak[1], on the 5th of the same month. Our officer remained with Sir Samuel Hood, and was present at all his brilliant achievements in the years 1781 and 1782.
