nition, and no means of regaining their ship, as every exertion to get the schooner afloat had failed, were obliged to surrender prisoners of war[1].
Lieutenant Thornbrough afterwards served in the Flora frigate, and was promoted to the rank of Commander for his gallant conduct at the capture of la Nymphe, in August, 1780[2]. He obtained Post rank on the 24th Sept. in the following year; and, in 1782, commanded the Blonde, of 32 guns, on the coast of America, which ship was unfortunately wrecked on the Nantucket shoals, when proceeding to Halifax with a prize, laden with masts for the French fleet. Captain Thornbrough and his crew constructed a raft, by which means they got to a barren and uninhabited island, where they continued for two days in the utmost distress; providentially two American cruizers came in sight, and relieved them from their perilous situation. For the generous and humane treatment which Captain Thornbrough had shewn his prisoners, the enemy, as a return, landed him and his people near New York, at that time in possession of the English. The prize escaped the danger and got to Halifax.
Our officer’s next appointment appears to have been to the Hebe, the finest frigate in the British navy, which he commanded upwards of six years, a period unexampled in time of peace. This circumstance may be accounted for, from the Hon. John Leveson Gower having hoisted his broad pendant in that ship, when he made the tour of the coasts with Prince William Henry, now Duke of Clarence. After the Commodore had struck his pendant, the Prince continued to serve as Lieutenant of the Hebe, until he was appointed to the command of the Pegasus[3].
During the Spanish armament, Captain Thornbrough commanded the Scipio, of 64 guns; but an amicable adjustment of the dispute between the Courts of London and Madrid having taken place, that ship was paid off in the autumn of 1790, and we find no further mention of Captain Thornbrough until the commencement of the war with the French republic, when he was appointed to the Latona, of 38 guns, in which frigate he captured several of the enemy’s privateers.
On the morning of the 18th Nov., 1793, our officer disco-
