wounded seven men who were stationed at it. Mr. Saumarez’s conduct in this desperate business, a full account of which is already given in our memoir of Admiral Nugent[1], was so much approved of by the Commodore, that he received an appointment to act as Lieutenant on board the Bristol, which was afterwards confirmed by Lord Howe. Subsequently to this, he was employed in America upon most important and active operations connected with the army, and had the command of the Spitfire galley, in which he rendered great services by clearing the coast of the enemy’s privateers, and driving on shore a ship very superior in force to that of his own. The Spitfire was unfortunately among the number of vessels which were burnt or destroyed to prevent them from falling into the enemy’s hands, when the French fleet, under Count d’Estaing, arrived off Rhode Island[2]. Lieutenant Saumarez afterwards acted as Aide-de-camp on shore to Commodore Brisbane, and commanded a party of seamen and marines at one of the advanced posts. He then returned to England in the Leviathan, in which vessel he narrowly escaped shipwreck on the Scilly Isles.
Soon after his arrival, Mr. Saumarez was appointed one of the Lieutenants of the Victory, of 100 guns, carrying the flag of Sir Charles Hardy; and continued in that ship, under different flag-officers, until his removal, as Second Lieutenant, into the Fortitude, 74, with Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, who was at that time appointed to the command of a squadron fitting out in consequence of the rupture with Holland[3]. In this ship he participated in the battle with the Dutch fleet, under the command of Admiral Zoutman, off the Dogger Bank, when the enemy were compelled to retire into the Texel, with the loss of one ship of the line[4]. For his conduct in this action, our officer, after conducting the Preston,
- ↑ See p. 95.
- ↑ See note at p. 101.
- ↑ A manifesto and declaration of war against Holland were issued at St. James’s, Dec. 20, 1780.
- ↑ On the 5th Aug. 1781, Sir Hyde Parker with seven sail of the line, four frigates, and a cutter, fell in with a Dutch squadron under Admiral Zoutman, consisting of six line-of-battle ships, two of 44 guns each, and four frigates. The action which ensued, though upon a small scale, was conducted and fought in such a manner, that it recalls afresh to the memory
