SIR GEORGE MARTIN,
Admiral of the Blue; Knight Grand Cross of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath; Knight of the Neapolitan Order of St. Januarius[1]; and a Vice-President of the Naval Charitable Society.
We find no mention of this officer previous to the conclusion of the American war, when he commanded the Tobago sloop, on the Jamaica station. His promotion to the rank of Post-Captain took place March 17, 1783. From the period of the Spanish armament in 1790, to the commencement of hostilities against the French republic in 1793, he commanded the Porcupine, of 24 guns, on Channel service, and from that vessel removed to the Magicienne frigate, in which he proceeded to the West Indies, where he continued about two years.
Soon after his return to England Captain Martin was appointed to the Irresistible, of 74 guns, and was present in that ship at the defeat of the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797[2], on which occasion she sustained a loss of 5 men killed and 14 wounded.
On the 26th April, in the same year, the Irresistible, in company with the Emerald frigate, attacked two Spanish frigates which had anchored in Conil Bay, near Cape Trafalgar, and obliged them to surrender. They proved to be the Elena and Nimfa, of 36 guns and 320 men each. The former, after she had struck, cut her cable and ran ashore; Captain Martin, however, got her off, but so materially damaged that she could not be kept a-float, and was consequently destroyed. The enemy’s vessels were from the Havannah bound to Cadiz. They had about 50 men killed and wounded, the British only two.
Captain Martin’s next appointment was to the Northumberland, a 74 of the largest class, in which, after serving for
- ↑ In 1799, St. Januarius was convicted of Jacobinism; solemnly removed from his rank as patron saint of the Neapolitan kingdom; and St. Antonio as solemnly installed in his place. Quaere, At what period Was the former restored to favor?
- ↑ See p. 21 et seq.
