Dorsetshire, which nobleman, on being presented to his late Majesty, Sept. 15, 1762, had the honour of asserting the antient privilege of his family, by wearing his hat in the royal presence, granted to his ancestor, John de Courcy, Earl of Ulster, &c. by John, King of England[1].
During the American war our officer commanded the Swallow sloop, from which vessel he was posted Sept. 6, 1783, into the Europa of 50 guns, the flag ship of the late Admiral Gambier, on the Jamaica station. In 1787, we find him in the Hyaena of 20 guns, escorting the first party of convicts ever sent to New South Wales, clear of the Channel[2]. He was afterwards stationed on the coast of Ireland, for the suppression of smuggling.
At the commencement of the war with France, in 1793, Captain De Courcy was appointed to the Pearl frigate, on the Irish station; and from that ship removed, about the latter end of the year 1794, to the Magnanime, a cut down 64, mounting 26 24-pounders on the main-deck, 18 12-pounders on the quarter-deck and forecastle, and 4 42-pounder carronades.
We find the following French privateers among the list of captures made by Captain De Courcy during the time he commanded the Magnanime:– Le Triton, 8 guns, pierced for 18, 180 men; le Tiercelet, 8 guns, 10 swivels, and 47 men; l’Eugénie, 18 guns, 107 men; l’Audacieux, 20 guns, 137 men; and la Colombe, 12 guns, 64 men. He also assisted at the capture of la Decade French frigate of 36 guns; and the defeat of a French squadron off Ireland, Oct. 12, 1798; on which latter occasion the Magnanime had 7 men wounded[3].
- ↑ The claim of being covered in the presence of the Monarch, is not, as generally supposed, strictly peculiar to this family; for John Nethersale, of Nethersale House, near Barham Downs, co. Kent, Esq. was so great a favourite with Hen. VIII, that he was indulged with the privilege of wearing a cap in the King’s presence.
- ↑ On the 13th May, 1787, Commodore Arthur Philip, in the Sirius, commanded by Captain John Hunter, with the Supply armed brig, Lieutenant Ball, and nine transports, having on board a great number of convicts of both sexes, sailed from Spithead for New South Wales, in order to establish a colony at Botany Bay. The Hyaena was ordered to accompany the fleet 100 leagues to the westward.
- ↑ See p. 171.
