same time his nephew, assuming the name of Thompson, and having previously been borne on the books of a King’s ship, entered into active service on board of the same vessel, which was mostly employed on the home station until January 1780, when she accompanied the fleet under Sir George B. Rodney to the relief of Gibraltar, from whence she returned to England with the duplicates of that officer’s despatches relative to the capture of a Spanish convoy, and the subsequent defeat of Don Juan de Langara[1].
In the following year we find Mr. Thompson serving in the West Indies, on which station he obtained a Lieutenancy; and being entrusted with the command of a small schooner, distinguished himself by capturing a French privateer of very superior force. Some time after the termination of the colonial war, our officer joined the Grampus, of 50 guns, bearing the broad pendant of his uncle, who had been nominated to the chief command on the coast of Africa; and on the death of Commodore Thompson in 1786, he was promoted by his successor to the command of the Nautilus sloop, in which he continued about twelve months, when he returned to England and was paid off. His post commission bears date Nov. 22, 1790.
From this period we find no mention of the subject of this memoir until his appointment to the Leander, rated at 50, but mounting 60 guns, at the latter end of 1796. In that vessel he joined the Mediterranean fleet, then under the orders of Earl St. Vincent; and shortly after his arrival at Gibraltar was selected to accompany Sir Horatio Nelson on an expedition against Santa Cruz, in the attempt upon which place he was among the wounded[2].
- ↑ See note †, at p. 3.
- ↑ The rumoured arrival at Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe, of the Viceroy of Mexico, with some treasure ships from South America bound to Cadiz, and the represented vulnerability of that town to a well-conducted attack by sea, induced Earl St. Vincent to attempt the enterprize; and he accordingly detached upon that service a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Nelson, consisting of the Theseus, Culloden, and Zealous, 74’s; Seahorse, Emerald, and Terpsichore, frigates; Fox, cutter; and one mortar-boat; to which was afterwards added the Leander, the local knowledge of whose Captain was chiefly relied upon by the Commander-
