one ships of the line, Mar. 31st, and proceeded direct for Cadiz, off which place he continued cruising till the 11th May following; on which day he anchored his fleet so effectually to block up the port, that the Spaniards, under Don Massaredo, although their force had in the interval been increased to thirty sail of the line, had no opportunity of again putting to sea[1]. He also gave directions to Rear-Admiral Nelson to bombard the town, which, according to the accounts of the Paris papers, whose authority upon this occasion need not be suspected, sustained considerable damage. In the course of the ensuing summer, he detached the same gallant officer with a squadron to make an attack upon the town of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe, which he had reason to believe was an assailable object. Of this expedition, the failure of which was occasioned by a variety of unlooked-for circumstances, an account will be found in our memoir of Sir Thomas B. Thompson[2].
During that eventful period when the machinations of our domestic enemies, in almost every other part of the navy, had but too well succeeded[3], his lordship’s exertions to support the discipline of the fleet under his command, were eminently successful. Several deep laid schemes, of the most sanguinary tendency, were detected and defeated, and the ring-leaders brought to immediate punishment.
Earl St. Vincent continued during the space of the two succeeding years, uninterestingly for himself, but gloriously for his country, occupied in the blockade of Cadiz, or such services as the state of the war rendered it necessary for him to undertake, either in person or by proxy. Finding, however, his health considerably impaired by the fatigue of his very laborious service, his Lordship was compelled to return to England for its re-establishment. He accordingly resigned the command of his fleet to Lord Keith, and on the
- ↑ At this period Earl St. Vincent, and the officers under his command, joined in a public purse to be offered to government (exclusive of assessed taxes’), in aid of carrying on the war, into which his Lordship put one thousand pounds. The subscription amounted on the whole to 6,642l. 16s. 6d.
- ↑ Vice-Admiral of the Red.
- ↑ For the particulars of the mutiny at the Nore and Spithead, see Admiral Sir John Knight, and Vice-Admiral E. Griffith Colpoys.
