the ordnance of a French frigate, which had recently been wrecked in Table Bay.
After the subjugation of the Cape[1], Captain Donnelly proceeded with Sir Home Popham and Major-General Beresford, to the Rio de la Plata, from whence he returned to England with those officers’ despatches, relative to the capture of Buenos Ayres, and specie to the amount of 1,086,208 dollars, found in the treasury of that place. The following are extracts from the London Gazette Extraordinary of Sept. 13, 1806:–
Sir Home Popham to the Secretary of the Admiralty.
“Captain Donnelly, who did me the favor of requesting I would go up the river in the Narcissus, and to whom, from his rank, no specific service could be assigned in our small scale of operations, applied himself in every occasion where he could promote the objects of the expedition; and, as he is charged with this despatch, I take the liberty of recommending him to their lordships’ protection, under a full conviction they will obtain, through him, every information which they have a right to expect from an officer of great intelligence, and long meritorious service[2].”
Major-General Beresford to Sir David Baird.
“I halted two hours on the field,” (near Reduction) “to rest the troops, and to make arrangements for taking with us the enemy’s guns, and our own, which had now, by the exertions of Captain Donnelly, of his Majesty’s ship Narcissus, been extricated from the bog. He had accidentally landed, and accompanied the troops on seeing them advance to the enemy, and I am much indebted to him for his voluntary assistance[3].”
Immediately on his arrival in England, Captain Donnelly was appointed by the present Earl Grey, then at the head of the Admiralty, to the Ardent, of 64 guns, and ordered to escort a reinforcement of troops commanded by Sir Samuel
- ↑ See note , at p. 622, et seq.
- ↑ The Narcissus’s appearance in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, greatly surprised the Spanish Americans, no ship of her size having been so far up la Plata for 80 years preceding her arrival.
- ↑ After the performance of the service alluded to in the Major-General’s letter, Captain Donnelly returned to the transports, all of which, together with the Encounter gun-brig, were at that time lying a-ground off Point Quelmey à Pouichin, where the army had been landed, and by great exertions succeeded in getting them afloat and removing them to a secure anchorage.
“You will have seen La Touche’s letter – how he chased me, and how I ran. I keep it; and if I take him, by God he shall eat it.” LaTouche, however, soon after died, according to the French papers, in consequence of walking so often up to the signal post upon Cape Sepet, to watch the British fleet; and thus effectually prevented Nelson from administering to him his own lying letter in a sandwich.
