The remainder of this small flotilla had in the interim succeeded in driving the enemy from their battery on the island, the guns of which were soon turned upon the fugitives, and afterwards spiked by Lieutenant Cowan of the Pylades, whilst the rest of the detachment, assisted by the brave commander of the Undaunted and his crew, brought off two brass field pieces, the row-boat, and twelve schuyts. This service was performed without the loss of a man on our side; but the Dutch are said to have suffered considerably.
Captain Mackenzie subsequently assisted at the capture of the Dutch fleet under Rear-Admiral Storey[1]; and obtained post rank Sept 2, 1799. From this period he remained on half-pay till Oct. 1801, when he received an appointment to the Brilliant of 28 guns; in which ship he continued during the peace of Amiens. At the renewal of the war in 1803, he joined the Magicienne frigate; and during the ensuing winter, was employed blockading the enemy’s coast. We next find him escorting some vessels, having on board ten troops of horse and 1000 infantry, to the West Indies, where he had several skirmishes with the enemy’s batteries, and destroyed many vessels, no account of which was ever published.
The Magicienne formed part of the squadron under Sir John T. Duckworth, in the action off St. Domingo, Feb. 6, 1806[2]; and was subsequently ordered to convoy the trade from Jamaica to England. After passing through the Gulf of Florida, Captain Mackenzie encountered a tremendous hurricane, which proved fatal to twenty of the finest vessels under his charge, and obliged him to steer direct for Bermuda, to repair the damages done to his own ship.
In the following year, Captain Mackenzie commanded the Prince of Wales, a second rate, bearing the flag of Admiral Gambier, at the capture of the Danish navy. On his return from Copenhagen, where he had acted as Commissioner of the Arsenal during the equipment of the prizes[3], he was ap-
- ↑ See Vol. I. note at p. 414, et seq.
- ↑ See Vol. I. note at p. 262.
- ↑ Admiral Gambier in his letter to the Hon. W. W. Pole, dated Oct. 20, 1807, says: “I should not do justice to the diligent attention and arduous
would most likely have shared her fate, as only four or five minutes elapsed between the separation of the vessels and the explosion.
