Windsor Castle of 98 guns, bearing the flag of Rear Admiral Sawyer.
The difference with Spain, it will be recollected, was amicably settled; and from that period till the commencement of hostilities against the French republic, Mr. Dacres remained unemployed. He was then appointed to command the Union armed brig; from which vessel he removed as first Lieutenant into the Hannibal of 74 guns, commanded by the late Sir John Colpoys.
In 1794, the Hannibal being put out of commission, he was appointed first Lieutenant of the Diamond frigate, commanded by his old messmate and steady friend Sir W. Sidney Smith. With that officer he appears to have remained but a short time; as in the month of October following, we find him serving with his former Commander, Rear-Admiral Colpoys, in the London of 98 guns.
At length, in the month of March, 1795, after serving fifteen years as a Lieutenant, Mr. Dacres was promoted to the rank of Commander, in the Childers sloop; and on the 31st Oct. following, he was further advanced by being made a Post-Captain, in the Camilla of 20 guns, on the North Sea station. During the time he commanded the former vessel, he captured the Vigilante, a national cutter, mounting 6 guns. In the spring of 1797, Captain Dacres was removed into the Astrea frigate, and soon after performed a most essential service by effecting his escape from the Nore during the height of the general mutiny, and convoying a valuable fleet in safety to the Baltic. Whilst in that ship he also captured several French and Dutch privateers. The Astrea being paid off in 1799, our officer remained without any other appointment until early in 1801, when he obtained the command of the Juste of 80 guns, and accompanied Sir Robert Calder to the West Indies, in pursuit of a French squadron that had escaped from Brest.
On his return to England, our officer was appointed to the De Ruyter of 68 guns, stationed as a guardship at Spithead; in which he remained till the cessation of hostilities. He then joined the Desirée, and went to Jamaica with the squadron under the late Sir George Campbell, but quitted her there in consequence of ill health.
