le Felix, a remarkably fast-sailing Spanish letter of marque, pierced for 10 guns, but only 6 mounted, with a complement of 42 men, laden with coffee and bees’-wax, from the Havannah, bound to Vera Cruz. We subsequently find him commanding la Franchise frigate, on the same station.
Early in January 1806, three boats belonging to that ship, under the directions of Lieutenant John Fleming, cut out of the Bay of Campeachy, El Raposa Spanish brig of war, mounting 12 guns, pierced for 16, and having on board 75, out of a complement of 90 men, 5 of whom were killed, many drowned in consequence of jumping overboard, and 26, including the commanding officer, wounded[1]. The British, notwithstanding the resistance they met with in boarding, and the fire they were for some time exposed to from a brig of 20 guns, an armed schooner, and 7 gun-vessels, had only 7 men slightly wounded. The official account of this brilliant achievement will be inserted in our memoir of the officer who commanded on that occasion<ref>See Commander John Fleming, in Vol. III.</ref>. About the same period, la Franchise captured El Carmen Spanish schooner, and the Brutus, a Dutch armed vessel.
In July 1806, Captain Dashwood sailed from Jamaica in company with the Magicienne frigate, and one hundred and nine sail of homeward bound West Indiamen. After clearing the Gulf of Florida, the fleet encountered a dreadful hurricane, during which twenty of the merchantmen foundered, la Franchise lost her fore-mast and main -top-mast, and her consort sustained so much damage as to be under the necessity of proceeding directly to Bermuda, where she was obliged to be frapped together before she could again put to sea[2]. Inconsequence of this disastrous event, the sole care of their scattered and valuable charge devolved upon Captain Dashwood; through whose indefatigable exertions many vessels, not one of which had escaped without injury, were collected, and reached England in safety.
- ↑ The Captain of El Raposa, his first Lieutenant, the civil officers, and a boat’s crew, were on shore at the time their vessel was attacked and carried.
- ↑ The Magicienne was commanded by the late Captain Adam Mackenzie. See p. 236.
