former she conducted to Yarmouth Roads[1], the latter was taken possession of by Lieutenant Bullen, who found her in very shoal water, and so dreadfully cut up, that it was with great difficulty he could get her clear of the shore. She sunk under him, when in tow of the Veteran 64, two days after the action, and took down with her 180 Dutchmen, together with 5 British seamen and marines. The remainder of the persons on board were saved by boats sent from the Veteran to their assistance, on observing “the ship is sinking,” chalked on a board, and exhibited by them. A frigate, which had likewise been engaged by the Monmouth, but finally captured by the Beaulieu, was wrecked near West Capel. The loss sustained by the Delft in killed and wounded has never been ascertained; but according to the Dutch accounts, the Monmouth’s other opponents had no less than 76 men killed, and 102 wounded, whilst she herself had but 5 slain and 22 wounded.
For his bravery and exertions in and after the above battle, Lieutenant Bullen was deservedly promoted to the rank of Commander at the commencement of 1798, and from that period he enjoyed the pleasures of his domestic circle till June 1801, when he obtained an appointment to the Wasp sloop of war, fitting at Plymouth.
After accompanying the Newfoundland convoy to a certain latitude, he received orders to proceed, without loss of time, to Madeira and the coast of Guinea; and he appears by the following documents to have reached Sierra Leone at a very critical period:
“Fort Thornton, Dec. 2, 1801.