serving as first Lieutenant of the Doris frigate, commanded by Lord Ranelagh, and employed as a cruiser in the Channel.
In 1797, Mr. Byron was appointed flag Lieutenant to Sir Hugh C. Christian, K.B., whom he accompanied to the Cape of Good Hope in la Virginie, of 44 guns. He there joined the Tremendous 74, from which ship he was promoted to the command of the Cornwallis brig in Mar. 1798[1]. His next appointment was to the Rosario sloop of war, fitting at Plymouth for the Jamaica station, where he was employed during the peace of Amiens, watching the motions of a fleet sent from France to co-operate with General le Clerc, in his attempt to recover possession of St. Domingo. Captain Byron’s post commission bears date April 29, 1802. He fitted out the Inconstant frigate in 1804; and obtained the command of the Belvidera, rated at 36, but mounting 42 guns, Feb. 11, 1810. On the 22d July following, the boats of that ship, in company with those of the Nemesis 28, captured, after a smart action, the Danish schooners Balder and Thor, each carrying two long 24-pounders, 6 howitzers, and 45 men; they also destroyed a sloop, mounting one 24-pounder, with a complement of 25 men. Of this gallant affair, which took place on the coast of Norway, an account will be found under the head of Captain William Henry Bruce, who served as a Lieutenant on that occasion.
The Belvidera was afterwards ordered to the Halifax station, where she had a rencontre with an American squadron, the particulars of which are thus related by Captain Byron in his official letter to Vice-Admiral Sawyer, dated June 27, 1812[2]:
“Sir,– I beg leave to inform you, that in pursuance of the
- ↑ La Virginie conveyed Lord Mornington (now Marquis Wellesley), from England to the Cape of Good Hope, from whence the Cornwallis returned home with despatches.
- ↑ The United States had declared war against Great Britain nine days previous to the date of this letter.
for the French Formidable’s broadside, when he let fly, and every shot from the Queen Charlotte was thus expended to good purpose. It should be remarked, that the enemy’s three sternmost ships had previously opened a heavy fire upon her, but without shaking the determination of her commander, not to throw away a shot in vain.
