ture of two French store-ships by her and the Hussar, already noticed at p. 259 of our first volume, took place at a time when Mr. Tobin commanded the Princess of Wales schooner, employed as a tender to those frigates. He subsequently became first Lieutenant of the Thetis, and continued as such till his removal into the Resolution 74, bearing the flag of the commander-in-chief, by whom he was promoted into the Dasher, a new sloop of war, about Aug. 1798[1].
After commanding this vessel for twelve months on the coast of America, Captain Tobin was ordered to convoy the homeward bound trade: and on his arrival in England he used every effort to have her sent to the Mediterranean, in order to be near Lord Nelson; but had the mortification not to succeed, she being placed under the orders of Sir Thomas Pasley, at Plymouth, and chiefly employed off the Isle of Bas, in the irksome, but rarely successful service, of endeavouring to prevent the enemy’s convoys passing along-shore. During the last two years of the war we find her attached to the Channel fleet, successively commanded by Earl St. Vincent, and the Hon. Admiral Cornwallis. She was paid off at Plymouth, Oct. 10, 1801[2].
- ↑ The Dasher was built of cedar, at Bermuda.
- ↑ Lieutenant Bedford, now the senior officer of his rank on the establishment of the Royal Hospital at Greenwich, lost his leg whilst serving under the orders of Captain Tobin. As the official letter relating to his misfortune never reached the public, it may not be amiss in this place to give a brief statement of the circumstances that led to that very respectable officer’s secession from active service. We do so the more readily, in consequence of our being personally unacquainted with him, although by no means ignorant of his private worth. The energetic manner in which we have often heard him plead in favour of the distressed widows, orphans, and parents of deceased officers, at the quarterly meetings of the Naval Charitable Society, and the sight of his honorable scars, have long caused us to view him with more than common regard.
In June 1801, the Dasher, while chasing a French convoy on the coast of Poitou, got on shore near le Pont d’Yeu, but without receiving any material injury. In consequence of this untoward accident, the boats under Lieutenant Bedford, who but too readily met Captain Tobin’s wishes, (supported by Lieutenant Nicholson in the Suwarrow schooner), were sent in pursuit. Two brigs were set on fire by the enemy to prevent their being captured; but one of the boats was unfortunately sunk by a
