most public and grateful thanks of the principal Austrian authorities; in addition to which he had the honor of receiving a communication from Lord Minto, the British Ambassador at Vienna, expressing his Imperial Majesty’s “marked approbation” of his conduct in hastening to the succour of a city whose commerce had once been the wonder of the world, whilst her fleets were the dread of the remotest of the Mediterranean shores.
On the 4th Jan. 1801, the merchants of Trieste presented Captain Ricketts with a handsome diamond ring, accompanied by the following letter, as an acknowledgment of his services in the Adriatic:
“Sir,– The honorable nature of your proceedings in the Adriatic, the protection you have afforded our commerce against the corsairs of France, and the assistance which, on all occasions, you have rendered to the friends of his Britannic Majesty, exact on our part, at the commencement of the year, the warmest expressions of gratitude; and in wishing you a happy beginning of it, in the name of this body of merchants, we wish to mark our acknowledgments; and, in order to preserve us in your memory, have presumed to accompany this with a small token of our respect. Wishing you all manner of felicity, we remain, the deputation of the mercantile body,
(Signed)“J. Manzewany; Luzovick Govanuchi;
(Signed)“J. Reyes; Fran. Potte; J. Catraro;
(Signed)“Sorrei Rede.”
To this letter Captain Ricketts replied in the following terms:
“Gentlemen,– After five months incessant cruising on the shores of the Adriatic, it is with singular satisfaction that, at the commencement of the new year, I have received your elegant and flattering mark of approbation; and it is with peculiar earnestness I wish you to believe, that if any thing on earth could augment my zeal in the cause we are labouring for, it would be so honorable a testimony of successful service[1] from such respectable characters as those who compose the trading community of Trieste. I am, &c. &c.
On his return from the Adriatic, Captain Ricketts touched at Corfu, and there found letters from Lord Elgin, the British
- ↑ Among the numerous prizes captured by El Corso and her consort during their continuance in the Adriatic, we find several armed vessels, but none of force sufficient to merit particular notice.
