You will moreover observe, that the directions of this act must be literally observed, being in a matter highly penal, and that no disabilities or incapacities can be introduced by inference. I should myself Clearly conceive, that an offence attended with judgment of death, having been pardoned by his Majesty, the supposed offender is in this case, in the same situation as if no such judgment had ever been passed.”
In Aug. 1794, Earl Howe gave Mr. Heywood an order to act as a Lieutenant on board the Robust 74, then in Torbay; but another officer having been appointed to her by the Admiralty, previous to the receipt of his Lordship’s promotion lists, he was superseded on his return to that anchorage in October following, and with several other gentlemen, similarly situated, obliged to rejoin the Queen Charlotte. He, however, received a commission from the Board, appointing him to the Incendiary fire-ship, on the 9th of March, 1795.
Lieutenant Heywood’s next appointment was April 7, in the same year, to la Nymphe of 40 guns, commanded by Captain George Murray; and on the 23d of June following we find him present at the capture of three French line-of-battle ships, by Lord Bridport’s fleet, near l’Orient[1]. Subsequent to this event, la Nymphe was stationed in the North Sea, under the command of Captain George Losack, with whom he remained until paid off at Plymouth, towards the close of 1795. On the 13th Jan. 1796, Lieutenant Hey wood was appointed to the Fox, of 32 guns, in which frigate he served on the North Sea station till the ensuing summer, when she sailed for India as convoy to the outward bound trade. On her arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, he became the senior Lieutenant, and in that capacity he continued till June 18, 1798, when he removed with his Captain, the present Sir Pulteney Malcolm, into the Suffolk, a third rate, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Rainier, to whom he had been previously recommended for promotion by Earl Spencer, the same nobleman who had signed his first commission, and whose good opinion of him will be seen by the following copy of a letter dated at the Admiralty, Jan. 13, 1797[2]:
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 246. N.B. Captain Murray on that occasion commanded the advanced squadron of frigates.
- ↑ The manner in which the Fox was employed whilst under the command of Captain Malcolm, has been described in our first volume, at p. 584, et seq.
