seilles. During the remainder of the same year we find him carrying on the port duties at Gibraltar, where he remained as senior officer until Feb. 1816, when he was recalled from thence for the purpose of accompanying Lord Exmouth on his first mission to the Barbary States, which terminated, as our readers are well aware, in the release of nearly 1800 poor wretches who had been dragged into the most miserable and revolting state of slavery, whilst innocently following their commercial pursuits.
The sentiments contained in the following lines are so highly honorable to the character of Captain Heywood, that we cannot refrain from giving them a place in this work; particularly as they were sent to him at a moment when his ship’s company were about to be freed from the restraints of naval discipline, and consequently not liable to the imputation of seeking his favor by undue adulation. We have already had occasion to notice the presentation of numerous swords, snuff-boxes, rings, &c. but we have never yet met with an instance of a naval commander receiving a tribute of “respect and esteem” from his crew, better calculated to gratify a benevolent and humane mind than “The Seamen’s Farewell To H.M.S. Montagu, when put out of commission at Chatham, on the 16th July, 1816.”
“Farewell to thee, Montagu! yet ere we quit thee
“We’ll give thee the blessing so justly thy due;
“For many a-seaman will fondly regret thee,
“And wish to rejoin thee, thou gem of true blue.
“For stout were thy timbers, and stoutly commanded
“In the record of Glory untarnished thy name;
“Still ready for battle when Glory demanded,
“And ready to conquer or die in thy fame.
“Farewell to thee, Heywood! a truer one never
“Exercis’d rule o’er the sons of the wave;
“The seamen who served thee, would serve thee for ever,
“Who sway’d, but ne’er fetter’d, the hearts of the brave.
“Haste home to thy rest, and may comforts enshrine it,
“Such comforts as shadow the peace of the bless’d;
“And the wreath thou deserv’st, may Gratitude twine it,
“The band of true seamen thou ne’er hast oppress’d,
“Farewell to ye, shipmates, now home is our haven,
“Let our hardships all fade as a dream that is past
“And be this true toast to Old Montagu giv’n
“She was our best ship, and she was our last[1]."
- ↑ The above lines were written by one of the Montagu’s crew, and sent to Captain Heywood by desire of the whole ship’s company.
