enedwith an attack from the enemy, assembled in great force at Lesina. * * * * * * * * I have the honor to be, &c.
“To Captain Rowley, H.M.S. Eagle,
Senior officer of the Adriatic squadron.”
We now lose sight of Captain Maxwell till July 2, 1813, when he had the misfortune to be wrecked in the Daedalus frigate, on a shoal near Ceylon, whilst convoying a fleet of Indiamen to Madras. In. Oct. 1815, he was re-appointed to the Alceste, at the particular request of Lord Amherst, who was then about to proceed on an embassy to China, the result of which is so well known as to render any remarks in this place superfluous.
The Alceste sailed from Spithead Feb. 9, 1816, touched at Madeira, Rio Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, Anjere, and Batavia; entered the China sea by the straits of Banca; communicated with Canton; passed through the straits of Formosa, into the Tung-Hai, or Eastern Sea, and finally anchored in the gulf of Pe-tche-lee, on the 28th July, after a passage of only 15 days from the neighbourhood of Macao. Her consort, the Lyra brig, commanded by Captain Basil Hall, had previously been despatched thither to announce the approach of the embassy.
Lord Amherst having landed at the mouth of the Pei-ho river on the 9th Aug. and it being certain that several months must elapse before his Excellency could return from Pekin to Canton, the place where he intended to re-embark for England, Captain Maxwell determined to employ the interval in examining some parts of the different coasts in that unfrequented portion of the globe. The first object which seems to have attracted his attention was to obtain a complete knowledge of the gulf of Pe-tche-lee; and for this purpose he took to himself the northern part, assigning the southern to Captain Hall, and so directing the return of the General Hewitt as to enable her commander to explore the central passage[1].
The course taken by the Alceste led to a partial survey of the gulph of Leo-tong, never before visited by any European
- ↑ The General Hewitt, Indiaman, Captain Walter Campbell, had been taken up by the Hon. Court of Directors, for the conveyance of the presents intended for the Emperor of China.
