the auspices of the late Admiral Macbride, with whom he continued, in the Cumberland and Minotaur, third-rates, until his promotion to a Lieutenancy, April 30, 1795.
After serving for some time in the Rattler sloop of war, under the present Rear-Admirals Lake and Cochet (the former his patron’s son-in-law), he returned to the Minotaur, then commanded by the late Sir Thomas Louis; and, nominally, the flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Macbride[1].
Subsequent to the general mutiny in 1797, the Minotaur was sent from England to reinforce the fleet off Cadiz; on which station we find Lieutenant Schomberg personally engaged in several severe boat actions with the Spanish flotilla and land-batteries; a mode of warfare wisely adopted by Earl St. Vincent commander-in-chief, to employ the minds of his seamen, and divert them from following the mischievous example of their brethren at Spithead and the Nore. It is unnecessary to say more on this subject, than that the unhappy Spaniards were made to feel the effects, and deplore the consequences, of a popular commotion in the British navy. The Minotaur continued with the in-shore squadron off Cadiz till May 24, 1798, on which day she sailed for the Mediterranean, in company with a strong detachment under the orders of Captain Thomas Troubridge, whose junction with Sir Horatio Nelson, near Toulon, the long cruise which succeeded in quest of a French armament commanded by Napoleon Buonaparte, and the great victory achieved by the British squadron in Aboukir Bay, have already been described in a note at p. 180 et seq. of our first volume.
The Minotaur on that glorious occasion sustained a loss of 23 men slain and 64 wounded. Her conduct is thus noticed by Nelson’s biographers (Messrs. Clarke and M‘Arthur), at pp. 79, 80, &c. of their highly valuable work.
- ↑ Vice-Admiral Macbride retired from his command in the North Sea, towards the close of 1796, at which period Mr. Schomberg was serving as first Lieutenant of the Rattler; and he does not appear ever afterwards to have hoisted his flag. He became an Admiral of the Blue, Feb. 14, 1799; and died at the Spring Garden Coffee House, London, Feb. 17, 1800. It was in consequence of his recommendation that the experiment of arming line-of-battle ships with heavy carronades, instead of long 9-pounders, on the quarter-deck and forecastle, was first tried on board the Minotaur. See James’s Nav. Hist. Vol. II. p. 126.
