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POST-CAPTAINS OF 1804.

none remained the night on the field of battle. The commander-in-chief expresses himself very grateful to the navy for their humane exertions on this occasion, and I am happy in observing, that both services seem sensible of the support they mutually give each other in the operations, so that the utmost harmony prevails. I have the honor to be, &c.

(Signed)W. Sidney Smith.”

Admiral Lord Keith,
&c. &c. &c.

The castle of Aboukir capitulated on the 18th. Mar. and three days afterwards the British obtained another splendid victory on the spot, where they had halted after the battle of the 13th[1]. On the 25th a Turkish squadron formed a junction with the English fleet in Aboukir bay, and landed a body of troops, with whose assistance Colonel Spencer, at the head of a detachment from the army before Alexandria, succeeded in obtaining possession of Rosetta a place of considerable importance, situated near the western mouth of the Nile. The reduction of fort St. Julian by the allied forces, and the progress of the combined flotilla from that place towards Grand Cairo, have already been noticed in our memoir of Captain Richard Curry[2].

The subject of this memoir was employed in a gun-boat during the whole of that fatiguing campaign; and, after the surrender of the Egyptian capital we find him succeeding Captain Curry in the command of the Betsy, an armed djerm, the latter officer having been charged with despatches to Lord Keith immediately after the capitulation had been agreed to. The following is an extract from Lieutenant-General, now Lord, Hutchinson’s letter to government announcing the result of the expedition:

“The exertions of Captain Stevenson and the navy have been extremely laborious and constant during this long march; they have done every thing that was possible to forward our supplies: and indeed, without their powerful aid, it would have been impossible to have proceeded. Your Lordship will recollect, that the river is extremely low at this season of the year, the mouth of the Nile impassable for days together, and the distance from Rosetta to Cairo between 160 and 170 miles. Captain Stevenson has been ably supported by Captains Morrison, Curry, and Hillyar, who were employed under him. – The service in which they have
  1. For Sir W. Sidney Smith’s official letter, see Vol. II. Part I. p. 385.
  2. See Id. pp. 462–468.