cently honored him, until their Lordships’ pleasure should be known. This explanation proved perfectly satisfactory to the Board, and Captain Vincent continued to serve under Sir Alexander Ball, till that officer’s lamented demise, in Oct. 1809[1].
Released by this melancholy event from an engagement so detrimental to his personal interests, Captain Vincent used every endeavour to obtain the command of a cruising ship, but without success; and he was therefore obliged to remain stationary at Malta, under the respective flags of Rear Admirals Charles Boyles, John Laugharne, and Charles V. Penrose, till the termination of hostilities in 1814. From that period he conducted the various duties of the port, as senior officer, until the commencement of 1816; when we find him removing into the Aquilon of 32 guns, and proceeding to Naples and Leghorn, for the purpose of joining the squadron under Lord Exmouth, by whom he was sent to Mahon, Gibraltar, and England, with despatches, about the month of March in the same year.
We should not do justice to the subject of this memoir, were we to omit stating, that during a period of nearly eight years spent at Malta (in the course of which many thousands of the inhabitants fell victims to a dreadful malady) he invariably obtained the approbation, not only of the different Governors, with whom, in his official intercourse, he preserved the greatest unanimity, but also of every superior officer whom he had occasion to co-operate with for the furtherance of the public service.
- ↑ Sir Alexander John Ball, Bart. K.F.M. was one of Nelson’s supporters in the glorious battle of Aug. 1, 1798, as will be seen by reference to p. 472 of our first volume. His commission as a Rear-Admiral of the Red was dated on the very day of his decease, Oct. 25, 1809. He was most exemplary in virtue, honor, and friendship. In him the public lost a zealous and faithful servant– Captain Vincent, and many other officers, a sincere and estimable friend. His memory will ever be respected by all who had the honor of his acquaintance. A letter from Malta, dated Nov. 6, says, “He was rather devoted to the Maltese interest; but he was certainly in the right. We British are too apt to despise foreigners: he found it necessary to protect them as he did. We buried him yesterday in a fort close to that in which the regains of Sir Ralph Abercroinby are interred.”
