immediate orders of Captain Cumby, have contributed most essentially to accelerate the reduction of this last possession of the enemy on the Jamaica station. The fullest testimony is borne by Major-General Carmichael to the cordial support which he received from them after the arrival of the British troops; and I have no doubt that the conduct of Captain Cumby, and that of the officers, seamen, and marines under his orders, will be distinguished by their Lordships’ approbation, as it has already been by mine. I have the honor to be, &c.
Soon after the death of Admiral Rowley, Oct. 7, 1811, Captain Cumby proceeded to Vera Cruz and Havannah, on his way to England, in the Hyperion of 42 guns, to which ship he had been appointed in the preceding month of March. After refitting at Portsmouth, he was ordered to Davis’s Straits, where he cruised for the protection of the whale fishery during the whole summer of 1812. He subsequently took a convoy from Newfoundland to Barbadoes, and then returned to St. John’s harbour, where his ship was frozen up almost immediately after her arrival.
By the above statement our readers will observe that the Hyperion had been twice in the West Indies, spent a whole summer amidst icebergs, and commenced a long and severe winter at Newfoundland, all within twelve months: an instance of sudden and repeated change from one extreme of temperature and climate to the other, rarely equalled. The health of her crew, however, suffered less from these rapid and severe changes than might have been expected, owing in a great degree to the precautions taken by Captain Cumby, who obliged his men to purchase a large supply of warm cloathing when they received their arrears of pay at Portsmouth.
In Nov. 1813, Captain Cumby sailed from Newfoundland with the trade bound to Portugal under his protection; and during the remainder of the war we find him employed cruising in the British Channel and Bay of Biscay, where he captured, after a long chase, the American privateer Rattlesnake of 16 guns, an uncommonly fine brig, nearly new, 298 tons burthen, which had already taken twenty-eight of our merchant vessels, (several with valuable cargoes); and from her extraordinary fast sailing, would no doubt have done still greater injury to the trade of his Majesty’s subjects. The Hyperion was paid off at Portsmouth, Aug. 31, 1815.
