In Aug. and Sept. 1821, we again find the Liffey attending upon our own sovereign, whom she accompanied first to Ireland, and afterwards to Calais. On her return from the latter service, she was ordered to be paid off at Portsmouth; and Captain Duncan has not since been afloat.
Previous to their separation, Oct. 17, 1821, the officers of the Liffey gave a superb entertainment to their late commander upwards of thirty persons sat down to dinner. The accustomed patriotic toasts having been given, the President, after an appropriate speech, in which he expatiated on the uninterrupted harmony that had reigned among all classes, proposed “the health of the Hon. Captain Duncan, under whose command they had all enjoyed so large a portion of comfort and happiness; who both in his public and private character, had acquired, and would ever retain their utmost respect and esteem.” This toast was hailed with the most enthusiastic and long continued bursts of applause. Captain Duncan, in an animated speech, returned thanks; and expressed his approbation of the conduct of all his officers, whose lot, he observed, it had been to visit together several European capitals, in all of which he was proud to say, they had left impressions highly favorable to the British name. Many other appropriate toasts followed, and the evening was spent in the greatest concord and conviviality.
Captain Duncan’s great anxiety has always been, to push on the officers serving under his command; and in this respect he has been particularly successful. Not one of his first Lieutenants possessed interest, yet no less than five of them were made Commanders, and a sixth individual may be said to have obtained that rank through him. Lieutenants Price, Pell, and Travers, whom we have already mentioned in the course of this memoir, were promoted for their respective services in the Porcupine, Mercury, and Imperieuse. The action at Languilla and Alassio, June 27, 1812, led to the advancement of Lieutenant William Walpole[1]. The Prince Regent’s visit to the Liffey was followed by the promotion of Lieutenant William Henry Higgs; and his successor, Williams Sandom, although not made until after the ship was paid
