off would in all probability have been a Lieutenant still, But for the fortunate circumstance of his having attracted Captain Duncan’s notice during the war, by which means alone he obtained an appointment to the Liffey.
There is another point which Captain Duncan has great reason to pride himself upon; namely, his attention to Naval Gunnery; and a recital of the circumstance which we are told first led him to see the necessity of attending thereto, may be a useful lesson to our young officers.
A few weeks after the Porcupine was manned, Captain Duncan chased a ship during the night in the Archipelago, which proved to be an American merchant vessel. While hailing her, and when the two ships were almost touching each other, a gun on board the Porcupine went off by accident, and a whole broadside followed. The guns were all double shotted, and Captain Duncan naturally supposed the neutral ship would be cut to pieces. Although happy to hear she had not suffered, his surprise was very great to find that a broadside could be fired so close without producing any effect: from that moment he saw the absurdity of the common form of exercise, which he had been accustomed to pay as much attention to as is generally done; and that real exercise, and the greatest and most constant attention to it, was necessary. In a short time the crew of the Porcupine became perfect gunners; the Mercury’s were the same; and never, during the war, did the firing of any ship surpass that of the Imperieuse. One day, under a battery, the captain of a gun was asked by an officer why he did not fire? The man replied, “The quoin edgeways is too much, and not enough put in flat; I am chipping a bit of wood for it.” This answer shews how cool and correct his people were in handling their guns – they used to say themselves, that they would cut a frigate asunder in fifteen minutes. Unfortunately they never had an opportunity of displaying their skill in so highly desirable a manner; but no battery they were ever opposed to could stand their fire many minutes. We should here remark, that very few of Lord Cochrane’s men were then remaining in the Imperieuse: it is true his Lordship first taught that frigate’s crew how to use great guns with skill and dexterity: it is also certain that Captain Duncan completed
