bow of the Panther; but so heavy and well-directed a fire did she keep up, that their crews were obliged to abandon them before they could be placed in a situation to produce any mischievous effects. Thus was the attempt of the enemy rendered ineffectual by the valour of British seamen, under the guidance of Captain Harvey, Lieutenant Vaughan, and other resolute and skilful officers.
Orders having been sent from England, about this period, for the Panther to take the first opportunity that offered for returning home, she slipped out of the bay, with an easterly wind, during the night of July 2d, succeeded in eluding the vigilance of Don Barcello, captured a Spanish packet in her passage, and arrived at Spithead on the 25th of the same month.
Lieutenant Vaughan subsequently accompanied Captain Harvey to Barbadoes, and was present at the reduction of St. Eustatius, Feb. 3, 1781. A few hours after that event, the Panther assisted at the capture of a Dutch convoy, richly laden, as will be seen by the following letter from Captain Francis Reynolds (afterwards Lord Ducie) to Sir George B. Rodney:–
“Sir,– I have the pleasure to inform you, that yesterday morning I fell in with the convoy you did me the honor to send me in pursuit of. About ten o’clock I ordered the Mars, a Dutch ship of 60 guns, to strike her colours; which she refusing to do, occasioned some shot to be exchanged. The Monarch received no damage, excepting 3 men wounded: I am not informed of the number the Dutch had killed and wounded; but among the former is their Admiral, though his flag was not hoisted at the time of the action. From some shot in her masts, I have ordered the Panther to take her in tow.
“By the activity of Captain Harvey, and Lord Charles Fitzgerald[1], we were enabled to take possession of the whole, and to make sail with them by four o’clock in the afternoon.”
From this period to the 1st Aug. 1781, the Panther continued cruising among the different islands: when, as she was an old ship, considerably weakened by being constantly at sea, Sir George B. Rodney sent her home with the Triumph 74, as convoy to a large fleet of merchantmen. In Jan. 1782, she was ordered into dock at Portsmouth; and we find no farther mention of Mr. Vaughan until the commencement of the
- ↑ His Lordship commanded the Sybil of 28 guns.
