the rank of Lieutenant, which took place immediately after Lord Howe’s battle, June 1, 1794[1].
Lieutenant Carden, whose sight had been materially injured by an explosion of gunpowder during the above engagement, subsequently followed Captain Berkeley into the Formidable, a second-rate; and on leaving that ship, joined the Barfleur, another three-decker, commanded by the late Vice-Admiral Dacres. His next appointment was to the Queen Charlotte, of 100 guns, bearing the flag of his friend, Sir Charles Thompson, through whose influence he became first Lieutenant of the Fisgard frigate, fitting at Plymouth, in Sept. 1798. His commission as Commander, dated Oct. 25, in the same year, was presented to him on account of his gallant conduct in an action with l’Immortalité, of 42 guns and 580 men, the capture of which ship has already been described in our memoir of Sir Thomas Byam Martin, K.C.B.[2], from whose official letter to Lord Bridport we make the following extract:
“I should wish to recommend the steady good conduct of Mr. Carden, first Lieutenant of the Fisgard, on this occasion, but not to the prejudice of any other person, as every officer and man on board behaved with that courage and intrepidity which at all times distinguish his Majesty’s subjects in the presence of an enemy.”
In the summer of 1800, Captain Carden was appointed to the Sheerness, a 44-gun ship, armed en flute, attached to the expedition then about to sail for the Helder, where he commanded a division of boats at the debarkation of the army, under cover of a warm and well-directed fire from the bombs, gun-brigs, and other small vessels[3].
During the remainder of the war, he appears to have been employed in co-operation with the French royalists, on the coast of la Vendee; and conveying troops to the Mediterranean and Red Sea, for the purpose of reinforcing the British army in Egypt.
This latter service afforded Captain Carden an opportunity of crossing the desert of Suez, and visiting Grand Cairo, from whence he returned to his ship, bringing with him, as volun-
