write to me for the purpose of procuring for you either permission to return to England on your parole of honor, not to serve till after being exchanged, or to ameliorate your condition by placing you in security[1].
“You are not ignorant, doubtless, of the arrival of an English commissary a few days since, in one of our ports in the Channel, sent by your government to treat for the exchange of prisoners of war. The representatives of the people immediately sent a courier extraordinary to the Committee of Public Safety, to ascertain if they would enter upon negociations on the subject. We await with impatience the answer of this despatch, which I hope will be favorable to you; but if my hopes should be disappointed, lean assure you, gentlemen, on the part of the representatives, that you will, in a very few days, be sent to Quimper, where you will enjoy your liberty, and that respect which is due to your rank, and to your distinguished conduct in the Alexander conduct which gives you a claim to the esteem of all Frenchmen, and to mine in particular. I have the honor to be, very sincerely, Gentlemen, your very humble and obedient servant,
of the naval forces of the Republic.”
“To the officers composing the etat major
of the late English ship Alexander.”
On his return to England Lieutenant Epworth was appointed to command the Pilote brig, and employed conveying despatches to the West Indies and Channel fleet. He obtained the rank of Commander in the Wasp sloop of war in Dec. 1796; and was posted into the Portland, a 50 gun ship, April 29, 1802.
In 1804, we find him acting as Captain of the Prince George 98, in the Channel fleet, and subsequently commanding the Goliah 74, pro tempore, off the Black Rocks. His next appointment was to the Sea Fencible service; and he does not appear to have been called again into active employment till June 1811, when he received a commission for the Nijaden of 36 guns.
On the 14th Mar. 1812, being on his passage from Lisbon to England with despatches and the post-office mail, Captain Epworth fell in with five French line-of-battle ships which had escaped out of l’Orient a few days before. This squadron chased the Nijaden the whole day, and was at one time so near as to exchange shot with her. Three large ships, which afterwards proved to be the Northampton, Monarch, and
- ↑ “En vous envoyant en cautionnement.”
