ships were drowned, and, next morning, numerous dead bodies were found strewed along the beach.
Shortly after this, Sir Robert Hall was appointed to the command of the naval force on the lakes of Canada, when he addressed a most friendly letter to Lieutenant Smyth, of which the following is an extract, – “I have no doubt of your soon obtaining the step it is so natural you should be anxious for, because to the cool gallantry I have observed you possess, in presence of the enemy, you add the talents of an eminently scientific navigator, and therefore you are not likely to remain inactive during the peace that threatens us. I shall not fail to assure Lord Melville of your merits and services, on my arrival in England[1].”
The abdication of Napoleon Buonaparte, in April 1814, by closing the European war, afforded Lieutenant Smyth an excellent opportunity of commencing a survey of Sicily, to which he was the more strongly stimulated by the little probability that then existed of the general tranquillity being again disturbed; – “finding one avenue to professional reputation closed,” said he, “I will endeavour to obtain it by another.” He afterwards visited the ex-Emperor at Elba and during the subsequent short war, occasioned by by flight from thence of that “meteor of the age,” and the rashness of Murat, we find him employed amongst the AEolian or Lipari Islands. One day, being on the peaked summit of Panaria, he perceived a large Neapolitan gun-vessel standing towards the Cala-del-Castello: having heard of her taking a prize some few hours before, he immediately stationed himself in an armed boat close under a point of land, dashed alongside of the enemy just as she was rounding it, and so completely surprised her crew, that he obtained possession without a man of either party being hurt.
Some time previous to this little exploit, that accomplished officer, Rear-Admiral (afterwards Sir Charles V.) Penrose, had arrived in Palermo bay, to take charge of the Mediterranean
- ↑ Captain Sir Robert Hall, Knt. and C.B. died acting Commissioner at Quebec, in 1918.
