to the Princess receiving-ship, at Liverpool, in 1810. His next appointment was, Dec. 19th, 1812, to the Despatch of 18 guns, in which sloop we find him very actively employed at the siege of St. Sebastian’s, in 1813. He subsequently commanded the Penelope frigate, armed en flûte, and had the misfortune to lose that ship in a snow-storm, when proceeding to Quebec, April 30th, 1815. The following narrative of this disaster is given by an officer who was then serving under his command:
“We had a favorable passage from Spithead to the Banks of Newfoundland, where we met with ice, fogs, and S.E. gales. On the 27th April, 1815, we entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and on the 29th, saw the coast of Lower Canada, about Cape Rozeare, wind north. On the 30th, we stood to the eastward till the ship broke off to the southward of east; then tacked and stood for the Canadian shore. At sun-set, the ship lay a good course to clear all the land, had not a strong current (unknown to us) been setting in from the S.E.; the weather being thick and cloudy, the lead was kept going, the master ordered not to leave the deck, and the watch to keep a good look-out. At 8 p.m., we sounded in 71 fathoms; and, thirty minutes afterwards, the Penelope was hard and fast: at the moment of her striking on the rocks. Captain Galloway and his first lieutenant were looking at the chart; the line was passing forward, and the ship going about four knots; heavy snow falling, and the wind blowing fresh from N.E.
“The helm having been put down and the sails thrown a-back, the quarter-boats were lowered down and sent away with the stream-anchor, which was dropped on the weather quarter, in six fathoms; the bower anchors were then cut away, in order to lighten the ship forward, but on heaving at the capstan, the stream anchor was found not to hold; and the wind, snow, and cold soon increased to such a degree, that it was with difficulty the crew could be kept on deck, to hoist out boats, and perform other necessary duties; some of them actually got into their hammocks: at midnight, the ship was striking very heavy; and before day-light, the orlop-deck was already full of water.
“All hopes of saving the ship being now at an end, the masts were cut away to ease her, and four successive attempts made to carry the end of a small hawser to the shore; the first boat sent on this duty was swamped and stove long before she got near the shore; and as none of the others returned, the situation of all on board the Penelope became very alarming: it was almost impossible to stand upon the deck; the quarter-deck beams were already giving way; and the sea, breaking into the captain’s cabin, destroyed a few bags of bread, the only article of provisions which there had been time to remove from below; our remaining
