sloop of war.” On the 14th Nov. 1807, the commander of that ship made the following report to his lordship:
“My Lord, – In the execution of your orders, when off Otranto, with H.M. sloop under my command, on the 25th ultimo, I observed an armed trabaccolo under that fortress; and conceiving it practicable to cut her out, under cover of night, I despatched the boats, directed by Lieutenant Walter Forman, who executed the orders given to him with the greatest gallantry, under a heavy fire of great guns and musketry, both from the vessel aiHl the shore. She was shortly brought out, and proves to he le Caesar, French privateer, of four 6-pounders, belonging to Ancona, having on board a cargo of rice and flour, on account of the French Government^ bound to Corfu. The crew defended her until the boats were alongside, when all, excepting four men, escaped by a stem hawser. The Herald hay received some little injury both in the hull and rigging; but I am happy to say that my object was obtained with only one officer (Mr. James Wood, carpenter, dangerously) wounded in the boats, and three seamen in the ship. I have the honor to be, &c.
“To the Right Hon. Lord Collingwood,
&c. &c. &c.”
On a subsequent occasion, Lieutenant Forman, in the Herald’s gig, with only four men, captured a large coasting vessel, in a bay at the mouth of the Dardanelles, her crew, consisting of thirty Greek sailors and ten armed Turks, deserting her before he got alongside, leaving two long 4-pounders and a number of small arms already loaded and primed. A short time afterwards, in the same small boat, he got possession of a similar vessel, close to the rocks of Scio; but being exposed to a smart fire from the Turkish musketry on shore, and pelted by the Greek crew with heavy stones from the overhanging cliffs, he was obliged for a time to abandon her, with one of his men severely wounded in the face. On being joined by the Herald’s cutter and jolly-boat, he immediately landed, drove away the enemy, and brought off his prize in triumph. Another time, while successfully attacking some vessels at the island of Cephalonia, a man in the same boat with him was shot through the arm. He subsequently drove on shore and destroyed a large brig. Under a heavy fire of musketry, by which a man close to him, and two others, belonging to the Paulina sloop, were very
