ed to l’Aimable 32, then on the North Sea station, but afterwards employed in escorting the array under Sir Arthur Wellesley from Cork to Portugal. On the 3d Feb. 1809, he assisted at the capture of l’Iris, French frigate, armed en flûte, victualled and stored for four months, and having on hoard a considerable quantity of flour for the relief of Martinique[1]. On the 29th July following, his captain, Lord George Stuart, then commanding a light squadron at the mouth of the river Elbe, reported the expulsion of the enemy from the town of Gessendorf, the demolition of a four-gun battery, together with a magazine, guard-houses, &c. and the re-capture of six waggons of confiscated merchandize:– “A want of zeal and activity,” says his lordship, “was discernible no where; to every officer and man I must award the meed of praise so justly their due; but of Lieutenant Burgess, of the Pincher, and Lieutenant Hawkins, second of l’Aimable, I am more competent to speak in favor, for their indefatigable exertions in forwarding my orders to the different detachments[2]. About Sept. 1810, Mr. Hawkins followed Lord George Stuart into the Horatio 38, of which frigate he served as first lieutenant until promoted to the rank of commander, for an exploit thus officially detailed:
“Sir,– I have the honor to make known to you, that when in execution of your orders, running down the coast of Norway on the 1st instant, in lat. 70° 40' N., a small sail was seen from the mast-head, close in with the land, which we discovered to be an armed cutler before she disappeared among the rocks. Being anxious to destroy the enemy’s cruisers, who have so considerably intercepted our trade in this quarter, I despatched the barge and three cutters, under the command of my first lieutenant, Abraham M. Hawkins, who gained information on shore that the cutter had gone to a village on an arm of the sea, thirty-five miles inland, where he immediately proceeded, and, at 8 a.m. on the 2d, she was discovered at anchor, together with a schooner and a large ship, which, on the appearance of the boats, presented their broadsides with springs on their cables.
“As a strong tide set the boats towards them, Lieutenant Hawkins de-
