In consequence of Mr. Dalyell’s gallant conduct on this occasion, the late Lord Melville, then at the head of naval affairs, allowed him to retain his acting order, although a commissioned officer had been appointed in the interim.
On the 23d June, 1804, the Rattler was again warmly engaged with the enemy, near Ostend; and in Oct. following, she appears to have had three sharp skirmishes, in the neighbourhood of Dieppe[1]. On the 1st Jan. 1805, Mr. Dalyell’s commission as lieutenant, that long deferred object of his youthful ambition, was signed; which, according to the acknowledgment of Viscount Melville, ought to have been done six months earlier: – how little did he expect, after the severe services he had performed as midshipman, that the fourth day of his enjoying naval rank would close his services, at least for many years.
On the 4th Jan. the Rattler took possession of a fishing-boat belonging to Dieppe. There was at that time a large lugger privateer, the Vimereux of 14 four-pounders and 78 men, including fifteen chosen grenadiers from the camp at Boulogne, lying at an anchor in the bay of St. Valery-en-Caux, close under a four-gun battery. This vessel had long infested the British trade, and it was highly desirable that she should be destroyed, as her superior sailing had hitherto enabled her to escape our cruisers. Lieutenant Dalyell, ever anxious to signalize himself, and cut his way to farther promotion, earnestly requested permission to attack her. As the wind and weather were favorable for the enterprise. Captain Mason yielded to his solicitations. Mr. Bourne, who had been his inseparable comrade in battle and captivity, eagerly offered to accompany him; as did also acting Lieutenant Augustus Donaldson, commanding the Folkstone lugger, and Mr. William Richards, a midshipman of the Rattler. Of the other gallant fellows who volunteered their services, twenty-seven sailors were selected, – eleven to go in the captured fishing-boat, with Lieutenant Dalyell and a Frenchman, who had agreed to act as a decoy to his country-
