ROYAL NAVAL BIOGRAPHY.
COMMANDERS
(Continued.)
THOMAS ROBERTS, Esq.
[Commander.]
This officer first went to sea in the Swallow brig, Captain (now Sir William) Hargood, early in 1790; and joined the Bombay Castle 74, Captain (afterwards Sir John T.) Duckworth, at Spithead, on the 8th June following. In 1793, he was sent by the latter officer, then commanding the Orion 74, with Captain Solomon Ferris, of the Scorpion sloop, to obtain a more practical knowledge of seamanship; and in that vessel we find him running down the coast of Africa, touching at Ascension, and proceeding from thence to Barbadoes, where he again joined the Orion. He afterwards visited North Carolina; and, on his return home, was removed to the Cyclops frigate. Captain (now Sir Davidge) Gould, fitting out for the Mediterranean, where he followed that officer into the Bedford and Audacious, third rates. He was, consequently, present at the reduction of Bastia, in May, 1 794; at the capture of two French line-of-battle ships, by the fleet under Vice-Admiral Hotham, off Genoa, Mar. 14th, 1795 ; and at the destruction of l’Alcide 74, near the Hières Islands, July 13th following.[1] In the first of these skirmishes with the republican fleet, the Bedford was second a-head in the line-of-battle, and warmly engaged with
- ↑ SeeVol. I. Part I. p. 251, et seq. and the notes at pp. 340 and 254.
