and as admiralty midshipman, under Commodore Samuel Hood, with whom he proceeded to the Leeward Islands, in the Ulysses 44, of which ship he was appointed an acting lieutenant, Dec. 24th, 1802. His first commission hears date Mar. 28th, 1803.
Soon after this advancement, Mr. Scriven had an attack of yellow fever, and was obliged to return home, from Antigua hospital, for the recovery of his health. His next appointment was. Mar. 24th, 1804, to the Thunder bomb, Captain George Cocks, under whom he saw much active service on the Mediterranean station.
In July, 1805, the Thunder captured a small vessel called the Sparrownaro, armed with one two-pounder; and Lieutenant Scriven immediately volunteered to command her as a tender, with a crew consisting of only seven men and a boy. On rounding a point of land, near the straits of Bonifacio, he found himself within half-musket-shot of a French privateer, mounting one eighteen-pounder and four four-pounders, with no less than sixty-nine men. The desperate defence he made excited the admiration of the enemy, who not only liberated his prisoners without exchange, but also granted their gallant leader a certificate as follows:
“I, Antony Clavelli, captain commanding the French privateer Belle Louise, certify and attest, that Mr. Timothy Scriven, late commanding the Sparrownaro, conducted himself during my pursuit of him, and in the action which ensued, in a manner which distinguished him as a man of bravery and honor; and that it was not till after having fired upon him a dozen cannon loaded with grape and round, numerous vollies of mutsketry, and our being ou the point of boarding with a force so very considerably greater than that of the Sparrownaro’s, that he struck his colours. I certify further, that the above mentioned chase and action continued for the space of two hours. In faith of which, I hereby sign this certificate to all whom it may concern.
“Cagliara, Sardinia, the 19th July, 1805.
Mr. Scriven continued in the Thunder until Aug. 1807, when he was nominated flag-lieutenant to his friend Rear-Admiral Essington, then holding a command in the grand armament destined against Copenhagen. Shortly after his
