JOSEPH CREW TULLIDGE, Esq.
[Commander.]
Was made a lieutenant in Oct. 1800. We first find him serving under Captain John Edgcumbe, of the Heron sloop; and next in the Africaine frigate, Captain Robert Corbett. In June, 1810, the Africaine sailed from Plymouth with despatches for the Governor-General of India, containing orders for the immediate equipment of an expedition against the Isles of France and Bourbon. On the 9th Sept., she touched at the island of Rodriguez, to replenish her water; but, learning what had befallen the squadron under Captain Samuel Pym, at Port Sud-Est, in the Isle of France[1], and that Isle Bourbon was already in possession of the British, Captain Corbett determined upon changing his route, and hastened to join Commodore Rowley, the officer then charged with the blockade of Port Louis. On the 11th of the same month, the Africaine’s barge and jolly-boat sustained a loss of two men killed, and a marine officer, a master’s-mate, a midshipman, and thirteen men wounded, in an unsuccessful attempt to bring off a French transport schooner which had run on shore near Grande-Baie. Captain Corbett’s subsequent proceedings are thus detailed by Mr. James:
“As soon as her two boats returned, the Africaine bore up for Bourbon, and at 4 a.m. on the 12th, made the island. At 6, two ships were observed in the offing of St. Denis; and at 7, Captain Corbett learnt from a transport at anchor in the bay, that they were French, as well as a man-of-war brig, now also seen to windward of the frigates. At 8 a.m., Captain Corbett went on shore; and the Africaine continued standing off and on, clearing herself for action. At 10 a.m., the two frigates (Iphigénie and Astrée) telegraphed each other; and then the brig (Entreprenant) made sail to the N.E., and was soon out of sight. The frigates stood in upon the larboard tack, as if disposal to offer battle; whereupon Captain Corbett, who was employed in landing his badly wounded, hoisted a broad pendant and red ensign. The object of doing this was, by deceiving the French into a belief that the Africaine was their old acquaintance the Boadicea, to conceal the fact of any additional British force having arrived on the station.”
