the brunt of the action, suffered rather more than her consort. Her rigging and sails were much cut, and all her boats more or less damaged: her masts were also injured, particularly her main-mast, which she was obliged to fish to prevent it from falling. The fire from the Sémillante and batteries had been aimed chiefly at the rigging of the two British vessels; and that it was which occasioned the Harrier’s loss to be no greater than the Phaeton’s, – two men wounded. The British stood off for the night, and at daylight on the 3d, having a fine breeze offshore, tacked and stood in to reconnoitre. They found that the Sémillante had warped close to the beach; and that, for her further protection, a six-gun battery had been erected on the north point. They waited o6F the port until the morning of the 4th; when, finding the French frigate still in the same place, they made sail, and ran through the straits of St. Bernadino. What loss the Sémillante sustained in this engagement, is not recorded in any French account; but it was afterwards understood at Calcutta, that she had 13 men killed and 36 wounded. With respect to the damage done to her hull and masts, all we know is, that she suffered so much as to prevent her from proceeding to Mexico, for a cargo of specie. ‘La Sémillante avait éte très-maltraitée dans ce combat; elle fut forcée de renoncer au voyage du Mexique[1],’ is an admission that places that fact beyond a doubt.”
On the 4th July, 1806, the Harrier assisted at the destruction of the Dutch East India Company’s armed brig Elizabeth, under the fort of Manado, in the Java seas. On the 6th, at the capture of another enemy’s cruiser, named the Belgica; and, on the 26th of the same month, at that of the Batavian republican frigate Pallas, a large two-decked Indiaman, and an armed ship of 500 tons. Mr. Hole’s “very exemplary conduct” during the action which terminated in the surrender of the Pallas and two of her consorts, was highly spoken of by his commander, the present Sir E. Thomas Troubridge[2].
From Jan. 1807 until Aug. 1812, Mr. Hole served as Sir Edward Pellew’s first lieutenant, in the Culloden 74, Christian VII. 80, and Caledonia 120; on the East India, North Sea, and Mediterranean stations. Whilst in the former ship, he appears to have had two narrow escapes. On the first occasion, he was standing across the main-tack when it gave
- ↑ Dictionnaire des Batailes, &c. tome iv. p. 5.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part I. p. 281.
