board part of the crew of H.M. late ship Blanche, taken by the enemy in July 1805[1].
Mr. Henry Kent next joined the Revolutionnaire frigate. Captain Charles Fielding; and, in May 1807, the Hussar 38, Captain Robert Lloyd, which latter ship was present at the bombardment of Copenhagen, and afterwards sent to the West Indies, where she captured four letters of marque, from Guadaloupe bound to Bourdeaux. In June 1809, he was appointed acting lieutenant of the Horatio frigate. Captain (now Sir George) Scott; and in Aug. 1810, we find him, removed to the Fantome sloop. Captain John Lawrence, under whom he served on the North Sea station, and on the coasts of Spain and North America, until Jan. 1814. On quitting that vessel, he received the following handsome testimonial of conduct:–
“These are to certify my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that Lieutenant Henry Kent served on board H.M. sloop Fantome, under my command, from the 4th Aug. 1810, to the 21st Jan. 1814, during which period he distinguished himself as a brave and meritorious officer, particularly in the different attacks made on the enemy’s works in Chesapeake Bay, and further that he volunteered from the said sloop to serve on the Lakes of Canada, with a zeal highly creditable to himself and worthy of imitation, being in the severity of the winter, and having a distance of nearly one thousand miles to march over an uninhabited country, covered with snow and woods: these circumstances will, I respectfully hope, entitle him to their Lordships’ favourable consideration.
At the same time Captain Lawrence wrote to Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo, commanding on the lakes, as follows:–
“Sir,– Although I have not the honor to be personally known to you, yet the interest I take in behalf of Lieutenant Kent, detached from H.M. sloop under my command, will I trust ensure me your pardon in stating that, as he has served nearly three years and a half with me, I know his value. He is an active, zealous, and clever officer, and whom I beg strongly to recommend to your protection. I have the honor to be, &c.
