of the officers and crews of the three boats taken and destroyed belonging to H.M. ship under my command. I have the honor to be, &c.
Thus was Great Britain, when on the eve of a war with her late trans-atlantic colonies, deprived of the services of 113 gallant fellows, doomed to captivity until the abdication of Napoleon Buonaparte, in 1814. Among those killed, wounded, and taken prisoners on this occasion, were Lieutenant Edmund Stackpoole, senior officer, in the Conquestador’s launch; Mr. Peter Hodder, a passed midshipman, commanding the barge of the Colossus; Mr. Edwin Toby Caulfield, in charge of the Conquestador’s barge; Mr. John Franklyn, to whom had been entrusted the direction of the launch of the Colossus; Mr. Daniel Baird, master’s-mate, in command of the Conquestador’s pinnace; Messrs Francis Sutherland, George Peard, and Donald O’Bryan, midshipmen of that ship; and Messrs. J. Hynson, Neil Malcolm, and William Campbell (the latter gentleman an assistant surgeon), of the Colossus.
In June 1814, Mr. Peard passed his examination, and in Sept. following was sent out to Lake Ontario, on promotion. He there received from that excellent and most worthy officer. Sir Edward W. C. R. Owen, an order to act as lieutenant in the gun-boat service, which appointment was confirmed by the Admiralty, July 5th, 1815. On the dismantlement of the flotilla in that quarter, we find him despatched to Lake Champlain, where he remained until the spring of 18I7, when, in consequence of the further reduction of the naval force in the Canadas, he was ordered home, and placed on half-pay. He afterwards served, for two years and a half, under Captain Thomas Searle, in the Hyperion frigate, on the Leith and South American stations. His next and last appointment was, in Mar. 1825, to be first lieutenant of the Blossom sloop, Commander F. W. Beechey, fitting out for a voyage of discovery in the Pacific Ocean, and to cooperate with Captains Parry and Franklin, in the event of their effecting the N.W. passage. Whilst absent on this service, he was advanced to the rank of commander, by commission dated 7th May, 1827, the first one signed by his
