was graciously pleased to confer upon him the honour of knighthood. The Court of Directors also presented him with 2,000 guineas, and a piece of plate of the value of 200 guineas. To Captain Timmins, of the Royal George, they presented the sum of 1,000 guineas, and a piece of plate of the value of 100 guineas; to Captain Moffatt, of the Ganges, 500 guineas, and a piece of plate of 100 guineas value; to all the other captains 500 guineas, and a piece of plate of the value of 50 guineas; to Lieutenant Fowler, of the Royal Navy, a piece of plate of 300 guineas value;-and the Court of Directors, as well as the public bodies in India, were extremely liberal in pecuniary gratification to every officer and man in the fleet. Captain Sir Nathaniel Dance had also a pension of £300 per annum settled on him by the East-India Company; and this, by a vote of a General Meeting of Proprietors, was increased to £500 per annum.

Captain Henry Lambert commanded the Wilhelmina, of 32 guns, an old Dutch-built frigate, without one quality to recommend her as a ship of war, unless it were that of looking so unlike one in every respect that the enemy fearlessly approached her, and by that means was sometimes captured when a chase would have been useless.

This ship, in the month of April, 1804, fell in, off the east side of Ceylon, with a large French frigate-built privateer, which she engaged with great obstinacy and fury for three hours, when the Frenchman being much disabled, and the British frigate still more so, they separated, nor was it in the power of our young hero to renew the action, the enemy having so much the advantage of him in point of sailing. We shall shortly, however, see him more gloriously successful. The Wilhelmina had four men killed and six wounded.

The unfortunate Linois was doomed to experience another defeat from a ship of war every way his inferior, and under circumstances which certainly placed his professional character in a still more unfavourable point of view.

On the 18th of September, the Centurion, of 50 guns, was lying at anchor in the roads of Vizagapatam, for the protection of the Princess Charlotte Indiaman, and the Barnaby, a country ship, which were taking in their cargoes at that place. While thus employed, Linois appeared in sight from the southward, with the Marengo and two frigates. Captain Lind was on shore at this time, making the necessary arrangements for the sailing of the convoy; in his absence the command of the ship devolved on the first lieutenant, Mr. James Robert Phillips, whose good conduct could certainly not be surpassed. As his first object was to secure the convoy, he made the signal

MARENGO AND CENTURION.

9

for an enemy being in sight, and for the ships to provide for their own safety. The Barnaby ran on shore and was lost in the surf, and the Princess Charlotte struck her colours after receiving a few shots from one of the frigates. The Centurion cut her cable and got under sail, prepared to receive the attack of this superior force, the whole of which now fell upon the British ship. Their fire was returned with the greatest vigour; the enemy's ships kept at the distance of half a mile from her, and in this way all of them engaged for more than an hour; the Marengo and one frigate on the starboard, the other frigate on the larboard quarter. At 11 o'clock the French ships tacked and stood to sea, and soon after, Captain Lind got on board with great difficulty and danger. By this time the Centurion's rigging and sails were so much cut as to render her unmanageable, and she was compelled to anchor at the back of the surf, about a mile and a half to the north-east of the town, where she prepared again for action. The enemy stood in, and, after trying the range of her guns, came to an anchor abreast of the Centurion, at the distance of about a mile, and renewed the action. The lower-deck guns of the British ship were the only ones that would reach, while those of the enemy were capable of doing greater execution. One of the frigates kept under sail on her quarter, and annoyed them very much, while the other carried off the Indiaman. After this action had lasted about two hours, the Marengo cut her cable, and made sail with the squadron and prize to the N. E.

The Count de Dumas, unfortunate in his apology for Linois in the affair off Pulo A'or with Commodore Dance, is still more so in this. He calls the Centurion " un vaisseau de guerre ;" but the term is never applied by the French to any thing less than a ship of 74 guns, which he well knew the Centurion was not. He says that she was supported by heavy batteries, which is equally incorrect, as no ship of her draught of water could lie within gun-shot of the shore at that place. He observes also that we had 10 sail of the line in India, which were in search of Linois, and which he was certain would soon overtake him; he therefore made the best of his way to the Isle of France," after having captured and destroyed to the value of twenty millions of francs from the Company. Faults," he concludes, "we may avoid, but uncertainty and error we are all liable to."-Précis, vol. xi., p. 69.

The conduct of Linois in this affair seems to be unaccountable; the naval reader must draw his own conclusion. The Centurion had none killed, and only nine wounded. Captain Lind received the honour of knighthood, and his first lieu

tenant was promoted to the rank of commander, and soon after deservedly to that of captain.

On the 13th of February, Captain Henry Lambert (late of the Wilhelmina), in the St. Fiorenzo, of 38 guns, fell in, near Vizagapatam, with a French frigate, a privateer of 10 guns, and a country ship, their prize. After a chase of 37 hours, the British frigate came up with the merchant-ship, which she recaptured, and learnt that the enemy's ship was the Psyché, of 36 guns and 240 men, under the command of Captain Bergeret. Captain Lambert left a midshipman in charge of the prize, and made all sail in pursuit of the frigate, then endea vouring to escape, and at a great distance ahead. At ten minutes past eight he commenced a close action with her, which continued till half-past 11 o'clock, when the St. Fiorenzo hauled off to repair her rigging, and in half an hour after bore up to renew the contest; but, just as she was about to open her fire, an officer came from the enemy's ship to say that motives of humanity had compelled her captain to surrender; he had therefore struck his colours, though he might have borne the conflict much longer. Upon examination of the captured ship, however, all farther disguise was impracticable, and the cause of the surrender was evident; the second captain, two lieutenants, 54 seamen and soldiers, lay dead on her decks, with 70 officers and men wounded. The St. Fiorenzo had 12 killed and 36 wounded. There was a character in this action which marked it as one of peculiar coolness and gallantry on both sides. Captain Bergeret was a man universally esteemed by his enemies. His bravery, his talents, his humanity and generosity to his prisoners, had rendered him deservedly an object of interest to all those who had fallen into his power. He had been taken in a former action by Sir Edward Pellew, in the Indefatigable; he then commanded La Virginie, a very large frigate. The family of Lord Exmouth still retain a great friendship for this gallant and excellent Frenchman."

Captain Lambert, whose conduct on this and the former occasion excited the admiration of the country, received no particular mark of favour for his victory.

Admiral Rainier, while his cruisers were so honourably employed in the bay of Bengal, did not forget the blockade of the Isle of France, off which he stationed Captain Edward O. Osborn, in the Arrogant, of 74 guns, with a small squadron, who captured and destroyed many of the enemy's vessels; but, notwithstanding the vigilance of that excellent officer, the French squadron under M. Linois, with all their prizes, got safe into port.

RETURN OF ADMIRAL RAINIER.

11

In January, 1805, Admiral Rainier was at Prince of Wales's Island, where he found Rear-admiral Sir Edward Pellew, in the Culloden, who had arrived to succeed him in the command.

In March, Admiral Rainier sailed from Madras in the Trident: stopping at St. Helena, he took the China fleet under his convoy, and arrived safe in the Downs with the most valuable fleet that ever came from India. It consisted of 39 ships, and was estimated in value at fifteen millions sterling. Admiral Gantheaume was supposed to have been most anxious to get out for the chance of intercepting this fleet, but Cornwallis and Gardner kept too close to Brest to admit of his moving; and the gallant veteran Admiral Rainier completed his long and meritorious public services by bringing the convoy in safety to the ports of his country, from which he had been absent eleven years and four months. During the whole of that time he held the command in India; and no officer had ever possessed it for so long a period, nor with so much uninterrupted success. He died in London on the 6th of April, 1808, after having bequeathed to his country one-tenth part of the property which he had acquired in its service.*

The peace of Amiens, which had added to our Indian territory the beautiful island of Ceylon, of the same length and something broader than Ireland, while it gave us the possession of Trincomalee, Point de Galle, and Colombo, added to the weight and responsibility resting on the supreme government and the commander-in-chief of the naval forces in India. To these vast possessions St. Helena may be called the first or outward barrier; the Cape of Good Hope the second; and the island of Ceylon the third. Of this island the Honourable Frederick North was appointed governor on its cession to the British crown; but he had still to contend with the King of Candi, the native sovereign of the country, for the command of the fruitful provinces of the interior.

In the month of June, 1803, the unfortunate Major Davie, who commanded a detachment of 40 British and 200 Malay troops, was induced to lay down his arms, when intrusted with the defence of the city of Candi, and himself and people were put to death in cold blood, with the exception of two or three who were permitted to escape. The entire possession of the

* With the highest possible respect for the memory of this excellent officer and man, I should humbly suggest that if in future any of our admirals should happen to have more money than their own relations might require, they would think of the widows and orphans of their brother-officers "at the Thatched House." The bequest of 10 per cent. was like a drop of water in the ocean whereon it had been gained, and was received without thanks, for none could be grateful for that which, being spread over so large a surface, was unfelt and unseen.

coast, and all the sea-ports of the island, gave us a great advantage as a maritime power; but unfortunately Ceylon, for many years past, has been subject to diseases formerly unknown or of rare occurrence; and Trincomalee, the finest harbour in the world, is scarcely tenable from the prevalence of the Indian cholera.

While Admiral Rainier was on his passage to England, Linois, his great opponent in India, having completed his repairs at the Isle of France, and made good the damage sustained in the action with the Centurion, sailed on his third cruise, in which he was more successful in the acquisition of wealth than of honour.

It had been considered by Earl St. Vincent that the EastIndia command, from the Gulf of Persia to China, or from the Cape of Good Hope to Macao, was too extensive for one officer. Rear-admiral Sir Edward Pellew now exclusively held that command, to which he had succeeded on the resignation of Vice-admiral Rainier, early in 1805. In the same year Rear-admiral Sir Thomas Trowbridge was appointed to share the profits and the patronage of that enviable station; he had the east, while Sir Edward Pellew held the west side of the Peninsula.

Sir Thomas Trowbridge, having his flag in the Blenheim, of 74 guns, a reduced 90-gun ship, sailed from England some time in June, with 10 sail of Indiamen under his convoy, and a body of troops on board, with which he was directed to proceed to Madras with the least possible delay.

Linois, having quitted the Isle of France in the month of May, upon his third cruise, scoured the Mosambique channel, with the Marengo and the Belle Poule: thence he proceeded to the mouth of the Red Sea, and, finding the weather too violent, he steered for Point de Galle, in the island of Ceylon, captured the Brunswick East Indiaman, and then directed his course towards the Cape of Good Hope. No man had more perseverance than Linois, none had ever more opportunities of seeing his enemy, and none was ever more unfortunate in the results. His error of Pulo A'or was mistaking Indiamen for ships of war; in the present instance he was equally unfortu nate in mistaking a ship of war for an Indiaman. In his action with the Centurion he was undecided, and kept at too great a distance; in his action with the Blenheim he showed a want of conduct; in short, the whole naval career of this officer was marked with error or misfortune. Few men were ever more in action, or came out of it with less credit. His last action, in which he was taken, was his best; of that we shall speak in its proper place. In the month of August he fell in