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PREFACE prosecution of my task I have avoided adulation, and I hope that I have in no case rendered myself liable to the charge of having bestowed unmerited praise. I have, indeed, as a general rule, confined myself, in awarding commendation, to the language adopted in public despatches or other official documents; and in accordance with this principle, as well as with a view to rigid accuracy, I have, at no small pains, carefully examined the ‘London Gazettes’; affixing in every instance to a memoir, by way of note, the date and page of the Gazette in which the officer’s name stands recorded; with the single exception of occasions on which the captain of a comparatively large ship has obtained mention through the capture of privateers and letters-of-marque. With regard to Courts-martial, I have, whenever I have found it possible to do so, avoided any reference to them; the advantage to be derived from reviving the details of inquiries of this nature appearing to me anything but obvious; and I hope, for the credit of the Service, there are few, if any, of its members who would desire to enhance their reputation by recalling the errors, often trivial, of their brother officers.

Important as have been the communications I have received from members of the Naval Service, the work would have fallen far short of its present dimensions and completeness had it not been for the cordial support and countenance with which I have been honoured by the Board of Admiralty, who have most obligingly afforded me access to every record in their possession which appeared at all likely to facilitate its progress.

I have but little more to add: few besides myself can conceive the anxiety I feel for the success of an undertaking that has absorbed so many years of labour, and upon which so large an amount of capital has been expended; but I commit it with confidence to the leniency and consideration of the Service, trusting that my readers, mindful of the pains I have taken to satisfy all reasonable expectations in regard to it, and of my earnest endeavour to perform my task conscientiously and correctly, will rather give me credit for, what I have achieved than censure me for what I have not.

I cannot conclude this notice without offering, in the most unequivocal terms, my acknowledgments to the present estimable Secretary of the Admiralty, Captain W. A. B. Hamilton, for the public-spirited 