Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/606

 602 TUCKEY. sent him to a classical school in Cork. The course of his reading, it is said, gave him a predilection for the sea service; and as this passion appeared to his friends wholly uncontrollable, he was permitted by them to undertake a voyage on trial to the West Indies, and accordingly, in the year 1791, he made his first voyage in a merchant vessel which traded between Cork and Barbadoes, and a subsequent one the year following, to the same island and the Bay of Honduras: on his voyage home he experienced a l l the miseries arising from want o f water and provisions, and after being a t sea a considerable time, was obliged t o put into Charleston, South Carolina. All these hardships, however, did not damp his ardour for the naval profession; and war being soon after declared against France, a n ap plication was immediately made t o his relative, Captain, now Sir Francis, Hartwell, then commanding the Thetis frigate, t o receive the young sailor into his ship. This request being complied with, h e was fitted out a s speedily a s possible, and sailed from Cork for Portsmouth, where the Thetis then lay unluckily the vessel h e was i n sprung a leak, and was obliged t o return t o the Cove o f Cork for repairs, which caused considerable delay, and o n his arrival a t Portsmouth, Mr. Tuckey had the mortification t o learn, that the Thetis had sailed three days before on a cruise. He was, however, b y means o f Captain Hart well, received o n board the Suffolk. On the 1st o f June, 1793, h e was rated midshipman; made the captain's aid de-camp, and some months afterwards was made master's mate. I n the Suffolk h e proceeded t o India, and arrived a t Madras i n September 1794. He was present a t the capture o f Trincomalee from the Dutch, i n 1795, served i n the batteries with the seamen during the whole siege, and escaped with a slight wound i n his left arm from the splinter o f a shell. He was present also a t the surrender o f Amboyna, and Banda: a t the former island the Mahometan natives would have exterminated the Dutch, had not the English undertaken their defence and protection; t o assist i n this humane purpose, Mr. Tuckey