Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/17

 *ther officer, named Whitehurst. Our orders were to proceed the following day to Lord Nelson, then off the coast of Catalonia, and thence to Malta; unhappily for me it was otherwise ordained; for at break of day on the 4th of August, four frigates, viz. "La Corneille, (Commodore) Le Rhin, L'Uranie and La Thamise" were discovered about five miles astern; all sail was immediately crowded upon our little squadron, steering about S.S.W. with a moderate breeze from the W.N.W.; as the day broke, the Redbridge schooner hove in sight on the larboard bow upon the opposite tack, having a transport under her convoy, and, passing within hail of the Phœbe, soon after spoke me. The lieutenant recommended my tacking and following him; but as I saw that by so doing I should be running into the teeth of the enemy, and inevitably taken, in a quarter of an hour, I preferred executing my captain's orders, by keeping my station as long as I could: to this end we cut the long boat adrift, and began to lighten the vessel by throwing the cargo overboard, and setting every yard of can