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 the tide ebbed and flowed inboard of her, evidently proceeding from a general bilge of her flooring or bottom; that her whole frame was hogged upwards in different parts, and her stern-post disunited from the wooden ends; that it appeared absolutely impossible to remove her in a perfect body from alongside the mould in the Nieuve Diep, where she was then lying aground; and that it would therefore be impracticable ever again to render her serviceable to his Majesty. The surveying Captains, George Bowen, Richard Worsley, and John Larmour, concluded their report in the following terms:–

That the Blanche did not get on shore through any neglect or fault of Captain Ayscough, and that no endeavours were wanting to extricate her, will be further seen by the sentence of the court-martial assembled to enquire into the cause of that unfortunate accident, a copy of which sentence we shall now lay before our readers:

Captain Ayscough’s trial took place, at Sheerness, Nov. 1, 1799; and in the course of the same month, the Board of Admiralty marked their approbation of his conduct by appointing him to the Inconstant 36, armed en flute, in which ship he was attached to the different expeditions that were afterwards undertaken against Quiberon, Cadiz, and the French army in Egypt. On each of those occasions he volunteered to land with the army, and his offers were always accepted.

