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 sails and rigging. We shall only add, that Lord Keith, in a letter to Captain Hancock, dated Oct. 28, 1804, expressed himself pleased with his zealous and active exertions, and regretted that they had not been attended with the success which they deserved.

In 1805, Captain Hancock was constantly emplayed as senior officer off Flushing and Ostend. During that and the preceding year, he was no less than 104 times in action, either with the enemy’s flotilla or land batteries; and so great was his zeal in checking the movements of the former, and in cutting off neutral vessels when attempting to break the strict blockade which he was ordered to maintain, that the approbation of the Admiralty, and of the different flag-officers under whom he served, was frequently expressed to him in very flattering terms: strange, however, as it may appear, although he received the thanks of many corporate and mercantile bodies for “ridding the seas of the most daring and successful plunderer that ever appeared on the British coast during the close of the last, and beginning of the present century ;” also for his general activity in taking privateers, and rescuing British property to an immense amount,