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 By that excellent judge of merit, he was in a short time promoted, and appointed to command the St. Lucia schooner (rated as a sloop of war), in which vessel he captured several of the enemy’s privateers, and rendered such other service to the British trade as obtained him the public thanks of his Commodore, by whom he was subsequently appointed to the Hippomenes, formerly a Dutch corvette, pierced for 18 guns, but mounting only 14, with a complement of 90 officers, men, and boys.

On Captain Shipley’s removal from the St. Lucia, the whole of that vessel’s crew were so desirous of following their youthful commander, that scarcely a dry eye was to be seen among them, as he descended the side. If there was any one part of his character as an officer more remarkable for its merit than another, it was the peculiar art of gaining the affection and respect of all under his command.

On the third day after his appointment to the Hippomenes, Captain Shipley captured a French frigate-built privateer, of 36 guns and 240 men. This exploit, which, considering the enemy’s vast superiority, reflects the greatest possible credit on him for his zeal and gallantry in pursuing her, cannot be better described than in his own modest letter to Commodore Hood; wherein he carefully abstains from attaching the least praise to himself, but at the same time reports the spirited conduct of a brother-officer in a manner becoming an ingenuous British sailor:–

“H.M. sloop Hippomenes, Mar. 29, 1804.

“Sir,– I have the honor to acquaint you with the capture of l’Egyptienne, French privateer (formerly a republican frigate), mounting 36 guns, twelves and nines, commanded by Mons. Placiard, and having 240 men on board, on the evening of the 27th instant, after an arduous chase of fifty-four hours, and a running fight of three hours and twenty minutes, by his Majesty’s sloop under my command, for she struck the moment we fairly got alongside of her. I feel much pleasure in saying, the officers and men behaved with that coolness and intrepidity inherent in Englishmen; and had the enemy allowed them a fair trial alongside, I am convinced her superior force would not have availed them much * * * * * *?. The slight resistance she made, I can only attribute to the fear of being as severely beat as she had been four days previous by the Osprey, who killed 8 of her men, and wounded 19; and whose gallantry astonished them. Mr. John