Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/483

 employed will be seen by reference to our memoirs of Captains, , , &c. &c.

Commodore Penrose obtained a colonelcy of royal marines, Aug. 12, 1812; and on his return from Gibraltar, in 1813, he was appointed a joint commissioner with Rear-Admiral T. B. Martin and Captain John Wainwright, to make a revision of the establishments for the equipment of ships of war; in which he continued to be employed till his advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral, Dec. 4, 1813. Previous to his quitting the rock, the British merchants there presented him with a handsome service of plate, as a testimony of their high respect, and as an acknowledgment of his constant attention to their interests, while commanding on that station.

In Jan. 1814, Rear-Admiral Penrose was selected to command the naval force employed at the bottom of the bay of Biscay, in co-operation with the allied armies under Wellington; a proof of the high estimation in which his abilities were then held. The exploits of his squadron, in the neighbourhoods of Bayonne and Bourdeaux, have been very fully detailed under the head of Captain John Coode, C.B.

We have likewise stated, that Rear-Admiral Penrose returned from Passages to Plymouth, in the Porcupine of 22 guns, and struck his flag Sept. 12, 1814. Before the conclusion of that month, we find him appointed commander-in-chief on the Mediterranean station, to which he immediately proceeded in the Queen 74.

During the war with Murat, in 1815, the Sicilian navy was placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Penrose, who afterwards had the honor of conveying Ferdinand IV. from Palermo to Melazzo, Messina, and Naples. On his arrival off the latter place, the King refused to go ashore in the royal barge, saying he would rather be landed and reinstated by his friend, the British admiral, upon whom he then conferred the Grand Cross of St. Ferdinand and of Merit, presenting him at the same time with an enamelled snuff-box, having his Majesty’s portrait, set in large diamonds, upon the lid.

On the 3d Jan. 1816, Rear-Admiral Penrose was 