Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp3.djvu/299

 the only alternatives. Hesitation would have been ruin. The cutter dashed onwards through a heavy fire of cannon and musketry. Lieutenant Watts’s first reception was a bayonet in the face, which forced him overboard; he, however, succeeded in scaling the vessel’s side, and made his way into the midst of the enemy, where he fought alone for a considerable time, during which he was often knocked down, his jacket was pierced in eight places with bayonets, and he received five severe and eight lesser wounds, together with numberless contusions, before he was succoured by his brave companions; when, after a short but severe conflict, the felucca was carried with a prodigious loss on the part of her defenders, all of whom, except seven, were either killed, wounded, or forced overboard. The other two boats arrived in time only to take her in tow, and had not a man hurt. For this most gallant exploit, the Patriotic Society voted Lieutenant Watts a sword, with a suitable inscription, value 50 guineas, together with a donation of 100 pounds.

On the return of the Comus to England, the different ships attached to the grand expedition against Copenhagen were proceeding to the general rendezvous, and, at this critical moment. Captain Shipley was appointed to la Nymphe frigate, under the orders of Admiral Gambier. Lieutenant Watts was to have gone with him; but before the exchange could be effected, la Nymphe sailed, and, to his great chagrin, the Comus, then commanded by Captain Edmund Heywood, was ordered to fit for Channel service. Her destination, however, was soon changed; for, when ready to sail, she was sent to Harwich, to receive on board three general officers, with their respective suites, and to take under her protection a fleet of transports, bound to the anchorage before Elsineur.

Shortly after her arrival in the Sound, the Comus was detached in pursuit of the Danish guard-ship, the latter having slipped her cables in the night of Aug. 12, 1807, and passed unperceived through the British fleet. At the same time the Defence 74, Captain Charles Ekins, was ordered to go in search of a two-decker, then on the coast of Norway.

The captain, officers, and crew of the Comus, were thus