Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p1.djvu/119

Rh  During the peace which commenced in 1783, Captain Pole commanded the Crown, guard-ship; and, upon occasion of the Spanish armament, in 1790, was appointed to the Melampus, a 36-gun frigate, employed in watching the progress of any equipments which might take place in the port of Brest, with a view of seconding the efforts of the Court of Madrid. In the succeeding year, we find him in the Illustrious, of 74 guns; and about the same period he was nominated a Groom of the Bed-chamber to H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence.

On the commencement of the war with the French republic, in 1793, Captain Pole’s services were too valuable to be passed unnoticed; and he was, accordingly, appointed to the command of the Colossus, another third rate, and accompanied Vice-Admiral Hotham to the Mediterranean, from which station he returned to England after the evacuation of Toulon by the allied forces. He was advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral, June 1, 1795.

Our officer, after serving for some time in the Channel Fleet, sailed for the West Indies, with his flag in the Colossus, as second in command to the late Sir Hugh C. Christian, and took an able part in the various important services on which the squadron under that officer’s orders was employed. 