Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p1.djvu/449

Rh judged it right to make every attempt to get the prize over the bar; but the ebb-tide having made, and being totally unacquainted with the navigation of the river, she got aground; and feeling it impossible ever to get her off, he considered it absolutely necessary to retreat, which he did after setting fire to, and rendering her unfit for further service. The retreat was conducted with the greatest order, and the whole of the prisoners and wounded brought off, notwithstanding a tremendous surf upon the bar, and under a heavy fire of grape and musketry from the batteries. At day-light the next morning Sir Charles Hamilton had the satisfaction to perceive the brig had sunk up to her gunwales in a quicksand. She was called the Senegal, had been fitted out there at the expense of the French republic, and mounted 18 12-pounders. When attacked she had nearly 60 men on board, some of whom escaped in a boat; the rest were killed in boarding, excepting 18, who were taken prisoners. The loss sustained by the British in this spirited affair amounted to 11, including Lieutenant Palmer, a marine officer, and a Midshipman, slain j Lieutenant Christie and 17 others wounded.

In the course of the same year Sir Charles Hamilton proceeded to the West Indies, where he continued till July 1802; during part of which time he acted as Commissioner of the naval yard at Antigua, lii November, 1803, he obtained the command of the Illustrious, a 74 gun-ship, attached to the Channel fleet. He subsequently Commanded in succession the Sea Fencibles at Harwich; the Temeraire, a second rate; and the Tonnant of 80 guns. In 1809 he was nominated to a Colonelcy of Royal Marines; and on the 1st Aug. 1810, advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral, and appointed Commander-in -Chief in the river Thames, on which occasion he hoisted his flag in the Thisbe frigate, where it continued until towards the conclusion of the war. His commission as Vice-Admiral bears date June 4, 1814.

In the spring of 1818 our officer succeeded the late Vice-Admiral Pickmore, as Governor of Newfoundland and Commander-in-Chief on that station; from whence he returned to England on leave of absence Nov. 1, 1822. Previous to his departure from St. John’s he received an address from all the principal inhabitants, and also from the Benevolent Irish