Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/175

Rh On the former occasion, the St. Firmin, of 16 guns, and six sail of transports, were taken possession of by Lieutenant Nowell.

In the action with the Spanish squadron, the Resolution got along-side of the Princessa, a 70-gun ship, and in 40 minutes compelled her to surrender. The sea at this time ran so high that Lieutenant Nowell, who had been ordered by Sir Chaloner Ogle to take charge of the prize, was knocked down several times by the cut rigging, before he could get on board; and the weather continued so tempestuous as to prevent the possibility of removing the prisoners for three days. The situation he found the Princessa in was perilous in the extreme, owing to the injudicious disposal of the powder. Opposite the guns on the upper decks were open racks, capable of containing from twelve to fourteen cartridges each; these he immediately directed to be cleared, and their contents thrown into the sea. On descending to the lower-deck, he observed a train of loose powder, and followed it to the gun-room, where a large hatch that communicated with the magazine, was off; and on entering the latter, the impression of the men employed in filling cartridges during the action, appeared on the surface, the whole being stowed in bulk. The circumstance of the Princessa having escaped the fate of the St. Domingo, can only be attributed to the after-guns not being fired; as it was, repeated explosions on board her were observed from the Resolution; and of near 200 men whom Lieutenant Nowell found killed, wounded, and blown up, the greater part appeared to be of the latter description.

It was three weeks after the action before Lieutenant Nowell was enabled to anchor at Gibraltar, where, in the presence of Sir Chaloner Ogle and Lord Robert Manners, he received the thanks of Commodore Don Manuel de Leon; his Captain, St. Felix; and the officers of the Princessa, for the particular care he had taken to prevent their property being pillaged; and an invitation from the former, a Grandee of Spain, to visit him on the restoration of peace, for the purpose of being introduced to his Monarch.

The Resolution, to which ship Lord Robert Manners had