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  after the trial; and in Jan. 1798, appointed to the Penguin sloop of war on the Irish station, where he continued till advanced to post rank, May 15, 1800. Some time after this promotion, he was nominated acting Captain of the Centaur 74, at the request of her proper commander, the present Admiral Markham, then about to take a seat at the Board of Admiralty. During the remainder of the war, we find him cruising off Brest and Rochefort.

In the night of April 10, 1801, the Centaur was run foul of by the Mars 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thornbrough, commander of the in-shore squadron off Brest. Two men were killed and 4 wounded by the falling of the mainmast. Captain Littlehales having rigged a jury-mast, bore up for Plymouth, where he arrived on the 14th. After repairing her damages, the Centaur rejoined the Channel Fleet; and at the latter end of the same year she formed part of the squadron assembled in Bantry bay, where a mutiny broke out on board some of the ships, in consequence of their being ordered to the West Indies to watch the motions of an armament which had sailed from Brest for St. Domingo; and to be in readiness to check the French commanders, should they betray any sinister intentions against the valuable colonies belonging to Great Britain in that quarter.

The treaty of Amiens having been ratified by the British and French governments, Captain Markham continued at the Admiralty, the subject of this memoir was confirmed in the command of the Centaur, and that ship selected by the late Vice-Admiral Dacres to bear his flag at Plymouth; where she remained till Nov. 18, 1802, on which day Captain Littlehales sailed with sealed orders for Barbadoes, from whence she conveyed Lieutenant-General Grinfield, the military commander-in-chief, to the different islands, on a tour of inspection.

In 1803, after a short cessation, war was again declared, and Sir Samuel Hood, who had hoisted his broad pendant on board the Centaur as Commodore at the Leeward Islands, lost not a moment in proceeding to the attack of St. Lucia; and in thirty-six hours after his departure from Carlisle bay,