Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v2p1.djvu/447

 which ship he soon after removed into the Vesuve gun-vessel. Oh the 29th of the following month he was advanced to the rank of Commander, and appointed to la Suffisante of 14 guns.

On the 27th May, 1796, Captain Tomlinson, after a chase of eleven hours, and an action of thirty minutes, captured la Revanche French national brig, of twelve long 4-pounders and 85 men, between Ushant and the Main, then a lee shore. The enemy had 2 men killed and 7 wounded; la Suffisante only 1 man wounded. Vice-Admiral Onslow, when reporting this capture, expressed himself as follows:

In the following month Captain Tomlinson captured la Patriote and le Morgan French privateers, the latter mounting 16 guns; an American ship, and a Danish brig, the one laden with contraband stores, the other with French property; and re-captured six valuable British merchantmen.

On the 1st Aug. in the same year he attacked a French convoy, consisting of a brig mounting 16 guns, two cutters of 14 guns each, and seventeen sail of merchant vessels, eight of which he drove on shore and destroyed. He subsequently captured a large ship laden with rice and wine, and two other French vessels; a Dutch vessel laden with wine, and a ship with masts and spars, the latter bound to Spain; and four Spanish vessels, one of which he gave up to the prisoners.

For these and other services he was deservedly advanced to the rank of Post-Captain, Dec. 12, 1796; nor was this the only reward he received for his zealous exertions, as will appear by the following documents:

“, That Captain Tomlinson, of H.M.S. la Suffisante, be requested by this Committee to accept of a piece of plate, value 50 guineas, in acknowledgment of his gallant behaviour in the capture of la Revanche French brig, in the action on the 27th May; and also in the action on the 27th June last, when he captured the Morgan French privateer, and re-captured six British merchant ships, her prizes, and in 