Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v2p2.djvu/141

 In the summer of 1806, Captain Tobin was attached to a homeward bound convoy; and soon after his arrival in England he received orders to proceed to the Irish station; from whence he escorted a fleet of merchantmen to Barbadoes and Jamaica, in the spring of 1809. On his return from the West Indies he was sent to St. Helena, to bring home the trade collected at that island; for which service he was presented by the Hon. East India Company with 200 guineas, for the purchase of a piece of plate, “as an acknowledgment of his care and attention.”

The Princess Charlotte having rejoined the flag at Cork, Captain Tobin had the gratification of receiving a handsome piece of plate from the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin, accompanied with a document, of which the following is a copy:

“At a meeting of the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin, on Thursday, Oct. 5, 1809,

“Resolved,– That the sum of one hundred pounds be laid out in the purchase of a piece of plate to be presented to George Tobin, Esq., commander of H.M.S. Princess Charlotte, with an address and suitable inscription, expressive of the high opinion the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company entertain of his very active services in saving the ship Maria, John Murphy Master, on the 11th day of March last, when under his convoy, laden with a cargo of merchandise, bound from Dublin to Madeira, after being run down by a ship in the fleet.

“Resolved, That Alderman Hone, Mr. Wilkinson, and Mr. Sparrow, be a Committee for carrying the foregoing resolution into effect.

“Signed by order of the Directors, “, Secretary.”

Mr. Bruce’s letter accompanying the above present, was replied to by Captain Tobin in the following terms:

“H.M.S. Princess Charlotte, Cove of Cork, June 3, 1810.

“Sir,– I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th ult., accompanied with the very handsome piece of plate voted to me on the 5th Oct. last, by the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin.

“Be assured, Sir, that such a mark of attention was unexpected on my part, as the affair of relieving the Maria had been passed in my mind as one of those casualties frequent in a large convoy; but I shall appreciate the gift the more, as the ‘Resolution of the Directors of the Commercial Insurance Company of Dublin’ is the only acknowledgment I ever 