Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p1.djvu/78

 

Mr. entered the navy in April, 1799; and served the greater part of his time as midshipman, under Sir W. Sidney Smith, in the Tigre 80, and Antelope 50; the former ship employed in co-operation with the Turkish forces on the coasts of Syria and Egypt, where she remained until the peace of Amiens; the latter in watching the ports of Helvoetsluys, Flushing, Ostend, and Boulogne, subsequent to the renewal of hostilities, in 1803. At this period, Mr. Arabin was often in close action with vessels destined to form a part of the flotilla collecting for the invasion of England; and his conduct on every occasion appears to have met with the unqualified approbation of his superiors. On the 24th March, 1801, he was publicly thanked by Sir W. Sidney Smith, for the gallant and judicious manner in which he conducted the boats of the Antelope, after every officer senior to himself was wounded, in an attack on a Dutch armed schuyt, moored at the entrance of the East Scheldt, and in every way prepared for an obstinate resistance. The capture of this vessel