Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p2.djvu/177

 the destruction of a formidable battery commanding the mouth of the river Weser, on which occasion he was officially commended for his “indefatigable exertions in forwarding orders to the different detachments” from a squadron under Captain Lord George Stuart. His subsequent appointments were, Aug. 25th, 1813, to command the Vixen gun-brig; – Mar. 25th, 1815, to be first lieutenant of the Boyne 98, flag-ship of Lord Exmouth; – and, July 3d, 1816, to be flag-lieutenant to the same officer, in which capacity he served at the memorable battle of Algiers. On the 16th Sept. following, he was promoted to the rank of commander; on the 24th Jan. 1827, appointed to the Alert sloop, fitting out for a “particular service;” and on the 27th Nov. 1829, advanced to the command of the Warspite 76, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral (now Sir Thomas) Baker, on the South American station. The Alert was employed for a considerable time in the Pacific, under the immediate orders of Captain Jeremiah Coghlan, C.B.

On the 25th Nov. 1830, Captain Burgess assumed the command of the Thetis 46, then at Rio Janeiro, from whence she was about to sail for England, with specie to a very considerable amount. Eleven days afterwards he addressed the following report to Rear-Admiral Baker:–

“Cabo du Praia decano, Dec. 6, 1830.

“Sir,– Under the most poignant feelings of grief and distress, it is my melancholy duty to communicate to you the total loss of H.M.S. Thetis, on Cape Frio, last night about 8 o’clock, with every thing belonging to her; the officers, crew, and myself barely escaping with our lives, by being landed through the surf up a precipitous rough rock, which some of the crew had been so fortunate as to reach by jumping upon the first point she struck against. By the shock of the bowsprit being carried away, all three lower-masts fell aft, and killed and wounded several; the former, with the. missing, amount to 16. I am sorry that among them are the late Captain Bingham’s youngest son, and Mr. Long, the Admiralty clerk. I am just landed, and am anxious to give you as early knowledge of this sad catastrophe as I can, in order to obtain relief for the officers and crew, who, from their cut feet and bruises, are unable to undertake a journey to