Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p2.djvu/294

 is the widow of William Blood, Esq., who was murdered by a banditti when travelling from Limerick to Dublin; and the other is married to M. Fitzgerald, Esq. of the Irish capital. 



born at Portsea in 1775, and had his name entered on the books of the Atalante sloop, Captain Thomas Marshall, in April, 1779. He first went to sea in a merchant ship, under the care of the late Captain Nathaniel Portlock, to whom, in 1785, a company of merchants, under the title of the “King George’s Sound Company,” had entrusted the command of an expedition intended to establish a trade in furs, between the western coast of America and China. On the 15th Nov. (a few days after the departure of the ships from St. Iago), he fell overboard from the main-rigging, and was some time in the water before he could be picked up. “Early the next morning,” says Mr. Portlock, “we caught a shark, which had the greatest part of a large porpoise in his maw: this gave us fresh cause of thankfulness for the preservation of young Gilmour.” The result of the speculation in which Mr. Portlock was then engaged will be seen by reference to p. 366 of Suppl. Part II.

In June, 1789, Mr. Gilmour joined the Guardian 44, armed en flûte, commanded by Lieutenant Edward Riou, and laden with stores destined for the new settlement at Port Jackson. The following is an authentic narrative of the disaster which befel that ship, after her departure from the Cape of Good Hope; – a disaster surmounted by the most intrepid conduct, and terminated by the most miraculous preservation; – a disaster, which had the effect of raising her commander and his courageous adherents – at once – from obscurity to fame:

“On the 24th Dec. 1789, being in lat. 44&deg; S., long. 41&deg; 30' E., the weather extremely foggy, an island of ice was seen about three miles to the S.W. Lieutenant Riou stood towards it, in order to collect lumps ofF ice to supply the ship with water. This proceeding was judged highly 