Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p2.djvu/384

 of eight guns and sixty men, was captured among the Tremiti islands, by a detachment of boats belonging to the Mercury and El Corso, the whole under the command of Lieutenant Mather; whom we next find serving under Captain William Bolton, in l’Aimable frigate, stationed off Ostend; where he was wounded in an action with the Gallo-Batavian flotilla, May 16th, 1804. His promotion to the rank of commander took place on the 23d Feb. 1807 ; and he appears to have been afterwards successively appointed to the Combatant, Rapid, and Tweed; which latter sloop he had the misfortune to lose, in Shoal Bay, Newfoundland, Nov, 5th, 1813. 



made a lieutenant on the 13th Feb. 1805, and advanced to his present rank Feb. 23d, 1807. 



as midshipman of the Edgar 74, Captain George Murray, at the battle of Copenhagen, April 2d, 1801; obtained a lieutenant’s commission in 1802; and was promoted to the rank of commander. May 6th, 1807, for an exploit thus officially recorded:

“H.M.S. Cerberus, off Martinique, Jan. 3d, 1807.

“Sir,– I beg leave to acquaint you, that in pursuance of your orders to me by Captain Pigot, of the Circe, I reconnoitred the ports of Guadaloupe and the Saintes: after having so done, and perceiving no force of any consequence, except a brig of sixteen guns, lying in the Saintes, I left Captain Pigot off that port, and was proceeding to my former station in further pursuance of your directions, when on the 2d instant, as I was beating to windward between Martinique and Dominica, I observed a privateer schooner, with a schooner and a sloop in company, standing for St. Pierre’s with French colours flying: I gave chase, and prevented them from reaching that port, upon which they all three anchored under a battery to the northward, near the Pearl Rock, and very close to the shore.

“It, however, appeared to me practicable to cut them out in the night. I consulted Lieutenant Coote on the occasion, who, with Lieutenant Bligh, volunteered the attack; and, about eight o’clock, they very gallantly