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 Megaera fire-vessel; and on the death of Captain Alexander Hood, who fell in action with the French 74 Hercule, he was posted into the Mars. By this time, however, from frequent exposure to wet and cold, the rheumatic gout had caught fast hold of him; and although not without many friends, possessing both the inclination and power to serve him, he was prevailed upon to accept the command of a division of sea-fencibles, which he retained from the first formation of that corps, in 1798, until its final dissolution, in 1810. He was superannuated with the rank of rear-admiral, June 2d, 1825. 



officer, after nearly twenty-six years most active service afloat, two more in command of the Liverpool district of sea-fencibles, and above four as pay-captain (or assistant commissioner) at Plymouth, was, at the end of the late war, placed on half-pay, and for want of interest could never afterwards obtain employment. It will be seen by reference to Vol. II. Part I. pp. 283–289, that he bore a part in two general actions during the American revolutionary war; that he personally assisted at the assault and capture of Fort Louis, during the siege of Martinique, in 1794; that he subsequently boarded and destroyed a French ordnance storeship, mounting eighteen guns, under a battery at St. François, in the island of Guadaloupe; that he highly distinguished himself as first lieutenant of the Amazon frigate, and received some severe contusions in action with the French 80-gun ship les Droits de l’Homme, on the night of Jan. 13th, 1797; that he was immediately afterwards wrecked and taken prisoner, with the loss of his wardrobe and other private property; that he commanded the Centaur 74, for a period of about two years and four months, during which he served with the inshore squadron off Brest, and was handsomely spoken of by Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, for his assiduity and attention, at the reduction of St. Lucia; also that ill-health 