Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v4p1.djvu/92

 that excellent man, whose melancholy fate in the Defence 74, was attended with circumstances that must have forcibly recalled to the minds of those brought up on his quarterdeck, the unflinching principles of their “gallant and self-devoted” commander, Mr. Cobb had the good fortune to complete the remainder of his first six years’ servitude. In 1805, he assisted at the capture of the French and Spanish privateers Perseverante (schooner) and Concepcion (felucca), in the neighbourhood of Porto Rico. In 1806, he joined the Northumberland 74, bearing the flag of the Hon. Alexander I. Cochrane, commander-in-chief on the Leeward Islands station; where he received a lieutenant’s commission, dated April 21st, 1807.

On his return to England, in the same year, Mr. Cobb was appointed to the Monarch 74, Captain (now Sir Richard) Lee; which ship formed part of the squadron detached from before Lisbon, by Sir W. Sidney Smith, to escort the Prince Regent of Portugal, his family, and court, to Brazil; in consequence of that illustrious personage, alarmed as he was by the measures of Napoleon Buonaparte, having resolved to abandon his European dominions, and to establish the House of Braganza at Rio Janeiro, “until a general peace.”

The Monarch subsequently proceeded to the Rio de la Plata, where Captain Lee entered into a treaty with the Spanish authorities, for the suspension of hostilities, until the official accounts of the political changes in Europe could be received from the mother country. In 1809, she returned home, and was attached to the magnificent, but ill-conducted expedition, against Antwerp; on which occasion we find her bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral William Albany Otway.

On the arrival of the fleet off Walcheren, Lieutenant Cobb was ordered to attend Sir Eyre Coote in a reconnoissance, previous to the disembarkation of the army. He afterwards landed that general and his staff, &c., and then served on shore with the naval brigade, under Lord Amelius Beauclerk, until the bombardment of Flushing, during which a gun-boat under his command was considerably injured by the enemy’s shot, and had four of her crew wounded. Whilst assisting