Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v4p2.djvu/345

 Myrmidon sloop, Captain Henry John Lecke, on the African station, in 1820. His next appointment was, Sept. 30th, 1821, to the Salisbury, 58, fitting out for the flag of Rear-Admiral (afterwards Sir W. C. Fahie), commander-in-chief on the Halifax station. In Jan. 1825, he was selected to accompany Captain Frederick W. Beechey, as assistant-surveyor, in the Blossom sloop, on a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Before the end of that year, he appears to have had two remarkable escapes from a premature death, at Oeno, a coral formation, to the northward of Pitcairn’s Island. An outline of the Blossom’s proceedings between May 19th, 1825, the day of her departure from Spithead, and Oct. I2th, 1828, when she was paid off at Woolwich, will be found in. Mr. Belcher’s promotion to his present rank took place on the 16th Mar. 1829.

In Aug. 1831, the AEtna surveying vessel, commanded by the subject of this sketch, arrived at Portsmouth, after a severe service of seven months on the African station. The principal object of her survey was to ascertain the extent of the Arguin shoals, on which the celebrated shipwreck of the French frigate Meduse occurred some years since. She had also been employed in closely surveying the whole coast from Cape Blanco to Rio Grande. To the southward of Rio Grande, Commander Belcher discovered a river, up which his boats proceeded fifteen miles; he found it perfectly navigable for that distance, and supposed it to be another mouth of the Rio Grande. From the constant exposure of boats, under a vertical sun, the crew of the AEtna were at length afflicted with scurvy; and as a necessary change of provisions, a remedy always successfully resorted to, could not be obtained on that part of the coast, she was compelled to return to England.

On the 25th and 26th Aug. 1831, a court-martial was held at Spithead, to try Lieutenant Francis Godolphin Bond, second of the AEtna, at his own request, on charges of alleged