Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/135

 LIEUT. CARRE TUPPER, of H. M. S. VICTORY.

��A brief mention is made of this officer at page 105. He was born on the 11th February, 1765, and ob- tained his lieutenantcy in 1782, at the early age of retarded his further advancement. Soon after the declaration of the war in 1793, he was actively em- ployed in the Mediterranean, and he had already given fair promise of reaching the summit of his profession when he was suddenly cut off at Bastia, in the island of Corsica. We have heard that he was, unknown to himself, a commander, having been promoted by the admiralty for his recent services at Toulon ; and it is certain that Lord Hood, from the same cause, promised him the first commander's vacancy, which occurred a very few days after his death, and which was given in consequence to the present Vice-Admiral Sir John Gore, K.C.B., then also a lieutenant of the Victory. In person he was tall and remarkably handsome, and " Tupper was a dashing, gallant fellow," was an ob- servation made to the editor by a distinguished British admiral, now living, who knew him.

The following are extracts relative to his brief career : —

From Sir Sidney Smith's official Letter to Admiral Lord Hood, describing

the destruction of the ships and arsenal at Toulon, on the night of the

18th December, 1793.

In this situation we continued to wait most anxiously for the hour concerted with the governor for the inflammation of the trains. The moment the signal was made, we had the satisfaction to see the flames rise in every quarter. Lieutenant Tupper was charged with the burning of the general magazine, the pitch, tar, tallow, H

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