tenant was promoted to the rank of commander, and soon after deservedly to that of captain. On the 13th of February, Captain Henry Lambert (late of the Wilhelmina), in the St. Fiorenzo, of 38 guns, fell in, near Vizagapatam, with a French frigate, a privateer of 10 guns, and a country ship, their prize. After a chase of 37 hours, the British frigate came up with the merchant-ship, which she recaptured, and learnt that the enemy's ship was the Psyché, of 36 guns and 240 men, under the command of Captain Bergeret. Captain Lambert left a midshipman in charge of the prize, and made all sail in pursuit of the frigate, then endea vouring to escape, and at a great distance ahead. At ten minutes past eight he commenced a close action with her, which continued till half-past 11 o'clock, when the St. Fiorenzo hauled off to repair her rigging, and in half an hour after bore up to renew the contest; but, just as she was about to open her fire, an officer came from the enemy's ship to say that motives of humanity had compelled her captain to surrender; he had therefore struck his colours, though he might have borne the conflict much longer. Upon examination of the captured ship, however, all farther disguise was impracticable, and the cause of the surrender was evident; the second captain, two lieutenants, 54 seamen and soldiers, lay dead on her decks, with 70 officers and men wounded. The St. Fiorenzo had 12 killed and 36 wounded. There was a character in this action which marked it as one of peculiar coolness and gallantry on both sides. Captain Bergeret was a man universally esteemed by his enemies. His bravery, his talents, his humanity and generosity to his prisoners, had rendered him deservedly an object of interest to all those who had fallen into his power. He had been taken in a former action by Sir Edward Pellew, in the Indefatigable; he then commanded La Virginie, a very large frigate. The family of Lord Exmouth still retain a great friendship for this gallant and excellent Frenchman. Captain Lambert, whose conduct on this and the former occasion excited the admiration of the country, received no particular mark of favour for his victory. Admiral Rainier, while his cruisers were so honourably employed in the bay of Bengal, did not forget the blockade of the Isle of France, off which he stationed Captain Edward O. Osborn, in the Arrogant, of 74 guns, with a small squadron, who captured and destroyed many of the enemy's vessels; but, notwithstanding the vigilance of that excellent officer, the French squadron under M. Linois, with all their prizes, got safe into port. RETURN OF ADMIRAL RAINIER. 11 In January, 1805, Admiral Rainier was at Prince of Wales's Island, where he found Rear-admiral Sir Edward Pellew, in the Culloden, who had arrived to succeed him in the command. In March, Admiral Rainier sailed from Madras in the Trident: stopping at St. Helena, he took the China fleet under his convoy, and arrived safe in the Downs with the most valuable fleet that ever came from India. It consisted of 39 ships, and was estimated in value at fifteen millions sterling. Admiral Gantheaume was supposed to have been most anxious to get out for the chance of intercepting this fleet, but Cornwallis and Gardner kept too close to Brest to admit of his moving; and the gallant veteran Admiral Rainier completed his long and meritorious public services by bringing the convoy in safety to the ports of his country, from which he had been absent eleven years and four months. During the whole of that time he held the command in India; and no officer had ever possessed it for so long a period, nor with so much uninterrupted success. He died in London on the 6th of April, 1808, after having bequeathed to his country one-tenth part of the property which he had acquired in its service.* The peace of Amiens, which had added to our Indian territory the beautiful island of Ceylon, of the same length and something broader than Ireland, while it gave us the possession of Trincomalee, Point de Galle, and Colombo, added to the weight and responsibility resting on the supreme government and the commander-in-chief of the naval forces in India. To these vast possessions St. Helena may be called the first or outward barrier; the Cape of Good Hope the second; and the island of Ceylon the third. Of this island the Honourable Frederick North was appointed governor on its cession to the British crown; but he had still to contend with the King of Candi, the native sovereign of the country, for the command of the fruitful provinces of the interior. In the month of June, 1803, the unfortunate Major Davie, who commanded a detachment of 40 British and 200 Malay troops, was induced to lay down his arms, when intrusted with the defence of the city of Candi, and himself and people were put to death in cold blood, with the exception of two or three who were permitted to escape. The entire possession of the * With the highest possible respect for the memory of this excellent officer and man, I should humbly suggest that if in future any of our admirals should happen to have more money than their own relations might require, they would think of the widows and orphans of their brother-officers "at the Thatched House." The bequest of 10 per cent. was like a drop of water in the ocean whereon it had been gained, and was received without thanks, for none could be grateful for that which, being spread over so large a surface, was unfelt and unseen. coast, and all the sea-ports of the island, gave us a great advantage as a maritime power; but unfortunately Ceylon, for many years past, has been subject to diseases formerly unknown or of rare occurrence; and Trincomalee, the finest harbour in the world, is scarcely tenable from the prevalence of the Indian cholera. While Admiral Rainier was on his passage to England, Linois, his great opponent in India, having completed his repairs at the Isle of France, and made good the damage sustained in the action with the Centurion, sailed on his third cruise, in which he was more successful in the acquisition of wealth than of honour. It had been considered by Earl St. Vincent that the EastIndia command, from the Gulf of Persia to China, or from the Cape of Good Hope to Macao, was too extensive for one officer. Rear-admiral Sir Edward Pellew now exclusively held that command, to which he had succeeded on the resignation of Vice-admiral Rainier, early in 1805. In the same year Rear-admiral Sir Thomas Trowbridge was appointed to share the profits and the patronage of that enviable station; he had the east, while Sir Edward Pellew held the west side of the Peninsula. Sir Thomas Trowbridge, having his flag in the Blenheim, of 74 guns, a reduced 90-gun ship, sailed from England some time in June, with 10 sail of Indiamen under his convoy, and a body of troops on board, with which he was directed to proceed to Madras with the least possible delay. Linois, having quitted the Isle of France in the month of May, upon his third cruise, scoured the Mosambique channel, with the Marengo and the Belle Poule: thence he proceeded to the mouth of the Red Sea, and, finding the weather too violent, he steered for Point de Galle, in the island of Ceylon, captured the Brunswick East Indiaman, and then directed his course towards the Cape of Good Hope. No man had more perseverance than Linois, none had ever more opportunities of seeing his enemy, and none was ever more unfortunate in the results. His error of Pulo A'or was mistaking Indiamen for ships of war; in the present instance he was equally unfortu nate in mistaking a ship of war for an Indiaman. In his action with the Centurion he was undecided, and kept at too great a distance; in his action with the Blenheim he showed a want of conduct; in short, the whole naval career of this officer was marked with error or misfortune. Few men were ever more in action, or came out of it with less credit. His last action, in which he was taken, was his best; of that we shall speak in its proper place. In the month of August he fell in TROWBRIDGE AND LINOIS. 13 with Sir Thomas Trowbridge and his convoy to the eastward of Madagascar, in 81° east and 19° south. Linois had with him the Belle Poule and Atalante frigates, of 44 guns, and the Brunswick, his prize. The Marengo brought the Blenheim to action, most probably under the conviction of that ship being an Indiaman; but, feeling the effect of her lower-deck guns, Linois very quickly took himself out of gun-shot, and hauled his wind. The Blenheim sailed too ill to attempt the pursuit, and the British rear-admiral continued his course to Madras, where he arrived without any farther accident, and took the command in the Eastern seas. 14 CHAPTER II. Plans of Napoleon for invasion of England-Number and disposition of his forces-His letters to the minister of marine and to La Touche Treville-Force of his fleet-Directions of Napoleon for the exercise of his Brest fleet-Letter to Missiessy-Army and flotilla-Plans his expeditions to St. Helena, West Indies, and Ireland-Rendezvous off Boulogne-Combination of Spain with France-Causes of failure— Sir Robert Calder sent off Ferrol-Rigorous blockade of BrestAnxiety of Napoleon for the sailing of Gantheaume-Orders to take the West India islands and St. Helena. THE naval history of Great Britain for the year 1805, was fraught with events of such magnitude as to command in a particular manner the attention of the whole civilized world, whose political existence depended on the result of the great struggle preparing to be decided on the ocean between the navies of Britain and those of France, Spain, and Holland, united against her. The Emperor of France, with his " invincible army of England," encamped on the heights of Boulogne, waited, or pretended to wait, with anxious expectation to hear of the defeat of the British fleet, before he embarked on his perilous enterprise against the last refuge of liberty in Europe. While our fleets preserved their position before the Texel, Brest, Rochefort, Vigo, Ferrol, Cadiz, Carthagena, and Toulon, the smaller vessels, under the command of the most enterprising young officers, watched every motion of the flotilla and the imperial legions, and lost no opportunity of showing to them the kind of enemy they would have to encounter, should they ever reach the happy shores of Britain. The scene of naval operations extended from the Texel to Toulon, thence westward as far as the island of Trinidad, the Antilles, and Jamaica. The year 1804 had been suffered to pass away without any attempt on the part of France, and little was effected by us worthy of notice. I shall in this place endeavour to show how vast, and at the same time how indefinite, were the naval plans embraced by Bonaparte for destroying the power of this country; in doing |