where she was soon moored, head and stern, with her broadside commanding the entrance, little more than a cable’s length in breadth. At about 1 30 p.m., the ships being far in the offing, Capt. Walcott, wishing to avoid delay, ordered the boats, armed with two carronades and manned with 47 hands, to be hoisted out, and in person led them to the desperate attack. At 3 p.m., having arrived within gun-shot, the British became exposed to a galling fire from the schooner[1] and from several of her crew, who had been sent on shore and stationed among the bushes at the harbour’s mouth. Having sustained and returned the fire for three-quarters of an hour, the boats, availing themselves at length of a favourable opportunity, gave three cheers, and dashed with impetuosity alongside. Panic-struck at their determined spirit, the pirates attempted to save themselves by jumping into the sea. Twenty-eight of them, however, including their villainous chief, Cayatano Arogonez, were secured, and the whole of them (with the exception of five, admitted as King’s evidence) ultimately hanged at Port Royal, Jamaica. Sixteen, who escaped from the vessel, were taken in the woods by troops sent against them by the Governor of Baracoa. The loss of the enemy during the fight amounted at least to 10 killed and 15 wounded; while that of the British was confined to 1 man killed and 5 wounded.[2] The “courage, perseverance, zeal, and abilities” displayed by Capt. Walcott in the execution of the orders he had received for the extirpation of piracy drew forth the highest commendation and praise of his Commander-in-Chief, Sir Chas. Rowley; and the Admiralty, to mark its approbation of his conduct, promoted his Senior Midshipman, Mr. Henry Shapland, and confirmed in the rank of Master the officer, Mr. Thos. Bull, who had been acting as such on board the Tyne, and who throughout the cruize had repeatedly brought both her and the Thracian in safety through an intricate and dangerous navigation. Capt. Walcott’s impaired state of health obliging him, in the ensuing May, to invalid. Sir C. Rowley appointed Capt. Roberts his successor in the Tyne, and gave to Mr. John Delanoey Robinson, Midshipman, who had assisted at the capture of the Zaragozana, an order to act as Lieutenant. Capt. Roberts and Mr. Bull had been left during the engagement on board their respective ships; but by the time the capture was completed, having followed the boats, they had reached nearly within gunshot. We may add that, during his examination of the different creeks, Capt. Walcott had found on an island in the port of Maranjo a cargo consisting of 1100 casks of wine and spirits; and that, upon his own responsibility, considering the concealment of the wine suspicious, and believing it to be some of the captured property taken by the pirate, he had embarked it. It was afterwards condemned and sold at Jamaica for 6000l., two-thirds of which were deducted from the captors for government and colonial duties, leaving only 2000l. to be shared; whereas, had Capt. Walcott failed to establish the cargo as the property of the pirates, he would have been liable to the full extent of 6000l. Since he left the Tyne he has been unsuccessful in his efforts to procure employment.
Upon the appointment of the Duke of Clarence to the office of Lord High Admiral, Sir Chas. Rowley brought under the notice of H.R.H. a statement of Capt. Walcott’s services while under his command, claiming for him at the same time the decoration of the third class of the Order of the Bath. In an official letter[3] subsequently addressed by the Duke to the Secretary of State for the War and Colonial Department, Viscount Goderich, H.R.H. desired that Capt. Walcott’s name and services, accompanied by his recommendation, might be submitted to the King, with the view of obtaining for him the distinction he solicited. Unfortunately the Lord High Admiral went out of office before the arrangement could come into effect, and Capt. Walcott’s claims have not been since attended to. He married, in Feb. 1819, Charlotte Anac, daughter of Colonel John Nelley of the Bengal Artillery, and has issue a son and two daughters.
WALDEGRAVE, C.B., Earl. (Rear-Admiral,, 1846. f-p., 16; h-p., 30.)
The Right Honourable William, Earl Waldegrave, born in 1788, is fourth son of George, fourth Earl Waldegrave, by his cousin. Lady Elizabeth Laura Waldegrave, daughter of James, the second Earl, whose widow married H.R.H. William Henry Duke of Gloucester, and was the mother of the late Duke and of the Princess Sophia of Gloucester. His Lordship, who succeeded his nephew as eighth Earl in 1846, is first cousin of the present Rear-Admiral Lord Radstock, C.B.
This officer entered the Navy, 11 Aug. 1801, as Fst.-cl. Boy, on board the Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh, bearing the flag of his uncle Lord Radstock, and then fitting at Spithead. Removing, in Jan. 1802 (he had already attained the rating of Midshipman), to the Medusa 32, commanded by the late Sir John Gore, he contributed in that ship, after cruizing in the Mediterranean, to the capture of three Spanish frigates laden with treasure, and the destruction of a fourth off Cape St. Mary, 5 Oct. 1804; and to the detention, in the ensuing Nov., of the Matilda 36, a ship laden with a cargo of quick-silver worth 200,000l. In the early part of 1805 the Medusa conveyed the Marquis Cornwallis as Governor-General to India; whence she effected her passage home, a distance of 13,831 miles, in the wonderfully short period of 82 days. After serving for a few months with Sir John Gore in the Channel in the Revenge 74, Mr. Waldegrave joined at Plymouth, in June, 1806, the Royal George 100, flagship of Sir John Duckworth. On 29 July following he was made Lieutenant into the Sirius[4] 36, Capt. Wm. Prowse, on his former station, the Mediterranean; where he was appointed, 12 Dec. 1808 and 11 April, 1809, to the Ocean 98 and Ville de Paris 110, bearing each the flag of Lord Collingwood. On the night of 31 Oct. in the latter year we find him serving with the boats of a squadron under Lieut. John Tailour, at the capture and destruction of the French armed store-ship Lamproie of 16 guns and 116 men, bombards Victoire and Grondeur, armed xebec Normande, and several merchant-vessels, defended by numerous strong batteries in the Bay of Rosas, after a desperate struggle and a loss to the British of 15 killed and 55 wounded. As we learn from Lord Collingwood’s public letter, he displayed on that occasion the spirit which was inherent in him,[5] and, having been the first volunteer on the service, he was sent home by his Lordship with his despatches. He arrived at the Admiralty 29 Nov. following, and three days afterwards was promoted to the rank of Commander. He was next, 6 July, 1810, and 8 March, 1811 (the latter the date of his Post-commission), appointed to the Melpomène[6] and Macedonian, on the Lisbon station; he left the Macedonian in June, 1811 and he was afterwards, from 7 Feb. 1829 until 1832, and from 9 May, 1839, until 1842, employed, in South America and the Mediterranean, in the Seringapatam 46[7] and Revenge 76. For his conduct in the ship last-mentioned at the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre he was nominated a C.B. 18 Dec. 1849. He
- ↑ She had hitherto displayed Spanish colours, but now substituted the black flag.
- ↑ Among other preparations against boarders, the decks of the prize were found covered with bottles full of combustible materials, which might have proved destructive had not the bravery first manifested evaporated.
- ↑ Dated 22 June, 1827.
- ↑ The Sirius was on one occasion sent home with convoy. On entering soundings the latterwas attacked hy two French frigates, but by the skill of Capt. Prowse the designs of the enemy were frustrated.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1903.
- ↑ After General Massena’s retreat from before Torres Vedras the Melpomène (an armée en flûte) assisted in carrying the British army under General Hill across the Tagus.
- ↑ Capt. Waldegrave was Senior officer in the Pacific from May, 1830, until April, 1832.
