vessels, at anchor under a small battery within the Dead Man’s Chest. The enemy’s guns on shore were soon silenced by the Trent, and her boats sent under cover of the Sparrow to attack the vessels. On their approach each of the privateers hoisted the bloody (red) flag, as an indication that no quarter would be given; but notwithstanding this they resolutely pushed on, and; after a smart action carried the whole without losing a man, while the enemy had not less than 50 killed and wounded. In the following July Capt. Otway formed a plan for cutting out the late British frigate Hermione, whose crew had mutinied, and carried her, as reported, into the port of Laguira. For this purpose he left the Trent with two boata; and at one a.m. on the 8th, after a fatiguing row of many hours, entered the enemy’s anchorage, but, to his mortification, found that the object of his search was not there. Resolved, however, to effect something, he made a dash at a vessel, apparently a corvette, which his pilot informed him had lately arrived from Spain. Although knocked back, while in the act of boarding, by the discharge of a musket, whose contents passed close along his cheek, his determined spirit was not to be daunted; and in a few minutes he and his brave followers were in full possession of their trophy. By break of day they had succeeded in towing her clear of a heavy fire which had been opened upon her from the batteries; but, as the sun rose, a flotilla of gun-boats was observed coming out of the harbour in pursuit. As a dead calm had by this time set in, and as it was perfectly impossible to compete with a force so overwhelming, the only question that remained was as to how they should themselves avoid falling into the enemy’s hands. With that coolness and presence of mind which never forsook him, Capt. Otway instructed the Lieutenant who was with him, the late Sir Thos. Ussher, to place double sentinels over the prisoners, to point two of the guns (Spanish 12-pounders), treble-shotted, down the main hatchway, and upon the arrival of the flotilla within grape-range to fire them through the bottom. These directions were strictly followed, and on the approach of the enemy they found full employment in saving their countrymen from going down with the sinking vessel – the adventurous British being thereby suffered to accomplish their escape without further molestation. Capt. Otway continued to command the Trent until Sept. 1800, when he sailed for England with the flag of Sir Hyde Parker. During the six years that he had then served in the West Indies, he was supposed to have captured and destroyed 200 of the enemy’s privateeers and merchantmen, mounting in the whole upwards of 500 guns. He had, besides, assisted at the siege of Morne Fortune, in Ste. Lucie, and of Fort Matilda, in Guadeloupe. On his arrival home he resigned the command of the Trent for the purpose of assuming that of the Royal George 100, bearing the flag of his friend Sir Hyde Parker, with whom he soon removed into the London 98, and in March, 1801, sailed with the fleet destined to act against the northern confederacy. On the expedition reaching the Kattegat, a consultation, as is well known, was held between the Flag Officers, the Captain of the Fleet, and some of the Senior Captains, as to the best means of carrying its main object into effect; and it was decided that the advance should be made through the Belt. On this arrangement being brought to the knowledge of Capt. Otway he at once perceived the fatal difficulties that would result; he lost not a moment therefore in explaining his views to the Commander-in-Chief; and so manifest was his reasoning that immediate measures were taken for rectifying the error, and the plan adopted which was afterwards followed. Owing to the London not forming a part of the division engaged, Capt. Otway had but slender hopes, at the commencement of the battle, of being enabled to obtain any share in it. As the conflict, however, progressed, and the critical position of the squadron under Lord Nelson grew apparent, it became a subject of consideration between Sir Hyde Parker and the Captain of the Fleet whether or not the signal should be made for discontinuing the action. At this juncture Capt. Otway, by whom the step had been strongly opposed, was despatched in a boat to his Lordship in order to ascertain the state of affairs. Before he reached the Elephant the signal to leave off action was made; it was, however, disregarded by Nelson; and as Capt. Otway had verbal authority from Sir Hyde Parker that the battle should continue if he saw any probability of success, the action was maintained until the enemy announced his submission. Capt. Otway, we may add, remained on board the Elephant until that happy consummation of the struggle. On the following day he was deputed, at the suggestion of Lord Nelson, to perform a service of the utmost importance; one indeed of which he acquitted himself in a manner that redounded beyond measure to his character for judgment and ingenuity. The achievement we allude to was nothing less than that of procuring the surrender (after two other officers had failed in their attempts to effect it) of the Holstein, a 60-gun ship, which, although she had actually struck, the Danes refused to give up, upon the plea that the colours had been merely shot away in the action, and that, as a proof, her pendant still remained flying. This subterfuge Capt. Otway effectually removed by proceeding with a flag of truce on board the disputed ship, and enabling his coxswain, at a moment when the attention of the whole crew was directed towards himself, to ascend unperceived through the mainchains into the maintop, haul down the pendant, and convey it into his boat. Having thus far succeeded, and been referred by the Danish Captain (who, in ignorance of what had occurred, still persisted in the old excuse) to his Commodore, Capt. Otway forthwith repaired to that authority, who met him with the same objection, and was in the act of pointing in proof to the pendant, when, finding it to his astonishment gone, he was forced to acknowledge the ship a lawful prize, and to issue an order for its immediate delivery.[1] Immediately after this Capt. Otway was sent home with Sir Hyde Parker’s despatches.[2] He then rejoined the London in the Baltic, where he remained until appointed to the Edgar 74; which ship, after serving with the Channel fleet and visiting the West Indies, he paid off in July, 1802. On the renewal of hostilities in 1803 he was selected to command the Culloden 74; but ill health and a severe domestic calamity prevented him from joining her. While serving next in the Montagu 74, he assisted in blockading the enemy’s ports from Brest to the Dardanells; and was present, 22 Aug. 1805, in Admiral Hon. Wm. Cornwallis’ attack on the French fleet close in with Brest harbour, on which occasion the Montagu poured a destructive broadside into L’Alexandre 80. He also accompanied Sir Rich. Strachan to the West Indies in pursuit of a French squadron; conducted, in Feb. 1808, the evacuation of Scylla, a fortified rock in the Faro of Messina, the garrison of which was embarked under a smart fire from the Calabrian shore;[3] and was for some time intrusted with the command of a squadron employed in co-operation with the patriots on the coast of Catalonia, where he received the thanks of the Junta of Gerona for the assistance afforded by him during the siege of that city, and for taking possession of the fortress of Rosas,[4] by which measure the French troops were compelled to retire from Castalon, a town of some importance, situated five miles from the coast. Towards the close of 1808 he returned to England in the Malta 80; and in 1809 he again sailed for the Mediterranean with convoy in the Ajax 74. During the greater part of the following winter he cruized with a small
- ↑ Clarke and McArthur, in their ‘Life of Nelson,’ and also Mr. Southey, have erroneously mentioned the Zealand as being the ship in dispute, and have, as mistakenly, attributed the recovery to the diplomatic dexterity of the immortal hero. The Danes, in their printed account of the battle, assert “that an officer with a flag of truce came the morning after and stole a seventy-four from them.”
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1801, p. 401.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 503.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 1322.
