Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/609

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TUCKEY. 605 him to return home as the only means of accomplishing his recovery; and the admiral entrusted him with his dispatches. His native climate had the desired effect; and immediately on the re-establishment of his health, he applied to the Admiralty for active employment; accord ingly, in 1802, he was appointed first lieutenant of his majesty's ship Calcutta, in which situation he served during the whole of her long and arduous voyage, the object of which was to form a new establishment in New South Wales. Here Lieutenant Tuckey rendered very essential services, which were strongly acknowledged by the lieutenant-governor, who transmitted to the First Lord of the Admiralty a flattering testimony of his merits, particularly for a complete survey he had made of the harbour of Port Philip, &c. He reached England in 1804, and published an account of the voyage. But the favourable testimonies he had received were rendered abortive by the capture of the Calcutta in 1805, and by an imprisonment of nearly nine years in France. In 1806, he married Miss Margaret Stuart, a fellow-prisoner, who was also taken by the Rochefort squadron. Various applications were made at different times for the exchange of Lieutenant Tuckey; but they a l l proved fruitless. I n 1810, Mr. Tuckey obtained permission for his wife t o visit England for the purpose o f looking after his private affairs. Her object being accomplished, she obtained pass ports from the French government t o return t o her husband, and was landed a t Morlaix; but counter-orders had been received a t this port, and she was detained, and after many unsuccessful memorials, praying t o rejoin her hus band a t Verdun, and after a detention o f six weeks, she was sent back t o England. - On the advance o f the allied armies into France, i n 1814, the British prisoners were ordered, a t a moment's warning, into the interior; and Mr. Tuckey, with his two little boys, was obliged t o travel (in perhaps the most inclement winter the Almighty ever smote the earth with) t o Blois. His youngest son was taken i l l o n the journey, and fell a