A few days subsequent to his promotion, Lieutenant Dobbie was despatched in the launch to board a strange sail in the Straits of Banca. He had not proceeded far when she was discovered to be a brig of war, and the boats of the squadron were consequently sent to his assistance. On arriving within bail, about dusk, a fine breeze suddenly sprang up and enabled the stranger, hitherto becalmed, to distance the boats: Lieutenant Dobbie, however, continued the pursuit, and by great exertions kept pretty close to the brig, receiving her fire and returning it from his swivels, which served to direct the chasing ship and ultimately led to her capture, at 2 A.M., by the Orpheus frigate. She proved to be the Harlingen, Dutch national brig, of 14 guns and 45 men.
On rejoining the Commodore, Lieutenant Dobbie was put in command of the prize; and through his zeal and activity she was found eminently useful during the subsequent progress of the expedition, the navigation of the eastern seas being then very imperfectly known.
Amboyna, as we have already stated, surrendered without resistance on the 16th Feb. 1796[1]. At the taking of Banda Lieutenant Dobbie was placed under the orders of Captain Henry Newcombe, of the Orpheus, to cover the landing of the troops: this service was handsomely performed, and the troops put in possession of a battery from whence the enemy had been driven by the fire of the frigate and her consort. Captain Newcombe mentioned the conduct of the latter in terms of high approbation; and the Commodore, in his despatches, was pleased to recommend Lieutenant Dobbie to the notice of the Admiralty, “for his great merit, and the gallant manner in which he followed the Orpheus.”
On the day following the capture of Banda, the Harlingen was purchased into the service, named the Amboyna, and commissioned by Lieutenant Dobbie, who received orders to fit her out immediately, in order to convey Captain (now Rear-Admiral) Lambert with the Commodore’s despatches to England; these were actually closed, and the brig unmoored,
