great satisfaction to the Admiral, who would have promoted him immediately had he been qualified to receive a commission; but unfortunately his probationary term did not expire until their return to England.
Previous to her departure from the West Indies, the Centurion was actively employed at the different French ports in St. Domingo, in consequence of a formidable insurrection among the negroes, which threatened destruction to that colony[1]. She was paid off in Aug. 1792.
Mr. Chetham next joined the Duke 98, flag-ship of Lord Hood, who shortly afterwards placed him under the present Vice-Admiral Hanwell, then commanding the Scout sloop of war, with whom he continued until removed into the Victory of 100 guns, bearing his lordship’s flag, at Toulon, in Dec. 1793.
From this period, Mr. Chetham was engaged in a series of active and arduous services (including the evacuation of Toulon, and the sieges of St. Fiorenzo, Bastia, and Calvi[2]) till his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, Aug. 18, 1794. On that occasion he was appointed to the Agamemnon 64, commanded by the immortal Nelson, under whom he bore a part in the actions off Genoa, Mar. 13 and 14, 1795[3].
To his infinite regret. Lieutenant Chetham was soon obliged to quit the Agamemnon, a wound rendering it necessary for him to return home, where he arrived about July in the same
- ↑ The succours sent from Jamaica to St. Domingo retrieved the affairs of the planters; and so strong was their gratitude to the English, and their indignation at the conduct of the National Assembly, to whom they justly ascribed the negro insurrection, that a general wish was expressed throughout the colony, to shake off the authority of the latter, and seek a remedy for their distresses under the protection of Great Britain. The English cabinet, however, instead of following the example of France in a former instance, did not attempt to profit by this disposition of the planters, although the mother country was then in too distracted a state to have effectually opposed any attack. The atrocities committed, both by the French and the blacks, during the civil war in St. Domingo, have been briefly noticed at pp. 604–606 of our first volume.
- ↑ See Vol. I. pp. 466, 251, and 252.
- ↑ See id., note at p. 340.
