1814, Captain Withers was very actively employed on the east coast of Spain; and although the army sent thither from Sicily did not add much lustre to his Majesty’s arms, it may be said, with truth, that the expedition was attended to the last with very great fatigue, and oftentimes danger, on the part of the navy and transports. The valuable services of the latter were thus acknowledged in a letter from Rear-Admiral Hallowell to Captain Withers, dated June 19, 1813:
“Sir,– The ardor with which I have been supported by you, and the officers, masters, and seamen of the transports attached to the squadron under my command, engaged in co-operation with the army upon the coast of Catalonia, and the indefatigable zeal and cheerfulness with which they performed the laborious duties that fell to their province, have been so conspicuous as to entitle them to the highest praise on my part; I therefore request that you will accept of my acknowledgments to yourself, and express to the several officers, masters, and seamen of the transports under your direction, my grateful sense of their recent exertions, and my confidence in the continuance of them, whenever the opportunity shall be given.
This letter was written the day after the embarkation of the troops recently commanded by Sir John Murray, whose sudden abandonment of the siege of Tarragona afterwards became the subject of a public investigation, on which occasion Captain Withers was summoned to attend at Winchester as a witness. He subsequently returned to the Mediterranean, and continued on that station until the summer of 1816, since which he has not held any appointment. The arduous and responsible nature of his situation at the latter part of the war will readily be conceived, when we state, that the tonnage of the transports under his directions at one time amounted to more than 50,000 tons.
Agents.– Messrs. Cooke, Halford, and Son.
END OF SUPPLEMENT, PART I.
W. Pople, Printer,
67, Chancery Lane.
