lieutenant of the Alexander, Captain Lord Longford, at the relief of the above fortress by Lord Howe, in 1782. After passing his examination in 1785, he became a part-owner and master of a merchant vessel, and spent seven years in trading between London and Bourdeaux.
At the commencement of the French revolutionary war, Mr. Grey abandoned his mercantile pursuits, and again joined the Britannia, then bearing the flag of Vice-admiral Hotham, under whom he served at the occupation of Toulon, in August, 1793[1]. On the 29th of the following month, he was promoted, by Lord Hood, into the Windsor Castle 98. His subsequent appointments were, January 16, 1794, to l’Eclair sloop; October 26, 1794, to the Romulus frigate; March 16, 1795, to the Britannia; January 17, 1796, to the St. George, 98; and, February 13, in the same year, to be an agent of transports at Leghorn. The retreat of the British from that place, on the approach of the republican forces under Napoleon Buonaparte, is thus described by Captain Thomas Francis Freemantle, in a letter to Sir John Jervis, dated June 30, 1796:–
“I had the honor of acquainting you on the 23d instant, of the supposed forcible entry of the French troops into Tuscany, and their intended invasion of Leghorn. On the 24th, I attended a meeting of the Consul and Factory, where the information that had been received was communicated; and having assured them, that I would remain at anchor in the road for their protection, until the enemy obliged me to weigh, the merchants prepared to embark their goods on board the transports, &c. which were immediately ordered out of the mole; and I requested Captain Craven to use every dispatch in getting the large ships’ lower masts, spars, &c. launched and secured on board the transports. On the 25th many of the merchant vessels, and the Elizabeth transport, which was sheathing in the inner mole, were got out, and the masts lashed alongside the latter.
“On the 26th, the Gorgon arrived, and the remaining large spars were launched and sent to that ship; when having got certain information of the intention of the enemy, who slept at Pantedera, only eighteen miles from Leghorn, I ordered the whole of the convoy, amounting to twenty-three sail of square-rigged vessels and fourteen tartans, to get under weigh at daylight on the 27th: a little after noon on that day, the French entered