her to Bermuda. After parting company with the Boston, being in the cabin, he overheard the prisoners, who were doubly superior in number to his own people, deliberating upon a proposal made by one or two of them, – to seize upon the ship, and murder all the Englishmen on board. With great presence of mind, Mr. Thomas immediately called out, – “The ship has sprung a-leak!” “The ship is sinking!!” The captain and his crew thereupon precipitated themselves down the scuttle, which was the only passage into the cabin; when, taking advantage of the confusion he had created, the youngster jumped upon the quarter-deck, put the hatch over, called his men aft, and fired a 6-pounder, loaded with grape, through the skylight!!! A general panic instantly prevailed below, and the prize, thus timely saved from recapture, was carried safely into a British port.
During the long period that Mr. Thomas served under Captain Douglas, on a foreign station, he never once failed to volunteer his services, when any thing out of the common routine was to be attempted, however arduous or dangerous the enterprise. He consequently assisted at the capture and destruction, by boats, of several of the enemy’s vessels.
We next find this promising young officer on board the Prince of Wales 98, bearing the flag of Sir Robert Calder, at the capture of two Spanish line-of-battle ships, July 22, 1805[1]. Subsequent to that action, he received an order from Lord Nelson to act as Lieutenant of the Spartiate 74, Captain Sir Francis Laforey; in which ship, he bore a part at the glorious battle of Trafalgar[2]. The appointment he then held was confirmed by the Admiralty, Feb. 14, 1806.
The Spartiate was subsequently stationed off Rochefort, under the orders of Sir Richard J. Strachan; whom she accompanied to the Mediterranean, in Feb. 1808. She was afterwards successively employed in blockading Toulon, and guarding the coast of Sicily; from whence she proceeded with an expedition to Calabria, and the bay of Naples, in June 1809[3].
- ↑ San Rafael 84, and El Firme 74. See Vol. I. Part I. p. 405.
- ↑ See note at p. 188.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part I. p. 89.
