to the Vertu 40, on the Jamaica station. He afterwards served successively in the Fly brig. Elephant 74, Ardent 64, and Dauntless sloop. In 1806, we find him appointed flag-lieutenant to Sir Samuel Hood, in the Centaur 74; but being desirous to serve in an active frigate, he was, through the interest of that officer, nominated senior lieutenant of the Comus, attached to his squadron, and commanded by the gallant Conway Shipley.[1]
In the Comus, it was Mr. Watts’ good fortune to see a variety of service. After cruising six weeks off the coast of Barbary, she proceeded to the Canary Islands, and there made several captures. The following is the substance of an official letter from Captain Shipley to Sir Samuel Hood, dated Mar. 15, 1807:
“I have the honor to report, for your information, the capture of six of the enemy’s vessels.[2] by the boats of H.M. ship, under the direction of Lieutenants George Edward Watts, Hood Knight, and G. Campbell, R.M. They were moored in the Puerto de Haz, Grand Canaria, and defended by the cross fire of three batteries. Lieutenant Campbell was the only person wounded on the occasion. “Since your orders of the 1st instant, H.M. ship has also captured two Spanish brigs – the St. Philip, with salt fish, and Nostra Senora de los Remedios, with a mixed cargo of merchandize.”
“This service,” says Sir Samuel Hood, “appears to have been planned and executed with good judgment and energy.” After escorting her prizes to Gibraltar, the Comus had a smart rencontre in the Gut with a division of the Algeziras flotilla. On the 9th May, 1807, her captain addressed another letter on service to Sir Samuel Hood, of which the following is a copy:
“I have the honor to relate to you the particulars of a gallant exploit performed last night by the boats of H.M. ship, under the direction of Lieutenant George Edward Watts, assisted by Lieutenant Hood Knight and Mr. Jeaffreson Miles, master’s-mate, with a party of petty officers, seamen, and royal marines, in the port of Grand Canaria.
“A large armed felucca, with his Catholic Majesty’s colours flying, had- ↑ See Suppl. Part II. p. 394.
- ↑ A Spanish brig, of five guns, loaded with salt pork; two others with cargoes of wine, fruit, and salt fish; and three in ballast.
