protection of la Dedaigneuse, a frigate very inferior in force to either the Canoniere or her consort.
On the 11th Sept. 1809, the Diana, then mounting 10 long 6-pounders, with a complement of 45 men and boys, captured, after an action of one hour and ten minutes, the Dutch national brig Zephyr, of 14 long sixes, near the north end of Celebes. In this affair, she sustained no damage of the least consequence, and had not a single person hurt: the Zephyr, on the other hand, was much cut up in masts and rigging; and, out of a crew of 45, had twelve or thirteen men killed and wounded. Among the former was her first lieutenant.
Whilst employed in the eastern seas. Lieutenant Kempthorne made several important hydrographical discoveries, one of which, an extensive and dangerous patch of coral, to the southward of the Natuma islands, he named after his little vessel.
The Diana being at length worn out, was condemned by survey, and laid up at the island of Rodrigues, in May, 1810. The late Mr. Steel, in his navy lists of that period, described her as a vessel wrecked, which, we are told, had the effect of retarding Lieutenant Kempthorne’s promotion, until April 3, 1811.
This officer’s subsequent appointments were, Nov. 11, 1813, to the Harlequin sloop; July 2, 1816, to the Beelzebub bomb; and Aug. 29, (two days after the battle of Algiers,) to act as captain of the Queen Charlotte 108, bearing the flag of his early patron. During that sanguinary conflict, on which occasion he commanded the division of bombs, his own large mortar was fired once in every ten minutes. He obtained post rank Sept. 16, 1816 ; and continued to command the Queen Charlotte until she was put out of commission.
ARTHUR FANSHAWE, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1816.]
Youngest son of the late Commissioner Fanshawe, whose services we have recorded at p. 49 et seq. of Vol. II. Part I.
