perseverance, and success, in entering the Nieuve Diep under circumstances of extreme difficulty and danger. Admiral Verdoroon not only received him courteously, but kept him to dinner, and invited all his captains to meet him; a circumstance which gave great offence to the French general then commanding at the Helder.
Shortly after his return from Holland, Mr. Gourly was appointed flag-lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Vashon, in which capacity he served at Leith until 1807, when he joined the Trident 64, and again sailed for the Mediterranean.
On the arrival of that ship at Malta, the governor. Sir Alexander J. Ball, gave Lieutenant Gourly an order to act as commander of the Tuscan brig, and sent him to the Barbary coast. On his return from thence, he received an Admiralty commission, dated Sept. 14, 1808, promoting him to the command of the San Juan, formerly a Spanish 74, then lying at Gibraltar, without guns, and with only men enough for a single boat’s crew belonging to her. From that ship he was removed, to act as captain of the Atlas 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Purvis, whom he assisted in equipping the Spanish men-of-war at Cadiz, and removing them out of the reach of the French invading army.
In March 1809, Captain Gourly returned to Gibraltar, where he soon completed the crew of the San Juan, and in conformity to an order from Lord Collingwood, fitted out a small frigate for the Emperor of Morocco. He also undertook the superintendence of the dock-yard, the victualling office, and other naval establishments on the rock; restored twenty decaying gun-vessels to a serviceable state; and left nothing undone that could possibly be performed with the resources at his command. His indefatigable exertions were thus generally acknowledged by Lord Collingwood, a short time previous to the demise of that excellent officer;
“When you joined the San Juan, the was merely a sheer-hulk; now she is every thing that can be expected of her, and truly beneficial to the whole fleet.”
Captain Gourly was in bad health when Sir Charles Cotton arrived at Gibraltar, on his way to assume the chief command in the Mediterranean, as successor to the
