Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp4.djvu/152

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140
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1817.

ritius and Bourbon[1]. In Aug. 1809, he assisted at the capture of two batteries, commanding the anchorage of St. Rose, on the eastern side of the latter island. The intelligence there obtained, led to the reduction of the capital town, by an expedition under Captain Josias Rowley, R.N. and Lieutenant-Colonel Keating[2]. A series of desperate services in which Lieutenant Deacon was afterwards engaged, under the command of Captain (now Sir Nisbet J.) Willoughby, have been fully detailed at pp. 148–182 of Suppl. Part II. At Jacotel, May 1, 1810, he was severely wounded in the head by a musket-ball. On the 23d Aug. following, while most gallantly defending la Nereide in Port Sud-Est, he received numerous other wounds, in the throat, breast, legs, and arms[3]. After that most sanguinary combat, he was carried to a French hospital, treated with the greatest inhumanity, and plundered of every thing except the shirt on his back. He was then considered, by medical men, past recovery; and many of his fellow sufferers were dying daily, of locked jaws, from want of proper nourishment, and the unfavorable climate. For four months he never left his bed; and he was obliged to make use of crutches for a long time afterwards.

On his return home, after the reduction of the Mauritius, Lieutenant Deacon was appointed to the Lavinia frigate, then in the Mediterranean. His commission as commander, appointing him to the Niobe 38, armed en flûte, bears date June 7, 1814.

The Niobe was first employed in conveying the sick of the Russian Imperial guards to their native country; and on her arrival at Cronstadt she was visited by the Czar, who expressed his satisfaction at the accommodation, and the great attention that had been shewn to them. By desire of that monarch, Count Neselrode afterwards presented Captain Deacon with a ring, and wrote to Lord Castlereagh in his favor; the