which lads were to go through a particular course of education, without any specific time being fixed, and having been four years afloat, they were then entitled to pass. The Naval College was not, however, actually in existence, till 1808, and the Naval Academy, at which young Montagu was educated, subsisted till that time. But when the above regulations were established by an Order in Council with regard to the Naval College, by an inadvertence, no provision was .made for those who had been at the Naval Academy between 1806 and 1808. In consequence of this, it happened that Mr. John W. Montagu, when with the Mediterranean fleet, in 1809, did present himself to the examining captains to pass, and they conceived it their duty to take this exception, that he had not served four years afloat, as was required by the new regulations. Admiral Montagu, on hearing this, took a very natural interest in the case of his son, and wrote up to the Admiralty for redress. The case was twice, in different shapes, laid before the Admiralty counsellor, who stated it as his opinion, that, however unfortunate the circumstance might be, the law was still in the teeth of any redress being obtained, it was at last submitted to the crown lawyers; and a very few days before Sir Charles made his motion the Admiralty had received an opinion from them, that Mr. Montagu was entitled to pass. In consequence of this, the First Lord had decided that he should be allowed to take rank from the time when he presented himself to be examined in the Mediterranean, Oct. 9, 1809.
We first find Mr. J. W. Montagu serving as lieutenant of the Cerberus frigate. Captain Thomas Garth, employed in the blockade of Corfu. On the 29th Jan. 1813, he commanded one of her boats at the capture of a trabacolo, armed with two guns, and deeply laden with corn and flour, for the garrison of that island. In May following, he assisted in bringing out from under a martello tower, to the southward of Brindisi, a vessel mounting one 6-pounder, from Otranto bound to Ancona. He also witnessed the capture of two gun-boats, and assisted in securing nine merchant vessels, a service thus officially reported:
