operations against Martinique, in June 1793[1]. The Ambuscade and Glenmore were very actively employed on the North Sea and Irish stations, in affording protection to the West India trade, and in various other services. The Vengeance formed part of the fleet under Sir Andrew Mitchell, during the mutiny in Bantry Bay; but Captain Duff, though strict in discipline, was so much respected and beloved by all under his command, that not one of her crew could be prevailed upon by the ringleaders to enter into their views. After the trials and execution of these unhappy men[2], she sailed for Jamaica in company with the squadron ordered thither, under Rear-Admiral George Campbell, to watch the movements of an armament sent from Brest, for the purpose of reducing the Blacks in the French part of St. Domingo to obedience.
In 1803, when the war was renewed, and a general invasion of Great Britain threatened by Napoleon Buonaparte, Captain Duff, without pay or emolument, assisted in examining the coasts of the Frith of Forth, and in making arrangements for its defence. – A division of the craft which were voluntarily offered for the guarding of that estuary was then placed under his direction by the Earl of Moira, commander of the forces in Scotland, who, generously and unsolicited, seconded his application to be again called into active service; as had before been done, without effect, by his steady patron, the Duke of Gordon.
Upon the general promotion in the navy, which took place April 23,1804, Captain Duff received the last appointment he was ever to hold; and immediately proceeded to join the Mars 74, then off Ferrol. During the winter of that year, he was successively employed in the blockade of Rochefort and Brest. On the 22nd May, 1805, he was detached from the grand fleet, to cruise off Cadiz, where he continued under the orders of Vice-Admiral Collingwood, until Nelson arrived from England and resumed the chief command on that most important station. A few days after this event, he was honored by his lordship with the command of a detachment, stationed midway between the inshore squadron and the main body of the British fleet; the former keeping close to the blockaded port, and the latter constantly out of sight of it, but within signal distance of Captain Duff’s division.
On the morning of the ever memorable 21st October, the ships composing that detachment were recalled, and ordered to take their proper places in the line-of-battle^ The signal was then made for Captain Duff to lead the lee division of the fleet, and to break the enemy’s line; but the Mars, notwithstanding every exertion, was passed by the Royal Sovereign and the Belleisle, both of which ships were in action a few minutes before her.
In her way down astern of the Belleisle, the Mars suffered severely from