Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp4.djvu/41

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32
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1815.

nerved with Captain Murray Maxwell, in the Centaur, Galatea, and Hyaena, which latter frigate escorted home a fleet of merchantmen, in Nov. 1805. On his arrival in England, he again joined the Centaur, and was signal midshipman of that ship at the capture of four large French frigates, full of troops, after a smart action, Sept. 25, 1806[1].

Towards the end of 1806, Sir Samuel Hood received orders to join a secret expedition at the Cape Verd Islands, but which sailed from thence previous to his arrival. He subsequently cruised, with a squadron under his orders, between Madeira and the Canaries. In the summer of 1807, he was appointed to a command in the grand armament destined to act against the Danish capital, off which he first hoisted his flag, as Rear-Admiral, on the 18th Oct. following.

During the bombardment of Copenhagen, Mr. Price was principally employed in the Centaur’s guard-boats, preventing the arrival of supplies for the besieged, from the Baltic side: after the submission of the Danes, he assisted in equipping, and bringing to England, the Norge 74. At the close of the same year, he witnessed the occupation of Madeira, by a naval and military force under Sir Samuel Hood and Major-General Beresford. The destruction of a Russian 74, by the Centaur and Implacable, at the entrance of Rogerswick harbour, Aug. 26, 1808, has been fully described at p. 649 et seq. of Vol. II. Part. II.

Some time previous to the latter event, Mr. Price and another midshipman[2] were sent in one of the Centaur’s cutters, commanded by Lieutenant James Shea, to cut off a Danish despatch boat, then endeavouring to pass the isle of Moen, on her way from Copenhagen to Bornholm. Finding it impossible to escape by sea, the enemy pushed on shore under a high cliff, where a body of troops was posted, with several pieces of cannon. As the cutter approached, the Danes opened a heavy fire; and, just as she touched the

  1. See Vol. I. Part. II. p. 570 et seq., and Suppl. Part II. p. 417.
  2. The present Captain Walcott.