honor and credit to the service whenever he is advanced. I have therefore to request your Lordship’s protection towards him. &c. &c.
Lieutenant Walcott returned to England with the widow of his invaluable friend, in the Malacca frigate, Captain George Henderson; and was the bearer of the following letter from the senior officer in India, addressed to J. W. Croker, Esq. and dated at Point de Galle, Jan. 13, 1815:
“Sir,– Lieutenant John Edward Walcott, flag-lieutenant and secretary to the late commander-in-chief, Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, being on his return to England, I feel I cannot do better than refer my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to him for information on all circumstances connected with this squadron, both previous to and since the period of the lamented Admiral’s decease.
“I am aware that it is not strictly within my province to speak officially to their Lordships of this valuable officer, yet I cannot deny myself the pleasure of bearing testimony to the high opinion in which he has been held both on my own part and that of the captains of the squadron who had any opportunity of witnessing his worth. To Sir Samuel Hood, his services were, I know, invaluable; and were I to enter on that distinguished officer’s feelings and sentiments towards Lieutenant Walcott, feebly indeed could I convey to their Lordships the sense with which he breathed his last towards him. I have the honor to be, &c.
Mr. Walcott was promoted to the rank of commander, June 6, 1815; but he had not the good fortune to re-obtain active employment until Sept. 14, 1821, when we find him appointed to the Carnation of 18 guns, in which sloop he sailed for the West Indies, Jan. 4. 1822. In August following, being then off the west end of Cuba, he fell in with, and gave protection to the trade passing through the Florida stream, from Jamaica to England. A mistaken and singular opinion having been adopted by the Committee at Lloyd’s as to the degree of attention he had paid to the mercantile interests on this occasion, gave rise to a correspondence between that body and the Board of Admiralty, and led to a discussion in the House of Commons (by motion on the part of Joseph Marryat, Esq. the chairman of the said committee), in March, 1823, when Vice-Admiral Sir George Cockburn addressed the House on the subject, and declared “that Captain Walcott’s conduct
