had been in exact accordance with the duty he had to perform.”
Captain Walcott was posted into the Tyne 26, on the Jamaica station. May 6, 1822; but he had no opportunity of joining her until the month of December following. In the beginning of 1823, he convoyed another homeward bound fleet through the Florida Stream, and then proceeded in quest of some piratical vessels. The result of an anxious cruise of two months, in company with the Thracian sloop. Captain John Walter Roberts, is thus stated by him in an official, but hitherto unpublished letter, dated off the east end of that island, and addressed to Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Rowley, K.C.B. April 7, 1823:
“My letter narrating the proceedings of H.M. ships Tyne and Thracian, in execution of your orders for the extirpation of the pirates cruising in the Old Bahama Channel, and on the coast of Cuba adjoining, will apprise you of my having put to sea from the harbour of Neranjos, on the 29th ultimo, in search of the schooner I had information of, as likely to be found off Baracoa.
“I have the honor further to report, that we gained sight of a schooner bearing her description, early on the forenoon of the 31st, off that place: H.M. ships disguised as much as possible, to bear the appearance of merchant vessels, stood in to close with her, then under easy sail, standing in for the land. Three hours, however, undeceived the object of our pursuit; when, on perceiving her to crowd all sail for the harbour of Mata, which I had understood occasionally to be a piratical rendezvous, disguise was thrown off, and all possible efforts made in direct chase until 1-30 p.m. when, on observing her to anchor in the said harbour, with every appearance of suspiciousness, from mooring head and stern, with her broadside commanding the narrow entrance, little more than a cable’s length in breadth, notwithstanding her having displayed Spanish colours, and from the ships being at this time far in the offing, with a very light air, the boats of both were instantly hoisted out, manned, and armed. At 3 p.m., when within gun-shot, she opened her fire under the royal flag of Spain (which, after the first shot, was supplanted by the black flag), upon the boats, wearing their proper national colours; her decks crowded with men, and her force, comparatively with open boats at such a time of day, most formidable, whilst I perceived a body of men had landed, to cut us up from a thicket on one side of the harbour’s entrance; and altogether, from the admirable position for defence which she had taken up, the period of pulling in, and consequent inability, for a time, to board with the prospect of success, the boats were necessarily placed under an incessant and moat gall-