beach, Lieutenant Shea fell mortally wounded. The object of pursuit, however, was gallantly secured and towed off by the two midshipmen, one of whom, Mr. Price, was struck in the hand by a spent musket-ball, after cutting the rope which secured her to the shore.
The Centaur’s return home, for the winter season, afforded Mr. Price an opportunity of passing his examination; and in April, 1809, Sir Samuel Hood appointed him acting lieutenant of the same ship in which he had first embarked as a midshipman.
The Ardent was then at Gottenburg, commanded by Captain Robert Honyman, and about to be stationed in the Great Belt, for the protection of our Baltic trade. While thus employed, her boats were frequently detached, and often engaged with the enemy’s flotilla. On one occasion, Mr. Price was sent with a small party to procure wood and water at the island of Ronsoe, but unfortunately, 300 Danes had arrived there the night before, and by concealing themselves until after he landed, they were enabled to surround him, and effectually cut off his retreat. Resistance against such superior numbers would have been quite useless, and he therefore had no other alternative but to surrender: several of his men, who had been left as boat-keepers, were either killed or wounded while endeavouring to escape.
From Ronsoe, Mr. Price was removed to Odensee, in the Isle of Fuen; but his captivity was not of long duration, for in the course of the same season we again find him on board the Ardent, his appointment to which ship was confirmed by the Admiralty, Sept. 28, 1809. Scarcely had he rejoined her, when she got aground on Anholt-reef, through the ignorance of her pilot, and narrowly escaped destruction.
Very soon after this disaster. Lieutenant Price captured a Danish vessel, in which he had the misfortune to be cast away on the coast of Norway, and was consequently taken prisoner. When exchanged, he once more returned to his old ship; and occasionally commanded her tender, on detached service, in the summer of 1810.
Lieutenant Price’s next appointment was, about Feb. 1811,
