even if those circumstances could with propriety be deemed any ground for adopting a proceeding towards him, which would not be warranted by the usage of the navy towards other persons who had held the same rank in the service, your committee observe, that Mr. Bartholomew appears by the evidence to be a man of reputable education and connections; and judging by the testimony of Lieutenant Dunham and Mr. Lill, as well as by their own observation, when Mr. Bartholomew was examined before them, your committee cannot concur in describing his appearance to be at all like that of a Boatswain, or any such inferior officer.
“Your committee think themselves bound to observe, that it does not appear to them, that the order for impressing Mr. David Ewen Bartholomew, was issued with any view of suppressing or influencing the evidence that he might be able to give on any of the matters then under the consideration of the Admiralty or the Navy Board, which have been since referred to your committee.”
On the 24th Jan. 1804, Mr. Bartholomew, having been sent by Captain Richbell from the Enterprize, off the Tower, was drafted from the Zealand, flag-ship at the Nore, into the Inflexible 61, Captain Thomas Bayley, who ordered him occasionally to do duty both as master’s-mate and lieutenant[1]. In May following, Earl St. Vincent and his friends retired from office, having previously given birth to what was afterwards ludicrously termed “the Catamaran Expedition;” by inviting over to England a person who had been making experiments in France, with the view of perfecting a plan for the destruction of shipping by certain means never before put in practice. Soon after their retirement. Sir Home Popham was appointed to the command of the Antelope 50; and selected to assist the projector of the above scheme, in proving his experiments and maturing his designs. About the same time, Captain Bayley was directed to grant Mr. Bartholomew leave of absence, – not “to go to visit his friends,” as the order specified, but to take a part in the secret preparations then making for an attempt upon the Boulogne flotilla. Me accordingly joined Sir Home, and was so long absent from ins own ship, that Captain Bayley, ignorant of the real cause of his non-appearance, considered him as a deserter, and marked him Run upon her books. In Aug. 1804, Sir Home Popham
- ↑ Captain Bayley died in Beaufort Row, Chelsea, April 11, 1819.
