Admiralty to have that sloop altered agreeably to a plan he proposed, by which a shot-hole between wind and water, in any part of the ship, could be immediately stopped; and which, in the former arrangements of the bread and storerooms, was impossible. This, it had been confidently asserted, was the principal cause of the capture of the Avon and Peacock. The Admiralty not only complied with his request, but ordered all the 18-gun brigs then under repair at Portsmouth to be fitted on the same plan.
On the return of Napoleon Buonaparte from Elba, Lord Exmouth was ordered to resume the chief command in the Mediterranean; and the Pilot being selected by his lordship to accompany him, she joined his flag, off Plymouth, in April, 1815. After passing Gibraltar, the Admiral confided to Captain Nicolas the important duty of opening a communication with Marseilles and the coast adjacent, in order to assure those who adhered to the royal cause, of the assistance of Great Britain in their efforts. Whilst proceeding on this duty, he heard, from a vessel he boarded at sea, that the Duke d’Angouleme was at Barcelona; he therefore determined on seeing his Royal Highness: and on learning the Duke’s wishes, the Pilot conveyed one of his staff to Lord Exmouth at Genoa, and returned with the aide-de-camp to Barcelona. She afterwards rejoined the flag at Naples, and was sent from thence to watch Porto Ferrajo. In the execution of these orders, she fell in with and defeated the French national ship la Legère, of 28 guns and about 300 men, including troops, commanded by Mons. Touffet, capitaine de frégate. This action is particularly entitled to consideration, not only from the great disparity in the force of the combatants, but from its being the last rencontre between our ships and those of France, and excepting the capture of la Melpomene frigate by the Rivoli 74[1]. the only one during the war of 1815. The particulars are detailed in the following official letter from Captain Nicolas to Lord Exmouth, dated at Leghorn, June 19, 1815:–
