is a hero, and whether a common sailor or an admiral, deserves to have his name placed on record. John Powers was an Irishman, about 25 years of age. It was not likely that his conduct should pass unnoticed, and on his captain’s representing it, he obtained for him the object of his ambition, – a cook’s warrant. He was in the Drake sloop of war when that vessel was wrecked on the coast of Newfoundland, and though with but one leg, was amongst the eleven men who were saved.
Captain Nicolas was one of the six commanders who were nominated Companions of the Bath when that class of the Order was first created, in June, 1815. On the 4th Oct. following, the King of the Two Sicilies was pleased to confer on him the small cross of the order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, “in consideration of the distinguished services rendered by him to his royal crown during the late war;” and on the 26th April, 1816, his Sicilian Majesty “again deigned to manifest to him his sovereign favor for the many services he had afforded his royal crown,” by conferring on him the cross of a Knight Commander of that Order, which he was permitted by the Prince Regent to accept and wear, “in consequence of the signal intrepidity manifested by him while commanding H.M. sloop Pilot, in effecting the capture and destruction of several of the enemy’s vessels, in various actions near Cetraro, Amanthea, Salerno, Sapri, Castellar, and other places on the east and west coasts of Calabria, during the years 1810, 1811, and 1812.” At Marseilles, in Nov. 1815, during the visit of the Duke d’Angouleme to that city. Captain Nicolas, after dining with H.R. Highness, had the honor of receiving his personal thanks, “for the services he had rendered the royal cause;” which compliment was repeated on board Lord Exmouth’s flag-ship, a day or two afterwards.
Whilst in the Mediterranean, Captain Nicolas’s attention was drawn to the inaccuracies in the Admiralty charts; and when not otherwise employed, he examined various parts of the coast, and pointed out to that Board the errors he had discovered. Some extracts from the Hydrographer’s
