Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/114

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538
VICE-ADMIRALS OF THE BLUE.

ter of the late Thomas Eden, of Wimbledon, Esq., and niece of William, first Lord Auckland.




MATTHEW HENRY SCOTT, Esq
Vice-Admiral of the Blue.


This officer is the son of an opulent Jamaica planter, of which island he is a native. He entered the naval service at an early age; and in 1793, we find him serving as Lieutenant on board the Boyne, of 98 guns, bearing the flag of Sir John Jervis, then about to proceed on an expedition against the French colonies in the West Indies.

On the 24th Nov. 1793, the day on which the armament left Spithead, an unfortunate accident befel Lieutenant Scott, whose arm was broken by a block giving way in the fore part of the ship, where he was stationed; but happily, by the care and skill of the surgeon, he was nearly recovered by the time he reached Barbadoes.

Soon after his arrival at that island our officer was promoted to the command of the Rattlesnake, in which sloop he served at the reduction of Martinique and St. Lucia[1]. On the 4th April, 1794, the day on which the latter colony submitted to the British arms, he was posted into the Rose, of 28 guns, and in that frigate assisted at the subjugation of Guadaloupe. He afterwards accompanied a small squadron under Captain Rogers, sent to take possession of the Isles des Saintes, a service which was effected without loss, on the 10th of the same month. In the following summer the Rose was wrecked on Rocky Point, Jamaica; but fortunately the whole of her crew escaped.

Captain Scott’s next appointment was to the Hebe, of 38 guns, in which ship we find him serving at the re-conquest of St. Lucia, by the naval and military forces under Sir Hugh C. Christian and Sir Ralph Abercromby[2]. The expedition sailed from Marin Bay, Martinique, on the 26th April, 1796; and the disposition for landing the troops having been previously arranged, the debarkation of two divisions was speedily effected under cover of the ships of war. In the ex-