loudest acclamations of joy. The castle of San Felipe, however, was still under the command of a person appointed by Marshal Ney, and attached to the French interests, with a garrison composed of a detachment of a legion raised by the enemy during their possession of Ferrol and Conmna; and on the 27th, Captain Hotham received information that the above commandant had given orders to fire on any English ships or boats that might attempt to pass the castle. In consequence, Captain Hotham repaired to Ferrol in the Defiance, and landed the marines of that ship and the Amazon, with a party of armed seamen, under the direction of Captain Parker, who entered the castle without opposition. The detachment then proceeded to the town of Ferrol, where it was received in the most affectionate manner by the inhabitants; and having arrested the commandant of the castle in the name of King Ferdinand, sent him on board the Defiance. The Governor of Ferrol not having any means of garrisoning the castle, the guns in it were spiked, the powder removed to the arsenal, and the place left under the command of the former Governor, who had been suspended by the enemy.
In the following autumn, Captain Hotham was appointed to the Northumberland, a 74-gun ship of the largest class, in which, on the 22d Nov. in the same year, he captured la Glaneuse, French privateer ketch, of 14 guns and 85 men, after a second pursuit, having chaced her the day before, and prevented one of his Majesty’s packets from falling into her power.
In the spring of 1812, Captain Hotham, whose local knowledge of the coast, ability, and zeal, well qualified him for the service, was sent by Rear-Admiral Sir Harry Neale, under whose orders he had for some time been employed off Ushant, to cruize near l’Orient, for the purpose of intercepting two French frigates and a brig, that were supposed to be on their return to some port in the bay. On the 22d May, at 9h 45’ A.M. the Northumberland, in company with the Growler gun-brig, being off Isle Grouais, discovered the expected enemy in the N.W., crowding all possible sail before the wind for l’Orient. Captain Hotham’s first endeavour was to cut them off to windward of the island; but finding he could not effect it, the Northumberland was pushed round the S.E.
