Corunna. We next find him commanding the Ruby, of 64 guns, stationed off the Texel, under the orders of Rear-Admiral Thornbrough, and subsequently employed on the coast of Spain. From that ship he removed into the Eagle, a third rate, in which he proceeded to the Mediterranean.
In May, 1806, the Eagle formed part of the squadron under Sir W. Sidney Smith, stationed off the coasts of Naples and Sicily; and on the 11th of that month took an active part in the reduction of the island of Capri, on which occasion he had 2 men killed, and 11, including her first Lieutenant, wounded.
On the 27th Nov., 1811, Captain Rowley captured la Corceyre French frigate, pierced for 40 guns, but only 28 mounted, with a complement of 170 seamen and 130 soldiers, laden with 300 tons of wheat, and a quantity of military and other stores, from Trieste, bound to Corfu. In her attempt to escape, this ship had 3 men killed and several wounded. Some time after, the marines of the Eagle, in conjunction with a detachment from the 35th regiment, stormed and destroyed the battery of Cape Ceste, in the Adriatic.
In Sept. 1812, the boats under the command of Lieutenant Augustus Cannon, being sent by Captain Rowley off the Po, to intercept the enemy’s coasting trade, captured two gunboats and fifteen vessels laden with oil. In the execution of this service, 2 men were killed and 3 wounded; amongst the latter was Lieutenant Cannon, who died of his wounds. In the following year the adventurous spirit of British seamen and marines, when acting on shore, was strikingly displayed in the capture of Fiume, in the Gulf of Venice. On the 2d July, a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Freemantle, anchored about four miles from that town, which was defended by four batteries, mounting fifteen heavy guns. On the 3d, in the morning, the Milford, Elizabeth, Eagle, and Bacchante weighed, with a light breeze from the S.W., for the purpose of attacking the sea-line of batteries, leaving a detachment of boats and marines with the Haughty gun-brig, to storm the battery at the mole-head, as soon as the guns were silenced; but the wind shifting to the S.E. with a current from the river, broke the ships off, and the Eagle could only fetch the second battery, opposite to which she anchored. The enemy could not stand the well-directed
