ret sloop of war, on the North Sea station, where he captured l’Eléonore French privateer. He afterwards went to the Cape of Good Hope, and was appointed by Sir George K. Elphinstone (now Lord Keith) to the America, 64; but that ship having sailed for England during his absence in India, he returned home in the Havick, of 18 guns, one of the Dutch prizes taken in Saldanha Bay. His post commission bears date Dec. 22, 1796.
Soon after this latter promotion, Captain Ekins obtained the command of the Amphitrite frigate, and was sent with a convoy, under the orders of Captain Bagot of the Trent, to the Leeward Islands; on which station he captured a great number of the enemy’s vessels, and among the rest seven privateers, carrying in the whole 62 guns and 466 men. He also assisted at the taking of the Dutch colony at Surinam, by the naval and military forces under Lord Hugh Seymour and Lieutenant-General Trigge, on which occasion the Amphitrite bore the Admiral’s flag. She afterwards, in company with the Unite frigate, commanded by the present Sir John P. Beresford, surprised, and after a little firing, captured the Devil’s Islands, on the coast of Cayenne. This service was performed with very little loss, only a man or two being killed in landing and storming the place, which was completely cleared, and every thing contained therein either brought off or destroyed.
In March 1801, the Amphitrite accompanied Sir John T. Duckworth on an expedition against the Virgin and other islands, of which it had been determined to take possession, in consequence of the hostile measures adopted against Great Britain by Denmark, Sweden, and Russia; but unfortunately Captain Ekins, being sick, was obliged to remain at Barbadoes. However, a reinforcement arriving from England, escorted by the Coromandel and Proselyte, he took a passage onboard the latter, and joined the Commander-in-Chief in time to be entrusted with the superintendance of the debarkation on the island of St. Martin, and to assist in the subsequent operations[1]. His exertions on this occasion having brought on another violent attack of the yellow fever, by which he had previously been much reduced, Rear Admiral Duckworth was induced to send him home with his des-
