Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/57

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SIR BENJAMIN HALLOWELL.
481

fore adjudge him and them to be honorably acquitted of all blame on the occasion.

During the ensuing peace Captain Hallowell was appointed to the chief command on the coast of Africa, and proceeded thither with his broad pendant in the Argo, of 44 guns. Touching at Barbadoes, on his return to Europe, he there learnt that hostilities were likely to be renewed between Great Britain and France; and Sir Samuel Hood, the Commander-in-Chief on that station, being daily expected from Antigua, he resolved to await the arrival of that officer, whom he afterwards accompanied on an expedition against St. Lucia and Tobago[1].

To Captain Hallowell’s merits” says the Commodore, in his official despatch relative to the conquest of the former of these islands, “it is impossible for me to give additional encomium, as it is so generally known; but I must beg leave to say, that on this expedition his activity could not be exceeded; and by his friendly advice I have obtained the most effectual aid to this service, for which he has been a volunteer; and after the final disembarkation, proceeded on with the seamen to co-operate with the army.” In a subsequent letter from Tobago, Sir Samuel Hood thus expresses himself: “The royal marines and a body of seamen were landed to co-operate with the army, under the command of Captain Hallowell; and it is scarcely necessary for me to add, his zeal and exertions were equally conspicuous as on the late expedition to St. Lucia. He is charged with this despatch, and will give their Lordships any further information they may desire on the subject.

The Argo sailed from Tobago early in July, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 14th Aug. At the commencement of the following year Captain Hallowell proceeded in the same ship to Aboukir, with Elfi Bey, an artful and designing Chief of the Mameloucs; who being obliged to leave Egypt, had endeavoured to impose on the liberality and integrity of the British

  1. On the 20th June, 1803, an expedition, under the command of Lieutenant-General Grinfield and Commodore Hood, sailed from Barbadoes against St. Lucia; and on the 22d, the fort of Morne Fortunée was carried, which was followed by the unconditional surrender of the whole island. The armament then proceeded to Tobago, which capitulated on the 1st July.