Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v1p2.djvu/59

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SIR BENJAMIN HALLOWELL.
483

but without any event of importance occurring until Oct. 25, 1809; when, in company with a squadron under Sir George Martin, she drove on shore three French line-of-battle ships and a frigate near the mouth of the Rhone[1]. On the 30th of the same month, Captain Hallowell was entrusted with the command of a detachment from Lord Collingwood’s fleet, sent to attack some armed vessels and transports that had separated from the above ships and made for the Bay of Rosas. The enterprise proved successful; and at day-break on the morning of Nov. 1st, every one of the enemy’s vessels was either burnt or brought off, notwithstanding the protection afforded them by the Castle of Rosas, Fort Trinity, and several newly erected batteries. The convoy thus intercepted was from Toulon, bound to the relief of Barcelona, then in the possession of the French, and which had long been besieged by the Spaniards[2].

At the general promotion, July 31, 1810, Captain Hallowell was nominated a Colonel of Royal Marines; and he continued to command the Tigre until his advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral, which took place Aug. 1st. in the following year. He soon after hoisted his flag in the Malta, of 84 guns; and in Jan. 1812, again went to the Mediterranean, where he remained until some time after the conclusion of the war, during the latter part of which he commanded the squadron employed in co-operation with the patriots on the south coast of Spain.

On the 2d Jan. 1815, our officer was created a K.C.B. He subsequently obtained the chief command on the Irish station, which he held during the customary period of three years; and in the summer of 1821, succeeded Sir John Gore as Commander-in-Chief in the River Medway, where his flag is now flying on board the Prince Regent, of 120 guns. His commission as Vice-Admiral bears date Aug. 12, 1819. Sir Benjamin Hallowell married, Feb. 17, 1800, a daughter of Commissioner Inglefield, of Gibraltar Dock-yard. His eldest son obtained the rank of Lieutenant, Aug. 30, 1820, and is now serving as his flag officer[3].

  1. See p. 282.
  2. See Captain John Tailour, in our next volume.
  3. In 1801 the late Rev. Cooper Willyams, formerly Chaplain of the Swiftsure, published a Work entitled “A Voyage up the Mediterranean,” con-