Thetis frigate, in Oct. 1776. He afterwards joined the Arethusa, and in that ship had the misfortune to be wrecked near Ushant, while in pursuit of an enemy.
Mr. Downman remained a prisoner in France from March 1779 till January 1780, when he was exchanged; and from that period we find him serving in the Emerald, commanded by Captain Samuel Marshall, until May 1782, when he removed into the Edgar 74, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Hotham, with whom he proceeded to the relief of Gibraltar, in company with the grand fleet, under the orders of Lord Howe. In the partial, and on the enemy’s side cautious encounter, which took place after the performance of this service, the Edgar had 6 men wounded[1].
From this period we lose sight of Mr. Downman till Feb. 1789, when he sailed for the East Indies with Commodore Cornwallis, by whom he was made a Lieutenant, on the 5th Mar. 1790. At the commencement of the French revolutionary war he was appointed to the Alcide 74, in which ship he assisted at the attack made upon the tower and redoubt of Fornelli in Sept. 1793[2].
- ↑ See p. 101, et seq; and Vol. I. pp. 17, 106.
- ↑ During the time that Toulon remained in possession of the allied forces, a very formidable insurrection existed in Corsica: and General Paoli, the leader of the insurgent party, sought the aid of the British, assuring Lord Hood, that even the appearance of a few ships of force off the island, would be of the most essential service to the popular cause. Accordingly, in the mouth of Sept. 1793, the Alcide and Courageux 74’s, Ardent 64, Lowestoffe and Nemesis frigates, commanded by Captains Woodley, Matthews, Sutton, Wolseley, and Lord Amelius Beauclerk, were sent thither, under the orders of Commodore Linzee, who entered the Gulf of St, Fiorenzo on the 21st.; and having been led to believe that the batteries near the town could not, on account of the distance, co-operate with the tower and redoubt of Fornelli, resolved to make an attack on that formidable post.
On the 30th, before day-break, the two-deckers took their stations, and opened a heavy cannonade on the redoubt, which continued without intermission nearly four hours, without producing any visible effect on the enemy’s works. By this time the ships, particularly the Ardent, were so much cut up, by a raking fire of nine 24-pounders from the town of St. Fiorenzo, that Commodore Linzee, seeing no appearance of co-operation, as had been promised, on the part of Paoli’s adherents, deemed it prudent to retire out of gun-shot. The force opposed to the squadron on this oc-
