phical characters are known from one extreme of that sea to the other.
Agent.– Thomas Stilwell, Esq.
RIGHT HON. LORD JAMES O’BRYEN.
[Post-Captain of 1798.]
This officer is the second son of the late Edward O’Bryen, Esq., a Captain in the army, brother of Murrough, the first Marquis of Thomond[1] . During the greater part of the first French revolutionary war, he commanded the Shark and Childers sloops of war. His post commission bears date Feb. 14, 1799. We subsequently find him in the Emerald frigate, assisting at the capture of St. Lucia and Surinam. The following are extracts from the official letter of Commodore Hood, announcing the reduction of the latter colony:
“Brigadier-General Hughes was ordered on board the Pandour, to endeavour to gain possession of Braam’s point; and instructions were sent to Captain O’Bryen, then lying off the bar, to carry this service, in concert with the Brigadier, into execution: he, with his usual intrepidity, lost not a moment, but as the tide flowed, pushed in over the bar, and anchored close to the battery of seven 18-pounders, followed by Captains Nash and Ferris, in the Pandour and Drake. The fort commenced a brisk fire on the Emerald, but was silenced by a few broadsides after the ships had anchored, without any loss on our side: in it were captured 43 officers and men, 3 of whom were wounded. Not being able to approach nearer in the Centaur, the General and myself removed next morning to the Emerald; and having summoned the colony, received an answer containing a refusal of the terms. The moment, therefore, the tide served, every effort was made to get up the river, which, from the shallowness of the water, was very difficult, the Emerald having passed through the mud in three feet less than she drew. * * * * The indefatigable zeal of Captains O’Bryen and Nash, in arranging and forwarding the supplies, and Captains Maxwell, Ferris, Waring, and Richardson, in giving aid to the army, as well as Captain Kempt, agent for transports, claim my warmest applause[2].” * * * *
- ↑ The O’Bryens are one of the aboriginal families of Ireland, and descended from the kings of Thomond and Muuster; their pedigree is traced with peculiar exactness by the Editor of a Biographical Peerage of Ireland, published in 1817.
- ↑ An account of the reduction of Surinam will be found under the head of Sir Murray Maxwell, in this volume.
