mulus of 36 guns, which ship was attached to the fleet under Vice-Admiral Hotham in the action off Genoa, Mar. 14, 1795[1]. On the 8th June following, he was removed into the Britannia, a first rate, bearing the flag of that officer, by whom he was appointed third Lieutenant of the Southampton frigate, shortly after the skirmish off Frejus, which ended in the destruction of a French 74[2].
The Southampton’s action with la Vestale French frigate, and the capture of l’Utile corvette, together with the other services performed by her, have already been described in our memoir of Rear-Admiral Macnamara, with whom Lieutenant Broke returned to England, after witnessing the defeat of the Spanish fleet by Sir John Jervis, Feb. 14, 1797. We subsequently find him serving under the late Hon. Captain Charles Herbert in the Amelia frigate, and bearing a part in the battle between Sir John B. Warren and M. Bompart, off the coast of Ireland, Oct. 12, 1798[3].
Lieutenant Broke was advanced to the rank of Commander in Jan. 1799; and made a Post-Captain Feb. 14, 1801. Previous to this latter promotion he commanded the Shark sloop of war, employed, in affording protection to the trade, and occasionally cruising off the Dutch coast.
At the renewal of the war in 1803, Captain Broke made several unsuccessful applications for a ship; but as inactivity formed no part of his character, he employed himself in training the peasantry in his neighbourhood to arms, for the purpose of opposing the threatened invasion from France. In April 1805, he was appointed to the Druid frigate; and the scarcity of seamen then being so great that many ships were lying idle for want of hands, he offered to proceed to sea with scarcely a sufficient number to work her. His offer being accepted, the Druid sailed on a cruise for men off the Land’s End and in the Bristol Channel; and after making up her complement, was placed under the orders of Lord Gardner, on the Irish
- ↑ See vol. I, note at p. 340.
- ↑ See Vol. I, note at p. 254.
- ↑ Captain Herbert, second son of the Earl of Carnarvon, was a brave officer, and a gentleman of respectable literary talents. He unfortunately lost his life by the swamping of a boat near Gijon, on the coast of Spain,, Sept. 12, 1808. Captain Herbert married a sister of the present Rear-Admiral Viscount Torringtan.
