manded by the late Captain James Montagu[1], Sept. 14, 1784, and returned to England with that gallant officer in the spring of 1785. His next appointment was, July 10, 1786, to the Savage sloop of war, in which vessel he continued till Aug. 12, 1789.
During this latter period of service, nothing very particular occurred, it being a time of peace; but Lieutenant Tomlinson enjoyed the unspeakable felicity of preserving the lives of two of his fellow creatures: one, Mr. Campbell, a young gentleman who could not swim, and whom he rescued by jumping overboard after him; the other, a poor fisherman who had been overset, and to whose assistance he repaired in a small boat during a heavy gale of wind, at the evident peril of his own existence[2]During the Spanish armament in 1790, he was sent to Greenock upon the impress service, and while there displayed his usual activity; but as no rupture ensued, he was recommended by Lord Hawke to Count Woronzow, the Russian Ambassador, through whose interference he obtained the command of a ship of the line belonging to the Imperial navy. No sooner, however, did a war between England and France appear inevitable, than relinquishing the most flattering prospects, he returned to his native country, made an offer of his services, and was appointed first Lieutenant of the Regulus 44, in which ship he served for eight months, and then left her to take the command of the Pelter gun-brig, at the particular request of Sir W. Sidney Smith.
To whatever extent boarding and cutting out the enemies’ vessels from under forts, &c. may have since been carried, we have reason to believe Lieutenant Tomlinson had the honor of setting the example in the French revolutionary war (at least in Europe) , by boarding and carrying a lugger, in a single boat and in open day-light, while lying within pistol-shot of a battery, with the adjacent sand-hills lined with troops.
The Pelter appears to have been engaged in a variety of operations on the coast of France; and on one occasion had an encounter with three armed vessels, two of which were of equal force with herself, lying in the road of Staples, pro-
- ↑ See Vol. I. note at p. 41 *.
- ↑ Mr. Campbell was related to Mrs. Carter, wife of the Duke of Portland’s private secretary.
