In Aug. 1798, Mr. Hoste succeeded the Hon. T. B. Capel in the command of la Mutine, the only small vessel attached to Nelson’s squadron in the battle of the Nile. This appointment being confirmed by the Admiralty in December following, he continued to serve in her till the close of the war. His post commission bears date Jan. 7, 1802. He subsequently commanded the Eurydice of 24 guns, and Amphion frigate.
At the commencement of 1809, we find Captain Hoste employed as senior officer in the Adriatic, where he cruised with unremitting vigilance against the enemy’s vessels, carrying supplies and reinforcements to the garrisons of Ancona, Corfu, and the Ionian islands. On the 8th Feb. the Amphion, in company with the Redwing sloop of war, captured a French brig, mounting six 12-pounders, and destroyed two storehouses of wine and oil collected at Melida, an island near the coast of Dalmatia. She subsequently assisted at the capture of thirteen deeply laden merchantmen in the mole of Pesaro[1]. An account of a very gallant, well-conducted, and successful attack made on the enemy’s fort and vessels at Cortelazzo, between Venice and Trieste, will be given in our memoir of Captain Phillott, who commanded the detachment employed on that service. The following is an extract from Lord Collingwood’s official letter on the occasion:
“I have on many occasions had to represent the zeal, the bravery, and the. nice concert of measures that are necessary to success, which have distinguished the services of Captain Hoste; and this late attack of the enemy is not inferior to those many instances which have before obtained for him praise and admiration. The manner in which he speaks of Lieutenant Phillott, who commanded the party, and of the other officers and men, is highly honorable to them; but the Amphion’s officers and men, following the example of their Captain, could not well be otherwise than they are. * * * Within a month two divisions of the enemy’s gun-boats have been taken, consisting of six each.”
In June 1810, another gallant enterprise was performed by the boats of the Amphion, Active, and Cerberus, which ended in the capture of Grao, a town in the gulf of Trieste, and a convoy laden with naval stores for the arsenal at Venice[2].
Passing by, for the present, several boat actions, in which
- ↑ See p. 267.
- ↑ See Commander William Slaughter, in our next volume.
