casioned the disaster. It seems much more probable that the bottoms of the cartridges fired by a party of the 86th regiment, then doing duty on board as marines, and who were exercising on the poop at the moment when the ship was tending to the tide, had entered the ports of the cabin, into which Sir John Jervis’s stock had recently been removed, preparatory to its being landed, and thereby set fire to the hampers, &c. The rapidity with which the flames extended throughout, may be attributed to the state of her planks and timbers, which had become perfectly dry through long exposure to a West India sun. It should be observed also, that she was riding with her stern to the wind, which no doubt greatly accelerated the progress of the fire towards her forecastle[1].
Captain Grey subsequently commanded the Glory, another ship of 98 guns, forming part of the Channel fleet. In the following year we find him in the Victory, a first rate, bearing the flag of Sir John Jervis, with whom he continued during the whole period that officer held the command on the Mediterranean station. He consequently assisted at the defeat of the Spanish fleet, off Cape St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797[2], on which occasion the Victory had only 1 man killed and 5 wounded.
Previous to his return to England, his friend the Commander-in-Chief gave him the dormant appointment of Adjutant-General of the Fleet, under which he acted in a certain degree, so as not to give offence to the senior Captains. The Admiral, in a letter to Earl Spencer, announcing his intention of resigning the command to Lord Keith, mentions this circumstance, and adds, “In the state I am in, Captain Grey is essentially necessary to my comfort, and I hope your Lordship will approve of his accompanying me.”
In the spring of 1800, Earl St. Vincent hoisted his flag on board the Ville de Paris of 110 guns, as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel fleet; and at the same time our officer assumed the command of that ship, which he held until the month of
- ↑ A man who had lived some years upon a comfortable annuity at a small village in Staffordshire, died in 1806. On his death-bed he declared that he had been hired to set fire to the Boyne.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 21, et seq.
