the fortunes of his mother country, settled in Berkshire at the peace of 1783[1].
He was born in America, Oct. 13, 1775, entered the naval service of his Sovereign, as a Midshipman on board the Salisbury of 50 guns, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Milbank, on the Newfoundland station, in June 1789; and continued in that ship, under the command of Captain, (now Sir William) Domett, and his successor, the present Viscount Exmouth till the conclusion of the Russian armament, when he was removed into the Alcide, a third rate, commanded by Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, and employed as a guard-ship at Portsmouth. We subsequently find him serving under Captains Domett, Lord Augustus Fitzroy, Edward Brown, and John Knight; in the Romney 50, Orestes sloop of war, Conflagration fire-ship, and Victory of 100 guns; the former bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Goodall, the latter that of Lord Hood on the Mediterranean station.
During the occupation of Toulon by the British forces and their allies, Mr. Loring served as a volunteer at Fort Mulgrave; and on the night of Dec. 17, 1793, when that place was stormed and carried by the republican troops[2], he appears to have been severely wounded by a musket-ball just below his knee, which obliged him to proceed in the Dolphin hospital-ship to Gibraltar, for his recovery. From thence, when scarcely convalescent, he took a passage in the Inconstant frigate; and having rejoined the Victory at Corsica, again served as a volunteer at the reduction of Bastia, commanding on that occasion a gun-boat, in which he went every night at dusk to watch at the mole-head, and kept his station till day-light in the ensuing morning.
On the surrender of Bastia, after a siege of thirty-seven days, besides four spent in negociation[3], Mr. Loring was
- ↑ Mr. Joshua Loring’s father was a Commodore in the British navy, and commanded on the Lakes during the war with the colonies. His brother, Captain John Loring, R.N., distinguished himself as a brave, intelligent, and active officer, in the late wars with France, and died at Fareham, Hants, Nov. 9, 1808.
- ↑ See Vol. I. pp. 46, 60, and 293.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 251.
