“I hope this statement will sufficiently answer your purpose: for dates, I have nothing by me to refer to. I remain, dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
L’Atalante was captured on the 27th of July, and Mr. Croker and his companions continued seven days and nights in the perilous situation described by Sir Graham E. Hamond. One morning, an enemy’s lugger was seen at some distance; but most fortunately she was deterred from approaching nearer, by the prize’s head being instantly put towards her, although the numerous Frenchmen below were then trying at every hatchway to gain the deck.
The Plantagenet was subsequently commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) the Hon. Michael De Courcy, under whom Mr. Croker completed his time and servitude as midshipman, and in whose own hand writing we find it stated, on his leaving that ship to pass the usual examination at Somerset House, that he had “always conducted himself with great activity, vigilance, and correctness; shewing himself forward for any enterprise, and setting an admirable example to those around him.”
In 1804 and 1805, Mr. Croker was successively appointed to act as lieutenant of the Topaze 36, Captain W. T. Lake; Amsterdam 32, Captain William Ferris; and Centaur 74, Captain Murray Maxwell; the two latter ships employed in the West Indies, to which station he had been sent out on promotion.
On the 29th July, 1805, the Centaur, then commanded by Captain Henry Whitby, and in company with a squadron under Captain De Courcy, sent from Jamaica to join Lord Nelson in his pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain, encountered one of the tremendous hurricanes which commence so suddenly, and increase to such dreadful violence, in those seas. Of the squadron, the Centaur suffered most from its destructive rage, in consequence of her having recently run on shore in the West Indies. She was thrown on her beam-ends; her masts all went, one after the other, like mere twigs; her boats were all stove and washed overboard; her rudder was carried away; and for sixteen hours,
