Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p2.djvu/318

DIGBY WILLOUGHBY, Esq.
[Commander.]

Cousin and heir-presumptive to the Right Hon. Lord Middleton. He received his education at the Maritime School, Chelsea; obtained a lieutenant’s commission in 1794; and was promoted to the rank of commander in May, 1802.

---

ROBERT SAUSE, Esq.
[Commander.]

Was made a lieutenant in 1783; promoted to the rank of commander in 1795; and removed from la Sincere sloop to la Sensible troop-ship in 1798. In 1801, he accompanied Sir Home Popham to the Red Sea ; and on the 3d Mar. 1802, he lost la Sensible on a shoal to the southward of Ceylon. He died of apoplexy, at Walcot, near Bath, June 13th, 1827.

---

MALCOLM COWAN, Esq.
[Commander.]

Was made a lieutenant in Nov. 1790; presented with the Turkish gold medal, for his services during the Egyptian campaign in 1801; and promoted to the rank of commander Oct. 23d, 1802. In 1805, he published an essay on the construction of the sails of ships and vessels, with plans and descriptions, showing the many dangers that may be avoided, and the advantages derived from adopting sails of his own invention; and on the 24th Aug. 1809, we find him writing to the Navy Board as follows:–

“Honorable Gentlemen, – As it appears that proposals for the advantage of H.M. naval service, or for the saving of the public money in the naval department, have hitherto been chiefly referred to your Honorable Board, I beg leave to lay before you the enclosed observations on the dangers to which H.M. ships and vessels are unnecessarily exposed, from the present mode of making sails; and, in consequence, the very great and unnecessary expence attending them, which I request you will be pleased to take into your serious consideration, with the reports from experienced officers on the new sails that I have had the honor of laying before your Honorable Board, from time to time, for these four years