“Lord Spencer has directed me to inform you, that you are appointed to the Tromp[1], with the rank of master and commander. I am. Sir, &c.
The Tromp was destined to be converted into a prison-ship, and stationed at one of the Leeward Islands, the commander-in-chief on which station received instructions from the Admiralty to place Captain O’Neill in the way of further promotion. Lord Hugh Seymour, however, the officer to whom we have now occasion to allude, was under the necessity of suddenly proceeding to Jamaica, and unfortunately neglected to inform his successor, the late Sir John T. Duckworth, of Earl Spencer’s favorable intentions. In consequence thereof. Captain O’Neill, after burying most of his officers, and nearly one-half of his crew, found himself under the necessity of returning home, at his own expence, passenger on board a transport; the Tromp having been placed, as was originally intended, under the command of a lieutenant. This most mortifying disappointment produced the following communication from Earl Spencer, then no longer in office:–
“Sir,– I am very sorry that my delay in answering your letter of the 13th instant, which arose from the accidental circumstance of my having moved about very much in the country since I received it, should have given you the trouble of writing again, and occasion to suppose my silence was owing to some other cause.
“I have no hesitation in repeating to you what I said in my last letter, that I think your case peculiarly hard. My only motive for giving you promotion, was the very active manner in which you had on several occasions distinguished yourself, in the North Sea and on the coast of Holland, during the war; which had obtained you repeatedly the strongest expressions of approbation from Lord Duncan and other your superior officers. Your appointment to the Tromp was under the expectation of your being able, on your arrival in the West Indies, to get removed to some more active situation, which would have given you an opportunity of further distinguishing yourself, though by some untoward accidents, in which you had no share, it proved of serious disadvantage and inconvenience to you; and after your return home, I fully intended to have availed myself of the earliest opportunity that might present itself, consistently with other very pressing engagements, to put you again into active service, in- ↑ A Dutch 50, armed en flûte.
