“Sir,– I have received your letter, and herewith return the enclosures transmitted therein. I have perused the memorial you addressed to the Board, and, in consequence of the circumstances stated therein, I shall be glad, when my arrangements will admit of it, to give you some suitable employment. I am, &c.
On the 14th Oct. 1804, Captain O’Neill was appointed to a command in the Kinsale district of Sea-Fencibles; and on the 15th Dec. in the same year, the following communication was addressed to his senior officer:
“Sir,– Having laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of the 9th instant, inclosing one from Captain O’Neill, requesting that the Sea-Fencibles under his command may be paid for the assistance they rendered to the crew of a vessel which was wrecked within his district, I am commanded by their lordships to acquaint you, that as Captain O’Neill states he has pledged himself for the payment of this charge, they are pleased to allow it, being satisfied with his motives for incurring it. But although the conduct of the persons who exerted themselves on this occasion, in saving the lives and property of their fellow creatures, is highly meritorious, it has no relation to the service for which they were enrolled, and the precedent, if followed in all other parts where Sea-Fencibles are established, would occasion a very heavy expence to the public. I am, Sir, &c.
“To Captain Samuel Campbell Rowley, S.F., Kinsale.”
In Nov. 1805, having the chief command during Captain Rowley’s absence on leave, and reading the account of Nelson’s victory and death, Captain O’Neill instantly called out his men, proposed to them to subscribe one day’s pay for the widows and children of the slain, advanced the amount, 42l. 12s. 7d., out of his own pocket, and immediately transmitted it to Rear-Admiral Wolseley, superintendant for the levy of seamen in Ireland. In addition to his setting this example to other naval officers in Ireland, he influenced Major-General Champaigne and the forces under his command to promise to subscribe their pittance, if leave could be obtained from head-quarters. If he had carried his point, this would not only have been the means of raising a very large sum for the present, but would also have established a precedent for similar united-service subscriptions on every future occasion. Jealousy, however, caused cold water to be thrown on the
