Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v3p2.djvu/36

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captains of 1828.
25

den 64, Captain William Cumberland, which appears to have been confirmed by the Admiralty, April 30th, 1808.

On the 6th of July, 1809, Lieutenant Sandom, then second of the Bonne Citoyenne sloop. Captain William Mounsey, assisted in capturing la Furieuse French frigate, under the circumstances detailed in p. 24 et seq. of Suppl. Part II. The charge of this noble prize, and 120 of her late crew, being confided to him, he was scarcely ever off her deck, from the moment that she was first boarded until her arrival at Halifax, a period of twenty-five days. The difficulties he had to encounter in conducting a ship of such magnitude, almost totally dismasted, and extremely leaky, with no more than 37 persons to assist him, can readily be imagined. His indefatigable exertions were duly acknowledged by Captain Mounsey, and called forth the approbation of Sir John B. Warren, then commander-in-chief on that station.

Lieutenant Sandom’s next appointment was, we believe, to the Fawn sloop. Captain the Hon. George Alfred Crofton. The following paragraph appears in the Naval Chronicle, vol. 26, p. 60: – “Lieutenant Williams Sandom has been tried by a court-martial, for a breach of the second article of war. The Court agreed that the charge originated in a malicious combination, and did adjudge him to be most fully acquitted. – Admiral Hargood, President.”

We have before stated, that the command of the Furieuse was conferred upon Captain Mounsey immediately after her capture; but that she could not be repaired and got ready for commissioning before Nov. 1811. Lieutenant Sandom was then appointed second of that fine frigate, in which he served for nearly four years, on the Mediterranean and North American stations. Among other official letters written by his captain, during this period of active warfare, we find the following:–

Furieuse, Ponza, May 19th, 1813.

“Sir,– I beg to inform you, that on the 7th instant, the boats of this ship, under Lieutenants Croker and Sandom, who volunteered their services, with Lieutenants Whylock and Davies, R.M., in a most gallant manner, succeeded in cutting out an armed xebec, of two 6-pounders, from under the tower and batteries of Orbitello, where she had run