fax and Shelburne to Castine. He returned home, under the command of the late Captain Nagle Lock, in 1816. Letters of which the following are copies were subsequently addressed to him:–
“My dear Sir,– In reply to your letter, requesting my opinion of your professional conduct and character, during the period you served as first lieutenant of the Jaseur, under my command; I beg to assure you, that the only fear I entertain is, that my pen will rarely do justice to its office; when I say that, if zeal and ability as an officer constituted a fair claim to consideration, you ought not to have been overlooked in the list of candidates for promotion, it would be saying what might with truth be said of hundreds in the same profession; but when I add, that to your zeal and ability you unite the qualities of bravery, and in private life those requisites which decidedly mark the gentleman, I sum up a grand total not commonly to be met with in one individual.
“The courage and conduct you evinced when you so gallantly boarded and captured the Grecian, in a boat containing only six men besides yourself, is at once a fact which speaks for itself, and supersedes almost the necessity of eulogium.
“It has rarely fallen to my lot to perform so gratifying a task as thus to bear testimony to the merits of one who ever occupied a high place in my good opinion; and admitting the past to be a guarantee for the future, I run no hazard in asserting that in whatever situation of professional service you may be placed, you will do credit to your employers. I remain, my dear Sir, with real esteem, most faithfully yours.
“Sir,– In reply to your letter of the 31st Dec, I regret to say that, from the want of official documents, I am unable to comply with your request. I perfectly recollect that the event you mention took place, but from the distance of time I am unable to speak to particulars. The letter you received from Captain Watts, dated 8th Aug. 1816, is so much in your favor, that I should consider it as fully sufficient to lay before the Admiralty; and as Sir Thomas Hardy is now a member of that Board, he may possibly recollect your very gallant conduct in capturing the privateer with so inadequate a force. I sincerely wish you every possible success, and have only to regret that your applications to the late Admiralty were not attended with that success which your conduct merited. I remain. Sir, &c.
In Feb. 1831, Lieutenant West was appointed first of the Windsor Castle 70, Captain the Hon. D. P. Bouverie, then
