for the point of honor with Sir Richard Strachan, which I very much admired, at the time the enemy had ventured out of the harbour, but continued under their batteries near Brest. I can, I am sure, with the greatest truth say, that there is no officer whose services I shouUl have preferred, either as a captain or an admiral.”
At a subsequent period, Earl St. Vincent wrote to this officer as follows:–
“Dear Sir,– I have great pride and pleasure in bearing testimony to the correctness of your conduct in the Channel fleet, in the Montagu and Royal George; and I perfectly well remember the remark I made upon the good condition of the masts, yards, and furniture of the first named ship, when she rejoined after an uncommonly long cruise in the Bay, at a period when I had cause to complain of the number of masts and yards crippled through neglect and unskilful management; and I can with confidence declare, that when you arrived with the account of the impression made upon the floating and other batteries at Copenhagen, the King would have been advised to confer some mark of distinction on you, had not the ill state of his Majesty’s health prevented it, I do farther declare, that, in my judgment, there is not an officer in his Majesty’s navy of greater zeal and promise than Rear-Admiral Otway; and I foretel, that, if justice is done him, he will rival all the heroes of the last two wars.
In Feb. 1815, Rear-Admiral Otway received an address from Sir William John Struth, Knt., and six other gentlemen, then resident in London, who were members of the council at St. Vincent during the Carib war in 1795–6:–
“We,” say they, “who have witnessed your conduct both on land and sea, can testify to it in repeated acts of personal bravery. We could state various instances in which we consider your claim to particular and distinguished notice as an officer as indisputable. We should not hesitate to recapitulate the instances alluded to, and we only omit to mention them in delicacy to your own feelings; but should it ever be necessary, we pledge ourselves to the proofs of your well-earned title to every dignity that valor can deserve or honor bestow on the defenders of the country. Were the whole of the surviving inhabitants of that disastrous period here with us, we are confident there would not be a dissenting voice to the sentiments we express, and the attachment we profess towards you; on the contrary, we are persuaded there would be but one unanimous suffrage to your unqualified deserts.”
On the 20th April, 1815, the Earl of Egremont, when addressing the House of Lords on the subject of a recent
