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soon bore down towards the Childers, with the appa- 1808. rent design of fighting her and rescuing the prize. March. At about 6 P. M. the stranger, which was the danish brig-corvette Lougen, mounting 18 long 18-pounders, and two long 6-pounders through the stern-ports, with a crew of 160 men and boys, commanded by captain Wulff, got upon the weather beam of the Childers, at about gun-shot distance.

Being aware that the convoy, of which the Childers was to have been the escort, would very soon approach, captain Dillon felt it incumbent upon him, notwithstanding the evident superiority of the danish brig, to strive his utmost to drive her into port. By way of defiance, therefore, the Childers fired a shot over the Lougen; who immediately hauled close to the wind, and stood in-shore. As soon as she had secured her prize and hoisted in her boats, the Childers followed the danish brig; and, when the two vessels were within half a mile of the shore, they tacks exchanged broadsides, on opposite tacks, at about the half gun-shot distance. Soon after the Childers had discharged her broadside, the dane was discovered to be on fire forward; and, had the Childers been near enough to profit by the confusion evidently caused by the accident, the contest might have been brought to a speedy termination.

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The Lougen now kept so near to the norwegian Effect shore, that she became hid from the view of the ter's Childers, and could not at any rate be weathered by supeher. It was only, indeed, by the flash of the Lougen's metal. guns, that captain Dillon knew in what direction to fire his own. In this manner the engagement lasted for three hours; during which the heavy metal and welldirected fire of the dane did the Childers considerable damage. Many of the danish 18-pounders struck the british vessel between wind and water; while the shot of the Childers, being discharged from 12-pounder carronades, frequently fell short; a circumstance which must have greatly reanimated her opponent.

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Despairing of accomplishing any thing while the March. Wary dane hugged the land so closely, the Childers stood out under easy sail, in the hope of enticing the Lougen to sea; where a close, and therefore a more equal, combat could not so well be avoided by the latter. At length the Lougen ventured from the land, and at 11 P. M. was three miles distant from it. The Childers now set her courses, and tacked, with the intention of weathering her antagonist; Chil- but the wind presently headed her, and defeated ders the attempt. As the only alternative, the Childers pels passed close under the lee of the Lougen, and pourgen to ed into her a broadside of round and grape; receiving retreat, in return many destructive shot, several of which unable entered between wind and water. The Lougen imto pur mediately tacked, and made sail to regain the shore; and the Childers, having her lower masts and bowsprit badly wounded, five feet water in the hold, her magazine afloat, and the water gaining on the pumps, was not in a state to renew the action.

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Of her crew of 56 men and boys, the Childers had board her captain's clerk (Joseph Roberts) and one seaman ders. killed, and her commander, (severely in both legs

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and in his left arm,) two midshipmen, (John Batten and Charles Parker,) three seamen, two marines, and one boy wounded. The Lougen, from declining to continue the engagement, must have suffered some loss; but its amount we are unable to state.

After bearing up to join her prize, the Childers of the lay to all night on the starboard tack, to stop eight action. shot-holes between wind and water. This done,

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and being in too shattered a state to keep the sea, the Childers put back to Leith. In the mean time the merchant vessels from that port, having had the Lougen driven out of their track, and that by the very vessel whose services their owners had despised, passed in safety to their destination.

The gallantry of the Childers in this affair, of capt. obtained for her officers and crew the thanks of Dillon, the admiralty, and for captain Dillon himself the

grand desideratum of a commander, post-rank. Of 1808. his first and only lieutenant, Thomas Edmonds, cap- June. tain Dillon speaks in the highest terms. What honours fell to the share of captain Wulff, for his conduct on the occasion, depended very much, no doubt, upon the story he told when he got safe into port.

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On the 19th of June, at 2 P. M., the Nase of Nor- Seaway bearing west-north-west seven or eight leagues, gull the british 16-gun brig-sloop Seagull, (fourteen 24- and enpounder carronades and two sixes,) captain Robert gages Cathcart, discovered in-shore, running to the east- gen. ward, with a fresh breeze at west-south-west, the same danish 20-gun brig Lougen, of whom mention has just been made. The Seagull crowded sail in chase; and at 4 h. 30 m. P. M., having arrived within gun-shot, hoisted her colours. The Lougen did the same, and, knowing that a long range suited her best, immediately opened a fire from her starboard guns. It now falling nearly calm, the Seagull was obliged to use her sweeps, in order, by getting between her antagonist and the shore, to prevent the latter from entering Christiansand harbour, off the mouth of which she lay; and more particularly, that the former might gain a position near enough for her carronades to produce effect.

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At 5 P. M. the british brig got within musket-shot of the dane and commenced the action, but soon had most of her sweeps, and the greater part of her rigging, shot away by the Lougen's fire. After the six engagement had continued in this way for 20 minutes, gunsix danish gun-boats, each armed with two long aid the 24-pounders, and manned with from 60 to 70 men, and which until now had been concealed behind the rocks, pulled towards the Seagull. They soon swept up, and, taking a position on each quarter, raked the Seagull at every shot; while the Lougen was doing the same on the british brig's larboard bow. By 6 h. 30 m. P. M. five out of seven of the Seagull's carronades on the larboard side were dismounted,

1808. Every effort was now used to get the brig round; March. but, as her sweeps were all destroyed, and her rigging and sails, even had there been a breeze to use them, cut to pieces, that object could not be Seagull effected. After sustaining the heavy fire of her numerous antagonists until 7 h. 30 m. P. M., at which time she had five feet water in the hold, the Seagull struck her colours.

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Out of her 94 men and boys, the Seagull lost loss of her second lieutenant, (Abraham Harcourt White,) master, (Andrew Martin,) three seamen, and three marines killed, her captain, (severely,) first lieutenant, (Villiers T. Hatton, dangerously,) boatswain, (Thomas Wilson,) 11 seamen, and six marines wounded. Scarcely could the wounded and the remaining survivors of her crew be removed, ere the Seagull went down; thereby affording an incontestable proof, that her damages had been of the utmost magnitude, and that, in protracting their resistance so long, her officers and crew had acquitted themselves like british seamen.

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The Lougen, out of her 160 men and boys, appears to have had one man killed and 13 wounded, and was much damaged. The loss sustained by the gunboats cannot be ascertained. The Seagull was afterwards weighed by the Danes, and added to their navy. For his gallant defence of her, captain Cathcart, as soon as he returned home, was promoted to post-rank.

Stately On the 22d of March, at 2 P. M., the british Nassau 64-gun ships Stately, captain George Parker, and chase a Nassau, captain Robert Campbell, proceeding todanish wards the Great Belt, descried and chased a strange

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sail. At 4 P. M., Greenall on the Jutland coast bearing north-west by west distant 40 miles, the stranger was made out to be an enemy, and at 5 P. M. a danish ship of the line, having evidently the intention, if no other mode of escape offered, of running herself on shore.

her. At 7 h. 40 m. P. M. the Nassau got up with, and

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opened her fire upon, the danish 74-gun ship Prindts-1808. Christian-Frederic, captain Jessen; and, in a few March. minutes afterwards, the Stately closed and did the some. A running fight was thus maintained, with great obstinacy on the part of the 74, until 9 h. 30 m. P. M., when the Prindts-Christian-Frederic struck her colours. At this time the latter was within less than Prindts 500 yards of the shore of Zealand; and, before the tianfirst lieutenant of the Stately, Mr. David Sloan, who had gone on board to take possession, could cut renders away her anchor, the prize grounded. The two british ships, fortunately for them, had already shore. brought up near to her. The remaining part of the night was employed in removing the prisoners; but it was found impossible to get the captured ship afloat. On the 23d, in the evening, as the Danes were preparing their artillery on the coast, and as the wind blew strong on the shore and a good deal Is of sea was running, the Prindts-Christian-Frederic was set on fire by her captors, and in a short time blew up.

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The loss on the part of the Stately was two seamen Loss on and two marines killed, and one lieutenant, (Edward side. Cole,) the boatswain, (John Liming,) one master's mate, (James Davis,) 23 seamen, and two marines wounded. The Nassau had one seaman killed and one missing, and one first-class volunteer, (Edward J. Johnson,) 10 seamen, and five marines wounded; total, on the side of the British, five killed and 45 wounded and missing. The Prindts-Christian-Frederic, out of a complement on board of 576 men and boys, had 55 killed and 88 wounded; a loss sufficient to prove, that her commander did not surrender his ship earlier than was consistent with the honour of the danish flag.

On the 23d of April the british 20-gun ship Daphne, captain Francis Mason, 18-gun ship-sloop Tartarus, captain William Russel, and 12-gun brig Forward, lieutenant David Sheils, cruising off the coast of Denmark, destroyed a danish sloop laden

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