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wounded; but the account, as we have stated it, may be depended upon as correct. The Abeille, whose crew amounted to at least 130 men and boys, lost, according to the acknowledgment of her officers, seven seamen and marines killed and 12 wounded. Neither brig, as far as it appears, had any mast shot away; although both, particularly the Alacrity, had received damage in them, as well as in the rigging, sails, and

hull.

Here were two brigs, when the action began, about equally matched, and, when it ended, nearly equal sufferers in point of numerical loss: a circumstance that renders the termination of it, by the capture of one of them, so much the more extraordinary. It was, however, in numbers merely, that the loss came so near to an equality; as the Alacrity's almost unparalleled loss of officers has already in part shown, and as the further explanation, which our duty calls upon us to give, will completely establish. Out of her full net complement of 120 men and boys, the Alacrity sailed upon her last cruise with only 101 men and 13 boys. Falling in with and detaining a Greek ship, rather largely manned, Captain Palmer sent on board his second lieutenant, Mr. Alexander Martin, a skilful and zealous officer, and 13 able seamen, with orders to carry the ship to Malta. This was in the beginning of May. Thus left with all her boys, and with very little more than four fifths of her men, the Alacrity encountered the Abeille in the manner already stated. In the early part of the action, Captain Palmer received a lacerated wound in his hand and fingers, and went below, and remained below. The command, in consequence, devolved upon Lieutenant Rees, and a more efficient officer could not be found. Presently Lieutenant Rees had his leg badly shot, and was borne to a carronade-slide. There he sat, persisting in not being carried below, and animating the men by every means in his power, until a second shot laid him dead on the deck. His place was filled by Mr. Laing, the master. While he was in command, the master's mate, Mr. Warren, received his mortal wound; and at length Mr. Laing got wounded also, by a contusion in the upper part of the thigh, and he went below.

The men on the quarterdeck now called out, that there was no officer to command them. Instantly James Flaxman, the boatswain, stepped aft, who, although he had received a painful wound in the left arm by a nail and been knocked into the waist by a splinter, was again at his post on the forecastle cheering the people. Here, again, all might have gone on well, in spite of the disheartening effect produced upon the crew by the absence of their finger-wounded captain. Although his hand had been dressed, the latter was so stomach-sick, or so sick somewhere else, that he remained below; and, whether it was that a shot, which about this time wounded the surgeon in the cockpit, alarmed the captain in the cabin, or that the latter began to com

passionate others, as well as himself, Captain Palmer sent up orders to strike the colours. No sooner was the order announced on the quarterdeck, than, snatching up a pistol from off the binnacle, the boatswain swore he would blow out the brains of the first man who attempted to execute it. The threat had its effect, and the ensign of the Alacrity continued to wave at her gaff-end. In a very short time, however, while the intrepid Flaxman was standing near the main hatchway, exhorting the crew to act like British seamen, the gunner, who ranked above the boatswain, and seems to have caught the captain's infection, hauled down the brig's colours.

It was as fortunate for the memory of the Alacrity's late commander, as, in reference to the merits of this action, it was unfortunate for the cause of truth, that he died a month afterwards of a locked jaw brought on by his originally insignificant wound. Every person does not know that, in warm climates, a comparatively slight cut between the thumb and fore-finger will frequently produce locked jaw; and therefore the undisputed fact, that Captain Palmer "died of his wounds," not only exonerated him, in public opinion, from all blame, but stamped his character with a quality, to which, as is now evident, he had not a pretension. Let those who maintain, that the dead are not to be spoken ill of, answer the question, whether the good of the individual should not give way to the good of the many? Whether, in short, it is not more consonant to justice to show, that a certain mishap or calamity arose from the defection of one man, than leave it to be inferred, that 100 men failed in their duty?

But, there were gems in the British character, that, had the Alacrity not met the Abeille, and had the captain of the former not behaved as he did, would perhaps for ever have lain hid. Lieutenant Rees, for instance, might never have had an opportunity of displaying the trait of heroism which caused his death; nor James Flaxman, the boatswain, the undaunted spirit that animated him, and which at least delayed, although it could not prevent, the surrender of the British brig. Satisfied we are that, if the details of every British naval defeat were fully made public, instead of, as is usually the case, suppressed or but partially given, sufficient glory would be elicited to counteract the disgrace, which the unexplained result of the action is, in almost every case, calculated to produce.

Before we dismiss the action of the Alacrity and Abeille, let us do justice to the officers and crew of the latter. They did their duty like brave men and good seamen; and, as an additional proof that they were brave men, treated their prisoners with attention and kindness. With respect to the Abeille's commander, he obtained the promotion to which his gallantry so justly entitled him: he was immediately confirmed in his appointment of a lieutenant de vaisseau, and made a member of

the legion of honour. On the 7th of February, 1812, Lieutenant De Mackau was made a capitaine de frégate; soon afterwards a baron of the French empire; and on the 1st of September, 1819, a capitaine de vaisseau.

On the 30th of May, 1814, on board the Gladiator at Portsmouth, a court-martial sat on the surviving officers and crew of the Alacrity. The court acquitted them of all blame, and attributed the brig's loss to so many of her officers having been killed or wounded, and to the "captain's not returning on deck after having had his wound dressed by the surgeon." The court, also, greatly eulogized the conduct of James Flaxman, the boatswain; and he now, we believe, fills a similar station on board a line-of-battle ship.

The French official account states the force of the Alacrity at "20 carronades, 32-pounders." For this there was some ground, the brig having really mounted two small brass guns, 2 or 3 pounders, abaft. But there were no shot for them; they were the captain's playthings, and served occasionally to exercise the crew in the necessary art of polishing. Of this oversight, or whatever it may have been, in Captain De Mackau, we feel the less disposed to complain, because he fairly states the force of his own brig at "20 carronades, 24-pounders." A French writer, whose works are of deservedly high repute in this country, has selected about four cases out of the mass to be found in these pages, in order to show, that "French valour can triumph over British bravery," "la vaillance française pouvait triompher de la bravoure britannique."* Far be it from us to discourage the laudable endeavours of M. Dupin to reanimate the drooping navy of his country: we heartily wish he may succeed, because we are convinced that, unless the French navy thrives, the British navy will droop. By the French the British can afford to be beaten occasionally; and, had the British been oftener defeated during the six years that preceded, they would, we are sure, have been oftener successful in the three years that followed, the 18th of June, 1812.

However, not to lose sight of M. Dupin, let us remark that, in stating the broadside-force of the Alacrity at 127" kilogrammes," and that of the Abeille at 109, he proves the inaccuracy of his information respecting the mounted force of the two vessels. M. Dupin may correct his error by reducing the following into French weights: Alacrity, broadside-force 262 lbs., Abeille, same, 260 lbs. In stating that the French brig Renard was of the same force as the Abeille, M. Dupin is also wrong, owing probably to his being unacquainted, that the Abeille was not a regular-built French corvette, but a large American brig, purchased at some port in the Mediterranean and fitted out by the admiral at Toulon as a cruiser. The very circumstance of

* Dupin, Force Navale, tome ii., p. 85.

her having mounted, before carronades were so much in use in the French navy, 18 long 8-pounders and two brass 36-pounder carronades,* shows that the Abeille must have been a brig of very large dimensions; especially when it is considered, that the Alacrity's class, averaging 383 tons, was originally designed to carry 18 long 6-pounders.

On the 27th of June, at 11 h. 30 m. A. M., the British brigsloop Guadeloupe, of 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two sixes, with 102 men and boys, Captain Joseph Swabey Tetley, being off Cape Creus at the north-eastern extremity of Spain, with the wind a fresh breeze from south-south-east, discovered and chased two strange sail in the north; which afterwards proved to be the French brig-corvette Tactique, of 16 carronades, 24-pounders, and two long 8-pounders, with at least 150 men and boys, and the armed xebec Guêpe, of two long 18-pounders and six 18 or 12 pounder carronades, with 65 or 70 men and boys. At about 15 minutes past noon the brig and xebec tacked and stood inshore; and in another quarter of an hour all three vessels hoisted their colours.

At 0h. 40 m. P. M. the Guadeloupe, who had previously shortened sail, received the Tactique's starboard broadside; then, passing under the latter's stern, returned it with interest, and immediately afterwards lay her opponent close alongside to leeward. A spirited action now ensued; in which the xebec took a safe, but at the same time very effective part, by raking the Guadeloupe astern. At 1 h. 30 m. P. M. the Tactique made an attempt to board the British brig, but was repulsed with considerable slaughter. The French brig then passed the stern of the Guadeloupe: on which the latter bore up to close and renew the action. About this time two batteries near the town of Saint-André, one of four, the other of nine guns, opened a distant fire upon the Guadeloupe. Shortly afterwards the two brigs again came to close action, and continued engaged until 2 h. 15 m. P. M.; when the Tactique, having had quite enough of fighting, bore up, set her topgallantsails, and stood in-shore under the batteries, whither the Guêpe had just before fled for shelter. The Guadeloupe, from whom the town of Vendré at this time bore south-west by south distant not more than two miles, gave the French brig a parting broadside from her larboard guns, then hauled to the wind and stood off-shore.

The Guadeloupe was a good deal cut in her sails and rigging but not materially damaged in her hull: her loss amounted to one man killed, her first lieutenant and nine men severely, and two or three others slightly wounded. Although the Tactique did not appear to have had any of her spars shot away, the damages in her hull may be gathered from the extent of her loss, as it was afterwards reported to the British. The account re

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ceived by the Guadeloupe's officers made the Tactique's loss 11 men killed and 48 wounded, including 16 of the number mortally. Even admitting the amount to be somewhat overstated, enough remains to show, that the Guadeloupe performed her part in a very gallant and efficient manner, evidently beating off, without reckoning the xebec, a French brig superior in force to herself; and which brig the Guadeloupe would in all probability have captured, had the action been fought at a greater distance from the shore, where the Tactique had no batteries to fly to for protection. It has already appeared that Captain Tetley, in a month or two after this action, commanded a British frigate and behaved with great judgment and firmness.* On the 7th of the succeeding January, as the lists inform us, he was confirmed in his post-rank.

On the 4th of July, at daylight, the British 18-pounder 36gun frigate Unité, Captain Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, being off Port Hercule on the Roman coast, despatched, to cut out an armed brig at anchor there, a part of her boats, under the orders of Lieutenant Joseph William Crabb, accompanied by Lieutenant of marines George Victor, master's mates Michael Dwyer and Henry Collins, and midshipman Duncan Hutchinson. On approaching the coast, the boats were vigorously attacked by the brig, which was the St.-François de Paule, mounting four 6pounders, four 3-pounders, and a quantity of small-arms, protected by a battery of two 8-pounders on the beach. Very light and variable winds preventing the ships from closing to cooperate, Captain Chamberlayne detached the launch under Lieutenant John M'Dougal, to support the other boats; but ere she could reach them, Lieutenant Crabb and his party, without the slightest loss, had driven the crew from the brig, and were bringing her out, in a very handsome manner, under showers of grape from the battery. At 7 A. M. the prize, which was partly laden with ship-timber, joined the Unité; and, although the brig was materially damaged in her hull, masts, and rigging, no person on board was hurt by the fire of the battery.

At 9 A. M. the 18-gun brig-sloop Cephalus, Captain Augustus William James Clifford, joined company; and the British frigate and sloop stood along the coast. At 5 P. M. several vessels were discovered at anchor between Civita-Vecchia and the mouth of the Tiber. Captain Clifford, in a most handsome manner, offered to lead into the anchorage, and to head the boats in any enterprise which to Captain Chamberlayne might appear practicable. The Cephalus then, by the latter's directions, stood in, and, pointing out the soundings by signal, came to an anchor under the fire of a battery of four 8 and 6 pounders; by a grapeshot from one of which, Mr. Isaac Simon, the brig's master, was slightly wounded. The Unité shortly afterwards anchored

* See p. 330.

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