1800. prevail upon to follow him; and the lowerdeck March. ports were opened, the scuppers plugged, the fore

and main hatches secured, the cocks turned, water drawn in at the ports, and the pumps kept going by the people who came down, as long as they could stand at them. Owing to these exertions, I think the lower deck was kept free from fire, and the magazines preserved from danger for a long time: nor did lieutenant Dundas or myself quit this station until several of the middledeck guns came through the deck. At about nine o'clock, finding it impossible to remain any longer below, lieutenant Dundas and myself went out at the foremast lowerdeck port, and got upon the forecastle; on which, I apprehend, there were then about 150 of the people drawing water, and throwing it as far aft as possible upon the fire. I continued about an hour on the forecastle, till finding all efforts to extinguish the flames unavailing, I jumped from the jib-boom, and swam to an american boat approaching the ship; by which boat I was picked up and put into a tartan, then in the charge of lieutenant Stewart, who had come off to the assistance of the ship."* Captain Todd, with Mr. Bainbridge, the first lieutenant, remained upon deck to the last moment giving orders for saving the crew, without providing, or apparently caring, for their own safety.

We shall now enter upon the sorrowful task of showing what loss of lives was the consequence of this dreadful accident. The number of persons on shore at Leghorn, including five that did not know the ship had been ordered to sea, were the admiral, one lieutenant, the admiral's secretary, with his two clerks, one chaplain, one master's mate, two midshipmen, and two servants, total 11. Those saved from the wreck by the boats that came off were, three lieutenants, two lieutenants of marines, one carpenter, one gunner, three midshipmen, one secretary's clerk, and 146 seamen and marines, total * Schomberg, vol. iii. p. 431.

156; making 167 as the whole number saved. Now 1800. for the contrary side. The perished appear to have March. been, one captain, three lieutenants, one captain of marines, one master, one purser, one surgeon, one boatswain, four master's mates, 18 midshipmen, one secretary's clerk, one schoolmaster, one captain's clerk, three surgeon's mates, and about 636 seamen, boys, and marines; making the total loss amount to 673 souls.

A sad calamity indeed; lamentable to humanity for the loss of so many individuals, and, considering the origin of the accident, and the time of day in which it happened, not very creditable to the discipline of the ship. The Queen-Charlotte, and her sister-vessel the Royal-George, were, next to the Ville-de-Paris, the largest british-built ships at this time afloat. It was, then, no trifling loss which the british navy sustained, when the Queen-Charlotte, with all her guns, stores, and provisions, and upwards of three fourths of her numerous ship's company, perished in the flames.

The above, with a slight verbal alteration, is precisely as the account stands in the first edition of this work; and yet the following paragraph has since appeared in the work of a contemporary : "We should have hoped, that the bravery, perseverance, and self-devotion of captain Todd, who, to the last moment gave orders to save the lives of his men, regardless of his own, would have secured his memory from the imputations cast on it by a contemporary historian, who observes, that the accident was not very creditable to the discipline of the ship."* What "imputations" are here cast upon the memory of captain Todd? Who was the first, our contemporary or ourselves, to record the "selfdevotion" of that officer? Was the accident, which is admitted to have originated in the manner we have stated, creditable to the discipline of the ship?

* Brenton, vol. iii. p. 12.

March.

1800. Were the Queep-Charlotte's crew, in short, in a state of discipline? Let our contemporary answer the latter question himself. Referring to the conduct of the Queen-Charlotte in the mutiny at Spithead in April, 1797, captain Brenton says: "This ship, from the shamefully relaxed state of discipline in which she had been kept while the flag of earl Howe was flying on board of her, naturally became the focus of all mutiny, a character which she maintained until she was burnt off Genoa."* If we required higher authority than captain Brenton's, the same writer has furnished us with it in the following extract of a letter from earl St.-Vincent to the secretary of the admiralty, dated April 16, 1799: "The Queen-Charlotte will be better here than on home service, for she has been the root of all the evil you have been disturbed with."+

French

army.

The commencement of the present year saw the italian famous army of Italy, which under Buonaparte had performed such prodigies, reduced to less than 25000 men, and those in the greatest misery for the want of food and clothing. A powerful austrian army, under general Mélas, presented an effectual barrier by land, and the cruisers of lord Keith shut April. out all supplies by sea. On the 21st of April, after having sustained some severe losses in action with the Austrians, and left at Savona a garrison of 600 men under brigadier-general Buget, general Masséna retreated upon Genoa; and general Mélas immediately commenced the siege of that strong and important fortress.

Block

Savona.

The austrian force blockading the fortress of Saade of vona was under the command of major-general count St.-Julien; and the british fleet cruising before the port consisted of the 36-gun frigate Santa-Dorotea, captain Hugh Downman, the 18-gun brig-sloop Cameleon, lieutenant Samuel Jackson acting, and the neapolitan brig Strombolo, captain Settimo.

* Brenton, vol. i. p. 414.

† Ibid. vol. ii. p. 356.

April.

By lord Keith's orders, the sea-blockade of Savona 1800. had been more especially committed to the care of captain Downman; and the boats of his little squadron with a highly commendable perseverance, rowed guard off the harbour's mouth during 41 nights; until, in fact, the garrison, on the 15th of May, surrendered by famine to the allies.

The blockade of the port of Genoa was undertaken by lord Keith himself; who, after the accident to the Queen-Charlotte, shifted his flag, first to the 74-gun ship Audacious, captain Davidge Gould, and subsequently to the Minotaur 74, captain Thomas Louis. The principal part of the vice-admiral's force consisted of frigates, sloops, and neapolitan gun and mortar boats. These had on several occasions successfully cooperated with the austrian army in attacks upon the outworks of Genoa. The services of the 38-gun frigate Phaeton, captain James Nicholl Morris, had been particularly noticed by the austrian general, baron d'Ott, who had succeeded general Mélas in the command; and who, in the early part of May, had pushed his advance to the village of Coronata, and compelled general Masséna to retire within the walls of Genoa.

Within the first two or three weeks of May the May. town had been bombarded three times by the gun and mortar vessels and armed boats of the ships, under the direction of captain Philip Beaver, late of the 28-gun frigate Aurora. Being much annoyed by these attacks, the French determined to board the bombarding force by a flotilla of their own, consisting of one large galley, rowing 52 oars, and mounting two extremely long brass 36-pounders besides smaller pieces, an armed cutter, three armed settees, and several gun-boats. On the 20th, in the afternoon, this flotilla, standing along outside of the new or south-western mole-head, exchanged several shot with some of the british ships in passing; particularly with the Audacious, who was once or twice hulled by the long 36-pounders of the galley,

1800. At sunset the flotilla took up a position under the May. guns of the two moles and the city bastions, which were covered with troops, manifesting a determined resistance.

Notwithstanding this formidable indication, the bombarding flotilla, at about 9 P. M., quitted the Minotaur to make a fourth attack upon the town and shipping. On the 21st, at about 1 A. M., a brisk cannonade was opened upon the town, and quickly returned from various points; particularly from the long 36-pounders of the Prima galley, now lying chain-moored close to the inside of the old or eastern mole-head. Being unable, from his lighter metal, to offer any effectual check to this annoyance by a cannonade, captain Beaver resolved to attempt carrying the galley by boarding. For this service a detachment of 10 boats, containing between them about 100 officers and men, immediately drew off from the flotilla. While the British were proceeding with all possible silence, in the hope to approach undiscovered in the prevailing darkness, a gun-boat stationed between the two mole-heads opened her fire upon them. Every moment's delay now adding to the danger, the boats dashed on towards the galley. On arriving alongside, a new obstacle presented itself. The gangway, or gunwale, of a galley projects three feet and upwards from the side of the hull, and that of the Prima was strengthened by a stout barricade, along the summit of which were mounted several blunderpieces and wall-pieces. As an additional obstruction to the advance of boats, the oars were banked or fixed in their places, ready for use, with the handles secured to the benches or thwarts. Thus, with a crew of 257 fighting men, and those, by the gun-boat's alarm, prepared for resistance, the Prima galley, even had she not been chain-moored in a harbour the entrance to which was guarded by numerous batteries, would have been a formidable object of attack.

All this, however, as we shall soon see, was of no