commanding the adjacent country. This service was performed in conjunction with 250 British troops, conveyed thither from Cape Nichola Mole, by whom the enemy were kept in check while the seamen embarked and brought off a 13-inch mortar, several heavy guns, and four row-boats, intended for privateering. On the 19th Mar. 1798, Lieutenant Maples landed, with 100 men under his command, to do garrison duty at Irois. Returning on board from thence, he was slightly wounded by a musket ball in the right leg, and one of his party was killed close to him. In 1799, he had the direction of several boat enterprises, and succeeded in capturing many merchant vessels. From la Magicienne, Lieutenant Maples was removed to the Queen 98, bearing the flag of Sir Hyde Parker, Bart. whose fortunes he followed during the remainder of the revolutionary war. At the battle of Copenhagen, April 2, 1801, he served as a volunteer with Nelson's division; and, after that event, he appears to have acted as commander, in the Otter fire-vessel, for a period of three months. His subsequent appointments were to the Ganges 74, Prince George 98, Defence 74, Tigre 80, and Naiad 38. The former ship accompanied a squadron of observation to Jamaica at the close of 1801; the latter, commanded by Captain Thomas Dundas, was one of Nelson's repeating frigates on the ever memorable 21st Oct. 1805. We afterwards find Lieutenant Maples successively serving as first of the Mars and Atlas, third rates, on the North Sea, Baltic, and Cadiz stations. His promotion to the rank of commander took place Oct. 21, 1810; at which period he was appointed to the Ætna bomb, employed in the defence of Isla de Leon. The harassing nature of that service will be seen by reference to the memoirs of Captains James Sanders, Sir Thomas Fellowes, William Shepheard, &c. In 1813, Captain Maples commanded the Pelican brig, of 385 tons, mounting sixteen 32-pounder carronades and 2 long sixes, with an established complement of 120 officers, men and boys. The service for which he obtained post rank is thus described by him in an official letter to Vice-Admiral Thornbrough, commander-in-chief at Cork, dated off St. David's Head, Aug. 18: "At four o'clock this morning I saw a vessel on fire, and a brig standing from her, which I soon discovered to be a cruiser; made all sail in chase, and at 5-30 came alongside of her; she having shortened sail and made herself clear for an obstinate resistance. After giving her three cheers, our action commenced, which was kept up with great spirit on both sides 43 minutes. We then lay her along-side, and were in the act of boarding, when she struck her colours. She proves to be the United States' sloop Argus, of 360 tons, eighteen 24-pounders, and 2 long 12-pounders; had on board when she sailed from America, two months since, a complement of 149 men, but in the action 127; commanded by Lieutenant-Commandant William Henry Allen, who, I regret to say, was wounded early in the battle, and has since suffered amputation of his left thigh. "No eulogium I could use would do sufficient justice to the merits of my gallant officers and crew, which consisted of 116; the cool courage they displayed, and the precision of their fire, could only be equalled by their zeal to distinguish themselves; but I must beg leave to call your attention to the conduct of my first lieutenant, Thomas Welsh, of Mr. William Glanville, acting master, Mr William Ingram, purser, who volunteered his services on deck, and Mr. Richard Scott, boatswain. "Our loss, I am happy to say, is small. Mr. William Young, master'smate, slain in the moment of victory, while animating, by his courage and example, all around him, and one able seatnan killed; five other men wounded, who are doing well: that of the enemy I have not yet been able to ascertain." The Argus had 13 killed and mortally wounded, including among the latter her commander and 2 midshipmen: her other wounded consisted of the first lieutenant, W. H. Watson, and 13 men. When afterwards surveyed, at Plymouth, she was found to measure only 316 tons. In this action Captain Maples had a narrow escape: a spent canister-shot struck, with some degree of force, one of his waistcoat buttons, and then fell on the deck. He was promoted to post-rank Aug. 23, 1813, and nominated a C. B. in Oct. 1815; since which latter period he has not been employed. This officer married, in 1814, the widow of Mr. John Carthew, attorney, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, brother to RearAdmiral Carthew. Agents.-Messrs. Chard. ROBERT BLOYE, Esq. A Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath. THIS officer served as lieutenant under Earl St. Vincent; obtained the rank of commander Aug. 4, 1806; and was appointed to the Lyra brig about Jan. 1810. His subsequent services, on the north coast of Spain, have been noticed in our memoirs of Sir George R. Collier and Captain Joseph Needham Tayler, C. B.* He was advanced to post rank Sept. 23, 1813; and nominated a C. B. in 1815. THOMAS EDWARD SYMONDS, Esq. WAS made commander Jan. 22, 1806; and appointed to the Tweed, a new 18-gun sloop, fitting for the Jamaica station, in the spring of 1807. His conduct while employed in co-operation with the Spanish troops investing the city of St. Domingo is thus described by Captain William Pryce Cumby, in an official letter to Vice-Admiral B. S. Rowley, dated July 7, 1809: "This despatch will be delivered to you by Captain Symonds, of the Tweed, to whose zealous attention in conducting the sloops, schooners, and guard-boats, during a close and vigorous blockade of two months, I owe considerable obligation; and although the services of the squadron you did me the honor to place under my orders may not have been of a brilliant nature, I trust I may be permitted on this occasion, to bear testimony to the unremitting perseverance with which the vessels maintained the stations assigned them, through all the variety of weather incident to the season, on a steep and dangerous shore, where no anchorage was to be obtained, as well as to the vigilance and alacrity of those men who were employed in the night guard-boats, by whose united exertions the enemy's accustomed supply by sea was entirely cut off, and the surrender of the city greatly accelerated +." In Oct. 1810, Captain Symonds, then on the North Sea station, captured the Steinbill, Danish cutter privateer, of 10 guns and 30 men. He continued to command the Tweed until his promotion to post rank, Sept. 29, 1813. Agents.-Messrs. Stilwell. * See Vol. II. Part II. pp. 525-532; and Suppl. Part III. pp. 140–143. + See Vol. II. Part II. small type at p. 970, et seq. WESTBY PERCIVAL, Esq. Knight of the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold. THIS officer was made a lieutenant in Oct. 1800; promoted to the command of the Paulina brig, Sept. 14, 1808; and posted into the Milford 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Freemantle, on the Mediterranean station, Oct. 16, 1813. The cross of the above order was conferred upon him for his services in the Adriatic, during the campaigns of 1813 and 1814. Agents.-Messrs. Stilwell. JOHN TAILOUR, Esq. ENTERED the navy under the auspices of the late Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart. and served as midshipman, on board the Alfred 74, Captain John Bazely, at the defeat of the French fleet by Earl Howe, June 1, 1794. We subsequently find him in the Blenheim 90, which ship formed part of ViceAdmiral Hotham's fleet at the destruction of l'Alcide 74, off the Hières islands, July 13, 1795 *. After that affair, he joined le Censeur, a prize 74, commanded by Captain (now Sir John) Gore, with whom he was taken prisoner, when returning to England, Oct. 7, 1795 †. Mr. Tailour was next received on board the Royal George, a first rate, bearing the flag of Lord Bridport, from whom he received an order to act as lieutenant of the Medusa troopship, during the general mutiny at Spithead 1 His promotion to that rank took place in July, 1797; from which period he appears to have served in the Phäeton frigate until the peace of Amiens. The services performed by that active and successful cruiser will be seen by reference to our memoirs * See Vol. I. Part I. pp. 75-78, and note at p. 254. ↑ See Vol. II. Part II. p. 583. of the Hon. Sir Robert Stopford, Sir James Nicoll Morris, and Captain Francis Beaufort. * Lieutenant Tailour's next appointment was to be first of the Hindostan 54, armed en flute, and commanded by Captain Le Gros; which ship sailed from Plymouth with stores for the use of the Mediterranean fleet, February 12, 1804. The following account of her destruction by fire, is taken from Captain Brenton's Naval History, Vol. III. p. 394 et seq. "The Hindostan, a ship built for an Indiaman, of 1100 tons burden, was loaded with every article of which the British squadron could be supposed to stand in need. Her crew consisted of about 300 people, including passengers, women, and children; she arrived at Gibraltar in March, and sailed immediately, in company with the Phoebe frigate, to join Lord Nelson off Toulon. On the 30th, she was separated from her consort, in a heavy gale of wind, in the gulf of Lyons; and on the 2nd of April, at 7 in the morning, when no ship was in sight, and she was thirteen leagues from the land, smoke was observed to issue from the fore-hatchway. The hammocks were instantly got on deck, and the drum beat to quarters. The fire engine was set to work, but with little effect; the smoke encreased so much, as to prevent the people working on the orlop-deck; the hatches were therefore laid over and secured, the ports barred in, and every measure resorted to, in order to prevent the circulation of air. In the mean time she hove-to, and hoisted the boats out; but to prevent the people rushing into them, the marines were kept under arms. Prepared for the worst, they made all sail for the land: providentially the wind was fair, and they stood in for the bay of Rosas, with signals of distress flying at each mast-head, but no vessel was in sight to afford them relief. The fire rapidly increasing, the exertions of the captain and his noble crew increased with the danger. Water was thrown down in torrents, and part of the powder was destroyed or thrown overboard; in doing this one man was suffocated, and the people were again forced to quit the lower decks. "At 2 P.M., when they had been seven hours contending with the flames, they made the land. The joy of this discovery is not to be described or felt by any but those who have been in such a perilous situation; but they had still much to do; the land was five leagues off, and at half-past two, the flames flew up the fore and main hatchways as high as the lower yards. Some of the men now jumped overboard to get to the boats, and many of them were drowned.+ Tarpaulins were kept over the hatches, and water was still poured down, by which means the flames subsided a little. See Vol. I. Part I. p. 355; éd. Part II, p. 489, et seq.; and Suppl. Part II. p. 84. + Only 2 we believe. The total number that perished, first and last, certainly did not exceed 5; we rather think that it was but 3. |