Henry Raikes

SETTLEMENT OF THE BRENTON FAMILY IN AMERICA,—AND DESCENT.—BIRTH OF THE SUBJECT OF THE MEMOIR.—BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR AND REMOVAL TO ENGLAND.—EDUCATION AND INTRODUCTION TO NAVAL SERVICE, IN THE DIDO.—PASSES FOR LIEUTENANT, AND ACCEPTS AN INVITATION TO SERVE IN THE SWEDISH FLEET.—ADVENTURES ON WAY TO JOIN, AND CONCLUSION OF SERVICE.—APPOINTED AS LIEUTENANT TO THE ASSURANCE.—TRANSFERRED TO THE SPEEDY, AND SENT ON COMMAND OF THE TREPASSEY TO NEWFOUNDLAND.—RETURN TO ENGLAND AND APPOINTED TO THE SYBIL.—VOYAGE HOMEWARDS IN THE CLEOPATRA, AND IN A SPANISH MAN OF WAR FROM CADIZ.

Sir Jahleel Brenton was the eldest son of Rear Admiral Brenton, a native of Rhode Island. The family appear to have emigrated to America in the early part of the reign of Charles the First, probably from apprehension of the coming troubles of the times. William Brenton, who settled as a merchant at Boston, in Massachusets, about the year 1634, came from Hammersmith, in England. He must have been a person of some wealth and consideration, as he became a freeman, and a select man of the Colony, the same year; and in the following year, 1635, was chosen a deputy of the general court. He afterwards removed to Rhode Island, and then returned to England, from whence he finally removed from Hammersmith, with his whole family, consisting of three sons, Jahleel, William, and John, and settled at Newport, in Rhode Island. In 1663 he became Deputy Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations in New England, under the charter granted to that Colony by Charles the Second, in the fourteenth year of his reign. In 1667-8 he became Governor of the Colony, and died in the year 1674.

Jahleel, his eldest son, resided in Newport, Rhode Island. A great part of his father’s property was bequeathed to him; and in the year 1691 he was appointed by commission, in the second year of William and Mary, Collector, Surveyor, and Searcher of the Customs within the Colonies of New England.

William, the second son, great grandfather to the subject of the present memoir, took up his residence either at Taunton in Massachusets, or at Bristol in Rhode Island, though some doubts exist as to which of these places became his home. He married Martha Church, by whom he had three sons, Jahleel (grandfather to the Baronet), Ebenezer, and Benjamin.

Of John Brenton, the third son of William, nothing farther is known except that he went to a settlement called Bellevoir, in New England; and was not afterwards heard of.

Jahleel, the collector, died at Newport unmarried, about the year 1732, and bequeathed the greater part of his large estates in New England to his nephew Jahleel, who had married in the year 1714-15, Frances, daughter of Samuel Cranstoun, who was Governor of the Colony, and who died in 1727, aged 68 years. He was the son of John Cranstoun, the former Governor of the Colony, who was lineally descended from the Scottish Baron, James Lord Cranstoun, as appears by the inscription on his tombstone in the churchyard at Newport, in Rhode Island.

Of the brothers of this Jahleel, Ebenezer and Benjamin, nothing has been recorded, though Jahleel, the Collector above-mentioned, made several bequests to them. Where they resided, or whether they left any descendants does not appear. Jahleel, the grandfather of the Baronet, had by his first wife, Frances Cranstoun, fifteen children—eight sons and seven daughters. Jahleel, his fourth son, the father of our present subject, was born October 22nd, (O.S.) 1729, died 29th January, 1802. He married in December 29th, 1765, Henrietta Cowley, daughter and coheiress of Joseph Cowley, Esq. formerly of Worcestershire, in England, and Penelope his wife, who was the daughter of —— Pelham of Laughton, Esq.; whose ancestors had removed to Rhode Island during the civil wars in the reign of Charles the First.

Jahleel, the subject of this memoir, and the eldest son of Jahleel and Henrietta, was born the 22nd of August, 1770. There were besides four sons and five daughters; of the latter, all are still living; of the former two died in their infancy; the other two, with their eldest brother, followed the profession of their father, who had very early in life entered the British Navy. Edward Pelham was born the 29th of July, 1774. Of his active and useful life a sketch has already been given to the public, from the pen of his affectionate surviving brother. James Wallis lived to be a Lieutenant in the British Navy, and was killed in action when First Lieutenant of H.M.S. Peterel, in the command of a boat expedition in chase of an enemy’s vessel near Barcelona.

The seven elder children, were born in America, on the patrimonial property at Rhode Island; but the circumstance that the father of Sir Jahleel belonged to the service of Great Britain obliged him to relinquish his home, and the place of his nativity, at the time of the civil war, which ended in the separation of the colonies from the mother country. Urgent entreaties were used on the part of the Americans to induce Mr. Brenton to join their cause. He was even offered the highest naval rank which the Republic could bestow; though he was at that time only a Lieutenant in His Majesty’s service; but that inflexible loyalty, which was always a strong feature in his character, rendered him alike insensible to bribery and persecution. That he might take an active part in the cause of his king, he was obliged to escape clandestinely from Rhode Island, where he left his wife and infant family, exposed to considerable hardships and difficulties; from which they were however soon happily relieved by the efforts of the British cruisers stationed on the coast.

The whole family were removed to England in the year 1780, when the young Jahleel was placed in a school at Enfield, in Middlesex. In the year 1781 he embarked as a Midshipman in the Queen, armed ship, commanded by his father, who had been promoted to the rank of Commander; and whom he shortly after followed into the Termagant, then a post ship; from which it may be reasonably inferred that the additional rank of Post Captain had been bestowed upon this loyal subject as soon as possible.

At the conclusion of the war in 1783, the young sailor had time to resume his studies on shore, and for that purpose was sent to the maritime school at Chelsea, where, for the space of two years, he successfully pursued those branches of learning more particularly suited to the profession he had chosen. He always retained a grateful recollection of the advantages he had derived from this establishment, where the best education was afforded on the most reasonable terms to the sons of naval officers, who, from their limited income, might have found it impossible to procure the same advantages for their children in any other academy.

In the year 1785 he was removed to France, where his family then resided, as the acquisition of the French language was thought an important point. He has left a remark upon record which will exhibit the state of his mind at this time. “To shew,” he says, “what an important influence the most trifling circumstances may have upon a man’s life, I may mention that, whilst living at St. Omers, in 1786, I was considered to be in very feeble health from the return of an ague, first experienced in the preceding year at St. Vincents; and having at the drawing school evinced a strong inclination for painting, my parents thought of sending me to Italy, with a view of making that my profession, a plan which I eagerly caught at for the moment; but thinking it over in my own room, where my sword was suspended over the chimney, my eye no sooner rested upon it, than old associations and prospects instantly crowded in upon me, and induced me at once to reject the tempting offer of a journey to Rome, and renewed my determination to go to sea.”

In 1787 his father returned with his family to England; and the Dutch armament having taken place, Jahleel set off for Portsmouth to join the Perseverance, commanded by Captain, afterwards Admiral, Sir William Young, a valued friend of his father. This ship was however paid off soon after his arrival, in consequence of the restoration of tranquillity; and Jahleel embarked on board the Dido, Captain Sandys, who constantly employed him in sounding and surveying different bays and harbours on the coast of Nova Scotia. It was at this early age that his affections were bestowed upon one, who was well worthy of them; and of the rise and growth of this attachment, as romantic in its commencement as happy in its results, he has left some touching and affecting records in three manuscript volumes addressed to his children. A few extracts from these, to exhibit the character of the writer, without encroaching on the sacredness belonging to a domestic memorial of such a kind, will be introduced in the present notice.

In the year 1789, the time then allotted for the service of a midshipman having nearly expired, he returned to England, and joined the Bellona, commanded by Captain, afterwards Sir Francis Hartwell. In the month of March, 1790, he passed his examination for a Lieutenant; and foreseeing no chance, either of promotion or active employment during the profound peace, then subsisting between Great Britain and her neighbours, he, with a view of gaining experience in his profession, accepted a Lieutenant’s commission in the Swedish navy, then engaged in active operations against the Russians in the gulf of Finland. Of his later and better thoughts on this subject he has left a valuable record in the manuscript before alluded to. He there says, speaking of the period in question, “In after life, when better acquainted with my religious duties, I have felt and acknowledged the guilt of this step, for such it was; but I was led away by the idea of acquiring distinction and eminence, so natural in youthful minds, and so powerfully excited by the biography of those whom the world holds up to admiration for their conduct in arms, without any reference to the cause which alone can render war justifiable.”

Leaving England for this purpose, he did not reach Carlscrona until the fleet had sailed; and before he could join them in the gulf of Finland, it was already blocked up in the bay of Wyborg, by the Russians. The vessel on board of which he was embarked was lying in the port of Lowisa, when the action took place off its mouth on the 3rd of July, which nearly annihilated the Swedish fleet, by depriving them of seven sail of the line out of twenty-one, while the remainder with difficulty reached Helsingfors. Hither Mr. Brenton proceeded, and undismayed by this mortifying defeat of the power which he came to serve, presented his commission to the Duke of Sudermania, then commander in chief; and was immediately appointed Lieutenant of the Konig Adolf Frederic, bearing the flag of Vice Admiral ModÉe. He, at the same time, received orders to introduce the British system of discipline among the men, for which purpose he was fully supported by the Vice Admiral and Captain.

Of this period the following record has been left in his own hand, “On arriving at Gottenburg, I found a carriage there waiting for Sir Sidney Smith, who had also volunteered his services in the same cause, and was expected from England. It had been sent there by the Duke of Sudermania; and as Sir Sidney was known to have taken another route, General Toll, the governor of Gottenburg, offered it to me; and he, at the same time, requested me to superintend a convoy of British sailors, provided it would not delay me too much. The number of these men amounted to twenty or thirty; each had a horse and cart for the conveyance of himself, and chest, and hammock; and in each of these was a Swedish driver, in many instances this was a female.

“This cavalcade had, previously to starting, been drawn up in a line in the market-place; and this line the sailors had arranged in three divisions, naming an admiral in each, and hoisting a handkerchief for a flag. The procession was very orderly while passing through the streets; but we had no sooner got upon the broad road than there were evident attempts made to try the respective rates of sailing; and at length the signal was made for a general chase. The Swedes, and particularly the women, soon lost all controul; the most prudent jumped off; and in the course of a short time many of the carts were upset, some in the ditches on each side of the road, and there were but few to which some disaster had not happened.

“But little progress was made in the course of this day; and fearing I might not reach Carlscrona before the fleet should sail, I left my countrymen to the Swedish officers, and proceeded without stopping day and night. I was however too late. The fleet had sailed, and I was obliged to wait for the Hecte, a Swedish frigate then preparing for sea; and at length, with the English sailors who arrived in the course of a week, I embarked in her, and proceeded to Helsingfors. Here I was put on board the Hussar, a two decked brig carrying twenty twelve-pounders on the lower deck, and fourteen four-pounders on the upper; or as Johnny facetiously said, ‘My eye, here is a craft; a two-decked brig, the quarter deck got forward, and the captain’s cabin under the forecastle.’ The fact was, that the upper deck came no further aft than the mainmast, and was rather a prolonged forecastle; the captain’s cabin was under the deck, and next to the galley or cook’s room.”

On the 9th of July the battle of Swinkasund took place between the Swedish and Russian Galley fleets, when the skill and gallantry of the British officers serving in the latter made the fortune of the day for a long time doubtful. That of Sir Sidney Smith and his followers however, on the side of the Swedes, was more successful, by whose exertions a brilliant victory was gained. This circumstance convinced his Majesty Gustavus the Third, that none were so fit to oppose Englishmen as Englishmen; and he accordingly directed that all the British officers should be immediately sent from the grand to the galley fleet. They arrived there a few days after the action, and were distributed amongst the flat bottomed frigates. Mr. Brenton was appointed to the Sturkollen. The following is the record he has left of some circumstances belonging to this period.

“On reaching Swinkasund, the English officers were presented to the king of Sweden, Gustavus the third, on board his yacht, the Amphisis, where his Majesty’s flag was flying. Their reception was most cordial. I was the only officer who spoke French, and therefore became the organ of communication. The bay at this time was covered with the wreck of the late battle. The wrecks of two fine frigates were lying on the beach, besides those of other vessels. Three frigates, a fifty gun praam, and innumerable gallies and gun boats had been sunk. The masts of the larger vessels were out of the water; and many of those of the smaller ones, according to the depth of water where they had sunk. All were abandoned as irretrievably lost; whereas, had the victors been English instead of Swedish, it is not too much to say that nearly all, if not the whole, of these vessels would have been weighed. One frigate in particular had received but little damage. She was on shore, and lying with her starboard gunwale in the water; her masts had been cut away by the Swedes, who never thought of attempting to get her off. The Englishmen regretting to see so beautiful a vessel consigned to destruction, waited upon the king, and volunteered to save her, at which he was greatly pleased, and ordered every assistance and material they required to be given to them. They accordingly set to work with all the ardour and confidence of their profession; cleared the vessel of whatever could be got at, and laid out anchors and purchases in such a manner as to give every hope of success; expecting, on the following day, to have their triumph. In the course of the night however, the gear they had prepared was cut away, and carried off by boats sent from the Swedish ships; the officers alleging that they were ordered to collect whatever blocks or ropes could be found amongst the wrecked vessels; but there was reason to ascribe this conduct to the jealousy of the Swedish officers; a jealousy easier to be accounted for than excused. It must at the same time be allowed that the king was imprudent in the partiality he evinced towards foreign followers; and as those in question were all young and thoughtless, and arrogant, neither concealing their fancied superiority over the Swedes, nor using any endeavours to conciliate them, it is only providential that more serious events did not occur. All hopes of getting off the frigate were now abandoned, and the Englishmen were sent to their respective ships.”

From this time there was no active service, peace being proclaimed in a few weeks. His Swedish Majesty invited the British officers to continue in his service; but as there was every probability of Great Britain being involved in a war with Spain at that period, Mr. Brenton preferred returning to England. Of this time he has also left a record. He says, “In the month of August the peace was proclaimed at Kymena. The king assembled the British officers on board his yacht, and addressed them in the most flattering manner; telling them that he was well assured how greatly they would have distinguished themselves had an opportunity offered; and that if they would remain in his service he would insure their advancement. Four out of the eight accepted his offer; but three besides myself declared our intentions of returning to England, and expressed our anxiety to have means provided for our return as soon as possible; as we had every reason to believe that our country was upon the eve of a war. The Spanish armament having taken place, the king recommended us to the care of the Commander of the Galley fleet, with directions that we should be immediately paid, and have a conveyance to such place as might enable us to procure a passage to England.

“His Majesty had no sooner gone than the British officers were embarked in a galley, with orders to proceed to Helsingfors, the great naval seaport in the gulf of Finland, where we were told we should receive our pay. On entering the bay, the galley hauled into the rocks; and having landed the Englishmen upon them, proceeded in execution of other orders, leaving us to get to Helsingfors as we best could.

“On reaching the town, we were told by the authorities that no order had been received for our payment, but that we must proceed to Stockholm, a journey of many miles, besides having to cross the gulf of Bothnia. One of our party having a sum of money in hand, generously assisted us; we must otherwise have been greatly delayed. We set out from Helsingfors through Finland, in the common cart of the country, which consists merely of a pair of wheels, and two small spars lashed to the axletree, forming the shafts, and at the same time the only body of the carriage; upon these the chest and cot of the travellers were secured, making a very comfortable seat. We took our provisions for the journey, which consisted of hard bread, a ham, and a bottle of spirits. We could depend upon no supply on the road except a few eggs.

“In this manner we began our journey through Finland, not knowing a word of the language: we at length reached Abo, and procured an open boat to cross the gulf of Bothnia. The weather had become very tempestuous, and we were obliged to take shelter for a day or two on a small island in the gulf.

“At length we reached Gustihamnan, and from thence proceeded to Stockholm. Here we were obliged to wait for some days; the Swedish ambassador in England, it was said, had sent no account of the terms on which the British officers had been engaged. It was at length determined to give them a sum on account, leaving the ambassador in England to make a final settlement. The sum was twenty pounds to each; but one half of this was given in a bill on Copenhagen, done evidently with a view of getting the Englishmen out of the country as soon as possible, lest they might appeal to the king. We accordingly sailed for Copenhagen in an English merchant ship, landed at Elsineur, and had to proceed from thence to Copenhagen, where we remained a week, and left it at that time with but little more of the twenty pounds than would enable us to pay our passage to England, where we arrived about the middle of November.

“By this time the Ambassador was changed, and his successor pleaded ignorance of our concerns; nor was it till the year 1796 that any settlement was made. This only amounted to twelve pounds, making in all thirty-two pounds to each officer, instead of more than seventy-two pounds which had been promised.”

On the 22nd of this month, Mr. Brenton was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the British Navy, through the interest of Lord Hood. Of this period he speaks thus:—“My first appointment of Lieutenant was second of the ‘Assurance,’ a troop ship, ordered to take troops to Halifax, a station of all others I should have chosen, having numerous friends and relations at that place; but particularly, from having formed an early attachment there. I was, however, destined not to perform this voyage, nor to see the object of my affections for the next ten years. I had been sent on shore at Rochester, in the pursuit of some deserters from my ship, when I was surrounded by a mob, and arrested by the civil power, on a charge of impressing within the limits of the city of Rochester. The Mayor, upon this vague charge, and without taking any evidence in support of it, committed me and four midshipmen to Bridewell. It was pointed out to the Mayor that an infuriated mob was waiting at the door, with the intention of attacking the officers on their way to prison; regardless of the warning, he sent us under a few constables. I was immediately knocked down, dragged through the streets, and narrowly escaped with life, losing nearly all my clothes. We were liberated the next morning, and a representation having been made at the Admiralty, their Solicitor was ordered to enter a prosecution against the Mayor of Rochester; and I was superseded from the Assurance, and appointed second of the Speedy Sloop of fourteen guns, on the home station, that I might be at hand to attend the trial. This did not take place till many months afterwards, when it came on at Maidstone. The Mayor suffered judgment to go against him by default, and in consequence paid the penalty of seven hundred and fifty pounds, which sum no doubt was supplied by the corporation. I continued for some time second of the Speedy, and was at length made first Lieutenant. I was generally kept in the command of the boats cruizing after smugglers. The Speedy was paid off in the autumn of 1791.”

Having remained from this period till the summer of 1792 upon half-pay, Mr. Brenton was then appointed to command the Trepassey, a small cutter at Newfoundland. The only personal recollections which have been found of Newfoundland, are contained in the following anecdote.—“In an excursion made in the winter of 1792-3, from St. John’s to the Bay of Bulls, Captain, the late General, Skinner forming one of our party, we had, on our return, to cross a large lake over the ice, some miles in extent. When about the middle, Captain Skinner informed me that he had long been severely pinched by the cold, and found an irresistible drowsy fit coming on. I urged him to exertion, representing the fatal consequences of giving way to this feeling, and pointing out the state in which his wife and family would be found, should the party arrive at St. John’s without him. These thoughts roused him to exertion for some time; but when we had reached the margin of the lake, he gave way, and declared he was utterly unable to struggle farther, delivering at the same time what he considered his dying message to his family. As there were some bushes near the spot, I broke off a branch, and began to thrash my fellow-traveller with it; at first without much apparent effect, but at length I was delighted to find that my patient winced under my blows, and at length grew angry. I continued the application of the stick, until he made an effort to get up and retaliate. He was soon relieved from the torpor; and as we were now but a few miles from St. John’s, I pushed on before the party, leaving the captain under their especial care. I left also the stick, with strong injunctions that it should be smartly applied in the event of the drowsiness returning. I soon reached the town, and having had some warm porter with spice prepared against the arrival of my friends; with this and considerable friction he was enabled to proceed home, where he arrived perfectly recovered. He himself related the story at the Earl of St. Vincent’s table at Gibraltar, many years afterwards; expressing, at the same time, much gratitude for the beating he had received.”

In the early part of 1794 Mr. Brenton returned to England, and was appointed second of the Sybil, of twenty-eight guns, in which situation he remained for a few months and then became first lieutenant of that ship; but with regard to the intermediate steps, by which he rose to this command, his own pen must supply the narrative. He says, “I was appointed, in the summer of 1792, to the command of the Trepassey cutter, at Newfoundland, a very small vessel, and facetiously termed by naval men, a machine for making officers. There were two cutters built, it might be said for this very purpose, on an understanding that a lieutenant should be made into each, every year; one from Admiralty patronage, and the other by the commander in chief for the time being. The first two were Lieutenants Rowley and Halket; the next pair Caithen and Gilbert; then Herbert and Holme. I name these officers that the regularity of the system may appear. The lieutenant at the end of the year, or just previously to the sailing of the Admiral for England, (for he never wintered on the station) went through a nominal invaliding; and their successors were appointed from the cockpit of the Admiral’s ship.

“At length, in the year 1792, the Admiralty decided upon putting an end to this certainly most exceptionable method of patronage, and ordered two lieutenants out from England to command these cutters. I was one of these, and arrived at Newfoundland in September. I found the Trepassey a very extraordinary description of a man of war. She was only forty-two tons; something about the size of one of the Gravesend boats, previously to the adoption of steam vessels upon the Thames. Her crew consisted of five men, and a pilot, who performed the functions of every class of officer below the commander. She had four swivels mounted; and was employed in going along the coast to protect the fisheries, and to enquire into abuses. On the last appointment the Admiral added two midshipmen to each cutter, making the whole number of each complement eight. These vessels lay in the harbour of St. John’s during the winter, and were fitted out in the spring, to be in readiness to visit the different ports on their station, as soon as the harbour was clear from ice.

“In the month of March, 1793, a small vessel arrived under a flag of truce from the island of St. Pierre, with a letter from the Governor, requesting to know what news had arrived from Europe. It was addressed to the Admiral, and contained evidently an indirect offer of surrender of the islands to his Britannic Majesty, made with a view of putting them under our protection, and of saving them from the sanguinary republicans, who had begun to shew themselves amongst the population. The Admiral was of course in England; and the question was, who should open the letter. There was a military force of one company of the fourth regiment, and another of artillery; and the naval force consisted of the two cutters, Placentia and Trepassey, commanded by Lieutenant Tucker and myself. The dispatches of course were received by Mr. Tucker, who forthwith called upon the captains of the army to consult as to what steps should be taken.

“At this meeting the question arose as to who was the representative of the Governor. The commission of the Governor stated, that in case of his death, the government was to devolve upon the senior officer of the navy; and it was maintained that the provision made against death, must be equally applicable to his absence. This was denied on the part of the military officers; and until this point was settled no consultation could take place. Mr. Tucker acted for himself, and proceeded to collect a body of volunteers on the island, with which he contemplated sailing for St. Pierre, as soon as a sufficient number could be got together. In the meantime he sent me in the Trepassey, with a flag of truce, to give the information to the Governor of St. Pierre, and to prepare him for the event, that he might be in readiness to act in concert.

“On my arrival I found that the island had been taken possession of the day before, by a detachment from Halifax; and the Alligator frigate, which had brought them, was then lying in the harbour. The Trepassey was immediately dispatched to take possession of Miguelon. On the return of the Trepassey to St. John’s I found the Pluto, sloop of war, had arrived, having captured a French corvette from Martinique. News also from Europe had reached us, with an account of the murder of the French king, and the commencement of the war. The action of the Boston and the Ambuscade soon after took place. The Admiral (Sir Richard King) reached his station in July; and having received a letter which informed me, that it was the wish of my friend, Captain E. Pakenham, to have me as his first lieutenant in the Resistance, of forty-four guns, I procured the Admiral’s permission to go to England, taking my passage in the Cleopatra, with that most amiable and distinguished character, Sir Alexander Ball; a circumstance invaluable to me from its being the means of my acquiring the friendship of such a man.

“We took a convoy to Cadiz, and while waiting there to collect one for England, it was understood that a Spanish seventy-four was upon the point of sailing for Falmouth with money; as an indemnification of the Nootka Sound affair, in 1790. I eagerly caught at the opportunity of seeing the system of the Spanish navy; and my wish being made known to the Spanish commander, he immediately invited me to take my passage to England with him, in the St. Elmo, where I was treated with the greatest hospitality, and marked attention. We sailed for Ferrol on the following day, and from that port the 24th December, and arrived at Falmouth early in January.

“This ship had been selected as one in the best state of discipline in the Spanish navy, to be sent to England. She was commanded by Don Lorenzo Goycochca, a gallant seaman, who had commanded one of the junk ships destroyed before Gibraltar, in 1781. I had during this voyage an opportunity of appreciating Spanish management at sea. When the ship was brought under double reefed topsails, it was considered superfluous to lay the cloth for dinner; and when I remonstrated, I was told by the captain, that not one officer would be able to sit at table, being all sea-sick; but that he had directed dinner to be got in his own cabin for himself and me. It was the custom in the Spanish navy for the captain and all the officers to mess together in the wardroom, which was appropriated to this purpose. We had henceforth a very comfortable meal together, whenever the weather prevented a general meeting.

“As the safe arrival of this ship was deemed of great importance, an English pilot from Falmouth was sent into Ferrol, for the purpose of enabling her to approach the coast of England with safety. A few nights before our arrival at Falmouth, the ship having whole sails and topping sails, was taken aback in a heavy squall from the N.E. and I was awoke by the English pilot knocking at my cabin door, calling out, ‘Mr. Brenton, Mr. Brenton, rouse out, Sir; here is the ship running away with these Spaniards.’ When I got upon deck, I found this was literally the case. She was running away at the rate of twelve knots, and every thing in confusion: she was indeed, to use the ludicrous simile of a naval captain, ‘all adrift like a French post-chaise.’ It required some hours to get things to rights, and the wind having moderated and become fair, we then resumed our course, and safely reached Falmouth. The Spanish Inns, (the Posadas) are proverbially bad, wretched in the extreme; and great was the astonishment of the officers of the St. Elmo on reaching Williams’s Hotel at Falmouth, by no means at that time a first rate inn. Still, such was the effect produced by the carpet, the fire, and the furniture in general, that it was some time before they could be persuaded that I had not conducted them to some nobleman’s house, in return for their hospitality to me; the bill however dispelled this pleasant delusion.”