quarter, received the stroke of a cutlass on the back of the head from the wretch whom he had spared. This wound had nearly proved fatal, and from its effects he never afterwards recovered. His assailant was immediately cut in pieces by the sailors of the Shannon; and the Chesapeake became a prize to the English. The action, which only occupied fifteen minutes, was one of the most bloody and determined ever fought between two ships of their class, in so short a time. The loss on board the Shannon, out of three hundred and thirty men, was three officers and twenty-three men killed; Captain Broke, two officers, and fifty-eight men wounded. The Chesapeake, out of a crew of four hundred and forty men, had the second lieutenant, the master, marine officer, some midshipmen, and ninety seamen and marines killed; Captain Lawrence, the first and third lieutenants, some midshipmen, and one hundred and ten men wounded. For this brilliant achievement, Captain Broke received a gold medal, as well as the formal thanks of the lords of the admiralty, besides a sword of the value of one hundred guineas, accompanied by the freedom of the city, from the citizens of London. The people of the county of Suffolk, subscribed more than £700 to be laid out in the purchase of a piece of plate; and a club, at Ipswich, presented him with a silver cup of the value of one hundred guineas. On the 2nd of November, 1813, he was raised to the dignity of a baronet; and, on his return to England, the Shannon being condemned as unfit for further service, he was tendered the command of another ship, which the effect of the wound he had received would not allow him to accept. On the 2nd of January, 1815, he was made a knight commander of the order of the Bath. He was married, on the 25th of November, 1802, to Sarah Louisa, daughter of Sir William Middleton, Bart., by whom he has had issue several children. Independently of Captain Broke's general naval merit, the determined resolution which he evinced in challenging the Chesapeake, and the mode of fighting which he adopted, as well as the skill observable in the precision and certainty with which the guns of the Shannon were fired, were alone sufficient to raise him to a very high position in the scale of naval merit. SIR HENRY HOTHAM. HENRY, youngest son of Beaumont, second Lord Hotham, entered the navy at an early age; and, having commanded various frigates, attained post rank in the navy, on the 13th of January, 1795. On the 20th of September, 1800, while cruising in the Immortalité, of thirty-six guns, he retook the English ship, Monarch, from the enemy; and, on the 22nd, being about to engage with a French brig of war, both vessels got aground, when that of the enemy was destroyed, and the English ship got off with the greatest difficulty. In the following month of October, he assisted at the taking of a French privateer, of sixteen guns, called Le Diable a Quatre, and a vessel laden with coffee, proceeding from Guadaloupe to Bourdeaux. After this, he captured La Laure, of fourteen guns, and L' Invention, of twenty-four; and, towards the end of the war, was stationed off Brest, to watch the motions of the enemy. The Immortalité was paid off at the time of peace; but, not long after the rupture of 1803, Captain Hotham was commissioned to the Imperieuse, of forty guns, in which he soon after re-captured a South Sea whaler. Removing into the Revolutionnaire, forty-four, he, in the early part of the year 1804, carried His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex from Lisbon to Portsmouth; and, on the 4th of November, 1805, formed part of the squadron under Sir Richard Strachan, when he took from the French four of their ships of the line; on which occasion, the Revolutionnaire had two men killed and six wounded. He next served in the Defiance, seventy-four, one of Rear-admiral Stopford's squadron, and which, on the 23rd of February, 1809, drove on shore three frigates in a bay formed by the Sable D'Olonne. In the following June, he assisted in protecting Spain against the French, and took possession of Ferrol without opposition. In 1810, he was appointed to the Northumberland, seventy-four, in which he captured a French privateer, on the 22nd of November; and, in 1812, he was sent, by Sir Harry Neale, to intercept two French frigates and a brig, which were expected in the port of L'Orient. Being off Isle Gronais, on the 22nd of May, in company with the Growler, gunbrig, he discovered, and, by manœuvring, contrived to intercept, the enemy at the mouth of the harbour. He engaged, in the Northumberland, at about three in the afternoon, near Point de Pierre Lage, with the French commodore, who was supported, for twentyone minutes, by the fire from three batteries. By the skill of Captain Hotham and the master of his ship, she was carried so near to a dry rock, named Le Graul, that the enemy, in endeavouring to steer between it and the Northumberland, ran all their vessels aground, which were deserted by their crews, after they had sustained, for an hour and a quarter, the deliberate fire of their antagonists. The Northumberland was, during the whole of the action, exposed to a destructive fire from one of the batteries; but Captain Hotham succeeded in moving out of its influence on perceiving that his object was accomplished. Both frigates were blown up; one during the night, and the other on the succeeding morning; while the brig, in the course of the day, was destroyed in a similar manner. They had previously destroyed thirty-six sail of vessels, from which they had taken the cargoes. In this encounter, five men belonging to Captain Hotham's ship were killed, and twenty-eight wounded. rane. In December, 1812, he was made captain of the fleet, under Sir J. B. Warren, and, subsequently, held the same appointment under Sir A. CochOn the 4th of December, 1813, he was made colonel of marínes; on the 4th of June, 1814, rear-admiral of the blue; and knight companion of the Bath, on the 2nd of January, 1815. He was intrusted, on the escape of Napoleon from Elba, with a command in the channel fleet; and, after the battle of Waterloo, was stationed on the French coast, to prevent the flight of the ex-emperor, who surrendered himself on board the Bellerophon, then part of Hotham's armament. In 1818, he was appointed a lord of the admiralty, a situation he held until March, 1822, and resumed in 1828: he also occupied it at the decease of George the Fourth, having, at the same period, the rank of vice-admiral of the blue squadron. Sir Henry Hotham was well acquainted with naval tactics, and often turned to great advantage his perfect knowledge of that important service. His bravery was likewise considerable; and he never wanted the courage to execute any manœuvre which his skill suggested. His achievement in running aground the enemy's frigates on the rock called Le Graul, is an honourable instance of combined talent and intrepidity. FREDERICK LEWIS MAITLAND. THIS gentleman, third son of the Honourable Frederick Maitland, and grandson of Charles, sixth Earl of Lauderdale, entered the navy as midshipman, on board the Martin sloop, and removed into the Southampton frigate, which took part, on the 1st of June, 1794, in Lord Howe's victory. On the 5th of April, 1795, he was made lieutenant of the Andromeda, but removed to the Venerable, seventy-four, the flag-ship of Admiral Duncan. In 1797, he joined Earl St. Vincent in the Mediterranean, who appointed him lieutenant of the Kingfisher sloop, which assisted in capturing several privateers; and such was his gallantry in the action with one, called the Betsey, that £50 were subscribed, by the crew of his own ship, to purchase a sword for him, as a token of respect for his bravery. The Kingfisher was wrecked, in December, 1798, at the entrance of the Tagus, whilst on her passage to Gibraltar, under the temporary command of Lieutenant Maitland. He was honourably acquitted of all blame by a court-martial, held on the occasion; and, after his trial, was appointed flaglieutenant to Earl St. Vincent. In July, 1799, being ordered, in the Penelope, to reconnoitre the French and Spanish fleets, his zeal led him too near the hostile squadron, and he was compelled to surrender. His vessel had a sum of money on board, intended for Minorca; and the crew, seeing no chance of escape, would have plundered the treasure, but for the interference of Maitland, who declared it to be the lawful prize of the captors. He was liberated without the customary exchange, and repaired to Gibraltar, whence, in the following August, he proceeded to England. his boats cut out a French brig, called Le Venteux, lying near the Isle of Bas, close under the batteries. In March, 1804, he made prize of the Brave, French privateer, on the Irish station; and, in August, captured La Blonde, after a running fight of fifteen minutes, preceded by a pursuit of twenty hours. In June, 1805, being off Cape Finisterre, he ordered out his boats, under Lieutenant Yeo, into the Bay of Camarinas, for the purpose of attacking two Spanish privateers, which were carried, although protected by a ten-gun battery. Three merchantmen were also taken and destroyed by the English, of whom there were thirty-five, opposed to eighty Spaniards under the protection of a battery. Captain Maitland next proceeded to the town of Muros, where he landed a party of men, who put the Spaniards to flight, and destroyed the fortress. The English then pushed forward to another fort, at a quarter of a mile's distance; where, being met by the governor, Lieutenant Yeo cut him down with his sabre, and several other Spanish officers were killed in the encounter. Quarter was given to those who laid down their arms; and the whole place being in possession of the English, Captain Maitland secured some of the vessels in the harbours. He commissioned the gallant Lieutenant Yeo to one of the prizes; but did not molest the small vessels in the bay, that he might not, as he said in his despatches, deprive the poorer inhabitants of the means of gaining their livelihood." 66 For the forbearance which was manifested on the occasion, by the victorious English, the thanks of those who resided in the town were conveyed to Maitland, by the bishop of the place, and another man of rank in the neigh Soon after his arrival, he was made commander of the Cameleon, sloop-ofwar, which he joined, off El Arish, in time to be present at the signing of the treaty, having for its object the evacuation of Egypt by the French republican army. He returned home by an overland journey, with a copy of the document; and, on his return to the Mediterranean, resumed the command of the Cameleon, in which he made several captures. In 1800, he joined the expedition against the French, in Egypt; where his conduct, at the landing of the army under Sir Ralph Abercromby, and in the battles of the 13th and 21st of March, 1801, obtained for him the thanks of the commanders-in-bourhood. chief, both naval and military. He had been made post-captain by Lord Keith, on the 10th of December, 1800, and was confirmed in that rank in the following year, by the board of admiralty. He subsequently commanded, successively, the Dragon and Carrere; and, on the 15th of October, 1802, was commissioned, by Lord St. Vincent, to the Loire, an exceedingly fine frigate. La On the 27th of June, 1803, two of Having spiked the guns, and thrown them over the parapet, and having blown up part of the fort, he again set sail; after which, in about three weeks, he captured Le Vaillant, a frigate privateer, of Bourdeaux. On the 13th of December, being in company with the Egyptienne, he fell in, off Rochefort, with Le Libre, carrying twenty-four eighteen-pounders on her main_deck, six thirty-two-pound carronades, and ten long nine-pounders on her quarter-deck and forecastle. The French ship being brought to action, fought her opponents with great courage, and did not haul down her colours until she was disabled, and had twenty of her crew killed or wounded. The Egyptienne had only eight men wounded; and none of the people of the Loire received any injury, although the engagement was commenced by that frigate. He took his prize to Plymouth; and, in the April following, captured the Princess of Peace, a Spanish privateer, mounting one long twenty-four pounder. On the 28th of November following, he was commissioned to the Emerald frigate, of thirty-six guns; in which he took a French privateer and two other vessels, besides recapturing an American ship, called the Zulema. In 1808, he served, off the Spanish coast, under Lord Gardner; and sustained an action, in the harbour of Vivero, with two strong batteries, while his lieutenants effected a landing, and stormed the centre fortress. Captain Maitland continued to cruise in the Emerald for some time, during which he captured, besides all his former prizes, eight arined vessels. He also assisted at the destruction of four French ships of war, in the month of April, 1809. On the 3rd of June, 1813, he was appointed to the Goliath, and employed in the West Indies and North America; but returned home towards the close of the year 1814, and was commissioned to the Boyne, in November. Early in 1815, he sailed to Cork; where, being detained by stress of weather until the escape, from Elba, of Napoleon Buonaparte, he was transferred to the Bellerophon, of seventy four guns; and, by his vigilance, prevented the escape of the ex-emperor from Rochefort. Previously to the departure of Napoleon, he offered to present Maitland with a gold box, having the donor's portrait on it, set with diamonds, and said to be worth three thousand guineas, but the gift was declined. Captain Maitland was, in October, 1818, commissioned to the Vengeur, of seventy-four guns; in which, towards the close of the year 1820, he was employed in conveying, from Naples to Leghorn, the King of the two Sicilies. His majesty, on this occasion, personally invested him with the order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit, and presented him with a very valuable gold box, bearing the portrait of the king, set round with large diamonds. The Vengeur was put out of commission on the 18th of May, 1821; and, on that day, Maitland assumed the command of the Genoa, third-rate, in which he continued until the month of October following; having, previously to quitting it, been presented with a very handsome sword by the midshipmen. In addition to other marks of public favour, he received, for one of his numerous services, the thanks of the common council of London, the freedom of the city of Cork, and a valuable sword presented to him by the Patriotic Fund Society. Captain Maitland is an officer of the highest zeal, accompanied by great judgment and intrepidity. In action, his courage rendered him formidable, whilst his upright and independent conduct made him also an object of respect to his enemies, whether he happened to be vanquished or victorious. |