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to his captain, unceremoniously thrust him on one side, and fired. The discharge of the piece was instantly followed by the splash of the Frenchman's body in the water; and the ball from the musket of the latter, instead of passing through the captain's head, did but tear off the rim of his hat. Several of the sick seamen also left their cots, and assisted in filling and carrying powder for the use of their more efficient comrades. Instances of this kind would frequently occur, did every naval captain understand the difficult art, to maintain the rules of discipline, and yet win and preserve the affections of his crew.

The name of no officer appearing in the letter of Captain Baker, published in the London Gazette, the very recital of the above acts of good conduct on the part of his officers may raise a charge of unfairness against him, until it is known, that the services of every officer belonging to the Phoenix were properly set forth in the letter which Captain Baker transmitted to the Admiralty. If, for reasons not very clear, it becomes requisite to suppress more than half an officer's letter, the mutilated portion laid before the public, and which in this instance is very short, should not be called Copy of," but, " Extract from, a letter." Then, neither will the public have grounds for supposing, that the writer wishes it to be inferred that his valour alone achieved the victory, nor the officers who served under him, and who contributed so mainly to the consummation of that victory, have a right to complain, that their captain has neglected to mention them.

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The action of the Phoenix and Didon was one in which, even after its decision, the victorious party had both a difficult and a perilous duty to perform. The prisoners greatly outnumbered the captors: the latter, therefore, had not only to separate and secure the former, but to watch over them with unremitting attention. They had also to refit the ships, particularly the prize, whose mainmast was in so tottering a state, that the British were obliged to cut it away. The wreck cleared, the Phoenix, taking the Didon in tow, steered for a British port. On the 14th, at 8 P. M., captain Baker spoke the Dragon 74, and in company with her, the next day at 4 P. M., fell in with M. Villeneuve's fleet. The Phoenix, with the Didon in tow, immediately bore up and made all sail to the southward. A division of the fleet chased the two crippled frigates, and had nearly arrived within gun-shot, when, at sunset, the French ships tacked and stood back to their main body. Having passed Lisbon, the British frigate and her prize were steering to enter Gibraltar, when, in a thick fog, the ringing of the bells and the occasional firing of guns were heard in every direction. Shortly afterwards captain Baker became apprized by the Euryalus frigate, whom he spoke, that the sounds proceeded from the Franco-spanish fleet, then on its way to Cadiz. The Phoenix and Didon immediately changed their course to the westward, and soon got clear of all danger from the ships of M. Villeneuve.

But this was not the only danger from which captain Baker and his officers and crew had the good fortune to escape. The French pilot of the Phoenix overheard a conversation among the prisoners, the subject of which was, a plan to get possession of the Phoenix, and by her means of the Didon. The discovery of this plot called for increased vigilance on the part of the British on board of both ships; and, scarcely had means been taken to overawe the prisoners in the hold of the Phoenix, than the French pilot seized and carried aft, as the ringleader of the mutiny, the late cockswain of captain Milius, and who had been in a similar capacity under captain Jérôme Buonaparte. Captain Milius behaved upon the occasion in the noblest manner. He inquired of the man if he had any complaints to allege. The fellow said he had not. “I know it,” said captain Milius, "for I have, every morning and night, a report that assures me of the good treatment of you all were it otherwise, I myself would head you in the attempt to obtain redress. As it is, you are a disgrace to the name of Frenchmen; and," turning to captain Baker, "I beseech you, sir, put him in irons." Captain Baker expressing a disinclination to resort to so harsh a measure, captain Milius urged him more forcibly to do as he requested; and Jérôme's cockswain was accordingly committed, for a short time, to the custody of the sergeant at arms. After this firebrand had been removed, quietness, and even cheerfulness, reigned among the prisoners; and the two frigates, having by standing well to the westward got hold of a fair wind, anchored on the 3d of September in Plymouth Sound.

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Having thus brought his frigate and her prize safe to a British port, captain Baker, it is natural to suppose, looked forward to the speedy acquisition of those honours which, in all similar cases, had been conferred upon the captain of the victorious ship. We trust that, by this time, our impartiality is so well established, that any opinion we may submit, respecting the merits of an action recorded in these pages, will be eceived as the result of, at the least, an unbiassed judgment. Having premised this,

we venture to pronounce the capture of the Didon by the Phoenix, considered in reference as well to the force, the skill, and the spirit, mutually opposed, as to the perseverance and good management of the conqueror in securing and bringing home his prize, to be one of the most brilliant and exemplary cases of the kind in the annals of the British navy.

Unfortunately for the captain of the Phoenix, Mr. Pitt resolved to grant no more ribands of the Bath to naval and military officers, meaning to reserve them for ministers abroad. Still more unfortunately for captain Baker, that illustrious statesman, before he could accomplish his intention of instituting a new military order of merit, died. The early retirement of lord Barham from office (February 9, 1806) must have been an additional misfortune to captain Baker. Not less so, probably, was the successive appointment, within about five years, of five new first-lords of the admiralty: lord Grey, honourable Thomas Grenville, lord Mulgrave, right honourable Charles Yorke, and lord Melville. With each of whom it is customary, in reply to complaints such as the captain of the Phoenix might reasonably urge, to express regret that merit should have been overlooked by his predecessor, but to decline entering into any retrospective view of the circumstances which may have guided that predecessor's conduct. Thus it has happened, that, to this hour, captain Baker has received no reward for his meritorious services in capturing the Didon. It is true that, in ten years afterwards, when the new order was instituted, he was made a Companion of the Bath; but, as every one of the three remaining captains of frigates in sir Richard Strachan's action was honoured with a similar mark of approbation, there cannot be a doubt that captain Baker would have received the same, even had he, if we may judge from an analogous case, run away from, instead of fought and captured, a superior French frigate.

The Didon was built in the year 1797 at St. Malo, and, just before she sailed for the West Indies in the spring of 1805, underwent a thorough repair. Her sailing qualities were so extraordinary that, although jury-rigged, she beat the Phoenix on every point. The Didon was purchased for the use of the British navy, but, for some reason with which we are unacquainted, was suffered to lie in ordinary in Hamoaze until taken to pieces in the year 1811. We had almost forgotten to mention, that Mr. Samuel Brown was the first lieutenant of the Phoenix. We wish it was in our power to add, that he became rewarded with the promotion customary upon less important occasions. He was not made a commander until August 1, 1811.

The next extract is a specimen of Mr. James's critical analysis in sifting the truth out of contradictory and exaggerating reports. This important duty the author generally performs with acuteness, though not always with neatness and dexterity. We readily forgive the lack of art for the sake of the courage and honesty of the attempt. The action is between the Blanche, Captain Mudge, a frigate that has been spoken of in some of the former extracts and the French frigate Topaze and consorts. The Blanche was captured, and it is the conduct of Captain Mudge which is the subject of Mr. James's observations.

In the early part of July the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Blanche, captain Zachariah Mudge, quitted the squadron of commodore Michael de Courcy cruising off the east end of Jamaica, bound to the island of Barbadoes, with despatches for viceadmiral lord Nelson. On the 17th, when about 40 leagues to the westward of the island of Sombrero, the Blanche spoke a British merchant ship from Grenada to Dublin, and learnt that the homeward-bound Leeward-island fleet were to sail in three or four days after her departure, under convoy of the 20-gun ship Proselyte.

On the 19th, at 8 A. M., latitude 20 deg. 20 min. north, and longitude 66 deg. 44 min. west, being close hauled on the larboard tack, with a fresh breeze at east, the Blanche discovered off the weather cat-head four sail, three ships and a brig, standing on the opposite tack, under easy sail; and which, from the course they steered, and their indistinct appearance through the prevailing haze, were taken for a part of the above-mentioned convoy. The Blanche therefore continued to stand on, until, having hoisted the customary signals without effect, captain Mudge began to suspect that the strangers were enemies, and, making sail, kept more away. At 8h. 30m. A.M., when about three miles distant, the French 40-gun frigate Topaze, captain François-André Baudin, followed by the ship-corvettes, Département-desLandes, of 20 long 8-pounders on the main deck, and two brass 6-pounders on the poop, or short quarterdeck, lieutenant René-Jacques-Henri Desmontils, and

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Torche, of 18 long 12-pounders, lieutenant Nicolas-Philippe Dehen, and by the brigcorvette Faune, of 16 long 6-pounders, lieutenant Charles Brunet, bore down, under English colours. But," says captain Mudge in his public letter, from the make of the union and colour of the bunting, with other circumstances, I concluded they were French."

At 9h. 45m. A.M., having advanced still more ahead of her companions, and, as well as they, substituted French for English colours, the Topaze discharged her larboard broadside into the starboard quarter of the Blanche; who, finding that she could not escape from her pursuers, (having at the time very little copper upon her bottom,) had shortened sail, and was at the distance of about 500 yards from the Topaze. As soon as the latter arrived within pistol-shot, the Blanche returned the fire, and the action continued with spirit; all the vessels running large under easy sail, "the ships," continues captain Mudge, "never without hail of each other, the Département-des-Landes on the starboard quarter, and the two corvettes close astern." At about 10h. 15m. A.M. the Blanche attempted to cross the bows of the Topaze, and would probably have succeeded, had not the latter suddenly brailed up her foresail, and put her helm hard a-starboard. By this manœuvre the Topaze grazed with her jib-boom the mizen shrouds of the Blanche, and, in passing under the latter's stern, poured in a heavy, but comparatively harmless, raking fire. The engagement continued until about 11 A.M.; when, having her sails totally destroyed, 10 shot in the foremast, several in the mainmast, her rigging cut to pieces, seven of her guns dismounted, and six feet water in the hold, the Blanche struck her colours. At this moment, according to M. Baudin's account, the Département-des-Landes was in the wake of the Blanche, the Torche within gun-shot on her starboard side, and the Faune farther off, "en observation." The net complement of the Blanche was 261 men and boys; but, having 28 men absent, and being deficient of some others, she commenced the action with only 215. Of these the Blanche had seven seamen and one marine killed, her boatswain, (William Hewett,) 12 seamen, (three mortally,) and one lieutenant (Thomas Peebles) and one private of marines wounded. The Topaze had a crew of 340 men and boys, exclusively, captain Mudge says, of 70 officers and privates of the French army as passengers, making a total of 410. Of these, according to captain Baudin's account, (and there is nothing in the British account to contradict the statement,) the Topaze had but one man killed and 11 wounded, two of them mortally. Not a man appears to have been hurt, nor the slightest damage to have happened, on board either of the three remaining French vessels.

The French captain also states, that the Département-des-Landes fired only 18 shot, and the Torche, towards the close of the action, three broadsides. The Faune, upon the same authority, did not fire a shot. Moreover, captain Baudin positively declares, that captain Mudge acknowledged to him, that the Département-des-Landes was the only vessel, except the Topaze, which had done the Blanche any injury, and that that injury was confined to the rigging and sails.

The Blanche, a fine frigate of 951 tons, was armed upon her quarterdeck and forecastle with 14 carronades, 32-pounders, and four long nines; making her total of guns 44. The Topaze, a remarkably fine frigate of 1132 tons, also mounted 44 guns, including 10 iron carronades, 36-pounders, the first of the kind we have observed in the French navy. The force of the three corvettes has already been given.

Without the aid of a comparative statement, sufficient appears to show, that the Blanche had, although not a "three to one," a very superior force to contend with; and that no resistance in her power to offer, without some extraordinary mishap to her principal antagonist, could have absolutely reversed the issue of the battle. By a more close and animated cannonade at the onset, the Blanche might perhaps have beaten off the French frigate. In that event, the British frigate, if necessary, could have outrun the corvettes, they, as admitted, being slow sailers; or she might have drawn them apart from their consort, and have captured one at least of them. This, if done promptly, and before much damage had been suffered by the Blanche or her prize, would have greatly reduced the odds, and been an additional motive for captain Baudin to have permitted the Blanche to proceed to her destination.

The moderate loss sustained by the Blanche would lead us to infer, that she struck too soon; as would the much slighter loss inflicted by her upon the Topaze, that the Blanche did not employ her force in a manner becoming a British frigate of her class. M. Baudin states, from the information probably of captain Mudge himself, that he put more than 30 shot in the Blanche, both above and below water; but what was that to perform in a two hours' engagement? He boasts, with more reason, of having wounded he masts, and cut to pieces the rigging and sails, of his prize, and assigns

the delay it would cause to repair them as his motive for setting the Blanche on fire. And we feel the more disposed to attach credit to the statements of M. Baudin, on account of the uncommon accuracy with which he describes the force of his prize, giving her "vingt-seize canons de 18 en batterie, quatorze carronades de 32 et quatre canons de 9 sur les gaillards."

Although scarcely five years' old and an oak-built ship, the Blanche had become so thoroughly infected with the dry-rot, that the enemy's shot passed clean through her side, scattering dust instead of splinters. To this, and to her short-manned state, has been mainly attributed the smallness of the Blanche's loss, in reference to the time the ship was engaged, the force opposed to her, and the alleged closeness of the action. As respects the British frigate, this reasoning may carry weight; but how are we to explain the truly insignificant loss sustained by the French frigate; as well as the entire state of impunity which, notwithstanding their alleged important share in the action, attended the three corvettes? The Topaze, as the British records prove, was a sound ship four years after she had captured the Blanche, and went into action, captain Mudge himself informs us, with a crew nearly twice as numerous as his own.

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Admitting, as captain Mudge alleges, that the Blanche did really engage the Topaze closely, what was she about with her guns not to do more execution than to kill or wound one man every 10 minutes, or 12 men in two hours? This is the more unaccountable, because the crew of the Blanche were a remarkably fine set of men, and the very last from whom such treatment of an enemy was to be expected. If, contrary to what has been officially asserted, the Blanche, having mistaken the national character of the Topaze and her consorts until the French frigate had begun to open her fire, had been all in confusion when the attack commenced; if, instead of endeavouring to retrieve her error by a prompt and vigorous application of her means of defence, the Blanche had sought to avoid a combat by a hurried resort to her means of escape, firing an occasional ill-directed shot at one or the other of her opponents: if, we say, all this had been the case, the very cheap rate at which M. Baudin gained his prize would need no other explanation.

The duty of an historian, who, in most cases, has to elicit truth from conflicting. statements, has often obliged us to animadvert, with more or less of severity, upon the bombastical accounts published by the French. In common fairness, therefore, we cannot avoid noticing the three letters, one official and two private, written by the captain of the Blanche, and published in all the English, and some of the foreign newspapers. Two of those letters, including the official one, are dated on one day, the 224 of July. One of the two private accounts is in the form of an extract from the Blanche's log, thus: "July 19th, at 8 A. M., fell in with a squadron of French ships cruising; at eleven in close action with the same; at half past eleven reduced to a perfect wreck, ship filling fast; at twelve struck the colours, and at six she sank."

The official letter requiring to be more circumstantial and precise, the "French squadron as per margin" is made to consist, with a slight overrating in the force, of the three ships and brig described in our account of the action. "I concluded they were French," says the captain," and therefore determined to sell the ship as dearly as possible.' As a proof that he did so, he declares that a quarter of an hour (not. half, as stated in the above private account) before the Blanche struck, she was “a perfect wreck;" meaning, not, as might be imagined, that her masts were all shot away, but that her sails were 'totally destroyed," and that she had "ten shot in the foremast (expecting it to fall every minute), the mainmast and rigging cut to pieces." The inference here is, making every allowance for figurative language, that the mainmast, being "cut to pieces," was actually in a tottering state. Unfortunately, how ever, the surgeon of the Blanche, in his letter, published on the same day as his cap. tain's, sums up the damages to her masts thus: "Eleven shot received in our foremast, several in the mainmast, and the spanker-boom shot away."

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"The crew reduced to 190," proceeds captain Mudge in his letter, "and the rest falling fast, with no probability of escape, I called a council of officers for their opinion, &c." He then states the surrender of the Blanche "at twelve at noon,' and that he was immediately hurried on board the commodore." "At six," he adds, "the officers who had charge of the Blanche returned, and reported the ship to be sinking fast; on which she was fired, and in about an hour after she sunk, for the magazine had been some time under water." In a postscript the captain states, that the ship commenced action with 215 men, and that the loss, as far as came within his notice, amounted to eight killed and 13 wounded. The surgeon, in his letter, states the loss (and he was the officer whose duty it was to report it) at eight killed and 15 wounded,

making a total of 23. This number, deducted from 215, leaves 192 men; and yet the crew was reduced to 190, and they were falling fast." Why, after having ostentatiously declared, that he, captain Mudge, not himself, his officers, and crew, "determined to sell the ship as dearly as possible," by the ungenerous announcement, that he called a council of officers for their opinion," endeavour to divide with the latter the blame, if any attached, of striking the colours?

Captain Mudge's second private letter, according to the public papers, was addressed to his brother in law, and bears date on board the Topaze, August 10. It is too good a thing not to be given entire. "On my return from Jamaica to Barbadoes, I fell in with M. Baudin's squadron, cruising for our homeward-bound convoy. I fought the ship till she was cut to pieces, and then sunk. I cannot say what our loss is, as there have been no returns, the crew being all divided between the two frigates and two corvettes which engaged us. Twenty-one fell nobly within my own knowledge; I am afraid many more. I thank God the Blanche never wore French colours. Lieutenant Thomas Peebles, of the marines, was the only officer materially wounded: his legs were broken by a splinter. During the severe contest, the squadron was never without hail. I have the consolation of knowing they were so much damaged as to spoil their cruise; they all stood to the northward as soon as repaired, leaving the passage open to the convoy under a 20-gun ship."

After what has appeared, this letter will require very few comments. We may, however, just notice the extensive application given to the word "fell," as well as the singular circumstance, that captain Mudge should have had "no returns" of loss, when the late Blanche's surgeon was a fellow-prisoner with him on board the Topaze; and when, three days previous to the date of the captain's letter to major Fletcher, the surgeon had enumerated that loss in a letter to a friend. And had captain Mudge really forgotten what he himself, in his official letter, had stated respecting the loss on board the Blanche ?

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One of captain Mudge's "two frigates," by his own account, mounted 22 guns. Nor was the Département-des-Landes so large, or so well armed a ship as the Constance, which, in the year 1800, gave captain Mudge his post-rank; and which, had he fought a battle in her, he would have been very indignant to have heard called a "frigate." M. Baudin was not "on a cruise," but bound straight from Martinique to France, and, besides being in the direct track to Europe, had made an excellent three days' run. The convoy, which did not sail from Tortola until twelve days after the Blanche's capture, was therefore not the French captain's object; nor was the Proselyte its only protection, the Illustrious 74, and Barbadoes frigate being in her company. We will conclude this case with stating, that, although she was "filling fast, "half-past eleven," the Blanche did not sink till late in the evening; and not then, the wet state of her magazine preventing an explosion, until she had been burnt to the water's edge by her captors; nor until they had removed every man of her crew, wounded and well, and, no doubt, as many of her stores as they required. Nor, even at this time, had one of her masts fallen. Less fond of the heroics than his captain, the surgeon says, that the Blanche, when she struck, had six feet water in the hold; which accords tolerably well with captain Baudin's expression: "Déjà de l'eau était dans sa calle," and accounts for his preferring her immediate and certain destruction by fire, to awaiting her tardy, and perhaps, in his opinion, doubtful destruction by sinking. In a respectable French account, M. Baudin is blamed for having destroyed the Blanche, when, according to the information afforded to the writer, he might so easily have manned and refitted her.

Now that we have taken the trouble to sift the chaff from the grain, we confess our inability to discover any thing calculated to distinguish this case of defence and surrender from others that have occurred; not, at least, on the score of superior merit. And yet, so much more easy does it appear to tell a good story, tban to fight a good battle, "the glorious defence of the Blanche" has been blazoned all over Europe, and captain Mudge been praised to the skies for the skill, the valour, and the devotion he displayed.

The next extract we shall make, records the heroism of the captain of a packet and his valiant little crew.

On the 1st of October, in the morning, as the British Leeward-island packet Windsor-Castle, acting captain William Rogers, was in latitude 13 deg. 53 min. north, longitude 58 deg. 1 min. west, on her passage to Barbadoes with the mails, a privateer was seen approaching under all sail. The packet used her utmost exertions to escape; bat, finding it impossible, began to prepare herself for making a stout resistance. ́At

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