1807.] 



Account of Sir Richard King, hart. 



529 



and obtained pofitnion without encountering 

 any reliftance. Admiral Watfon being in- 

 formed ot the circuniftance fcnt the next day 

 for Strachan, to leprimand him for his teme- 

 rity, and began with addrellinij him : " What 

 is this you havL' been doing Strachan ?" — The 

 untutored hero having made his bow, fcratchcd 

 Lis head, and then with one hand twirling his 

 hat on the other, replied : " Why to be (ure, 

 fir, it was I who took the fort, but 1 liope 

 there was no harm in it." The admiral then 

 remonftratcd with him on the fatal conl'e- 

 quences that might have iclulted from fo ra(h 

 an adl, and as lie left the cabin, feemed to in- 

 sinuate that he (honUl be punilhed. The 

 hardy tar, woefully difappointed at this repri- 

 mand, for what he rather conceived to be de- 

 ferving of reward, muttered as he was going : 

 " If I'm flogged for this here aftion, I'll ne- 

 ver take another foit as long as 1 live, by 

 Cod!" Captain King was next engaged in 

 the fame kind of fervicc in the attack and cap- 

 ture of Calcutta and Hughly. The fort of 

 the latter was carried by ftorm, our gallant 

 ollicer with his detachment of feamen firlt en- 

 tering the breach. As a di!Ungui(licd mark 

 of approbation and conhdencc, Admiral Wat- 

 fon entruli-cd his difpatches containing an ac- 

 count of hii fucccfs, to Captain King. He 

 arrived in England in July 1757, and was the 

 following year appointed to the Bonetta floop, 

 in which he was ftnt to the Leeward Iflands. 

 In 17.59 he was promoted by Commodore 

 Moore, to the rank of poll captain. His firll 

 appointment was to the Rye frigate ; but he 

 was foon removed into the Ludlow Caitle, of 

 4-1 guns. In the fame year he convoyed a 

 large fleet of merchantmen from Jamaica to 

 England, and at the beginning of 1760 w.\s 

 appointed to the Aigo Irigate of -'S gun; in 

 which he cruized, for fome time oft Breft, 

 and afterwards in tlie North Sea till the end 

 of 1761. On the commencement of hoftili- 

 ties with Spain, Lord Anion particularly re- 

 commended Captain King to Ins MajeRy as an 

 officer on whom lie could depend to carry the 

 earlicit intelligence of that event to the Ealt 

 Indies, and General Draper, who was appoint- 

 ed to command the land lorces, on an expedi- 

 tion planned againll Manilla, embarked with 

 him on board the Ar^o. The f^uadron in 

 the Eaft Inaics immediately proceeded to ex- 

 fcute the orders brout;ht by Captain King, 

 who during the liege of Minilla was dlrcdted 

 to cruize, in company with thc.l'antlier, Cap- 

 Jain Hyde Parker, tor the St. I'liillippina, a 

 rich galleon expefted from Acapulco. In- 

 ftead oi the oojeit of their leaich, they fell in 

 with another vcll'el of ih-.' fame dtlcription, 

 the S.iritiiiima 1 rinidada, a (hip oc larger di- 

 menfions than our third rates, out which had 

 only thirteen guns mounted. l he Argo, 

 which had on board only eighty men able to go 

 to (juarters, tngai;cd her lingly in the night, 

 but having luitauu-d conliderablc damage, was 

 •bliged to haul ofi till the ncil morning, 

 when the galleon; ait',;r >i brilli caijnonad'; 



from both the frigates, furrcndercd. Re- 

 turning to Manilla with his prize, Captain 

 King was direfted to proceed with the Sea- 

 furd to Falapa, a port in the ifland of Sam^r, in 

 which, it v.as underllood that the St Philip- 

 pina had taken flielter; but after perfevering 

 lor three months againft the monfoon, he 

 was under the painful ncccflity of putting 

 back to Manilla, without effefting the pur- 

 pofe for which he had been fent. In 1763 

 Captain King v4^ appyinted to the Grafton 

 •f fixty-eight guns, in which he arrived in 

 England, in July 1761, having in charge the 

 galleon v.hich he had afllfted in capturing. 

 la 1771 he was appointed to the Northum- 

 berland, and immediately aftcrwa;ds to the 

 Alia, a guard ihip at Portfmouth, in which he 

 continued for the ufual period of three years. 

 In 1777 he commanded the Pallas of thirty- 

 fix guns, and convoyed a fleet of merchant- 

 men to 2"cbec On his return in September 

 1778, hoftilities having been commenced be- 

 ween Great Britain and France, he was fent 

 with the fquadron under Commodore Evans to 

 aflift in taking pofl'efiion of the iflands ot St. 

 Pierre and Miquelon, on the coaft of New» 

 foundland ; after which he exchangedfhips with 

 Captain Spry, and in November, returned t» 

 England, in the Europe of fixtv-four gxins. 

 In March 1779 he was appointed to the 

 Exeter of fixty-four guns and was order- 

 ed to proceed as fecond in command un- 

 der Sir Edward Hughes to the Eaft Indies. 

 After his arrival there, in January 1780, 

 he was promoted to the rank of commo- 

 dore. On this ftation he continued during 

 the whole of the war, and was engaged in all 

 the adions with the trench fquadron under 

 M. de Suftrcin. In the firft of thefe en- 

 gagements, on the 15th of February, 178i, 

 Commodore King's fliip, the Exeter, received 

 the fire of moft of the French Ihips a» they 

 pafled on toward the centre ; and as it was 

 evidently the defign of SuPrcm to difable the 

 Exeter and Superb, thofe two Ihips were ma- 

 terially crippled, 'i he Exeter had to fullain 

 an unequal contcft firll with three, and then' 

 with five of the enemy's ihips, the Imalleft 

 equal to her in force, and luperior in fize. 

 The Superb was neaily in the l?me fituation, 

 and a cle.ul c.ilm prevented the rclt of the 

 Britifli fquadron from coming up to tlieir.^f- 

 fi tance. The wind at length Iprung up, and 

 enabled the tour hcadmoit ihips to pay round 

 to the enemy, who now made a precipitate 

 retreat. By this time the Exeter was almoflr 

 reduced to a wreck ; her C3|)tain, Reynolds, 

 had been killed clofc by the fide of the Com- 

 modore ; tf-n of her men had ihared a limi- 

 l.ir late, and forty-five were wounded. From 

 the number of (hot-holes which flie had rc- 

 i:eived under water, (he was obliged to make a 

 fignal of dilhels, and, had it not been for the 

 ii.olt indefatigable exertions, ih.-; muft have 

 funk. Amid this fcenc of horror, Commo. 

 doie King dilplayed the moft ConfummJte 

 bravery, unfhiikcn fortitude ind unalterable 

 kG'^ ^rslcaes 



