APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



573 



during the greatest part of this day 

 the wind was in our favour, but 

 they were light breezes ; there was 

 a considerable swell : their distance 

 from us was considerable, and I 

 doubt much if 1 could have made 

 sulficient way to have overtaken 

 them. 1 did not, therefore, leel 

 that an opportunitj'^ sufficiently fa- 

 vourable had oifered itself to induce 

 me to vary from the determination 

 I had before formed. About fifty 

 minutes after three one of them 

 steered to the south-cast, and at six 

 tlicy were entirely out of sight. 



During the whole of tiie 25th, I 

 continued my course by north, and 

 having accompanied the Windsor- 

 castle and prizes so far to the north- 

 ward that I thought they might pro- 

 ceed with safety, I parted with 

 them, and directed captain Boyles 

 to acquaint the commander in chief 

 that 1 should make the best of my 

 ^ way to the rendezvous oft" Cape Fi- 

 nisterre, in the hope of falling in 

 with lord Nelson, and if I did not 

 find his lordbhip there in a short 

 time after my arrival, I should pro- 

 ceed in search of the combined 

 squaiirons, supposed to be gone lor 

 Ferrol, and that if any favourable 

 opportunity should offer of attack- 

 ing them before they got in, I cer- 

 tainly should avail myself of it. 



I then mado the best of my way 

 to the rendezvous oft' Cape Finis- 

 terre, where I arrived on the 27th ; 

 and not hciring any thing of lord 

 Nelson, 1 concluded he must have 

 gone to Cadiz, and not seeing the 

 combined squadron, 1, on the 29th, 

 the wind coming to the westward, 

 returned to Ferrol, and sent in the 

 Dragon to reconnoitre, who re- 

 ported that the squadron had not 

 arrived there : I thereupon con- 

 cluded tiny had gone to the south- 



ward, and resumed the blockade 

 with nine sail of the line ; and hav- 

 ing been obliged, from the Malta 

 being disabled, to send her to Eng- 

 land, dispatched rear-admiral Stir- 

 ling to Rochcfort with four, pur- 

 suant to the orders I had received. 



J continued at Ferrol until the 

 11th of August, when I Mas driven 

 oti'by strong south-westerly winds, 

 which enabled the combined squa- 

 drons, who had put into Vigo, to 

 come up from thence, and get into 

 Ferrol and Corunna, which, on my 

 return, I found they had done, and 

 that the force there consisted of 

 upwards of thirty sail of the line, 

 besides frigates and corvettes Un- 

 der th'jse circumstances, I thought 

 it prudent to join the commander in 

 chief oft" Ushant, which I did on the 

 14th of August. 



I have thus given the court a 

 faithful account of my proceedings, 

 from my being first dispatched from 

 the commander in chief, to under- 

 take the blockade of Ferrol, to the 

 time of re-joining him off Ushant, a 

 period of between five and six 

 months, during which I was perpe- 

 tually at sea, in a situation of most 

 considerable anxiety and difliculty ; 

 and here, having already trespassed 

 so much on your patience, perhaps 

 my narrative might properly close. 

 The court will, however, permit me 

 to add one fact more, as it tends to 

 shew that the commander in chief, 

 who best knevv the orders he had 

 given me, and the critical situation 

 I was placed in, approved of my 

 conduct, and as it marks the confi- 

 dence he was pleased to place in me, 

 which he certainly would not have 

 done, had he been of opinion I had 

 misconducted myself upon the for- 

 mer occasion, and ill discharged the 

 trusts which he had connnitted to 



my 



