574< ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



my execution. He had before that 

 transmitted to inc the appiobatioa 

 of tl;c admiralty, for my conduct on 

 the day of action. 



On the 1 7th of August, only 

 four days alter I had joined the 

 commander in chief, he was ; 'eased 

 to put under my cominand twenty 

 sail of the line, with order? to pro- 

 ceed otf Ferrol, and, if pos ible, get 

 information of the enemy's force and 

 situation, and to use my utmost en- 

 deavour to prevent their sailing, or 

 to intercept them should they at- 

 tempt it, and with farther directions 

 for my conduct in case they should 

 have left port, which it is unneces- 

 sary to trouble the court w ith a de- 

 tail of. 



I immediately sailed in pursuance 

 of these orders, but the combined 

 squadrons had left Ferrol a week 

 Tjefore I arrived there : I was fortu- 

 nate enough, however, to obtain 

 intelligence of their route, and to 

 arrive with my squadron off Cadiz, 

 in time to enable admiral Colling- 

 ■wood to secure them in that port. 



Up to tlws raoment not a syllable 

 of dissatisfaction having been ex- 

 pressed by any body, at any part of 

 my conduct, had even reached my 

 ear ; and feeling, as I did, that I 

 had, upon every occasion, and in 

 every part of* it, exerted myself io 

 the utmost of my ability for the ser- 

 vice of my country, it did not sug- 

 gest itself to my imagination, that 

 any fault could be found with it. — ■ 

 The testimonies of approbation I 

 had received froui many of those 

 who had been witnesses of my con- 

 duct, as far as they had opportuni- 

 ties of judging of it, were highly gra- 

 tifying. The court is already in pos- 

 ■ session of the letters of the gallant 

 rear-admiral who was my second in 

 command, the language of which 



nothing can be more strong and de- 

 cisive. I had received from the ad- 

 miralty their approbation of my 

 conduct in the action. I had, by 

 the last appointment, received from 

 the commander in chief, under 

 whose orders I had acted, the most 

 solid and substantial proof of his sa- 

 tisfaction of the manner in which 

 those orders were executed ; and I 

 had flattered myself, that, upon my 

 return, [ should have been again ho- 

 noured with the approbation of my 

 sovereign, and that my brave asso- 

 ciates in the fight would have re- 

 ceived those rewards which are the 

 usual attendants of victories, such as 

 that which we had achieved — this 

 they at least merited, whatever 

 might have been my subsequent 

 conduct. 



The court will judge what a dis- 

 appointment it must have been to 

 those expectations, and what must 

 have been the sensations I felt, on 

 the arrival of ships from England, 

 to find myself traduced and vilified 

 in all the newspapers. Even the 

 most moderate of them accused me 

 of playing with the feelings of the 

 public, and disappointing those ex- 

 pectations which I had myself con- 

 tributed to raise. 



I felt myself not a little hurt by 

 the consideration, that the manner 

 which had been adopted in the pub- 

 lication of my official account of the 

 action, might have perhaps, if not 

 occasioned, at least given colour to 

 the latter charge, viz. — by its being 

 published not an extract, but a 

 copy, and by concluding with the 

 following sentence : " When I haTej 

 secured the captured ships, and pati 

 the fleet to rights, I shall endeavour! 

 to avail myself of any opportunityj 

 that may off'er to give you some far- 

 ther account of the combined squa-l 



droas,"J 



