380 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



India islands in general. The crew 

 were however saved, as well as 

 their commander. It was not 

 long before an opportunity pre- 

 sented itself to resume his station 

 in the service of his country. He 

 was appointed next to the com- 

 mand of the Sampson, of sixty- 

 four guns, in which ship he served 

 till the peace of 1783, when she 

 was paid off, and he was appointed 

 to the JVTediator, and sent to the 

 West Indies, where he again met 

 his friend Nelson, who at that time 

 commanded the Boreas frigate 

 upon the same station. The friend- 

 ship which subsisted betweenthese 

 two young men, who were here- 

 after to make so conspicuous a fi- 

 gure upon the great theatre of naval 

 glory, appears from the letters 

 which were written during this 

 period by the latter, to his friend 

 captain Locker. In one of these, 

 dated on board the Boreas, Sep- 

 tember ii'tth, 1784, he says, "Col- 

 lingwood is at Grenada, which is a 

 great loss to me, for there is no- 

 body I can make a confidant of.'' 

 In another, dated November 23rd ; 

 " Collingwood desires me to say 

 he will write you soon such a letter 

 that you will think it a history of 

 the West Indies. What an amia- 

 ble good man he is !" Off Marti- 

 nique, March 5th, 1786, he writes: 

 " This station has not been over 

 pleasant ; had it not been for Col- 

 lingwood, ft would have been the 

 most disagreeable I ever saw." In 

 this ship, and upon this station, 

 he remained until the latter end of 

 1786, when, upon his return to 

 England, the ship being paid off, 

 he took the opportunity to visit 

 his native county, and renew his 

 acquaintance with his family and 

 friends, from whom he had been 

 so long separated. In this retire^ 



ment, after a service of five and 

 twenty years, he continued to en- 

 joy himself in Northumberland 

 until the year 1790, when, on the 

 expected rupture with Spain, he 

 was again called into employ in 

 the armament then fitting out, 

 and appointed to the Mermaid, 

 of thirty-two guns, under the 

 command of admiral Cornish, in 

 tiie West Indies. The dispute 

 being, however, adjusted without 

 hostilities, and no prospect of 

 immediate employment again at 

 sea appearing, he once more re- 

 turned to his native county, and 

 in this interval of repose formed 

 a connection with a lady of great 

 personal merit, and of a family 

 highly respectable, Sarah, the 

 eldest daughter of John Erasmus 

 Blackett, esq. one of the aldermen 

 of Newcastle. By this lady he 

 has two daughters ; Sarah, and 

 Mary Patience, both living with 

 their mother at Morpeth, the place 

 of his lordship's residence, during 

 the short intervals of repose which 

 he had been suffered to enjoy. On 

 the breaking out of the war with 

 France, in 1793, captain Colling- 

 wood was called to the command 

 of the Prince, bearing the flag of 

 admiral Bowyer, with whom he 

 served in that ship, and afterwards 

 in the Barfleur, until the engage- 

 ment of the 1st of June 1794. In 

 this action hedistinguishedhimself 

 with great bravery, and the ship 

 which he commanded is known to 

 have had her full share in the glory 

 of that day ; though it was the 

 source of some painful feelings at 

 the moment, in the captain's own 

 mind, that no notice was taken of 

 his services upon this occasion, nor 

 his name once mentioned in the of- 

 ficial dispatches of lord Howe to 

 the Admiralty. Rear-admiral Bow- 



