COURTS-MARTIAL. 167 



London black-legs, as was afterwards ascer- 

 tained. They refused to pay some bets I 

 had fairly won of them, so I unceremoni- 

 ously horsewhipped them out of the 

 pit. 



But from these peccadilloes of a 

 youthful spirit, fond of seeing life in 

 all its phases, let me turn to what per- 

 haps may be more interesting to the 

 reader. 



Among other remarkable occurrences 

 of this time was that of three courts- 

 martial held in succession on three dis- 

 tinguished officers of the naval service, 

 all arising out of the same operations 

 against the enemy Lord Gambier, who 

 had the command of the Channel fleet; 

 Rear-Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey, Bart, 

 commanding the inshore squadron, block- 

 ading some French line-of-battle ships and 

 other vessels in Basque Roads, who had dis- 

 tinguished himself in the Battle of Trafal- 



