12 MEMOIR. 



and it was this probably that enabled him to beat the 

 ' Chesapeake.' 



Broke must have been previously known as a brave man, for a 

 f o 'castle ditty made at the beginning of the war contained these lines, 



" And as the war they did provoke, 



We'll pay them with our cannon ; 

 And the first to do it shall be Broke, 

 In the gallant ship the ' Shannon.' " 



After touching at Gibraltar, we proceeded for Malta, encoun- 

 tering a tremendous gale off Cape Bon. We were scudding under 

 close-reefed maintopsail and foresail, and shipped a tremendous 

 sea. The brig, being an old-fashioned, deep-waisted vessel, 

 retained a great body of water within her bulwarks ; for a few 

 seconds she remained as if stunned by the blow, her lee gunwale 

 completely below water, and her yardarms touching the sea. It 

 was a very critical moment ; but gradually the water escaped, she 

 rose, and again began to labour among the waves. " All hands 

 shorten sail ! " We passed some ships under bare poles. At last 

 we reached Malta, and anchored in Valetta Harbour, and went 

 into Dockyard Creek. We found all the squadron here, with 

 Admiral S. in the 'Princess Charlotte,' 104. The other 

 ships composing the Mediterranean Squadron were the ' Asia,' 

 84; ' Bellerophon,' 78; ' Belleisle,' 72; 'Benbow/ 72; 'Ganges,' 

 84; ' Hastings,' 72; ' Implacable,' 74; ' Minden,' 72; 'Pem- 

 broke/ 72; 'Powerful,' 84; ' Carysfort,' 26; 'Castor,' 36; 

 'Daphne,' 18; 'Dido,' 18; 'Wasp,' 18; 'Hazard,' 18; ' Jaseur,' 

 16; 'Rodney/ 92; 'Talavera,' 72; 'Vanguard/ 80. 



Steamers ' Hydra/ ' Gorgon/ ' Vesuvius/ ' Stromboli/ ' Ache- 

 ron/ ' Blazer/ &c. 



