THE CORNISH MAIL 131 



' Fight on my men, Sir Andrew sayes, 

 A little Ime hurt, but not yet slaine ; 

 He but Ive downe and bleede a while, 

 And then He rise and fight againe.' 



The ancient hallad of Sir Andrew Barton, 

 from Percy's ' Reliques.' 



'During my stay below to stop my blood I was 

 for some time insensible.' The stay below^ of the 

 dangerously w^ounded man was not more than three 

 minutes. ' When I was lifted on deck, I saw the 

 ensign on the quarter, and immediately ordered it to 

 be secured to the starboard main rigging, which was 

 done by George Butler, a black man. . . . The 

 Montagiis guns never ceased firing. From the most 

 gallant conduct I saw displayed from my friend and 

 commander, Captain Norman, before he fell, I deter- 

 mined that the British flag then flying on the Montagu 

 should never be disgraced by his successor.' 



There was naturally not much delay about pro- 

 moting Watkins as soon as he got home. ' It was 

 Watkins,' wrote Freeling, ' by whose gallantry the 

 enemy were at length beaten off, after a desperate and 

 gallant defence.' ' Let Mr. Watkins' appointment ' (as 

 Captain to the Montagu) ' be made out immediately,' 

 ordered Lord Chichester on January 29, 1814. 



Posterity surely af&rms both Freeling's tribute and 

 the action of Chichester. 



When the Post- Office packets at Falmouth were 

 transferred to the Admiralty, in 1823, the packet 

 agency was abolished as a separate institution. The 



