158 EAELY CAREER OF MR. NOBBS. 
Murray, by whose means he was, in 1813, 
placed on board the Indefatigable, naval store- 
ship, the master of which was Captain Bowles. 
In this vessel the young sailor went to New 
South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. Having 
left Van Diemen's Land and gone to Cape 
Horn, and from thence across to the Cape of 
Good Hope, he returned, after a short stay at 
St. Helena, to England. He then left the 
navy, and, after residing at home a few months, 
he received a letter from his old commander, 
offering to procure him a berth on board a ship 
of eighteen guns, designed for the use of the 
patriots in South America. He accepted the 
offer, and left England early in 1816, for 
Valparaiso ; but the Royalists having regained 
possession of that place, he could not enter it 
.until 1817. He afterwards held a commission 
in the Chilian service under Lord Cochrane, 
now Earl of Dundonald, and became lieutenant 
in consequence of his services. 
Among other important occurrences which 
took place during this period, and in which Mr. 
Nobbs bore a part, was the courageous enterprise 
of cutting out the Spanish frigate Esmeralda, of 
forty guns, which was lying in the bay, under 
the batteries of Callao, in Peru. The capture 
was accomplished late at night on the 5th 
of November, 1820. An address from Lord 
Cochrane had been delivered to the marines and 
seamen, which concluded with an injunction, 
that the Chilenos should act with valour, " and 
that the English should do as they had always 
done, both in their own country, and elsewhere." 
