538 APPENDIX— I. 
the Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, after witness- 
ing and approving my invention for facilitating the fishing of 
anchors with a double hook, officially submitted the same to 
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and that this im- 
provement has been in constant use during the last two years 
on board the greater part of the Mediterranean squadron. 
Lastly, I have not made holiday even when not in actual em- 
ployment ; for the brief periods which I have passed on shore, 
amounting altogether to but little more than two years out of 
27 in the service, were employed in a thorough examination 
of the French naval arsenals of St. Servan, L'Orient, Brest, 
and Cherbourg, and in acquiring, always with a view to my 
profession, a familiar knowledge of French and Spanish, the 
two foreign languages of which the use is most frequently re- 
quired by a British naval officer. Indeed, my Lord, I have 
become a stranger to my family ; I have no home but in the 
service ; no tie, or enjoyment, or wish, or serious thought, 
apart from it; nor any hope consequently, except in your 
Lordship's justice, of that distinction which I know not how 
to seek, otherwise than by respectfully asking your Lordship 
to reconsider whether I have deserved it. 
I have, &c. 
(Signed) Arthur Wakefield. 
2. Copy of a Letter from Captain {now Admiral) Bullen to 
Lieutenant Wakefield. 
My dear Sir, Southampton, lOth March, 1828. 
You have my autljority to say I did put you in com- 
mand of the " Conflict," and I did so from the excellence of 
your character given to me by your late Captain, Willes ; and 
I have great pleasure in now assuring you, that the high 
character I have received of you, I afterwards found fully 
confirmed by the steady, zealous, and active execution of what- 
ever orders I had occasion to give you. 
Believe, &c. 
(Signed) Charles Bullen. 
