Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's Note:

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including inconsistent hyphenation and discrepancies in
numbers of guns. Some errors in the table of contents and chapter
summaries have been corrected. Some other changes have been made.
They are listed at the end of the text.

Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE
OF EVENTS,

FROM 1799 TO 1815,

_WITH ANECDOTES_.

BY THE LATE

VICE-ADM^{L.} W^{M.} STANHOPE LOVELL, R.N., K.H.

SECOND EDITION.

London:
WM. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, W.

1879.

WITHERBY AND CO., PRINTERS,
74, CORNHILL; NEWMAN’S COURT, CORNHILL; AND 325A, HIGH HOLBORN, W.C.

_To_ Rear-Admiral Sir ROBERT BARRIE, C.B., K.C.H.

MY DEAR SIR ROBERT,

In dedicating the following pages to you, under whose command I had the honour of serving in the Chesapeake, &c., I do it with the greatest respect, esteem, and admiration of your conduct.

I must ever consider you as one of those officers upon whom the country may safely rely in the hour of peril, and in whose hands it may entrust its honour in the day of battle. Like the celebrated Bayard of old, your career has obtained for you a character, “_sans peur et sans reproche_.”

Your faithful friend,

THE AUTHOR.

_CONTENTS._

CHAPTER I. PAGE

First Trip to Sea--Shipmates--Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren,
Bart, K.B. 1

CHAPTER II.

Channel Cruising--Boat Expeditions--Anecdote of a Gallant
Mid--Ditto of Two Dandy Guardsmen--Expedition to Ferrol--Sir
James Pulteney, Sir Edward Pellew and the Donkey--The Unlucky
Cruise 7

CHAPTER III.

Cruise off Cadiz--Proceed up the Mediterranean to Egypt after a
French Squadron under Rear-Admiral Ganteaume, 1801 16

CHAPTER IV.

From the Peace of Amiens (1802) until the Commencement of the
Second Gallic War--Gambling 26

CHAPTER V.

From the Commencement of Second Gallic War until the Battle of
Trafalgar, 1805; with Anecdotes 30

CHAPTER VI.

The Battle of Trafalgar, and Extracts from the Log of His
Majesty’s Ship _Neptune_, on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd
October, 1805 43

CHAPTER VII.

Joined the _Melpomene_--Sent up the Mediterranean--Tremendous
Weather, with Thunder, Lightning, and Water-spouts--Ship
loses her Rudder and Main-topmast--Proceed to Malta 57

CHAPTER VIII.

Siege of Gaeta by the French--Boat Affairs--My Capture--Leghorn 62

CHAPTER IX.

Malta--Dreadful Accident by the Explosion of a Magazine in the
Town, on the Bermola side--Nearly get into a Scrape about
Breaking Quarantine--Kind Answer of the gallant Admiral Sir
Sidney Smith to the Complaint--Rejoin the _Melpomene_--Mutiny
in Fribourg’s Regiment--Cruise in the Adriatic 73

CHAPTER X.

North American Station, from 1808 to
1811--Bermuda--Anecdote--Death of Captain Conn 87

CHAPTER XI.

Lisbon--Trip to the Army of Lord Wellington--Montemor Novo,
O’Rodondo, Villa Vicosa, Elvas, Fort le Lippe 101

CHAPTER XII.

Lisbon, Cintra, Mafra, etc., 1811, 1812--Second Trip to the
Army--Taking of Badajoz 113

CHAPTER XIII.

Cadiz, Minorca, Majorca, Alicant, Carthagena, Algiers, Oran,
Altea Bay--Drive a French Privateer on Shore near Denia 124

CHAPTER XIV.

Siege of the Col de Balaguer--A Reconnoitering Party--Raising
of the Siege of Tarragona--Lieutenant-General Sir John and
Lady Murray--Rear-Admiral Benjamin Hallowell--Viscount
and Viscountess Mahon--Palermo, Veniros; Upset in a
Boat--Valencia--Holland 136

CHAPTER XV.

1814--Sent to Bermuda--Operations in the Chesapeake--The
River Patuxent--Expedition to Washington--Town of
Rappahannock--River Rappahannock--Commodore Robert Barrie,
etc. 150

CHAPTER XVI.

Operations in South Carolina--Capture of Cumberland Island
and the Fort of Point-à-Petre--An Affair with the American
Riflemen in the Woods--An Abattis--Anecdotes of the 2nd West
India Regiment--A Rattlesnake--Capture of the Town of St.
Mary’s--Destruction of the Forts and Barracks--Nassau, New
Providence--Compliment to the Royal Marines--Return Home 173

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF EVENTS.