pson, the captain's son; which continued unshaken till the death
of the latter in 1782.

The British merchants having petitioned for a ship of war to be
stationed in the Mediterranean for the protection of the trade, the
Levant was ordered on that service, and for fourteen months remained
in that inactive position, which young Saumarez used to say he
considered a blank in his existence. Having no books to relieve the
spirits, no letters to cheer the heart, life wasted away without
profit or satisfaction. There must, however, have been a few bright
days; for he often mentioned with pleasure the hospitality of the
English families settled in Smyrna, of which he occasionally partook
when Captain Thompson allowed it. This was the more frequent on
account of his thorough knowledge of the French language, which was
the means of procuring him attentions rendered doubly acceptable by
the dulness of that anchorage: such were the advantages he derived
from his familiarity with that language, that he never failed to
recommend the study of it to all his young _proteges_ before going to
sea.

On the 28th of May 1773, the Levant was at length released, and sailed
for Gibraltar; from which place she proceeded to Port Mahon, to be
repaired. On the 28th of May 1774, she resumed her old station in
Smyrna harbour, (in consequence of an insurrection, in which several
Christians had been massacred, owing to the destruction of the Russian
fleet in the Bay of Chisma, on the contiguous coast,) having been away
precisely one year. She again left that station, on the 19th of
September, for Gibraltar; and finally for England in March 1775, on
the 29th of which month she arrived at Spithead. On the 14th of the
following April, Mr. Saumarez was discharged from the Levant; and had
at length the long-wished-for happiness of seeing again his native
land, and the friends from whom he had been for more than five years
separated.

The Levant, being paid off, was recommissioned by the Honourable
Captain Murray, who used every persuasion to induce Mr. Saumarez to
remain in the ship; but, after an absence of five years, he was too
anxious to spend some time with his family, to accede to his proposal,
and the moment he was at liberty he set off for Guernsey.

Taking into account the time his name had been on the books of the
Solebay, he had now served more than the required six years of
service: and as the regulations for age were at that time not stric