sed,
liberty was scarcely a boon to him. The damp of his prison, and the
sufferings attendant on his wound, had impaired his eyesight, and
otherwise so injured his constitution, that he was no longer fit for
active service. He was, however, promoted to the rank of commander
immediately on his return to England: this rank he still holds, but
the best years of his life had been spent in captivity, and his hopes
of promotion were not realized till too late for the enjoyment of its
honours, or for the service of his country.

THE APOLLO.

The following account of the loss of the Apollo is taken almost
verbatim from the narrative of Mr. Lewis, clerk of the ship, an
eye-witness of the occurrence. His narrative is too graphic to be
suppressed:--'On Monday, the 26th of March, 1804, His Majesty's ship
Apollo sailed from the Cove of Cork in company with the Carysfort, and
sixty-nine sail of merchantmen under convoy, for the West Indies. On
the 27th, we were out of sight of land, with a fair wind blowing fresh
from the west-south-west. At eight o'clock on the evening of Sunday,
the 1st of April, the wind shifted from south-west to south-east. At
ten o'clock, we up mainsail and set mainstay-sail. At a quarter past
ten, the mainstay-sail split by the sheet giving way. All hands were
called upon deck. It blew strong and squally; we took in the
foretop-sail and set the foresail. At half-past eleven the
maintop-sail split; furled it and the mainsail. The ship was now under
her foresails, the wind blowing hard, with a heavy sea.

'At about half-past three on Monday morning, April 2nd, the ship
struck the ground, to the astonishment of every one on board, and by
the last reckoning, we conjectured we were upon an unknown shoal.

'The vessel struck very heavily several times, by which her bottom was
materially injured, and she made a great deal of water. The chain
pumps were rigged with the utmost despatch, and the men began to pump,
but in about ten minutes she beat and drove over the shoal, and on
endeavouring to steer her, they found her rudder was carried away. The
ship was then got before the wind, the pumps were kept going, but
from the quantity of water shipped, there was every probability of her
soon foundering, as she was filling and sinking very fast.

'After running about five minutes, the ship struck the ground again
with such violent shocks, that we feared she would go to pieces
instantly; however, she kept strik