own vessel.

On the following day the Loire fell in with the Anson and Kangaroo,
and surrendered to the British flag. Subsequently Captain Newman was
appointed to the Loire, having the proud satisfaction of commanding
the vessel in whose capture he had so gallantly assisted.

In 1808, our officer received the command of the unfortunate Hero,
which ship, in 1810, formed part of the squadron under Sir James
Saumarez, employed for the protection of commerce in the North Sea.
Here he continued in the unpleasant duty of convoying merchant vessels
backwards and forwards from Dar's Head, the south entrance of the
Great Belt, to Sproe Island. On the 25th of September, Captain Newman,
in company with the Mars, 74, arrived off Yarmouth, having in charge
between five and six hundred merchantmen, the largest convoy that had
ever sailed from the Baltic. He again returned to his former station
in March, 1811, where he remained until the latter end of the year,
when his ship was selected, with others, to convoy the homeward-bound
fleet. On this occasion, he appears to have had sad misgivings as to
the prudence of sending ships home at so late a period of the year,
through the dangerous navigation of the northern seas. On the day
previous to the sailing of the squadron from Wingo Sound, he observed,
'I cannot help thinking that we have been detained too long, and it is
well if some of us do not share the fate of the Minotaur.'[14] His
words were but too prophetic; and, ere long, he and two thousand of
our brave defenders perished on a foreign strand.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] _Naval Chronicle._

THE DAEDALUS.

His Majesty's ship Daedalus, of 38 guns, Captain Murray Maxwell,
sailed from Spithead on the 27th of January, 1813, in charge of an
East Indian convoy, and made the island of Ceylon, near the Pointe de
Galle, on the 1st of July. She passed Dondra Head at sunset, and then
steered east by north during the night, in order to pass well outside
the Basses. In the morning, the ship's head was pointed to the north,
to get near land, a good look-out being kept both from the deck and
mast-head for rocks and breakers. The atmosphere was so clear that a
ripple might have been seen upon the water for miles around. Nothing
appeared to indicate danger; the vessel was supposed to be seven or
eight miles off the land, and the master was pointing out to Captain
Maxwell her position upon the chart, when they felt her take the
ground abaft