lish garrison of St. Philip's, at
least asserted the empire of Great Britain in the Mediterranean, by
annoying the commerce of the enemy, and blocking up the squadron in the
harbour of Toulon. Understanding that the Austrian government at Leghorn
had detained an English privateer, and imprisoned the captain, on
pretence that he had violated the neutrality of the port, he detached
two ships of war, to insist, in a peremptory manner, on the release of
the ship, effects, crew, and captain; and they thought proper to comply
with this demand, even without waiting for orders from the court of
Vienna. The person in whose behalf the admiral thus interposed, was one
Fortunatus Wright, a native of Liverpool; who, though a stranger to a
sea life, had in the last war equipped a privateer, and distinguished
himself in such a manner by his uncommon vigilance and valour, that,
if he had been indulged with a command suitable to his genius, he would
have deserved as honourable a place in the annals of the navy, as that
which the French have bostowed upon their boasted Guai Trouin, Du Bart,
and Thurot. An uncommon exertion of spirit was the occasion of his being
detained at this juncture. While he lay at anchor in the harbour of
Leghorn, commander of the St. George privateer of Liverpool, a small
ship of twelve guns and eighty men, a large French xebeque, mounted with
sixteen cannon, and nearly three times the number of his complement,
chose her station in view of the harbour, in order to interrupt the
British commerce. The gallant Wright could not endure this insult:
notwithstanding the enemy's superiority in metal and number of men,
he weighed anchor, hoisted his sails, engaged him within sight of
the shore, and after a very obstinate dispute, in which the captain,
lieutenant, and above threescore of the men belonging to the xebeque
were killed on the spot, he obliged them to sheer off, and returned
to the harbour in triumph. This brave corsair would, no doubt, have
signalized himself by many other exploits, had he not, in the sequel,
been overtaken in the midst of his career by a dreadful storm, in which
the ship foundering, he and all his crew perished.

GENERAL BLAKENEY CREATED A BARON.

Sir Edward Hawke, having scoured the Mediterranean, and insulted the
enemy's ports, returned with the home-ward bound trade to Gibraltar;
from whence about the latter end of the year he set sail for England
with part of his squadron, leaving