by John Marshall

“ Captain Hancock sent me one schuyt that had hauled out of the line and surrendered. She had a Lieutenant and 23 soldiers of the 48th regiment, with 5 Dutch seamen on board. She is so useful here I cannot part with her yet. Enclosed is a list of our loss, which, though great, is less than might have been expected, owing to the enemy directing their fire at our masts. The Rattler and the Cruiser have of course suffered most in the latter respect, but are nearly ready for service again. The smoke would not allow us to see the effect of our shot on the enemy ”

“ From the notes which we have appended to Sir W. Sidney Smith’s official letter, it will be seen that the Cruiser and Rattler most gallantly attacked the enemy’s flotilla, about two hours and a half before any other British ship could get near enough to take the least share in the action; and we are moreover of opinion, that if the division of gun-brigs under Lieutenant Manderston, had formed a junction with those two sloops, according to Captain Hancock’s signal, the enemy would have been completely defeated, and many of their vessels captured, long before l’Aimable, &c. ”

“ The fleet under my command being safely moored in the Roompot, I have great pleasure in doing justice to the zeal, intelligence, and activity with which you have discharged the various and frequently arduous services in which you have been employed while under my command; and in assuring you of the satisfaction your conduct gave me yesterday, in leading the fleet in to a safe anchorage in the Roompot, which I shall not fail to represent to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. I am, &c.
(Signed) ⁠“Wm. Young.” “To Captain Hancock.” ”

“ At half-past 7 the same morning, I had the satisfaction to see the Flushing flotilla, of fifty-nine sail, viz. two ship-rigged praams, nineteen schooners, and thirty-eight schuyts, steering along shore from that port towards Ostend, under circumstances which allowed me to hope I should be able to bring them to action. The signal was made to the Cruiser and Rattler for an enemy in the E.S.E., to call their attention from Ostend [14] : the squadron weighed the moment the flood made and allowed of the heavier ships following them over the banks ”

“ The Admiralty, however, did not think proper to break through a regulation then in force, by which no officer under three years standing was considered eligible to be appointed senior Lieutenant of an 18-pounder frigate, although he was allowed to become first of the Aquilon, two other gentlemen being appointed to her who were both his juniors in rank.
Captain Barlow was succeeded in the command of the Aquilon by Captain W. E. Cracraft, with whom Lieutenant Hancock continued to serve until the summer of 1798, when he exchanged into the Valiant, a third rate, on the Jamaica station. ”

“ Previous to the final evacuation of that island by the British, Lieutenant Hancock volunteered to assist in dislodging a considerable body of brigands, who had established themselves at Jean Rabel, from whence by means of small vessels and row boats, they daily committed depredations against merchantmen of every description. ”

“ Captains Hancock and Mason attacked this formidable line with the greatest gallantry and address, attaching themselves particularly to the two praams, both of them of greater, force than themselves, independent of the cross fire from the schooners and schuyts: I sent the Aimable by signal to support them [15] . The Penelope having an able pilot, on signal being made to engage. Captain Broughton worked up to the centre of the enemy’s line, as near as the shoal water would allow, while the Antelope went round the Stroom sand to cut the van off from Ostend. ”

“ The revolution in Holland is now, however, justly considered as one of the most important features of the late war; and, surely, the expulsion of the common enemy from the islands of Zealand, by a British fleet, at an inclement season of the year, should not be deemed a service unworthy of the future historian’s notice.
In April 1814, Captain Hancock gave up tho command of the Nymphen, being superseded at his own particular equest: and at the latter end of the same month he was appointed to the Liffey of 50 guns, then at Woolwich ”

“ Information from all quarters, and the evident state of readiness in which the enemy’s armaments were in Helvoet, Flushing, and Ostend, indicating the probability of a general movement from those ports, I reinforced Captain Manby, off Helvoet, with one ship, and directed Captain Hancock of the Cruiser, stationed in shore, to combine his operations and the Rattler’s with the squadron of gun brigs stationed off Ostend. ”

“ Two attempts to destroy la Ville-d’Anvers and the other grounded vessels were afterwards made by part of Sir W. Sidney Smith’s squadron, under the able directions of Captain Hancock, assisted by Captain Mason. In the first attempt, the Minx gun-brig had her Master and 5 seamen very much hurt by an accident on board that vessel; in the second, the Antelope’s launch upset alongside the Cruiser, and 5 brave fellows met with a watery grave. ”

“ In this action, and whilst making an attempt to recover the Conflict, Captain Hancock’s little squadron sustained a loss of 1 man killed, and 1 officer [21] and 10 men wounded: none of the gun-brigs or cutters suffered in their masts, &c, nor did the Cruiser receive any material injury, except in her sails and rigging. ”

“ We have sustained no loss whatever: only one shot passed through the main-top-sail, and three or four through the mizen-stay-sail. I feel quite sure, if I had had a second 18-pounder frigate with me, so totally unprepared was the enemy for such a prompt attack, that, in his confusion, he would have gone on shore.”
In a second letter to Admiral Young, dated Sept. 7, 1811, Captain Hancock says;– “We have spoken several fishermen to-day, who all agree in the same story, that the enemy’s ship we fired at on the 29th ult. had 5 men killed and 9 wounded ”

“ H.M.S. Nymphen, at anchor off the Duerloo, May 1, 1812. “Sir,– In my late communication with you, I have repeatedly expressed an opinion that a passage might be found into the Wieling channel, by crossing the Ript Hart sand further to the eastward, and that if such a passage could be discovered, the enemy might be more easily watched and reconnoitred, than by the usual circuitous route of entering the Wieling to the westward of Leswagen. ”

“ I cannot describe to you the delight which your letter of the 22d instant afforded me, for I much feared I never should see your hand-writing again; perhaps the feeling was in some degree selfish, knowing how essential your services would be, in the important duty we iiave now to carry on, in consequence of the revolution that has taken place in the north of Holland; but, be that as it may, I do most heartily congratulate you on your escape from danger. ”

“ The Frenchmen, however, seem to have penetrated his design; for, before their last ship got abreast of the outer brig, the latter either cut or slipped her cable, and was under a crowd of sail in an instant. The Quebec, a small 32-gun frigate, commanded by Captain Hawtayne, was in company with the Nymphen on this occasion, as were also the Cretan and Primrose brigs. Captain Hancock concludes his report to Admiral Young in the following energetic terms:– “This sort of service does us all a great deal of good ”

“ Abraham Garland, acting Lieutenant of the Cruiser, right leg amputated very high up. ↑ Extract from a letter addressed to Captain Hancock, by the merchants, ship-owners, and underwriters of North Shields, thanking him for the important service he had rendered them by capturing le Contre Amiral Magon, French privateer brig, of 17 guns and 84 men, commanded by Mons. Blackeman. a most skilful, active, and enterprising seaman, who had pursued a very successful career, in various other vessels, for many years ”

“ Mr. Hancock had not been long in the Queen before he became first Lieutenant; and it was principally through his exertions that she was brought to Port Royal in safety, after grounding on a shoal called the Three Fathom Bank, where she remained beating with great violence for 72 hours. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the preservation of such a ship from destruction must ever be considered a service of the highest importance, and as such it was viewed by Sir Hyde Parker and his Captain, both of whom expressed the most perfect approbation of Mr. ”

“ On the former occasion he had his left leg broke at the ancle joint, and his right leg dreadfully contused by a splinter: the Europe’s total loss is stated by Schomberg to have been 17 killed and 28 wounded [5] . ”