by John Marshall

“ On mustering the crew, only one man was missing, and he, it appears, had been washed overboard with the barge, under which his body was afterwards found on the rocks. On this melancholy occasion, a merchant brig from Liverpool, bound to Gibraltar, lost seven out of sixteen persons on board, including among the former Captain M‘Ede, of H.M. 12th regiment, an officer’s wife, and three children. Of the crews and passengers of two other vessels which drifted on shore near the Terror, not a single person was saved. ”

“ Early in Oct. following, Captain Hope received on board a large sum of money consigned to the Havannah, and was about to sail for that place, when Sir James A. Gordon arrived at New Providence, in the Seahorse frigate, to assume the command of a small squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. Finding that that officer was unacquainted with the set of the different currents in the Gulf of Florida, and that the commander of a small schooner who had come down to conduct him, could not get his vessel ready for sea in time, Captain Hope immediately offered to re-land the specie, and accompany him. ”

“ To steady her, the storm-stay-sails were again set, which had scarcely been effected, when a heavy sea made a clean sweep of everything moveable on her upper deck, tore a boat away from the larboard quarter, and ripped up the weather boards of the quarter deck. The whole of the ship’s company were now busily employed in pumping and bailing, as leaks had been sprung in every direction, and the waves were making a fair breach over her. ”

“ All the officers and men conducted themselves with great bravery; and I received from Mr. Shillibeer (the officer of marines) , Mr. A. G. Countess (master’s-mate) , and Mr. Bray (the gunner) , every assistance I could possibly require. I am happy to say, that only two of our men were severely wounded, – one in going up to loose the brig’s fore-top-sail, the other in attacking the batteries. The enemy must, I think, have lost many men, as I found two officers dead, and several wounded. I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed) ⁠“David Hope.” ”

“ I should not omit to bring before their Lordships’ notice also, that when proceeding upon the expedition against New Orleans, Captain Hope volunteered to make himself useful in any way I might think proper, and, as one of my aide-de-camps, rendered me much assistance throughout this arduous campaign, in which he was nearly losing his life, by jumping into the Pearl River to save a soldier of the 95th regiment, who would have been drowned but for the humane exertions of Captain Hope. I am. ”

“ Lieutenant Hope then received an appointment to the Macedonian, a frigate of the largest class, in which he continued, under Captains Lord William Fitz-Roy, the Hon. William Waldegrave, and John Surman Carden, until her capture by the United States, an American ship of far superior force and size, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Decatur, Oct. 25th, 1812 [5] . Previous to this event, the Macedonian had been very actively employed on the coasts of Portugal and France, and often engaged with the enemy’s batteries, in the neighbourhood of Isle d’Aix [6] . ”

“ Hope followed Captain Grant into the Abergavenny 54, bearing the flag of Lord Hugh Seymour, commander-in-chief on that station. In July 1802, he returned to England with the same captain, as master’s-mate of the Quebec 32, which ship was soon afterwards put out of commission. During the remainder of the peace of Amiens, he served as admiralty-mate, under Commodore Domett, in the Dryad frigate, on the Irish station ”

“ The boats had to pull into the bay under a very heavy fire from the two batteries and the brig, with musketry from every part of the beach, as you will see by the report made to me by Lieutenant Hope, a copy of which I have the honor to enclose. It is with infinite satisfaction I now add, that not a man on our side was killed ”

“ Sir,– I have the honor to inform you, that on Wednesday the l7th instant, at 9 p.m., I captured, off Englishman’s Head, the Victor French schooner, of 150 tons, laden with coffee, sugar, and cotton: she came out of Bay Mahaut that evening at 5 o’clock. By her log, I found that other vessels were in the bay, and that Mahaut was a place of strength, having two batteries, one of three 24-pounders, the other of one 24-pounder ”