by John Marshall

“ After the reception my officer, bearing a flag of truce, met with yesterday, you need be under no apprehension that a ‘second attempt’ will be made on my part to communicate with the town of Lewes. When the government of the United States shall have agents endowed with sufficient energy, and invested with competent authority, to restrain a despicable mob from insulting a solitary individual, in the exercise of an office which sanctifies his person in the eyes of a civilized enemy ”

“ I trust you will allow me the pleasure of introducing to your notice and protection the bearer of this, Captain Watts, of the Jaseur; and, in doing it, I feet proud to say, that he is an officer who has been brought into the service under my auspices, for his character and conduct in his profession, have proved him beyond a doubt to be both an intelligent and gallant member of it. His ambition is, to be placed in such situations as may best afford him the opportunity of distinguishing himself. ”

“ Captain Watts was ordered by Rear-Admiral Cockburn to use his best endeavours to discover a navigable passage through Tangier straits, and to procure fresh provisions for the use of the squadron in Chesapeake bay. He succeeded in establishing himself 15 miles higher than any square-rigged vessel had ever before been, and annoyed the enemy to the utmost of his power. On one occasion, he gave chase to a vessel in person, in his own boat, penetrated 12 or 14 miles up the river Wicomico, and not only destroyed her, but captured and burnt nine others. ”

“ Excuse my addressing you thus pointedly in Captain Watts’s behalf; but I do it with the more openness and confidence, as I recollect, that those who have themselves so justly reaped the laurels of intelligence and bravery united, can best appreciate those ingredients of professional character in others. I remain, with the truest regard and esteem. Dear Sir John, yours most faithfully,
(Signed) ⁠“Edward.” The Jaseur’s first cruise was off the Delaware, where she captured several American vessels. ”

“ Having repeatedly chased the same vessel, he determined, if possible, to end her career. Guided by an old chart taken out of a prize, and with look-out men at the mast-heads, he persevered till she ran on shore under the protection of a battery and several field-pieces on the island of Lassoe, from whence the enemy were soon driven by the Woodlark’s fire. The boats were then despatched under the direction of the first lieutenant, Mr. Thomas Crawford, who was instructed, if he found the cutter scuttled, which proved to be the case, to turn her own guns and blow her stem and stern-post out. ”

“ In announcing to me your promotion, I assure you it has afforded me particular satisfaction, and I do most sincerely congratulate you thereon.
“The handsome manner in which your commanders have at all times spoken of you, has been very gratifying to me, and I hope I may, at some future period, be able further to demonstrate my wishes to serve you, which you have at present deprived me the happiness of doing, by your own meritorious conduct. I am, my dear Sir, with great truth, your’s most truly,
(Signed) ⁠“Sam. Hood.” ”

“ I have the honor to be, your Royal Highness’s most dutiful and obedient servant,
(Signed) ⁠“Geo. Hope.” The writer of the above letter had been several years first captain of the Baltic fleet, and was then a Lord of the Admiralty. In Nov. 1812, he arrived at Gottenburgh, to escort the Russian fleet to England, and spontaneously offered to make Viscount Melville acquainted with Captain Watts’s claims for promotion, giving him at the same time a letter to that nobleman, with directions to forward it on his arrival in England. ”

“ In June, 1810, having been despatched to reconnoitre the island of Bornholm, Captain Watts discovered a ship in the port of Ronne, which he learnt from a neutral vessel just out, had been condemned as prize to a Danish privateer. He instantly resolved to attempt her recapture, and placed the boats under the command of Lieutenant Crawford for that purpose. ”

“ The Comus then ranged up under his lee within half-pistol-shot, and so deadly was the effect of her first broadside, the guns being double-breeched and treble-shotted, that the enemy never recovered his equilibrium during the whole of the action, which continued with great animation on both sides about 45 minutes, when the two ships came in contact, and the boarders, headed by Lieutenants Watts and Knight, soon succeeded in carrying her. ”

“ In pursuance of this determination, he was forced to fight a battle every day, in one of which he captured 1200 prisoners: he stormed two towns which barred his progress; laid Leipsic itself under contribution; and finally arrived, closely pursued, on the banks of the Weser, four days after our defeat and dispersion of the enemy. By the flight of their armed vessels, and the destruction of their battery, the river, upon which he embarked his men in small coasters, was left open, and he, by these means, made his way down to us, without further hindrance or molestation. ”

“ Gallantry in ‘love and war,’ in ‘ladies bower and tented field’, are with the warrior one and indivisible. So sang the immortal troubadours, those chroniclers of the ‘deeds of days of other years.’ We had obtained the ascendancy over our rivals in the one, and it therefore became incumbent on us to equal or surpass them in the other. ”

“ On one occasion, anticipating an attack, he resolved, as an experiment, to keep the Woodlark under sail all night, and was repaid for his vigilance by capturing a lugger, which he discovered at midnight in the rear of the convoy, carrying one of them oft. The success attending this first attempt to keep an armed vessel under sail all night, for the better protection of the trade, was productive of great additional labour to him, as he generally afterwards had this duty imposed on him, by the senior officer ”

“ Shortly after her arrival in the Sound, the Comus was detached in pursuit of the Danish guard-ship, the latter having slipped her cables in the night of Aug. 12, 1807, and passed unperceived through the British fleet. At the same time the Defence 74, Captain Charles Ekins, was ordered to go in search of a two-decker, then on the coast of Norway.
The captain, officers, and crew of the Comus, were thus afforded “an opportunity to distinguish themselves particularly, by a very gallant action with an enemy greatly exceeding their force," The Dane was got sight of at 6 a.m. ”

“ Practising every abstinence, exposing himself to every hardship, braving every danger, and participating in every triumph, he is idolized by his followers, all of whom speak of him with rapture and enthusiasm.”
We next find Captain Watts commanding the Woodlark brig, of 10 guns, in the Baltic ”

“ She mounted 6 guns, and had on board at least 65 men, including about 40 select soldiers sent from the garrison to assist in defending her. The attacking force consisted of 40 officers, sailors, and marines, in three boats, two of which, on pulling into the harbour, were momentarily detached to observe some suspicious vessels, supposed to be gun-boats, and before they could be recalled, the cutter, commanded by Lieutenant Watts in person, was discovered and repeatedly hailed by the enemy. Instant attack or immediate retreat were the only alternatives. ”

“ This was effected with the loss of one man killed and five wounded. Mr. Watts has several wounds, but none of them dangerous; and I feel convinced his gallant conduct, with the exertions of every officer and man employed on this service, will meet your approbation.
“Twenty-one of the enemy’s troops were made prisoners, 18 of whom are wounded; the rest, excepting a few who swam to the shore, were killed, as was her captain and some of her crew. ”

“ His province is not to negociate, but to fight. He shall ‘labor in his vocation.’ I have the honor to be, &c.
(Signed) ⁠“G. E. Watts.” Much as Captain Watts longed for an opportunity to carry into effect the threat contained in this letter, circumstances did not admit of it. The Jaseur, having sustained great damage in her masts and rigging, was forced to bear away for Bermuda, and did not return to the Delaware. ”

“ His nomination to the Jaseur of 16 guns, the first to be commissioned of seventeen brigs then building, and his appointment to the Halifax station, were the immediate results of this recommendation. His commission for the Jaseur bears date April 5, 1813. In Sept. following, his royal patron addressed the following letter to Sir John B. Warren, commander-in-chief on the coast of America, &c. ”

“ She proved to be the Frederickswoern, mounting 26 Danish long 12-pounders, 4 sixes, and 6 carronades, with a complement of 226 men, of whom 12 were killed and 20 wounded – several mortally. The Comus mounted 22 long nines and 10 carronades, with 145 officers, men, and boys, not one of whom was slain, and only 1 wounded. ”

“ Agents.– Messrs. Goode and Clarke.
↑ See Suppl. Part II. p. 394. ↑ A Spanish brig, of five guns, loaded with salt pork; two others with cargoes of wine, fruit, and salt fish; and three in ballast. ↑ Captain Heywood joined the Comus in a debilitated state of health, and was not well at the time of the action. Her superior firing and manoeuvring, which amply compensated for her disparity of force, was in no small degree attributable to the previous diligence and exertions of Lieutenant Watts. Captain Heywood died at Milford, South Wales, in 1822. ”