Trafalgar, but commissioned into
our service.
Our course was pretty nearly the same, to and from the West Indies.
In 1810 or 1811 we fell in with the Topiaze off Guadeloupe, and
engaged her for forty minutes, when she struck. Several ships
being in sight influenced the speedy surrender, the law being
that every ship in sight shares in the prize money.
During my stay in the Cleopatra we had several narrow escapes.
In the summer of 1805 we got on shore on the rocks at Bermuda,
but got off again with some assistance. In 1809 we struck out
the sternpost and a foot and a half of the steel end against a
rock, and were obliged to keep the pumps going day and night till
we arrived at port. In 1810 got on the Thrum Cap Shoal, at the
entrance of Halifax Harbour, and remained there five hours, but
were hove off by other ships. The Tribune was lost on this shoal,
only being on it one hour, when she became a total wreck, and
two hundred and fifty of her crew were drowned.
