Star.
London, England, 1810-04-25 00:00:00

CAPTAIN LAKE.

PAPERS RELATING TO CORRESPONDENCE: BETWEEN THZ
ADMIRALTY AND SIR ALEXANDER COCHRANE, TOUCH..
ING Tllt CONDUCT OF THE HONOURABLE WARWICK
LAKE.

Copy of a Letter from the Secretary of the Admiralty to Sir
ALEXANDER COCURANE.
Admiralty-Office, 7th June, 1909.
Sir----I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Ad.
miralty to send you the accompanying copy of a letter from Mr.
Chas. M. Thomas,late purser of the Demerary, addressed to the
Right Honourable Charles Bathurst, stating that he resigned his
warrant to you, upon condition of being dischaiTed from the ser-
vice, but that he is still detained a supernumerary on board the
Neptune; and I am to signify their Lordships' directions to you to
state the case of this person. I am, &c. (Signed) J. BARROW.
The Hon. Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander
Cochrane, K. B. Leeward Islands.
Extracts from Mr. Thomas's letter to Rear-Ad-
miral Sir A. Cochrane :
" I am, Sir, in possession of facts which, if more I
provoked, I will bring forward, which will involve, if I
not all, at least the greater part of the Captains of the
squadron under your command ; at the same time
that I will not commit one of my brother officers ;
and having, a most retentive memory, I shall recur
thereto for some facts as far back as
-the year 1806." I
" I am fully master of my subject, for I never pre-
tend to handle things to which I am incompetent,
like the late Convention-mongets of Cintra ; and, if I
fall, I'll fall gloriously."
" I shall give the substance of what I know in the
first instance, to his Majesty's Ministers ; and if they
take no notice, 1 shall take a walk to St. Stephen's
Chapel, and report it there. I already anticipate the
remarks that will appear in Cobbett's Regis:er : I shall
make my own comments in the Barbadoes Mercury."
" If, Sir, you will not leave me alone, I will light
such a torch in England, which it will be out of your
power to extinguish : and I will make the year 1809
I memorable in the historic page by the discoveries I
shall cause in almost every department in these re-
gions."
" Voltaire has observed to this effect, g that streams
always become more impure, the farther they are re-
moved from the fountain head ; I will undertake to
prove this assertion just."
" Captain Dowers having acquainted me that I am
to go on board the Pelorus before the mast, I do pro-
test most solemnly protest, against such a proceeding
until the Lords of the Admiralty shall have submit.
ted my case to the King."
No. 2, is a letter from Mr. Barron to Sir A. Cochrane, dated
_ July 14, communicating Mr. Thomas's charge against Capt. Lake.
FROM LLOYD'S LIST. Copy of a Letter from Sir ALEXANDER COC:IXANE, to the Se-
cretary cf the Admiralty.
GRAVESEND, APRIL 24.—Arrived the Nehon, Herberts. front SIR, Poirkei& at Sea, August 4, 1609.
St. Vincent's ; the Sir Sidney Smith, Branford, from Rio la- I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter,
neiro ; Dart, Malcomb, from Madeira; Grinson, Wilson, from dated the 7th June, enclosing the copy of one written
Jamaica; and Robert, Cranly, from Malta.—Saikd the Phcenix, by Mr. Charles M. Thomas:lately Purser of his Ma..
Rose, for Surinam. jetty's sloop Demerary, to the Right Hon. Charles
The three colliers of Sunderland, the Arrow, POPE; I Bathurst, and signifying to me the direction of the
Atlas, BELL ; and Oak, Ssuett, mentioned in the I Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to state the
Harwich letter, received at Lloyd's yesterday, to case of this person.
have been taken off the Kentish Knock, by a French
privateer, are retaken and sent into Ramsgate by his About three years ago my Secretarr found him wan-
Majesty's brigs BLOODHOUND and CRACKER. dering about the streets at Barbadoes, without clothes.
money, or friends, and be applied to him (though an
'lire Adventure, CRAUFORD, from Gibraltar to utter stranger) to get him received on board a vessel of
London, has been taken, retaken, and carried into i war, to keep him from starving. The Captain of the
Dartmouth. I, flag ship, hi .consequence received him, and he was
The Fenwick, JACKSON, of North Wales, is lost at soon after employed in the office, and when he had
the Orkneys. served about eighteen months, promoted in his turn to
The Europe,BeeneTT, from St. Cmix, is arrived at be Purser of his Majesty's sloop Heureux ; ever since
Dublin, with five feet water in her hold, having been which time he has been an extremely troublesome
on the Bar. character. He has served with several Captains, with
The Humphries, HASTINGS, from London to Hon- ‘ none of whom could he agree, and was constantly
duras, run on shore off Old Harbour, Jamaica, the i pesterinme with letters of complaint ; one of which
26th of February, and it was feared would be lost. I against
v.. was the conduct of the late Captain Combe,
of the Henreux which I directed three Captains to
The Nonpareil, BRUCE, from St. Michael's to Lon-1
on, was taken off Shoreham, the 11th nit. and 'car. I ar- enquire into, and found that his representations were
-
d ! frivolous and without foundation. After this he was
tied into Treport. I removed into theDemerary, a smaller sloop, at his own
The Hyperion frigate, from Pmrtsmouth, and the ! request, where he continued the same line of conduct,
Challenger sloop of war, from Cork, with the fleet, : and when I round, by the representation of his two
have arrived at Jamaica. 1 last Commanders, that be never kept any accounts, I
The Cupido, —, from Pernambucco, is lost on I directed him to be superseded, and to be sent to Eng.
Oporto Bar. Part of the cargo saved. I land in the Acasta, which was done betbre I received
. ,
The Larkins, CORM, from Jamaica, is arrived off ; your letter on the subject.
Penzance, after throwing pert of her cargo and guns I Asa specimen of his itch for writing, I transmit
overboard. • . ; herewith an extract or two from his letters to me,
Tann A BOSTON Pere a.—Captains Telford and ; where in he accuses half the Captains on the station ;
Fowler, Maeters of the American shis Phoenix and • but. immediately.after I received another, of which I
p
enclose a copy, requesting fOrgiveness of what he had
Louisa Cecilia, of New York, have arrived there from ;Guadeloupe, and inform, that they sailed from-Nese ! dunee I therefore thcreght the best way to get rid of
York early in November, for Gijon in Spain, and him was to send him to England, that the Victualling
Lisbon ; that, on the 23d and 26th of November, i _'Board might lay hold of him, if he should be-deficient
they were captured by • four French frigates from ; in his vtetualung ; as for accounts, he has none what-
they
bound to. Guadeloupe •
that the Louisa Cc- I "'-
cilia was hoarded from la Clorinde frigate. Captain St. ! I found him to be that sort of character, as unfit
Clique, the C:iptain and crew taken out, sent on board i for an Officer in
not; and as for trying him by a
1 C.ourt-Ivlattial, I did think it worth while, nor
Ow frigate, scuttled, and sunk with all her cargo on .
board. Captain Fowler adds, he was put clouer in ;_ worthy of such an officiel proceeding; for the punish.
the fore-peak, under three decks, to mess with the ; Men. tof
indeed him would, in fact, be no punish-
boatswain and his crew, in the hold with. English pri-
soners. He remained in this dark rser —I have the honour to be, Sec. tke.
; Ment at all ; f believe he has never been con-
filthy hole till the firmed as a pat .
7th of December, when himself and crew were put I (Signed) ALEX. COCHRANE.
on board le Loire frigate, and there put down oe- ,fie
Hon. W. w. rac•
tween de oleo witloother prisoners, where he remained i
dated Halifax,Ntrir. 1, ackuowledging. the receipt of Mr. Barrow's
four days, till after the capture of the British frigate ; ' No. 4 is a letter profit Sir A..toehrane to Mr. W. W. Pole,
Junon, when, there not being room for all the psi- i of Captain Lake's proceeding ; but that, being assured of the sai-
stating, that be.wat *were of irregularity
i letter of July 14;
..1 seriously admonished Captain
soners, he was permitted, by his pressing solicitatiollS, i lor's (Jeffery's) safety, and ba..-:"Il_
rest:.
to go into the gun-room. On board the Clnrinde, Lakes he had consentedtheb
the thirteen American prisoners were only allowed • ••••••••••...••••••
for their subsistence what was given to seven English
prisoners, which was six ounces of meat, a pound of
bread, and a pint of water per day ; that while the
Americans were treated with cruelty and contempt,
the English Captains, mates, and passengers whom
they had taken, messed most sumptuously- with the
French Officers. On the 17th December they were
landed at a small place, 1.5 miles to the Northward
of Basseterre, to which they were marched. along
shore, over hills and cross creeks. About a week
after, the Americans seamen were all taken up and
put -in -prison, but the.officer3 were paroled. The
English officers were allowed half a guinea a day to
subsist on, while the Americans were refused a single
cent,- though they often applicd for relief. The situ-
ation of Captain Telford and the crew of the,Pboenix
was exactly similar .to that Ail Vra.ptain Fowler.—
These gentlemen. remained, Ise puadaloupe until
the island was captured by the. British,. when they.
took passage for, Antigua, and from, thence came.
• home via St. Bans,. compelled to leave their unfot-'
tunate crews in prism aiGuadaloupe, but in the hope
they would be releasedliy the English.

PLYMOUTH, APRIL 23.
Arrived the MUROS brig of war, from Guernsey ;
and the FAVOURITE sloop, from a cruize.—Sailed the
Swim, of 74 guns, Rear-Admiral STOPFORD ; and
Caemarms VII. of 74 guns, Captain Sir J. SIDNEY
Yeeeto-fer the Rochefort station; the ENCOUNTER
gin-brig, for Falmouth ; and the MARINER gun-brig,
on a anize.—Went up Channel this morning the Fa-
votuite, Captain FREEMAN, with dispatches for Go',
'remnant on board from Sierra Leon and Goree.

• PORTSMOUTH, APRIL 24.
Arrived the FLY, from the Downs.—Wind S.W.

DEAL, APRIL 24.

Sated the Bonihay, Earl St. Vincent, Harriet, and
ROya), George, for the East Indies, with the whole of
the outward•bound under convoy of his Majesty's
ship Tamcuto, tor Portsniouth.--Vind N.E.

SLAVE TRADIL:.•-it appears by the Papers laid be- 1
fore Parliament, relative to the abolition of the Slave I
Trade, that there were strong objections on the part. 1
of the Portuguese Governinent, in 1807 and 1808 to
the Abolition of the Slave Trade ' • but in a mettro-
randum frerri the Foreign Office, .dated March 96,
1810, it is stated, that N an article on the subject :of
the Slave Trade .has been inserted in the Brazil
Treaty; now under consideration, stipulating for the
adoption, on the part of the Prince Regent, of mea-
sures for effecting a gradual abolition of that-trade
throughout hit domituons."—No step relativeto this
subject appears to have been taken by. the Spanish or
SwedishGovernmentsi to. the latter there does not
appear to Itavebeen any, communication.
Public will please to observe that the only
Person in Partnership with the late Sir J BRANS-
COWS, at the time that Firm.- shared and sold the
Grand Prize of OneThOusend Tickets, which pro-
duced 41141765, (in. last April Lottery) was E.
twos, who is now removed to N•sl. 2, Corahill, near
the Mansion-house.