of September 1727, he was fent home to protect the Turkey fleet from Gibraltar: and the Colchester being ordered, on its arrival, to be dismantled and laid up, captain Clinton was, in the month of July 1728, appointed commander of the Sutherland, a guard-fhip, catrying fixty guns; in which fhip he continued till the month of May 1729. We do not find him employed any more till 1732, when he was appointed commodore of the fquadron annually fent to Newfoundland, of which ifland he was alfo made governor. In 1734 he commanded the Berwick, of feventy guns, one of the fleet collected in the Downs under the command of fir John Norris. He probably did not continue to retain this Itation for any great length of time, for, in 1737, he was fent out commodore and commander-in-chief of the ships in the Mediterranean: but we have no information that we can pofitively rely on, as to the fhips he commanded, till the commencement of the war with Spain, in 1739, foon after which he was appointed to the Prince Frederic, of feventy guns. In the following year we find him captain of the Marlborough, a fecond rate.

In 1741 he quitted the occupation of a naval commander, being, on the 4th of July, appointed captain-general and governor-in-chief of New York. He continued there, as fome affert, till the year 1753*, having in the interim been promoted, on the 7th of December 1743, to be rear-admiral of the red; and progreffively afterwards, on the 19th of June 1744, the 23d of April 1745, and the 15th of July 1747, to be vicer of the white, vice of the red, and admiral of the white. On his return from America he was chofen member for the borough of Saltafh in the parliament which met on the 31st of May 1754; and, on the death of admiral Stewart in the month "of March 1757, became admiral of the fleet. Having thus attained the highest naval rank in the fervice with Sunfullied reputation, and the juftly acquired character of meriting, on all occafions, the good-will of his

This circumftance is contradicted by other perfons, who affert, that in 1750, or 51, he was fucceeded by Mr. Delancey. We ap prehend, indeed, this to be a mistake, and that Mr. D. was the lieute-nant-governor only.

countrymen,

countrymen, he died on the 10th of July 1761, in the 75th year of his age. He married Anne, daughter and heir to the honourable Peter Carle, major-general in the British fervice, and general and engineer in that of Portugal; by her he had three fons and three daughters, of which two of each fex died in their infancy. Mary, the furviving daughter, was married to captain, afterwards admiral Roddam and Henry the fon, taking to a military life, attained the rank of lieutenant-general, was a knight of the most honourable order of the bath, and for fome time commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in America.

HILDESLEY, John,-was, on the 14th of Septem-1 ber 1716, appointed captain of the Flamborough. How long he continued in this veffel, or what were his fubfequent appointments, we have not been able to learn, or, indeed, to collect any other particulars relative to him, except that he was promoted to the rank of a rear-admiral, on half pay, on the 24th of July 1747. He lived many years in the above honourable retirement, not dying till the 13th of February 1771.

MAN, Robert, was, on the 22d of December 1716, appointed to be captain of the Fox frigate. We do not find him advanced to the command of any ship of an higher class till the year 1721, when he was commiffioned to the Worcester, a fourth rate, one of the fleet ordered to be equipped, and dispatched for Lifbon under the command of fir Charles Wager, but which appears, in confequence of the early fubmiffion of the Portuguese, never to have put to fea. In the month of April 1723, he was appointed to the Plymouth, of fixty guns, one of twelve Thips which were at that time commiffioned, we believe as guardships. In this veffel he continued several years, and, in 1726, accompanied fir Charles Wager to the Baltic. His next appointment, far as we have been able to learn, was to the Sutherland, of fixty guns, as fucceffor to captain Clinton. This he obtained in 1729; and we have no other intelligence concerning him till 1734, when he was made commander of the Orford, of feventy guns, one of the fleet collected, in the Downs, under the command of fir John Norris. This, probably, was the last commiflion he ever held, for, on the 13th of September

5

September 1737, he retired from the fervice on the honourable appointment of fecond captain in Greenwich hofpital. On the death of captain Tudor Trevor, and the confequent advancement of captain Charles Smith, to be lieutenant-governor, captain Man was, on the 4th of February 1739-40, appointed first captain thereof. In this station he died, juftly lamented by all who knew him, on the 15th of December 1745.

ROSS, John,-was, on the 14th of September 1716, appointed captain of the Seaford. No other particular information concerning him has come to our knowledge, except that he died in England on the 27th of March 1731.

ROWLEY, Sir William,-was, on the 26th of June 1716, made commander of the Biddeford frigate; but so little diftinguished were the several services on which he was employed during the long interval of peace, which, with very few interruptions, continued till the year 1739, that we find no public mention whatever made of his feveral appointments; nor, indeed, are we better informed for fome time after the actual commencement of hoftilities, for he is no where particularly noticed till he was sent out to the Mediterranean with a strong reinforcement to the fleet already there under the command of vice-admiral Mathews. This appears to have been early in the year 1742-3, at which time, if we may credit hiftorians, he held the rank of rear-admiral of the blue: but this is a manifeft mistake, as he was, at the time above-mentioned, a commodore only. A private and authentic memorandum of his promotions, informs us the first flag he ever hoifted was that of rear-admiral of the white, by commiffion bearing date December the 7th, 1743.

He continued in the Mediterranean under the orders of Mr. Mathews, and commanded the van of the British fleet in the ever-memorable and difreputable encounter with the combined force of France and Spain. No part, however, of he difgrace was in any degree imputable to Mr. Rowley, he having, as well prior to the commencement of the action, as during the continuance of it, exerted himfelf in every refpect confonant to the character of a gallant and able officer. The French

divifion

divifion, under monfieur de Court, which led the enemy' van, manifefted the strongest difpofition of wifhing to avoid a clofe action. Their admiral would for a fhort time lay-to with much apparent refolution; but whenever Mr. Rowley and his fquadron approached him he fet all his fails; and from the advantage of having all his fhips just out of port, and clean, was enabled for fome hours to prevent the British squadron from clofing with, and bringing him to action. Thefe wavering and unfteady manoeuvres were at laft, indeed, productive of the very confequence they were intended to avoid. The Spanish fhips being heavy failers, Mr. De Court was obliged to bring to for them, or they would otherwife have fallen an easy facrifice to the fuperior force of Mr. Mathews.

Mr. Rowley, therefore, in confequence of the above circumftance, clofed with and began to engage the French admiral and his fecond, aftern, about two o'clock. The encounter continued with the greatest vigour and refolution for near two hours; during which he was very ably fupported by captain Ofborne, in the Princefs Caroline. M. De Court finding, between three and four o'clock, that he had decidedly the worst of the action, fet his forefail and made off, leaving his two feconds to fecure his retreat in the best manner they could. The contest with these ships did not continue longer than twenty minutes, when they alfo followed the example of their commander-in-chief. These three were the only fhips of the French divifion which were engaged, the remainder keeping their wind with intention to tack upon and weather Mr. Rowley; a manoeuvre they were prevented from carrying into execution by the leading fhips of the van, which dexterously and attentively pursued the fame measure. In the above action Mr. Rowley had eighteen men killed and thirty wounded; a lofs which, confidering its fhort duration, very fufficiently proves the vigour and fpirit of the contefting parties. Mr. Rowley continued in the Mediterranean after the above encounter, but, as it is well known, no fubfequent engagement took place. On the 19th of June 1744, he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the blue: and admiral Mathews having, on the 21st of Auguft following, ftruck his flag in Vado Bay, refigned the chief command of the fleet to him. The fubfequent

naval operations of that part of the world appear, indeed, to have been principally confined to per petual cruises, for the purpofe of protecting the British commerce by confining the enemy's fleets in port. Nothing, indeed, can more ftrongly prove the vice-admiral's fuperiority and fpirited conduct, than his having with numbers far inferior to the fleet which France and Spain had it in their power to collect in that part of the world, failed from Mahon in queft of the enemy, who were timid enough to shrink from the conteft by continuing in port.

The confequence of this very fpirited behaviour in Mr. Rowley was, that being on the 18th of October joined by Mr. Osborne, and a divifion of the fleet which had been detached on a feparate fervice, he found himself fo completely master of thofe feas, that fcarcely a fhip of the enemy could put to fea without being in the greatest danger of capture or deftruction. During the month of April 1745, on the 23d of which month, we have to obferve by the way, he was advanced to be vice-admiral of the white, his cruifers captured or deftroyed five-andtwenty of the enemy's fhips and veffels, fome of them of great value, and no contemptible force. He continued thus employed till the latter end of September, when several of the petty Italian ftates, and particularly the Genoefe, having fhewn, on many occafions, the greatest partiality for the caufe of France and Spain, and their contempt of that candour and fair conduct which ought conftantly to regulate the public actions of neutral states, it was deemed neceffary, not only in vindication of the national honour, but in punishment of the injuries resulting from fuch behaviour, to bombard their towns, and convince them practically, how dangerous it would be for them to persevere in fuch illiberal conduct.

Genoa, Finale, St. Remo, all felt the force of the viceadmiral's juft refentment. The inhabitants very improperly and indecently boafted, they had received little injury from the above defultory attack; and held forth, that, which in truth was the effect of the vice-admiral's lenity, as a proof, and a very imperfect one, of his inability of inflicting any ferious punishment on them. It remains, however, in proof, established far beyond the reach of that national VOL. IV.

E

fophiftry