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234 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
beariii,£^ up also at the same moment, discharged a volley of
grape and musketry into the ' Mornington,' by which the running
gear was cut up, and one seaman mortally wounded. Having
his ship now before the wind, Captain Frost's chief aim was to
dismantle the enemy aloft, lest by any possibility she might
cross him on either tack, and once more getting to windward,
elude capture. In this endeavour he, happily, succeeded, and,
after an exciting pursuit of three hours, during which the enemy
threw overboard boats, guns, spars, and even the caboose, to
facilitate their escape, the ' Mornington' came alongside again,
when the second captain hailed from the companion-ladder
begging her to cease firing, as they had surrendered ; in the act
of speaking a shot struck the trumpet from his hand, carrying
with it a great portion of the poor fellow's nose. As all hands
had fled below from this shower of shot, there was no one on
deck to let run the throat and peak halyards, but in a few
minutes this w^as done, and the French ship was a prize to the
' Mornington.' On taking possession she was found to be greatly
crippled, and her sails so cut, that she could not be brought to
the wind. As was expected, she proved to be ' I'Eugc'nie,'
carrying eighteen guns and one hundred and eighteen men,
and had made only one prize since the ' Mornington' had last
met her.
Nothing could exceed the joy and satisfaction expressed by
the merchants and underwriters of Calcutta, at her capture, and
the Government purchased her into the service, named her
the ' Alert,' and gave the command to Lieutenant Hamilton,
then senior lieutenant of the ' Mornington.'
About the beginning of 1802, before tidings of the cessation
of hostilities ordered on the preceding i2th of October, prepa-
ratory to the conclusion of the peace of Amiens, reached India,
the Government were apprized of a frigate and corvette Avatering
at one of the Mergui islands, upon which Captain Frost was
directed to proceed oif Cape Negrais, where he joined H.M S.
' Sybille,' Captain (afterwards Sir) Charles Adam, cruising
between the island of Cheduba and that promontory. Captain
Macdonald says : — "After a fruitless search in the quarter the
enemy were reported, we turned the ship's head over more to
Cape Negrais, and early on the following morning found ourselves
in company with a stranger. She was discovered about the
end of the middle watch, laying to, and must have sighted us
about the same time, for as we wore to speak her, she got
instantly under a cloud of canvas, and when the day broke we
were in full chase of this long, low, black, and roguish-looking
ship, whose masts hanging angularly over her stern, plainly
denoted her nation and calling. The land breeze continuing to
freshen as the sun mounted upwards, gave us a decided
superiority over her, and enabled Captain Frost, by hanging on