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HISTORY OF TTIE INDIAN NAVY. 235

her lee-beam, to prevent her escape before the wind, which the}^
were prepared to attempt, having all her studding-sail booms
rigged out, and which, as we afterwards ascertained, w-as her
best point of sailing. The ' S3'bille' followed close in her wake,
and b}' eight o'clock we arrived within gunshot, when, finding
little or no chance in flight, her commander bore up, exchanged
a few broadsides with us, and surrendered. She was not
' LaConfiance,' as we had hoped, but ' rHirondelle,' M. le Memo,
pierced for twenty 12-pounders, with one hundred and sixty
men, her first cruise out, and had made but few captures. The
' Sybille' accompanied her into port, whilst we remained in
search of her consort, who, it was imagined, was still hovering
in that latitude."
Mr. Midshipman Macdonald was promoted to an acting-lieu-
tenancy on board the prize ' Alert,' and proceeded in her on a
demonstration against Macao, where the fleet of men-ofwar and
transports lay for some months inactive off Lintin, exposed to
bad weather. The 'Alert' then returned to Calcutta and
Bombay, and was soon after sold out of the Service. Lieutenant
Macdonald describes her as a beautiful craft, of extraordinary
sailing qualities, with heavy spars and a mainmast that plumbed
the taftVail.
He then joined the ' Antelope,' and after serving in her some
months in the Ked Sea and Persian Gulf, returned to Bombay,
whence he was despatched to Broach, in charge of two gunboats,
to serve in the ' Nerbudda,' under the orders of Sir John ^lurray.
" Soon afterwards," he says, " I was appointed senior lieutenant
of the ' Teignmouth,' one of the largest class brigs recently
introduced into the Service, and commanded by Captain \\ ales,
a gentleman of rare professional attainments. I continued with
him for a period of nearly two years, chiefly on my former
station oft" the Sandlieads, under the orders of Commodore
Hayes, in the Bombay' of thirty-eight guns, with a complement
'
of three hundred and forty as fine fellows as had ever been got
together, to whom the protection of the Sandlieads was confided."
In July, 1805, the ' Teignmouth,' was sent to England with the
treaty which brought to a close the Mahratta war and Lord
AVellesley's brilliant Indian administration. It was not until
the second week of November that sh(5 arrived at Plymoiith,
and, after a brief stay, returned with despatches for Sir Edward
Pellew, at Madras, and Sir Thomas Troubridge at Penaiig, tlu>
admirals respectively in command of the Indian and Eastern
Archipelago stations. Having delivered the despatches— that to
Sir T. Troubridge conferring on him the command at the Cape,
in proceeding to assume which that noble seaman perislied in
the 'Blenheim,' seventy-four guns, with all hands—the ' Teign-
mouth' sailed for Calcutta, and thence proceeded to Bombay,
convoying two ships, by what is called the Southern Passage.