acquitted of all blame respecting the loss of that vessel, it being
the opinion of the court, that 'Every exertion was made for the
preservation of the ship by the captain, officers, and crew upon that
trying occasion; and that, owing to the violence of the hurricane, the
loss of the ship was inevitable; and every subsequent attempt to get
her afloat proved ineffectual, in consequence of the damage she had
sustained in grounding when driven on shore, from the impossibility of
keeping her free by means of the pumps.'

Lord George Stuart entered the navy in the year 1793 as a midshipman
on board the Providence, in which ship he had the misfortune to be
wrecked in the year 1797.

He received his post rank in 1804, and was almost constantly employed
from that time until 1809, when he assumed the command of a light
squadron at the mouth of the Elbe.

Here he performed an important service in taking the town of
Gessendorf, situated on the banks of the Weser, and in driving from
the fortress a body of French troops who had made frequent predatory
and piratical excursions in the neighbourhood of Cuxhaven.

A few days after the defeat of the French, the gallant Duke of
Brunswick also arrived on the opposite banks of the Weser, after
having almost succeeded in effecting his retreat through the heart of
Germany. By the previous dispersion of the enemy and the destruction
of the fortress, he succeeded in crossing the river and escaping his
pursuers, who would otherwise, in all probability, have captured or
destroyed the whole of his detachment.