as a seaman, under the auspices of the late Commodore Thompson, who acted the part of father, instructor, and protector to his boyish years. As the eléve of such an officer, we are by no means surprised at the figure he has since made.

We have reason to believe that he was first employed on the home station; and that, on the 13th of June, 1778, in the defeat of Langara's squadron, he was in the Hyæna, a repeating frigate. Mr. Popham remained with Commodore Thompson until the beginning of 1782, when the Hyæna was paid off.

Commodore Thompson being appointed to command the squadron stationed on the coast of Africa, Mr. Popham, who was about the same period promoted to the rank of lieutenant, accompanied him thither as a maritime surveyor. On his patron's death, which took place on board the Grampus, January 17th, 1783, Lieutenant Popham returned to England.

About this period Lord Howe, who presided at the Admiralty, excited lieutenants in the navy to engage in maritime adventures, to acquire professional experience; and Lieutenant Popham, encouraged by his friends, sailed with other naval contemporaries for India, having obtained permission from the Lords of the Admiralty, a precaution by which his rank was preserved, but not his half-pay.

Upon his arrival at Bengal, he was appointed, at the special recommendation of Lord Cornwallis, one of a committee, sent in 1788, to survey New Harbour, in the river Hoogly, which had been represented as a proper place for a dock-yard. Having executed this service in a manner satisfactory to the government, Lieutenant Popham returned to Europe.

In 1791, we find him commanding a country ship, in India; in which, being bound from Bengal to Bombay, during a very tempestuous monsoon, he was obliged to bear up for the Straits of Malacca, and anchor at Pulo Penang, now called Prince of Wales' Island. This event led to the discovery and survey of the southern passage, or outlet, which induced him to think that the great desideratum of a marine yard might be

effectually obtained there. A chart was accordingly engraved and published, with the leave of the government, and at the sole expence of a public-spirited individual, (Anthony Lambert, Esq.) then sheriff of Calcutta, impelled by no other view than the good of the service.

Lieutenant Popham obtained a letter of thanks from the government, for a measure, which, it was said, "was likely to prove beneficial to the commerce of the Company, by removing the objections which precluded the commanders of their ships from touching at Prince of Wales' Island late in the season, when the strong winds from the north and north-west occasioned a delay of several days in working round the north end of the island to go to the southward; and it will also," it was added, " encourage ships to touch at the island on their return from China, which few were able to accomplish before the southern channel was ascertained.”

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The "letter of thanks" was not the only compensation which Lieutenant Popham received for this service; as a piece of plate was at the same time presented him in the name of the Governor-general in council, with a suitable inscription. The Court of Directors, on receiving the intelligence, also recommended him in very strong terms to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; which, amongst other instances, evinced the good effects of Lord Howe's suggestion.

Lieutenant Popham's survey of the South Channel appears to have afforded him employment for some time. The company's ship, the Lord Macartney, as well as the Hampshire, the Bridgewater, and the Carron, the last of which was piloted by the Discoverer, were all enabled to save considerable time through his means; and several commanders, viz. the Captains Lawrie, Reid, and M'Intosh, in a letter dated from Canton, November 13. 1792, signified their wish to present him with a piece of plate in their own names, and those of others sailing from Bombay, being highly sensible of the advantage they might derive from the southern channel leading from Prince of Wales' Island to sea, which you have now fully established,' say they, by carrying through all the honourable company's

ships of this season, and most of them with a working wind.' Beacons were first placed for the direction of mariners; and buoys, nine feet by six, afterwards stationed for this purpose.

Hitherto Lieutenant Popham seems to have been extremely fortunate. He had acted, for some years, as a free trader, in the East, when he was appointed to the command of the Etrusco, an Imperial East Indiaman. This vessel, on returning from Bengal to Ostend, was seized and made prize of by an English frigate *, a considerable portion of the property on board being supposed to belong to British subjects. Her commander, Lieutenant Popham, was a considerable loser upon this occasion; but, perhaps, to an event so apparently unfortunate, is he indebted for his subsequent advancement and success in the regular service of his country.

With a mind ever active, and alive to the interests of Britain, it was impossible for Mr. Popham to regard with indifference the horrors of the French revolution, which were then displaying themselves in Holland and Flanders. In the early part of the war he was attached, with a party of seamen under his orders, to the army commanded by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, in Flanders and Holland, where he greatly distinguished himself on many and various services, and gave the first proof of what may be expected from naval officers of science, even on shore. It was a new kind of service to a seaman, and he had often to create the means of acting, yet he evinced a promptitude of decision, and rapidity of execution, on trying occasions, that gained him great applause from the veterans of the army, and by which he acquired the esteem and patronage of the Prince under whom he served: for his gallant conduct at this period, he was, by the recommendation of his Royal Highness and the General Officers, promoted to the rank of Post Captain.

The first service on which Mr. Popham was employed, under the Duke of York, was to assist in the defence of Nieuport, against the French. At that time he conceived the idea

* Captain Mark Robinson.

of arming the fishermen of Flanders in defence of their own towns; and, having received orders for that purpose from his Royal Highness the Duke of York, through Sir James Murxay Pulteney, then Adjutant-General, he formed a body of them into a regular corps for the defence of Nieuport. He was entrusted with the command of them himself; and to their utility, Sir Charles (now Earl) Grey, and other officers, bore the most ample testimony.

In the month of November 1794, the late General Pichegru having captured Sluys, Crevecœur, Venloo, and Maestricht, advanced with a powerful army, and laid siege to Nimeguen. Here he experienced considerable resistance; for this city was not only defended by a numerous garrison, but the Duke of York was enabled at any time to throw in supplies from his camp at Arnheim. As it appeared evident that the place could not be taken until all intercourse with the English troops was cut off, two strong batteries were immediately erected on the right and left of the line of defence, and these were so effectually served by the enemy's artillerists, that they at length destroyed one of the boats that supported the bridge of communication. In consequence of this, the place must have surrendered immediately had it not been for the exertions of Lieutenant Popham, who, having hastened thither from Ostend, immediately repaired the damage, and thus for a while protracted the fate of the town.

It was, we believe, for this particular service, that on the 4th of April 1795, Mr. Popham was promoted to the rank of Post Captain.

In the course of the same year we find him acting in the capacity of naval agent for the English army on the continent; and it was under his immediate inspection that the British troops, which had been serving in Holland, were embarked, and escorted to England by the Dædalus and Amphion frigates.

Captain Popham's attention seems to have been closely occupied on the possibility of an invasion of this country by the French, and on the means of successfully resisting such an

attempt. His sentiments on these subjects having been detailed, in letters to officers and men of considerable rank, his plan for organizing a corps of sea fencibles was considered; and, having been approved by government, was carried into effect in the spring of 1798. It will be recollected that, agreeably to the regulations adopted, the English coast was divided into districts, over each of which a Post Captain, with a certain number of commanders and lieutenants, was appointed. The men of whom the sea fencibles were composed, received protections from the impress, on the conditions, that, in garrisons and land batteries, they should learn to exercise the great guns; and that, where those did not exist, they should be exercised in the use of the pike, so as to be able to oppose an invading enemy, either afloat or on shore. Captain Popham, as a reward for his industry and attention, was appointed to command that company of the fencibles which occupied the district from Beachy Head to Deal inclusive; an appointment which he held till the year 1800.

We must now revert to the early part of 1798; at which period government, having received intelligence that the enemy had collected a great number of gun-boats, and transport schuyts, at Flushing, with the view of sending them to Dunkirk and Ostend, by the Bruges canal, formed a plan for destroying the basin, gates, and sluices. From his intimate acquaintance with the topography of maritime Flanders, where he had for some time resided, and from his well-established reputation for enterprise, Captain Popham was fixed upon for conducting the expedition. Accordingly, a squadron, of which Captain Popham had the command, was ordered to assemble at Margate, and there to take on board a body of about 2000 troops, under the orders of Major-General Coote.

This flotilla sailed from the coast of Kent on the 14th of May, but did not appear off Ostend until the morning of the 19th, at which time it cast anchor. The wind soon after shifted to the west, and became so boisterous that Captain Popham and the General entered into a consultation upon the