On the 13th of August 1844, Mr John Francis Tottenham, mate of HMS
_Hyacinth_, Commander Scott, performed a gallant and dashing exploit,
which obtained for him his promotion to the rank of lieutenant, and the
testimony of his commander to the coolness, decision, and gallantry
displayed by him on the occasion. When off Fish Bay, on the West Coast
of Africa, Mr Tottenham was sent in a four-oared gig, with one spare
hand, to communicate with the Portuguese governor. The weather became
thick, and he missed his port; but knowing that the _Hyacinth_ was
working along the coast, he anchored for the night, and pulled to the
southward. On the morning of the 13th he discovered a brig at anchor
without colours, and saw her slip and make sail, on which he gave chase.
Being to windward, and the breeze light, he was enabled to approach her
weather-beam, and fire a musket ahead, to induce her to heave to and
show her colours. This and a second were disregarded; but a port was
opened and a gun run out and brought to bear on the boat, which caused
the officer to pull into her wake, when part of the crew of the brig
commenced firing musketry, while the others got the gun on the poop, and
pointed it at the boat.
Mr Tottenham now commenced firing as fast as the spare hand could load
for him, being just able to keep way with the brig.
Four of the men on board the brig having been hit, her crew left the
gun, and after firing muskets for twenty minutes, finding that they were
unable to weather the land or tack without being boarded by the boat,
they ran the brig on shore. Here her crew, to the number of eighteen,
including three wounded men, abandoned her, leaving another mortally
wounded on board.
In the course of the afternoon the brig was perceived from the mast-head
of the _Hyacinth_, which stood in and anchored, and hove her off; when
she proved to be of 200 tons, fully equipped for conveying about 1000
slaves, with two guns of four pounds calibre loaded, a barrel of powder,
and a quantity of langridge-shot, a number of muskets, swords, and
bayonets on the deck. Almost every bullet expended in the gig was
traced to the gun-carriage, or its immediate vicinity on the poop.