ROYAL NAVY. Four autograph letters signed from Lieutenant Jo...

Estimate

£70 - £90

ROYAL NAVY. Four autograph letters signed from Lieutenant John Campbell onboard HMS Daring, Plymouth Sands, 1810, to his brother, Alexander Campbell, at the Excise Office in London. Content concerns Cambell’s promotion in the navy and his employment, orders to join Admiral Campbell, his health, ship repairs, and more. 12pp, 9 x 7, folded, address panels to covers. Excerpts include: 30TH September 1810 “All is hurry now in consequence of the escape of the Cherburgh ships, and although the Daring wants decking it is probable that I shall be ordered in a very few days with dispatches to Lisbon or Madeira. 2nd October 1810 “I have this moment received an order from the Admiralty in answer to my letter … to proceed to the Dannes and put myself under the order of Admiral Campbell” HMS Daring was a 12-gun brig built in 1804. In April 1810, HMS Daring was in company with HMS Admire during the capture of the Aimable Betsie. By later that year, she was under the command of Lieutenant John Campbell, who appears to have been otherwise suffering from ill-health and stationed in command of the vessel during her re-fit. “I have now got the Daring in a very high order & she is pronounced to be a compleat Man of War.” Lieutenant William R. Pascoe was later forced to run the gun-brig ashore on Tamara (one of the Loss Islands, off Guinea) and burn her on 27th January 1813 when he was threatened by two French frigates.