had been occasioned by one of the lower-deck guns having been fired off by Captain Grégoire, late commander of the Alexander, who had laid a plot with the prisoners to rise and take the Mediator: this was the signal agreed upon to execute their design; but by the timely and indefatigable exertions of the officers, who immediately placed additional sentinels over the hatchways, and secured them by capstanbars, this desperate attempt was suppressed without bloodshed. Upon examination, some powder and a pistol were found in Grégoire's cot, which led to prove that he was the principal person concerned. Captain Luttrell no longer considered him entitled to his parole; he was, therefore, with some others, his accomplices, confined in irons during the remainder of the passage to England. Mr. Seymour served in the Mediator till the beginning of 1783, when he joined the Ganges, 74. This was the last ship that Captain Luttrell ever commanded, he being cut off by consumption; but young Seymour served in various vessels till November, 1790, when he obtained a Lieutenant's commission, after exactly ten years of employment. He was then appointed to the Magnificent, a fine third-rate, commanded by Captain Onslow, which ship, however, was paid off in the autumn of 1791, when the Russian rupture had subsided. After the breaking out of hostilities with the French republic, Lieutenant Seymour was commissioned to the Marlborough, 74, Captain the Honourable G. C. Berkeley; and was with Lord Howe when he fell in with Vanstabel's fleet in the Bay, in November, 1793. On the memorable 1st of June, 1794, the Marlborough acted a very distinguished part; for she engaged the Impétueux, of 78 guns, and Mucius, 74, and all the three ships were completely dismasted, with a dreadful carnage. At this moment the Montagne, of 120 guns, came down under her stern, and poured a raking broadside of round, grape, and langridge into the Marlborough, which caused a serious destruction. Besides losing her masts in this unequal contest, her killed and wounded amounted to 137, among latter of whom was Lieutenant Seymour, who had his left arm shot off. The Impétueux was found to have sustained a loss of 100 killed and 75 wounded, but the Mucius effected her escape, so that the other results of the Marlborough's fire are unknown. Shortly after this glorious victory Lieutenant Seymour was promoted to the rank of Commander; and in the summer of 1796 succeeded Captain Amherst Morris in the command of the Spitfire, a sloop of war of 16 guns. In this ship he cruised in the Channel, and on the coast of France, till the 11th of August, 1800, when he was placed on the list of Post Captains, on a solicitation which he made to Lord Spencer. This home station was a service of greater hardship than profit, yet he managed to pick up a valuable French ship, the Allégrée, laden with ammunition and other warlike stores; a fine transport armed with 14 guns; and the following pri Captain Seymour succeeded the present Sir T. B. Martin in the command of the Fisguard frigate, under the orders of Admiral Cornwallis, in 1801; but the peace of Amiens followed shortly after, when he retired to shore life. On the recommencement of hostilities he solicited employment, but some time elapsed before he was attended to; and he acted as captain in six successive ships before he obtained one for himself. At length his perseverance was rewarded by Lord Barham, in 1806, with the Amethyst, a fine 36-gun frigate, armed with 18 pounders on her main-deck; and of this frigate he proved himself a right worthy captain. On the evening of the 10th of November, 1808, while cruising off Ile Grois, he fell in with the 40-gun French frigate Thetis, and brought her to action. A close, furious, and sanguinary contest ensued, which continued for two hours and a half, part of which time the ships were locked together by the Amethyst's bower anchor entering the foremost port of the Frenchman, and there holding fast. The Thetis fought well, nor did she surrender till every hope had fled; and when she was boarded there was but one Frenchman left on her quarter-deck. Both frigates were terribly cut up: of the Amethyst's crew of 261 men and boys, 19 were killed and 51 wounded; and of the 436 of which the Frenchman's company consisted, 135 were killed and 102 wounded. The result of this spirited fight gave great satisfaction: on his return, Captain Seymour received a naval gold medal from the King; a piece of plate, valued at 100 guineas, from the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd's; and the freedom of the cities of Limerick and Cork, in suitable boxes, "for his very great gallantry and ability in the capture of the Thetis." On the 6th of April, 1809, being still in the same ship, Captain Seymour captured the French frigate Niemen, of 40 guns and 319 men, quite new, and only two days from Verdon Road. The chase began at 11 A.M.; the Emerald was in company, but in the evening she was lost sight of, and nothing had been gained on the enemy. After dark our officer so shaped his course as again to fall in with the object of his pursuit about half-past nine o'clock; in two hours afterwards an exchange of shots commenced, and lasted till 1 A.M., when the Amethyst coming fairly alongside, a determined action was sustained till three, when the enemy's fire slackened, and his main and mizen masts fell over the side. At this moment the Arethusa came up, and fired seven or eight guns, on which the Frenchman, who was already silenced and defenceless, surrendered, having had 47 men killed and 73 wounded, while her conqueror had eight killed and 37 wounded. It should also be observed, that the Amethyst had two lieutenants and 37 men absent in prizes at the time. For thus gallantly adding a second large frigate to the Royal Navy, the Captain was, in the ensuing month, rewarded with a baronetcy. Sir Michael was next employed with the grand expedition against Walcheren; and afterwards appointed successively to the command of his prize, the Niemen, and the Hannibal, of 74 guns, in which last ship he was so fortunate as to take another 40-gun French frigate, the Sultane. In January, 1815, he was nominated a Knight Commander of the Bath, and was subsequently appointed to a royal yacht. He afterwards became the Commissioner of Portsmouth Dock-yard; but on the abolition of that office by the late Administration assumed his place on the Rear-Admirals' list, and was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the South American station, taking one of his sons as his Flag Lieutenant. He was in a bad state of health when he left this country, and his lady took her farewell of him at Portsmouth, with forebodings which were too fatally verified. The death of Sir Michael occasioned a great sensation at Rio. He was interred in the cemetery of Gamboa, on the 15th of July, in the evening, with military honours, attended by all the English, French, American, and Portuguese officers, the public functionaries, and detachments of seamen and marines. The ships of each nation lowered their colours half-mast, minute guns were fired, and a vast concourse of people testified every possible respect for the lamented Admiral. Sir Michael Seymour married, in 1797, Jane, third daughter of Captain James Hawker, R.N. and sister to Dorothea, wife of Sir William Knighton, Bart. and G.C.H. by whom he had issue five sons and three daughters: 1. Jane Ward; 2. the Rev. Sir John Hobart Seymour, who has succeeded to the baronetcy, he is a Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty, a Prebendary of Gloucester and Lincoln, and Vicar of Horley with Hornton, Oxfordshire; 3. James; 4. Michael, a PostCaptain R.N. and in command of the Challenger, on his father's station, he married, June 22. 1829, his cousin |