This action, fought by the “Montagu” in company with the “Lady Mary Pelham,” was one attended with circumstances which roused an extraordinary degree of heated feeling not only in Falmouth, but far beyond; and which involved the Post-Office in a controversy more troublesome and difficult than any other arising out of the Packet Service within the period dealt with in this work. The “Lady Mary Pelham” Packet was under orders to sail for Brazil, when her commander, Captain Stevens, received the news of his promotion to the Holyhead station. He was naturally anxious to take up his new appointment as soon as possible; and as the voyage on which his ship was ordered would occupy five months, he cast about for some person who would be willing to act as his substitute. The proper person to select would have been the master, Mr. Carter, an excellent officer, who served as acting first lieutenant of the “Thunderer” at Trafalgar, and had been present in nearly every important engagement of the war. A better choice could not have been made; but Mr. Carter had only recently entered the Packet Service, and Captain Stevens, seized with an unaccountable scruple, declined to entrust his property to an officer of whom he knew so little, save by repute. It was the practice of the Post-Office to defer as much as possible to the wishes of the commanders on the rare occasions when it was necessary to choose a substitute, and Mr. Saverland, the agent, felt that he could not urge that Mr. Carter should be appointed in opposition to the captain’s wish, especially as the latter had selected a person whom he preferred. This person, to whom the command of a Packet on an Atlantic voyage in time of war was to be entrusted, was not even a trained seaman. He was a retired lawyer, living at Falmouth, who occupied his leisure a good deal in yachting. Mr. Saverland demurred to this proposal. It was, however, six o’clock in the evening when the interview took place, and the “Lady Mary Pelham” was to sail on the following morning. There was not time to make any other arrangements; and Mr. Saverland, recollecting that at least the master of the vessel was a brave and experienced officer, gave way and signed the appointment—a piece of complaisance which he long regretted. The “Lady Mary Pelham” thus sailed from Falmouth on October 13th under the command of a retired lawyer, whose knowledge of the sea had been entirely gained upon a yacht. Six days later the “Montagu” sailed from Falmouth upon the same voyage, commanded by Captain John Arthur Norway, R.N. Of the crew of the “Montagu,” the reader has already heard. Their gallant conduct, earlier in the year, under Captain Hartney had gained them reputation. Their present commander was making his first voyage in the service of the Post-Office; and it will not be irrelevant to state very briefly what his career had been.