The “Princess Royal,” whose officers and crew had fought so bravely in June, 1798, was the first Packet reported lost. Her gallant captain had been promoted to a command on the Holyhead station, which was both more lucrative and less arduous than the post in which he had won distinction. How far Captain Skinner might have succeeded in repulsing the “Courier” Privateer, to which the “Princess Royal” struck her colours on February 27th, being then on her homeward voyage from the Leeward Islands, it would be profitless to inquire. Ten days later the “Carteret,” homeward bound from Jamaica, hauled down her colours to the “Bellona,” a powerful Privateer of thirty guns and two hundred and fifty men. The “Jane,” the outward Packet of March 2nd for the West Indies, was captured, after a sharp engagement, on the 12th of that month; and though she was recaptured a few days later by an English cruiser, that event happened too late to save her mails. On May 4th the “Princess Charlotte” was captured; on May 6th the “Marquis of Kildare” succumbed; on May 11th the “Princess Amelia” was seized by a Bordeaux Privateer; and, after an interval of some months, the “Duke of Clarence” was sent into Teneriffe as the prize of a Spanish Privateer. Every one of the four last Packets was homeward bound. The coincidence was too obvious to be overlooked. Another fact about these captures must have arrested Lord Auckland’s attention. There was hardly any fighting. Why was there not? The capturing Privateers were, it is true, of overmastering force in many cases, if not in all. But the “Antelope,” the “Portland,” and the “Princess Royal” had successfully resisted superior forces; and when was it ever imputed to English sailors that they feared to defend themselves against an enemy because they could not bring into action man for man, or gun for gun? On this very Falmouth station, in past years, numberless actions had been fought as bravely as any in our annals; and these glories were by no means eclipsed for ever, but were in a few years to shine again with no less splendour than before, though Lord Auckland had not the satisfaction of foreseeing this.