Joined the _Melpomene_--Sent up the Mediterranean--Tremendous Weather, with Thunder, Lightning, and Water-spouts--Ship loses her Rudder and Main-topmast--Proceed to Malta 57 CHAPTER VIII. Siege of Gaeta by the French--Boat Affairs--My Capture--Leghorn 62 CHAPTER IX. Malta--Dreadful Accident by the Explosion of a Magazine in the Town, on the Bermola side--Nearly get into a Scrape about Breaking Quarantine--Kind Answer of the gallant Admiral Sir Sidney Smith to the Complaint--Rejoin the _Melpomene_--Mutiny in Fribourg’s Regiment--Cruise in the Adriatic 73 CHAPTER X. North American Station, from 1808 to 1811--Bermuda--Anecdote--Death of Captain Conn 87 CHAPTER XI. Lisbon--Trip to the Army of Lord Wellington--Montemor Novo, O’Rodondo, Villa Vicosa, Elvas, Fort le Lippe 101 CHAPTER XII. Lisbon, Cintra, Mafra, etc., 1811, 1812--Second Trip to the Army--Taking of Badajoz 113 CHAPTER XIII. Cadiz, Minorca, Majorca, Alicant, Carthagena, Algiers, Oran, Altea Bay--Drive a French Privateer on Shore near Denia 124 CHAPTER XIV. Siege of the Col de Balaguer--A Reconnoitering Party--Raising of the Siege of Tarragona--Lieutenant-General Sir John and Lady Murray--Rear-Admiral Benjamin Hallowell--Viscount and Viscountess Mahon--Palermo, Veniros; Upset in a Boat--Valencia--Holland 136 CHAPTER XV. 1814--Sent to Bermuda--Operations in the Chesapeake--The River Patuxent--Expedition to Washington--Town of Rappahannock--River Rappahannock--Commodore Robert Barrie, etc. 150 CHAPTER XVI. Operations in South Carolina--Capture of Cumberland Island and the Fort of Point-à-Petre--An Affair with the American Riflemen in the Woods--An Abattis--Anecdotes of the 2nd West India Regiment--A Rattlesnake--Capture of the Town of St. Mary’s--Destruction of the Forts and Barracks--Nassau, New Providence--Compliment to the Royal Marines--Return Home 173 A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF EVENTS. CHAPTER I. First trip to sea--Shipmates--Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, Bart, K.B. My father[A] and uncle both served their king and country in the American war of independence; the former was with Lord Cornwallis’s army when it surrendered at York to the American forces under the command of General Washington (he was at that time an officer in the 6th Regiment of Foot); and the latter in the 4th Dragoons. Both were magistrates for the county of Buckinghamshire, and served the office of high sheriff for the same.