Volume V

OF SIR JOHN LOCKHART ROSS, BART.' IILockbart is said to have produced in the enemy before thethose connectedCessation of hostilities, particularly amongwith private ships o/ war.Nor shall we pass over thefollowing circumstance, whichis recorded on the most respectable authority, and indubitablyproves the terrific influence of his professional character.A privateer, belonging, as we understand, to Bristol,called the King George, and commanded by a Mr. Read,having fallen in with an enemy's ship of far superior forceduring the night, and finding that the exigencies of hersituation demanded the most prompt and vigorous exertionsto preserve her from capture;the commander is related tohave ran with great spirit alongside, and hailing the enemy,commanded her to strike to the Tartar, Captain Lockhart,and was instantly obeyed.In short, the services which this admirable Officer performedin his small ship are still, as it were, proverbial inthe Navy, and continue to incite our youngseamen toemulate that conduct which is at once the boast and safeguardof their country.So active was Captain Lockhart in the protection of ourown trade, and successful in the annoyance and destructionof that of the enemy, that the merchants of London andBristol, sensible of the important benefits more immediatelyderived to them from his services, presented him withvaluable pieces of plate, in token of their private gratitudeand public esteem.The grateful present of the merchants of London consistedof a cup and salver. The former of them was chasedand ^embossed with the privateers he had taken, and his ownship and arms; and on the latter, which was twenty-sixinches diameter, was the following inscription:" The giftof the two public companies, the underwriters and merchantsof the city of London, to Captain John Lockhart, Commanderof the Tartar, for his signal service in supportingthe trade, by distressing the French privateers, in the yearone thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven."