Waller and Thomas Colby, and midshipman Moore, of the Thunderer ; Lieutenant Daniel Harrington, Lieutenant of marines William Finmore, master's mates John Haines and William Smith, midshipman Charles Jay, and boatswains William Shorbridge of the Standard, and Mark Palmer of the Active ; Lieutenant John Langdon of the Endymion, and Lieutenant of marine artillery George E. Ballchild, of the Meteor.

When the British admiral, as already related, dropped anchor off Cape Janizary, he was joined by the Russian admiral with eight sail of the line. What followed we will give in the words of one who, naturally feeling a bias towards Sir John Duckworth, * never wilfully misses an opportunity of bepraising him. " Siniavin requested Sir John to return with him, and renew the attack or the negotiations ; but this was declined, and it was observed, perhaps with too much national vanity, that where a British squadron had failed no other was likely to succeed. " †

So much for the far-famed expedition to the Dardanells. Had the board of admiralty of that day been better acquainted with the character of Sir John Thomas Duckworth, they would have sought elsewhere for an officer of " ability and firmness " to carry their orders into execution. There was one, indeed, not five days' sail from the mouth of the Dardanells, whose ability and firmness had never been doubted, and whose local experience, and well-known influence with the Porte, eminently fitted him to be the conductor of such an enterprise. As soon as the Turks had decided to be hostile by firing at his ships, Rear-admiral Sir Sidney Smith would have considered himself as released from all further dependence upon the ambassador, and would have thought only of what was due to the honour of the British flag. On meeting the Turkish ships off Point Pesquies, he would have left two or three of his line-of-battle ships, and his frigates, to dispose of them, and, with the remainder of his squadron, would have dashed on to Constantinople. There, in defiance of currents and eddies, castles and granite balls, he would have laid his squadron close to the town, with his heaviest ship ready, at a moment's notice, to batter down the walls of the seraglio, if the terms which he had been instructed to demand were not strictly complied with. No one can doubt what would have been the result of a measure so prompt, so intimidating, and so practicable.

That there should have been no investigation of the causes that led to so palpable a defeat as the one we have just done relating, may appear extraordinary. An inquiry was undoubtedly in contemplation, but two or three circumstances conspired to prevent it from being prosecuted. On the 16th of May, 1808, Colonel Wood moved, in parliament, for the log of the Royal-George, with the view of grounding a charge against Sir John

*  See p. 202.

†  Brenton, vol. iv., p. 150.

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