“The Court, pursuant to an order from Edward Thornborough, Esq., Vice Admiral of the Blue, &c. dated 6th October, 1807, being in pursuance of an order from the Right Honourable Cuthbert Lord Collingwood, dated 29th of May last, repaired on board H.M.S. Spartan, and calling before the Court the commander and officers of the said ship, made a strict enquiry and investigation into the cause and circumstances of the Mary, Ordnance Transport Ship, parting company with the Spartan, when the Captain was charged with her safety, and taking into consideration the great value, and still greater importance of the vessel’s cargo. The Court is of opinion, from the examination and strict enquiry made of Captain Jahleel Brenton, the master, master’s mate, the boatswain and gunner, the only officers called, two of the Lieutenants being dead, and the other Lieutenant at the time in his bed, where he had been for some time; that every thing was done on the part of Captain Jahleel Brenton to insure the safety of the Mary Ordnance Transport; and the circumstance of the said Transport separating from the Spartan, was caused by the carelessness, negligence, and bad conduct of the Master of the Mary, Ordnance Transport Ship.

This affair being thus settled the Spartan resumed her station off Toulon, and soon after the fleet, under the Commander in chief, Lord Collingwood, arrived off that port. On Captain Brenton’s going on board the Ocean, his lordship received him very coolly, and said, “Sir, I am not at all satisfied with the report of the Captains who composed the Court of Enquiry into your conduct.” Captain Brenton replied, “and I, my Lord, am not satisfied with the nature of the tribunal, before which it took place, as I should have preferred a court martial; and I have to request you will be pleased to order one to assemble now for the purpose of trying me.” His Lordship replied, “No Sir, that is discretional with me, and enough has already been said upon the subject of both; but,” continued he, “I have another cause of complaint to bring against you. How came you, while senior officer at Malta, to permit a French Colonel, a prisoner of war, to return to France on his parole:” adding, “they did not treat you so when you were a prisoner.” Captain Brenton could not help being amused with the gravity of the charge, and the commentary upon it. He explained that the Colonel in question was taken by His Majesty’s sloop the Weazle, on his passage from the coast of Italy for Corfu in a small trabacolo; that the colonel’s wife, then on the point of being confined, and two very young children were with him; that on the Weazle firing to bring the vessel to, the lady was so much alarmed, that she was taken in labour, and after giving birth to an infant, died: that the three children were with the colonel at Malta, and that on a strong recommendation from Sir Alexander Ball, the civil commissioner, he, Captain Brenton, had taken upon himself to allow the colonel to go to Naples on parole, on condition that having placed his children in safety, he should return, unless exchanged. “Such were my reasons,” added Captain Brenton, “and in acting as I did, I thought I was only doing, what I am convinced your Lordship would have done, had you been there.” This could not draw from his Lordship any sign of approbation, although it was perfectly true; for his Lordship, with all his dryness of manner, and roughness of exterior, had a kind and feeling heart, and was a warm and sincere friend. His prejudices, it is true, were strong, and not easily subdued. He was notwithstanding accessible to conviction, and ready to acknowledge the efforts of those officers, whom he knew to have the good of the service at heart, however he might differ with them on some points.

As the editor feels that he has undertaken a narrative of trials and struggles, which, generally speaking, pass unobserved and unnoticed by the world, he does not deem it irrelevant to call the attention of his readers to the peculiar trials which were included in the first periods of this service in the mediterranean. Of Lord Collingwood it is hardly possible to say too much, whether he be considered as an officer or as a man; and the very circumstance, that differing as he did so widely from Lord Nelson in qualities and character, he succeeded in securing to so high a degree the regard and confidence of that distinguished commander, proves what the opinion must have been which Lord Nelson formed of his talents and courage. But the character of Lord Collingwood as an admiral was just that which must have led him to pass a severe judgment on this unfortunate affair with the Polacre. His courage was that of a firm well disciplined mind, which had been accustomed to view danger with indifference, when it came in the way of duty, but which saw no necessity to go out and brave it, when there was no adequate cause. His professional life had been chiefly passed in ships of the line, as forming parts of great fleets, and engaged in great movements; and he had therefore less sympathy with that spirit of adventurous daring, which suited the commander of a cruising frigate; and he was disposed to look with jealousy, if not disapprobation, at the risks which were continually run for the sake of captures of very little intrinsic value. At this period also, age had added something of severity to his judgment, and he was not likely to admit any extenuation of an error, which had cost the lives of so many valuable men, and which seemed to have been incurred by acting in opposition to an express order of his own.

The former disaster in Captain Brenton’s naval career might also have existed some prejudice against him in the mind of the Admiral. The unfortunate are seldom regarded as wholly clear of blame. The loss of the Minerve had been justified by the sentence of a Court Martial; but an old and cautious commander might have suspected that the commander of the frigate had been rash and indiscreet, if not absolutely in fault; and might have thought that this unhappy attack on the Polacre was part of the same conduct, another act of a daring, but inconsiderate and injudicious officer.

The Captain of the Spartan had therefore to support a prejudice existing against the Captain of the Minerve, and had much to bear and much to do, before he overcame the impression which this untoward attack had made on Lord Collingwood’s mind. That he did succeed in removing it; that he did succeed in satisfying his Admiral’s judgment, and did conciliate his good will and approbation, may be an encouragement to others, who under similar circumstances, think all is lost because a single error has been committed; and give up and cease to strive to please, because they feel that they have to work against a strong and perhaps unreasonable prejudice in a Commander.

The private memoranda afford no information as to the struggles which this afflicting circumstance must have occasioned; but the reader has already seen and known enough of the mind and feelings of the subject of this memoir, to doubt what must have been his resource. We cannot doubt, that the defeat he had sustained, and the sad and sorrowful tokens of it in the loss of his gallant people, sent him in tears and humiliation to the throne of grace; that he there mourned deeply and sincerely over the rashness of the attempt, and his own imprudence in permitting it; that he considered himself as guilty in some degree of the deaths of those, whom he had allowed to expose themselves; and that many and earnest were his supplications for mercy and forgiveness.