ing of 1781,
when Admiral Hyde Parker hoisted his flag, and Mr. Saumarez now became
first lieutenant. He had been so zealously attentive to his duty, that
for several months he never went on shore, till at length he yielded
to the persuasion of his messmates. On arriving at Point Beach,
Portsmouth, he was accosted by a person in French, who demanded the
way to the admiral's house, and at the same time informed him that he
had just landed with the intelligence that Jersey had been attacked
by the French. Mr. Saumarez immediately went with the messenger to
the admiral, who despatched him as a courier to town, and he returned
in a remarkably short time with orders respecting it. In short, his
diligence and zeal were so manifest in every service on which he was
employed, that he soon gained the esteem and friendship of
Vice-admiral Hyde Parker, who, in June 1781, was appointed to the
command in the North Seas, and shifted his flag into the Fortitude,
Captain Robertson. The squadron in those seas, when under command of
Commodore Keith Stewart, was of inconsiderable strength, but had now
risen to a force of five ships of the line, besides one fifty, one
forty-four, and three frigates. Notwithstanding the desire of Lord
Sandwich, then first lord of the admiralty, to provide for his own
friends, the admiral succeeded in carrying with him, from the Victory,
Lieutenants Waghorne and Saumarez. On the 3rd of June they sailed from
Spithead to Sheerness, and, after refitting and touching at Leith,
sailed to bring home the Baltic convoy from Elsineur, about the
beginning of July.

The squadron, which might have been made much stronger, consisted of
the Fortitude, seventy-four, Captain Robertson; the Princess Amelia,
eighty, Captain Macartney; the Berwick, seventy-four, Captain
Fergusson; the Bienfaisant, sixty-four, Captain Braithwaite; the
Buffalo, sixty, Captain Truscott; the Preston, fifty, Captain Graeme;
the Dolphin, forty-four, Captain Blair; the Latona, thirty-eight, Sir
Hyde Parker (the admiral's son); the Belle Poule, thirty-six, Captain
Patton; the Cleopatra, thirty-two, Captain Murray; and the Surprise,
cutter, Lieutenant Rivett.

The Dutch by this time had declared war, and, being perfectly aware of
the force of Admiral Parker's squadron, sailed with a large convoy for
the Baltic, under command of Admiral Zoutman, whose squadron was one
ship of the line superior; it became, therefore, necessary to take the
Dolphin, of f