Southampton weighed, and, in order to delude the
French into the supposition that the ship was either a neutral or a
French frigate, hauled up under easy sail close to the batteries at the
north-east of Porquerol. The stratagem succeeded; for before the enemy
were aware of the approach of the Southampton, the ship was alongside
of the French cruizer. Captain Macnamara cautioned her commander not to
make a fruitless resistance; but he replied by snapping his pistol, and
pouring in a broadside. In a moment, the English boarded, led on by
Lieutenant Lydiard, with an impetuosity that nothing could withstand.
After ten minutes' spirited resistance on the part of the French
captain and a hundred of his men under arms, the 'Utile' surrendered,
but not before the death of her gallant commander, who fell at the
beginning of the onset.

Lydiard was instantly promoted, and appointed to the command of the
ship he had so gallantly captured. In the year 1801, he was advanced
to the rank of post-captain, and though frequently soliciting
employment did not succeed in obtaining a command until 1805, when he
was appointed to the Anson.

These pages will not admit of our recounting the many instances in
which this officer's gallantry was conspicuous. Before concluding,
however, we cannot refrain from laying before our readers the
following account of the last enterprise in which Captain Lydiard was
engaged, and which is related by his biographer in _The Naval
Chronicle_.[11]

'No sooner had the Anson been refitted, than she was again selected,
with three other frigates, under the command of Captain Brisbane (as
Commodore), of the Arethusa, to reconnoitre, and, if possible, to
sound the minds of the inhabitants of Curacoa upon the suggestion of
an alliance with this country; but the gallant Brisbane, and his
equally gallant partner in this expedition, soon formed a plan for
curtailing this mode of proceeding, and determined, at all risks, by a
_coup de main_, either to capture the island, or to perish in the
attempt.

'With this resolution, having arranged their plan of attack, they
proceeded in their course for the island, and they reached the
entrance of the harbour just at the dawn of day, on the 1st of
January, 1807.

'In order to inform the reader, who may not be acquainted with the
amazing strength of Curacoa on the sea face, we will give some account
of the difficulties which they had to contend with; and, at the same
time,