of this inestimable friend. On the
morning of the 15th of June 1780, the _Apollo_, cruising in the North
Sea, in company with some other ships, was ordered away by the senior
captain in pursuit of a cutter. She had almost come up with the chase,
when the _Stanislaus_ French frigate hove in sight, and the _Apollo_
left the cutter for a more equal opponent. She overtook and brought her
to action at half-past twelve, engaging under a press of sail, for the
enemy made every effort to escape to the neutral port of Ostend, which
was not far distant. In an hour after the action commenced, Captain
Pownoll was shot through the body. He said to his young friend, "Pellew,
I know you won't give his Majesty's ship away;" and immediately died in
his arms. Mr. Pellew continued the action for more than an hour longer,
and drove the enemy, beaten and dismasted, on shore; but he was
disappointed of his prize, which claimed protection from the neutral
port. The _Apollo_ had five killed, besides the captain, and twenty
wounded. A musket ball, which had struck Captain Pownoll in a former
action, was found after his death, lodged among the muscles of the
chest. The _Stanislaus_ was got off, and carried into Ostend, where,
being brought to sale, she was purchased by the British government, and
added to the navy.

None despond so readily as talented and sanguine young men, who are too
apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for
the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong
mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates
facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel
for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this
lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and
disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed
altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on
this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial
proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a
modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest
sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with
earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might
induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to
an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his
officers and men, are ble