Description
Letter Signed, as Captain of HM Sloop Scout, to Captain Robert Mitford, requesting a Survey of the Scout, on the appointment of a new Purser. 1 page 12 x 8 inches, in good clean condition. His Majesty’s Sloop Scout, Palmas Bay, 16 May 1811. Signed two weeks after a significant naval action. Rear-Admiral Alexander Renton Sharpe (1785-1860) had an adventurous career during the Napoleonic Wars, including the blockade of San Domingo (1803-04), the naval action near Corfu in March 1809, and the destruction of French store-ships in Sagone Bay, Corsica, in May 1811. From December 1812 to September 1818 Sharpe commanded HMS Hyacinth (24 guns) in the Mediterranean, North Sea, Channel and South America. On 1 May 1811, Sharpe in the Scout, along with HMS Pomone and Unite, destroyed the French store-ships, Giraffe and Nourice, (each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, and protected by a battery, a martello tower, and 200 regular troops) in Sagone Bay, Corsica.