BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF SIR JOHN COLPOYS, K. B. ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE SQUADRON

Summary

“Wherever tide can waft, or wind can blow,

Our gallant Navy triumphs o'er the foe:

His ports block'd up, his fleets in ruin hurl'd,

Prove Britain mistress of the watery world!

Though trembling nations prostrate round her fall,

Crush'd by the power of wide destroying Gaul;

Though Europe suffers, to her foul disgrace,

This second inroad of the Vandal race;

Still our triumphant Trident rules the sea,

And Britons are, and ever will be, free.”

Fitzgerald.

In the progress of our biographical labours, though sedulously anxious to render all possible justice to the professional merit of individuals, it too frequently happens, that through the scantiness of materials, and the difficulty of obtaining correct information, our ardent wishes are defeated. Instead of presenting a finished portrait, with the nice distinctions of light and shade, we are frequently compelled to offer what is little better than a mere outline.

With such an outline of the professional career of that meritorious and respected Officer, Sir John Colpoys, must we now endeavour to content ourselves; assuring our readers, however, that if, at any future period, we should possess the means of correctly filling up so desirable a piece, we shall with pleasure resume the task.