I am, sir, with great respect, Your obedient humble servant, SPENCER.
To Captain Saumarez, H.M.S. Crescent. Admiralty, December 24th, 1794.
I beg to avail myself of the return of the fleet into port, to remind your lordship of the application I had the honour to make to be appointed to a line-of-battle ship; and as the Orion is likely soon to become vacant, I shall be greatly obliged to your lordship to have the goodness to give me the command of her, and at the same time to permit me to take my officers and ship's company.
I have the honour to be, my lord, Your lordship's most obedient and most humble servant,
JAMES SAUMAREZ. Right Honourable Earl Spencer.
I beg to express my sincere acknowledgments to your lordship for having been pleased to appoint me to the command of the Orion. I shall be further obliged to your lordship to permit the commissioned and warrant officers of the Crescent to be removed to her, with the ship's company.
I have the honour to be, &c. &c. JAMES SAUMAREZ.
Sir James remained with the Channel fleet until the 13th of March, when, at his own request, he was removed into his Majesty's ship Orion. The whole crew of the Crescent volunteered to follow him, and his application for them was in part complied with; as also for Lieutenants Otter and Rye, and some of the warrant and petty officers, who were consequently turned over to that ship, which was fitting at Portsmouth. As it would be a considerable time before she could be refitted so as to be ready for sea, Captain Saumarez was, at the special application of the admiral, Lord Hugh Seymour, appointed (pro tempore) to the Marlborough of seventy-four guns, and attached to a detachment of the grand fleet under the Honourable W. Waldegrave, (afterwards Lord Radstock,) cruising between Ushant and Cape Finisterre. His appointment was dated 19th March 1795. On the 8th of April he became senior officer of the detached squadron off the Western Isles, under the orders of Lord Bridport. He returned on the 8th of June to take command of his own ship, the Orion, which had been fitted out by Captain Donnelly, and was now ready to receive orders for sea. He was now again placed under the orders of his lordship, the commander-in-chief of the Channel fleet, and sailed on the 12th of June, two days after his arrival. On the 22nd, the squadron fell in with the enemy off L'Orient at daylight, at which time the Orion was one of the sternmost ships when the signal was made to chase. Her captain soon gave a manifest proof of his zeal and abilities on this occasion. She was, before morning of the 23rd, the headmost ship of the fleet; and, before six o'clock, was the first which actually began the action with one of the enemy's largest ships.