Return To The Mediterranean
In 1809, Frederick Marryat, who would go on to became a famous author, joined Centaur as a midshipman. He continued to serve under Hood in the Mediterranean.
Capt. John Chambers White brought Hibernia to Port Mahon to be Hood's flagship. White then took command of Centaur.
Centaur participated in the defence of Tarragona when French forces under Marshal Suchet besieged the city from May 1811. Captains Codrington, White, and Adam spent most nights in their gigs carrying out operations under cover of darkness to evacuate women, children and wounded. On 21 June the French broke in. They then reportedly massacred several thousand men, women and children and took many prisoners before setting fire to the city. The boats of the squadron had only been able to rescue some five or six hundred of the inhabitants. On 28 June Centaur's launch engaged the French on a beach at Tarragona, losing two men killed and three wounded. Centaur returned to Plymouth in October 1813.
Read more about this topic: HMS Centaur (1797)
Famous quotes containing the words return to the, return to and/or return:
“Yet I shall never return to the past, that attic.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Lise: Look, monsieur, I don’t know what type of girl you think I am, but I’m not. And now I would like to return to my friends.
Jerry: I thought you were bored with them. You sure looked it.
Lise: You should see me now.
Jerry: Ouch.”
—Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)
“I find very reasonable the Celtic belief that the souls of our dearly departed are trapped in some inferior being, in an animal, a plant, an inanimate object, indeed lost to us until the day, which for some never arrives, when we find that we pass near the tree, or come to possess the object which is their prison. Then they quiver, call us, and as soon as we have recognized them, the spell is broken. Freed by us, they have vanquished death and return to live with us.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)