BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 15
At what other engagements our hero of the “Lawnmarket” was present,
during the continuance of hostilities prior to the peace of 1801, is uncertain;
but that he was actively employed may be inferred from the various sums of
prize-money which he remitted to his family.
?Vhen the treaty of Amiens was concluded, Yetts returned to Edinburgh ;
and with the money he had accumulated during his sea-adventures, made another
effort to settle down in respectable citizenship. With this view he opened a
small spirit shop at the head of Turk’s Close; but the speculation proved
unsuccessful. The narration of “ hk hair-breadth ’scapes ” no doubt brought
many loungers about his shop ; and it is possible that, with prudence, he might
have done pretty well. The reverse was the case; and the cLdevant barber
once more put to sea. In 1806 he was on board the Blanche frigate, which,
in company with other two-the Phabe and the Thames-were sent to the North
Seas, for the protection of the Greenland fisheries. On the 30th of July the
Blanche fell in with the Guewiere French frigate off Faro, when, after a smart
action of forty-five minutes, the latter surrendered. The Guerriere being one of
the largest class of frigates, was much superior to the Blanche. Yetts escaped
without a wound ; and a letter written by him to a friend-the substance of
which appeared in the Edinburgh Advertiser at the time-gave the first intelligence
of the capture.
We come now to the last scene in the chequered life of the hapless tonsor.
The following year, 180’7, the Blanche frigate having been despatched to the
coast of France with sealed instructions, she struck upon a rock on the night
of the 5th of March, within about thirty miles of Brest, and went to pieces in the
course of a few hours. Forty-five persons were lost,, among whom waa poor
Yetts. According to the information of one of his shipmates, who communicated
the intelligence of his death, he might easily have escaped from the
wreck; His companions repeatedly urged him to follow in their boat, but he
would not leave the ship, and doggedly sat down upon a stone in the galley to
await his fate, and went down with her. This strange indifference to life was
attributed to an attachment which he had formed for a Welsh lad on board,
whom he had taught to read, and who had been washed overboard when the
vessel struck.
The survivors were taken to Brest, where they were well treated ; and were
subsequently marched off to Verdun as prisoners of war.
The principal figures in the Coach are those of MRS. DTJNN, of the “ Hotel;”
MISS SIBBYH ~TON(f ormerly described); and MRS. PENNYwh, ose husband,
Mr. John Penny, was a writer in Forrester’s Wynd, and clerk to “ Johnnie
Bnchan,” Writer to the Signet. Mrs. Dunn occupies the centre position-Mra
Penny is seated above-and, to the left, will easily be distinguished the portly
figure of Sibby Hutton. The other ladies are intended for MRS. GRIEVE ( d e
of the Lord Provost), fih.9. WRIGm, etc.