Saumarez carried dispatches to the West Indies in the fireship Tisiphone, a vessel being used chiefly for fast communications. Illness then removed HMS Russell's captain, giving Saumarez temporary command of a 74-gun ship during the Battle of the Saintes. He took Russell out of line to help secure the French flagship and earned Rodney's support. Peace nevertheless returned him to years of half pay and intermittent employment, during which he established Sunday-school work and appears to have wrestled with depression. The dispatch voyage unexpectedly placed a junior commander in a fleet battle, while the later half-pay years show that even conspicuous success did not guarantee continuous peacetime employment.
Notable Point · 9:22-12:04
A temporary command at the Saintes made Saumarez's name
Dispatch duty put the young commander aboard HMS Russell, where initiative at the Battle of the Saintes won Rodney's notice before peace returned him to half pay.