In the Bay of Biscay the Victorious encountered such a violent gale, that it was kept with the utmost difficulty from foundering all that could be done was to make for the Tagus, where she was run on shore and broken up, while her commander and crew returned in two vessels that were hired at Lisbon for the purpose. After this disaster, Captain Malcolm had the command of several ships successively in the Mediterranean, until, in 1805, he was appointed to the Donegal, a third-rate, where he continued for six years. His ship formed part of the fleet under Nelson employed in the pursuit of the combined French and Spanish squadron to the West Indies; and at its termination he was sent to reinforce the ships under Collingwood off Cadiz. As the Donegal had been long at sea, it was necessary to refit her; and for this purpose she was carried to Gibraltar, where she lay at anchor in the mole almost wholly dismantled. This was on the 17th of October, only four days before the victory of Trafalgar. While thus reduced to inactivity, tidings reached Captain Malcolm on the 20th, that the combined fleet were in the act of leaving Cadiz, and knowing that when Nelson was afloat and on the watch a light would follow, he strained every nerve to get the Donegal ready for action. He was so successful that before night his ship was out at sea; and on the 23d, he joined Collingwood in time to capture the El Rayo, a large Spanish three-decker, which had issued with Gravina’s division from the port in which they had taken shelter, to attempt the recovery of the disabled prizes. Malcolm continued on this station till near the end of 1805, under the command of Admiral Sir John Duckworth, whom he accompanied in pursuit of a French squadron that had left port for the West Indies. In the naval engagement that ensued off St. Domingo on the 6th of February, 1806, the Donegal took an ample share, and at the close was intrusted with the charge of the prizes, which were safely conveyed to Port Royal, Jamaica, and afterwards to England. On returning home Captain Malcolm, for his gallant conduct in the action, received, with his brother-commanders, the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, and was honoured with a gold medal; he was also presented with a silver vase of one hundred pounds value, by the committee of the Patriotic Fund.

It often happens that services of the highest importance, even in warfare itself, are neither conducted with the roar of cannons, nor signalized with the fanfare of trumpets; and yet their right performance demands not only the highest amount of skill, but also of devoted patriotism. Such was the next duty in which Captain Malcolm was employed in the summer of 1808; it was to escort the army of Sir Arthur Wellesley from Cork to Portugal, and superintend its debarkation. And how strangely the veriest nautical flaw upon this momentous occasion might have altered the whole course of European history! With Caesar and his fortunes once more committed to his care, Captain Malcolm conveyed the officers to their destination in Mondego Bay, and superintended the landing of the troops, which was accomplished with the utmost precision and success, notwithstanding the obstacles of a heavy surf. This critical task being happily accomplished, he returned to England, where an affair of some importance to himself was his next transaction. This was his marriage to Clementina, eldest daughter of the Hon. William Fullerton Elphinstone, and niece of Admiral Lord Keith, which occurred on the 18th of January, 1809. Brief, however, was his enjoyment of a new and happy home on shore; for in little more than two months after, we find him afloat, and employed under Lord Gambier in the successful attack upon the French ships in Aix Roads. After this event, he was invested with the command of a squadron sent out on a cruise; and subsequently to superintend the blockade of Cherbourg, where he captured a number of privateers, and shut up others within the shelter of their land batteries. Little afterwards occurred till 1812, when he was appointed Captain of the Channel fleet; and in the year following raised to the rank of rear-admiral. In this capacity he was employed to convey a body of troops under General Ross to North America, and afterwards to assist Sir Alexander Cochrane in the conveyance and subsequent return of our forces employed against Washington and New Orleans. As great deeds and important services had accumulated to an immense amount during this stirring period, it was found necessary, at the commencement of 1815, to extend the order of the Bath into three classes; and on this occasion Admiral Malcolm was not forgot. He was created a knight-commander; and it was an unwonted spectacle to see three brothers, all distinguished in their several departments, invested with this honour at one and the same period.

On the return of peace by the deposition of Napoleon, Sir Pulteney Malcolm’s naval career seemed to have been terminated. But the escape of Bonaparte from Elba, compelled the weather-beaten admiral to weigh anchor once more; and he was appointed on this occasion to co-operate with the Duke of Wellington and the allied armies in their last great campaign. At its close, which consigned Napoleon to perpetual exile, Sir Pulteney was appointed commander-in-chief of the St. Helena station —a ticklish office, which brought him into frequent and friendly intercourse with the man whose movements he was obliged to watch, and whose chances of escape it was his duty to frustrate. In this trying situation, however, he conducted himself with such firmness and gentleness combined, and so greatly to the satisfaction of the fallen hero, that the latter, while he discharged the whole brunt of his indignation upon the unlucky head of Sir Hudson Lowe, had an entirely different feeling for the admiral. "Ah! there is a man," he exclaimed, "with a countenance really pleasing: open, frank, and sincere. There is the face of an Englishman—his countenance bespeaks his heart; and I am sure he is a good man. I never yet beheld a man of whom I so immediately formed a good opinion as of that fine soldier-like old man. He carries his head erect, and speaks out openly and boldly what he thinks, without being afraid to look you in the face at the time. His physiognomy would make every person desirous of a further acquaintance, and render the most suspicious confident in him." Such was the striking portrait of Sir Pulteney drawn by the hand of a master—one who was the greatest of painters through the medium of language, as well as the first of epic poets by deed and action. On one occasion, when the impatient spirit of the exile burst forth, he exclaimed to the admiral, "Does your government mean to detain me upon this rock until my death’s-day?" "Such, I apprehend, is their purpose," replied Sir Pulteney, calmly. "Then the term of my life will soon arrive," cried the indignant ex-sovereign. "I hope not, Sir," was the admiral’s answer, "I hope you will survive to record your great actions, which are so numerous, and the task will insure you a term of long life." Napoleon bowed at this gratifying and well-merited compliment, and quickly resumed his good humour. Sir Pulteney continued in the command of the St. Helena station from the spring of 1816 till near the close of the following year; and when he left it he was on the best terms with Napoleon, who frequently afterwards used to speak of the pleasure he had enjoyed in his society.

As there was no further naval service for Sir Pulteney Malcolm, his rank in the navy continued to rise according to the established routine. He was advanced, therefore, to the rank of vice-admiral in 1821, and of full admiral in 1837. During this interval he was also invested with the Grand Cross of the Bath in 1833. To some of our narrow-minded political economists, who can only measure the value of public services by their noise and glitter, the rewards that had been conferred upon him were thought to be beyond his deserts; and an attack of this kind upon Sir Pulteney in Parliament, produced from one of his friends an indignant reply. We quote from it the following just and rapid summary of the admiral’s career:—

"He was the son of a humble sheep farmer, and had won his fame, as his brother, Sir John, also had done, without the aid of powerful friends. He had risen to the highest honours of his profession by his own exertions, and his honour, till the other night, had never been questioned; he enjoyed a spotless reputation, and possessed the friendship not only of the great men that were at present in existence, but those who had departed. He was the comrade in arms of the gallant Nelson; and in the last action in which that great man was engaged, he commanded a ship which had the splendid distinction of being called the Happy Donegal. He had the friendship of the first general of the day (the Duke of Wellington). He had the honour of conveying in the ship under his command the hero of Assaye. Sir Pulteney Malcolm at Vigo, landed the future conqueror of the Peninsula. At the special desire of the Duke of Wellington, the flag of Sir Pulteney Malcolm was flying at Ostend when the destinies of the convulsed world were decided in the field of Waterloo. As a conqueror, he became the friend of the conquered. His flag was at St. Helena during the time Napoleon was there, and by the cordiality of his disposition and manners, he not only obtained the confidence, but won the affections of that great man, who, in his last moments, acknowledged his generosity and benevolence."