Lieutenant Tupper commanded the launch, and although severely wounded in three places, he stood up the whole time, and retained the command of her until he returned to the ship.  The bullet, which proved fatal, entered his right breast, and was extracted from under the skin over the false ribs.  He lingered until the 26th June, when he breathed his last, in a state of delirium, on board the Sybille, at Malta, where his remains were interred, and a monument was erected to his memory by his captain and messmates.  In person he was rather above the middle height, with a pleasing and intelligent countenance; and when his brother Charles and he were midshipmen together in the Victory, in the Baltic, they were designated on board as the handsome brothers.[170]

The surgeon of the Sybille, in a letter to the family in Guernsey, wrote of Lieutenant Tupper: 

    “When I first saw him he was firm and cool.  He asked me to
    give my opinion without reserve, and knowing him to be
    possessed of
great fortitude, I told him that the wound in the chest was of a most dangerous nature, but not necessarily fatal.  He had by this time lost a great deal of blood, but the internal hemorrhage, though the most alarming, was slight.  He remained so low for three days, that it was expected he would have sunk, though he still continued collected and firm.  On the fourth day he rallied, his pulse became more distinct, and he evidently encouraged hopes.  Need I say that I felt myself incapable of destroying them—­indeed I was not altogether without hope myself.  The principal danger was from hemorrhage upon the separation of the sloughs, and my fears were fatally verified, for on the 25th, at noon, it commenced and increased internally, until his lungs could no longer perform their functions, and he died at about three o’clock on the morning of the 26th.  During the whole time he was resigned, evincing the greatest strength of mind.  As it was with unfeigned sorrow that I saw a fine and gallant young man fall a victim to such a cause, so it was with admiration that I witnessed his heroic bearing when the excitement was past, and hope itself was almost fled.  I have seen many support their firmness amidst danger and death, but it belongs to few to sustain it during protracted suffering, which is indeed a trial often too severe for the bravest, but through which your lamented brother came with a spirit and resignation which reflected lustre upon himself and family, and endeared him to all his shipmates.”

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 164:  Eldest son of N. Gosselin, Esq., jurat, one of the clerks of the council to Queen Elizabeth, by his wife, a daughter of Lewis Lempriere, Esq., bailiff of Jersey—­and grandson of Hilary Gosselin, bailiff of Guernsey in four reigns, Henry the Eighth to Elizabeth.]

[Footnote 165:  Viz. two sons—­Daniel, married Catherine, daughter of John Tupper, Esq., jurat; and John, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Brock, Esq.—­and three daughters, Emilia, wife of Sir P. De Havilland, bailiff; Elizabeth, wife of W. Le Marchant, Esq.; and Margaret, wife of I. Carey, Esq.]