THE LIFE

OF

ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH

BY EDWARD OSLER, Esq.

For every virtue, every worth renowned,

Sincere, plain hearted, hospitable, kind;

Yet like the mustering thunder when provoked,

The dread of tyrants, and the true resource

Of those who under grim oppression groaned.

Thomson.

A New and Revised Edition.

LONDON:
GEO. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON-STREET
AND 18, BEEKMAN-STREET, NEW YORK.
1854

London:
Printed by Stewart and Murray,
Old Bailey.

TO

THE NAVY,

The Bulwark of their Country,

AND

WHOSE TRIUMPHS ARE THE PRIDE OF HER HISTORY,

THIS WORK

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

PREFACE.

At the commencement of hostilities, whose extent and duration none can foresee, it is the wisdom of those to whom England will hereafter commit the honour of her Flag to study well the example of the great sea-officers whose services illustrate the annals of their country.

Among these bright examples, none is more worthy of careful study than Admiral Lord Exmouth. Entering the service a friendless orphan, the success which he achieved by merit alone is most encouraging to all who must rise by their own deserts. In his perfect seamanship, his mastery of all that relates to his profession, his zeal and energy, his considerate forethought, his care to make his crews thorough seamen, and the example by which he spurred and encouraged them, the secret may be found, not less available to others, of his many brilliant successes, and of the little loss with which he obtained them. His truly parental care for his young officers to train them to their duties and to advance their interests, as conspicuous when commander-in-chief as in his first frigate, is a lesson for all in authority. Nor will his personal qualities be less admired: the honourable independence which he maintained as an officer and a peer, and the moral excellence which marked his life, and was finally proved on his death-bed.

And here I may relate an anecdote, as the praise it gives is only for the subject of the biography, and for which I am indebted to Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew. Soon after the first appearance of this work, one of the first officers in the French navy, Vice-Admiral Bergeret, whose name appears more than once in the following pages, presented a copy to a young relative he was sending to sea, and bade him to learn from the example it afforded to become all that his friends and his country could desire.

Lord Exmouth's attack on Algiers, the most memorable occasion on which men-of-war have attacked fortifications, is peculiarly instructive now. The immediate destruction of the enemy's works opposed to the Queen Charlotte, and the comparative impunity she thus obtained, shows the wisdom of laying the ships as close as possible, where the concentrated fire of her batteries may overwhelm the enemy, and destroy the few guns which alone can be opposed to her; whereas, by anchoring at a distance, the enemy's guns from a great extent of the works may be trained to bear on her, while her own shot strike with uncertain aim and diminished effect. The results of this latter course may be learnt from the fate of the floating batteries at the siege of Gibraltar, and from the Impregnable at Algiers; the ships having anchored at too great a distance, were exposed to a destructive fire, while their own attack was comparatively harmless.

This biography of Lord Exmouth was written at the desire and under the eye of his eldest brother; in youth his second father, and through life his confidential friend. Every incident relating to points of service was supplied or corrected by officers personally engaged; and the whole was finally revised by four officers who were the most constantly and intimately acquainted with the Admiral—Mr. Gaze, master of the fleet in the Mediterranean and at Algiers, and who sailed with him in every ship from 1793 to the last day of his command; Sir Christopher Cole and Captain Crease, his intimate friends; and his only surviving sailor son, Captain, now Vice-Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew.

CONTENTS.

• [PREFACE.]
• [CHAPTER I.]
  • FAMILY HISTORY.
  • Birth and education—Anecdote of early daring—Enters the Navy—Leaves his ship, with one of his companions, at Marseilles—Joins the Blonde, Captain Pownoll—His activity—Anecdote of General Burgoyne—Instance of extraordinary boldness—Campaign on the Lakes of Canada—Distinguishes himself in the actions, of October 11th and 13th, 1776—Complimented by Sir C. Douglas, Lord Howe, and Earl Sandwich—Appointed to command the Carleton—Nearly takes General Arnold—Narrowly escapes being made prisoner—Commands a brigade of seamen in Burgoyne's campaign—In danger of killing his brother—Events of the campaign—Constructs a bridge, by which the army crosses to Saratoga—His brother killed in action—Recaptures a provision vessel from the enemy—Admitted to the Council of War, and pleads that the sailors may be exempted from the capitulation—Sent home with despatches in a transport—Defends her against a privateer—Promoted to be a Lieutenant.
• [CHAPTER II.]
  • HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.
  • Influence of the late campaigns on his character—His extraordinary strength and activity—Narrow escapes from drowning—Appointed to a guard-ship—Presses for active employment, and proposes to resign his commission—Appointed to the Licorne—Becomes First Lieutenant of the Apollo, Captain Pownoll—Action with the Stanislaus, French frigate; Captain Pownoll killed, enemy driven on shore—His letter on the occasion to Earl Sandwich—Promoted to be a Commander—Anecdote in relation to his promotion—Appointed to the Hazard—Appointed to the Pelican—Gallant action—Promoted to be a Post-Captain—- Appointed to the temporary command of the Artois—Captures an enemy's cruiser—Anecdote of Captain Macbride—Marriage—Appointed to the Winchelsea frigate—Conduct in her—Appointed to the Salisbury, Vice-Admiral Milbanke—Anecdote of Lord Thurlow.
• [CHAPTER III.]
  • THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.
  • Becomes a farmer—Remarks on naval officers' farming—His ill success—Omen of his future fortune—Offered a command in the Russian Navy—Remarks on serving foreign states—War of the French Revolution—Appointed to the Nymphe 36-gun frigate—Enters a number of Cornish miners for her—Cornish miners—Equipment and movements of the Nymphe—Captain Israel Pellew joins her as a volunteer—Sails from Falmouth—Remarkable dream of one of the officers—Falls in with the Cleopatra; her high state of equipment—Gallantry of both ships—Cap of Liberty—Action—Death of the French Captain, Mullon; his heroism—Captain Pellew's letter to his brother.
• [CHAPTER IV.]
  • THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.
  • Presented to the King and knighted—His liberality to the widow of Captain Mullon—Use of carronades—He suggests the employment of independent squadrons in the western part of the Channel, to check the enemy's cruising frigates—Value of these squadrons—Appointed to the Arethusa, and joins Sir J.B. Warren's squadron—Action of April 23rd, 1794—Engages and captures La Pomone—Action of August 23rd, 1794 A second squadron fitted out, and placed under his orders—Artois and Revolutionaire; chivalrous conduct of Sir Sidney Smith—Conveys important intelligence to the Admiralty—Appointed to the Indefatigable, 44—His dispute with the Navy board—Allowed to fit her according to his own plans—Success of them—Accuracy of his judgment on a ship's qualities—Indefatigable strikes on a rock—Sir Edward nearly lost in attempting to save two of his people—His success on different occasions in saving lives—Wreck of the Dutton at Plymouth—He boards her, and saves all the people—His report of the service—Honours and rewards; created a Baronet—Captain Cole, and L'Unité French frigate—Sir Edward's letters on the occasion to Earls Chatham and Spencer—Notice of Captain Cole—His death, and Sir Edward's feeling—Action of Indefatigable and La Virginie—Conduct and gallantry of her Captain, Bergeret.
• [CHAPTER V.]
  • EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.
  • State of parties—Enemy's preparations for invasion—Reflections on Ireland—Lord Exmouth's opinion on the Roman Catholic question—Sir E. Pellew watches Brest with his frigates—His perseverance and hardihood—Sailing of the expedition—He embarrasses its movements—Arrives in England—Misfortunes of the British fleet—Enemy arrive at Bantry Bay—Prevented from landing, and driven off the coast by gales—Reflections on the failure of the expedition—Sir Edward puts to sea with the Indefatigable and Amazon—Meets and engages the Droits de l'Homme, 74—Finds himself on a lee-shore, hauls off, and saves the Indefatigable with difficulty—Amazon wrecked—Admirable conduct of her officers and crew—Droits de l'Homme wrecked—Horrible circumstance of her fate—Anecdote of the French Commodore—Eventual fate of the Captain of the Amazon.
• [CHAPTER VI.]
  • THE MUTINY.
  • Remarks on Sir Edward's character as a seaman and an officer—His conduct when his ship was on fire—His consideration for his officers and men—The Duke of Northumberland—Mutiny at Spithead—Preparations for a second invasion of Ireland—General Daendels—Proposed expedition baffled—Sir Edward off Brest—Proposes to burn the French fleet—Success in capturing the enemy's cruisers—La Vaillante—Royalist priests and Madame Rovère—His liberality—Appointed to L'Impetueux, 78—Her mutinous state—Observations on the mutinies in the Navy, from 1797—Sir Edward's opinions on the subject—His precautions—Attempted mutiny in the Indefatigable—Conspiracy in the Channel fleet—Mutiny on board the Impetueux—His firmness and promptitude in suppressing it—Court-martial—Earl St. Vincent's opinion of his conduct—His conduct at the execution—His decision on the court-martial on a mutineer—Illustrative anecdote—He commands an expedition to Quiberon—Proposes to attack Belleisle—Cruises off Port Louis—Mr. Coghlan cuts out La Cerbère—He directs the landing of the army at Ferrol.
• [CHAPTER VII.]
  • BLOCKADE OF FERROL.—PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY.
  • Peace—Made Colonel of Marines—His popularity—Envy in consequence—Anecdote—Elected M.P. for Barnstaple—State of parties—Renewal of hostilities—Appointed to the Tonnant, 80—Pursues a Dutch squadron—Blockades a French squadron in Ferrol—His seamanship and exertions in maintaining the blockade—Difficulty of supplying the ships—His recall—Earl St. Vincent's naval reforms—Mr. Pitt's opposition—Naval inquiry, March 15, 1804—Sir Edward's speech—Its effect—Promoted to be a Rear-Admiral, and appointed to be Commander-in-chief in India.
• [CHAPTER VIII.]
  • SIR EDWARD'S COMMAND IN INDIA.
  • Character required for a Commander-in-chief—Hostility of the new Ministry—Sir T. Troubridge sent to take the more valuable part of the command—Oversight of the Admiralty—Dispute between the two admirals—Sir Edward confirmed in his command—Melancholy fate of the Blenheim, Sir T. Troubridge—Sir Edward sends Captain Troubridge in search of his father—Actions in the Indian Seas—San Fiorenzo and Psyché—Piedmontaise and Warren Hastings—Ferocity of the French first lieutenant, and Sir Edward's general order in consequence—San Fiorenzo and Piedmontaise—French privateers—Murderous contest between the Victor and Malay pirates—Attack on Batavia Roads, and destruction of the shipping—Captain Fleetwood Pellew at Samarang—Attack on Griessée, and destruction of the line-of battle ships—Sir Edward's protection of commerce—Convoy system—Resolutions of the Bombay merchants—His care of the fleet—Establishes a naval hospital at Madras—Punishment: Sir Edward's regulations—Encounters a hurricane on his homeward voyage.
• [CHAPTER IX.]
  • NORTH SEA AND FIRST MEDITERRANEAN COMMANDS.
  • Declines an offer to be second in command in the Mediterranean—Commander-in-chief in the North Sea; his activity and energy—Receives the Mediterranean command—Affair off Toulon—His expectations of a battle—Disposition of his force—System of the fleet—His attention to discipline; to economy—Frigate affairs off Toulon—Care of his officers—Nature of the service in the Mediterranean—Daring of the crews—Effect of their successes—Diplomatic responsibility—Sir Edward's anxiety for a battle—Anecdote of Napoleon—Affair of November 5th, 1813—of February 13th, 1814—Capture of Genoa—Peace.
• [CHAPTER X.]
  • SECOND MEDITERRANEAN COMMAND.
  • Sir Edward created Baron Exmouth—His letter on the occasion—Made Knight of the Bath—Renewal of hostilities—Resumes the command in the Mediterranean—Services at Naples—Services at Marseilles—Instructed to negotiate with the Barbary Powers—Anecdote of the Pope—Causes the city and defences of Algiers to be surveyed—Previous ignorance of the place—General order to the fleet—Peace made with Algiers—Abolition of slavery at Tunis and Tripoli—Second visit to Algiers—Violent discussions, negotiation broken off, danger of the party, hostile proceedings—Negotiation renewed—Arrangement—Lord Exmouth's anxiety at having exceeded his instructions—Debate in the House of Commons—Massacre at Bona—Determination of the Government to enforce the abolition of Christian slavery.
• [CHAPTER XI.]
  • THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS.
  • Description of the defences—Force demanded by Lord Exmouth—Surprise of the Admiralty at the small force he required—Lord Exmouth's confidence—His entire satisfaction with the arrangements of the Admiralty—He refuses to allow his relations to accompany him—His promptitude—Sails—Preparations for the battle—A Dutch squadron joins at Gibraltar—Preparations made by the Algerines—Particulars of the battle—Fleet hauls off—Lord Exmouth's conduct after the battle—His very narrow escapes—Submission of the enemy—Lord Exmouth's account of the battle, in a private letter—Closing remarks.
• [CHAPTER XII.]
  • LORD EXMOUTH'S RETIREMENT AND DEATH.
  • Honours paid him—His exertions for his officers—Thanks of Parliament—Activity of his mind—Command at Plymouth—Trial of the Queen—His unpopularity, and remarks on it—His independence in politics—Catholic question—His religious principles and conduct—Peace of his declining years—Anxiety for the safety of the country—Death of his daughter—Death of his grandchild; his reflection on the occasion—Made Vice-Admiral of England—Death of Sir Israel Pellew—Lord Exmouth's attachment to the Church, and confidence in God's protection of it—His last illness and death.

THE LIFE

OF

ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH

CHAPTER I.

FAMILY HISTORY.

The life and services of Lord Exmouth are of no common interest; not more because he has advanced the reputation of his country, and connected his name with her history, than that he began his career an almost unfriended orphan, and rose to the highest honours of his profession without having been indebted to fortune or to patronage. One of the most interesting spectacles is that of rising merit struggling from its difficulties. The most encouraging, is the honour which rewards its exertions. The young officer, who, like him, has devoted himself to an arduous service, with nothing to rely on but his sword, may derive instruction from his example, and encouragement from his success.

Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, descended from a family which was settled in the west of Cornwall for many centuries, but came originally from Normandy, where the name is still met with. After the close of the war he received a letter from a family there, claiming kindred, and offering the name and armorial bearings in proof. The original orthography, "Pelleu," was retained until a comparatively recent period. They are said to have landed at Pengersick Castle, near St. Michael's Mount, and appear to have remained in that part of the county until the beginning of the 17th century. They had a family tomb in Breage, a parish on the eastern side of the Mount's Bay, in which they had acquired property, and they still possess a small estate in that neighbourhood. Part of this early history, it will be seen, can rest only upon tradition; and indeed, it is of very little importance. The weakness of seeking credit from remote ancestors, for one whose personal honours require no further illustration, may well be exploded. But there is one kind of ancestry where an inquiry will always be interesting—that where the traits which distinguished the founder of a family may be traced in the character of his forefathers.

The earliest of the family of whom anything is certainly known lived during the great rebellion at Plymouth, where his loyalty made him so obnoxious to the republicans, that the mob on one occasion assaulted him on the Hoe, and plundered his house. A small piece of antique plate, still preserved, and bearing the date 1645, was the only article of value saved from them. His son, Captain Pellew, Lord Exmouth's great-grandfather, served in the navy during the war of the succession. A very fine portrait of him remains.

Humphry Pellew, the grandfather, was an extensive merchant. He held a large property in shipping, and traded chiefly to America, where he had purchased a valuable tobacco plantation of 2,000 acres, in Kent Island, Maryland. Of this estate, upon which the town of Annapolis Royal is partly built, the writings remain, but the property was lost at the revolt of the colonies. No portion of the compensation fund voted by Parliament was in this instance ever received; and General Washington afterwards declared to a friend of the family, that the fact of three of the brothers having borne arms against the States would prevent the success of any application to the American Government.

Mr. Pellew built part of Flushing, a large village on the shores of Falmouth harbour, including the present manor-house, in which he resided; but this, being leasehold property, has long ago reverted to the lord. In 1692, he married Judith Sparnon, of Sparnon and Pengelly, in Breage, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. Mr. Pellew maintained a high character through life, and his memory was long preserved among the older inhabitants of the village. He died in 1721. His son Israel married Miss Trefusis, upon whom the estate of Trefusis, which includes Flushing, was entailed, in default of more direct heirs from the then possessor; Thomas married Miss Whittaker, who was grand-daughter of Viscount Fauconberg by a daughter of Cromwell; three died unmarried; and the children of the youngest son were at length the only male survivors of the family.

Samuel, youngest son of Humphry Pellew, commanded a Post-office packet on the Dover station, to which he had been appointed through the interest of the Spencer family. He was a man of great determination, and became in consequence the subject of a characteristic song, which was long remembered by the watermen and others at Calais. The recollections of his family, and documents which have been preserved, show him to have been most exemplary in the duties of private life. In 1652, he married Constance Langford, daughter of Edward Langford, Esq., a gentleman descended from a considerable family in Wiltshire. The co-heiress of Edward Langford, Esq., of Trowbridge; married Henry Hyde, of Hinton, father of the great Earl of Clarendon, and by the marriage of her grand-daughter with James II. became the ancestor of Queen Mary and Queen Anne. Thus connected by blood, as well as attached by principle to the exiled family, Mr. Langford joined the standard of the Pretender in 1715, and distinguished himself at the battle of Preston. After the Rebellion was suppressed, he escaped to the west of Cornwall, and settled at Penzance. The Pretender took an opportunity to acknowledge his services by a present of costly china. His daughter, Mrs. Pellew, was a woman of extraordinary spirit. Mr. Pellew's political feelings differed widely from those of his father-in-law. It was his practice to make his children drink the king's health on their knees every Sunday. He died in 1765, leaving six children, four of them boys, of whom the eldest was at that time eleven years old, and Lord Exmouth, the second, only eight. Three years after, an imprudent marriage of the widow deprived the children of their remaining parent, and threw them upon the world with scanty resources, and almost without a friend.

It has been well observed, that a general condition of distinguished eminence is to be required to force a way to it through difficulties. Desertion at an early age indeed subjects the individual to a most severe trial; but where there is strength to bear the discipline, it exalts the principle which it fails to subdue, and adds force to the energies which it cannot tame. The Pellews were probably indebted for much of their success, as well as for the fearless independence which distinguished them, to the circumstances which thus compelled them from childhood to rely only upon themselves.

Samuel Humphry, the eldest brother, was intended for the navy, and was borne on the books of H.M.S. Seaford, Captain Macbride. But afterwards devoting himself to medicine, he became one of the earliest pupils of John Hunter, with Home, Pitcairn, and Baillie, for his class-fellows. After serving for some time as a surgeon of marines, and assistant surgeon to the Dockyard at Plymouth, he relinquished a partnership with Dr. Geach, of the Royal Hospital, and settled at Truro, where he obtained a considerable and lucrative practice. He finally became collector of the customs at Falmouth. Gifted with a clear and active mind, he did not confine himself to the routine of his official duties, and his suggestions on several important subjects were adopted by the Government. The Quarantine Law of 1800 was first proposed by him, and framed chiefly on his suggestions; as well as a tonnage duty by which the charges of the quarantine establishment were covered. The convoy duty was also imposed on his recommendation; and he first proposed the plan of warehousing goods in bond, and was much consulted during the perfecting of the measure, by which so great facilities have been afforded to the trade of the country—to the merchant, relief from the necessity of locking up large amounts of capital; to the consumer, cheapness, and a security against adulteration. Mr. Pellew served at his post till he was fourscore years old, and for years beyond that, he retained the freshness of feeling and enthusiasm of youth. He died in his 90th year.

Israel, the third brother, born August 25th, 1758, was sent to sea at an early age. He served with distinction in the American war, and was one of the officers entrusted with the defence of posts, when the Comte d'Estaign appeared off New York. Promoted to be a lieutenant, he cut out a vessel so well protected by batteries, that his brother officers thought it a service too desperate to be attempted. In command of the armed cutter Resolution, he engaged and captured in the North Sea, the Dutch privateer Flushinger, of fourteen guns, which had proved so destructive a cruizer, that the merchants of Hull memorialized the Admiralty in his favour; and Keppell, the First Lord, continued him for three years in command of the cutter, notwithstanding the signature of peace the day before the action, expressly to reward his gallantry and success. He was made a commander in 1790. He was passenger in his brother's frigate the Nymphe, when she gave the first earnest of the naval successes of the war, by the capture of the Cleopatra; and he contributed much to the brilliant result of the action, by taking charge of the after quarter-deck gun, with which he disabled the enemy's wheel. For this service he was at once promoted and appointed to a ship, and he continued to be so actively employed, that he never once saw his family, till after the peace. In September, 1796, his ship, the Amphion, 32-gun frigate, blew up while alongside the hulk in Hamoaze, and nearly all on board, about 300, perished. Captain Pellew was at the moment at dinner in his cabin, with Captain Swafneld, of the Overyssel, 64, and the first lieutenant. At the shock of the explosion, which took place in the fore magazine, Captain Pellew, and the lieutenant sprang into the quarter gallery, and were thrown into the water and saved; Captain Swaffield perished.

Soon after the renewal of hostilities, he was appointed by Earl St. Vincent to the Conqueror, one of the largest and most powerful seventy-four's in the Navy. She carried twenty-four pounders on her upper deck, there being only fourteen ships, out of 100 of the same nominal force, which were so heavily armed. In her he shared with Nelson the chase of the combined fleet to the West Indies and back, and took a very distinguished part in the battle of Trafalgar. Following, abreast of the Leviathan, the three leading ships of Nelson's column, she engaged, captured, and took possession of the Bucentaure, flagship of the commander-in-chief of the enemy, Villeneuve; and she afterwards assisted in the capture of the Santissima Trinidada, and Intrepide. In 1807, still in command of the Conqueror, Captain Pellew joined in saving the fleet and royal family of Portugal, when the French, under Junot, entered Lisbon; and afterwards in blockading a Russian squadron of nine sail of the line in the Tagus, till the victory of Vimiera placed them in the hands of the British.

He became rear-admiral in July 1810, and on his brother being appointed commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean in the following May, he sailed with him as captain of the fleet, to the close of the war. On the return of Napoleon from Elba, he rejoined his brother in the same capacity, having, on the extension of the Order of the Bath, been appointed a knight-commander. His last service was to take a chief part in the negotiations with the Barbary Powers, for the abandonment of Christian slavery, in 1816. Lord Exmouth would not allow him, or any of his family, to accompany him to the attack on Algiers, in the autumn of that year. He died at Plymouth, June 19th, 1832, only seven months before his brother Lord Exmouth.

John, the youngest brother, entered the army. While still a youth, he became aide-de-camp to General Phillips in Burgoyne's campaign, and was killed in the battle of Saratoga.

Edward, the second son of Samuel and Constance Pellew, was born at Dover, April 19, 1757. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and as there appeared at first but little probability that he would live, he was baptized on the same day. Before he was quite eight years old, he lost his father. The widow then removed with her family to Penzance, where he was placed at school with the Rev. James Parkins, the clergyman of the parish. Here he gave a remarkable proof of a daring spirit. A house, in which was a considerable quantity of gunpowder, took fire; and while every one else was afraid to approach, he went alone into the burning house and brought out all the powder. He was afterwards sent to the grammar school at Truro, of which the Rev. Mr. Conon was head master, under whom he made a satisfactory progress, and before he left could readily construe Virgil. As it was then the general practice in schools to allow the boys to settle their own disputes, the fearlessness of his character, and a strength beyond his years, enabled him to maintain a very respectable position among his school-fellows. At length, having inflicted upon some opponent a more severe punishment than was usual in juvenile combats, the fact came under the cognizance of the master, and to escape a threatened flogging, he ran away He told his elder brother, who had now to act as head of the family, that he would not return to school to be flogged for fighting, but would go to sea directly. Happily, his inclinations were indulged, though his grandfather, who wished him to be placed in a merchant's office, strongly opposed the step. "So, sir," said the old gentleman, when the boy came with his brothers to take a farewell dinner with him, "they are going to send you to sea. Do you know that you may be answerable for every enemy you kill? and, if I can read your character, you will kill a great many!" "Well, grandpapa," replied young Pellew, "and if I do not kill them, they'll kill me!"

He entered the navy towards the end of 1770, in the Juno, Captain Stott, which was sent to the Falkland Islands, in consequence of the forcible seizure of them by the Spanish squadron. It is remarkable that this paltry dispute, which might be almost forgotten but for the virulent invective of "Junius," and the masterly defence of the Government by Dr. Johnson, should have given to the navy two such officers as Nelson and Pellew; neither of whom might otherwise have found an opportunity to join the service until they were too old, in the five years of peace which followed. After the Juno had been paid off, Captain Stott was appointed to the Alarm, in which Mr. Pellew followed him to the Mediterranean, where an unpleasant difference with his commander made him leave the ship. Captain Stott, who had been a boatswain with Boscawen, was an excellent seaman, but unfortunately retained some habits not suited to his present rank. He kept a mistress on board. Among the midshipmen was a boy named Frank Cole, who was three years younger than Mr. Pellew, but had entered on board the Juno at the same time. Mr. Pellew was warmly attached to him. The woman had some pet fowls, which were allowed to fly about; and one day, when the ship was at Marseilles, and the captain absent, one of them was driven off the quarter-deck by young Cole, which led to great abuse from the woman, and a sharp reply from the boy. When the captain returned, he became so much enraged by her representations, that he not only reprimanded the youngster severely for what he termed his insolence, but so far forgot himself as to give him a blow. This was not to be borne, and having consulted his friend Pellew, he applied for his discharge. Captain Stott ordered a boat immediately, for the purpose, as he said, of turning him on shore. Pellew instantly went to the captain, and said, "If Frank Cole is to be turned out of the ship, I hope, sir, you will turn me out too." Their spirited conduct attracted the notice of the two lieutenants, Keppel and Lord Hugh Seymour, and laid the foundation of a friendship which continued through life: and Lord Hugh Seymour, finding that the boys had no money, very kindly gave them an order on his agent at Marseilles. Captain Stott afterwards tried to induce them to return, but not succeeding, he gave them the highest testimonials of their ability and desert, saying that he believed that they would become an honour to the service. Mr. Pellew found a master of a merchant vessel on shore, who had known his family at Dover, and now offered to take him to Lisbon, but declined to accommodate a second passenger. Mr. Pellew pleaded so earnestly for his young friend, and so positively refused to leave him, that the other at length consented to give them both a passage. From Lisbon they reached Falmouth in one of the packets. Little could he then suppose that he was next to see Marseilles as a commander-in-chief, and one day to save it from destruction. Twelve years after, when he had become a post captain, and was in command of the Winchelsea, he took under his protection a son of Captain Stott, who was then dead, and did every thing in his power to promote the young man's interests.

It was now his happiness to sail in the Blonde, with Captain Pownoll, an officer who had been trained and brought forward by Admiral Boscawen, and whose character was among the highest in the service. Captain Pownoll soon appreciated the merit and promise of his midshipman, who returned his kindness with almost the affection of a son. Such mutual confidence and attachment between a captain and his midshipman has very rarely been met with; and it was peculiarly fortunate for Mr. Pellew, that his quick and determined character, which, with a judgment not yet matured by experience, might have carried him into mistakes, found a guide so kind and judicious as Captain Pownoll.

And here it will not be uninteresting to observe how far the influence of a great commander may extend. St. Vincent and Pownoll, who were brought up under Boscawen, and received their lieutenant's commissions from him, contributed materially to form a Nelson and an Exmouth; each the founder of a school of officers, whose model is the character of their chief, and their example his successes.

Active beyond his companions, and devoted to his profession, he soon became a thorough seaman; while the buoyancy of youth, and his playful, fearless spirit, prompted him continually to feats of extraordinary daring. In the spring of 1775, General Burgoyne took his passage to America in the Blonde, and when he came alongside, the yards were manned to receive him. Looking up, he was surprised and alarmed to see a midshipman on the yard-arm standing on his head. Captain Pownoll, who was at his side, soon quieted his apprehensions, by assuring him that it was only one of the frolics of young Pellew, and that the General might make himself quite at ease for his safety, for if he should fall, he would only go under the ship's bottom, and come up on the other side. What on this occasion was probably spoken but in jest, was afterwards more than realized; for he actually sprang from the fore-yard of the Blonde, while she was going fast through the water, and saved a man who had fallen overboard. Captain Pownoll reproached him for his rashness, but he shed tears when he spoke of it to the officers, and declared that Pellew was a noble fellow.

The revolt of the American colonies, which rose in this year to the importance of a national war, was soon to furnish him with objects worthy of his skill and courage. On the 10th of May the Americans surprised Ticonderoga, and, having secured the command of Lake Champlain by a strong squadron, were enabled to prosecute offensive operations against Canada. Sir Guy Carleton, the governor and commander-in-chief of that province, had very inadequate means to defend it. The enemy took Montreal, and in the beginning of December laid siege to Quebec, expecting an easy conquest; but their commander, General Montgomery, who had summoned Sir Guy Carleton in the most arrogant and threatening style, was killed on the 31st, in attempting to storm the place, and his troops were repulsed. The siege, however, was continued by Arnold, till Commodore Sir Charles Douglas, in the Isis, with two other ships under his Orders, forced his way through the ice, much before the season at which the river is usually open. His appearance drove the besiegers to a hasty flight, in which they suffered such extreme privations, especially their sick and wounded, that General Carleton most humanely issued a proclamation, in which he ordered them to be treated as fellow-creatures in distress; and encouraged them to claim the offered hospitality, by assuring them that they should be unconditionally liberated as soon as they were able to return home. At the same time, with energy equal to his humanity, he hastened to complete the deliverance of the province. Additional reinforcements which reached him in the spring enabled him to give the enemy a final defeat at Trois Rivières in June, and then to take measures for wresting from them the command of Lake Champlain; an object essential to the security of Canada, as well as to prosecuting offensive operations against the New England States.

Lake Champlain is a long narrow lake to the N.E. of Ontario, communicating with the St. Lawrence a few miles below Montreal by the river Chamblee, or Sorel. It is nowhere more than eighteen miles across, and its average breadth does not exceed five. Below Crown Point it is a mere channel for ten or twelve miles to its southern extremity at Ticonderoga. Here it receives the waters from a small lake to the southward, Lake George, but the communication, as well as that with the St. Lawrence, is interrupted by shoals and rapids. From Lake George to the Hudson is only six or eight miles, the sole interruption to a water frontier from the St. Lawrence to New York, navigable for vessels of burden for four-fifths of its length, and for bateaux nearly all the way. The command of this line would enable the northern and southern armies to co-operate effectually; to press on the New England States along their whole border; to cut off all communication between them and the rest of the Union, and to prevent any hostile attempt on Canada.

Measures were promptly taken to secure this important object. Detachments from the King's ships at Quebec, with volunteers from the transports, and a corps of artillery, in all, nearly 700 men, were sent across to the Lake, there to construct, with timber felled by themselves, and in the presence of a superior enemy, the vessels in which they were to meet him. A party joined from the Blonde, under Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown, one of the midshipmen. Mr. Pellew was to have remained with the ship; but he appeared so much disappointed at the arrangement, that Captain Pownoll allowed him also to go.

The season was already so far advanced, that it would have been a creditable service only to complete the preparations for the next campaign; but the zeal and exertions of the officers and men surpassed all calculation. They got across to the Lake thirty long-boats, many large flat-bottomed boats, a vast number of bateaux, and a gondola of thirty tons, carrying them over land, or dragging them up the rapids. The keel and floor-timbers of the Inflexible, a ship of three hundred tons, which had been laid at Quebec, were taken to pieces, and carried over to St. John's, on the Lake, where a dockyard was established, under the superintendence of Lieutenant Schanck, an officer of extraordinary mechanical ingenuity. Here, on the morning of the 2nd September, the Inflexible was again laid down, and by sunset, all her former parts were put together, and a considerable quantity of additional timbers prepared. The progress of the work was like magic. Trees growing in the forest in the morning, would form part of the ship before night. She was launched in twenty-eight days from laying her keel, and sailed next evening, armed with eighteen twelve-pounders, and fully equipped for service. Two schooners, the Maria, and the Carleton; the Loyal Convert, gondola; the Thunder, a kind of flat-bottomed raft, carrying twelve heavy guns and two howitzers; and twenty-four boats, armed each with a field piece, or carriage-gun, formed, with the Inflexible, a force equal to the service, where but a few days before, the British had scarcely a boat upon the waters. No time was now lost in seeking the enemy, and Sir Guy Carleton himself embarked with the squadron. Captain Pringle, as commodore, sailed with Lieutenant Schanck in the Inflexible. Lieutenant Dacres, with Mr. Brown and Mr. Pellew, were appointed to the Carleton.

On the 11th of October, the enemy was discovered drawn up in a strong line across the passage between Valicour, one of the numerous islands on the lake, and the Western land; and so well concealed by the island, that the squadron had nearly passed without observing them. They had fifteen vessels, carrying ninety-six guns, fourteen of which were eighteen-pounders, (eight of them traversing), and twenty-three twelves. General Arnold commanded. The Carleton, being nearest to the enemy, attacked at once, though her force was only twelve six-pounders. Unfortunately, from the state of the wind, no other vessel could come to her assistance, and she was obliged to engage the whole force of the enemy single-handed. Sir Guy Carleton saw her desperate position with extreme anxiety, but it was impossible to bring up the squadron, and he could only send in the artillery-boats to support her. Meantime she was suffering most severely. Very early in the action, Mr. Brown lost an arm; and soon after, Lieutenant Dacres fell, severely wounded and senseless. He would have been thrown overboard as dead, but for the interference of Mr. Pellew, who now succeeded to the command. He maintained the unequal contest, till Captain Pringle, baffled in all his efforts to bring up the squadron, made the signal of recall, which the Carleton, with two feet water in her hold, and half her crew killed and wounded, was not in a condition to obey. In attempting to go about, being at the time near the shore, which was covered with the enemy's marksmen, she hung in stays, and Mr. Pellew, not regarding the danger of making himself so conspicuous, sprang out on the bowsprit to push the jib over. The artillery-boats now towed her out of action, under a very heavy fire from the enemy, who were enabled to bear their guns upon her with more effect, as she increased her distance. A shot cut the towrope, and Mr. Pellew ordered some one to go and secure it; but seeing all hesitate, for indeed it appeared a death-service, he ran forward and did it himself. The result of the action was far beyond anything that could have been expected from the excessive disparity of the force engaged; for the Carleton, with the assistance of the artillery-boats, had sunk the Boston gondola, carrying an eighteen pounder and two twelves; and burnt the Royal Savage, of twelve guns, the largest of the enemy's schooners.

Arnold escaped in the night. The squadron pursued, and on the morning of the 13th overtook him, within a few leagues of Crown Point. After a running fight of two hours the four headmost vessels of the enemy succeeded in reaching Crown Point, and sheltering themselves in the narrow part of the lake beyond it. Two others, the Washington and Jersey, were taken; and the rest were run on shore and burnt by their own crews. The enemy then set fire to their works on Crown Point, and abandoned it.

The Carleton's action on the 11th, which certainly was never surpassed for gallantry and conduct, obtained for her crew the credit they so well deserved. Lieutenant Dacres, who recovered sufficiently to go home with the despatches, received promotion as soon as he arrived in England, and was honoured with a personal interview with the king. He rose to be a vice-admiral. How Mr. Pellew's services in this, his first action, were appreciated by his superior officers is best told in their own words. In a few days, Sir Charles Douglas, the senior officer at Quebec, to whose command all the Lake service was subordinate, sent him the following letter:—

"Isis, Quebec, Oct. 30th, 1776.

"Sir,—The account I have received of your behaviour on board the Carleton, in the different actions on the Lakes, gives me the warmest satisfaction, and I shall not fail to represent it in the strongest terms to the Earl of Sandwich and my Lord Howe, and recommend you as deserving a commission for your gallantry; and as Lieutenant Dacres, your late commander, will no doubt obtain rank for his conduct, when he reaches England, I am desired by General Sir Guy Carleton to give you the command of the schooner in which you have so bravely done your duty.

"Charles Douglas."

The report of Sir Charles Douglas, obtained for Mr. Pellew the following letter from the Commander-in-Chief:—

"Eagle, New York, Dec. 20th, 1776.

"Sir,—The account I have heard of your gallant behaviour from Captain Charles Douglas, of H.M.S. Isis, in the different actions on Lake Champlain, gives me much satisfaction, and I shall receive pleasure in giving you a lieutenant's commission, whenever you may reach New York.

"Howe."

It is, perhaps, a singular occurrence for a midshipman to be honoured with a letter of thanks from the First Lord of the Admiralty, but the service itself was important, and Captain Pownoll strengthened Sir Charles Douglas' report of his young officer's conduct, by a communication of his own. Their joint eulogy obtained for Mr. Pellew the following letter from Lord Sandwich:—

"Admiralty Office, London, Jan. 5th, 1777.

"Sir,—You have been spoken of to me by Sir Charles Douglas and Captain Philemon Pownoll, for your good conduct in the various services upon Lake Champlain, in so handsome a manner, that I shall receive pleasure in promoting you to the rank of a lieutenant, whenever you come to England; but it is impossible to send you a commission where you now are, it being out of the jurisdiction of the Admiralty.

"Sandwich."

Sir Guy Carleton remained at Crown Point as long as the season would permit. He employed Mr. Pellew on the narrow inlet, which extends from Crown Point to Ticonderoga, along which his proposed operations were to be conducted; and Mr. Pellew attended to his charge with unceasing vigilance and activity. On one occasion, the American Commander-in Chief, Arnold, most narrowly escaped becoming his prisoner. Having ventured upon the Lake in a boat, he was observed, and chased so closely by Mr. Pellew, that when he reached the shore and ran off, he left his stock and buckle in the boat behind him. This was preserved as long as he lived by Mr. Pellew's elder brother, to whom Arnold's son, not many years ago, confirmed the particulars of his father's escape. The General, seeing that his men were panic-struck when they found themselves chased, encouraged them to exertion by the assurance that the pursuers were not enemies, but only a boat endeavouring to outrow them. Pulling off his stock, and seizing an oar, he promised them a bottle of rum each, if they gained the shore first. Well had it been for Arnold; happy for the gallant young officer, who was the victim of his conduct; and perhaps, on so small a contingency may the fate of a campaign depend, happy for the British army, to whose misfortunes in the following year his skill and courage so materially contributed, had the fortune of the chase been different.

Mr. Pellew had a scarcely less narrow escape. He was invited with a party of officers to spend an afternoon with some young ladies in the neighbourhood, and they were on the way to keep their engagement, when Mr. Pellew stopped, and said to his companions, "We are doing a very foolish thing: I shall turn back, and I advise you all to do the same." They hesitated, but at length returned with him; and afterwards learnt that their Delilahs had posted a party of soldiers to make them prisoners.

At length Sir Guy Carleton, having satisfied himself that Ticonderoga was too strong to be attacked with his present force at that advanced season, re-embarked the troops, and returned to Canada. He there exerted himself through the winter, in making preparations for the ensuing campaign, and had almost completed them, when the command of the army was taken from him, and given to officers who had been serving under his orders. Though his success had surpassed the utmost hopes of his country, and his great local knowledge and experience claimed the confidence of the British Government, he was not even consulted on the expedition they had planned, and of which the very details were so far settled in the cabinet, that little was left to the unfortunate General who was to conduct it. He felt like an officer on the occasion, and resigned the government of Canada; but he acted like an Englishman, and though he disapproved materially of some parts of the plan, he omitted no exertion which might contribute to its success.

The army devoted to an expedition thus inauspiciously commenced, was composed of 7,000 regular troops, of whom 3,200 were Germans; a corps of Artillery, 2,000 Canadians, and 1,000 savages. Sir Guy Carleton knew too well the ferocious and uncertain character of the Indians to trust them; but the government at home entertained a very different opinion; and it was, perhaps, the chief motive for their conduct towards him, that he had only amused and kept them quiet, instead of calling them into active service. Lieutenant-General Burgoyne was selected for the command, assisted by Major-Generals Phillips and Reidesel, and Brigadiers Frazer, Powell, Hamilton, and Specht.

Mr. Pellew was attached to the army, with the command of a party of seamen, and during its advance, was again actively employed on the Lake. While on this service, he narrowly escaped a calamity, which would have clouded all his future life. His youngest brother had come out from England to join the army; and being appointed Aide-de-Camp to General Phillips, though only seventeen years of age, he was sent down the Lake in charge of the General's baggage. He was told that he had nothing to fear from the enemy, but that he would probably meet his brother; and, with the unthinking sportiveness of youth, as he knew that he was not expected, he determined to surprise him. Accordingly, he fell in with him in the night, and when hailed, answered, "A friend!" "What friend?" exclaimed his brother; "tell who you are, or I'll shoot you." "What! do not you know me?" "No!" said the other, presenting a pistol. "Your brother John!"

On the 21st of June, the army being encamped on the western side of the Lake, and a little to the north of Crown Point, General Burgoyne made a war-feast for the savages, and addressed them in a speech which enforced every motive calculated to restrain their ferocity. But, unfortunately, he hoped to terrify the inhabitants to submission by threatening them with all the horrors of Indian warfare; and a proclamation which he published to this effect, was remembered to his serious prejudice. After a short stay at Crown Point, the troops advanced along both sides of the Lake, accompanied by the squadron under Lieutenant Schanck; and on the 2nd of July, arrived before Ticonderoga, then garrisoned by General St. Clair, with nearly 5,000 men. Ticonderoga possessed great natural advantages. It was protected on three sides by the water, with very rocky shores; and on the fourth, partly by a morass, and where that failed, by a strong breast-work. It was, indeed, commanded by a neighbouring height, Sugar Hill, which the Americans had neglected to secure, presuming upon its almost inaccessible character. Opposite Ticonderoga, they had fortified a high conical hill, Mount Independence, and connected it with the fort by a very strong bridge, which was itself protected by a massy boom. The Americans had been employed for ten months, in giving to these works the utmost possible strength and solidity.

On the 5th, the British had nearly completed their preparations, and General Phillips had carried a road almost to the top of Sugar Hill, when General St. Clair determined to evacuate the fort. That night he sent away his stores and baggage in more than two hundred bateaux, under convoy of five armed gallies, to Skenesborough, a town about eight miles distant, at the head of a small inlet, South Bay, which branches off from the Lake at Ticonderoga. The troops marched to the same place, leaving more than a hundred guns behind.

Daylight showed the flight of the enemy. Reidesel and Frazer immediately followed in pursuit, while Burgoyne embarked the rest of the army on board the squadron. The boom and bridge, which had cost so many months of labour to complete, were presently cut through by the sailors and artificers. The squadron were enabled to pass at nine o'clock, and at three came up with the enemy near Skenesborough Falls. After a short resistance, two of the gallies surrendered, and the enemy set fire to the others, and to all their bateaux and stores.

Early next morning, Reidesel and Frazer overtook a strong body of the enemy, and defeated them, with the loss of their Commander, and nearly 1,000 men killed, wounded, and taken. Another division was encountered and routed by Colonel Hill. The fugitives escaped to Fort Edward, on the Hudson.

General Burgoyne might now have returned to Ticonderoga, and thence crossed to the head of Lake George, from which there was a waggon-road to Fort Edward, only eighteen miles distant. But fearing that a retrograde movement might check the enthusiasm of the army, now elated with their rapid career of victory, underrating the difficulties of the country, and too much despising an enemy who had been so easily dispersed, he determined to ascend Wood Creek as far as Fort Anne, whence the direct distance to the Hudson is shorter. He waited, therefore, a few days near Skenesborough for his tents, baggage, and provisions; employing himself, in the mean time, in clearing the navigation of Wood Creek, while his people at Ticonderoga were transporting the stores and artillery over the portages to Lake George.

The enemy offered little resistance in the advance to Fort Edward, but the difficulties of the country were almost insurmountable. So broken was it by creeks and morasses, that it became necessary to construct more than forty bridges and causeways, one of them over a morass two miles long. The enemy had created every possible obstruction by felling trees across the paths, and destroying the communications. Scarcely could the army advance a mile in a day, and it was the end of July before it arrived on the Hudson.

On the approach of the British, the enemy quitted Fort Edward, and retreated to Saratoga. All kinds of provisions and stores had already reached Fort George; but the means of transport were lamentably deficient, and the impossibility of bringing up supplies compelled the army to a fatal inaction. On the 15th of August, after a fortnight's incessant exertion, there were only four days' provisions in store.

Meantime, the enemy was daily becoming stronger. The conduct of the savages had roused the whole country; and the British bore the odium of excesses which the General could not prevent, and dared not punish. The loyalists could not remain near the army, for they were almost equally exposed to the cruelties of the savages, who spared neither age nor sex. Others, who would have gladly staid at home, found that their only safety was to take arms, and join the camp. Thus the British were left without a friend in the country, while the American commanders, who took every advantage of these atrocities, were soon at the head of an army more numerous and formidable than that which had been dispersed.

General Arnold was sent to command the force at Saratoga. He drew it back to Stillwater, a township about twelve miles down the Hudson, that he might check Colonel St. Leger, who, with 700 or 800 men, was besieging Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk, and had given a severe defeat to a party sent to relieve it. General Burgoyne, desiring to effect a junction with St. Leger, moved down the east bank of the Hudson to Saratoga, where he threw a bridge of rafts over the river, and crossed an advanced corps. Being almost destitute of supplies, and too weak to maintain his communications with Fort George, he detached a force to surprise the enemy's magazines at Bennington; but on the 15th of August it was overpowered and defeated, with considerable loss. A week after, St. Leger was obliged to retire from before Fort Stanwix. General Gates, who was now the enemy's Commander-in-chief, detached Arnold against him with 2,000 men, and the savages, hearing of his approach, threatened to desert St. Leger if he remained, and even murdered the British stragglers on the retreat.

Provisions for thirty days were at length collected; but nearly three months had been consumed in forcing a way through almost impassable woods and morasses in the worst of weather, and in vexatious inaction from deficiency of means to advance; service far more destructive than severe fighting. A heavy swell caused by the rains had carried away the bridge, but Mr. Pellew constructed another by which the army crossed to Saratoga. The General would afterwards rally him as the cause of their subsequent misfortunes, by affording the means for their advance in the construction of this bridge. General Gates remained in the neighbourhood of Stillwater; and the army, advancing through a difficult country, found itself on the 19th of September very near the enemy. General Burgoyne marched at the head of the right wing, which was covered by the light infantry and grenadiers, under Frazer and Breyman, who moved along some high ground commanding its flank; while the left wing and artillery, under Phillips and Reidesel, kept along the road and meadows by the river side. While thus advancing, the enemy marched out of his camp, and attempted to turn the right wing, and take the British in flank. Foiled in this by the position of General Frazer, they countermarched under cover of the woods, and threw all their strength upon the left. Arnold led them on to repeated, and most determined attacks; nor were they finally repulsed till dusk, after four hours' severe fighting. Victory remained with the British; but the fact that the enemy could so long withstand regular troops in the open field, was decisive of the fate of the campaign.

Next morning the army took a position almost within cannon shot of the enemy, fortifying the right wing, and covering the bateaux and hospital with the left. The position of the enemy was unassailable. The savages, whose atrocities had mainly contributed to create the present difficulties of the army, now deserted altogether; and great part of the provincials and Canadians followed their example.

Hoping that he might be relieved by a diversion from New York, Burgoyne sent advices to Sir Harry Clinton, acquainting him with his present situation, and his intention to remain till the 12th of October. Meantime, he took every precaution to secure his camp. While his army was melting away by sickness, battle, and desertion, the enemy were daily becoming stronger. They had even been enabled to detach a force to the northward, which, on the 17th of September, surprised the posts on Lake George, and took an armed sloop, some gun-boats, and a great number of bateaux. They afterwards ventured to attack Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, and cannonaded them four days before they were repulsed.

At the beginning of October it became necessary to reduce the allowance of provisions. This and every other hardship was submitted to without a murmur; and never did an army better maintain its character than did this gallant force in its hour of hopeless danger. On the 7th, as there had been no intelligence from New York, General Burgoyne, accompanied by Phillips, Reidesel, and Frazer, made a movement to reconnoitre towards the enemy's left, with 1,500 men, and ten guns. They had advanced within three quarters of a mile of the enemy, when a sudden and determined attack was made upon their left, while a strong body moved to flank their right. The light infantry and part of the 24th regiment were quickly disposed to prevent the success of this latter movement, and cover a retreat; but the enemy, throwing an additional force upon the left, already hard pressed, it gave way, and the light infantry and 24th were obliged to hasten and support it. In this movement General Frazer fell. The troops retreated in good order, but with the loss of six guns.

Scarcely had they regained the camp, when the enemy rushed to storm it; Arnold, as usual, distinguishing himself by the impetuous courage with which he led on his men. The battle was maintained where he fought with the utmost desperation, till he fell, severely wounded, and his followers were driven back. In another part, the enemy were more successful. Colonel Breyman was killed, and the entrenchments, defended by the German reserve which he commanded, were carried. Night ended the battle, and left to the army the melancholy task of summing up its loss, which included several officers of distinction. The brother of Mr Pellew was among the dead.

But there is little grief for the slain when every one feels that he may lie with them to-morrow. That night the army moved to a new position, and next morning offered battle; but the enemy were securing their object by safer means. They pushed forward a strong body to turn the right of the British and surround them. To prevent this, the army retreated in the night through torrents of rain, to Saratoga. The sick and wounded were necessarily left behind.

Next morning, a party was seen throwing up entrenchments on the heights beyond the army; but a demonstration being made against them, they crossed the river, and joined a force on the other side. A retreat to Fort George was attempted, and the artificers were sent forward to repair the bridges, and open the road; but the appearance of the enemy made it necessary to recall them. The opposite bank of the river was covered with parties of the enemy, and the bateaux could no longer be effectually protected. Some were taken; and among others, the vessel which contained the small remaining store of provisions. This loss would have deprived the army of its last hope; but Mr. Pellew, with his sailors, attacked and recaptured the vessel. To guard against such a calamity for the future, the provisions were landed. General Burgoyne acknowledged this service in the following letter:—

"Dear Sir,—It was with infinite pleasure that General Phillips and myself observed the gallantry and address with which you conducted your attack upon the provision-vessel in the hands of the enemy. The gallantry of your little party was deserving of the success which attended it; and I send you my sincere thanks, together with those of the army, for the important service you have rendered them upon this occasion.

"John Burgoyne.

"N.B.—The vessel contained 500 barrels of provisions, of which article the army was in great want."

A retreat to Fort Edward by a night march, the troops carrying their provisions on their backs, now offered the only hope of safety; but while preparations were being made for this, it was found that the enemy had effectually provided against it, by throwing up entrenchments opposite the fords, and securing the heights between Fort Edward and Fort George. Secrecy was impossible, for the parties of the enemy were everywhere so numerous, that not a movement could be concealed.

Still hoping to be relieved from New York, the army, now reduced to 3,500 effective men, of whom not 2,000 were British, lingered in their camp, where they lay always under arms, with the grape and rifle shot of the enemy falling continually around them. On the 13th they had only three days' provision remaining. A council of war was therefore held, to which General Burgoyne summoned all the principal officers. Mr. Pellew attended, as commander of the brigade of seamen; and a more decisive testimony to his merits and services could not be afforded, than the unprecedented compliment of calling a midshipman, only twenty years of age, to sit in council with generals.

Mr. Pellew, as the youngest officer present, was required to offer his opinion the first. He pleaded earnestly that his own little party might not be included in the proposed capitulation, but permitted to make the best of their way back. He had never heard, he said, of sailors capitulating, and was confident he could bring them off. It is very possible that they might have escaped. Soldiers are accustomed to act only in orderly masses; but sailors combine with discipline the energy of individual enterprise. Mr. Pellew's party had acted as pioneers and artificers to the army during its advance; and their knowledge, and readiness at resources, would have given them great facilities in making their way through a hostile country. But their escape would have cast a very undeserved discredit upon the army, and the proposal was discountenanced. Burgoyne said, what sailors could do, soldiers might do; and if the attempt were sanctioned for the one, the others must throw away their knapsacks and take their firelocks. As Mr. Pellew still clung to his proposal, the General took him aside, and having represented the impossibility of drawing off the army, convinced him of the impropriety of permitting the attempt by a small part of it.

The result of the council was a communication to General Gates, who, knowing the desperate condition of the British army, and his own irresistible superiority, must have been surprised at the gallant spirit manifested in its hopeless extremity. When he observed that the retreat of the British was cut off, he was told that the British could never admit that their retreat was cut off while they had arms in their hands; and to his proposal that the troops should pile arms within their camp, it was replied, that sooner than submit to such an indignity, they would rush on the enemy determined to take no quarter. Terms proposed by General Burgoyne were finally acquiesced in; and the American commander, as far as he was concerned, faithfully observed and enforced them with the most considerate delicacy.

Mr. Pellew, after having shared in the hospitality of General Gates, was sent to England by General Burgoyne with despatches, a distinction to which his services in the campaign were considered to have entitled him. At Quebec he met his former commander, Sir Guy Carleton, whose successor had not yet arrived, and who charged him with additional despatches, and the following letter to Lord Sandwich:—

"Quebec, November 2, 1777.

"My Lord,—This will be presented to your lordship by Mr. Edward Pellew, a young man to whose gallantry and merit during two severe campaigns in this country, I cannot do justice. He is just now returned to me from Saratoga, having shared the fate of that unfortunate army, and is on his way to England. I beg leave to recommend him to your lordship, as worthy of a commission in his Majesty's service, for his good conduct.

"Guy Carleton."

He came home in a transport, in which Major Foy was also a passenger. An enemy's cruiser chased them, and the Major, as the superior officer, was proceeding to assume the command; but Mr. Pellew told him that he was the only naval officer on board, and must himself fight the ship. The Major acquiesced; and under Mr. Pellew's command, the transport engaged, and beat off the privateer.

It is scarcely necessary to state that immediately on his arrival he received the promotion which his services had so well deserved.

CHAPTER II.

HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.

There are circumstances which in a few weeks or months may give the experience of years; and when these occur in early life, they make a permanent impression on the character. In the honours and misfortunes of the late campaign, its toils, and its anxieties, Mr. Pellew had very largely shared; and if rashness would have been the natural fault of a mind like his, a more effectual corrective could not have been desired. The quick conception, and the forethought, which enabled him in after life so well to combine caution with daring, must have greatly depended upon natural character, but he certainly owed much of it to the severe discipline of his early service.

He had now completed his twenty-first year. Tall, and with a frame of strength and symmetry, nerved by the hardships of two severe campaigns, his personal activity and power were almost unrivalled. The spot was shown for many years at Truro, where he sprang over the high gate of an inn-yard at the back of one of the hotels, when, hastening across the court to assist on the sudden alarm of a fire, he found the gate fast. The consciousness of superior strength, while it made him slow to offend, enabled him to inflict suitable punishment on offenders, and some incidents of a ludicrous character are still remembered.

The water was as a natural element to him, and he often amused himself in a manner which, to one less expert, would have been attended with the utmost danger. He would sometimes go out in a boat, and overset her by carrying a press of sail. Acts of daring like these must find their excuse in the spirit of a fearless youth. But he often found the advantage of that power and self-possession in the water which he derived from his early habits, in saving men who had fallen overboard, and especially in the happiest of all his services, his conduct at the Dutton. More than once, however, he nearly perished. In Portsmouth harbour, where he had upset himself in a boat, he was saved with difficulty, after remaining for a considerable time in the water. On another occasion, he was going by himself from Falmouth to Plymouth in a small punt, fourteen feet long, when his hat was blown overboard, and he immediately threw off his clothes and swam after it, having first secured the tiller a-lee. As he was returning with his hat, the boat got way on her, and sailed some distance before she came up in the wind. He had almost reached her when she filled again, and he was thus baffled three or four times. At length, by a desperate effort, he caught the rudder, but he was so much exhausted that it was a considerable time before he had strength to get into the boat.

The gratification felt at receiving his commission was soon forgotten, when he found himself appointed to a guard-ship. He repeatedly solicited more active employment, and at length took an opportunity to accost Lord Sandwich in the street at Portsmouth. The First Lord asked him if he were the young man who had been writing him so many letters; and after a reproof for accosting him in the street, appointed an audience at the hotel. He there told him that he could not be employed as he wished, because he was included in the convention of Saratoga; and when Mr. Pellew pleaded that the enemy had broken the convention, Lord Sandwich replied, that was no reason why England should do so too. At length, after every other plea had been urged in vain. Mr. Pellew took out his commission, and begged that he might be allowed to return it, declaring that he would rather command a privateer, than remain inactive while the war was going on. Lord Sandwich, smiling at his ardour, desired him to put up his commission, and promised that he should not be forgotten. Soon after, he was appointed to the Licorne.

In the spring of 1779, the Licorne sailed for the Newfoundland station, under the orders of Captain Cadogan, who had lately superseded Captain Bellew, her former commander. On her passage out, she engaged two of the enemy's cruisers, and Lieutenant Pellew's conduct in the action received the praise of his captain. She returned to England in December, when he left her to join the Apollo, commanded by his excellent friend and patron Captain Pownoll, who was so delighted to obtain once more the services of a follower whom he regarded with equal pride and affection, that he removed for his sake an officer of high connexions, whose seniority would have prevented Mr. Pellew from being the first lieutenant.

Mr. Pellew was too soon deprived of this inestimable friend. On the morning of the 15th of June 1780, the Apollo, cruising in the North Sea, in company with some other ships, was ordered away by the senior captain in pursuit of a cutter. She had almost come up with the chase, when the Stanislaus French frigate hove in sight, and the Apollo left the cutter for a more equal opponent. She overtook and brought her to action at half-past twelve, engaging under a press of sail, for the enemy made every effort to escape to the neutral port of Ostend, which was not far distant. In an hour after the action commenced, Captain Pownoll was shot through the body. He said to his young friend, "Pellew, I know you won't give his Majesty's ship away;" and immediately died in his arms. Mr. Pellew continued the action for more than an hour longer, and drove the enemy, beaten and dismasted, on shore; but he was disappointed of his prize, which claimed protection from the neutral port. The Apollo had five killed, besides the captain, and twenty wounded. A musket ball, which had struck Captain Pownoll in a former action, was found after his death, lodged among the muscles of the chest. The Stanislaus was got off, and carried into Ostend, where, being brought to sale, she was purchased by the British government, and added to the navy.

None despond so readily as talented and sanguine young men, who are too apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his officers and men, are blended in this very characteristic letter. It is not certain that it was ever sent; for the copy preserved is too carefully written for a rough draft, yet contains many corrections and erasures. He was, perhaps, dissatisfied with it, and before he had determined what to send, his promotion spared him the necessity of an application. Still it is an interesting document, affording, as it does, a detailed account of the action, a sketch of his former services, and a transcript of his feelings at the time.

"My Lord,—Your Lordship will receive herewith, from Admiral Drake, an account of an action fought by H.M.S. Apollo, at sea, June 15, which lasted for two hours and twenty minutes. I trust your Lordship will excuse my troubling you with a private account of the engagement, to inform you of many occurrences during the action which my public letter would not admit of. When the action began, both ships had all their sails set upon a wind, with as much wind as we could bear. The ever-to-be-lamented Captain Pownoll received a wound through his body about an hour after the action commenced, when standing at the gangway. The enemy had then suffered much, having lost the yard-arms of both his lower yards, and had no sails drawing but his foresail, main-top-gallant-sail, and mizen-topsail, the others flying about. We had engaged her to leeward, which, from the heel his ship had, prevented him from making our rigging and sails the objects of his fire; though I am well convinced he had laid his guns down as much as possible. When I assumed the command, we had shot upon his bow. I endeavoured to get the courses hauled up, and the top-gallant-sails clewed up, neither of which we could do, as we had neither clue-garnets, bunt-lines, or leach-lines left. However, we got the top-gallant-sails down, with most of the stay-sails, and the mizen-topsail aback; but finding we still outsailed him, I had no other method left but that of sheering across his hawse, first on one bow, then on the other, raking him as we crossed, always having in view the retarding his way, by obliging him either to receive us athwart his bowsprit, in which case we should have turned his head off shore, or to sheer as we did. He, foreseeing our intention, did so; but never lost sight of gaining the shore. In this situation we had continued for a considerable time. His bowsprit had been at two different times over our quarter-deck, but never so far forward as to enable us to secure him. All this time we were approaching the shore, and we were then, I am certain, within two miles of it. I had been cautioned by the master, whose abilities and great assistance I must ever gratefully remember, more than once, of the shoal water, and I had repeatedly called for and sent after the pilot; and I am sorry to inform your Lordship he did not appear. Thus situated, in three and a half fathoms water, and steering towards danger, there was no time to hesitate; and, with the advice of the master, I wore, and brought to under the mizen, with her head off shore, until we could get the courses and other sails taken in, not having then a brace or bowline left, and being fully determined to renew the action in a few minutes. We had scarcely wore, when his foremast, main-top-mast, main-yard, and main-top fell, leaving his mainmast without rigging; and the ship at the same time took a large heel, which made us all conclude she had struck the ground. It was then half-ebb, and I firmly believe, had we pursued him, in less than ten minutes we must have run aground. She had fired a gun to leeward, seemingly to claim the protection of the port, which was answered by three from the garrison. I was at this time preparing to wear again, to anchor alongside him; but Mr. Unwin, the purser, bringing me some orders found in Captain Pownoll's pocket, among which was one relative to the observance of neutrality, I did not think myself justified in renewing the attack. I therefore continued lying to, to repair our damages. Our masts are much wounded, the rigging very much torn, and several shot under water, by which we made two feet water an hour.

"Your Lordship will, I hope, pardon me, for troubling you with the relation of private feelings. The loss of Captain Pownoll will be severely felt. The ship's company have lost a father. I have lost much more, a father and a friend united; and that friend my only one on earth. Never, my Lord, was grief more poignant than that we all feel for our adored commander. Mine is inexpressible. The friend who brought me up, and pushed me through the service, is now no more! It was ever my study, and will always be so, to pursue his glorious footsteps. How far I may succeed I know not; but while he lived, I enjoyed the greatest blessing, that of being patronized by him. That happiness I am now deprived of, and unassisted by friends, unconnected with the great, and unsupported by the world, I must throw myself totally on your Lordship's generosity. If I have erred, it was not from the heart; for I will be bold to say, the love and honour of his country makes no heart more warm than mine.

"And if, after a constant service, never unemployed for thirteen years,[1] and the character I bear with every officer with whom I have had the honour to serve; having been three years in America, and in every action on Lake Champlain, for one of which, in the Carleton, Lieutenant Dacres, our commander, received promotion; afterwards in a continued series of hard service, in that unfortunate expedition under General Burgoyne, whose thanks for my conduct I received in the course of the campaign, and whose misfortunes I shared at Saratoga, not in common with others, but increased by the melancholy sight of a dead brother, fallen in the service of his king; having then returned to England in a transport to fulfil the convention, with Generals Carleton's and Burgoyne's despatches, as well as General Carleton's letter, recommending me to your Lordship; and permit me to mention, my Lord, without being thought partial to my own story, my having received the thanks of Sir Charles Douglas, by letter, for my behaviour in the different actions in Canada; and having acquitted myself much to Captain Cadogan's satisfaction in action with two ships, when on our voyage to Newfoundland; and if on the present occasion, conscious of the rectitude of my conduct, I can be entitled to your Lordship's approbation, permit me to hope from your Lordship's well-known generosity, which I have already experienced, that you will extend to me that protection which I have lost in my dear departed benefactor. I have now no friend to solicit your Lordship in my favour. I stand alone to sue for your protection, in some confidence that you will not suffer the dejected and unsupported to fall. I presume to hope forgiveness for thus intruding on your time, particularly by a memorial that comes unbacked by any other name; but believe me, my Lord, there never was an officer with whom I have sailed, who would not do much more than back this, were his ability equal to his good wishes for my promotion.

"I cannot, in justice to the officers, close this without assuring your Lordship of the great and unremitting assistance I received from Mr. Milburn, the master, on every occasion; and from Mr. Mansfield, the marine officer, who was particularly active to assist on the quarter-deck. To Mr. Bunce, second lieutenant, I am much indebted for his exertions on the main-deck, and his diligence was unremitting in distributing men where most wanted. Mr. Ritchie, master's mate, was particularly distinguished for his gallantry and activity; and the behaviour of the whole, my Lord, was such as entitles them to my warmest gratitude, and general commendation. Most of the wounded are dangerously so, being all by cannon balls. We had three guns dismounted.

"Edward Pellew."

Lord Sandwich's communication to him was equally kind and prompt. On the 18th of June, only three days after the action, he wrote to him:—"After most sincerely condoling with you on the loss of your much-lamented patron and friend, Captain Pownoll, whose bravery and services have done so much honour to himself and his Country, I will not delay informing you that I mean to give you immediate promotion, as a reward for your gallant and officer-like conduct."

He was made commander into an old and worn-out sloop, the Hazard, in which he was stationed on the eastern coast of Scotland. Having nothing but the emoluments of his profession, he found it difficult to meet the expenses required by his promotion and appointment. A tradesman in London, Mr. Vigurs, equally known and respected by the young men from Cornwall, who were generally referred to him for the advice and assistance they required on their first coming to town, not only supplied him with uniforms, though candidly told that it was uncertain when he would be able to pay for them, but offered a pecuniary loan; and Captain Pellew accepted a small sum which made the debt 70£. In a few weeks he received 160£. prize-money, and immediately sent 100£. to his creditor, desiring that the balance might be given in presents to the children, or, as he expressed it, "to buy ribbons for the girls." He never afterwards employed another tradesman. When he had become a commander-in-chief, it was his practice to prevent a deserving, but necessitous young officer from suffering similar embarrassments, by advancing him a sum equal to his immediate wants when he gave him a commission.

He took command of the Hazard on the 25th of July, 1780, and paid her off in the following January, having been employed between Shields and Leith. He held his next ship for a still shorter time. On the 12th of March, 1782, he commissioned the Pelican, a French prize, and a mere shell of a vessel; so low, that he would say his servant could dress his hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin. He sailed from Plymouth, on his first cruise, April 20th; and next day took a French privateer, with which he returned to port. On the 24th he sailed again, and stood over to the French coast. On the 28th, observing several vessels at anchor in Bass Roads, he made sail towards them; upon which a brig and a lugger, of ten or twelve guns each, laid their broadsides to the entrance of the harbour. He attacked them immediately, and compelled them to run themselves on shore under a battery, which opened on the sloop. The Pelican tacked, and stood out of the harbour, returning the fire, and the same night arrived at Plymouth. Her loss was only two men wounded. A heavy shot which struck her was begged by a friend, who, in a recent letter, makes a jocular allusion to it, and says that it is still doing service in the kitchen as a jack-weight. The action was most important in its results, for it obtained for him that rank in which he would rise by seniority to a flag. Had he remained a commander through the peace, which, but for this action, in all probability he would have done, he could not have become a flag-officer till near the close of the revolutionary war. The country would then have lost his most valuable services; and he would have been remembered only as a distinguished captain. His promotion was announced to him by the First Lord in the following terms:—

Admiralty Office. May 25, 1782.

"Sir,—I am so well pleased with the account I have received of your gallant and seaman-like conduct in the sloop you command, in your spirited attack on three privateers inside the Isle of Bass, and your success in driving them all on shore, that I am induced to bestow on you the rank of a post-captain, in the service to which your universal good character and conduct do credit: and for this purpose, I have named you to the Suffolk, and hope soon to find a frigate for you, as she is promised to a captain of long standing.

"Keppel."

Captain Pellew thus obtained every step of rank expressly as a reward of a brilliant action in which he personally commanded; and in this respect, and in the number and extent of his services while he remained in the lower grades of his profession, he was singular, not only among his contemporaries, but perhaps in the annals of the navy.

On the 4th of June, in the absence of Captain Macbride, of the forty-gun frigate Artois, Captain Pellew assumed the temporary command of that ship, and sailed two days after to cruize on the coast of Ireland. Her master was Mr. James Bowen, so highly distinguished in the battle of the 1st of June, when he was master of the fleet, and who afterwards became a retired commissioner, and rear admiral. On the 1st of July, the Artois fell in with a French frigate-built ship, the Prince of Robego, of twenty-two guns, and 180 men; and after a four hours' pursuit, and a running fight of half an hour with the chase guns, ran alongside, and took her. Captain Pellew gladly availed himself of this opportunity to show his grateful respect to the memory of his benefactor, Captain Pownoll, by giving the agency to his brother-in-law, Mr. Justice, one of the officers of Plymouth-yard: and the plea of gratitude which he offered to his own brother, was felt to be quite conclusive. Captain Macbride wished to appoint an agent of his own; but Captain Pellew asserted his right, as the actual captor, with so much temper and firmness, that the other at length gave way. He had known Captain Pellew from early childhood, having been his father's intimate friend, and quite understood his character, of which he now expressed an opinion in language less refined than emphatic. "Confound the fellow," said he, "if he had been bred a cobbler, he would have been first in the village."

Peace left him without employment for the next four years. In 1783, he married Susan, daughter of J. Frowd, Esq., of Wiltshire; who survived him nearly four years. For a short time after his marriage, he lived at Truro; but when his elder brother became collector of the customs at Falmouth, he removed to the village of Flushing, which is separated from Falmouth only by a narrow creek, and which had peculiar attractions for him from family associations.

During this period he went out in command of his brother's armed lugger, the Hawk, in search of a notorious outlaw, Wellard, who commanded an armed smuggler in the Channel, and who was at length killed in action with the Hawk, and her consort, which captured his vessel. Active occupation, indeed, was essential to his comfort, and he found a life on shore most irksome. At length, in 1786, he commissioned the Winchelsea, for the Newfoundland station. Among her midshipmen was the late gallant Sir Christopher Cole,[2] to whose pen the reader is indebted for the following animated sketch of his service in that frigate:—

"I joined the Winchelsea under Captain Edward Pellew's command in 1786, recommended to him by my brother. Captain Frank Cole, who told me, 'You are going to serve under a gallant and active officer, and one of the best seamen in the navy, who, if he live, must one day be at the head of his profession. Make a friend of him by your good conduct, and you will do well.' The Winchelsea was manned with good seamen, with scarcely a landsman on board; and the first lieutenant, senior master's mate, and boatswain, were all excellent practical seamen; so that the midshipmen and youngsters, to the number of nearly thirty, could not be in a better situation for obtaining a knowledge of practical seamanship. We soon found that the activity of our captain would not allow us an idle hour, and there was so much kindness of heart, and cheerfulness of manner, blended with daring exertion in the performance of his duties, that we were all happy to imitate his example to the best of our abilities. In the course of our passage to Newfoundland we encountered much blowing weather, and at all hours of the day or night, whenever there was exertion required aloft, to preserve a sail, or a mast, the captain was foremost at the work, apparently as a mere matter of amusement; and there was not a man in the ship who could equal him in personal activity. He appeared to play amongst the elements in the hardest storms, and the confidence this gave to those under his command, on many occasions, is not to be described.

"The reduced peace complement of the crew made it necessary that they should work watch-and-watch, and one part of his system was, that the watch on deck, assisted by the idlers, should be in the habit of making themselves equal to every call of duty, without trespassing on the rest of those whose turn it was to be below. I remember relieving the deck one night after eight o'clock, when the captain was carrying on the duty, and shortening sail upon the quick approach of a severe gale, and being an old sailor for my age, being then sixteen, he ordered me to the mizentop, to close reef and furl the mizen-topsail; and this being done, from the increase of the gale, we had before twelve o'clock to take in successively every reef, furl most of the sails, and strike the topgallant-masts and other spars, to make the ship snug; the midshipmen being on the yards as well as the men, and the captain, when the gale became severe, at their elbow. In close reefing the main-topsail, there was much difficulty in clewing up the sail for the purpose of making it quiet, and the captain issued his orders accordingly from the quarter-deck, and sent us aloft. On gaining the topsail-yard, the most active and daring of our party hesitated to go upon it, as the sail was flapping about violently, making it a service of great danger. A voice was heard amidst the roaring of the gale from the extreme end of the yard-arm, calling upon us to exert ourselves to save the sail, which would otherwise beat to pieces. A man said, 'Why, that's the captain—how the —— did he get there!' The fact was, that the instant he had given us orders to go aloft, he laid down his speaking trumpet, and clambered like a cat by the rigging over the backs of the seamen, and before they reached the maintop, he was at the topmast-head, and from thence by the topsail-lift, a single rope, he reached the situation he was in. I could mention numberless instances of this kind, but will proceed to relate a few others fresh in my recollection. On our arrival at St. John's Newfoundland, we anchored in the narrow entrance in the evening; and many officers would have been satisfied to have remained there until the morning, as we could reach our anchorage only by the tedious and laborious operation of laying out anchors, and warping; but we saw that the captain was bent upon exertion, and we went heartily to work. In the course of our progress against a strong wind, the ship had been warped up to the chain rock, and it became necessary to cast off the hawser attached to it, but all the boats were employed in laying out an anchor and warps elsewhere. The captain called to the men on the forecastle, and desired 'some active fellow to go down by the hawser, and cast it off,' at the same time saying that a boat would soon be there to bring him on board again. The smartest seaman in the ship declined the attempt. In an instant the captain was seen clinging to the hawser, and proceeding to the rock; the hawser was cast off, and to the astonishment of every one, he swang himself to the side of the ship by the same means, mounted the ship's side, and was again directing the duty going on. After nine hours laborious and incessant exertion, the ship was anchored near the Commodore in St. John's harbour, before daylight; and as a salute had been prepared in the hope of seeing the Commodore's pennant before sunset on the evening before, the captain remained on deck with the gunner only to assist him. The rest of the officers and men, being excessively fatigued, had been sent below to rest; and I was not singular in being unconscious of the firing, although my hammock hung close to the open hatchway, and immediately under the deck that the guns were fired from.

"The strong mind and fertile genius of our commander kept the young mids., in particular, in constant employment. Besides that some of the number were stationed on every yard in the ship, the mizen-mast from the deck to the truck was entirely managed in the sails and rigging by the midshipmen, who were not such dandies as to despise the tar-bucket, or even volunteering the laborious task of working the oars of one of the boats in harbour. They were all emulous to leave nothing undone to make themselves practical seamen, and they all found the advantage of such examples as they had then before them, many years afterwards, at the breaking out of the revolutionary war.

"In the course of this year we visited every harbour, nook, and corner, on the east coast of Newfoundland, that the ship could be squeezed into; and the seamanship displayed by the captain, in working the ship in some most difficult cases, was not lost upon the officers and crew. With respect to his personal activity, I have often heard the most active seamen, when doubting the possibility of doing what he ordered to be done, finish by saying, 'Well, he never orders us to do what he won't do himself;' and they often remarked, 'Blow high, blow low, he knows to an inch what the ship can do, and he can almost make her speak. On our return from Newfoundland, he applied to cruise after smugglers in the winter months, instead of being kept idle in harbour until the season opened for visiting Newfoundland again; but this did not come within the scope of the management of that day. In 1787, we returned to our station at Newfoundland. The summers there are very hot, and on the birthday of the good old king, George III., the 4th of June, the ship's company obtained permission to bathe. The ship was at anchor in St. John's harbour, and the captain prepared himself for the public dinner at the Governor's by dressing in his full uniform, and mounted the deck to step into his barge, which was ready to take him ashore. The gambols and antics of the men in the water caught his attention, and he stepped on one of the guns to look at them; when a lad, a servant to one of the officers, who was standing on the ship's side near to him, said, 'I'll have a good swim by-and-by, too.' 'The sooner the better,' said the captain, and tipped him into the water. He saw in an instant that the lad could not swim, and quick as thought he dashed overboard in his full dress uniform, with a rope in one hand, which he made fast to the lad, who was soon on board again, without injury, though a little frightened, but which did not prevent his soon enjoying the ludicrous finish of the captain's frolic. The lad's boasting expression gave an idea that he was a good swimmer, and I believe if ever the captain was frightened, it was when he saw the struggles in the water: but his self-possession and activity did not forsake him, and no one enjoyed the laugh against himself more than he did when the danger was over.

"This season at Newfoundland was passed in the same course of active exertion as the former one. We sailed for Cadiz and Lisbon in October, for the purpose of receiving any remittances in bullion to England, which the British merchants might have ready on our arrival. We had light winds and fine weather after making the coast of Portugal. On one remarkably fine day, when the ship was stealing through the water under the influence of a gentle breeze, the people were all below at their dinners, and scarcely a person left on deck but officers, of whom the captain was one. Two little ship-boys had been induced, by the fineness of the weather, to run up from below the moment they had dined, and were at play on the spare anchor to leeward, which overhangs the side of the ship. One of them fell overboard, which was seen from the quarter-deck, and the order was given to luff the ship into the wind. In an instant the officers were over the side; but it was the captain who, grasping a rope firmly with one hand, let himself down to the water's edge, and catching hold of the poor boy's jacket as he floated past, he saved his life in as little time as I have taken to mention it. There was not a rope touched, or a sail altered in doing this, and the people below knew not of the accident until they came on deck when their dinner was over.

"In every instance when a life was in danger, he was instant to peril his own for its preservation; and I could fill pages, if it were necessary to notice any but those which I was so fortunate as to witness."

After the Winchelsea had been paid off in 1789, Captain Pellew was appointed to the Salisbury, 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Milbanke, on the Newfoundland station; in which he served till 1791. His brother Israel became the first lieutenant, and was promoted from her. While in this ship, he was one day required to decide on the case of a seaman belonging to a merchant vessel in the harbour, who came on board to complain that his captain had punished him for a theft. Finding that the captain had acted illegally, though the man had really deserved a far more severe punishment, he said to the complainant, "You have done quite right in coming here: your captain had no business to punish you as he has done, and that he may learn to be more cautious in future, we order him to be fined—a shilling!" The man turned to leave the cabin, much disappointed at the award; but how was his surprise increased, when Captain Pellew said, "Stop, sir; we must now try you for the theft." The fact, which had been already admitted, allowed of no defence; and before the man left the ship, he was deservedly brought to the gangway.

The admiral's secretary, Mr. Graham, afterwards the well-known police magistrate, related this circumstance to Lord Thurlow. The chancellor relaxed his iron features, and throwing himself back in his chair in a burst of laughter, exclaimed, "Well, if that is not law, it is at least justice. Captain Pellew ought to have been a judge."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This seems to require explanation, for Mr. Pellew entered the navy in 1770, only ten years before. It was the allowed practice at that time, and for many years after, for young men intended for the navy to serve by proxy. A ship's boy would be borne on the books in the name of the future midshipman, who was allowed the credit of his substitute's service, and whose time in the navy was thus running on while he was still at school. Not only so, but, by permission of the Admiralty, the time served by one boy, personally, or even thus by proxy, might, if he left the service, be transferred to the account of another! It has been stated that Mr. Pellew's eldest brother was borne on the books of the Seaford, till he gave up the profession of the sea for that of medicine; and while Mr. Pellew was serving in America, he wrote to his brother a letter which still exists, requesting him to procure the transfer to himself, of his nominal Service. It would therefore appear that Lord Exmouth, when a midshipman, had the three years of his elder brother's nominal service added to his own time, though his brother was never at sea.

[2] The Coles were through life intimately connected with the Pellews, to whom they were neighbours in childhood, when both families lived on the shores of the Mount's Bay; and their fortunes were very similar. Left when very young, to the care of a widowed mother, and in narrow circumstances, they all rose high by their own deserts. Two entered the church, and became, one Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the other Chaplain to Greenwich Hospital, and Chaplain-General of the Navy. Two entered the Navy, of whom Frank, the eldest, was selected to take charge of the late King William IV., when he was sent to sea as Prince William Henry. Christopher went to sea at ten years old, and became one of the first officers in the service, and not less distinguished for business habits and talents, in every post of duty. His capture of the strongly fortified island of Banda Neira, garrisoned with 1,200 soldiers, with a mere boat party of 180 men, was an exploit, perhaps, unequalled. He was in charge of two frigates and a sloop of war, and having obtained the Admiral's permission to attempt the capture, nor without a strong caution, he proposed to come upon the place unexpectedly at day-break, and, like Sir Charles Brisbane at Curaçoa, lay the ships as close as possible, and storm the works under their fire. This plan was baffled by the premature discovery of the ships by the enemy. He then resolved upon a night attack with the boats, and left the ships soon after midnight with 400 men: but the wind rose and dispersed the party, and at day-break he found himself with only 180 at hand. Undismayed, he pushed ashore with his little handful of heroes, rushed up the hill to Fort Belgica, which crowned and commanded the island, mounted the walls, swept the ramparts like a whirlwind, followed with the panic stricken enemy through the gate of an inner fortification, and carried the fortress, and with it the island, without the loss of a man, and even without a wound. He was second in command of the naval force at the capture of Java, and directed the landing of the troops, which, by his promptitude, and wise arrangements, was effected without loss. He twice received the thanks of the Supreme Government of India for important, political services. From his sovereign he received the rank of K.C.B.; from the Admiralty, a naval medal; from Oxford, the honorary degree of D.C.L., and from the East India Company, a service of plate. He represented Glamorganshire in Parliament for twelve years; was captain of the Royal Sovereign yacht, and colonel of marines. He died suddenly, August 24th, 1836. It may encourage young officers whose promotion is slow, to learn that the brilliant successes of Sir Christopher Cole were preceded by thirteen years active service as midshipman and mate, and seven years as lieutenant.

CHAPTER III.

THE NYMPHE AND CLEOPATRA.

Rich only in reputation, and with an increasing family, Captain Pellew felt the pressure of narrow circumstances; and with the mistake so often made by naval officers, he thought to improve them by farming. There was a moderately large farm, Treverry, within a few miles of Falmouth, which had descended in the family to his elder brother, and he proposed to cultivate this upon the principle of sharing the profits. His brother, though not very sanguine on the result, readily agreed to the experiment; and when in no long time Captain Pellew complained that he found it impossible to keep the accounts so as to make a fair division, he was allowed to rent it on his own terms. It will not occasion surprise that the undertaking was anything but profitable.

Indeed, farming is almost always a very losing employment to a gentleman, and especially to a sailor. Nothing can be more incorrect than the conclusion that education ought to excel, because ignorance succeeds; for success depends upon attention to a multiplicity of petty details, which inexperience will be likely to overlook, and talent may find it irksome to attend to. If the small farmer, who cultivates his little ground by the labour of his own family, and the more considerable one, who devotes to his estate skill, capital, and undivided attention, so often fail, what can he hope for, who depends upon labourers whose mistakes he cannot correct, and whose indolence, and even dishonesty, he is scarcely able to check? The failure of crops which depend for their success upon the knowledge and activity of the principal; and the necessary and constant outlay, which is great beyond the conception of a novice, may ruin even him who farms his own land, when the care of it is only a secondary object; and this it will generally be to a professional man.

The expected pleasures of fanning will be likely to disappoint, even more than its profits. When the fields are waving with abundance, nothing appears more delightful than to direct the labours they require; but the enjoyments of the harvest month, when all the weary toil of preparation is forgotten, will be found a poor compensation for the daily annoyances of the year. To be excelled in management by the uneducated, and over-reached by the cunning: to study systems of agriculture, to be thwarted in carrying them into effect, and when they fail, to become an object of contemptuous pity to the ignorant but successful followers of the old routine: to find that all around take advantage of his ignorance: that servants, the best with other masters, become careless and unfaithful with him: to become involved in petty disputes with low neighbours, and to be unable to avoid them except by a forbearance which encourages aggression: to find, that with all his attention and trouble, the income lags far behind the outgoings—those are among the pleasures of a gentleman farmer.

To Captain Pellew, the employment was peculiarly unsuitable. His mind, happy only while it was active, could ill accommodate itself to pursuits which almost forbade exertion; and a business within the comprehension of a peasant was not for a character which could fill, and animate, with its own energy an extended sphere of action. Even now, when agriculture has become an eminently scientific profession, it requires to make it interesting that it shall be thoroughly understood, and conducted upon a proper scale; but at that time it was commonly a mere routine of dull drudgery, and nowhere more so than in the west of Cornwall. To have an object in view, yet be unable to advance it by any exertions of his own, was to him a source of constant irritation. He was wearied with the imperceptible growth of his crops, and complained that he made his eyes ache by watching their daily progress. He was not likely to excel in occupations so entirely uncongenial. The old people in the neighbourhood of Treverry speak with wonder of the fearlessness he displayed on different occasions, but shake their heads at his management as a farmer. They have no difficulty in accounting for his fortune. While he lived at Treverry, a swarm of bees found an entrance over the porch, of the house, and made a comb there for many successive years; and to this happy omen they attribute all his after success. The apartment is still called the "bee-room."

The offer of a command in the Russian navy gave him an opportunity to escape from his difficulties. It was recommended to him by an officer of high character, with whom he had served, and who possessed so many claims upon his confidence that he thought it right to strengthen his own decision by the opinion of his elder brother, before he finally refused it. His brother, who had always encouraged his every ambitious, and every honourable feeling, and who, even at this time, confidently anticipated for him a career of high distinction, of which, indeed, his past life afforded ample promise, would not for a moment listen to his entering a foreign service. He said, that every man owes his services, blood, and life, so exclusively to his own country that he has no right to give them to another; and he desired Captain Pellew to reflect how he would answer for it to his God, if he lost his life in a cause which had no claim upon him. These high considerations of patriotism and religion are the true ground upon which the question should rest. Deeply is it to be regretted that men of high character should have unthinkingly sanctioned by their example what their own closer reflection might have led them to condemn. Still more is it to be deplored that deserving officers, hopeless, in the present state of the navy, (1834) of promotion, or employment, should be driven by their necessities to sacrifice their proudest and most cherished feelings, and to quit for a foreign flag the service of which they might become the strength and ornament. War is too dreadful a calamity to be lightly incurred. Only patriotism, with all its elevating and endearing associations of country, homes, and altars, can throw a veil over its horrors, and a glory around its achievements: patriotism, which gives to victory all its splendour; sheds lustre even on defeat; and hallows the tomb of the hero, fallen amidst the regrets and admiration of his country. But he who goes forth to fight the battles of another State, what honour can victory itself afford to him? or how shall he be excused, if he attack the allies of his own country, whom, as such, he is bound on his allegiance to respect?

The decision of Captain Pellew on this occasion proved as fortunate as it was honourable. At the beginning of 1793, there was no appearance of hostilities; and when the French republicans put to death their king, on the 21st of January, and declared war against England twelve days after, the Government, which had made no preparation for such an event, was taken by surprise almost as much as the country. The navy was on the peace establishment, with only sixteen thousand seamen and marines; and it became necessary in the course of the year to raise for it sixty thousand men. Mr. Pellew, whose situation at Falmouth enabled him to obtain the earliest information, hastened to Treverry as soon as he saw that war was likely to break out, and advised his brother immediately to offer his services to the Admiralty in person. Captain Pellew, too happy in the prospect of exchanging the ploughshare for the sword, returned with him to Falmouth; and the same night was on the road to London.

He was immediately appointed to the Nymphe, of thirty-six guns, formerly a French frigate, which, by a striking coincidence, had been taken by boarding in the former war, after having been disabled by the loss of her wheel. He fitted her with extraordinary dispatch; but from the number of ships commissioned at the same time, there was great difficulty in manning her. Anticipating this, Captain Pellew wrote to Falmouth as soon as he had received his appointment, and adverting to the importance of getting his ship to sea quickly, he requested his brother to assist him in procuring a crew—of sailors, if possible; but if not, then of Cornish miners.

The choice may appear extraordinary, but Cornish miners are better calculated to make seamen than any other class of landsmen; not so much because they are always accustomed to difficult climbing, and familiar with the use of ropes, and gunpowder, as that the Cornish system of mining, with an order and discipline scarcely surpassed in a ship of war, compels the lowest workman to act continually upon his own judgment. Thus it creates that combination of ready obedience, with intelligence, and promptitude at resource, which is the perfection of a sailor's character. Familiarity with danger gives the miner a cool and reflective intrepidity; and the old county sport of wrestling, so peculiarly a game of strength and skill, now falling into disuse, but then the daily amusement of every boy, was admirably calculated to promote the activity and self-possession necessary in personal conflicts.

Captain Pellew's quick discrimination is remarkably shown in thus discovering the capabilities of a class of men, who had never before been similarly tried, and with whom he could have had comparatively but little acquaintance There were no mines in the immediate neighbourhood of anyplace where he had lived; and as his professional habits were not likely to give him an interest in the subject, he had probably never held much intercourse with miners, except when he might have met them as rioters. For at that period, the attention of the west countrymen was devoted almost exclusively to their mines and fisheries, to the neglect of agriculture; and the county being thus dependent upon importations, famine was not uncommon. At such times, the poor tinners would come into the towns, or wherever they had reason to believe that corn was stored, with their bags, and their money, asking only barley-bread, and offering the utmost they could give for it, but insisting that food should be found for them at a price they could afford to pay. If the law must condemn such risings, humanity would pity them for the cause, and justice must admire the forbearance displayed in them. At one of these seasons of distress, when there was a great quantity of corn in the customhouse cellars at Falmouth, a strong body of miners came in to insist that it should be sold. Mr. Pellew, the collector, met them in the street, and explained to them the circumstances under which he was entrusted with it, and which left him no power to sell. They were famishing men, and the corn was in their power; but they had come to buy, and famine itself, with the almost certainty of impunity, could not tempt them to steal. They received his explanation, and left the town peaceably.

About eighty miners entered for the Nymphe and joined her at Spithead. She sailed on her passage from Spithead to Falmouth very badly manned, having not more than a dozen seamen on board, exclusive of the officers, who were obliged to go aloft to reef and furl the sails, the captain setting the example wherever anything was to be done, and often steering the ship. A corporal of marines was captain of the forecastle. Arriving at Falmouth, after a rough passage, she soon picked up a few good men. She took a convoy from thence to the Nore, another from the Nore to Hamburgh, and a third from Cuxhaven to the Nore again; never letting slip an opportunity to press as many men as could be spared from the merchant-ships. The captain would remain in a boat all night, and think himself amply repaid if he obtained only one good man. From the Nore, she returned to Spithead, and thence sailed on a cruize, in company with the Venus, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, having now a full proportion of good seamen, though she was still short of her complement, and none of the crew had ever seen a shot fired. She parted company with the Venus in chase, but rejoined her on the 29th of May. On the 27th, the Venus had engaged the French frigate Semillante, one of a squadron then cruizing in the Channel under the orders of Captain Mullon, of the Cleopatra. The action had continued two hours, much to the disadvantage of the enemy, when the Cleopatra was seen coming up, and the Venus was obliged to fly. On the Nymphe rejoining her, the two frigates went in pursuit of the enemy as far as Cherbourg. Thence Captain Pellew proceeded to the North Channel, where some French cruisers were reported to have gone; but having swept the Channel without seeing anything of them, and taken on board his brother Israel, then living, a commander on half-pay, at Larne, he returned to Falmouth. Here, on the 16th of June, the Nymphe pressed the crew of a South-seaman, which full manned the ship.

She sailed from Falmouth on the evening of the 18th. That afternoon, Captain Pellew was informed that two French frigates had again been seen in the Channel, and he discussed with his brother Israel, at their elder brother's table, the course most likely to intercept them. After they had talked over the advantages of sailing along the English or the French coast, they at length determined to keep mid-channel.

An active and most anxious pursuit of the enemy for the last three weeks had made the crew not less eager than their commander; and the subject of the expected battle engrossed their sleeping and waking thoughts. A dream of Captain Israel Pellew had perhaps some influence on the result. His brother would not allow him to be called till they were just closing the French frigate, and meeting him as he ran on deck half dressed, he said to him, with much emotion,—"Israel, you have no business here! We are too many eggs from one nest. I am sorry I brought you from your wife." But Israel, whose whole attention was occupied with the enemy, exclaimed, "That's the very frigate I've been dreaming of all night! I dreamt that we shot away her wheel. We shall have her in a quarter of an hour!" His brother, who had already inferred her high state of discipline from her manoeuvres, replied, "We shall not take her so easily. See how she is handled." He was a perfect artillerist, and, prompted by the suggestions of his sleep, he took charge of a gun, made the wheel his object, and ultimately shot it away. Not less extraordinary was the dream of a master's mate, Mr. Pearse, who had served in the Winchelsea. He dreamt that the Nymphe fell in with a French frigate the day after leaving port, that they killed her captain, and took her; and so vivid was the impression, that he firmly believed it to be a supernatural intimation, and spoke of it accordingly to his messmates. They rallied him immoderately on his superstition, but his confidence remained unshaken; and when his papers were examined after his death, for he was killed in the action, it was found that he had written the dream in his pocket-book.

At day break on the 19th, as they were proceeding up Channel, being still some miles to the westward of the Start, a sail was observed in the south-east, winch was soon made out to be a French frigate. Before six o'clock they had approached very near, the enemy making no attempt to escape; and, indeed, if both nations had wished at this early period of the war to try the merit of their respective navies by a battle, no ship could have been better calculated than the Cleopatra to maintain the honour of her flag. Her commander, Captain Mullon, was deservedly considered one of the most able officers of the French marine. As Suffren's captain, he had taken a prominent part in the actions with Sir Edward Hughes in the East Indies; and the code of signals then used along the French coast was his own invention. The Cleopatra had been more than a year in commission, and, with such a commander, it may be supposed that her crew had been well trained to all their duties. Indeed, it was known that the enemy had taken great pains in the equipment of their cruizers; and the generally inferior description of the English crews, inevitable from the circumstance that a navy was to be commissioned at once, had led to great apprehensions for the result of the first action. The seaman-like style in which the Cleopatra was handled did not escape the eye of Captain Pellew; who, conscious of his own disadvantage, from the inexperience of his ship's company, determined to avail himself of the power which the enemy's gallantry afforded him, to bring the ships at once to close action, and let courage alone decide it.

In the courage of his men he placed the firmest reliance; and when he addressed a few words to them, before they closed with the enemy, he knew how to suggest the most effectual encouragement in a situation so new to them all. To the miners, he appealed by their honour and spirit as Cornishmen; a motive which the feelings of his own bosom told him would, above all things, animate theirs. Probably there is no place where local pride prevails so strongly as in the west of Cornwall. The lower classes, employed for the most part in pursuits which require the constant exercise of observation and judgment, and familiarized to danger in their mines and fisheries, are peculiarly thoughtful and intrepid; while the distinctness of name and character which they derive from the almost insular position of their county, and the general ignorance of strangers in the interesting pursuits with which they are so familiar, have taught the lower classes to regard it less as an integral part of England, than a distinct and superior country. They have a nobler motive for this feeling, in the successes of their forefathers against the arms of the rebel parliament, when their loyalty, unwavering amidst prosperous treason, and their victories over superior discipline and numbers, obtained for them the grateful eulogy of their unfortunate sovereign. His letter remains painted, as he directed, in a conspicuous part of their older churches, a most honourable monument of their virtues and his gratitude. No man could be prouder of his county than Captain Pellew himself; and, as it was an object much coveted by the most promising of its young men to serve in his ship, and he continued steadily to patronize those who showed themselves deserving, there is scarcely a town in it from which he has not made officers. Thus his feelings were in perfect unison with theirs; and never was an appeal made with greater confidence, or answered with higher spirit, than when he reminded them of their home.

At six o'clock the ships were so near, that the captains mutually hailed. Not a shot had yet been fired. The crew of the Nymphe now shouted "Long live King George!" and gave three hearty cheers. Captain Mullon was then seen to address his crew briefly, holding a cap of liberty, which he waved before them. They answered with acclamations, shouting, "Vive la Republique!" as if in reply to the loyal watchword of the British crew, and to mark the opposite principles for which the battle was to be fought. The cap of liberty was then given to a sailor, who ran up the main rigging, and screwed it on the mast-head.

At a quarter past six, the Nymphe reached the starboard quarter of the Cleopatra, when Captain Pellew, whose hat was still in his hand, raised it to his head, the preconcerted signal for the Nymphe to open her fire. Both frigates immediately commenced a furious cannonade, which they maintained without intermission for three quarters of an hour, running before the wind under top-gallant-sails, and very near each other. At a little before seven, the mizen-mast of the Cleopatra fell, and presently after her wheel was shot away. Thus rendered unmanageable, she came round with her bow to the Nymphe's broadside, her jib-boom pressing hard against the mainmast. Captain Pellew, supposing that the enemy were going to board, ordered the boarders to be called, to repel them; but the disabled state of the Cleopatra was soon evident, and he at once gave orders to board her. Immediately the boarders rushed on the forecastle, a division of them, headed by Mr., afterwards Capt. George Bell, boarding through the main-deck ports, and fought their way along the gangways to the quarter-deck. The republicans, though much superior in numbers, could not resist the impetuosity of the attack. At ten minutes past seven they had all fled below, or submitted, and the pennant of the Cleopatra was hauled down.

While the boarders were pouring in upon the enemy's forecastle, the mainmast of the Nymphe, having been much wounded, and with the main and spring-stays shot away, was most seriously endangered by the pressure of the Cleopatra's jib-boom. Fortunately, the jib-boom broke, and the Cleopatra fell alongside the Nymphe, head and stern. The mainmast was again in danger, from the Cleopatra's larboard maintopmast-studding-sail boom-iron hooking in the larboard leech-rope of the main-topsail, and dragging the sail. Captain Pellew ordered some active seaman to go out upon the yard, and free the sail, promising ten guineas, if he succeeded; and a main-top-man, named Burgess, immediately sprang out, and cut the leech-rope. Lieutenant Pellowe had been already directed to drop the best bower-anchor, as a means of getting the ships apart; and by the time half the prisoners had been removed, the prize separated, and fell astern.

The crew fought with a steadiness and gallantry above all praise. A lad, who had served in the Winchelsea as barber's boy, was made second captain of one of the main-deck guns. The captain being killed, he succeeded to command the gun; and through the rest of the action, Captain Pellew heard him from the gangway give the word for all the successive steps of loading and pointing, as if they had been only in exercise. In the heat of action, one of the men came from the main deck to ask the captain what he must do, for that all the men at his gun were killed or wounded but himself, and he had been trying to fight it alone, but could not. Another, who had joined but the day before, was found seated on a gun-carriage, complaining that he had been very well as long as he was fighting, but that his sea sickness returned as soon as the battle was over, and that he did not know what was the matter with his leg, it smarted so much. It was found that the poor fellow had received a musket ball in it.

The loss was severe on both sides, and, in proportion to the respective crews, nearly equal. The Nymphe, out of a crew of 240, had 23 killed, including her boatswain, a master's mate (Pearse), and three midshipmen; and 27 wounded, among whom were her second lieutenant, the lieutenant of marines, and two midshipmen. The Cleopatra lost 63 killed and wounded, out of a crew of 320. She came out of action, therefore, with 67 effective men more than her conqueror. It is highly creditable to the Nymphe's crew, that they beat a ship like the Cleopatra by gunnery, notwithstanding their inexperience; and carried her by a hand-to-hand conflict, notwithstanding their inferior numbers.

Captain Mullon was killed. A cannon-shot struck him on the back, and carried away great part of his left hip. Even at that dreadful moment he felt the importance of destroying the signals which he carried in his pocket; but in his dying agony, he took out his commission in mistake, and expired in the act of devouring it;—a trait of devoted heroism never surpassed by any officer of any nation. These signals, so valuable as long as the enemy did not know them to be in possession of the British, thus fell into the hands of Captain Pellew, who delivered them to the Admiralty.

Captain Pellew arrived at Portsmouth with his prize on the following day. He sent the flag under which she fought, and the cap of liberty, to his brother. This, the first trophy of the kind taken in the revolutionary war, is about seven inches long, made of wood, and painted red; with a round, tapering spear of brass, about three feet and a half long, the lower half being blackened, with a screw at the end to fix it on the mast. The following letter accompanied these trophies:—

"Dear Sam,—Here we are—thank God! safe—after a glorious action with La Cleopâtre, the crack ship of France; 40 guns, 28 on her main-deck, and 12 on her quarter-deck, some of 36 pounds, and 320 men. We dished her up in fifty minutes, boarded, and struck her colours. We have suffered much, but I was long determined to make a short affair of it. We conversed before we fired a shot, and then, God knows, hot enough it was, as you will see by the enclosed.[3] I might have wrote for a month, had I entered on the description of every gallant action, but we were all in it, heart and soul. I owe much to Israel, who undertook with the after-gun to cut off her rudder and wheel. The tiller was shot away, and four men were killed at her wheel, which I verily believe was owing to him. I will write again in a day or two, and do all I can for everybody. We must go into harbour. Cleopatra is fifteen feet longer, and three feet wider than Nymphe—much larger, Poor dear Pearse is numbered with the slain[4]—Plane and Norway slightly wounded—old Nicholls safe. God be praised for his mercy to myself, and Israel, and all of us!

"Yours, ever, E.P."

"Be kind to Susan—go over, and comfort her; I cannot write to poor Pearse's mother for my life—do send her a note; I really cannot. I loved him, poor fellow, and he deserved it.

"June 20, 1793."

FOOTNOTES:

[3] A list of the killed and wounded.

[4] After the action, Mr. Norway requested permission to keep the body of Mr. Pearse for interment by his friends. Captain Pellew for answer desired Mr. N. to read the contents of a paper which he drew from his pocket. It was a direction that if he, Capt. P., should foil, his body should at once be thrown overboard. Of course Mr. N. immediately withdrew his request.

CHAPTER IV.

THE WESTERN SQUADRONS.

The capture of the first frigate in a war is always an object of much interest; and the circumstances of the late action, the merit of which was enhanced by the skill and gallantry of the enemy, gave additional importance to Captain Pellew's success. "I never doubted," said Lord Howe, "that you would take a French frigate; but the manner in which you have done it, will establish an example for the war."

The brothers were introduced to the King on the 29th of June, by the Earl of Chatham, First Lord of the Admiralty; when Captain Pellew received the honour of knighthood, and his brother was made a post-captain. Besides the usual promotions, the master, Mr. Thomson, received a lieutenant's commission. As Mr. Thomson was a master of considerable standing, the captain supposed that he would decline the change to be a junior lieutenant; but the master preferred to get into the line for promotion, and as the result showed, he decided wisely, for he followed Sir Edward to the Arethusa and Indefatigable; and as he had the singular fortune to fight four brilliant actions in three years and a-half, each of which obtained promotion for his first lieutenant, Mr. Thomson thus rose rapidly to seniority, and was made a commander for the action with the Droits de l'Homme.

Captain Mullon was buried at Portsmouth, with all the honours due to his gallantry. One of Sir Edward's first acts was to write a letter of condolence to the widow; and as he learnt that she was left in narrow circumstances, he sent, with her husband's property, what assistance his then very limited means enabled him to offer. Madame Mullon acknowledged his attention and kindness in a most grateful letter. He received also the warm acknowledgments of the Cleopatra's surviving officers, the senior of whom requested and received from him testimonials of the skill and gallantry with which they had defended their ship, without which their defeat, in the bloody councils which then prevailed, would probably have brought them to the scaffold. What was scarcely to be expected at such a time, and after a first defeat, it was admitted in the Moniteur that the "superb frigate" the Cleopatra had been taken by a frigate of equal force.

The action between the Nymphe and Cleopatra is interesting as the first in which a ship had substituted carronades for her quarter-deck guns of small calibre, making them a material part of her force. This gun had been invented about three years before the close of the former war, and the Admiralty had allowed it to be introduced generally into the navy; but except in one ship, the Rainbow, 44, which was armed entirely with heavy carronades, it was considered as supplementary to the regular armament, being mounted only where long guns could not be placed, and not affecting the ship's rating. The Flora, when she took the Nymphe, in 1780, thus carried six 18-pounder carronades, in addition to her proper number of long guns; and the Artois, when Sir Edward commanded her, was armed in the same manner. The carronade was at first very unpopular with the sailors, generally prejudiced as they are against innovations, and who, not understanding how to use it, attributed failures which arose from their own mismanagement to defects in the invention. Sir Edward, who had no prejudices to contend with in training his crew, obtained permission, when he fitted the Nymphe, to exchange the six-pounders on her quarter-deck for 24-pounder carronades; and the result of the battle confirmed his favourable opinion of them. His next ship, the Arethusa, was armed precisely as the forty-four gun frigates at a later period of the war, with eighteen-pounders on the main-deck, and 32-pounder carronades on the quarter-deck and forecastle. He joined her in January 1794.

Towards the end of 1793, the enemy fitted out a number of frigates, which cruised at the entrance of the Channel, chiefly in small squadrons, and committed the most serious depredations. Sir Edward formed the idea of checking them by an independent cruising squadron; but, expecting that a measure so unusual as to create a distinct command within the limits of an Admiral's station would be very strongly opposed, he would not, as an officer without influence, venture to recommend it himself; but he explained his views to Sir J. Borlase Warren, whose interest was great, and urged him to apply for such a command. The Admiralty, whose attention had already been anxiously directed to the successes of the enemy, approved of the proposal, and gave Sir John a small squadron of frigates, of which the Arethusa was one, and which were to rendezvous at Falmouth. Such was the origin of the Western squadrons, which, from the number of their successes, and their character of dashing enterprise, became the most popular service in the navy. As a school for officers and seamen, they were never surpassed. Almost all their captains rose to high distinction, and a list of well-known flag-officers may be traced in connection with them, such as, perhaps, was never formed by any other service of the same extent. It may suffice to mention such names as Sir Richard Strachan, Sir Israel Pellew, Sir Edmund Nagle, Sir Sidney Smith, Sir Richard Keats, Sir James Saumarez, Sir Philip Durham, Sir Charles V. Penrose, Admirals Barlow, and Reynolds. Nothing equals the animating duties of a cruizing frigate squadron. The vigilance in hovering on the enemy's coast, or sweeping over the seas around it; the chase, by a single ship detached to observe a suspicious stranger, or by the whole squadron to overtake an enemy; the occasional action; the boat-attack;—service like this gives constant life to a sailor. In a line-of-battle ship, with the perfection of discipline, there is less demand for individual enterprise, and fewer of the opportunities which fit crews for exploits where all depends on rapidity and daring. On the other hand, a single cruizer wants the stimulus supplied by constant emulation. But in a squadron, all the ships vie with one another; and the smartest of them, herself always improving, gives an example, and a character to the whole.

In the middle of April 1794, Sir J.B. Warren sailed from Portsmouth in the Flora, with the Arethusa, Concorde, Melampus, and Nymphe. At daylight on the 23rd, he fell in with a French squadron off the Isle of Bass; the Engageante, Pomone, and Resolue, frigates; and the Babet, 22-gun corvette. The enemy, who were standing to the north-west, made sail on perceiving the British squadron; the Commodore in l'Engageante being a-head, then Resolue, Pomone, and Babet. Soon after, the wind shifted two points, from S.S.W. to south, giving the British the weather-gage, and preventing the enemy from making their escape to the land.

Outsailing her consorts, the Flora came up with the enemy at half-past six; and giving the Babet a passing broadside, stood on and attacked the Pomone. The Pomone was at that time by much the largest frigate ever built, being only one hundred tons smaller than a 64-gun ship, and carrying long 24-pounders on her main deck. The Flora, being only a 36, with 18-pounders, was a very unequal match for this powerful ship, which soon cut her sails and rigging to pieces, shot away her fore-topmast, and left her astern. The Melampus, which, notwithstanding her endeavours to close, was still far to windward on the Pomone's quarter; now fired on her, but unavoidably at too great a distance to produce any material effect, though the heavy guns of the enemy inflicted on her a greater loss than was sustained by any other ship in the squadron. The Arethusa, which had previously cannonaded the Babet, while she was pressing on to overtake the frigates, soon came up with the Pomone, closed her to windward, and engaged her single-handed, and within pistol-shot, till she struck. The Flora, in the mean time, took possession of the corvette. A short time before the close of the action, the Pomone took fire, but her crew succeeded in extinguishing the flames. At half-past nine, the Arethusa shot away her main and mizen masts, and compelled her to surrender.

As soon as the enemy struck, the Commodore, in the full warmth of his feelings, wrote to Sir Edward a short and expressive note:—

"My Dear Pellew,—I shall ever hold myself indebted, and under infinite obligations to you, for the noble and gallant support you gave me to-day.

"God bless you and all yours!
"Your most sincere,
"And affectionate friend,

"J.B. Warren."

He then made signal for a general chase. Both the Flora and Arethusa were too much crippled to follow immediately, though the latter in a very short time repaired her damages sufficiently to enable her to make sail; and the Nymphe, to the great mortification of all on board, was so far astern from the first, that she was never able, with all their exertions, to take any part in the action. But the Concorde, commanded by Sir Richard Strachan, by superior sailing, came up with the Resolue; when the French Commodore, in l'Engageante, coming to assist his consort, Sir Richard brought his new opponent to close action, and took her. The Resolue escaped. It is remarkable that this frigate had been attacked and compelled to submit by Sir R. Strachan, in November, 1791, for resisting the search of some vessels which were carrying stores to Tippoo Saib; and that she was afterwards taken by the Melampus.

The squadron carried their prizes into Portsmouth. The Commodore was honoured with a red ribbon, a most unusual distinction for a service of this extent, and which he often said Sir Edward Pellew had mainly contributed to place on his shoulder. Sir J. Warren's acknowledgments were not the only flattering notice which Sir Edward received. The First Lord of the Admiralty sent him a letter, dated on the third day after the action.

"Dear Sir,—I have but a moment to acknowledge your letter, which I have received this morning with infinite pleasure; and to say, that I am extremely happy the same success and honour attend you in the Arethusa as in the Nymphe. I shall be very glad to see you while you are refitting, as soon as your leg will permit it, and which, I am happy to hear, is only a sprain.

"I am, dear Sir,
"Your very faithful, humble servant,

"Chatham."

From Lord Howe, the Commander-in-chief on the station, then just about to sail on the cruise which proved so honourable to himself and to his country, he received the following letter:—

"The Charlotte, St. Helen's, 28th April, 1794.

"Sir,—I had already desired Sir John Warren, before the receipt of your favour of this day's date, to present my congratulations on the very distinguished success which has attended your late undertaking. The superiority of the Pomone adds much to the credit of it; although the event has not surpassed the confidence I should have entertained of it, if I could have been apprized of the opportunity before the action commenced.

"I am much obliged by the communications which have accompanied your letter; and remain, with sentiments of particular esteem and regard,

"Sir,
"Your most obedient, humble servant,

"Howe."

On the 23rd of August following, the squadron, now consisting of six frigates, which had sailed from Falmouth on the 7th, chased the French frigate Volontaire, and the corvettes Alerte and Espion, into the Bay of Audierne, a large bay immediately to the southward of Brest, having the promontory at the south entrance of that harbour, the Bec du Raz, for its northern, and Penmarck Point for its southern extremity. Four of the squadron chased the frigate on shore near the Penmarcks, where she was totally wrecked. The corvettes took shelter under the batteries, where they were driven on shore and cannonaded by the Flora and Arethusa, until their masts fell, and great part of their crews escaped to the land. The boats of the Arethusa were now ordered to set them on fire; but when it was found, on boarding them, that many of their wounded could not be removed with safety, Sir Edward contented himself with taking out the rest of the prisoners, leaving the wounded to the care of their friends on shore, and the stranded corvettes, which were already bilged, to their fate. L'Espion was afterwards got off by the enemy.

The state of the Channel was at this time very different from what it had been a few months before. The enemy's cruisers, which then were almost in possession of it, could now scarcely leave their ports without being taken. While the frigates swept the Channel, spreading themselves to command a very extensive range of view, it was difficult for an enemy to elude their vigilance. Chasing in different directions, to take advantage of every change of wind, and to circumvent him in every manœuvre, it was impossible for him, once seen, to escape their pursuit.

The services of the western squadron led the Admiralty to increase the force, and divide the command; and the second squadron was given to Sir Edward Pellew. On the 21st of October, at daybreak, the Arethusa, with the Artois, Captain Nagle; Diamond, Sir Sidney Smith; and Galatea, Captain Keats, fell in with the French frigate Revolutionaire, eight or ten miles to the westward of Ushant, the wind being off the land. The squadron gave chase, and the Commodore took the most weatherly course, observing, that if the French captain were a seaman, the prize would fall to himself, for his only chance of escape was to carry a press of sail to windward. Instead of this, the enemy kept away; and the Artois overtook, and brought her to action. After they had been closely engaged for forty minutes, the Diamond came up; but Sir Sidney Smith, with that chivalrous feeling which marked his character, would not allow a shot to be fired, saying, that Nagle had fought his ship well, and he would not diminish the credit of his trophy. But when the enemy did not immediately surrender, he said, that she must not be allowed to do mischief, and ordered a broadside to be ready. Then, taking out his watch, he continued, "We'll allow her five minutes: if she do not then strike, we'll fire into her." He stood with the watch in his hand, and just before the time expired, the French colours came down.

Captain Nagle was deservedly knighted for his gallantry. The prize, which had been launched only six months, was 150 tons larger than any British-built frigate, and superior to any captured one, except the Pomone. She had a furnace for heating shot, which the enemy had used in the action. She was commissioned by the Commodore's early friend. Captain Frank Cole, and attached to the squadron. It would have added to the interest Sir Edward felt when he took possession of this very beautiful ship, could he have known that she was to close her career in the navy under his second son, at that time a child. She was taken to pieces in 1822, at Plymouth, after having been paid off by the Hon. Captain Fleetwood Pellew, who had commanded her for the preceding four years.

On the 22d of December, when Sir Edward's squadron was at anchor in Falmouth, the Channel fleet being at Spithead, and a large outward-bound convoy waiting for a fair wind at Torbay, an English gentleman, who had just escaped from L'Orient, arrived at Falmouth in a neutral vessel, and reported to Mr. Pellew, the collector of the Customs, the important fact that the Brest fleet had just been ordered to sea. He had received the information from the naval commandant at L'Orient, and a line-of-battle ship in that port, Le Caton, was to join the force. Sir Edward was immediately sent for by his brother, and the very important information they received appearing certain, it was deemed necessary that Sir Edward should communicate it in person to the Admiralty, and send advices from the nearest post towns on the road to the admirals at Plymouth and Portsmouth, as well as to the senior officer at Torbay. He went off express the same afternoon, accompanied by the marine officer of the Arethusa, afterwards Colonel Sir Richard Williams, K.C.B., late commandant of the division of marines at Portsmouth; and arrived in London on the 24th, at that time an almost unexampled despatch.[5]

The object of the French fleet in putting to sea at so unusual a season was most probably to strike a severe blow at British commerce, by intercepting the convoy from Torbay; and in this there is every reason to believe they would have succeeded, but for the timely information of their intended cruise, and the prompt measures which were taken in consequence, for the wind became fair that night. It was one of those events which so frequently occur in history, and as often in private life, where important consequences depend upon some accidental, or, to speak more properly, providential circumstance, which yet is unavailing, unless improved by judgment and energy.

When Sir Edward made his communication to the Admiralty, Earl Spencer observed, that the first step was to send advices without delay to the admirals at Plymouth and Portsmouth. "That," replied Sir Edward, "has been already attended to. I sent despatches from Exeter and Salisbury." "Then, Sir," said a junior Lord, apparently with displeasure, "you have left nothing for the Admiralty to do."—"Except," interposed Lord Spencer, "to get the British fleet to sea with as little delay as possible."

The Board directed Sir Edward to return to Falmouth, and proceed without delay to reconnoitre Brest. During his absence, Sir J.B. Warren had arrived with his frigates; and a squadron, consisting of the Pomone, Arethusa, Diamond, Galatea, and Concorde, sailed from Falmouth on the 2nd of January, and arrived off Ushant on the following morning. The Diamond, commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, was sent a-head to reconnoitre, and the squadron followed. A line-of-battle ship was seen at anchor in Bertheaume Bay on the evening of the 4th. The Diamond persevered in working up through the night, and at eight next morning was seen returning to the squadron.

Sir Sidney reported that he had completely reconnoitred Brest at daylight, and ascertained that the enemy's fleet was at sea. On his return, he was under the necessity of passing very near the French seventy-four, but having disguised his ship with French colours, and a bonnet rouge at her head, he went boldly under the enemy's stern, and hailed her in French. She was the ship from L'Orient, Le Caton, which had been obliged to return to port disabled, and her pumps were going as she lay at anchor. Sir Sidney gave the name of his own ship as La Surveillante; and having offered assistance, which was declined, he took leave, and made sail for the squadron.

The enemy's fleet, thirty-five sail of the line, thirteen frigates, and sixteen smaller vessels, had put to sea towards the end of December. Some of them were driven back by a gale, but the fleet continued to cruise until the end of January, when they were obliged to return to port, with the loss of five ships.[6]

The squadron, having effected their principal object, arrived off Falmouth, and landed despatches on the 6th. They afterwards continued their cruise until the 22d, when they returned to port.

Sir Edward now left the Arethusa, and joined the Indefatigable, one of three 64-gun ships which had lately been cut down to heavy frigates. One part of the plan was to reduce their masts and rigging in proportion to the diminished size of their hulls. All of them proved slow and unmanageable ships; and Sir Edward, who had satisfied himself of the cause of the failure, applied to the Navy Board for permission to alter the Indefatigable. The Comptroller of the Navy was much offended at the request, denying that the plan of the Navy Board had failed; and when Sir Edward alluded to the notorious inefficiency of the ships, he said that it arose entirely from faulty stowage of the ballast and hold. They parted, mutually dissatisfied; and Sir Edward appealed immediately to Lord Spencer, who, a short time before, had been placed at the head of the Admiralty. This nobleman showed every desire to meet Sir Edward's wishes, but expressed very great reluctance to involve himself in a difference with the Navy Board; and requested him to arrange the affair, if possible, himself. He accordingly attempted it; but finding no disposition to meet his views, he at length declined the appointment, saying that he would not risk his credit by commanding a worthless ship. This brought the question to a point; and he was allowed to alter the Indefatigable according to his own plans. They were entirely successful, for she became an excellent sailer and a most efficient ship.

Sir Edward was remarkably accurate in judging of a ship's qualities. For this he was probably indebted in the first place to the practical knowledge of ship-building which he acquired, when he assisted to construct the squadron on Lake Champlain, and to his very close intimacy with Lieutenant (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Schanck, an enthusiast on the subject, and who always regarded him with peculiar pride and attachment, as a pupil of his own. The general knowledge which he thus obtained, could not fail to be improved in the course of his own service. Many illustrations may be given of the correctness of his opinion in this respect. The Bordelais, a French cruiser taken by the Revolutionaire, carrying 24 guns on a flush deck, 149 feet long, was bought into the service, and commissioned by Captain Manby. She was one of the fastest and most beautiful vessels ever seen, but so dangerous, that she was called, in the navy, "the coffin." Sir Edward saw her alongside the jetty at Plymouth, and pointing out to her commander the cause of her dangerous character, recommended the means of guarding against it. His advice was always acted upon, and the Bordelais survived; while two other captured sloops of war, the Railleur and Trompeuse, built after her model, but on a reduced scale, foundered with their crews on the same day. When the 10-gun brigs were introduced into the service, he condemned them in the strongest terms; and being asked what should be done with those already built, he replied, "Put them all together, and burn them, for they will drown their crews." His prediction has been too correctly fulfilled in the fate of these vessels, of which six were lost in the packet-service in six years and a half, with two hundred and fifty people. At a much later period, when the beautiful Caledonia, the most perfect ship of her class, was about to be made the victim of an experiment, he implored, but unfortunately in vain, that she might be spared.

The Indefatigable sailed from Falmouth on her first cruise on the 2nd of March; and in the following week, the squadron captured fifteen out of a convoy of twenty-five vessels, which had taken shelter among the rocks of the Penmarcks. On the 7th of May, she had a most narrow escape from shipwreck. The extraordinary circumstances connected with the accident, are related in the words of the late Capt. George Bell, at that time one of the officers.

"In the summer of 1795, the Indefatigable, when cruising off Cape Finisterre, fell in with Admiral Waldegrave's squadron of line-of-battle ships, and the Concorde frigate. The admiral made signal for the Indefatigable and Concorde to chase a small strange sail running along shore. All sail was soon set, royals, top-gallant studding-sails, &c., the wind being northerly, and the water as smooth as glass. At noon, Mr. George Bell, acting master, was in the act of crossing from the starboard gangway to the quarter-deck, to report twelve o'clock to the captain, who was looking over the larboard quarter-deck hammocks at the land, and strange sail, when he suddenly heard a rumbling noise, as if a top-sail-tie had given way, and the yard was coming down. He looked aloft, but saw nothing amiss, and then perceived that the ship was aground. Mr. Bell instantly sprang into the main-chains, and dropped the hand lead over. Only eighteen feet water was on the rock, the ship drawing nineteen and a half feet abaft. There were twelve and fourteen fathoms under the how and stern, consequently she hung completely in the centre. Sir Edward, whose judgment in moments of danger was always so correct and decisive as never to have occasion to give a second order, immediately directed some of the main-deck guns to be moved, and the ship's company to sally her off the rock. This fortunately succeeded. The ship fell over heavily, and started into deep water, with five feet water in her hold. Signals of distress were now made to the flag-ship, and the admiral ordered the Indefatigable to proceed to Lisbon to repair, and the Concorde to accompany us to the mouth of the Tagus. We arrived on the third day after the accident. So serious was the leak, that the men could not quit the pumps for a moment, and only a good ship's company, such as we had, could have kept the ship afloat.

"On the evening of our arrival, the English consul sent on board a number of Portuguese, to relieve the crew. Early next morning (having the morning watch) I observed all these people leave the pumps. It was a saint's day, and they would not work. I ran into the Captain's cabin to state the circumstance; he in a moment came out in his dressing-gown, with a drawn sword, chased the Portuguese round the gangways and forecastle, made them to a man lay in at the pumps, and kept them at it till the pumps sucked.

"In order to ascertain whether both sides of the ship had been injured. Sir Edward resolved to examine the bottom himself; and to the astonishment and admiration of everybody who witnessed this heroic act, he plunged into the water, thoroughly examined both sides, and satisfied himself that the starboard side only had been damaged. This saved much time and expense; for had not Sir Edward hazarded the experiment, the apparatus for heaving down must have been shifted over. The Indefatigable was docked on her arrival at Plymouth, early in August, and it then appeared how accurately he had described the injury. She had twenty-seven of her floors and first futtocks broke, and the Portuguese, in repairing her, had put in seventeen feet of main-keel. The frame of a regular-built frigate could not have stood the shock.

"A few days after the submarine inspection, the gun-room officers invited Sir Edward to dinner, to commemorate the 10th of June, the Nymphe's action, on board the Principe Real, a Portuguese 80-gun ship, used as a hulk by the Indefatigable's crew, while their ship was repairing. In the evening, some of the crew took Sir Edward on their shoulders, carried him all over the hulk, and swore they would make him an admiral."

In her next cruise, the Indefatigable nearly lost her gallant captain. On the 31st of August she had strong gales and squally weather, the wind flying round from W. by S. to N.E., S.E., and S.W. In the afternoon the weather moderated. The ship had been hove to under a close-reefed main-topsail, with the top-gallant yards down, the sea running very high, and the ship pitching much. It was Sunday, and the captain was at dinner with the officers, when a bustle was heard on deck. He ran instantly to the poop, and saw two men in the water, amidst the wreck of a six-oared cutter. One of the tackles had unhooked, through a heavy sea lifting the boat, and the men had jumped into her to secure it, when another sea dashed her to pieces. The captain stepped into the gig, which was carried over the stern above the cutter, and ordered it to be lowered; and though his officers urgently dissuaded him from so dangerous an attempt, he determined to hazard it. At this moment the ship made a deep plunge aft, the boat was stove, and the captain left in the water. He was much hurt, and bled profusely, for he was dashed violently against the rudder, and his nostril was torn up by the hook of one of the tackles. But his coolness and self-possession did not forsake him, and calling for a rope, he slung himself with one of the many that were thrown to him, and cheerfully ordered those on board to haul away. As soon as possible, the jolly-boat, with an officer and crew, was hoisted out from the booms, and fortunately saved the men.

This was the third time within the present year that Sir Edward had risked his life to save others. While the ship was being fitted out, he had been instrumental in saving two lives at Point Beach. Again, a short time before she sailed, and while she was lying at Spithead, the coxswain of one of the cutters fell overboard. The captain ran aft, and was instantly in the water, where he caught the man just as he was sinking. Life was apparently extinct, but happily was restored by the usual means. Perhaps no man has oftener distinguished himself in this manner; but the splendour of one act of heroism and humanity leaves all the others in the shade.

On the 26th of January, 1796, when the Indefatigable was lying in Hamoaze, after having been docked, the Dutton, a large East Indiaman, employed in the transport service, on her way to the West Indies with part of the 2nd, or Queen's regiment, was driven into Plymouth by stress of weather. She had been out seven weeks, and had many sick on board. The gale increasing in the afternoon, it was determined to run for greater safety to Catwater; but the buoy at the extremity of the reef off Mount Batten having broke adrift, of which the pilots were not aware, she touched on the shoal, and carried away her rudder. Thus rendered unmanageable, she fell off, and grounded under the citadel, where, beating round, she lay rolling heavily with her broadside to the waves. At the second roll she threw all her masts over board together.

Sir Edward and Lady Pellew were on their way to dine with Dr. Hawker, vicar of Charles,—who had become acquainted with Mr. Pellew when they were serving together at Plymouth as surgeons to the marines, and continued through life the intimate and valued friend of all the brothers. Sir Edward noticed the crowds running to the Hoe, and having learned the cause, he sprang out of the carriage, and ran off with the rest. Arrived at the beach, he saw at once that the loss of nearly all on board, between five and six hundred, was almost inevitable. The captain had been landed on account of indisposition on the preceding day, and his absence could not fail to increase the confusion of a large and crowded transport under such appalling circumstances. The officers had succeeded in getting a hawser to the shore, by which several of the people landed; but this was a slow operation; and none but a bold and active person could avail himself of this means of escape, for the rolling of the vessel would now jerk him high in the air, and then plunge him among the breakers. Every minute was of consequence, for night was approaching, and the wreck was fast breaking up.

Sir Edward was anxious to send a message to the officers, and offered rewards to pilots, and others on the beach, to board the wreck; but when every one shrank from a service which they deemed too hazardous to be attempted, he exclaimed, "Then I will go myself." Availing himself of the hawser which communicated with the ship, he was hauled on board through the surf. The danger was greatly increased by the wreck of the masts, which had fallen towards the shore; and he received an injury on the back, which confined him to his bed for a week, in consequence of being dragged under the mainmast. But disregarding this at the time, he reached the deck, declared himself, and assumed the command. He assured the people that every one would be saved, if they attended quietly to his directions; that he would himself be the last to quit the wreck, but that he would run any one through who disobeyed him. His well-known name, with the calmness and energy he displayed, gave confidence to the despairing multitude. He was received with three hearty cheers, which were echoed by the thousands on shore; and his promptitude at resource soon enabled him to find and apply the means by which all might be safely landed. His officers in the mean time, though not knowing that he was on board, were exerting themselves to bring assistance from the Indefatigable. Mr. Pellowe, first lieutenant, left the ship in the barge, and Mr. Thompson, acting master (son of Mr. Thompson, who had been master of the Nymphe), in the launch; but the boats could not be brought alongside the wreck, and were obliged to run for the Barbican. A small boat belonging to a merchant vessel was more fortunate. Mr. Edsell, signal midshipman to the port admiral, and Mr. Coghlan, mate of the vessel, succeeded, at the risk of their lives, in bringing her alongside. The ends of two additional hawsers were got on shore, and Sir Edward contrived cradles to be slung upon them, with travelling ropes to pass forward and backward between the ship and the beach. Each hawser was held on shore by a number of men, who watched the rolling of the wreck, and kept the ropes tight and steady. Meantime, a cutter had with great difficulty worked out of Plymouth pool, and two large boats arrived from the dockyard, under the directions of Mr. Hemmings, the master-attendant, by whose caution and judgment they were enabled to approach the wreck, and receive the more helpless of the passengers, who were carried to the cutter. Sir Edward, with his sword drawn, directed the proceedings, and preserved order—a task the more difficult, as the soldiers had got at the spirits before he came on board, and many were drunk. The children, the women, and the sick, were the first landed. One of them was only three weeks old; and nothing in the whole transaction impressed Sir Edward more strongly than the struggle of the mother's feelings before she would entrust her infant to his care, or afforded him more pleasure than the success of his attempt to save it. Next the soldiers were got on shore; then the ship's company; and finally. Sir Edward himself, who was one of the last to leave her. Every one was saved, and presently after the wreck went to pieces.

Nothing could equal the lustre of such an action, except the modesty of him who was the hero of it. Indeed, upon all occasions, forward as he was to eulogize the merits of his followers, Sir Edward was reserved almost to a fault upon everything connected with his own services. The only notice taken of the Dutton, in the journal of the Indefatigable, is the short sentence:—"Sent two boats to the assistance of a ship on shore in the Sound;" and in his letter to Vice-Admiral Onslow, who had hoisted his flag at Plymouth a day or two before, he throws himself almost out of sight, and ascribes the chief merit to the officer who directed the boats:—

"Dear Sir,—I hope it happened to me this afternoon to be serviceable to the unhappy sufferers on board the Dutton; and I have much satisfaction in saying, that every soul in her was taken out before I left her, except the first mate, boatswain, and third mate, who attended the hauling ropes to the shore, and they eased me on shore by the hawser. It is not possible to refrain speaking in raptures of the handsome conduct of Mr. Hemmings, the master-attendant, who, at the imminent risk of his life, saved hundreds. If I had not hurt my leg, and been otherwise much bruised, I would have waited on you; but hope this will be a passable excuse.

I am, with respect,
Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,

Ed. Pellew."

"Thursday evening."

The merit of services performed in the sight of thousands could not thus be disclaimed. Praise was lavished upon him from every quarter. The corporation of Plymouth voted him the freedom of the town. The merchants of Liverpool presented him with a valuable service of plate. On the 5th of March following, he was created a baronet, as Sir Edward Pellew, of Treverry, and received for an honourable augmentation of his arms, a civic wreath, a stranded ship for a crest, and the motto, "Deo adjuvante Fortuna sequatur." This motto, so modest, and not less expressive of his own habitual feelings, was chosen by himself, in preference to one proposed, which was more personally complimentary.

Appreciating Mr. Coghlan's services, and delighted with the judgment and gallantry he had displayed, Sir Edward offered to place him on his own quarter-deck. It is unnecessary to add that the career of this distinguished officer has been worthy his introduction to the navy.

On the 9th of March the Indefatigable sailed from Falmouth, with the Revolutionaire, Argo, Amazon, and Concorde. On the 21st, the Indefatigable gave chase to three corvettes, one of which she drove on shore, and destroyed. On the 13th of April, she fell in with the French frigate l'Unité, on her way from l'Orient to Rochefort, having on board, as passengers, the governor's lady, Madame la Large, and her family. The Revolutionaire, which was ordered to chase in shore to cut off the enemy from the land, came up with her a little before midnight. Captain Cole hailed the French captain, and urged him repeatedly to submit to a superior force; but the enemy refusing to strike, he poured in two destructive broadsides. He was preparing to board, the frigates at the time running ten knots, when the French ship surrendered. She had suffered very severely from the fire of the Revolutionaire, without having been able to make any effectual return. Sir Edward sent the passengers to Brest in a neutral vessel, and finding that one of the junior officers of the prize was a son of Mme. la Large, he took the young man's parole, and allowed him to accompany his mother.

With his official communication to the Admiralty, which accompanied Captain Cole's account of the action, he wrote a private letter to the First Lord, and another to the Earl of Chatham. It was his practice through life thus to strengthen an interest for his officers in every possible quarter, and it was one, though not the only, cause of his remarkable success in obtaining promotion for so many of them. His letters on this occasion, though they display the warmth of private friendship, are not stronger than he was accustomed to write for others, whose only claim upon him was that which every deserving officer has to the patronage of his commander. The following is the letter to Lord Spencer:—

"My Lord,—I have much pleasure in informing your Lordship of the capture of the French frigate, l'Unité, of thirty-eight guns, and two hundred and fifty-five men; and I have more in conveying to your Lordship my sense of Captain Cole's merit upon the occasion. Nothing could be more decided than his conduct; and his attack was made with so much vigour and judgment, that a ship of very superior force to l'Unité must have rewarded his gallantry. To his extreme vigilance and zeal, the squadron are indebted for this prize. It is not improper for me to say, that on all occasions I have found much reason to respect Captain Cole as a skilful and brave officer, and I rejoice in the opportunity of bearing testimony to his merit."

To the Earl of Chatham, with whom he was intimate, he wrote in a more familiar strain:—

"My Dear Lord,—Much as I dislike breaking in upon your time, I cannot resist the pleasure of repeating to you the good fortune of my friend, Frank Cole, who was the fortunate man among us in taking l'Unité, alias la Variante. There are few things, my Lord, that could raise my friend either in your opinion or mine; but one cannot but rejoice on finding our expectations realized.

"I am satisfied that nothing could be better conducted than Frank's ship upon this occasion, or courage more coolly displayed; a proof of which was strongly exhibited in his conversation with a vaunting Frenchman, boasting of his own strength, and threatening the vengeance of his partner. It will not be advancing too much when I say, that a ship of far superior force must have shared the same fate. The French commander complains bitterly of Cole's taking such advantages as his superior skill afforded him. The Revolutionaire is much improved since her mainmast was moved, and you will believe her, my Lord, always in good order. I have with infinite pleasure given my testimony of Frank to Lord Spencer, and I doubt not but your Lordship will give him a lift in the same quarter."

Captain Cole, though his career had been less brilliant than that of his friend since they parted, had gained most flattering distinction. His high character as an officer, and his reputation for peculiar correctness of conduct, added perhaps to his more than common advantages in person and manners, had obtained for him the honour of being selected, conjointly with the late Sir Richard Keats, to have the particular charge of his late Majesty, when he first entered the navy, being made lieutenants of the watch in which the Prince was placed. He was introduced by his royal pupil to the Prince of Wales, who said of him, "They may talk of a cockpit education, and cockpit manners; but a court could not have produced more finished manners than those of your friend Captain Cole." The friendship between Sir Edward and himself had continued from their boyhood, and they had cherished for each other the affection and confidence of brothers. He died at Plymouth in 1799. A little before his death, Sir Edward, who had just returned from a cruise, came to see him for the last time. "Now," said the expiring officer, "I shall die more happy, since I have been permitted to see once again the dearest of my friends:" and when Sir Edward at length tore himself from the room, unable to control his feelings any longer, a burst of grief, on returning to the mother and sisters of Captain Cole, prevented him for a considerable time from regaining sufficient composure to quit the affecting scene.

On the morning of the 20th of April, the frigates were lying-to off the Lizard, when a large ship was seen coming in from seaward, which tacked as soon as she perceived them, and stood off without answering the private signal. The Revolutionaire and Argo were ordered by signal to proceed to port with the prize, and the others to make all sail in chase, the wind being off the land. Towards evening the Concorde and Amazon had been run out of sight, but the Indefatigable gained upon the chase, which made the most strenuous efforts to escape, and was manoeuvred with no common ability. She was the 40-gun frigate Virginie, one of the finest and fastest vessels in the French marine, and commanded by Captain Jaques Bergeret, a young-officer of the highest character and promise. The Virginie was one of the fleet of Villaret Joyeuse, when, ten months before, Cornwallis, with five sail of the line and two frigates, effected his justly celebrated retreat from thirty French men-of-war, of which twelve were of the line. On this occasion, Bergeret attacked the Mars, with a spirit and judgment which gave full earnest of his future conduct.

Finding that the British frigate outsailed her on a wind, the Virginie bore away; but the Indefatigable continued to gain on her, and at a little before midnight came up within gun-shot, and took in royals and studding-sails, having run one hundred and sixty-eight miles in fifteen hours. The Virginie fired her stern-chasers, occasionally yawing to bring some of her broadside guns to bear, but without material effect; and the two ships, still running under a press of canvass, came to action. The Indefatigable had only one broadside-gun more than her opponent; but her size and very heavy metal gave her an irresistible superiority. Seven of the Virginie's people were killed at one of the quarter-deck guns, which struck such a panic in those around them, that it was with difficulty they could be induced to return to their quarters. Yet Bergeret fought his ship with admirable skill and gallantry, and maintained a very protracted action, constantly endeavouring to cripple the Indefatigable's rigging. Sir Edward had a very narrow escape. The main-top-mast was shot away, and falling forward, it disabled the main yard, and came down on the splinter-netting directly over his head. Happily, the netting was strong enough to bear the wreck.

It was an hour and three-quarters from the commencement of the action, when, the Virginie's mizen-mast and main-top-mast being shot away, the Indefatigable unavoidably went a-head. In addition to her former damage, she had lost her foreyard and gaff, and her rigging was so much cut that she was unable immediately to shorten sail. The Virginie was completely riddled. Some of the Indefatigable's shot had even gone through the sail-room and out at the opposite side of the ship. She had four feet water in her hold, and more than forty of her crew were killed and wounded. Yet she attempted to rake her opponent as she was shooting a-head, and had nearly succeeded in doing so.

While the Indefatigable was reeving fresh braces, the other frigates came up, having been enabled to make a shorter distance by the altered course of the combatants during the chase. On their approach, the Virginie fired a lee-gun, and hauled down her light; and being hailed by the Concorde, replied, "We must surrender, there are so many of you: we strike to the frigate a-head." A more brave and skilful resistance is scarcely afforded by the annals of the war; and the officer who thus defends his ship against a very superior force may challenge more honour than would be claimed by the victor.

A boat was sent from the Indefatigable for the gallant prisoner, who was deeply affected at his misfortune, and wept bitterly. He inquired to whom he had struck; and being told Sir Edward Pellew, "Oh!" he exclaimed, "that is the most fortunate man that ever lived! He takes everything, and now he has taken the finest frigate in France."

Bergeret was for some time the honoured guest of Sir Edward and his family, and the British Government considered him an officer of sufficient character to be offered in exchange for Sir Sidney Smith, who had been made prisoner at Havre just before. They sent him to France on his parole, to effect this object; but his application not being successful, he returned to England. Two years after, Sir Sidney Smith escaped, and the British Government, with a feeling most honourable to themselves, set Bergeret unconditionally at liberty. Thus do the brave and good, in challenging the respect of their enemies, contribute to soften the rigours of war, and to create a better feeling between hostile nations.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] A trifling incident occurred in this journey, which may, perhaps, deserve to be mentioned. In going down a hill, two or three miles beyond Axminster, both leaders fell, and the night being very cold, for the wind had set in strong from the eastward, a ring, on which he set particular value, dropped from Sir Edward's finger, as he was getting into the carriage again. He was vexed at the loss; but the road being very dirty, and the night dark, it was useless then to seek it. He therefore tore a bush from the hedge, and left it where the carriage had stopped: and ordering the post-boys to draw up at the next cottage, he knocked up the inmates, and promised them a reward if they found it. To his great pleasure, the expedient proved successful, and the ring was delivered to him on his return.

[6] The Revolutionaire, 110, wrecked Dec. 24, on the Mingan rock, near Brest; the Neuf Thermidor, 80. Scipion, 80, and Superbe, 74, foundered in a heavy gale on the 28th of January; and the Neptune, 74, wrecked in Audierne Bay.

CHAPTER V.

EXPEDITION AGAINST IRELAND.

France, having at length obtained internal quiet, and a settled Government under the Directory, and secured the alliance of Spain and Holland, prepared for a decisive blow against Great Britain. The condition of the British empire was at that time peculiarly critical. Of her allies, some had joined the enemy, and the others had proved unequal to resist him. In the East, the most powerful of the native princes were preparing to subvert her authority. At home, Ireland was organized for rebellion; and England herself contained a strong revolutionary party, checked, indeed, by the energy of the Government, and still more by the excellent disposition of the people, but prepared to rise in formidable activity, whenever the successes of the enemy should enable them to declare themselves.

Well acquainted with all her difficulties, the French Government hastened to take advantage of them. Through the summer and autumn of 1796, a powerful fleet was equipped at Brest, to land an army on the shores of Ireland; after accomplishing which, a squadron of eight sail of the line was to be detached to India, where its support would probably encourage the hostile states to an immediate and general war. Its prospects were the more promising, as the armies of two of the native princes were officered by Frenchmen. As for Ireland, that was regarded as a country of which they had only to take possession; and the well-known feeling of a considerable part of the inhabitants warranted the most sanguine hopes of the invader.

The history of Ireland affords a melancholy, but most instructive lesson, pre-eminent as that unhappy country has been, at once for natural and political advantages, and for misery, turbulence, and crime. A Government, to command the obedience of the people by its firmness, and their confidence by a marked consideration for their feelings and welfare; a gentry, united with them as their leaders, protectors, and friends; and a Church, winning them to a purer faith by the unobtrusive display of benefits and excellences: all these blessings might have been its own. But by fatal mismanagement, the gentry, those of them who remained, were viewed as the garrison of a conquered country by the multitude, who were taught to feel themselves a degraded caste. The Church became identified in their minds with all that they most complained of; and the faith for which they suffered was doubly endeared to them. Thus the instruments for their deliverance confirmed their thraldom, and what should have won affection aggravated their enmity.

If there were a mistake beyond all this, it was that of expecting peace from concessions extorted by violence, and calculated only to give increased power to the enemies of existing institutions. Lord Exmouth held a very decided opinion upon this point, and foresaw that strong coercive measures would become necessary in consequence. He well knew how feeble would be the restraint imposed by any conditions contemplated by the advocates of change; and in allusion to the remark of the Duke of Northumberland, who had expressed a belief that he would think differently, when he saw the securities which would accompany the concessions—"Securities!" he said, "it is all nonsense! I never yet could see them, and I never shall." He justly anticipated, that as long as anything remained to be extorted, new demands would be founded upon every new concession. "How would you like," he said to one of his officers, "to see Roman Catholic chaplains on board our ships of war?" While the question was in progress, he wrote with prophetic truth—"The times are awful, when the choice of two evils only is left, a threatened rebellion, or the surrender of our constitution, by the admission of Catholics into Parliament and all offices. I think even this will not satisfy Ireland. Ascendancy is their object. You may postpone, and by loss of character parry the evil for a short space; but not long, depend upon it. You and I may not see it, but our children will, and be obliged to meet the struggle man to man, which we may now shirk. By God alone can we be saved from such consequences; may He shed his power and grace upon us as a nation!"

The political being everywhere dependent on the religious creed, a country where popish superstitions prevail will always contain two parties hostile upon principle to a free and constitutional government. The multitude, who have surrendered the right of private judgment upon the most engrossing subject, lose the disposition to exercise it upon matters of inferior importance; and become dangerous instruments in the hands of designing characters. A party will be found among them, whose penetration can detect the mummeries of imposture, but not perceive the claims of religion; and who, as they throw off allegiance to God, revolt at any exercise of human authority. Political privileges, the strength of a nation, where the intelligence and morals of the people support the law, will in such a country give power to rebellion, and impunity to crime. A government paternal in vigour as in kindness; the control of a firm authority, supreme over all influence, to maintain order, to leave no excuse for party, to protect the peaceable, promptly to suppress all resistance to the law, and to give to the demagogue only the alternative between obedience and rebellion, will be required not more for the safety of the state, than for the welfare of the misguided people.

When the progress of the French revolution engaged the attention of Europe, there was no country where it was regarded with greater interest than in Ireland. The Papists hoped from it the opportunity to overthrow Protestant supremacy: the Liberals hailed the triumph of their own principles. Emissaries were sent to France, who represented that nothing was wanting to secure the independence of Ireland but a regular army for a rallying point; and France, hoping to give a fatal blow to her most formidable enemy, and to gain a valuable province for herself, readily promised the aid required, and as soon as her own distracted condition would allow, hastened to fulfil her engagement.

The auxiliary force which the rebel delegates deemed sufficient, was fifteen thousand men; but an army of at least eighteen thousand was provided, commanded by that determined republican and distinguished officer, General Hoche, who had very recently succeeded in suppressing the revolt in La Vendee. Vice Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, defeated by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, was selected to command the fleet; but, a misunderstanding having arisen between him and the General, he was superseded by Vice-Admiral Morard de Galles.

The Minister of Marine, M. Truguet, whose able arrangements seemed to have anticipated and provided for every difficulty, had intended that the descent should be made in October, or at latest by the beginning of November; but the General having preferred to embark the whole army at once, it was delayed for the arrival of Rear-Admirals Pachery and Villeneuve; of whom the first, with seven sail of the line and three frigates, was waiting for an opportunity to come up from Rochefort, and the other was expected with five sail of the line from Toulon. The secret of the enemy's intentions was so well kept, that England had to conjecture the destination of the armament, and it was doubted to the last whether its object was Ireland, Portugal, or Gibraltar. In this uncertainty, a principal division of the Channel fleet, under Lord Bridport, remained at Spithead: Sir Roger Curtis, with a smaller force, cruised to the westward; and Vice-Admiral Sir John Colpoys was stationed off Brest, at first with ten, but afterwards with thirteen sail of the line. Sir Edward Pellew, with a small force of frigates, latterly watched the harbour.

About the middle of November, Sir R. Curtis returned to port, and soon after, M. Richery sailed from Rochefort, and entered Brest on the 11th of December. Sir E. Pellew, who had necessarily retired on his approach, immediately sent off two frigates with despatches, the Amazon to England, and the Phœbe to Sir J. Colpoys. On the 15th, he stood in with the Indefatigable, and though chased by a seventy-four and five frigates, stationed in Bertheaume Bay, he persisted in watching the port as usual. In the afternoon, he saw the French fleet leave the road of Brest, and immediately sent back the Phœbe to report the fact to the Admiral. The enemy anchored between Camaret and Bertheaume Bays, in front of the goulet, or entrance into Brest road.

Knowing how much depended on his vigilance, Sir Edward had watched Brest with the most anxious attention. The wind blew generally from the eastward, at times so strong, that the line-of-battle-ships would be under a close-reefed maintop-sail and reefed foresail; and the weather was intensely cold: yet he went every morning to the mast-head, where he would remain making his observations for a considerable part of the day, one of the older midshipmen being usually with him. "Well I remember," writes one of his officers, "that on being one day relieved to go down to my dinner, I was obliged to have some of the main-top-men to help me down the rigging, I was so benumbed with the intense cold: yet the captain was there six or seven hours at a time, without complaining, or taking any refreshment."

On the 16th, the wind being from the eastward, the French fleet, forty-four ships, of which seventeen were of the line and thirteen frigates, got finally under way, not waiting the arrival of Villeneuve. The Admiral purposed leaving Brest by the southern entrance, the Passage du Raz, between the Bec du Raz and the Saintes. By taking this course, and by so timing his departure as to clear the land just at nightfall, he hoped to elude the vigilance of the British fleet off Ushant, whose usual cruising ground was not more than six or seven leagues to leeward. But through the delays inseparable from getting a large and encumbered fleet to sea, it was four o'clock before all the ships were under sail; and as night was fast closing in, and the wind becoming variable, the Admiral determined not to attempt the narrow and dangerous passage he had fixed on, but to steer for the open entrance in front of the harbour, the Passage d'Iroise. Accordingly, he altered his own course, and made signal for the fleet to follow; but neither was generally observed, and the greater part of the ships, as previously directed, entered the Passage du Raz. The Admiral, therefore, sent a corvette into the midst of them, to call their attention to his own ship, which continued to fire guns, and display lights to mark the change in her course. By this time, it was quite dark, and many circumstances increased the enemy's confusion. The Seduisant, seventy-four, ran on the Grand Stevenet, a rock at the entrance of the Passage du Raz, where she was totally lost that night, with nearly seven hundred of her people. Her guns, and other signals, prevented those of the corvette from being attended to; and the Indefatigable, which kept close to the French Admiral, made his signals unintelligible to the fleet.

Sir E. Pellew had stood in that morning with the Indefatigable and Revolutionaire, and at noon came in sight of the enemy. At a quarter before five, when they had all got underway, he sent off Captain Cole to the Admiral, and remained with his own ship to observe and embarrass their movements. With a boldness which must have astonished them, accustomed though they had been to the daring manner in which he had watched their port; under easy sail, but with studding-sails ready for a start, if necessary, he kept as close as possible to the French Admiral, often within half-gun-shot; and as that officer made signals to his fleet, he falsified them by additional guns, lights, and rockets. At half-past eight, when the French ships were observed coming round the Saintes, he made sail to the north-west, with a light at each mast-head, constantly making signals for Sir J. Colpoys, by firing a gun every quarter of an hour, throwing up rockets, and burning blue lights. At midnight, having received no answer, he tacked, and stood to the southward until six o'clock. Still seeing nothing of the Admiral, though he had sailed over all his cruising ground, he sent off the Duke of York, hired armed lugger, to England, with despatches, intending to remain with the Indefatigable, and take part in the expected battle. But reflecting on the importance of conveying the information quickly to England, with the uncertainty of its being carried safely by so small a vessel; and assured that the Revolutionaire, which he had again spoke that morning, would not fail to meet Sir J. Colpoys, he gave up the hope of distinction to a sense of duty, and made sail for Falmouth. He arrived late in the evening of the 20th.

If Lord Bridport had been waiting at Falmouth, with discretional powers, Sir Edward having been instructed to communicate directly with him, he might have sailed early on the 21st, and found the enemy in Bantry Bay, where, perhaps, not a ship would have escaped him. It is, however, to be remembered, that as the destination of the French armament was unknown to the last, the Admiralty might very properly determine that he should receive his final instructions from themselves, and therefore would keep the fleet at Spithead for the convenience of ready communication.

On the 25th, Lord Bridport attempted to sail. The enemy had arrived four days before, and if the weather had allowed the troops to land, the most complete naval victory would have been too late to save the country. The fleet was prevented from putting to sea on that day by a succession of accidents, by which five of the heaviest ships were disabled before they could leave the harbour. The Prime missed stays, and fell on board the Sans Pareil. The Formidable ran foul of the Ville de Paris; and the Atlas grounded. Four of these were three-deckers, and the other was one of the finest 80-gun ships in the service. When at length part of the fleet reached St. Helen's, a shift of wind kept the rest at Spithead; and the Admiral could not put to sea till January 3rd. The baffled enemy was then returning, and seven of his ships had actually arrived in Brest two days before the British sailed from Portsmouth to pursue them.

How Sir J. Colpoys missed the enemy may appear extraordinary. The explanation, which every circumstance tends to confirm, is, that he was restrained from attacking them by his instructions, his force being intended only for a squadron of observation: for though the enemy's fleet, as it actually sailed, would have given him an easy victory, there was always reason to believe that it was much too strong for his force. Exclusive of the five sail which were hourly expected from Toulon, there were twenty-four line-of-battle ships in Brest, and there was no reason to conclude but that the greater part, if not the whole of them, were to sail with the expedition. As the British would be so much outnumbered, Sir E. Pellew offered, in the event of a battle, to take a place in the line with the Indefatigable. The Admiral thanked him, but declined the offer, believing that the enemy's superiority was too great to hope for victory. When the enemy put to sea, the British fleet was eight or nine leagues to the westward of their usual cruising ground, and thus was missed, not only by the Indefatigable, but also by the Revolutionaire, which did not join with the information till the 19th. Next day, the Toulon ships were seen, and chased into port; and the Admiral, having no means of learning the course of the Brest fleet, and some of his own ships being obliged to part company, in consequence of injuries they had sustained in a gale, bore away with the remainder for Spithead.

Meantime, almost everything favoured the enemy. The two divisions of his fleet, which were separated on the evening of the 16th, by putting to sea through different passages, rejoined on the 19th, and reached their destination early on the 21st, without having met a single British cruiser. When they appeared off the Bay, a number of pilot-boats came out, supposing them to be a British fleet; and thus the French Admiral obtained pilots for his ships, and gained all the information he wanted of the British men-of-war on the coast. A line-of-battle ship and three frigates were still missing. Their absence would not have materially weakened the enemy, whose force still exceeded what the rebel delegates had required; but the two commanders had embarked in one of the missing frigates, the Fraternité; and Rear-Admiral Bouvet and General Grouchy, the seconds in command, could scarcely act with decision while their chiefs were hourly expected.

The Fraternité, with the other three ships in company, was very near the fleet on the 20th, but it was concealed from her by a fog; and a gale which dispersed the fog, separated her from her consorts. Proceeding alone to the Bay, she had nearly reached it on the 21st, when she fell in with a British frigate, which she mistook for one of her own fleet till she was almost within gun-shot. Night saved her from capture, but the chase had carried her far to the westward, and it was eight days before she obtained a fair wind to return.

The ships continued beating up to Bearhaven against a fresh easterly breeze until the evening of the 22nd, when the Rear-Admiral anchored off the eastern extremity of Great Bear Island, with eight sail of the line, two frigates, and some smaller vessels. Seven sail of the line, and eight frigates, kept under sail; and the wind rising in the night blew them all off to sea.

It blew hard, with a heavy sea, through the next day and night. On the 24th, the weather having moderated, it was determined in a council of war to land the remaining troops immediately, and General Grouchy made a formal requisition for that purpose. A suitable landing-place was found, and the necessary preparations were completed; but it was now late in the afternoon, and the landing was necessarily deferred until morning. That night, the gale rose from the eastward, and increased through the next day to a tempest. At length the ships began to drive from their anchors. The Indomptable, 80, ran foul of the Resolve frigate, and totally dismasted her. The other frigate, the Immortalité, in which Rear-admiral Bouvet had embarked, though his proper flag-ship was the Droits de l'Homme, parted one of her cables in the evening, and was obliged to cut the other, and run out to sea. The weather would not allow her to return until the 29th, and then the Rear-Admiral, hopeless of re-assembling the fleet, decided to proceed to Brest.

Others were less fortunate. The Tortue frigate, two corvettes, and four transports, were taken. The Surveillante frigate was wrecked, and a transport foundered in the bay; and a third frigate, l'Impatiente, was driven on shore near Crookhaven. The sailors determined to secure for themselves alone the means of escape, leaving the troops to their fate. Where such a feeling could exist, the discipline required for their own safety was not likely to be found: and all perished but seven, who were saved chiefly by the exertions of the people on shore.

Part of the fleet, after having been blown out of the bay, steered for the Shannon, which had been fixed on as a rendezvous in the event of separation; but they were too few to attempt a landing, and after waiting for a short time in hope of reinforcements, they found it necessary to return.

The Fraternité, with the two commanders-in-chief, continued to beat against an easterly gale till the 29th, when the wind became fair for the bay. Standing towards it, she fell in with the Scerola, rasé, in a sinking state, with the Revolution, 74, engaged in taking out the people. She assisted to save them, and the two ships continued their course towards Ireland, hoping to fall in with so many of the fleet as might still enable them to make a descent. But next day, not having seen any of them, and their provisions becoming short, they steered for France. On the 8th of January, they were very near eleven of their ships, which they would presently have joined, but that they altered their course to avoid two British frigates, the Unicorn and Doris, which at the time were actually being chased by the French. Next day they again fell in with the frigates, and on the morning of the 10th they were chased by Lord Bridport's fleet, from which they narrowly escaped. On the 14th they entered Rochefort, the last of the returning ships.

Such was the fate of an expedition, in which nothing was neglected which foresight could suggest, and nothing wanting which ability could supply; whose fortune attended it until success might be deemed secure, and whose defeat was attended with circumstances too extraordinary to be referred to common causes. History records no event, not attended by direct miracle, in which God's providence is more strikingly displayed. The forces of atheism and popery had joined to overthrow a nation, the stronghold of Christian truth, and the bulwark of Protestant Europe. In this, so emphatically a holy war, no earthly arm was allowed to achieve the triumph. Human agency was put aside, and all human defences prostrated; and then, when the unresisted invader touched the object of his hope, the elements were commissioned against him. That the vigilance of a blockading force should be so eluded, and that unusual misfortunes should prevent a fleet from sailing till nothing remained for it to do; that the enemy's two commanders should be separated from their force when it sailed, and afterwards prevented, by so many well-timed casualties, from rejoining it; that when the fleet had actually arrived in the destined port, half should be blown out to sea again before they could anchor, and the rest driven from their anchors before they could land the troops; that the returning ships should be prevented from meeting their commanders; and that every disappointment should just anticipate the moment of success;—such a combination of circumstances it were folly and impiety to ascribe to anything less than the hand of God.

A victory would have saved the country, but it would not have afforded such ground for assured confidence in her future trials. This deliverance was a pledge of protection through the terrible struggle of the next twenty years; when, long disappointed in her hopes, and at length deserted by her last ally, England still maintained her good cause with a firmness more honourable to her character than even the unrivalled triumph she achieved. It remains a pledge, that amidst all dangers she may perform her duty as a Christian country, in full reliance upon God's blessing: or, should the greatness of her trials confound all human resources, that she may wait, in quietness and confidence, for God's deliverance.

It was Sir Edward Pellew's fortune, as he had been prominent in the services connected with the sailing of this armament, to mark the return of it by a battle, the only one fought, and equally singular in its circumstances, and appalling in its result. He put to sea with the Indefatigable and Amazon on the 22nd, and supposing the enemy to have gone to the southward, cruised off Capes Ortugal and Finisterre until the 11th of January. On the 2nd, the Amazon carried away her main-topmast, and on the 11th, the Indefatigable sprung her main-topmast and topsail-yard in a squall, and was obliged to shift them. Returning towards the Channel, on the 13th of January, at a little past noon, the ships being about fifty leagues south-west of Ushant, and the wind blowing hard from the westward, with thick weather, a sail was discovered in the north-west. Sail was made in chase, and by four o'clock the stranger, at first supposed to be a frigate, as she had no poop, was clearly made out to be a French two-decker.

The enemy's ship, the Droits de l'Homme, commanded by Commodore, ci-devant Baron Lacrosse, was one of those which had proceeded to the Shannon, after having been blown out of Bantry Bay. She was the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bouvet, but this officer, according to a frequent practice of French admirals, had embarked in a frigate. General Humbert, who commanded one of the expeditions to Ireland in 1798, had taken his passage in her. That morning she had arrived within twenty-five leagues of Belleisle, and as the weather appeared threatening, she stood to the southward, fearing to approach nearer to the shore. Early in the afternoon she saw two large ships at a short distance to windward, probably the Revolution and Fraternité, but not waiting to ascertain their character, she made sail from them to the south-east. At half-past three she first discovered on her lee-bow the two frigates, which had observed her three hours before, and were steering a course nearly parallel to her own, to cut her off from the land.

The wind had now increased to a gale, and the sea was fast rising. At half-past four the enemy carried away her fore and main-topmasts in a heavy squall. At three-quarters past five the Indefatigable came up with her, and having shortened sail to close-reefed topsails, poured in a broadside as she crossed her stern. The enemy returned it from some of the upper-deck guns, and by showers of musketry from the troops, of whom there were nearly a thousand on board. So close were the ships, that some of the Indefatigable's people tore away the enemy's ensign, which became entangled in the mizen rigging. The Indefatigable then tried to pass ahead and gain a position on the enemy's bow, but the line-of-battle ship avoided this, and attempted, but without success, to lay the frigate on board, actually grazing the Indefatigable's spanker-boom.

The British frigate engaged the line-of-battle ship single-handed for more than an hour, before her consort, which was several miles astern when the action commenced, could get up to assist her. At length, reaching the enemy, the Amazon poured a broadside into her quarter, and then, with the Commodore, maintained the engagement until about half-past seven, when the Indefatigable found it necessary to repair her rigging, and both frigates shot ahead.

At a little past eight, the frigates renewed the action, and placing themselves one on either bow of the Droits de l'Homme, raked her alternately. The seventy-four brought her guns to bear upon one or the other of her antagonists as well as she could, and occasionally attempted, but without success, to close. At half-past ten, her mizenmast was shot away, when the frigates changed their position, and attacked her on either quarter. Soon after she began to fire shells. The gale continued all night, with a very heavy sea, and the violent motion of the ships made the labour of the crews most excessive. On the main-deck of the Indefatigable, the men were often to the middle in water. Some of her guns broke their breechings four times; others drew the ring-bolts, and from some, the charge was obliged to be drawn after loading, in consequence of the water beating into them. But under these most trying circumstances, the crew did their duty nobly. The Amazon, being a smaller ship, experienced still greater difficulties than the Indefatigable. She emulated her consort most gallantly, and suffered a greater loss. Her masts and rigging were very much damaged; her mizen-top-mast, gaff, spanker-boom, and main-topsail-yard being entirely shot away; the main and foremast, and the fore and main yards wounded in several places by large shot; many of her shrouds, stays, and back-stays shot away, besides those which had been knotted and stoppered in the action; all her spare cordage was expended in reeving running rigging, and she had three feet water in the hold. The loss of men in both ships was remarkably small. The Amazon had three killed, and fifteen badly wounded; and the Indefatigable, though she had so long fought the seventy-four single-handed, had only her first lieutenant and eighteen men wounded; twelve of them slightly, and the two worst cases from accidents. The lower-deck guns of the enemy were nearer the water than is usual in line of-battle ships, and in consequence of the heavy sea, she could use them only occasionally. From this cause, as well as from the excellent positions maintained by the frigates, and her crippled state through the latter part of the action, she could make but a very unequal return to their fire. She suffered very much. More than a hundred of her people were killed—a severe loss, yet small compared to what it must have been, from the crowded state of her decks, and the unprecedented length of the action, if the darkness, the heavy gale, and the consequent motion of the ships, had not made the firing slow, and the aim uncertain.

It was nearly eleven hours from the commencement of the action, when Lieutenant Bell, who was quartered on the forecastle, and who had kept the ship's reckoning through the night, satisfied himself that they were near the French coast, and ordered one or two sailors to keep a good look-out. One of these men thought he saw land, and reported it to his officer; who, perceiving it distinctly, went aft, and told the captain. Immediately the tacks were hauled on board, and the Indefatigable stood to the southward, after making the night-signal of danger to the Amazon, which, with equal promptitude, wore to the northward. The enemy, who did not yet see the danger, thought they had beaten off the frigates, and poured a broadside into the Indefatigable, the most destructive she had yet received. Seven shot struck her hull, the three lower-masts were wounded, and the larboard main-topmast shrouds were all cut away close to the seizings of the eyes at the mast head. It required extraordinary activity and coolness to save the topmast, the loss of which, at that time, would have made that of the ship inevitable. Under the direction of Mr. Gaze, who immediately sprang aloft, the captain of the main-top cut away the top gallant-yard; while Mr. Thompson, acting master, got up the end of a hawser, which he clinched around the mast-head. Thus they saved the main-topmast, and probably prevented the mainmast itself from being sprung. Mr. Gaze, who received a master's warrant a few weeks after, continued with Lord Exmouth to the last day of his command. He was master of the fleet in the Mediterranean, and it was he who carried the Queen Charlotte in such admirable style to her position at Algiers.

None at this time knew how desperate was their situation. The ships were in the Bay of Audierne, close in with the surf, with the wind blowing a heavy gale dead on the shore, and a tremendous sea rolling in. To beat off the land would have been a difficult and doubtful undertaking for the best and most perfect ship. The Indefatigable had four feet water in the hold, and her safety depended on her wounded spars and damaged rigging bearing the press of sail she was obliged to carry; while the crew, thus summoned to renewed exertion, were already quite worn out with fatigue. The fate of the other ships was certain; for the Amazon had all her principal sails disabled, and the Droits de l'Homme was unmanageable.

The Indefatigable continued standing to the southward, until the captain of the mizen-top gave the alarm of breakers on the lee-bow. The ship was immediately wore in eighteen fathoms, and she stood to the northward till half-past six, when land was again seen close a-head on the weather-bow, with breakers under the lee. Running again to the southward, she passed the Droits de l'Homme lying on her broadside in the surf, at the distance of about a mile, but without the possibility of giving the smallest assistance. Her own situation, indeed, was almost hopeless; and Sir Edward Pellew himself was deeply affected, when, having done all that seamanship could accomplish, he could only commit to a merciful Providence the lives of his gallant crew, all now depending upon one of the many accidents to the masts and rigging which there was so much reason to apprehend. Happily, the sails stood well; the Indefatigable continued to gain by every tack; and at eleven o'clock, with six feet water in her hold, she passed about three-quarters of a mile to windward of the Penmarcks; enabling her officers and men, after a day and night of incessant exertion, at length to rest from their toil, and to bless God for their deliverance.

She had scarcely bent new topsails and foresail, the others having been shot to pieces, when two large ships were seen at some distance a-head, crossing her course, and standing in a direction for L'Orient. One of them was at first supposed to be the Amazon, of which nothing had been seen since the close of the action, and the extent of whose damages was not at all suspected. The other was considered to be a French frigate, and Sir Edward gave orders to make sail in chase. But the officers represented to him, that the crew, entirely exhausted by the unparalleled length of the action, and by their subsequent labours, were quite incapable of further exertion; that their ammunition was very short, scarcely a cartridge filled, and every wad expended. Had the French frigate been alone, this would have been a subject of much regret; for she was the Fraternité, with the two commanders-in-chief and all the treasure of the expedition on board; but her consort was the 74-gun ship Revolution.

The Amazon struck the ground about ten minutes after she ceased firing. Her crew displayed the admirable discipline which British seamen are accustomed to maintain under such circumstances; more creditable to them, if possible, than the seamanship which saved the Indefatigable. From half past five until nine o'clock, they were employed in making rafts, and not a man was lost, or attempted to leave the ship, except six, who stole away the cutter from the stern, and were drowned. Captain Reynolds and his officers remained by the ship until they had safely landed, first the wounded, and afterwards every man of the crew. Of course they were made prisoners, but they were treated well, and exchanged not many months after.

Conduct like that of the Amazon's people in their hour of extreme danger—and it is nothing more than British seamen commonly display in the same situation—makes an Englishman proud of his country. Nor should it be forgotten, for it exalts the feeling of patriotism and honest pride, that a man-of-war's crew at that time was made up, in part, of the lowest characters in society. What, then, must be the strength and excellence of that moral feeling in England, which can display itself thus nobly where it would be the least expected! The fact conveys an impressive lesson; for if the intelligence, decision, and kindness, which, with few exceptions, characterize our sea-officers, can effect such happy results where they operate on the most unpromising materials, it is clear, that whatever faults the lower classes in England display must be attributed, in a great degree, to the neglect or misconduct of those, whose station in society, as it gives the power, imposes the duty to guide them.

The fate of the Droits de l'Homme presents an awful contrast indeed to that of the Amazon. She saw the land soon after the frigates hauled off, and after hopeless attempts, first to avoid it, and afterwards to anchor, she struck the ground almost at the same moment as the British frigate. The main-mast went overboard at the second shock: the fore-mast and bowsprit had fallen a few minutes before, in her attempt to keep off the land. When danger was first seen, the crew gave an alarm to the English prisoners below, of whom there were fifty-five, the crew and passengers of a letter-of-marque, which the Droits de l'Homme had taken a few days before: "Poor English, come up quickly; we are all lost!" Presently, the ship struck on a bank of sand, nearly opposite the town of Plouzenec. Cries of dismay were now heard from every part. Signals of distress were fired, and several of the guns hove overboard. Many of the people were soon washed away by the waves, which broke incessantly over her. At daylight the shore was seen covered with spectators, but they could afford no assistance. In the meantime, the stern was beaten in by the sea, and no provisions or water could afterwards be obtained.

At low water an attempt was made to reach the shore, but two boats which were brought alongside drifted away and were dashed to pieces on the rocks. A small raft was constructed to carry a hawser to the shore, by the aid of which it was hoped that preparations might be completed for safely landing the people. A few sailors having embarked on it, the rope was gradually slackened to allow it to drift to land; but some of these people being washed away, the rest became alarmed, cast off the hawser, and saved themselves. After a second unsuccessful attempt with a raft, a petty officer attached a cord to his body and tried to swim on shore; but he was soon exhausted, and would have perished, but that he was hauled back to the ship.

On the second day, at low water, an English captain and eight other prisoners launched a small boat, and landed safely. Their success restored confidence to the multitude, proving, as it did, how easily all might be saved, if proper means were quietly adopted. But discipline and order were wanting; and attempts made without judgment, and without concert, ended in the loss of all who made them.

Perishing with cold, and thirst, and hunger—for the ship, her stern now broken away, no longer afforded shelter from the waves, and they had tasted nothing since she struck—the unhappy crew saw a third day arise upon their miseries. Still the gale continued, and there was no prospect of relief from the shore. It was now determined to construct a large raft, and first to send away the surviving wounded, with the women and children, in a boat which remained. But as soon as she was brought alongside, there was a general rush, and about a hundred and twenty threw themselves into her. Their weight carried down the boat; next moment an enormous wave broke upon them, and when the sea became smoother, their corpses were seen floating all around. An officer, Adjutant General Renier, attempted to swim on shore, hoping that a knowledge of their condition might enable the spectators to devise some means for their deliverance. He plunged into the sea and was lost.

"Already nearly nine hundred had perished," says Lieutenant Pipon, an officer of the 63rd regiment, who was on board a prisoner, and who afterwards published the dreadful story.[7] "when the fourth night came with renewed terrors. Weak, distracted, and wanting everything, we envied the fate of those whose lifeless corpses no longer needed sustenance. The sense of hunger was already lost, but a parching thirst consumed our vitals. Recourse was had to wine and salt water, which only increased the want. Half a hogshead of vinegar floated up, and each had half a wine-glassful. This gave a momentary relief, yet soon left us again in the same state of dreadful thirst. Almost at the last gasp, every one was dying with misery: the ship, which was now one third shattered away from the stern, scarcely afforded a grasp to hold by, to the exhausted and helpless survivors. The fourth day brought with it a more serene sky, and the sea seemed to subside; but to behold, from fore and aft, the dying in all directions, was a sight too shocking for the feeling mind to endure. Almost lost to a sense of humanity, we no longer looked with pity on those who were the speedy fore-runners of our own fate, and a consultation took place to sacrifice some one to be food for the remainder. The die was going to be cast, when the welcome sight of a man-of-war brig renewed our hopes. A cutter speedily followed, and both anchored at a short distance from the wreck. They then sent their boats to us, and by means of large rafts, about a hundred and fifty of near four hundred who attempted it, were saved by the brig that evening. Three hundred and eighty were left to endure another night's misery, when, dreadful to relate, above one-half were found dead next morning."

Commodore Lacrosse, General Humbert, and three British infantry officers, prisoners, remained in the wreck till the fifth morning; and all survived: so great is the influence of moral power to sustain through extreme hardships. The prisoners were treated with the utmost kindness, and in consideration of their sufferings, and the help they had afforded in saving many lives, a cartel was fitted out by order of the French Government to send them home, without ransom or exchange. They arrived at Plymouth on the 7th of March following.

The Admiralty awarded head-money to the frigates for the destruction of the Droits de l'Homme. As there were no means of knowing her complement with certainty, Sir Edward wrote to Commodore Lacrosse to request the information, telling him it was the practice of his Government to award a certain sum for every man belonging to an enemy's armed vessel taken, or destroyed. The Commodore answered, that the Droits de l'Homme had been neither taken nor destroyed, but that the ships had fought like three dogs till they all fell over the cliff together. Her crew, with the troops, he said, was sixteen hundred men.

The gallant captain of the Amazon, one of the earliest and closest friends of Sir Edward Pellew, perished at length by a not less distressing shipwreck. At the end of 1811, being then a rear-admiral, he was returning from the Baltic in the St. George, a ship not calculated to remain so late on such a station. After having received much damage in a former gale, she was wrecked on Christmas-day, as well as the Defence, which attended her to afford assistance; and only eighteen men were saved from the two line-of-battle ships. Rear-Admiral Reynolds and his captain remained at their post till they sunk under the inclemency of a northern winter; when, stretched on the quarter-deck, and hand in hand, they were frozen to death together.

FOOTNOTE:

[7] Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. p. 467.

CHAPTER VI.

THE MUTINY.

In less than four years Sir Edward had fought as many severe actions, and the number of his successes is even less remarkable than the very small loss with which he generally obtained them. Against the Cleopatra, indeed, where he engaged a superior and skilful opponent with an inexperienced crew, he suffered much; but he lost only three men in taking the Pomone, and none in his actions with the Virginie and the Droits de l'Homme. The same impunity continued to attend him; for not a dozen were killed on board his own ships through all the rest of his life.[8] Results so uniform, and applying to so long a service, cannot be ascribed to accidental causes.

By his seamanship, his example, a strictness which suffered no duty to be neglected, and a kindness which allowed every safe indulgence, he would quickly bring a ship's company to a high state of discipline. In the language of an officer who served with him for almost thirty years—"No man ever knew better how to manage seamen. He was very attentive to their wants and habits. When he was a captain he personally directed them, and when the duty was over, he was a great promoter of dancing and other sports, such as running aloft, heaving the lead, &c., in which he was himself a great proficient. He was steady in his discipline, and knew well the proper time to tighten or relax. He studied much the character of his men, and could soon ascertain whether a man was likely to appreciate forgiveness, or whether he could not be reclaimed without punishment. During the whole time he commanded frigates, his men had leave in port, one-third at a time, and very rarely a desertion took place."

His quick and correct judgment, which at once saw how an object could be attained, was seconded in the hour of trial by a decision which secured every advantage. Nothing like hesitation was seen in him. "His first order," said an officer who long served with him, "was always his last;" and he has often declared of himself that he never had a second thought worth sixpence. This would be an absurd boast from a common character, but it is an important declaration from one whose life was a career of enterprise without a failure. Always equal to the occasion, his power displayed itself the more, as danger and difficulty increased; when, rising with the emergency, his calmness, the animation of his voice and look, and the precision of his orders, would impart to the men that cool and determined energy which disarms danger, and commands success.

Not less striking was his influence in those more appalling dangers which try the firmness of a sailor more severely than the battle. The wreck of the Dutton is a memorable example. At a later period, during his command in India, the ship twice caught fire, and was saved chiefly by his conduct. On one of these occasions, the Culloden was under easy sail off the coast of Coromandel, and preparations had been made for partially caulking the ship, when a pitch-kettle, which had been heated, contrary to orders, on the fore part of the main deck, caught fire, and the people, instead of damping it out, most imprudently attempted to extinguish it with buckets of water. The steam blew the flaming pitch all around; the oakum caught fire, and the ship was immediately in a blaze. Many of the crew jumped overboard, and others were preparing to hurry out of her, when the presence and authority of the Admiral allayed the panic. He ordered to beat to quarters; the marines to fire upon any one who should attempt to leave the ship; the yard-tackles to be cut, to prevent the boats from being hoisted out; and the firemen only to take the necessary measures for extinguishing the fire. The captain, who was undressed in his cabin at the time of the disaster, received an immediate report of it from an officer, and hastened to the quarter-deck. The flames were rising in volumes from the main hatchway, but the Admiral was calmly giving his orders from the gangway, the firemen exerting themselves, and the rest of the crew at their quarters, all as quiet and orderly as if nothing had been going on but the common ship's duty.

His patronage was exerted to the utmost. The manner in which the navy was chiefly manned through the war made this one of the most delicate and responsible parts of a captain's care. The impress brought into it many whom nothing but the strictest discipline of a man-of-war would control; but many also who had entered the merchant service with the view and the prospect of rising in it, some of whom were not inferior in connections and education to the young gentlemen on the quarter-deck. Nothing could be more gratifying to a commander than to promote these, as opportunity offered, to higher stations. Some thousands of them became petty and warrant officers in the course of the war, and not a few were placed on the quarter-deck, and are found among the best officers in the service. Sir Edward brought forward many of them, and his favour has been more than justified by their conduct.

He was particularly attentive to the junior part of his crew. A steady person was employed to teach the ship's boys, and he always had the best schoolmaster who could be obtained for the young gentlemen. It was an object much desired to be placed with him, and could he have stooped to make his reputation subservient to his interest in this respect, he might have secured many useful political connections; but this consideration never seems to have influenced him. Many of his midshipmen had no friend but himself, and rank obtained no immunities, but rather a more strict control. He once removed from his ship a young nobleman of high connections, and who afterwards became a very distinguished officer, for indulging in what many would consider the excusable frolics of youth; but to which he attached importance, because the rank of the party increased the influence of the example; nor could he be induced by the young man's friends to reconsider his determination. The Duke of Northumberland, who had himself known all the duties and hardships of service, could appreciate the impartial strictness of Sir Edward; and when he determined to send into the navy, first a young man whom he patronized, and afterwards his own son, the present Duke, he was happy to avail himself of the services of Captain Schanck, to place them with such an officer. Acting upon the same principle, he would allow neither of them more than the usual expenses of the other midshipmen. All who entered a public service, he said, whatever their rank, should have no indulgences beyond their companions. His sense of Sir Edward's conduct was shown by a warm friendship, which terminated only with his life.

In a few weeks after the action with the Droits de l'Homme, the mutiny broke out at Spithead, which deprived the country for a short time of the services of the Channel Fleet. The western squadrons were now of peculiar importance, for they became, in fact, the protectors of the Channel. The Cleopatra, commanded by the late excellent Sir Charles V. Penrose, was at Spithead when the mutiny took place; but the good disposition of his crew enabled him with admirable address to escape, and she joined Sir Edward's squadron at Falmouth. Thence she sailed with the Indefatigable and Revolutionaire on a cruise, in which all displayed extraordinary exertion, as, under such circumstances, all felt the necessity for it. One incident will mark their zeal and activity. The Cleopatra carried away her fore-topmast in chase, but replaced it so quickly, that she never lost sight of the privateer, which she overtook and captured. Several armed vessels were taken; and Sir Edward was careful often to run in with the squadron upon different parts of the French coast, that he might impress the belief that a considerable British force was at sea.

Undismayed by the failure of their attempt on Ireland, the enemy were now preparing for a more formidable descent. They equipped a larger fleet than before, with a far more numerous army, over which they appointed the same able commander: and by an agreement with Holland, the Dutch fleet in the Texel, under Admiral de Winter, was to carry over a second army. This was to be commanded by General Daendels, an officer of great ability and decision. Napoleon thought very highly of him, and it was a material part of his own plan of invasion to send him with thirty thousand chosen troops to Ireland. He afterwards became Governor of Java, where he acted with an independence which awakened the jealousy of his master. Discovering this, he wrote to declare that he could hold the island against any force which France, or even England, could bring against him; but that to mark his devotedness to his emperor, he was ready to resign his command, and serve in the French army as a corporal. He was Governor of Mons during the invasion of France by the Allied armies; and he boasted to Mr. Pellew, who spent a few days with him after the peace, that an advancing army made a considerable circuit to avoid him, and that he held the fortress unmolested until Napoleon had abdicated; when he wrote to the Allied Sovereigns, asking to whom he should resign it. An invasion of Ireland, directed by generals such as Hoche and Daendels, and at a time when the British navy was in a state of mutiny, was an event justly to be dreaded; but all these mighty preparations were overturned more easily and quietly than the former. Everything was ready; and General Hoche had gone to Holland to make the final arrangements with his brother commanders, when the Legislative Assembly of France quarrelled with the Directory, and gained a temporary ascendancy. On the 16th of July, the new government displaced Vice-Admiral Truguet, the able Minister of Marine, and appointed M. Pléville le Peley his successor. With the usual madness of party, the new minister and his employer hastened to overturn all that had been done by their predecessors. They discharged the sailors, dismantled the fleet, and even sold some of the frigates and corvettes by public auction. When the Directory regained their power, September 4th, after an interval of only six weeks, they found that the preparations which had cost them so much time and treasure to complete, were utterly destroyed. In the following month, Admiral Duncan annihilated the Dutch fleet, and thus the proposed expedition was baffled at every point. Were a history of England written, with due regard to the operations of Divine Providence, in deliverances and successes effected not by human wisdom, or human strength, what cause would it afford for unbounded gratitude, and for unbounded confidence!

While the enemy were fitting out this armament, Sir Edward was again employed to watch the harbour of Brest; a service which he performed so much to the annoyance of the French commander, that he sent a squadron to ride at single anchor in Bertheaume Bay, to prevent the frigates from reconnoitring the port. This squadron chased the Indefatigable and her consorts repeatedly, but without being able to bring them to action, or to drive them from their station. Once, however, a frigate narrowly escaped capture. The Cleopatra was becalmed close inshore, with the Indefatigable about two miles to seaward, and another frigate between them, when a light air rose, and freshened off the land. The French ships slipped, and bringing the breeze with them, neared the Cleopatra; and a frigate actually succeeded in cutting off her retreat, while a seventy-four was fast coming up. Just then, when the capture of the Cleopatra seemed inevitable, the Indefatigable made the well-known signal for a fleet, by letting fly the sheets, and firing two guns in quick succession. Ushant being on her weather-bow, the enemy naturally supposed, as was intended, that the British fleet was coming up from behind the island; and putting about immediately, hastened back to their anchorage. A similar deception is understood to have been practised successfully by the Phaëton, during the celebrated retreat of Cornwallis; nor is it in either case an imputation upon the enemy, that they should readily take alarm, when they knew that a British fleet was cruising near them.

Early in August, the Indefatigable, after a short stay in England, was again at her station off Brest; and Sir Edward, having carefully observed the port, and fully satisfied himself of the state of the French fleet, returned to Falmouth on the 14th, and, on the 26th, joined Lord Bridport at Torbay. At this time he offered to conduct an attack, which, had it been made, and with success, would have transcended the most brilliant results of naval enterprise. The weakness of the French Government, arising out of the struggle of parties for the ascendancy, seemed to offer a favourable opportunity to the royalists, with whose chiefs Sir Edward was on terms of confidential intercourse; and to assist them in their objects by an exploit which should strike terror into the republicans, he proposed to go into Brest with his frigates, and destroy the dismantled fleet. He thought it probable that he should succeed, and urged that the greatness of the object might warrant an attempt in which nothing was to be risked but a few frigates. The conception was in the highest degree daring, but there is a faith in naval affairs which works impossibilities, and it has been generally found, that the officer who can plan a bold action, has shown himself equal to accomplish it. Relative strength is almost thrown out of calculation by a well concerted and unexpected attack, conducted with that impetuosity which effects its object before the enemy can avail himself of his superior force. Thus, Sir Charles Brisbane, with four frigates, at Curaçoa, and Sir Christopher Cole, with a few boats' crews at Banda, achieved, with little or no loss, what would have been justly deemed proud triumphs for a fleet of line-of-battle ships. Sir E. Pellew was never a man to commit himself rashly to what he had not well considered. "There is always uncertainty," he would say, "in naval actions, for a chance shot may place the best managed ship in the power of an inferior opponent." Hence he would leave nothing to chance, which foresight could possibly provide for. With such a character, and with his intimate knowledge of Brest and its defences, which were almost as familiar to him as Falmouth harbour, his own confidence affords strong presumption that he would have succeeded.

The First Lord took an opportunity to submit this proposal to Lord Bridport at Torbay, and Sir Edward was in consequence called on board the flag-ship by signal. The Admiral received him on the quarter-deck with a very low and formal bow, and referred him to Earl Spencer, in the cabin, whom he soon found not to be influenced by any arguments he could employ.

Lord Bridport was never pleased that independent frigate squadrons were appointed to cruise within his station. It was, indeed, an irregularity which nothing but the emergency could have justified, when it was desirable to relieve the commander-in-chief from lesser responsibilities, and enable him to devote all his attention to the fleet which threatened the safety of the country. Their successes had made the squadrons so popular, that the system was continued when they might, perhaps, have been placed, with equal advantage, under the orders of the Admiral; and it would naturally give pain to that officer to find himself denied the privilege of recognizing and rewarding the most brilliant services performed within his own command. Lord Bridport would occasionally evince such a feeling when speaking of the "Western Commodores," and it may have influenced his manner upon this occasion; but his approval of Sir Edward's plan was not to be expected, for he would scarcely sanction the proposal to effect with a few frigates what it would not be thought prudent to attempt with a fleet.

The Indefatigable sailed from Torbay with a convoy, from which she parted company on the 13th of October, off the Isle of Palma. On the 25th, near Teneriffe, a large corvette chased her, supposing her to be an Indiaman, and approached very near before she discovered the mistake. She had formerly been the frigate-built sloop Hyæna, which the enemy had taken very early in the war, and cut down to a flush ship; a change which improved her sailing qualities so much, that she might perhaps have escaped from the Indefatigable, if she had not lost her fore-topmast in carrying a press of sail. It is remarkable, that in this war Sir Edward took the first ship from the enemy, and after nearly five years, recaptured the first they had taken from the British.

It was a part of Sir Edward's system, while he commanded cruising ships, to have the reefs shaken out, the studding sail-booms rigged out, and everything ready, before daylight; that if an enemy should be near there might be no delay in making sail. In the course of 1798 his squadron took fifteen cruisers. The circumstances connected with one of these, La Vaillante national corvette, taken on the 8th of August by the Indefatigable, after a chase of twenty-four hours, were of much interest. She was bound to Cayenne, with prisoners; among whom were twenty-five priests, who had been condemned for their principles to perish in that unhealthy colony. It may well be supposed that they were at once restored to liberty and comfort; nor would Sir Edward show to the commander of his prize the attentions which an officer in his situation expects, until he had first satisfied himself that the severe and unnecessary restraint to which they had been subjected, for he found them chained together, was the consequence of express orders from the French Government. His officers and men vied with him in attentions to the unfortunate exiles, and when he set them on shore in England he gave them a supply for their immediate wants. Among the passengers on board La Vaillante were the wife and family of a banished deputy. M. Rovère, who had obtained permission to join him, and were going out with all they possessed, amounting to 3,000l. Sir Edward restored to her the whole of it, and paid from his own purse the proportion which was the prize of his crew.

Early in the following year the Admiralty determined to limit the period of command in frigates. In obedience to this regulation, on the 1st of March, Sir Edward, with much regret, left the ship and crew he had so long commanded, and exchanged the activity of a cruising frigate for a service which offered little prospect of distinction. He was complimented with the Impétueux, formerly L'Amérique, one of the prizes taken by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, a most beautiful ship, and so much superior to the largest 74, that she was made a class by herself, and rated as a 78. He was allowed to select twenty men to follow him from the Indefatigable.

Going on board the Impétueux for the first time, he was accosted at the gangway by the boatswain: "I am very glad, sir, that you are come to us, for you are just the captain we want. You have the finest ship in the navy, and a crew of smart sailors, but a set of the greatest scoundrels that ever went to sea." He checked him on the spot, and afterwards, sending for him to the cabin, demanded what he meant by addressing him in that manner. The boatswain, who had served with him in the Carleton on Lake Champlain, pleaded former recollections in excuse; and after submitting to the reproof with which Sir Edward thought it necessary to mark his breach of discipline, informed him that the crew were all but in a state of mutiny, and that for months past he had slept with pistols under his head.

Mutinies were the natural fruit of the system which had prevailed in the navy, and it is only wonderful that obedience had been preserved so long. All the stores were supplied by contract, and the check upon the contractor being generally inadequate, gross abuses prevailed. Officers who recollect the state of the navy during the first American war can furnish a history which may now appear incredible. The provisions were sometimes unfit for human food. Casks of meat, after having been long on board, would be found actually offensive. The biscuit, from inferior quality and a bad system of stowage, was devoured by insects,[9] until it would fall to pieces at the slightest blow; and the provisions of a more perishable nature, the cheese, butter, raisins, &c., would be in a still worse condition. Among crews thus fed, the scurvy made dreadful ravages. The Princessa, when she formed part of Rodney's fleet in the West Indies, sent two hundred men to the hospital at one time. The purser received certain authorized perquisites instead of pay, and one-eighth of the seamen's allowance was his right, so that their pound was only fourteen ounces. Prize-money melted away as it passed through the courts and offices. Not even public charities could escape; and the noble establishment of Greenwich was defrauded by placing in it superannuated servants, and other landsmen, as worn-out sailors, and conferring the superior appointments, intended for deserving naval officers, upon political friends. The well-known case of Captain Baillie,[10] who was removed and prosecuted for resisting some of these abuses, is a memorable, illustration.

A gradual improvement in all the departments of the public service commenced from the time of Mr. Pitt's accession to power; and the worst of these abuses had been corrected long before 1797. Still so much remained, that the demands of the seamen, when they mutinied at Spithead, were not less due to themselves than desirable for the general interests of the service. A moderate increase in their pay, and Greenwich pensions; provisions of a better quality; the substitution of trader's for purser's weight and measure; and an allowance of vegetables, instead of flour, with their fresh meat, when in port, were their chief claims. They did not resort to violent measures till petitions, irregular ones it is true, had been tried in vain. They urged their demands firmly, but most respectfully; and they declared their intention to suspend the prosecution of them if their country should require their services to meet the enemy at sea. But though their claims were most just, and their conduct in many respects was worthy to be much commended, that was a mistaken conclusion, and most deeply to be regretted, which made any concession to violence. Hard as the principle may appear, no grievance can be held to justify a breach of discipline; and when the sailors at Spithead had placed themselves in the position of offenders, the question of redress ought to have been preceded by unconditional, and, if necessary, enforced submission. It was humbling the majesty of the law to negotiate with criminals, and destroying its authority to submit to them. If the sailors had first been compelled to return to their duty, and their grievances had afterwards been properly investigated and redressed, the whole fleet would have respected the authority which enforced obedience, and received every favour with gratitude. Nor is there reason to believe that it would have been difficult to bring men to their duty, whose hearts were still sound. It is most honourable to the character of the country, that respect for the law, and obedience to the constituted authorities, are so much the habit and the principle of Englishmen, that invincible as they are in a good cause, they have always shown themselves cowards in crime. A few soldiers are sufficient to disperse the largest mob. The timely decision of an officer has seldom failed to quell the most formidable mutiny. Timorous as the men are from conscious guilt, uncertain in their plans, and doubtful of the firmness of their companions, the respect involuntarily felt for the noble bearing of a man whom they have always been accustomed to obey, and who in a good cause is standing as it were alone against a multitude, gives a commander all the power he could desire. But if he would take advantage of this feeling, he must be prompt to assert his authority. If he waver—if he allow the men once to feel their strength, and to stand committed to one another—his influence is gone. And if Government should stoop to parley with them, it sanctions their proceedings, strengthens their hands by the confession of its own weakness, and raises them from being offenders against the law, to the dignity of injured men, honourably asserting their rights. Thus, when the Lords of the Admiralty, and the first Admiral of the British navy, received on terms of courtesy criminals whose lives were forfeited, and negotiated with them as with equals—when the Government submitted to demands which it evidently feared to resist—and the Parliament hastened to legislate at the bidding of triumphant mutineers, the navy was taught a fatal lesson. The fleet at the Nore mutinied almost immediately after, without the shadow of a pretext; and the idea of mutiny once become familiar, the crews of the best ordered ships thought little of seeking redress for any real or fancied grievance by resisting the authority of their officers. Almost every ship on the home station mutinied in the course of the year; and considering bow naturally the first fault leads to more guilty excesses, and how many worthless characters were swept into the navy, disgracing the service by making it the avowed punishment of crime, and corrupting it by their example, nothing can appear more natural than that mutiny should at length display itself in a darker character, and proceed in some unhappy instances to murder and treason.

Sir Edward Pellew deeply lamented the submission of the Government. He was satisfied that a proper firmness would have quelled the present, and prevented the future evil; and he was strengthened in his opinion by the circumstances of the mutiny on board one of the ships at Spithead, in which one of his own officers was a principal actor. Captain Williams, of the marines, formerly lieutenant in the Arethusa, applied to his captain for authority to act, assuring him of the good disposition of his own men, and pledging himself by their means to save the ship. But his captain, though one of the bravest and best men in the service, shrank from committing the marines to a possible conflict with the sailors, and recommended a little delay. In a few minutes the marine officer returned: it was not yet too late, but not another moment could be spared. The humane feelings of the commander impelled him still to temporize, and when the marine officer returned, it was to say that his men must now save themselves, and the ship was lost. The more desperate mutiny at the Nore was not quelled by submission.

Afterwards, when mutinies were continually occurring among the ships at Plymouth. Sir Edward proposed a very decisive measure to stop the mischief. He recommended that a ship, manned with officers, and with volunteers who could be fully trusted, should attack the next that mutinied, and, if necessary, sink her in the face of the fleet. The officer who takes the first step in any measure must feel himself committed decisively to all possible consequences; but the mere display of such a resolution, with the knowledge that an officer of unflinching determination commanded the attacking ship, would most probably spare the necessity of firing a shot. Lives are commonly sacrificed only when a mistaken humanity shrinks from duty till the proper time for action has gone by. The disposition of the crews was not generally bad, but they were misled by example, and encouraged by impunity. When the Greyhound mutinied, and Captain Israel Pellew demanded if he had ever given them cause for dissatisfaction, if he had not always been their friend, they admitted that they had nothing to complain of, but said they must do like their friends around them. They would have landed him with every mark of respect; but he declared that, after such conduct, not one of them should ever row him again, and he hailed a waterman to put him on shore. Still, though he had reproached them in no measured terms, they manned the side, and gave him three cheers when he left the ship.

Even Sir Edward Pellew, popular as he was, and though he might well expect that a crew which had fought with him two successful actions within the past year would be too proud of their ship and commander ever to fail in their duty, yet felt it necessary to take precautions, when mutinies were occurring around him without the smallest reasonable cause. Determined to maintain his authority at all hazards, he prepared for the worst, and provided himself with weapons such as he deemed would be the most effectual, if he should be compelled to the dreadful necessity of a personal conflict with his crew. A pointed and two-edged blade, four inches long, was fixed in a rough buckhorn handle, with a groove for the thumb across the top. A pair of these were carried in sheaths, secured in each waistcoat-pocket. With these, a strong and active person, in the midst of a crowd where he could not use a sword, could strike right and left with terrible effect.

Once a mutiny was planned in the Indefatigable, but he checked it before it broke out. She was lying with the Phœbe in Falmouth harbour, and the frigates were to sail next morning, when the crews were determined not to proceed to their station until they had received their pay. A sailor who had overstayed his leave came in the dead of the night to inform his commander of the plot; and assured him, that though all the crew were privy to it, more than half of them would support their officers. Sir Edward professed to discredit the information, and, apparently, took no steps in consequence. But when the ship was to be got under weigh, the lieutenant complained to him that the men were sulky, and would not go round with the capstan. He then came forward, and declaring his knowledge of their intentions, drew his sword, and ordered the officers to follow his example. "You can never die so well," he said, "as on your own deck quelling a mutiny; and now, if a man hesitate to obey you, cut him down without a word." The crew, accustomed to prompt obedience, and attached to their officers, at once returned to their duty, and the Indefatigable was soon under sail. The Phœbe was earned by her crew to Cawsand Bay, and in justice to them it should be added, that although she anchored in the midst of several ships which had lately mutinied, no further irregularity took place: and after having been paid, she hastened to join the Indefatigable off Brest.

The crew of the Impétueux supposed, and probably with truth, that Sir Edward was selected to command them in consequence of their known disaffected state, his frigate having been almost the only ship on the home station which had not actually mutinied. Under this impression, a mistaken pride would not allow them to be controlled, and their secret spirit of revolt became more determined. The feeling might have worn itself out in a short time if the ship had remained at sea, for the men soon learned to respect their new commander. But when, on the 25th of April, the French fleet escaped from Brest, and sailed for the Mediterranean, the British Admiral, Lord Bridport, supposing it to have gone to Ireland, cruised for a few days off Cape Clear, and then anchored with twenty-six sail of the line in Bantry Bay. Here the bad spirits of the fleet had leisure for mischief, and facilities to communicate with one another. A general mutiny was planned, and the disgraceful distinction of setting the example was assigned to the Impetueux.

On Thursday, the 30th of May, at noon, Sir Edward, being engaged to dine with Sir Alan Gardner, had gone to dress in his cabin, leaving orders with the officer of the watch to call all hands at the usual time, one watch to clear hawse, and the other two to wash decks. When the order was given, it was obeyed by all the marines, but by scarce any of the sailors. Very shortly after, signal was made to unmoor, upon which a noise of "No—no—no!" was heard from the main hatchway, and the seamen came pressing forward in great numbers; those in the rear crying, "Go on—go on!" The first lieutenant, Ross, and Lieutenant Stokes, the officer of the watch, demanded what was the matter; and after some murmuring, were told that there was a letter. The officers asked for it, that it might be given to the captain, but the cry of "No—no—no!" was immediately renewed. Lieutenant Ross then desired Lieutenant Stokes to inform the captain, upon which the mutineers shouted, "One and all—one and all!" Sir Edward instantly ran out in his dressing-gown, and found between two and three hundred on the quarter-deck. On his appearance, the clamour was increased, mingled with cries of "A boat—a boat!" He asked what was the matter, and was told they had a letter to send to Lord Bridport, complaining of tyranny, and hard usage. He demanded the letter, declaring that he would immediately carry it himself, or send an officer with it, to the Admiral; but all cried out, "No, no,—a boat of our own!" He persisted in his endeavours to pacify them as long as a hope remained of bringing them to reason, intreating them not to forfeit their character by such shameful conduct. But when some of the ringleaders declared with oaths that they would have a boat, and would take one, he quietly said, "You will, will you?"—gave a brief order to Captain Boys, of the marines, and sprang to the cabin for his sword. The marines, who had previously withstood every attempt of the conspirators to seduce them from their duty, now displayed that unwavering loyalty, and prompt obedience, for which, in the most trying circumstances, this valuable force has always been distinguished. Sir Edward returned instantly, determined to put to death one or more of the ringleaders on the spot, but the evident irresolution of the mutineers spared him the necessity. He immediately ordered the quarter-deck to be cleared, the marines to be posted on the after-part of the fore-castle, and the fore-part of the quarter-deck and poop, and the sentries to be doubled. The carpenter in the mean time ran to Sir Edwards cabin, and brought swords for the officers, who, at the first alarm, had hastened to place themselves by their captain's side. The mutineers, after a moment's hesitation, ran off the quarter-deck, and threw themselves down the hatchways, exclaiming to put out all lights, and remove the ladders. The officers followed them closely, and soon secured the ringleaders. Sir Edward himself seized one of the most violent, and threatening him with instant death if he resisted, dragged him up from below to the quarter-deck. The letter, an unsigned one, was now given up, and the ship's company returned quietly to their duty.

The plot was thus entirely disconcerted; for the crews of the other ships, who knew nothing of the attempt and its failure, but waited for the example of the Impetueux, followed her when she obeyed the Admiral's signal. On the 1st of June, Lord Bridport, who had now learned the course taken by the French fleet, sent off Sir Alan Gardner with sixteen sail, of which the Impetueux was one, as a reinforcement for Earl St. Vincent in the Mediterranean. His orders on this occasion were promptly attended to; and no other attempt was made by any of the crews to resist the authority of their officers.

The Impetueux being now for a short time under Earl St. Vincent's command, Sir Edward took the earliest opportunity to enforce the application for a court-martial, which he had previously made to Sir Charles Cotton. The Earl, upon inquiry, was so startled at the magnitude of the plot, that he thought it better, as the mutiny had been so promptly suppressed, to conceal it altogether. Sir Edward differed from him entirely. He considered that the worst effects would follow, if the men were allowed to think that their officers feared to punish the ringleaders in such a conspiracy; and as the Earl, who was on the point of resigning the command from ill-health, appeared still reluctant, he decided the question by declaring that if the court-martial were not granted, he should immediately go on shore. Accordingly, it was held on board the Prince, in Port Mahon, on the 19th and 20th of June, when three of the ringleaders received sentence of death. One of them, after his condemnation, disclosed all the history and circumstances of the plot; and this, added to the consideration of his previous good character, to which Sir Edward had borne a strong testimony on the court-martial, made his captain think him a proper subject for mercy. But upon this point, Earl St. Vincent was inflexible. "I am glad of it," he said, when Sir Edward spoke favourably of the prisoner's former conduct; "those who have hitherto suffered had been so worthless before, that their fate was of little use as an example. I shall now convince the fleet that no character will save the man who is guilty of mutiny." May there never be a recurrance of such unhappy times as shall make it the duty of an officer to act upon this stern principle!