diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-0.txt | 9543 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-0.zip | bin | 194303 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h.zip | bin | 3372148 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/65978-h.htm | 13838 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/ad.jpg | bin | 15444 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 115477 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus1.jpg | bin | 51319 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus10.jpg | bin | 32435 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus11.jpg | bin | 84449 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus12.jpg | bin | 55414 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus13-full.jpg | bin | 370496 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus13.jpg | bin | 72333 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus14-full.jpg | bin | 392378 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus14.jpg | bin | 75358 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus15.jpg | bin | 93057 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus16-full.jpg | bin | 488733 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus16.jpg | bin | 82334 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus17.jpg | bin | 41866 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus18.jpg | bin | 39261 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus19.jpg | bin | 83003 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus2.jpg | bin | 94529 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus20.jpg | bin | 52449 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus21.jpg | bin | 59382 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus22.jpg | bin | 91915 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus23.jpg | bin | 56243 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus3.jpg | bin | 72411 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus4-full.jpg | bin | 489678 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus4.jpg | bin | 83967 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus5.jpg | bin | 48658 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus6.jpg | bin | 50982 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus7.jpg | bin | 21267 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus8.jpg | bin | 14967 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65978-h/images/illus9.jpg | bin | 27668 -> 0 bytes |
36 files changed, 17 insertions, 23381 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a179660 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65978 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65978) diff --git a/old/65978-0.txt b/old/65978-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fdcdca5..0000000 --- a/old/65978-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9543 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Champions of the Fleet, by Edward Fraser - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Champions of the Fleet - Captains and men-of-war and days that helped to make the empire - -Author: Edward Fraser - -Release Date: August 2, 2021 [eBook #65978] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET *** - - - - - -CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET - - -_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ - - FAMOUS FIGHTERS OF THE FLEET. - THE ENEMY AT TRAFALGAR. - THE ROMANCE OF THE KING’S NAVY. - ETC. ETC. - - - - -[Illustration: CHAMPIONS THEN AND NOW: THE _VICTORY_ AND THE _DREADNOUGHT_ - -_Both ships, and the submarine alongside the “Victory,” are shown on -the same scale. The picture is reproduced by kind permission of the -Proprietors of the “Illustrated London News.” Photos by Stephen Cribb, -Southsea._] - - - - - CHAMPIONS - OF THE FLEET - - CAPTAINS AND MEN-OF-WAR - AND DAYS THAT HELPED TO - MAKE THE EMPIRE - - BY EDWARD FRASER - - WITH 19 ILLUSTRATIONS - - LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD - NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVIII - - WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH - - - - -PREFACE - - -These tales of the navy of the fighting days of old are to some extent, -it may seem, cruises in rather out-of-the-way waters. At the same time, -they may claim present-day associations that should render them not out -of place just now. How and why, for instance, the world-famous name -_Dreadnought_ came into the Royal Navy is a story of interest on its -own account that ought to be timely. With that also is told something -of what our _Dreadnoughts_ of old did under fire in the fighting days -of history: with Drake; against the Armada; with Sir Walter Raleigh; -against De Ruyter and the Dutchmen; at La Hogue; how one gave the -_sobriquet_ “Old Dreadnought” to the famous Boscawen; how Nelson’s -uncle and patron Maurice Suckling captained the same ship in battle; of -Collingwood in the _Dreadnought_; and of the _Dreadnought_ at Trafalgar. -We get, too, a passing glance at certain of the “points” of our mighty -battleship the _Dreadnought_ of the present hour. Again, in the year -that has seen the name of Clive recalled to the memory of his countrymen -by an ex-Viceroy of India in connection with the hundred and fiftieth -anniversary of Plassey, what the navy did for Clive at the most critical -moment of his fortunes, how without its active support on the field of -battle Clive would have been powerless, the forgotten, or certainly -little appreciated, part that the navy took in the founding of our -Indian empire—should be of interest to English readers. This year again -sees a new _Téméraire_, one of our “improved _Dreadnoughts_,” added to -the Royal Navy. The fine story of how the never-to-be-forgotten name -_Téméraire_—immortalized alike by Turner and by Trafalgar—first came -to appear on the roll of the British fleet is told here. And it should -be of interest to recall certain incidental matters concerning the old -_Victory_ herself: among others the circumstances in which she came to -be built and was safely sent afloat in spite of expected incendiarism; -where too those who fought on board at Trafalgar came from, and how -many representatives each of our counties had with Nelson in his last -fight. Such are some of the matters dealt with in these pages, which of -themselves should afford entertainment and help also to make this book -useful. - - E. F. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. OUR _DREADNOUGHTS_:—THEIR NAME AND BATTLE RECORD 1 - - II. “KENT CLAIMS THE FIRST BLOW” 52 - - III. THE AVENGERS OF THE BLACK HOLE:—WHAT THE NAVY DID FOR CLIVE 77 - - IV. BOSCAWEN’S BATTLE:—THE TAKING OF THE _TÉMÉRAIRE_ 126 - - V. HAWKE’S FINEST PRIZE:—HOW THE _FORMIDABLE_ CHANGED HER FLAG 141 - - VI. WHEN THE _VICTORY_ FIRST JOINED THE FLEET:—HOW THEY BUILT - THE _VICTORY_ AT CHATHAM 160 - - VII. ON VALENTINE’S NIGHT IN FRIGATE BAY 191 - - VIII. THE PAGEANT OF THE _DONEGAL_:—A MEMORY OF ’98 208 - - IX. ON BOARD OUR FLAGSHIPS AT TRAFALGAR:—CAPTAIN HARDY AND - THOSE WHO MANNED THE _VICTORY_—UNDER FIRE WITH - COLLINGWOOD—“OLD IRONSIDES” AND THE THIRD IN COMMAND 222 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - CHAMPIONS THEN AND NOW: THE _VICTORY_ AND THE - _DREADNOUGHT_ _Frontispiece_ - - Both ships, and the submarine alongside the _Victory_, are - shown on the same scale. The picture is reproduced by kind - permission of the proprietors of the _Illustrated London - News_. Photos by Stephen Cribb, Southsea. - - _Facing page_ - - OUR FIRST _DREADNOUGHT_ 10 - - From a contemporary print kindly lent by Mr. Wentworth - Huyshe. The _Dreadnought_ is shown as she appeared - when serving in the “Ship Money” Fleet of Charles the - First—_circ._ 1637. - - “OLD DREADNOUGHT’S” _DREADNOUGHT_ 28 - - From the original drawing made in 1740 for the official - dockyard model. Now in the Author’s collection. - - THE RED-LETTER DAY OF NELSON’S CALENDAR. HOW THE _DREADNOUGHT_ - LED THE ATTACK ON THE 21ST OF OCTOBER, 1757 34 - - Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760. - - WHEN GEORGE THE THIRD WAS KING. OFFICERS AT AFTERNOON TEA ASHORE 38 - - Thomas Rowlandson. 1786. - - MANNING THE FLEET IN 1779. A WARM CORNER FOR THE PRESS GANG 38 - - James Gillray. October 15th, 1779. - - THE COUNTY AND ITS SHIP. THE _KENT_ TROPHY CHALLENGE SHIELD 54 - - From a photograph kindly lent by the designers and - manufacturers of the trophy, Messrs. George Kenning & Son, - Goldsmiths, Little Britain and Aldersgate Street, London. - - THE SCENE OF THE OPERATIONS UNDER ADMIRAL WATSON AND CLIVE 76 - - From Major James Rennell’s “Bengal Atlas,” published in - 1781. Reproduced by the courtesy of the Royal Geographical - Society. - - ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN’S VICTORY 136 - - In the foreground to the right is seen the _Warspite_ - attacking the _Téméraire_. Boscawen’s flagship, the - _Namur_, is in the centre flying the Admiral’s Blue Flag at - the main, and at the fore the red battle-flag, the “Bloody - Flag” of the Old Navy. Painted by Swaine. Engraved and - published in 1760. - - HAWKE’S VICTORY IN QUIBERON BAY 152 - - The picture shows the _Royal George_ (in the centre) - sinking the _Superbe_, and the _Formidable_ (immediately - beyond the _Superbe_ and in the background) lowering her - colours to the _Resolution_ (the ship coming up astern - of the _Royal George_). Painted by Swaine. Engraved and - published in 1760. - - THE EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG 164 - - From a contemporary print. - - PORTSMOUTH IN THE YEAR THAT THE _VICTORY_ JOINED THE FLEET 170 - - From a contemporary print. - - AT PORTSMOUTH POINT 176 - - Thomas Rowlandson. - - IN PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR 176 - - Thomas Rowlandson. - - THE _VICTORY_ ON HER FIRST CRUISE 186 - - Drawn by Captain Robert Elliot, R.N. Engraved and Published - in 1780. - - THE FIRST FIGHT IN FRIGATE BAY, ST. KITTS 198 - - Admiral Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron of 22 ships (at anchor) - beating off De Grasse’s opening attack with 28 ships (shown - coming into the bay under full sail) at 2.30 p.m. on - January 25th, 1782. Drawn by N. Pocock, “from a sketch made - by a gentleman who happened at the time to be on a visit at - a friend’s, on a height between Basse Terre and Old Road.” - - OUR FIRST _DONEGAL_ 212 - - The captured French line-of-battle ship _Hoche_, being - towed by the _Doris_, 36, Lord Ranelagh, into Lough Swilly. - Drawn by N. Pocock, from a sketch made from the _Robust_ by - Captain R. Williams of the Marines. - - REPRODUCTION OF THE OFFICIAL DRAWING OF THE _VICTORY’S_ - FORETOPSAIL AFTER TRAFALGAR AS RETURNED INTO STORE AT - CHATHAM DOCKYARD IN MARCH, 1806 228 - - TRAFALGAR—12 NOON: AS SKETCHED ON THE SPOT BY A FRENCH OFFICER 252 - - From a photograph of the original sepia drawing now in - the possession of a descendant of Captain Lucas of the - _Redoutable_. - - - - -CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET - - To the fame of your name - When the storm has ceased to blow; - When the fiery fight is heard no more, - And the storm has ceased to blow. - - - - -I - -OUR _DREADNOUGHTS_:—THEIR NAME AND BATTLE RECORD - - A name through all the world renown’d, - A name that rouses as a trumpet sound. - - -The “Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day”—on the 24th of August, -1572—was directly the cause of the coming into existence of our first -_Dreadnought_. - -Startled and horrified at the terrible news, as the details of the -ghastly story crossed the channel, Queen Elizabeth replied by instantly -calling the forces of England to arms. John Hawkins, at the head of -twenty ships of war, was sent to cruise off the Azores. The rest of the -fleet was ordered to mobilize and be ready to concentrate in the Downs. -Instructions were issued for the beacons to be watched. The militia were -ordered to muster and march to the coast. A subsidy was sent over to the -Protestants in Holland, and a rush of volunteers followed to join those -from England already in the field. Huguenot refugees in this country -were given leave to fit out vessels to help their co-religionists at La -Rochelle. Four men-of-war for the Royal Navy were ordered to be laid down -forthwith. They comprised the most important effort in shipbuilding that -England had made for ten years. - -To facilitate rapidity of building, the work on the four vessels was -divided between the two chief master-shipwrights—or, as we should say, -naval constructors—of the day: two ships to Matthew Baker, two ships to -Peter Pett. Both men were at the top of their profession. Peter Pett was -a distinguished member of the great family of naval shipwrights, whose -fame has come down to our own times. Baker, who was also of a family of -naval shipwrights of repute, was considered by many of the naval officers -of the day as the better man. “Mr. Baker,” wrote one, “for his skill and -surpassing grounded knowledge in the building of the ships advantageable -to all purposes hath not in any nation his equal.” Pett and Baker were -keen business rivals, and their rivalry came into play on the present -occasion. - -The names of the new ships were announced in due course, and represented -Her Majesty’s mood on the occasion. She herself selected and appointed -them with intention. It was Queen Elizabeth’s way to give her ships -“telling” names. “The choice of energetic names for the ships of her -Royal Navy,” it has been said, “was one of the means employed by the -heroic and politic Elizabeth to infuse her own dauntless spirit into -the hearts of her subjects, and to show to Europe at large how little -she dreaded the mightiest armaments of her enemies.” More than that, -however, needs to be said. As a rule, in the cases of her bigger ships, -the Queen chose names that carried, in addition, an underlying meaning, -that bore direct allusion to some national event of the hour. According -to one who lived at the time, writing about the first ship launched by -the Queen, to which, in accordance with old custom, the sovereign’s name -was given: “The great Shipp called the _Elizabeth Jonas_ was so named by -Her Grace in remembrance of her owne delyverance from the furye of her -Enemys, from which in one respect she was no less myraculously preserved -than was the prophet Jonas from the Belly of the whale.” In like manner -our first _Victory_ and our first _Triumph_ were given those ever famous -names, in the first place, of set intention to commemorate the historic -double-event of the year in which they both joined the Queen’s fleet. -The _Aid_, or _Ayde_, another Elizabethan man-of-war, was so called -to commemorate Elizabeth’s first expedition to help the Huguenots of -Normandy in their forlorn hope struggle for liberty of conscience, -which was just setting out when the _Aid_ went off the stocks. Our -first _Revenge_, of immortal renown, did not receive that name at -haphazard in the year of Don John of Austria’s insolent threat to invade -England and depose Elizabeth by force of arms. Our first _Repulse_ was -appointed that name—extant to this day in the Royal Navy for one of our -older battleships—in memory of the defeat of the Spanish Armada:—_Dieu -Repulse_ was the earlier form of the name as the Queen gave it. And to -take at random two other names from the list, it was to commemorate the -same overthrow of the arch-enemy of England in those times that Queen -Elizabeth chose the names _Defiance_ and _Warspite_—in curious reference, -this latter name, to an incident during the fighting with the Armada—for -two others of her men-of-war. - -It was of set purpose that Queen Elizabeth, in the year of the Massacre -of Saint Bartholomew, chose the name _Dreadnought_ for one of her ships -of war. The intentions of the Catholic League towards England were -an open secret in every council chamber of Europe. The papal Bull, -excommunicating and deposing Elizabeth, had been nailed on the doors -of Lambeth Palace. It was at their disposal. Alva’s butcheries in the -Netherlands were fresh in the recollection of the world, and the memory -of other dark doings came still more closely home to our own people; -how Englishmen had been “seized in Spain and the New World to linger -amidst the tortures of the Inquisition or to die by its fires.” Burghley -and Walsingham, and others as well, had fully understood the menace for -England and the warning of Lepanto only two years before. Their secret -agents had supplied them with a copy of De Spes’ confidential report to -Alva and King Philip to the effect that the ports of England were poorly -fortified, and that only eleven at most of Queen Elizabeth’s twenty ships -of war were worth taking into account. They had not forgotten what had -happened three years before, when, under the guise of an escort for the -new Queen of Spain from Flanders to the Tagus, an extremely formidable -Spanish fleet, fully equipped for war, had come north and lain for -some weeks in the Scheldt, acting throughout in a very suspicious way. -That was a twelvemonth before Lepanto. Now the situation seemed even -more menacing for England. The Queen’s so-called Agreement with Spain, -lately come to, for practical purposes was hardly worth the paper it was -drafted on. There was Mary Stuart and her partizans to be reckoned with -also; the restless intriguing of the Roman Catholics all over England; -open rebellion in Ireland. What might not the consequences of the Paris -massacre involve in the near future? It was at such a moment that the -name _Dreadnought_ was first appointed to an English man-of-war, and the -Queen’s choice in the circumstances partook of the nature almost of an -Act of State, specially designed to express the temper of the nation. -In the same spirit of exalted patriotism in which, at a later day, -Elizabeth, from Tilbury camp, with proud scorn bade King Philip and the -Prince of Parma and all other enemies of the realm do their worst, the -great Queen, of her own royal will and pleasure, named for the Royal Navy -its first _Dreadnought_. - -_Swiftsure_ was the name given to the second ship of the set. -“Swift-suer” was the way the Queen Elizabeth spelled it—“Swift-pursuer,” -that is—not an inappropriate name for the sister ship of a _Dreadnought_. -The pair were intended as ships of the line, to use a later day term. -The other two ships of the group were smaller vessels of the light -cruiser class of the period, intended for service as scouts, as the “eyes -and ears of the fleet” at sea. Their names were the _Achates_ and the -_Handmaid_, expressive names both in their way. - -Matthew Baker’s men had the _Dreadnought_ and _Handmaid_ to build; Pett’s -men the _Swiftsure_ and the _Achates_. They all started work within three -weeks, and Pett’s men won the race by just a month. The _Swiftsure_ and -the _Achates_ were both sent afloat on the 11th of October, 1573; the -_Dreadnought_ and the _Handmaid_ on the 10th of the following month. - -An Arctic explorer of those times, whose name lives on our maps—the man, -indeed, who named the North Cape for us, Captain Stephen Borough (or -Borogh, as he himself usually wrote it), one of “ye foure Principall -Masters in Ordinarye of ye Queene’s Maᵗⁱᵉˢ Navye Royall,” by special -appointment also the Master of the _Victory_, and a son of North Devon in -her proudest day—had naval charge and supervision over the building of -the _Dreadnought_ and the other ships at Deptford. He lodged meanwhile -at Ratcliffe, across the river, and his “traveylinge chardges,” with the -waterman’s receipt for rowing him to and fro on his weekly visits of -inspection, signed “Richard Williams of Ratcliff, Whyrryman,” is still -in existence. - -The marshmen and labourers at the dockyard began their digging, “working -upon ye opening of ye dockhedde for ye launchynge,” during the first days -of November. That was the first of the preliminaries, necessitated by the -primitive arrangements of those times. The dock at Deptford in which the -timbers of the _Dreadnought_ were put together was of the crudest type: -practically an oblong excavation in the river bank, the sides and inner -end of which were shored up and kept from falling in by wooden planks. -The outer end, or river end, was closed and sealed when a ship was inside -by a water-tight dam of brushwood-faggots, clay, and stones filled in and -rammed down between the overlapping double gates of the dock. An “ingyn -to drawe water owte of ye dokke,” worked by relays of labourers, pumped -out the water inside the dock after it was closed. Before the dock could -be re-opened the stones, faggots, etc. of the “tamping” or stopping had -to be dug up and removed. Then at low water the gates would be swung -back, and the water from the river flow in as the tide rose for the -launch or float-out of the ship into the river. - -On board the _Dreadnought_, meanwhile, the finishing touches were being -put by the contractors’ workmen—Thomas Hodges, of “Parris Garden,” and -Thomas Wells, of Chatham, and their men seeing to the ironwork fittings, -“ye workmanshipp and making of lockes and boltes, keyes and haidges -[_sic_] for ij newe cabbons, as also for hookes, and stockelockes, -porthaidges [_sic_], revetts and countre-revetts, shuttynges with -rings, greate dufftayles and divers other necessaries”; joiners sent by -“Jullyan Richards of London, widdow,” who had a contract for certain -other fittings; other joiners from Lewys Stocker, also of London, seeing -to “ye sellynges [_sic_] and formysling ye cabbins and makyng casements -for windows, seelings, awmeryes [_sic_], cupboards, settes, bedsteddes, -formes, stools, trisstelles, tables,” etc. “for her Grace’s newe shippe -ye _Dreadnaughte_.” Hard by, alongside Deptford creek, were lying the -masts for the ship, ready to be put in place after she was afloat; with -“toppes greate and small, mayne-tops, ffore-toppe, mizzen-toppe, and -toppe-galantes;” besides barge loads from Richard Pope, of “Ereth,” -of “gravaille for ye ballistynge of hur highness Shipe called ye -_Dreadnaughte_ at iiijᵈ every time.” Prest-master Thomas Woodcot was -meanwhile hard at work elsewhere, “travailling about the presting of -marynnars within the River of Theames for ye Launchynge and Rigging of -Hur highnes’ ij newe shippes at Deptfordstraund [_sic_] by the space of -viii daies at iijs iiijd per diem.” - -The future “nucleus crew” of the _Dreadnought_, who were to act as -ship-keepers on board when the ship went round to moor with the rest of -the fleet laid up in the Medway, had been warned to be at Deptford by -the morning of the 10th of November. They were drawn apparently from -the ships lying off Gillingham, just below Chatham, or “Jillingham -Ordinarie”—the “Fleet Reserve,” as we say nowadays—and numbered, -all told, ten men and a boy. These were the names of our original -“Dreadnoughts” of three hundred and thirty-three years ago, and -their quarterly pay, according to “The Accompte as well Ordinarie as -Extraordinarie of Benjamin Gonson, Treasurer of ye Quene’s Majestie’s -Maryn cawses,” 1574, a quaint, bulky, ponderous, parchment covered -volume, of massive proportions, laced with faded green silk, and bound -with leather straps, now well worn and in parts frayed nearly away: - - THE “DREADNAUGHTE.” - - MARYNERS. - - Robarte Baxster, boteson:—xij wekes vj daies xxxvijˢ vjᵈ - Richard Boureman, cooke: xij wekes vj daies xxixˢ vᵈ - John Awsten: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - Nicholas Francton: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - Christofer Parr, gromett: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ jᵈ - Henry Osbourne: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - James Laske: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - Richard Shutt: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - Robartt Woodnaughtt: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - William Appleford: xij wekes vj daies xxjˢ vᵈ - John Huntt, master gonner: xij wekes vj daies xxxijˢ ijᵈ - -This is what the _Dreadnought_ looked like as she lay in the dock on the -Tuesday morning that saw the ship take the water. Imagine a solid-looking -heavily-timbered hull, round bowed, with long, raking forward prow -or beak, reaching out some ten or twelve yards ahead of the actual -vessel, and with at the after-end a lofty towering poop with shallow -overhanging balustraded gallery. Amidships the vessel is of a width -equal to nearly a third of her length. From the “greate beaste,” the -figure-head—a dragon—“gilded and laid with fine gold,” representing one -of the supporters of the Queen’s arms, set up on the tip of the beak, -away aft to the stern gallery is a distance of, over all, about a hundred -and twenty feet. The body of the hull itself has a keel length of some -eighty feet—from rudder post to fore-foot. Along the water-line the -bends are all tarred over, with varnished side planking above, tough oak -timber from the Crown lands of the Sussex Weald by Horsham. The topsides -above are varnished to the bulwarks, where a touch of colour shows; -ornamental carved and painted work in royal Tudor green and white, laid -on in “colours of oil” and garnished with Her Majesty’s family badges in -gold, and with here and there, on the balustrades of the quarter-rails -and stern gallery, an additional touch of red. On the stern, “painted in -oils,” are the arms of England, with the Lion and the Dragon, the Queen’s -royal supporters, and below, on a scroll, Her Majesty’s motto, _Semper -Eadem_. - -[Illustration: OUR FIRST _DREADNOUGHT_ - -_From a Contemporary Print kindly lent by Mr. Wentworth Huyshe. (The -“Dreadnought” is shown as she appeared when serving in the “Ship Money” -Fleet of Charles the First:—circ. 1637)._] - -These are other things about the ship that would strike the Deptford -visitor of that day. The square-headed forecastle is low and squat in -appearance, compared with the piled-up, narrow poop right aft, looking -over from which a foreign visitor to the Queen’s fleet once declared -that “it made one shudder to look downwards.” The bottom of the ship is -coated with “tallow and rosin mingled with pitch.” The square-cut, wide -portholes, out of which the guns will point when they are on board—the -Tower lighters will bring them down for mounting in a week or two—were -the idea, they say in the yard, of Master Shipwright Baker’s father, old -James Baker, many years ago King Harry’s shipwright, improving on the -original French style. It was old Baker too, they say, who “first adapted -English ships to carry heavy guns.” The Reformers wanted to send the old -man to the stake for “being in the possession of some forbidden books”; -but King Harry could not afford to let them burn England’s best naval -architect even for the benefit of Protestantism. - -The _Dreadnought’s_ gun-ports should open some four feet clear of the -water. People have not forgotten the horror of the _Mary Rose_; what -happened to her; how she came to go down one summer’s day at Spithead. -The waist bulwarks of the _Dreadnought_, if she swims as she ought, will -be some twenty feet above the water-line. Nearly four hundred tons in -burden is our new man-of-war—five tons heavier than the _Swiftsure_, than -which ship too she is six feet longer, though the pair reckon as sister -ships. Upwards of six thousand pounds out of Queen Elizabeth’s treasury -(about £30,000 at present day value) will have been the cost of the -_Dreadnought_ when she leaves Deptford dockyard. - -We will go on board for a brief look round the _Dreadnought_ within. As -we enter the ship we note how both the half-deck and the fore and aft -castles are loopholed for both arrow-fire and musketry, so as to sweep -the waist should an enemy board and get a footing amidships. Some of -the lighter guns would be able to help. The heavier guns are mostly on -the broadside, and are mounted on the decks below in a double tier. The -_Dreadnought_ altogether carries forty-two guns. Sixteen of them are -heavy guns: two “cannon-periers” of six-inch bore, hard hitters, firing -twenty-four pounder stone shot; four “culverins,” seventeen and a half -pounders, twelve feet long and five and half inches in the bore, firing -iron shot, and able to throw a ball upwards of three miles—“random shot.” -There are also ten “demi-culverins,” nine-pounders, firing four and a -half inch iron shot. The lighter guns are six “sakers,” pieces nine feet -long (five-pounders, of three and a half inch bore) and two “fawcons” -(three-pounders). The heavier guns are all muzzle-loaders. Distributed -over the upper decks are eighteen breech-loading guns, for fighting at -close quarters and rapid firing: “port-pieces,” “fowlers,” and “bases,” -as they are called. They are on swivel mountings, and fire stone and iron -shot. - -All told, the _Dreadnought’s_ armament weighs thirty-two tons. The guns -are from Master Ralphe Hogge, “the Queen’s gunstone maker, and gunfounder -to the Council.” They are of Sussex iron, from Master Hogge’s own foundry -at Buxted. At this moment they are waiting at the Tower, together with -the _Dreadnought’s_ supplies of iron shot and cannon balls of Kentish -ragstone from Her Majesty’s quarries at Maidstone, stacked “in ye Bynns -upon ye Tower Wharfe each side Traitor’s Gate.” When the _Dreadnought_ -goes into battle she will carry some two hundred officers and men all -told: a hundred and thirty “maryners”—“Able men for topyard, helme and -lead,” and “gromets,” or boys and “Fresh men”; with twenty gunners and -fifty soldiers. To keep her at sea will cost the Queen £303. 6s. 8d. a -month for sea-wages and victualling. Three weeks provisions and water -is the most that the ship can stow, owing to the space wanted for the -ballast, the cables for the four anchors, and the ammunition and sea -stores. That is why victualling ships have to attend Her Majesty’s fleets -on service outside the Narrow Seas. The “cook room,” of bricks and iron -and paving stones, is in the hold over the ballast. Two more notes may -be made as we return on deck and quit the ship. The captain’s cabin, -opening on the gallery aft, is neatly wainscoted and garnished with -green and white chintz, and with curtains of darnix hung at the latticed -cabin windows. There are three boats for the _Dreadnought_: the “great -boat,” which tows astern at all times, the cock-boat and the skiff, both -of which stow inboard. John Clerk, “of Redryffe, Shipwrighte,” built -the “great boat,” being paid £24, in the terms of his bill, “For the -Workmanshipp and makeinge of a new Boate for her Highness’ Shipp, the -_Dreadnought_; conteyninge xi foote Di. in lengthe; ix foote Di. in -Breadthe; and iij foote ij inches in Depthe.—By agrement.” - -A brave show should our gallant _Dreadnought_ make when she goes forth -to war, with her varnished sides and rows of frowning guns and painted -top-armours (the handiwork, according to his bill, of Master Coteley, of -Deptford), and all her wide spreading sails set (“John Hawkins, Esquire, -of London,” supplied these), and at the masthead, high above all, her -flag of St. George of white Dowlas canvas with a blood-red cross of cloth -sewn on. - - * * * * * - -The appointed day has come, and the time for the sending afloat and -formal naming of the _Dreadnought_: Tuesday afternoon, the 10th of -November, 1573. - -The ship lies ready for launching at the appointed moment, having been -duly “struck” upon the launching ways a day or two before, under the -supervision of Master Baker himself, in the dock where she has been -building; shored up on either side, and with the lifting screws and -“crabs” prepared to heave her off. The dockhead has been dug out and -finally cleared at low tide on Monday, leaving the double gates free and -in order, ready to be swung back and opened as soon as the tide begins to -make on Tuesday morning. - -We will imagine ourselves on the spot at the time and looking on at what -took place. It is possible to do so, thanks to a manuscript left by -Phineas Pett, Peter’s son and successor at Deptford royal yard. - -All is ready for the day’s proceedings by a little after noon, when the -important personages taking part at the launch, “by commandement of -ye officers of Her Grace’s Maryn Causys,” and the invited guests and -superior officials of the dockyard assemble for a light refection of -cake and wine in the Master Shipwright’s “lodging,” preliminary to the -ceremony. - -Who named the _Dreadnought_ on that day? Unfortunately that one detail -is not mentioned in any existing record, and the Navy Office book for -the year, where the name would certainly have been found, together -with the honorarium or fee, paid according to custom, is missing. Most -probably it was Captain Stephen Borough himself, and we may imagine him -there, apparelled for the day in crimson velvet and gold lace, in the -full uniform of one entitled to wear “Her Maᵗⁱᵉˢ cote of ordinarie.” -His rank and standing as one of the “Principall Masters of the Queen’s -Maᵗⁱᵉˢ Navie in Ordinarie” qualified him for performance of so dignified -a duty. The Principal Masters were often deputed by the Lord High Admiral -to preside on his behalf at the launches of men-of-war and perform the -name-giving ceremony. - -While the high officers are having their refreshments in Master -Shipwright Baker’s lodging, Boatswain Baxster and the assistant -shipwrights are stationing the men on board and at the launching tackles. -The customary “musicke” then makes its appearance, “a noyse of trumpetts -and drums,” who post themselves on the poop and the forecastle of the -ship. Next, a “standing cup” of silver-gilt, filled to the brim with -Malmsey of the best, is set up on a pedestal fixed prominently on the -poop, and the Queen’s colours are hoisted on board, together with the -flag of St. George. At the same time pennons and streamers of Tudor green -and white, and decorated with royal emblems and badges, are ranged here -and there along the ship’s sides and on the forecastle. - -All is ready ere long, and then, forthwith, word is sent to Master -Shipwright Baker and the gentlemen of the company. Forthwith the -procession forms itself and sets out in stately fashion to go on board. - - With his grey hair unbonneted - The old sea-captain comes; - Behind him march the halberdiers, - Before him sound the drums. - -So escorted and attended the personage of the hour paces his way forth -and proceeds on board the new ship, passing along the decks and ascending -to the poop where the company group themselves according to precedence, -near by the glittering silver-gilt wine cup. Master Shipwright Baker then -gives the signal, and Boatswain Baxster’s whistle shrills out. At once -the gangs of men standing ready at the crabs and windlasses heave taut, -and a moment later, as the ship begins her first movement outwards, the -trumpets and drums sound forth. So, at a leisurely rate at the outset, -gliding off foot by foot into deeper water, the new man-of-war hauls -gradually out and clears past the dock gates till well into the stream. -The anchor is then let go and she brings up. Now it is for Captain -Borough—allowing it to have been he—to do his part. - - Stans procul in prorâ, pateram tenet extaque salsos - Porricit in fluctus ac vina liquentia fundit. - -The trumpets and drums cease as the “Principall Master” steps forward -and takes up his position beside the standing cup. He raises the -gleaming cup on high so that all around may see. Then, amid universal -silence, he proclaims, in a clear resonant voice that every one may -hear: “By commandment of Her Grace, whom God preserve, I name this ship -the _Dreadnought_! God save the Queen!” As the Lord High Admiral’s -representative utters the last word, he drinks from the cup, and a moment -after ceremoniously pours out a portion of the wine upon the deck. The -next moment, with a wide sweep of the arm, he heaves the standing cup, -with a little wine left in it, into the river—a sacrifice, as it were, -on behalf of the bride newly-wedded to the sea, or that the Queen’s -cup might never be put to base uses—perhaps, indeed, as a sort of -propitiatory act. So it was done, says Master Phineas Pett, “according -to the ancient custom and ceremony performed at such times.” Again there -is a blare of trumpets and a ruffle from the drums, with cheers afloat -and ashore for Her Grace, and hearty congratulations to Master Matthew -Baker on the occasion. After that the _Dreadnought_ is formally inspected -between decks and below, and the crew’s health is drunk by the high -officers in ship’s beer—sure to be of a good brew on a launching day. - -By the time that all is over the ship has been warped back alongside -the shore again, and the company adjourn thereupon to wind up the -day’s proceedings with a good old English dinner, given to the Master -Shipwright and the officials of the yard at the Lord High Admiral’s -expense. - -Such is a passing glimpse of the memorable scene—as far as one may -venture to reconstruct it—on “Dreadnought Day” at Deptford Royal -Dockyard, that Tuesday afternoon, in Tudor times, three hundred and -thirty-three years ago. It is hard to fancy such doings, at Deptford -of all places, now. Oxen and sheep for the London meat market nowadays -stand penned in lairs on the site of the filled-in dock whence the -_Dreadnought_ was floated out—the same dock whence the Armada _Victory_ -had preceded her, whence Grenville’s _Revenge_ followed her. Master -Shipwright Baker’s lodging is nowadays a cattle drovers’ drinking bar. -The old-time navy buildings—their origin even now easily recognisable, at -any rate externally—serve as slaughterhouses, and so forth, among which -rough butcher lads, reeking of the shambles, jostle daily to and fro. On -every side is bustle and clatter and hustling, the rumbling of Smithfield -meat vans over the old-time cobble stones, the jargon of Yankee -bullock-men, the bleating of sheep under sentence of death. Strange and -hard is the fate that in these material times of ours has overtaken what -was once the premier Royal Dockyard of England, this former temple, so to -speak, of the guardian deity of our sea-girt realm: - - This ruined shrine - Whence worship ne’er shall rise again:— - The owl and bat inhabit here - The snake nests in the altar stone, - The sacred vessels moulder near— - The image of the god is gone! - -Fallen indeed from its high estate of former days is the ancient royal -establishment of “Navy-building town.” Where bluff King Hal used to walk -and talk with Matthew Baker’s father, “old honest Jem”; where our sixth -Edward paid a long-remembered visit, to be “banketted” (as the royal -spelling has it) and see two men-of-war go off the ways; where Elizabeth -knighted Francis Drake, and James and Charles rode down in state on many -a gala day; where Cromwell paid his second naval visit—his “grandees” -attending him, and escort of clanking Ironsides—to see the vindictively -named _Naseby_ take the water; where our second Charles liked to saunter -on occasion with Rupert at his side, and chattering Pepys and John -Evelyn in his train; where James the Second, dull and morose of mood, -for the sands of his monarchy were already running out, paid his last -historic visit one gloomy autumn afternoon of 1688; where brave old -Benbow liked best to spend the mornings of his half-pay life on shore, -and Captain Cook set out on his last voyage; where George the Third drove -down with Queen Charlotte to do honour to the naming of a _Prince of -Wales_ man-of-war; where, too, Royalty of our own time has more than -once visited—is now “a market for the landing, sale, and slaughtering of -foreign cattle.” The glory has departed—the image of the god is gone! - - * * * * * - -The _Dreadnought_ and _Swiftsure_ and the two smaller ships were masted -and rigged and completed for service during November and the early days -of December, after which, with the help of a hundred and fifty extra -hands, “prested in ye river of Theames for ye transportyngs about,” -they set off on the twentieth of the month to join the fleet lying -“in ordinary” in the Medway—an eight days’ voyage as it proved, owing -to squally weather and an east wind. The Queen was to have seen the -_Dreadnought_ and her squadron pass the palace at Greenwich and salute -the royal standard with cannon and a display of masthead flags, as was -the Tudor naval usage when the sovereign was in residence, but there -had been a domestic misadventure at Placentia just a few days before. -While talking with her maids of honour one afternoon, one of the Queen’s -ladies—“the Mother of the Maids”—had suddenly dropped dead in the -royal presence, and the Court had hastily removed to Whitehall. So the -_Dreadnought_ had no royal standard to salute. Three days after Christmas -the Deptford squadron took up their moorings in “Jillingham water.” - -“Powerful vessels ... with little tophamper and very light, which is a -great advantage for close quarters and with much artillery, the heavy -pieces being close to the water,” reported, in a confidential letter now -in the royal archives at Simancas, one of the King of Spain’s agents in -England who saw the _Dreadnought_ and _Swiftsure_ not long after they had -joined the Medway fleet. So too, indeed, some of King Philip’s sailors -were destined to find out for themselves. - - * * * * * - -The Dons, indeed, were destined to taste something of the _Dreadnought’s_ -quality more than once; beginning with the memorable event of the -“Singeing of the King of Spain’s Beard.” There, Drake’s right-hand man on -many a battle day, commanded the _Dreadnought_, Captain Thomas Fenner, a -sturdy son of Sussex and a seaman who knew his business. - -How thoroughly Drake—“fiend incarnate; his name Tartarean, unfit for -Christian lips; Draco—a dragon, a serpent, emblem of Diabolus; Satanas -himself”—did his work among the Spaniards at Cadiz, burning eighteen -of their finest royal galleons, and carrying off six more in spite of -fireships and all the shooting of the Spanish batteries, is history. -The _Dreadnought_, after experiencing a narrow escape from shipwreck -off Cape Finisterre at the outset of her cruise, took her full share of -what fighting there was. She was present, too, at the second act of the -drama, which took place off the Tagus with so fatal a sequel for the -hapless Commander-in-Chief designate of the Armada, the Marquis de Santa -Cruz—the “Iron Marquis,” “Thunderbolt of War,” the real Hero of Lepanto, -by reputation the ablest sea-officer the world had yet seen. First, -the news that his flagship and the finest fighting galleons of his own -picked squadron—all named, too, after the most helpful among the Blessed -Saints of the Calendar—together with his best transports and victuallers, -had been boarded and taken and sacrilegiously set ablaze to, burned -to the water’s edge, one after the other, by those “accursed English -Lutheran dogs.” Worse still. To be then defied to his face, he, Spain’s -“Captain-General of the Ocean”; to be audaciously challenged to come out -and fight and have his revenge then and there—Drake and the _Dreadnought_ -and the rest openly waiting for him—in the offing. The shame of the -disaster was enough to kill the haughty Hidalgo, to make him fall sick -and turn his face to the wall and die, without Philip’s espionage and -unworthy insults goading him to the grave. The _Dreadnought_ had a hand -in shaping the destinies of England, for, in the words of the Spanish -popular saying, “to the Iron Marquis succeeded the Golden Duke,” whose -hopeless incompetence gave England every chance in the next year’s -fighting. - -In the opening encounter with the Spanish Armada that July Sunday -afternoon of 1588, no ship of all the Queen’s fleet bore herself better -than did the _Dreadnought_. Captain George Beeston, of an ancient Surrey -family, held command on board the _Dreadnought_. He was a veteran officer -of the Queen’s fleet—more than twenty-five years had gone by since he -first trod the quarter-deck as a captain. Leading in among the enemy, -after the first hour of long-range firing between the English van and the -Spanish rear had brought both sides to closer quarters, the _Dreadnought_ -with the ships that followed Drake’s flagship the _Revenge_, for nearly -three hours fought first with one and then with another of the most -powerful of the Spanish rear-guard ships. After that, forcing their way -among the Spaniards as they gave back and began to crowd on their main -body, she had a sharp set-to with the big galleons, led by Juan Martinez -de Recalde, perhaps the best seaman in all King Philip’s navy, commander -of the rear-division of the Armada. On the _Santa Ana_ and her consorts -the _Revenge_ and _Dreadnought_ and the rest made a spirited attack, -pushing Recalde so hard that eventually Medina Sidonia himself, the -Spanish Admiral, had to turn back and come to the rescue with every ship -at his disposal. It was enough; Drake and his men had played their part. -Before Medina Sidonia’s advance in force, the _Revenge_ and _Dreadnought_ -left the _Santa Ana_, and with the rest of the attacking English van drew -off. They had done an excellent day’s work. - -There was harder work for the _Dreadnought_ in the great battle of -Tuesday off Portland Bill. First came the fierce brush in the morning, -when Drake and Lord Howard and the leaders of the English fleet, after a -daring attempt to work in between the Spanish fleet and the Dorset coast, -had to tack at the last moment, baffled for want of sea room, and were -closed with by the enemy in the act of going about. On came the galleons -exultantly, their crews shouting and cheering, amid a blare of trumpets -and ruffle of drums, in full confidence to run down and sink the lighter -built English vessels. It was a moment of extreme peril:—but at the very -last, suddenly, the fortune of the day changed. As the Spaniards seemed -to be upon them the wind shifted, the English sails filled, ship by -ship and all together, and then stretching out with bowsprits pointing -seaward, the _Revenge_, _Victory_, _Ark Royal_, _Dreadnought_, and the -others safely cleared the enemy, pouring in so fierce a fire as they -passed that the Spanish ships had to sheer off. This was the first fight -of the day. Later, when the wind, going round with the sun, shifted again -and gave Drake and Howard the weather gage, came on the most desperate -encounter with the Armada that our ships had yet seen. Lord Howard in -the _Ark Royal_ and Drake in the _Revenge_, with the _Dreadnought_, the -_Lion_, the _Victory_, and the _Mary Rose_ near at hand, driving ahead -before the wind, pushed into the thick of the Spanish main body, and -attacked the enemy, in a long and furious battle that lasted until the -afternoon sun was nearing the horizon. - -A third day of battle was yet to come—Thursday’s hot fight off the back -of the Isle Wight, and here again the _Dreadnought_ took her full share -of what was done, until the long summer day drew to its close and the -Armada “gathered in a roundel,” sullenly stood off eastward, proposing to -fight no more until the coast of Flanders had been made. - -Next morning the _Dreadnought’s_ captain was summoned on board Lord -Howard’s flagship, the _Ark Royal_. He returned “Sir George,” knighted by -the Lord High Admiral on the quarter-deck, in the presence of the enemy. - -Sunday night saw the fireship attack, so disastrous to the Armada, and -next morning followed the crowning victory of the week’s campaign, the -great fight off Gravelines of Monday, the 29th of July, “the great battle -which, more distinctly perhaps than any battle of modern times, has -moulded the history of Europe—the battle which curbed the gigantic power -of Spain, which shattered the Spanish prestige and established the basis -of England’s empire.” Here the _Dreadnought_ distinguished herself again, -fighting in the thick of the fray from eight in the morning to four in -the afternoon, within pistol-shot of the enemy most of the time. - -From six till nearly eight the ships of Drake’s squadron had to bear the -brunt of the fight, with, for antagonists, Medina Sidonia himself and his -chief captains, who had gathered to stand by their admiral. Trying to -rally the Armada after the panic of the night, this gallant band had at -first, from before daybreak, anchored in a group, to act as rear-guard -to the Spanish fleet, firing signal guns to stop their flying consorts, -and sending pinnaces to order the fugitives back. Then Hawkins in the -_Victory_, with the _Dreadnought_, the _Mary Rose_, and _Swallow_, and -other ships unnamed, came up and struck in. Now moving ahead through -her own smoke to plunge into the mêlée and come to the rescue of some -hard-pressed consort, now working tack for tack parallel with and firing -salvo after salvo at short range into some towering galleon or huge -water-centipede-like galleass—so the hours of that eventful forenoon -wore through on the _Dreadnought’s_ powder-begrimed decks. “Sir George -Beeston behaved himself valiantly,” records the official _Relation of -Proceedings_, drawn up for the Lord High Admiral. In vain did the most -formidable of the Spanish galleons try to close and board. Ship after -ship was forced back with shattered bulwarks and splintered sides, and -with their scuppers spouting blood, after each English broadside, as the -round shot crashed in among the masses of Spanish soldiery, packed on -board the galleons as closely almost as they could stand. - -More Spaniards joined their admiral as Sidonia passed north, the Spanish -rear and centre squadrons forming together a long straggling array, -among the ships of which, from nine to after one o’clock, the _Revenge_, -_Victory_, _Dreadnought_, _Triumph_, _Ark Royal_, and the rest charged -through and through fighting both broadsides. Shortly after two o’clock, -the English ships passed on, pressing forward to overtake the Spanish -van group of galleons. By four o’clock the battle was won, but firing -went on till nearly six, “when every man was weary with labour, and our -cartridges spent and our ammunition wasted” (_i.e._ used up). - -Once more the _Dreadnought_ followed the fortunes of Drake’s flag -to battle; again, too, as Captain Fenner’s ship. In the year after -the Armada she had her part in escorting the Corunna expedition, the -“counter-Armada,” designed to beat up the quarters of the enemy at home -and attempt the wresting of Portugal from the Spanish yoke. A landing -party of “Dreadnoughts” fought ashore. Led by Drake and the general of -the soldiers, Sir John Norris, they drove the Spaniards before them. -“Unto every volly flying round their ears,” says old Stow, “the generall, -turning his face towards the enemie would bow and vale his bonnet, saying -‘I thank you, Sir! I thank you, Sir!’ to the great admiration of all -his campe and of Generall Drake.” The wine vaults of Corunna, however, -interposed on behalf of Spain. Soldiers and sailors alike broke in and -got drunk, and all that could be done after that was to reship the men -and write the campaign down a failure. - -In the attack on Brest in 1594, when Sir Martin Frobisher met his death, -the _Dreadnought_ had her share. Two years after that she fought with -Essex and Raleigh in the grand attack on Cadiz—this time as one of the -picked ships of Sir Walter Raleigh’s own “inshore squadron.” She sailed -with Sir Walter again after that in the celebrated “Islands Voyage”; and -then the curtain rings down on the memorable days of the story of the -_Dreadnought_ of the Great Queen’s fleet. The old ship lasted afloat -(after an expensive rebuild in James the First’s reign) until the time of -the Civil War. She figured in the interim in the Rochelle Expedition and -also in one of Charles the First’s Ship-money fleets. The _Dreadnought_ -of St. Bartholomew’s Day and Matthew Baker made her last cruise of all in -the year of Marston Moor. - - * * * * * - -Six _Dreadnoughts_ in all have flown the pennant since England’s Armada -_Dreadnought_ passed away. - -[Illustration: “OLD DREADNOUGHT’S” _DREADNOUGHT_ - -_From the original drawing made in 1740 for the official dockyard model. -Now in the Author’s Collection._] - -Charles the Second’s _Dreadnought_ was our second man-of-war of the name. -Originally the _Torrington_, one of Cromwell’s frigates, and named, -after the Puritan usage, to commemorate a Roundhead victory over the -hapless Cavaliers, Restoration Year saw the ship renamed _Dreadnought_, -under which style she rendered the State good service for many a long -year to come. In that time the _Dreadnought_ fought, always with credit, -in no fewer than seven fleet battles. She was with the Duke of York -when he beat Opdam off Lowestoft in 1665; with Monk, Duke of Albemarle, -and Prince Rupert in the “Four Days’ Fight” of 1666; at the defeat of -De Ruyter in the St. James’s Day Fight of the same year. Solebay, in -the Third Dutch War, was another of our second _Dreadnought’s_ notable -days, and also Prince Rupert’s three drawn battles with De Ruyter off -the Banks of Flanders in 1673. Worn out with thirty-six years’ service -(reckoning from the day that the _Torrington_ first took the water), the -_Dreadnought_ had set forth to meet the famous French corsair, Jean Bart, -in the North Sea, when, one stormy October night of 1690, she foundered -off the South Foreland. Happily, the boats of her squadron had time to -rescue those on board. - -Our fourth _Dreadnought_, William the Third’s ship, fought the French at -Barfleur and La Hogue, and after that did good service down to the Peace -of Ryswick as a Channel cruiser and in charge of convoys. She served all -through “Queen Anne’s War,” by chance only missing Benbow’s last fight. -Later, the _Dreadnought_ was with the elder Byng—Lord Torrington—at the -battle off Cape Passaro, in the Straits of Messina, in 1718, where one, -if not two, Spaniards lowered their colours to her. The _Dreadnought_ on -that occasion formed one of Captain Walton’s detached squadron, whose -exploit history has kept on record, thanks to Captain Walton’s dispatch -to the admiral, as set forth in the popular version of it: “Sir, we have -taken all the ships on the coast, the number as per margin.” Of that -dispatch more will be said elsewhere.[1] The _Dreadnought_ ended her days -in George the Second’s reign, at the close of the war sometimes spoken of -as “The War of Jenkins’ Ear.” - -Two _Dreadnought_ officers, Sir Edward Spragge, who captained our second -_Dreadnought_ in the “Four Days’ Fight,” and Sir Charles Wager, a very -famous admiral in his day, First Lieutenant of our third _Dreadnought_ in -the year before La Hogue, have monuments in Westminster Abbey. - -Boscawen’s _Dreadnought_ comes next, a sixty-gun ship built in the year -1742. She was the first ship of the line that Boscawen had the command -of, and she gave him his _sobriquet_ in the Navy, “Old Dreadnought,” -the name of his ship just hitting off the tough old salt’s chief -characteristic—absolute fearlessness. An incident that occurred on board -the _Dreadnought_ while Boscawen commanded the ship gave the _sobriquet_ -vogue. It is, too, a fine sample of what Carlyle calls “two o’clock in -the morning courage.” - -It was in the year 1744, when we were at war with both France and -Spain, one night when the _Dreadnought_ was cruising in the channel. -The officer of the watch, the story goes, came down after midnight to -Captain Boscawen’s cabin and awoke him, saying, “Sir, there are two large -ships which look like Frenchmen bearing down on us; what are we to do?” -“Do?” answered Boscawen, turning out of his cot and going on deck in his -nightshirt, “Do? why, d⸺ ’em; fight ’em!” The fight did not come off, -however, as the suspicious strangers disappeared. - -On board Boscawen’s _Dreadnought_ it was that, fourteen years later, -Nelson’s uncle, Maurice Suckling, who got Nelson his first appointment -in the Royal Navy, and under whose command the boy Nelson first went to -sea, made his mark as a post-captain. It was in the West Indies in 1757, -the year in which Byng was shot, and the day was the 21st of October. - -The _Dreadnought_ with two consorts met seven French men-of-war, four of -them individually bigger and more heavily gunned ships than ours, and the -other three powerful frigates, and gave them a sound thrashing. - -The news was received in England with exceptional gratification as the -first sign of the turn of the tide since Byng’s defeat off Minorca. That -was one thing about it that stamped the event in popular memory. A second -memorable thing was the incident, according to the popular story, of the -“Half Minute Council of War” that preceded the fight. - -The three British ships were the _Augusta_, Captain Forrest; the -_Dreadnought_, Captain Maurice Suckling; and the _Edinburgh_, Captain -Langdon. The three had been sent by the admiral at Jamaica to cruise off -Cape François, in order to intercept a large French homeward merchant -convoy reported to be weakly guarded. The available French naval force on -the station was believed to be too weak to face our little squadron. But, -unknown to Admiral Cotes at Port Royal, fresh men-of-war had just arrived -from France purposely to see the convoy home. In the result, when our -three ships arrived off Cape François, seven French ships stood out to -meet them. In spite of the odds the British three held on their course. - -These were the forces on either side, in ships and men:— - - BRITISH LINE OF BATTLE. - - _Dreadnought_ 60 guns Capt. Suckling 375 men - _Augusta_ 60 ” Capt. Forrest 390 ” - _Edinburgh_ 64 ” Capt. Langdon 467 ” - --- ---- - 184 guns. 1232 men. - === ==== - - FRENCH LINE OF BATTLE. - - _La Sauvage_ 30 guns 206 men - _L’Intrépide_ (Commodore) 74 ” 900 ” - _L’Opiniâtre_ 64 ” 640 ” - _Le Greenwich_ (formerly British) 50 ” 400 ” - _La Licorne_ 30 ” 200 ” - _Le Sceptre_ 74 ” 750 ” - _L’Outarde_ 44 ” 350 ” - --- ---- - 366 guns. 3446 men. - === ==== - -Directly the French came in sight the senior officer, Captain Forrest of -the _Augusta_, signalled to the other two captains to come on board for -a council of war. They came, and, the story goes, arrived alongside the -_Augusta_ together and mounted the ship’s side together. As they stepped -on to the _Augusta’s_ gangway, Captain Forrest, it is related, addressed -the two officers in these terms: “Gentlemen, you see the enemy are out; -shall we engage them?” “By all means,” said Captain Suckling. “It would -be a pity to disappoint them,” said Captain Langdon. “Very well, then,” -replied Forrest; “will you gentlemen go back to your ships and clear for -action?” The two captains bowed, and turned and withdrew without having, -as it was said, actually set foot on the senior officer’s quarter-deck. - -Within three-quarters of an hour they were in action, the _Dreadnought_ -leading in and attacking the French headmost ship as the squadrons -closed. Captain Suckling opened the fight by throwing the _Dreadnought_ -right across the bows of the _Intrépide_, a 74, and much the bigger ship, -forcing her to sheer off to port to avoid being raked. - -Backed up by the _Augusta_ and the _Edinburgh_, the _Dreadnought_ was -able to overwhelm the French commodore with her fire, and force the -crippled _Intrépide_ back on the next ship, the _Opiniâtre_. That vessel -in turn backed into the fourth French ship, and she into another, the -_Sceptre_. The four big ships of the enemy were accounted for. Our three -ships seized the opportunity. Well in hand themselves, they pounded -away, broadside after broadside, into the hapless Frenchmen, who were -too much occupied in trying to disentangle themselves to do more than -make a feeble and ineffective reply. By the time that they got clear the -British squadron had so far got the upper hand that the French drew off, -leaving the British squadron masters of the field. All of our three ships -suffered severely, the _Dreadnought_ most of all. - -In Nelson’s lifetime the day was always observed by the family at Burnham -Thorpe with special festivities, and Nelson himself often called it, it -is on record, “the happiest day of the year.” More than that too, Nelson -himself more than once half playfully expressed his conviction that he -too might some time fight a battle on another 21st of October, and make -the day for the family even more of a red-letter day. As a fact, during -the last three weeks of his life on board the _Victory_ off Cadiz, in -October, 1805, Nelson, with a prescience that the event justified, used -these words both to Captain Hardy and to Dr. Beatty the surgeon of the -flagship: “The 21st of October will be our day!” - -Captain Maurice Suckling’s “Dreadnought” sword was bequeathed to Nelson -and was ever kept by him as his most treasured possession. He always wore -it in battle, it is said; notably at St. Vincent, when he boarded and -took the two great Spanish ships the _San Nicolas_ and the _San Josef_; -and his right hand was grasping it when the grape shot shattered his arm -at Teneriffe. - -The _Dreadnought_ of Boscawen and Maurice Suckling ended her days at -perhaps England’s darkest hour of national trial—at the time of the -American War. She was doing harbour duty at Portsmouth at the time, as a -guard and receiving ship. - -At no period, perhaps in all our history did the future and the prospects -of the British Empire seem so absolutely hopeless. We were fighting for -existence against France and Spain, the two chief maritime Powers of -Europe; and at the same time the vitality of the nation was being sapped -by the never-ceasing struggle with the American colonists, now in its -seventh year. Holland had added herself to our foes; Russia and the -Baltic Powers were banded together in a league of “armed neutrality,” and -stood by sullen and menacing. That, however, was not the worst. The price -of naval impotence had to be paid. Great Britain was no longer mistress -of the sea. She had lost command of the sea, and was drinking the bitter -cup of consequent humiliation to the dregs. - -[Illustration: THE RED-LETTER DAY OF NELSON’S CALENDAR. HOW THE -_DREADNOUGHT_ LED THE ATTACK ON THE 21st OF OCTOBER, 1757 - -_“Edinburgh.”_ _“Augusta.”_ _“Dreadnought.”_ - -_Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760._] - -It was the direct outcome of party politics and short sighted naval -retrenchments in time of peace, pandering to the clamour of ministerial -supporters in the House of Commons. The printed Debates and Journals of -the House between 1773 and 1781 are extant, as are also the summaries of -the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, for those who care to learn what passed. - -Out-matched and out-classed at every point, the British fleet found -itself held in check all the world over. Colony after colony was wrested -from us, or had to be let go, while our squadrons in distant seas had -not strength enough to do better than fight drawn battles.[2] Gibraltar, -closely beset by sea and land, was still holding out, but no man dared -prophesy what news of the great fortress might not arrive next. Minorca, -England’s other Mediterranean possession, had to surrender. The enemy -were masters of the island, after driving the garrison into their last -defences at St. Philip’s Castle. Nearer home, Ireland, in the enjoyment -of Home Rule, was using the hour of Great Britain’s difficulty as her -opportunity for demanding practical independence, with eighty thousand -Irish volunteers under arms to back up the threats of the Dublin -Parliament. - -The Channel Fleet, though reinforced with every ship it was possible -to find crews for, held the Channel practically on sufferance. Once it -had to retreat before the enemy and seek refuge at Spithead. On another -occasion the enemy were on the point of attacking it in Torbay with such -preponderance of force that overwhelming disaster must have befallen it. -Fortunately for England the French and Spanish admirals disagreed at the -last moment and turned back. - -Hanging in a frame on the walls of the Musée de Marine at the Louvre -the English visitor to Paris to-day may see a draft original “State,” -giving the official details of the divisions and brigades and the ships -to escort them, of one of the French armies which was to be thrown across -into England. It was no empty menace, and for three years the beacons -along our south and east coasts had to be watched nightly; while camps -of soldiers, horse and foot and artillery—the few regulars that had not -been sent off to America—with all the militia regiments in the kingdom, -extended all the way round, at points, from Caithness to Cornwall. To -safeguard London there were camps of from eight to ten battalions each, -mostly militia, at Coxheath, near Maidstone, at Dartford, at Warley, at -Danbury in Essex, and at Tiptree Heath. To secure the colliery shipping -of the Tyne two militia battalions were under canvas near Gateshead. A -camp at Dunbar and Haddington watched over Edinburgh. The West Country -was guarded by a big camp of fifteen militia battalions at Roborough, -near Plymouth, with an outlying camp on Buckland Down, near Tavistock. -To prevent the enemy making use of Torbay, Berry Head was fortified, -the ruins of the old Roman camp of Vespasian’s legionaries there being -utilized to build two twenty-four pounder batteries overlooking the -passage into the bay. Every town almost throughout England had its “Armed -Association” or “Fencibles,” volunteers, the men of which, by special -permission from the Archbishop of Canterbury, drilled after church time -every Sunday. - -The effect on the oversea commerce of the country, penalized by excessive -insurance rates, was calamitous. From 25 to 30 per cent premium was paid -at Lloyds on cargoes from Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow to New York -(still in British hands); and 20 per cent to the West Indies. As to the -reality of the risk. On one occasion the enemy captured an Indiaman fleet -bodily off Madeira, only eight vessels out of sixty-three escaping, -with a loss to Great Britain of a million and a half sterling, including -£300,000 in specie. We have, indeed, at this moment a daily reminder of -the disaster. One of the unfortunate underwriters was a Mr. John Walter. -His whole fortune swept away, he took to journalism, and the _Times_ -newspaper was the result. Home waters were hardly more secure. Rather -than pay the excessive extra premium demanded for the voyage up Channel, -London merchants had their goods unladen at Bristol, and carried in light -flat-bottomed craft called “runners,” built specially for the traffic, -up the Severn to Gloucester, thence to be carted across to Lechlade -for conveyance to their destination by barge down the Thames. At the -same time the North Sea packets from Edinburgh (Grangemouth) to London -refused all passengers who would not undertake to assist in the defence -of the vessel in emergency. Printed notices were pasted up at the wharves -announcing that no Quakers would be carried. - -To such a pass had the loss of her supremacy at sea reduced Great Britain -in the closing year of our fourth _Dreadnought’s_ career. - -Our fifth _Dreadnought_ fought at Trafalgar. She was a 98-gun ship, one -of the same set as the famous “fighting” _Téméraire_. The newspapers of -the day made a good deal of her launch, which took place at Portsmouth -Dockyard, on Saturday, the 13th of June, 1801. Here is an extract from -one account:— - -“At about twelve o’clock this fine ship, which has been thirteen years -upon the stocks, was launched from the dockyard with all the naval -splendour that could possibly be given to aid the grandeur and interest -of the spectacle. She was decorated with an Ensign, Jack, Union, and the -Imperial Standard, and had the marine band playing the distinguished -martial pieces of ‘God save the King,’ ‘Rule Britannia,’ etc. etc. A -prodigious concourse of persons, to the amount, as is supposed, of at -least 10,000, assembled, and were highly delighted by the magnificence -of the ship and the beautiful manner in which she entered the watery -element. But what afforded great satisfaction was, that, in the passage -of this immense fabric from the stocks, not a single accident happened. -She was christened by Commissioner Sir Charles Saxton, who, as usual, -broke a bottle of wine over her stem. Her complement of guns is to be 98, -and she has the following significant emblem at her head; viz.—a lion -couchant on a scroll containing the imperial arms as emblazoned on the -Standard. This is remarkably well timed and adapted to her as being the -first man-of-war launched since the Union of the British Isles.” - -[Illustration: WHEN GEORGE THE THIRD WAS KING. OFFICERS AT AFTERNOON TEA -ASHORE. - -_Thomas Rowlandson. 1786._] - -[Illustration: MANNING THE FLEET IN 1779. A WARM CORNER FOR THE PRESS -GANG. - -_James Gillray. Oct. 15, 1779._] - -For twelve months before Trafalgar, the _Dreadnought_ was Collingwood’s -flagship in the Channel Fleet. Collingwood passed most of the time -cruising on blockade duty in the Bay of Biscay, where he used to spend -his nights pacing on deck to and fro restlessly, expecting the enemy at -any moment, and snatching intervals of sleep lying down on a gun-carriage -on the quarter-deck. Collingwood only changed from her into the bigger -_Royal Sovereign_ ten days before the battle. Under the eye of the former -captain of our first _Excellent_ man-of-war, the _Dreadnought’s_ men had -been trained to fire three broadsides in one minute and a half—a gunnery -record for that day. - -At Trafalgar the _Dreadnought_ fought as one of the ships in -Collingwood’s line, and did the best with what opportunity came her way. - -“This quiet old _Dreadnought_” wrote Dickens of his visit to the ship in -her last years, “whose fighting days are all over—_sans_ guns, _sans_ -shot, _sans_ shells, _sans_ everything—did fight at Trafalgar under -Captain Conn—did figure as one of the hindmost ships in the column which -Collingwood led—went into action about two in the afternoon, and captured -the _San Juan_ in fifteen minutes.” - -While fighting the _San Juan_—the _San Juan Nepomuceno_, a Spanish -seventy-four—the _Dreadnought_ had to keep off two other Spaniards and -a Frenchman at the same time; Admiral Gravina’s flagship, the _Principe -de Asturias_, of 112 guns, and the _San Justo_ and _Indomptable_, two -seventy-fours. The _San Juan_ in the end proved an easy prize, for she -had been already severely mauled by some of Collingwood’s leading ships. -On being run alongside of she gave in quickly. Without staying to take -possession, the _Dreadnought_ pushed on to close with the big _Principe -de Asturias_, and gave her several broadsides, one shot from which -mortally wounded Admiral Gravina. The Spanish three-decker, however, -managed to disengage, and made off, to lead the escaping ships in their -flight for Cadiz. Thus the _Dreadnought_ was baulked of her big prize. - -It was the Trafalgar _Dreadnought_ that gave the name to that great -international institution, the _Dreadnought_ Seamen’s Hospital, at -Greenwich. This, of course, was long after Trafalgar, for the “wooden -whopper of the Thames,” as Dickens called the old three-decker in her -old age, did not make her appearance off Greenwich until a quarter of a -century later. The fine old veteran of “Eighteen Hundred and War Time,” -lasted until 1857, and to the end they preserved on board as the special -relic of interest, “a piece of glass from a cabin skylight scrawled over, -with somebody’s diamond ring, with the names of those officers who were -in her at Trafalgar.” Another old three-decker replaced the Trafalgar -ship until 1870, when the institution was removed on shore. At Chatham -to-day, in the dockyard museum, visitors may see the _Dreadnought’s_ bell -which was on board the old ship during the battle, and was removed from -her when the _Dreadnought_ was broken up. Yet another memento of the -Trafalgar _Dreadnought_ exists in the Eton eight-oar _Dreadnought_, one -of the “Lower Boats,” and so-called originally, together with the boat -that bears the name _Victory_, in honour of Nelson and Trafalgar. - -Our sixth _Dreadnought_ is a still existing ironclad turret-ship, -mounting four 38-ton muzzle loaders, launched in 1875. She is a ship -of 10,820 tons, and cost to complete for sea £619,739. She served -for ten years—from 1884 to 1894—in the Mediterranean, and after that -as a coast-guard ship in Bantry Bay. Paid off finally in 1905, the -_Dreadnought_ now lies at her last moorings in the Kyles of Bute, -awaiting the final day of all for her naval career, and the auctioneer’s -hammer. - -To conclude with a flying glance at our mighty battleship, the -_Dreadnought_ of to-day, the seventh bearer of the name until now, and -as all the world knows by far the most powerful man-of-war that has ever -sailed the seas. She is the biggest and the heaviest and the fastest and -the hardest-hitting vessel that any navy as yet has seen afloat. And -more than that. The _Dreadnought_ has been so built as to be practically -unsinkable by mine or torpedo; while at the same time her tremendous -battery of ten 12-in. guns—huge cannon, each forty-five feet long—makes -her absolutely irresistible in battle against all comers; a match for -any two—probably any three—of the biggest battleships in foreign navies -afloat at the present hour. - -These are some of the “points”—some of the leading features—of this grim -_mastodonte de mer_ of ours, His Majesty’s battleship, the _Dreadnought_. -With her coal, ammunition, and sea stores on board, the _Dreadnought_ -weighs—or displaces in equivalent bulk of sea water, according to the -present-day method of reckoning the size of men-of-war—17,800 tons. - -Put the _Dreadnought_ bodily inside St. Paul’s and she would fill the -whole nave and chancel of the Cathedral from reredos to the Western -doors. Her length would take up the whole of one side of Trafalgar -Square. Her width would exactly fill Northumberland Avenue, leaving only -some half-dozen inches between the house fronts on either side and the -outside of the hull. Two _Victorys_ and a frigate of Nelson’s day, fully -manned and rigged, could be packed away within the _Dreadnought’s_ hull. - -[Illustration: [Our _Dreadnought_ of to-day: deck-plan to scale; showing -the disposition of the 12-in. 58-ton turret-guns and their arcs of -training. (Bows to the right.)][3]] - -Measured from end to end, from bows to stern, the ship’s hull extends 490 -feet. From forecastle to keel, measuring vertically, is a matter of some -60 feet down, equivalent to about the normal height of a church tower. - -What, however, above everything else, specially distinguishes the -_Dreadnought_ from all other warships afloat, is her terrific battery. -Hitherto four 12-inch guns have formed the standard main armament for -all battleships. The _Dreadnought_ carries ten 12-inch guns of a new and -more powerful type than any heretofore in existence. They are mounted in -pairs in “redoubts,” armoured with Krupp steel eleven inches thick, and -are so grouped on board that when fighting broadside-on with an enemy, -eight of the ten guns will bear on the enemy and be in action throughout. -In chase, or fighting end-on, six of the guns are available at all -times. The firing charge per gun of “modified” cordite weighs by itself -2 cwt.—the weight of a sack of coals on a street coal-cart. In the hour -of battle each discharge from the _Dreadnought’s_ broadside will hurl -into the enemy three tons of “metal”—bursting shells—each shell being -from three to four feet long, and weighing singly 7½ cwt. With each shot -also, bang goes £80, the cost of the cartridge and its projectile. Twelve -thousand yards will be the _Dreadnought’s_ chosen range for engaging—six -miles—about as far as clear vision is possible above the horizon. - -[Illustration: [Curve of flight, or trajectory, of 850 lb. projectile -from a _Dreadnought_ 12-in. turret-gun fired with full service charge.]] - -[Illustration: [The 12-in. gun is about the same weight as an ordinary -railway passenger train engine.]] - -“Mark X” is the official style for the _Dreadnought_ class of 12-inch -gun. It is the most powerful piece of ordnance in the world. It weighs -upwards of fifty-eight tons, about the weight of a larger “tank” railway -engine of the kind that brings the suburban bread-winner up to London -every morning. Its muzzle velocity—the speed at which the shot flashes -forth from the gun—is 2900 feet (966⅔ yards, or well over half a mile) in -a second. The force with which the shot starts off is enough to send it -through a solid slab of wrought iron set close up in front of the muzzle -of the gun 4¼ feet thick. When fired with full charges, each gun develops -a force able to lift the _Dreadnought_ herself bodily nearly a yard up, -exerting a force equivalent to 47,697 “foot-tons,” in gunnery language. -The entire broadside of eight 12-inch guns, fired simultaneously, as at -the gun trial off the Isle of Wight, develops a force sufficient to -heave the huge vessel herself, 21 feet up—nearly out of the water, in -fact. - -[Illustration: [Extreme range of the _Dreadnought’s_ turret-guns:—Fired -from in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral.]] - -As an instance of the tremendous range of the _Dreadnought’s_ guns: -mounted on one of the Dover forts, they could easily drop shells on the -deck of a Channel packet in the act of leaving Calais harbour. Imagine -one of them mounted in front of St. Paul’s and firing with full charges -in any direction. Its shells would burst over Slough in one direction and -over Gravesend in the other. Hertford, St. Albans, Chertsey, Sevenoaks, -would all be within range. Twenty-five miles is the extreme estimated -range of a shot fired with a full service charge, and the trajectory of -the projectile would, at its culminating point, attain a height in the -air of nearly six miles, twice the height of Mont Blanc. - -They are “wire guns,” as the term goes, constructed in each case by -winding coil on coil of steel ribbon or “tape” (a quarter of an inch -wide and ·06 of an inch thick), round and round on an inner steel tube, -the barrel of the piece; just as the string is wound round the handle of -a cricket bat. The tape or “wire” is then covered by outer “jackets,” -or tubes of steel. Upwards of 228,800 yards of wire—a length of 130 -miles—weighing some 15 tons, are required for each of the _Dreadnought’s_ -12-inch guns, and it takes from three to four weeks to wind on the wire. -The rifling of the barrel comprises forty-eight grooves, varying in -depth from ·08 of an inch at the muzzle to ·1 at the breech. Each of the -_Dreadnought’s_ guns, separately, employs in its manufacture from first -to last upwards of five hundred men in various capacities, and costs, as -turned out ready to send on board, but without sighting and other vital -appliances, between £10,000 and £11,000. - -The _Dreadnought_ carries eleven inches of Krupp steel armour on her -sides, turrets, and conning tower, and rather thinner armour at the bows -and stern. Her speed of twenty-one knots makes her a full two knots -faster than any existing battleship. She is the first battleship in any -navy to be propelled by the Parsons turbine, to which her speed is due. -Lastly, the cost of the _Dreadnought_ is officially stated at £1,797,497. - -Exceptional in themselves, and of exceptional historic interest as well, -are the honours that have fallen to the _Dreadnought’s_ lot within the -few months that our great naval masterpiece has been in existence. - -At the outset the _Dreadnought_ had the good fortune to be named and -sent afloat by His Majesty King Edward personally. That in itself was an -exceptional honour, and one that has fallen to the lot of very few ships -of the Royal Navy—to be named and sent afloat by the reigning sovereign. -There have been just six instances in all, from the earliest times to -the present day. Queen Victoria launched four men-of-war during her long -reign; but no King of England ever launched a ship in the four hundred -years between King Edward and Henry the Eighth: King Edward with the -_Dreadnought_ and Henry the Eighth with the _Great Harry_ are the two -historic instances. Many of our sovereigns, of course—practically all -of them: Edward the Sixth, Queen Elizabeth, the Stuart kings, Cromwell -also, George the Third, and William the Fourth—attended in state on -various occasions to witness the launch of some notable man-of-war, but -they were present only as spectators, and took no part in the actual -proceedings. Charles the First was to have personally named the famous -_Sovereign of the Seas_, with the same ceremonial used at the launch of -our first _Dreadnought_, and rode down with his Court to Woolwich to -do so; but they could not get the ship out of dock, and the King rode -back to Whitehall disappointed, deputing the Lord High Admiral to name -the ship when she did get clear—not till between eight and nine in the -evening. Charles the Second, in like manner, was to have personally named -our first _Britannia_, but His Majesty was taken ill on the day before. -Again too, as it also happened, there was a hitch at the launch. The -_Britannia_ stuck fast for twelve hours, and then went off at midnight to -the flare of torches and cressets, after which a courier was hurried off -at gallop to Whitehall, to acquaint the King, “lest certain base reports -(i.e. that the _Britannia_ had fallen over in dock) may have reached your -Majesty.” - -Yet another exceptional honour that befel the _Dreadnought_ was after -the great review of the Home Fleet off Cowes, on the first Monday of -August this year, when King Edward, with Queen Alexandra, the Prince of -Wales, and Prince Edward of Wales, with Sir John Fisher and members of -the Royal suite, went out on board the _Dreadnought_ to beyond Spithead -to witness target-practice with the _Dreadnought’s_ turret-guns; the -memorable occasion on which, at 2640 yards’ range, the four 12-in. guns -that fired, scored within two and a half minutes nine bull’s-eyes and -two “outers” out of twelve rounds discharged. Never to be forgotten -was the scene as the _Dreadnought_ passed down the double lines of the -Home Fleet in the brilliant sunshine; the ships all dressed with flags, -and with decks manned, and cheering, and firing salutes—the giant ship -herself flying the Royal Standard at the masthead and at either yard-arm -the Union Flag, symbol of His Majesty’s rank as Admiral of the Fleet, -and the Admiralty Anchor Flag, a combination not seen on board a British -man-of-war of the fighting-line, even in those historic waters, for -over a century—not, indeed, since that summer’s morning of 1794, when -the three flags flew together at the mastheads of the famous _Queen -Charlotte_, denoting King George the Third’s presence on board, with his -Queen, on his visit to present a diamond-hilted sword of honour to Lord -Howe, then just arrived with the prizes taken on the Glorious First of -June. That also was the last occasion, until the other day, on which a -King and Queen of England were together on board a British man-of-war at -sea. - -The guns fired before the King and Queen were those in the two -after-turrets, and the targets used were the usual service ones, 16 ft. -by 20 ft., with a central bull’s-eye 14 ft. square. The range was about a -mile and a half, and six rounds were fired from each turret. Of the three -shots placed outside the bull’s-eye, two went through the target, whilst -the third, which missed, cut away the rope fastening the canvas of the -target to the framework. Two of the shots in the bull’s-eye went through -the very centre, through a small circle, about thirty inches in diameter, -marked in the middle of the target. - -We will conclude this outline of our _Dreadnoughts’_ story with a brief -tabular statement of certain points in detail of comparison and contrast -between the _Dreadnought_ of to-day and the historic _Victory_. - - THE _DREADNOUGHT_ AND _VICTORY_ COMPARED - - _DREADNOUGHT._ _VICTORY._ - Time Building 16 months Five years - ten months - Total Cost £1,797,497 £89,000 - Displacement 17,900 tons 3400 tons. - Total Weight Broadside 6800 lb. 1160 lb. - Extreme Range of Guns 25 miles 3 miles. - Penetration of armour at six miles 9 in. Krupp Steel - Penetration at all distances Nil. - Heaviest Gun 12 inch 6 inch. - Weight of Charge 265 lb. 10½ lb. - (M.D. cordite). (gunpowder). - Time to make Gun 12 to 15 months Four guns a week. - Cost per Gun £11,000 £57. 15s. - Average Weight per Gun 58 tons 56 cwt. - Complement 780 men 850 men. - Length 490 ft. 226 ft. 6 in. - Breadth 82 ft. 52 ft. - Mean Load Draught 26 ft. 6 in. 25 ft. - Number of Guns 37 104 - Speed 21½ knots 10 knots. - - - - -II - -“KENT CLAIMS THE FIRST BLOW!” - - “The Kentishe Menne in Front!” - - -“Kent claims for itself the first blow in battle against alien enemies.” -The hand that penned these words has lain in the grave for over seven -centuries; but old William Fitz-Stephen of Canterbury knew what he meant, -and meant what he wrote. They are words that our fine “county cruiser” -the _Kent_ of to-day—to which the ladies of Kent have presented a silken -battle flag and the Men of Kent a silver shield and other gifts, to -incite the _Kent’s_ bluejackets to shoot straight—might well adopt and -make the ship’s motto. It was from the County of Kent that the initiative -came in the movement which has had such excellent results in inducing the -county people in other counties all over Great Britain and Ireland to -display a practical interest in the warships that bear the county names; -and the idea has since spread in other cases throughout the Empire. - -The county “Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men” of their own -accord took the initial step in the spring of 1899 by approaching the -late Lord Goschen, then First Lord of the Admiralty, with a request that -one of four cruisers of a new type, to be built under the supplemental -programme of the previous August, might be named after the County of -Kent. The request was heartily received, and in response the name _Kent_ -was announced for the first of the new ships. A little later the Men -of Kent made a second proposal. They asked permission to establish -among themselves a “county memorial for the new county-cruiser _Kent_,” -expressing their “desire and intention to do something to keep up a -continual connection between the county and the good ship, and to cause -a sustained interest to be taken in her fortunes and the welfare of -those on board.” Lord Goschen acceded to that request, and a county -subscription was immediately set on foot by Lord Harris, the president of -the Association for the year, to form a Kent county trophy fund for the -cruiser _Kent_. It was proposed to present the ship, on commissioning, -with a challenge trophy in silver, to be competed for annually among the -gun crews of the ship, the champion gun team for each year to have their -names inscribed on the trophy and receive a special monetary reward from -a county fund established with the trophy. The trophy itself was to be -kept on board and to be displayed on special and festive occasions in the -mess of the winning team. Whenever the _Kent_ was out of commission the -trophy would be cared for by the Captain of the Royal Naval Barracks, -Chatham, or at Greenwich Naval College.[4] The movement received cordial -support from Lord Selborne, Lord Goschen’s successor at the Admiralty, -and from the late Earl Stanhope, the then Lord Lieutenant of Kent, and -the late Lord Salisbury, then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. More than -that, indeed. Interested by the patriotic action taken by the County of -Kent on behalf of its cruiser namesake, His Majesty the King was himself -graciously pleased to command that in the cases of future ships bearing -the names of counties the Lords Lieutenant of the counties concerned -were to be requested by the Admiralty to nominate in each case some lady -connected with the county to perform the naming and launching ceremony. - -[Illustration: THE COUNTY AND ITS SHIP. THE _KENT_ TROPHY CHALLENGE SHIELD - -_From a photograph kindly lent by the Designers and Manufacturers of the -Trophy, Messrs. George Kenning & Son, Goldsmiths, Little Britain and -Aldersgate Street, London._] - -The trophy-shield subscribed for by the Men of Kent, together with an -album for the names and scores of its winners from time to time, was -formally handed over to the captain and ship’s company of the _Kent_ at -Sheerness by representatives of the County Association, the gift being -received with every mark of regard and genuine welcome. Following on -that, a deputation of county ladies, headed by the Countess Stanhope, -the wife of the Lord Lieutenant, presented the favoured ship with two -flags, a beautiful silken ensign and a silken Union Jack, subscribed for -by the County Association of “Maids of Kent and Kentish Maids.” The flags -were brought on board in the beautiful box of Kentish Heart of Oak in -which they are now kept under the sentry before the captain’s cabin. The -ensign was bent on the halyards and ceremoniously hoisted to the peak by -Countess Stanhope in the presence of the assembled officers and crew of -the _Kent_, and the Jack was hoisted by the Hon. Secretary of the Ladies’ -Committee, Mrs. Bills, the proceedings winding up with a luncheon to -the ladies on the after-deck by Captain Gamble and his officers, and an -afternoon dance on board. - - * * * * * - -That the name of the ancient maritime county of England should be borne -in the fleet to-day by a modern British warship is in itself a matter -of historic interest. There are, indeed, very excellent reasons why the -County of Kent should receive distinguished treatment from the Admiralty, -why its name deserves to be honourably commemorated in the British fleet -of to-day. - -Kent has a place of its own in regard to the naval annals of England, -old-time associations with the oversea defence of England and the -national navy, that stand quite by themselves. The associations indeed go -back across fifteen centuries, to the earliest days of our “rough island -story”; so far back, indeed, as the old old times of the “Counts of the -Saxon Shore.” - -Dover and Reculver, the two principal Kentish ports of the days when -Britain was a Roman province, were central stations in the widespread -line of outposts along the coast whence watch and ward were kept for the -coming of the Norseland raiders oversea in the springtime year by year. - - Bared to the sun and soft, warm air, - Streams back the Norseman’s yellow hair, - I see the gleam of axe and spear, - The sound of smitten shields I hear, - Keeping a harsh, barbaric time - To Saga’s chant and Runic rhyme. - -From the pharos on the Foreland in those strenuous times of long ago -keen-sighted men of Kent kept look-out daily, scanning the horizon from -sunrise to sunset; ever on the alert to start the alarm and pass it on to -where the Roman coast defence galleys lay at their moorings off the mouth -of the Wantsum Channel by Richborough Castle. - -Alike on land and sea theirs was the post of honour. At Hastings, led by -the stout Earl Leofwine, as we know— - - A standard made of sylke and jewells rare - Was borne near Harold at the Kenters Head. - -And centuries after that, whenever the King of England was in the field, -they claimed the right to lead the van—“The Kentishe Menne in front!” - -The Kentish contingent—the “Eastern Ports” contingent—formed the bulk and -the backbone of the Cinque Ports fleets of the Middle Ages, both in ships -and men. Four of the five “Head Ports” in the famous confederation were -Kentish ports—Sandwich, Dover, Romney, and Hythe. The “Eastern Ports” -counted twenty-one limbs, “Members”; the “Western Ports”—Hastings with -the two “Ancient Towns” attached—ten “Members.” The old Cinque Ports -Navy, in these times of ours it may be, is little more than a name, a -faded memory of a dim and distant past, a perished institution of a dead -old time; yet it was once an actual fact, a living hot-blooded reality, -the chief guarantee of our national existence, a very real bulwark, the -foremost defence of England from foreign invasion. “The courage of those -sailors who manned the rude barks of the Cinque Ports first made the -flag of England terrible on the seas.” For all that we have to thank, in -the first place, the Men of Kent, that Kent of which old twelfth-century -Fitz-Stephen, monk of Canterbury and historian of his own times, was -thinking when he wrote, “Kent claims for itself the first blow in battle -against alien enemies.” - -The Kentish ships of the Cinque Ports, “Ships of Kent” they are -explicitly called, took a leading part with the Crusaders’ fleet which -on its way to the Holy Land for the Second Crusade, in the year 1147, -captured Lisbon from the Moors. Kentish men fought with that fine -leader, William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, “Warden of the Cinque,” -when he fell on the French King’s fleet at Damme—just three years before -King John put his mark to Magna Charta. - -It was a squadron of the Kentish ships of the Ports’ federation that, in -the year after Magna Charta, under one of England’s finest heroes and -greatest men, that grand fellow, stout-hearted Hubert de Burgh, Earl of -Kent, Chief Justiciar of England and Constable of Dover Castle, Cœur de -Lion’s favourite pupil in arms, saved England from invasion by rounding -up the fleet with which the renegade leader Eustace the Monk—“pirata -nequissimus” one old chronicler calls him—was making for the Thames, -and dealing the French the first of the series of knock-down blows of -which Nelson struck the last at Trafalgar. The story of the “Battle -of Bartholomew’s Day,” the 24th of August, 1217, is one we ought not -willingly to let die. There is hardly a finer tale in all our history -than that which tells how De Burgh’s sixteen Cinque Port warships from -Dover, with nineteen or twenty small craft, stood out to meet the Monk’s -hundred and odd ships—eighty of them the largest vessels of the time—off -the North Foreland; swept round them astern, weathered them and closed, -grappled them fast, under cover of a stinging fire of archery and -crossbow bolts, cut down their sails, and then, flinging up in the air -handfuls of quicklime to blow into the faces of the Frenchmen, boarded -and overpowered the enemy in hand-to-hand fight with falchion and pike -and battle-axe. They fought it out from early morning until the afternoon -was spent, when fifty-five ships of the Monk’s fleet had been taken, and -the rest, except fifteen ships that ran away, all sent to the bottom. - -Again, in the tremendous Midsummer Day’s battle in the harbour of Sluys, -the “Trafalgar of the Middle Ages,” although to most people the event -is barely a schoolbook memory—the great naval victory that made Creçy -possible—once more the Ship-and-Lion flag at the masthead of vessels from -the four Kent ports was to the fore, well up in the van of King Edward’s -attacking fleet and in the thickest of the fighting. And at the battle of -“Espagnols-sur-Mer,” off Winchelsea, where again Edward the Third fought -in person, together with the Black Prince; off St. Mahé; and at Harfleur, -covering Henry the Fifth’s landing for the march that ended at Agincourt, -and in many another hard-fought action in the Narrow Seas after that, -Kentish men in the Kentish ships of the Ports’ Navy full well played -their part. - -It was oak from the Weald of Kent for the most part that built the -men-of-war of Queen Elizabeth’s fleet which drove the Spanish Armada -through the Channel and North Sea to its doom on the reefs of Stornaway -and the quicksands of Connemara—ships timbered and planked with oak from -the Kentish Weald, and shaped and framed and clamped together in the -Kentish Dockyards of Deptford and Woolwich. Phineas Pett, a Kentish man -by birth, designed and built the famous _Sovereign of the Seas_; and his -grandson, Sir Phineas Pett, designed and built our first _Britannia_. The -_Great Harry_ was mostly built of Kentish oak; as was, at a later day, -Sir Richard Grenville’s “little” _Revenge_, and, at a still later day, -Nelson’s _Victory_, launched at Chatham. - - * * * * * - -It was a Man of Kent who, as admiral in chief command, planned and gave -the order for the capture of Gibraltar. It was another Man of Kent who, -as admiral second in command, carried that order out. Sir George Rooke, -one of the Rookes of Monk’s Horton, Kent—by far the ablest sea-officer -in the British service in the hundred years between Blake and Hawke—was -the Commander-in-Chief before Gibraltar. Byng, Sir George Byng, was the -second in command—the elder of the two Byngs known to naval history, -“Mediterranean Byng,” as he was called in the Navy in connection with a -later exploit of his, and remembered nowadays as the Byng who beat the -enemy and was not shot. He became Lord Viscount Torrington, and may, in -like manner, be distinguished from the other Lord Torrington of naval -history (Arthur Herbert) as the Torrington who beat the enemy and was not -court-martialled and broke. - -A famous family of old-time Kent were the Byngs, seated at Wrotham ever -since the fifteenth century, more than one member of which came to the -front in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and the Stuart kings. Such as, -for instance, the fine old Kentish cavalier of Browning’s rousing song: - - Kentish Sir Byng stood for his King, - Bidding the crop-headed Parliament swing, - And, pressing a troop unable to stoop - And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop, - Marched them along, - Fifty score strong, - Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song! - - Fifty score strong! Fifty score strong! - Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song! - -Other Kentish men of note associated directly with the Old Navy were Sir -Thomas Spert, founder of Trinity House, and captain of the _Harry Grace -à Dieu_ when Henry the Eighth crossed the Straits of Dover in her to -the Field of the Cloth of Gold; Sir William Hervey, of Kidbrooke, “who -greatly distinguished himself in boarding one of the vessels composing -the Spanish Armada,” and was raised to the peerage as Lord Hervey; old -Captain Dick Fogg, of Repton, near Ashford, captain under Charles the -First of the tenth whelp and the _Victory_ and of other men-of-war of -note; Kit Fogg, his son, who fought for England in half a score of -sea-fights under Charles the Second and down to the time of Queen Anne; -Christopher Gunman, a bold fireship and frigate captain in the Dutch -wars, captain of the Duke of York’s flagship at Solebay, who later on -nearly drowned the future James the Second; George Legge, afterwards the -Earl of Dartmouth, whose valour in battle at Solebay made his fortune, a -member of a Kent county family of long descent; two notable Commodores, -two St. Lo’s of Northfleet; Commodore Boys of the _Luxborough_ galley; -Sir Piercey Brett, who as a lieutenant went round the world with Anson, -and lived to be one of the most distinguished officers of his day; Sir -Thomas Boulden Thompson, who fought under Nelson at Teneriffe, at the -Nile, and at Copenhagen. These are a few names taken at random. - -Sir Sidney Smith, the “Hero of Acre,” the man who made Bonaparte, as the -Emperor himself put it, “miss his destiny,” was of Kentish birth and -family, and learned his “three R’s” at Tunbridge School; and it was to -Lord Barham, as First Lord of the Admiralty, that Nelson reported himself -in September, 1805, when he volunteered to shorten his leave at home and -go out at once to fight the enemy at Trafalgar. - -It was Kent, too, that gave England Captain John Harvey—one of the -Harveys of Eastrey, a family that for generations had sent its sons -into the Navy—captain of the _Brunswick_ on Lord Howe’s famous day, -the “Glorious First of June,” 1794, who fell mortally wounded in close -action with the French _Vengeur_. When the two ships first collided, the -master of the _Brunswick_ proposed to cut the _Vengeur_ clear. “No,” -answered Captain Harvey; “we’ve got her, and we’ll keep her!” After he -received his mortal wound he refused to let himself be carried off the -quarter-deck. He dragged himself down to the cockpit, saying as he went -off the deck, “Remember my last words: the colours of the _Brunswick_ -must never be struck!” A brother, Henry Harvey, was the admiral whose -name is still to be met with on old tavern signboards here and there -in East Kent. Henry Harvey, captain of the _Ramillies_, came to his -brother’s aid on the 1st of June, and with three terrific broadsides -finished off the _Vengeur_ for the _Brunswick_, amid resounding cheers -from the _Brunswick’s_ men, and giving occasion to an officer in another -ship who was looking on to improvise on King David: “Behold how good and -joyful a thing it is for brethren to fight together in unity!” - -It was this same Henry Harvey who, as a rear-admiral, later in the Great -War (in 1797), took Trinidad. That the conquest proved an easy business -was not his fault. The Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish squadron at -Trinidad, Admiral Apodoca, when he saw Admiral Harvey coming, without -clearing for action or firing a shot set fire to his ships and escaped -ashore. He took horse and galloped off, and presented himself, excited -and panting with his exertions, before the Governor of the island, -General Chacon. “I have burnt my ships, sir,” he burst in with, “in case -they should fall into the power of the English.” “Burnt them?” exclaimed -the astonished Governor; “destroyed them! Have you saved nothing?” “Oh, -yes I have!” Apodoca replied. “Yes I have! I have! I have saved”—drawing -a carved and painted wooden image, some fifteen inches long, from under -his cloak as he spoke—“my flagship’s patron saint—I have saved San Juan -de Compostella!” That Apodoca’s flagship was the _San Vincente_, and that -there was no _San Juan de Compostella_ on the Spanish Navy List at the -time, are details the story does not concern itself with. - - * * * * * - -Yet another interesting connection between Kent and the sea service of -bygone times is this. H.M.S. _Kent’s_ name is not the only man-of-war -name associated with the county that has figured in the fighting days -of old. No fewer than eighteen other man-of-war names connected with -the county of Kent have from time to time been borne on the roll of -the British fleet. It was on board a _Canterbury_ that a notable naval -officer of the earlier part of the eighteenth century, Captain George -Walton, penned words which have been quoted over and over again as a -masterpiece of conciseness. He had been in pursuit of a Spanish squadron, -and on his return, as most of us have read, reported as follows:— - - “_To Admiral Sir George Byng, Commander-in-Chief._ - - “Sir, - - “We have taken and destroyed all the Spanish ships and vessels - which were upon the coast, as per margin. - - “I am, etc., - - “GEORGE WALTON. - - “Canterbury, off Syracusa, _August 16, 1718_. - - “One of 60 guns, one of 54, one of 40, one of 24—taken; one of - 54, two of 40, one of 30 guns, with a fireship and two bomb - vessels—burnt.” - -As a fact, unfortunately, Captain Walton’s “dispatch” was written -in quite another way. The captain of the _Canterbury_ really sent -the admiral a letter of two pages. What is passed off as his whole -“dispatch,” is actually only the concluding sentence of the letter, -excerpted and dressed up. An unscrupulous admiralty official, for the -purposes of a book on the campaign, manipulated the letter and printed -its last paragraph by itself as the entire despatch. Historians following -one another have since then simply copied Secretary Corbett. - -Our first _Sandwich_ broke the French line at the battle of La Hogue, and -lost her gallant captain in doing it. Another bore Rodney’s flag in five -battles—two with the Spaniards and three with the French—and was at the -first relief of Gibraltar during the Great Siege. Our first _Dover_ was -present at the taking of Jamaica. Another won fame as Captain Cloudesley -Shovell’s ship. Commodore Trunnion served on board another _Dover_, if -Smollett spoke by the card in making him express a wish to be buried “in -the red jacket which I wore when I boarded the _Renummy_.” Apart from -the taking of Louis the Fifteenth’s frigate _Renommée_, if we count in -other French and Spanish frigates and privateers taken, our various -_Dovers_, in their time, must have brought home captured flags enough -to deck the town out from end to end. All, of course, have long since -rotted out of existence. People in old times set little store by such -trophies. “What are you going to do with all these flags?” a friend once -asked of a frigate captain who, in his barge, gaily decorated from bows -to stern with the colours of ships taken during the commission, was being -pulled in from Spithead to land at the old Sally Port, Portsmouth. “Do -with them?” came the reply. “Why, take ’em home and hang ’em on the trees -round father’s garden.” - -It was a _Chatham_ whose twenty-four pounders, one May morning, just a -hundred and forty-eight years ago, gave the Royal Navy our first, and the -original, “Saucy” _Arethusa_. One _Maidstone_ fought with Blake at Santa -Cruz de Teneriffe. Another, acting as “guide of the fleet,” led Hawke to -victory on that stormy November afternoon among the reefs of Quiberon -Bay, which the French Navy, pillorying the memory of its unfortunate -admiral, has ever since called “la journée de M. Conflans.” - -A _Greenwich_ fought at La Hogue, and was one of Benbow’s squadron in his -last fight. One _Deptford_ was also at La Hogue, and another with Byng -off Minorca, where the _Deptford_, at any rate, did her duty. A _Romney_, -in Queen Anne’s war, after a career of distinction, went down with all on -board to westward of St. Agnes, Scilly, on the night of the catastrophe -to Sir Cloudesley Shovell. _Rochester_, and _Medway_, and _Sheerness_, -are also man-of-war names that have attaching to them interesting -memories of the fighting days of old, as have too, in one way or other, -in differing degrees, the remaining names of the group, _Woolwich_ and -_Faversham_, _Eltham_ and _Deal Castle_, _Margate_, _Queenborough_, and -_Folkestone_. - - * * * * * - -Our modern-day cruiser the _Kent_ has her own story also as a man-of-war, -a notable and interesting historic reputation of her own, to uphold. -This summary will give its points, the “battle honours” which the _Kent_ -would be entitled to bear on her ship’s flag were our ships authorized to -follow the practice of the army in regard to regimental flags. - - H.M.S. _KENT_. - - Blake’s victory over Tromp off Portland Feb., 1653 - Blake and Monk’s victory off Lowestoft June, 1653 - Monk’s victory over Tromp off Camperdown July, 1653 - Blake’s bombardment of Tunis April, 1655 - Duke of York’s victory off the North Foreland June, 1665 - Rupert and Albemarle—“The Four Days’ Fight” June, 1666 - Rupert and Albemarle—“The St. James’s Day Fight” July, 1666 - Battle off Cape Barfleur and Attack at La Hogue May, 1692 - Rooke’s battle in Vigo Bay Oct., 1702 - Capture of a French convoy off Granville July, 1703 - Battle of Malaga[5] Aug., 1704 - Siege of Barcelona Sept., 1705 - Action with Duguay Trouin April, 1709 - Capture of the French 60-gun ship _Superbe_ July, 1710 - Sir George Byng’s victory off Messina July, 1718 - Relief of Gibraltar Feb., 1727 - Capture of the Spanish 74-gun ship _Princessa_ April, 1740 - Hawke’s victory off Finisterre Oct., 1747 - Taking of Geriah Feb., 1756 - Recapture of Calcutta and bombardment of Chandernagore Feb., 1757 - Alexandria Mar., 1801 - Service with Nelson off Toulon 1803-4 - In the Mediterranean 1807-12 - -A peculiarly interesting memento of the _Kent_ in connection with one -of these battles is in existence. It refers to the part played by the -_Kent_ of Charles the Second’s navy just before the battle of June, 1666, -“The Four Days’ Fight,” in which Monk, Duke of Albemarle, during Prince -Rupert’s temporary absence with a third of the fleet in the Channel, -without waiting for Rupert to rejoin, rashly flung his weaker force on -De Ruyter with the whole of the Dutch fleet at hand and brought about a -general engagement. - -The _Kent_ had been sent off on the 27th of May on a scouting cruise -between “Blackness” (the old name for Cape Grisnez) and Ostend. Late in -the evening of the 30th of May the following letter was handed to the -Duke of Albemarle from the captain of the _Kent_, sent across by a Dutch -ketch that the _Kent_ had taken:— - - “May it please yr Grace, - - “This morning being off Gravelines in chase of a small ship and - a ketch belonging to Newport, as they pretend, whom I have sent - into the Downs to your Grace, I mett with a Swede who came from - Amsterdam on Sunday last in his ballast, bound for Bordeaux, - who relates that 75 sayle of the Flemish Fleet sett sayle - out of the Texel the 21st present, and 28 more from Zealand, - leaving 6 ships behind them, whose men they tooke out to man - the rest of the Fleet, & stoode away to the Northwest, which as - my duty binds me I have thought fit to acquaint yr Grace with: - & humbly kissing your hands I remain - - “Yr Grace’s most humble servant to be commanded, - - “THOS. EWENS. - - “From aboard his Matⁱᵉˢ shipp _Kent_: this 30th May, 1666.” - -The captain of the _Kent’s_ letter was considered so important that -Albemarle at once sent it off by express to the Admiralty. It is still -in existence; a stained sheet of yellowish paper with the writing crabbed -and not easily decipherable, and brown with age and faded. The letter, -with Albemarle’s covering note, was found many years afterwards among -some correspondence that had belonged to King James the Second, just as -the letter had been filed on its receipt at the Admiralty in 1666, when -James, Duke of York, was Lord High Admiral. It is endorsed:— - -“For his Grace the Duke of Albemarle, aboard the _Royall Charles_ this ⸺ -d.dd. In the Downes.” - -Albemarle’s covering letter to the Admiralty bears the curiously scrawled -endorsements of the various postmasters on the Dover Road as they passed -the courier along on his hurried journey up to London:—“Received ye -packett at Canterbury, att past 5 in ye Morneing, by Mee, Edw Wheiston”; -“Sittingborne, past 8 in ye morning, by mee Wm Webb”; “Rochester, past -ten Before noon, Wm Brooker”; “Gravesend at nowne, Hen White.” - -Albemarle was roughly handled and had to beat a retreat for the mouth -of the Thames—fighting a rear-guard action, skilfully conducted and -gallantly contested. Rupert joined him just in time to avert disaster, -but one of the English flagships, the _Prince_, grounded at the last -moment on the Galloper Shoal, and was taken by the Dutch and burned as -she lay. This was just as the _Kent_ rejoined the flag, in time for the -last day’s battle. - -Cromwell, it is curious to note, first gave the name Kent to the -navy for a man-of-war; one November day of the year 1652. On that -day—Saturday, the 6th of November—an application from the Admiralty -Committee as to the names for four frigates, two of which were to be -launched in the following week, was laid before the Lord General Cromwell -and the Commonwealth Council of State. The reply was that the following -would be the names: _Kentish_, _Essex_, _Hampshire_, and _Sussex_. So -a State Paper, now among the national archives in the Record Office, -explicitly states. In their selection the Council made thereby a new -departure, and introduced a set of man-of-war names entirely different -from any before known at sea. The little group of four ships named in -November, 1652, leads the way at the head of the long series of British -men-of-war which have borne the names of our counties in battle on the -sea with distinction on so many historic days. - -Why the form “Kentish” was preferred to “Kent” for the first of the -four ships, is a matter that is not quite obvious. The name, of course, -may have been appointed for no particular reason. The four names chosen -were names of four seaboard counties, locally interested in maritime -affairs, and it may well have been thought that to call one of the ships -the “Kentish” was much the same thing as calling her the “Kent.” On -the other hand, there may have been in addition something behind, in -regard to the name appointed. Everybody knows, _teste_ Lord Macaulay, -why the Puritan authorities put down bull-baiting; not because it hurt -the bull, but because it pleased the people. The Puritans rather liked, -it is to be feared, making themselves deliberately offensive to those -who saw otherwise to them. It is certainly curious, if not significant, -that at the Restoration the name “Kentish” disappears forthwith from -off the official Navy List, and “Kent” appears instead. This was just -at the time, too, that certain distinctly obnoxious names, bestowed -on men-of-war by the Puritan authorities, as, for instance, _Naseby_, -_Marston Moor_, _Worcester_, _Torrington_, _Newbury_, _Dunbar_, _Tredagh_ -(the vernacular for _Drogheda_), were replaced by names such as _Royal -Charles_, _York_, _Dunkirk_, _Dreadnought_, _Revenge_, _Henry_, and -_Resolution_. - -Was any reference intended in the form “Kentish,” as originally appointed -for the new ship of 1652, to the “Kentish Rising” of 1648, and its hard -fate under the sword blades of Fairfax’s troopers? Was the name designed -as a reminder to the Royalists of South-Eastern England? Was it meant as -a memento of the penalty that had been paid by so many who, only four -years before, had buckled on sword and ridden forth so blithely to the -county marching song:— - - Kentish men, keep your King, - Long swords and brave hearts bring, - Down with the rebels, and slit their crop ears! - Hell now is wanting rogues, - Send there the canting dogges, - Ride to the scurry, my Kent cavaliers! - God and our King for grace, - Leave now your wives’ embrace, - Up and avenge all their insults for years! - Ironsides! Who’s afear? - Pack ’em to Lucifer, - Ride to the scurry, my Kent cavaliers! - -The name “Kentish,” if introduced with such intention, would help in -serving to recall in the stately mansions of the squires of Kent, and in -many a humble yeoman’s home as well, why there were vacant places round -the family board. - - * * * * * - -A brief comparison between Cromwell’s _Kentish_ and her lineal successor -of our own day, His Majesty’s ship the _Kent_, may be of interest in -conclusion. - -The _Kentish_ was of 601 tons burthen, 187 feet in length of hull, 32½ -feet beam, and 15 feet draught. Our modern _Kent_ is 440 feet between -perpendiculars (463½ feet over all), 66 feet beam, and 24½ feet depth. -The first _Kent_, under full sail, might perhaps do nine knots at her -best speed; the present _Kent_, with her engines of 22,000 horse power, -has done twenty-three knots an hour. The first _Kent’s_ guns, forty in -number, were identical with the guns that Queen Elizabeth’s fleet carried -when it fought the Spanish Armada; the same kind of guns, practically, -that Henry the Eighth’s _Mary Rose_ had on board when she capsized at -Spithead. The same quaint old mediæval style of nomenclature, indeed, -was still in vogue for the _Kentish’s_ guns. They were called culverins -(18-pounders), demi-culverins (9-pounders), and sakers (6-pounders). The -heaviest of them, the culverins, weighed 48 cwt. each, and were 5½ inches -in calibre. The _Kentish’s_ guns also were of brass, specially cast for -her; refounded, for the most part, according to an existing Ordnance -order, out of condemned pieces and captured Royalist cannon. According -to a curious manuscript list of the ship’s equipment, the _Kentish_ when -ready for sea had on board as her establishment of war stores—908 round -shot, 468 double-headed shot, 100 barrels of powder, 60 muskets; and for -close-quarter fighting, 7 blunderbusses, 60 pikes, and 40 hatchets. The -modern _Kent_ carries as her main armament 6-inch quick-firing steel -guns, each firing 100-pounder shot and shell, and able to discharge, -each piece in half a minute, heavier metal than the whole broadside (270 -lb.) of the original _Kentish_. The old ship, of course, was built of -wood, oak timber; most of which, as a curious fact, seems to have been -cut on the confiscated estates of delinquent Royalists in the County of -Kent. The new _Kent_, built of steel, and with 4-inch Krupp armour along -her water line, cost to complete for sea upwards of three-quarters of a -million sterling; the _Kentish_ frigate, guns and all, cost £5000, or in -present-day money from £20,000 to £25,000. - -That the gallant “Kents” of His Majesty’s navy at the present hour -are quite ready to give a satisfactory account of themselves before -the enemy, should occasion arise, may be judged from their firing -record in the “gunlayers competition” for 1907. With the 12-pounder, -the average per gun for the whole ship was 11·18 hits a minute. Petty -Officer Nash achieved fourteen hits in fourteen rounds, the run, during -which the score was made, being only of fifty-five seconds duration. -In his fifty-five seconds Able Seaman Ramsden fired fifteen rounds, -the time taken to load and fire each time being just over three and a -half seconds, and he hit the target thirteen times. During the light -quick-firing gunlayers’ test, the _Kent_ fired, in the short space of -fifty-five seconds, 107 rounds, scoring 83 hits, from her 12-pounders; -and 42 rounds, scoring 35 hits, from her 3-pounders. Some of the guns hit -the target with every shot they fired, and the loading was wonderfully -smart, averaging 15 rounds per gun for the fifty-five seconds. - -The _Kent_ of King Edward’s fleet was laid down at Portsmouth Dockyard -on the 12th of February, 1900, as a first-class armoured cruiser, and -launched on Wednesday, the 6th of March, 1901, Lady Hotham, the wife of -the Admiral Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, naming the ship in the -orthodox way, with wine grown and produced within the British Empire, -and specially presented for the ceremony by the Agent General of South -Australia. The _Kent_ was the first to be launched of our modern set of -County Cruisers. She was also the first to hoist the pennant and join the -fleet at sea. - -[Illustration: THE SCENE OF THE OPERATIONS UNDER ADMIRAL WATSON AND CLIVE - -[From Major James Rennell’s “Bengal Atlas,” published in 1781. Reproduced -by the courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society.]] - - - - -III - -THE AVENGERS OF THE BLACK HOLE:—WHAT THE NAVY DID FOR CLIVE - - The fathers in glory do sleep - That gathered with him to the fight, - But the sons shall eternally keep - The tablet of gratitude bright. - - -This year, 1907, has witnessed the coming round of the hundred and -fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of British rule in India. It -has recalled to memory too, among some of us at any rate, the name of -one of the great Englishmen of history, Clive, and how he set his hand -to the work which, in its ultimate outcome, placed the realms of the -Great Mogul beneath the sovereignty of the British flag. The part that -the Royal Navy took side by side with Clive and his soldiers is perhaps -hardly as fully recognized as it should be, considering all that it -meant. For that reason, among others, the fine story of what took place, -of the help that our bluejackets of that time gave when the situation -was most critical, finds its place here. The navy had its own _rôle_ to -take in the stirring drama, and it fulfilled it—completely, faultlessly, -resistlessly. Without the navy—the squadron then on duty in Indian -waters—Clive would have been powerless, and the golden hour for England, -with its opportunities, would have had to be let go by. - -In the summer of 1757 the British East Indies Squadron had not long -arrived in the Bay of Bengal. It had come out from England four or five -months previously in anticipation of the outbreak of a war with France. -After carrying out operations against the pirate strongholds of the -Malabar coast, it had gone round to take post off Madras, at that time -the most important of the British settlements in the East. It was in the -neighbourhood of Fort St. George when, absolutely as a bolt from the -blue, came the news of the catastrophe at Calcutta, which led to the -tragedy of the Black Hole. - -At that moment news was expected by every ship from England that war had -been declared with France, and part of the British squadron was on the -watch down the coast, off St. David’s. It seemed quite possible, indeed, -that the first intelligence of war might be the appearance on the scene -of a French squadron from Mauritius, cleared for action. All were keenly -on the alert, almost from the first arrival of the British force on the -coast. There was no means of knowing whether the French were not already -on their way, and every precaution was taken against surprise. A daily -masthead look-out was kept for six weeks, the ships being maintained in -readiness every night to clear for action at short notice. - -So little was trouble from the north expected, that month of July, -1757, that an expeditionary force under Clive to assist the Subahdar of -Hyderabad in his quarrel with M. Bussy was on the point of setting out. - -To help the Subahdar a force of three hundred European soldiers and -fifteen hundred Sepoys of the Madras army was told off, and to counteract -the consequent weakening of the garrison of Madras, Admiral Watson, the -Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Squadron, was requested to bring -his squadron higher up the coast so as to keep guard in the immediate -vicinity of Fort St. George. - -The Admiral did as he was asked, after which, just as the Hyderabad -column was on the point of marching off, the blow from Bengal fell. - -In the second week of July a letter came from Governor Drake at Calcutta -with the news that the new Nawab-Vizier of Bengal, Suraj-u-daulah, -had seized the Honourable East India Company’s factory at Cossimbazar -and made the officials there prisoners. There was great anxiety at -Madras, and Major Kilpatrick, of the East India Company’s service, with -three companies of European troops, was at once sent north, on board a -Company’s ship, to render what assistance he could. The Bengal military -establishment at that time comprised only five hundred men—two hundred -Europeans and three hundred Sepoys. The dispatch of the soldiers for -Calcutta delayed the start of the expedition for Hyderabad; and then, -just as marching orders were about to be given for the second time, on -the 5th of August, a second letter from Bengal arrived. - -To the amazement and consternation of all, they learnt that Calcutta had -fallen. Suraj-u-daulah had swooped down on the settlement with seventy -thousand men, with cannon and four hundred elephants, and had captured -Fort William. Governor Drake sent the message from a place called Fulta, -a riverside village in the Sunderbunds, some forty miles below Calcutta. -The garrison of Fort William, he said, had made a defence for five days, -after which, ammunition failing, he and the higher officials had taken -refuge on board what ships there were in the Hooghly and retreated with -them to Fulta. The women were safe on board the ships, said the Governor, -but all were in the utmost distress and great danger. They appealed for -help at the earliest possible moment. Not a word was said of any one -being left behind in Fort William; not a syllable about the tragedy of -the Black Hole. News of that apparently had not yet reached Fulta. But -without the crowning tragedy, the news, as it reached Madras, was bad -enough. It came with stunning effect: “A blow as filled us all with -inexpressible consternation,” to use the words of Dr. Ives, the surgeon -of Admiral Watson’s flagship, the _Kent_. - -To recover Calcutta and take vengeance on the Nawab were the thoughts -uppermost in every one’s mind at Madras. A sloop-of-war, the -_Kingfisher_, was hastily dispatched northward on the day after the -receipt of the news to render assistance to the ships with the refugees -on board, which would probably be found lying weather-bound in the -Hooghly. The troops for Hyderabad were ordered to stand fast. An urgent -message was sent to Fort St. David to summon Clive to the Presidency. -Clive hurried to Madras, and with Governor Pigott and the Council -discussed the situation. - -Discussion, however, soon disclosed a difference of opinion as to what -should be done. Some of the leading people at Madras were nervous for -themselves. Certain members of the Council objected to any weakening of -the garrison. War with France, they said, was imminent. It was quite -possible indeed, according to late advices from Hyderabad, that the -Subahdar and M. Bussy might settle their quarrel and combine against -Madras. With that possibility before them, was it wise to strip Madras -entirely of its garrison, now that the worst had already happened in -Bengal? The Council met day after day, and adjourned without coming to -any decision. Fortunately in the end the bolder spirits prevailed. By -a majority the Council decided to equip an expedition and send help to -Bengal as soon as the weather—it was the monsoon season—would let the -expedition start. - -It was agreed, after a consultation with Admiral Watson, that Colonel -Adlercron’s regiment (39th Foot) and 1500 Sepoys should be shipped on -board the men-of-war and some Indiamen then in the Roads, and proceed to -Balasore, at the mouth of the Hooghly. There the vessels then housing -the Calcutta refugees would transfer them on board the three larger -men-of-war, the flagship _Kent_, the _Cumberland_, and the _Tyger_, which -ships, it was held, drew too much water to cross the shoals at the mouth -of the Hooghly. The Indiamen and the Calcutta ships would then transport -the soldiers up the river and recapture Calcutta, escorted and assisted -by three smaller men-of-war, the _Salisbury_, the _Bridgewater_, and the -_Kingfisher_. - -These arrangements had all been completed when something totally -unexpected happened. A Bombay runner arrived with dispatches from the -Admiralty, sent overland, recalling the whole of Admiral Watson’s -squadron to England at once. “It was,” as Dr. Ives describes, “a terrible -blow.” But the Admiral proved equal to the situation. He held an informal -consultation in his cabin with his second in command, Rear-Admiral -Pocock, and Flag-Captain Speke. Taking all responsibility on himself, the -Admiral decided to postpone his departure until after the expedition to -Bengal had been successfully carried through. An emergency had arisen, -he wrote in his reply to England, which the Admiralty could not have -foreseen, which imperatively required the continued presence of the -squadron on the station. Then Admiral Watson went ashore to communicate -his dispatches to the Governor in Council. His opening intimation that -the men-of-war had been recalled created, in the words of Dr. Ives, -“blank consternation.” It would mean, as the Council formally resolved, -“the total ruin of the Company’s affairs in the Indies.” They expressed -themselves as helpless without the Navy, and were overwhelmingly -grateful when they learned that the Admiral had decided, on his own -responsibility, to disobey his orders. - -At the last moment, though, there was further delay; it was over a -question of military etiquette. Who should command the expedition—Colonel -Adlercron, a King’s officer, or Lieutenant-Colonel Clive, a Company’s -officer, who had local rank as colonel? There was further wrangling over -this matter, and valuable time was lost, until it was finally settled -that the supreme command of both sea and land forces should be vested -in Vice-Admiral Watson as senior commissioned officer in the East, with -Clive in charge of the troops—both King’s and Company’s. - -The expedition finally set sail on the 16th of October, two months and -ten days after the news of the Black Hole first reached Madras. It -comprised five men-of-war—the _Kent_, _Cumberland_, _Tyger_, _Salisbury_, -_Bridgewater_, and the _Blaze_, a fireship; three Company’s Indiamen, and -two country ships. All the ships carried soldiers and army stores. - -Vice-Admiral Charles Watson, the Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, -was a capable and zealous leader. He was a naval officer of the very best -type, and in addition, it was admitted on all hands, a noble-hearted, -considerate English gentleman. He had been very seriously ill while on -the way out from England—so ill indeed that, on learning soon after his -first arrival at Bombay that there was a possibility of the expected -war with the French not breaking out for some time, he had applied to -go home again at once on sick leave. When he reached Madras he learnt -officially that war was imminent, and he wrote off at once cancelling -his application. If that were so there was no going home now for Admiral -Watson. Ill as he was, he would stay out to fight the French once more. -It was characteristic of the man—of the captain of the _Dragon_ in -1743—who, as the Navy of those days well remembered, when detached by -Admiral Mathews from off Toulon, as a special favour to a smart officer, -to cruise off Cadiz just when the treasure galleons from the Spanish Main -were expected to arrive, with additional instructions to go on afterwards -to Lisbon and carry the merchants’ treasure thence to England—the most -lucrative employment a naval man could possibly look for—deliberately, on -hearing at Gibraltar that a battle was likely to take place off Toulon, -turned his back on a sum of prize-money that would have made him wealthy -for life, saying, “He thought his ship would be wanted with the fleet.” -The old heroic spirit of a captain who had been specially mentioned in -dispatches for gallantry in every battle that he fought in—by Mathews off -Toulon, and in 1747 by both Anson and Hawke—overcame the bodily weakness -of an invalid. - -It took six weeks to reach Balasore Roads, a distance of only seven -hundred miles on a direct course. Owing to the delay at Madras they had, -as the phrase went, “lost the passage.” With the south-west monsoon, -which held from May to the middle of September, it took ordinarily from -ten days to a fortnight to sail from Madras to Calcutta. Now they had -the north-east monsoon to face—head winds all the way. It was not until -the first week of December that the leading ships of the squadron were -able to reach Balasore. They had sailed, with the wind, according to -the flagship’s log, at west-north-west. Next day the wind shifted to -north-east, dead against them. The strong current in the Bay of Bengal, -which at that time of year sets down the Coromandel coast at one to five -knots an hour, swept the squadron down until they came within sight of -Point San Pedro, in Ceylon, thirteen leagues east of Trincomalee. On some -days there were dead calms, when they barely made from three to five -miles’ progress in twenty-four hours. Between the 28th of October and -the 5th of November only six leagues’ advance was made altogether. Rough -weather set in, during which the _Salisbury_ sprang a dangerous leak, -and the whole squadron had to shorten sail and stand by for a whole day -until the leak had been found and stopped. Finally, a storm scattered the -squadron far and wide. The _Kent_ and _Tyger_, the two leading ships, -arrived at Balasore Roads on the 3rd of December by themselves. The -rest of the squadron were at that time miles astern, trying to weather -Palmyras Point. Two of the ships, indeed, never got to Balasore at all; -they had to bear away until they drifted right round Ceylon and anchored -at Bombay. - -At Balasore Admiral Watson got fresh news about what had been happening -in Bengal. He now heard, for the first time, details of the taking of -Fort William and of the grim tragedy of the Black Hole. Two English -pilots who boarded the flagship told the story. The attack, said the -men, opened on June 15th, Tuesday, and after a vain attempt to hold -the gaol and Court House and a small redoubt in front of the city, the -garrison had been driven into the fort. There it was found they had -only ammunition for three days’ fighting. The women and children were -thereupon sent on board the ships in the river, lying off the Maidan, -and in the confusion that followed their departure, Governor Drake and -most of the leading civilians—according to the pilots—deserted their -posts, and stole off on board ship to join the women, after which they -induced the skippers to weigh anchor and drop down the river, leaving the -garrison cut off and without means of escape. These under Mr. Holwell, -a member of the Council, had fought on gallantly, keeping the enemy -off until the afternoon of Sunday the 20th, when, being at their last -cartridge, they beat a parley. While they were talking from the walls, -the enemy by treachery got possession of one of the fort gates (that in -the rear), rushed the guard, and compelled the garrison to surrender -at discretion. That night the prisoners, a hundred and seventy-five -in number, were crammed all together into the Black Hole, whence next -morning only sixteen were left alive. Of the sixteen, Mr. Holwell and -Mr. Burdett, a writer, with two others, had been heavily ironed and sent -to the Nawab’s camp. Such was the tale told to Admiral Watson. - -The refugees at Fulta, added the pilots, were in a deplorable state; -fever-stricken and short of food; in terror of their lives; living, some -in tents on shore, some on board the ships in the river. The Nawab, it -was reported, had withdrawn to Moorshedabad, but his general, Manikchand, -was at Calcutta with nearly four thousand men. He was busy throwing up -batteries at various points along the river bank to bar any approach by -ships. - -Admiral Watson, on hearing that, made up his mind to try and get up the -Hooghly to Fulta with the _Kent_ at once, without waiting for the rest of -the squadron or the troops. - -The pilots, however, made objection to carrying the flagship into the -river. It was impossible, they said, to get so big a ship over the -Braces, the belt of shoals across the mouth of the Hooghly on the -Balasore side, with the tides as they were. They doubted, indeed, if it -could be done at all, even at spring tides. On the usual “crossing track” -over the Western Brace, the deepest channel, they said, was only three -fathoms. But Admiral Watson had made up his mind to try. On the pilots -finally declining to assist in taking the flagship into the river Captain -Speke, the captain of the _Kent_, volunteered to make the attempt. He -had been up the Hooghly once before, and he could, he believed, find a -channel deep enough to carry the _Kent_ over the Braces. The _Tyger_ was -to remain behind to bring on the rest of the squadron on their arrival. - -The flagship set out, after a week’s further detention at Balasore owing -to strong north easterly winds, her boats towing her. Captain Speke -navigated the ship, and with such success that a channel was found -through the Western Brace that gave four fathoms of water at half-tide. -It proved sufficient to float the ship over safely. On the 12th of -December, they were at anchor off Kedgeree (Khichri), sixty-seven miles -from Fort William by water. After this the wind changed to westerly and -the _Kent_ was able to work up the estuary under sail. - -Fulta was reached on the 15th, and the rescue of the fugitives from -Calcutta effected. Major Kilpatrick and his men were found there, and the -_Kingfisher_. The flagship herself had on board two hundred and fifty -men of the 39th Foot under Captain Eyre Coote, afterwards the celebrated -General Sir Eyre Coote. There was also a detachment of Sepoys, who had -arrived two days before by the _Protector_, a Bombay cruiser, which had -touched at Madras just after the squadron left there, and had since got -ahead of them. At Fulta Governor Drake, the ex-Governor of Calcutta, came -on board to see the Admiral. - -The _Tyger_ reached Fulta on the 16th, and the _Salisbury_ and the rest -of the men-of-war and the Indiamen with the troops on board, between -then and the 26th. The _Cumberland_ and the _Marlborough_ Indiaman were -still missing. - -The tides, meanwhile, were too low to allow any of the ships to cross the -sand-bar above Fulta and proceed further up the Hooghly until after the -27th. - -Admiral Watson used the interval to send a letter to Suraj-u-daulah. He -wrote courteously, but firmly, demanding the immediate restoration of -Calcutta and compensation for property looted and destroyed. The letter -was sent off on the 18th of December, but no reply came. None had arrived -ten days later, when the forward movement up the river began. The _Kent_, -_Tyger_, _Salisbury_, _Bridgewater_, and _Kingfisher_ comprised the ships -told off for the recovery of Calcutta. They carried up with them eight -hundred soldiers and twelve hundred Sepoys—all that were available in the -absence of the detachments on board the belated ships. - -The first fight took place at Baj-Baj, or Budge-Budge, as the name was -spelled by the English, where a fort on the right bank of the Hooghly -threatened to bar their passage. Owing to the narrow and tortuous channel -the ships could only move up in line ahead. They sailed with the _Tyger_ -leading, and the flagship next. The Nawab’s troops were reported to be in -force at Budge-Budge, which mounted eighteen 24-pounders, and was built -with bastions and curtains and a wet ditch. - -Clive and his Sepoys were put ashore at Mayapore, ten miles below -Budge-Budge, to act against Manikchand, whose army had taken post in the -neighbourhood of the fort. Manikchand’s men, though, made only a poor -stand, and fell back, their position being turned by the steady advance -of the _Tyger_ and _Kent_. - -The ships anchored that night, and proceeded next morning, the enemy on -shore at the same time falling back before them on Budge-Budge. - -Between seven and eight o’clock, as the _Tyger_ and _Kent_ rounded into -the reach in front of the fort, the Nawab’s gunners opened a brisk -cannonade. - -The two ships took no notice, beyond firing a few guns to cover their -approach and shroud themselves in smoke, until they had come abreast of -the ramparts. Then, at three minutes past eight by the _Kent’s_ log, both -ships let go anchor, and as the _Kent_ ran up the red flag at the fore, -the first broadside thundered out. The battle lasted for an hour and a -half before the nearest ships astern, the _Salisbury_ and _Bridgewater_ -could join in. About the same time Clive’s Sepoys got again into action -with Manikchand’s troops on the further side of Budge-Budge. Captain -Coote and men of the 39th Foot on board the _Kent_ were now landed to -reinforce Clive, while the navy dealt with the fort, the key of the -position. The Nawab’s gunners for their part fought their pieces bravely, -and the tough chunam and brick of the walls of Budge-Budge stood four -hours more hard battering. By half-past one, however, the breastwork -rampart facing the river had been almost smashed down all along its -length, and the guns there all either dismounted or disabled. - -The Nawab’s troops on shore had by this time begun to draw off, and -the action slackened down to a casual musketry fire here and there. -The fort, however, still held out, and a sharp fusillade came from its -walls. Apparently the garrison were looking for Manikchand’s return to -their relief. Admiral Watson on that sent for Clive, and a Council of -War was held on board the _Kent_. It was decided to storm Budge-Budge at -daybreak next morning. Clive’s soldiers were given the afternoon to rest -after their work of the past twenty-four hours. To assist in the storming -a naval battalion, made up of an officer, two midshipmen, and forty -men from each of the men-of-war, was landed, with two of the _Kent’s_ -9-pounders which were to batter in the main gate. - -As things turned out there was no need of the storming party. That -evening, while the troops were bivouacking before the fort, a sailor from -the _Kent_ took Budge-Budge all by himself. The story is best told in the -words of Dr. Ives, our correspondent on the spot: - -“All was now quiet in the camp,” he begins, “and we on board the -ships, which lay at their anchors but a small distance from the shore, -had entertained thoughts of making use of this interval to refresh -ourselves with an hour or two of sleep, but suddenly a loud and universal -acclamation was heard from the shore, and soon afterwards an account was -brought to the Admiral that the place had been taken by storm.” - -Great was the astonishment on board at the news, and “great joy” as Dr. -Ives relates, “the more so as it was quite unexpected.” Then, as it would -seem, when they heard what had actually taken place, everybody affected -to be scandalized rather than pleased. “When the particular circumstances -that ushered in this success were related,” continues the worthy surgeon -of the _Kent_, “our exultation was greatly abated, because we found that -the rules so indispensably necessary in all military exploits had been -disregarded in the present instance, and therefore could not help looking -upon the person who had the principal hand in this victory rather as an -object of chastisement than of applause.” - -This, to resume with the Doctor, is how Budge-Budge fell: - -“During the tranquil state of the camp, one Strahan, a common sailor, -belonging to the _Kent_, having been just served with grog (arrack mixed -with water), had his spirits too much elated to think of taking any rest: -he therefore strayed by himself towards the fort, and imperceptibly -got under the walls. Being advanced thus far without interruption, he -took it into his head to scale it at a breach that had been made by the -cannon of the ships, and having luckily gotten upon the bastion, he -there discovered several Moors[6] sitting upon the platform, at whom -he flourished his cutlass and fired his pistol, and then, after giving -three loud huzzas, cried out—“The place is mine.” The Moorish soldiers -immediately attacked him, and he defended himself with incomparable -resolution, but in the rencounter had the misfortune to have the blade -of his cutlass cut in two, about a foot from the hilt. This mischance, -however, did not happen until he was near being supported by two or -three other sailors who had accidentally straggled to the same part of -the fort on which the other had mounted. They, hearing Strahan’s huzzas, -immediately scaled the breach likewise, and echoing the triumphant -sound roused the whole army, who, taking the alarm, presently fell on -pell-mell, without orders and without discipline, following the example -of the sailors.” - -Completely taken by surprise and scared out of their wits the garrison -bolted _en masse_, and Budge-Budge was ours. It was found to mount in all -eighteen guns, mostly 24-pounders—the average size of a siege piece of -the day—and to have a well stocked magazine. - -Neither the Admiral’s official dispatch nor the flagship’s log, as it -happens, make any mention whatever of Strahan or his exploit. Admiral -Watson says: “At half-past eight the body of the fort was on fire, and -immediately after news was received that the Place was taken, but the few -people in it had all escaped.” The flagship’s log is briefer still. It -simply notes: “At forty-five minutes past eight Captain Bridge came on -board with an account of our being in possession of the Fort.” - -Next morning, according to the etiquette of the time, the British -flag was hoisted on the ramparts of the fort and a seventeen-gun -salute to Admiral Watson, as commander-in-chief of the expedition, was -ceremoniously fired. - -That being done, Strahan was brought before the Admiral by the -master-at-arms to explain matters. Admiral Watson, we are told, “thought -it necessary to show himself displeased with a measure in which the want -of all discipline so notoriously appeared. He therefore angrily accosted -this brave fellow with: ‘Strahan, what is this you have been doing?’ -The untutored hero, after having made his bow, scratched his head and, -with one hand twirling his hat, replied: ‘Why, to be sure, sir, it was -I who took the fort, but I hope there was no harm in it.’ The Admiral -with difficulty suppressed a smile excited by the simplicity of the -answer, and the language and the manner which he used in recounting the -several particulars of his mad exploit. Admiral Watson then expatiated on -the fatal consequences that might have attended his irregular conduct, -and with a severe rebuke dismissed him, but not without dropping some -hints that at a proper opportunity he would certainly be punished for -his temerity. Strahan, amazed to find himself blamed for an action that -he thought deserved praise and for which he expected to have received -applause, in passing from the Admiral’s cabin muttered, ‘If I’m flogged -for this here action, I’ll never take another fort by myself as long as I -live!’” - -Some of the _Kent’s_ officers, as we are told, afterwards interceded with -the Admiral for Strahan. They were prompted, according to Dr. Ives, by -Admiral Watson himself, who made that the excuse for openly pardoning -the man. The Admiral, it would seem, was also desirous of promoting -Strahan to boatswain’s mate, with the idea of advancing him later on to -full boatswain; but unfortunately Strahan was too fond of his grog. His -irregular ways in other respects were against him, and nothing could -be done to reclaim him. His own highest ambition, as Strahan himself -afterwards declared, was to get a cook’s berth on board a first rate. -Whether he ever got one history has not recorded. All that is known -of him for certain is that twenty years afterwards he was alive and a -Greenwich Hospital pensioner. - -The troops were re-embarked on the evening of the 30th, all except the -Sepoys, who were ordered to keep advancing along the river bank. Then -next morning the squadron moved forward again, keeping the English -soldiers on board. On the 31st the whole day was spent in laboriously -working up the river, a difficult and intricate piece of navigation, -owing to cross currents and dangerous shoals. - -New Year’s Day promised to be interesting, for they had Tanna just ahead -of them, where there was a fort on one side of the river and a battery on -the other. A stiff fight was looked for here, the position being a good -one to make a stand at. But news of what had happened at Budge-Budge had -gone in advance of them. As the _Tyger_ and _Kent_ drew near the works -the garrisons on both sides suddenly abandoned their guns and bolted. -Not a shot was fired. The boats of the squadron were promptly sent -ashore, and the fort and battery taken possession of. Forty pieces of -cannon in all, many of them heavy guns, were found mounted and all well -supplied with ammunition. In the afternoon the boats were again called -away and dispatched up the river, manned and armed. It was reported that -the enemy had had some half dozen native vessels prepared as fireships, -and were waiting with them a little higher up, all ready to float down -with the ebb of the tide that night on the squadron at its anchorage. The -fireships were boarded and destroyed without serious opposition being -offered. - -Calcutta was in sight next morning. The squadron now comprised the -_Tyger_, _Kent_, _Bridgewater_, and _Kingfisher_. The _Salisbury_ had -been left behind at Tanna to demolish the fortifications there and -prevent their being re-occupied. Admiral Watson had also with him an -extra vessel, the _Thunder_, a bomb-vessel, one of the country-ships -found at Fulta and converted there for emergency purposes, in case -bombardment might be needed to drive the enemy out of Fort William. - -As before the attack on Budge-Budge, Clive and the Company’s European -troops were put ashore early. They were to move on the place overland -while the ships attacked along the waterside. - -Firing began at a quarter to ten from some batteries recently thrown up -a little below Fort William, but, cowed by the experiences of their -comrades at Budge-Budge, as the _Tyger_ and _Kent_ closed on them the -gunners in the outlying batteries cleared out and made off. Fort William -itself was within range at ten o’clock, and twenty minutes later the -_Tyger_ and _Kent_ let go anchor abreast of the ramparts and opened fire. -The fort replied briskly, and kept up a hot fire for an hour and fifty -minutes. Then suddenly the garrison, numbering some five hundred men -ceased firing and deserted their guns, streaming off to the rear out of -the fort. Clive’s soldiers on shore were beginning to work round on the -further side, and fearful at the idea of their retreat being cut off, -the garrison gave way and fled in confusion. With the recapture of Fort -William the main object of the expedition had been achieved. On board the -squadron the casualties from first to last had been nine seamen and three -soldiers killed and twenty-six seamen and five soldiers wounded. - -Admiral Watson landed a party of seamen and the men of the 39th Foot -serving on board the squadron, all in charge of Captain Richard King -(afterwards Sir Richard), of the Royal Navy, a volunteer on board the -_Kent_, who took formal possession of Fort William in the King’s name. -Later in the day Clive took over the charge of the place until the next -morning, when he formally delivered the keys of Fort William over to the -Admiral, who in turn formally handed them to Governor Drake. The ceremony -of officially declaring war against the Nawab was at the same time -ceremoniously performed, Governor Drake proclaiming war in the name of -the Honourable East India Company, after Admiral Watson had declared it -in the name of His Majesty King George. Upwards of ninety guns were found -in Fort William and a large store of ammunition. - -The Navy in the events of the six weeks campaign against Suraj-u-daulah -that followed, bore the brunt of the hard work and had their share in -the fighting. First, a week after the taking of Calcutta, an expedition -was sent up the Hooghly to attack the fort at the city of Hooghly, -thirty miles up the river, the Nawab’s capital of Lower Bengal. All the -boats of the squadron, manned and armed, with the _Bridgewater_ and the -_Kingfisher_ carrying two hundred European soldiers and two hundred and -fifty Sepoys formed the expeditionary force. The fort at Hooghly was -stormed, a midshipman of the _Kent_, Mr. William Hamilton, and two seamen -of the flagship being among the killed, and several men were wounded. The -Nawab’s treasury was looted and the town burned. After that the sailors, -under Captain Speke of the _Kent_, and with a small military detachment, -went three miles higher up and burned the immense storehouses and -granaries of the Nawab’s army at Goongee. Suraj-u-daulah’s advanced guard -of some five thousand men was encamped close by in force, and attacked -the little column, but the enemy were handsomely beaten off and the work -carried through with complete success. - -Again we have from Dr. Ives, incidentally, a curious story of much the -same kind as that already told of Strahan at Budge-Budge. Three men -from the flagship, as it would seem, on the force returning to Hooghly, -were missed. There was no trace of them or their fate. Nobody had seen -them after the opening of the fight. Their disappearance could in no -way be accounted for, except that they had been shot and overlooked in -some extraordinary way. They were therefore entered as “killed.” Next -morning, to the general surprise, the three men made their appearance -safe and sound, with an extraordinary tale of adventure. “Early the next -morning,” to quote the doctor’s words, “a raft was observed floating down -the river, and on it sat with the greatest composure possible our three -missing sailors, who after they were taken off and brought on board their -ship, gave the following account of their adventure.” After the fighting -they had straggled and gone to sleep. “Awakening in the beginning of -the night, and perceiving their companions had left them, they judged -it expedient to set fire to all the villages in order to intimidate the -enemy and make them believe the whole detachment still continued on shore -which had done them so much mischief the previous day. As soon as the day -broke they repaired to the water’s edge to search for a boat, in which -they hoped to be conveyed on board their ship. No such thing, however, -could be found, but luckily for them this raft at length presented -itself, on which they resolved to trust themselves.” - -The men’s story explained at the same time certain mysterious fires on -shore during the previous night which it had considerably puzzled those -on board the ships to account for. - -For the remainder of the month the squadron lay quietly at its anchorage -off Fort William. Things meanwhile were shaping themselves elsewhere for -more fighting. - -Incensed beyond measure at having Calcutta wrested back from him and -at the destruction of his State granaries at Hooghly, Suraj-u-daulah -vowed vengeance. He would not rest, he swore, until he had driven every -Englishman out of Bengal, and he promptly set to work to assemble his -soldiery and make good his words. While his forces were mustering, to -gain time the Nawab wrote to Admiral Watson, and expressed himself -desirous of coming to an arrangement on friendly terms. When his -preparations were completed he abruptly broke off the negotiations, and -marched with his whole force directly on Calcutta. The Nawab’s army was -estimated at between forty and fifty thousand horse and foot, with forty -guns. - -Colonel Clive, on the first information of the enemy being on the move, -on the 4th of February took post near Dum-dum with all the available -troops—seven hundred Europeans, thirteen hundred Sepoys, and fourteen -6-pounders. He was outflanked though at the outset by the pushing forward -of the Nawab’s advanced guard, and had to send off to Admiral Watson for -help. It was at once afforded. Within less than an hour a strong naval -brigade of nearly six hundred men, had landed under arms. It was a -night march to get to the army, and the seamen reached Clive at two in -the morning, just as his little force was on the point of setting out -with the idea of surprising Suraj-u-daulah in his quarters. The sailors -joined the column, and they started. All promised well until they neared -the enemy’s lines. Then, at the critical moment, a dense fog, “thicker -than on the Banks of Newfoundland,” suddenly rolled up. The fog upset the -native guides. Instead of striking the Nawab’s camp they bore off to the -left. That brought Clive front to front with a long field work, behind -which the right wing of Suraj-u-daulah’s army lay entrenched. Almost at -the same moment the sun rose, and the fog thinned off and dispersed, -leaving the small English force in a position that at the first glance -looked well-nigh desperate. - -It was not Clive’s way, however, to lose his head. He fell back quickly -and steadily, making a rear-guard fight of it for six hours, all the time -keeping the enemy off and dealing great slaughter among their pursuing -columns by the continuous cannonade from his 6-pounders, until at noon he -regained the camp. In the fighting two of the guns had to be abandoned -owing to their carriages breaking down. The loss on the English side -was: a lieutenant of the _Salisbury_ mortally wounded, twelve seamen and -twenty-nine soldiers and Sepoys killed, including two captains of the -Company’s troops, fifteen seamen and between forty and fifty soldiers and -Sepoys wounded. Suraj-u-daulah’s loss was reported by a spy as being -upwards of thirteen hundred, including some of his best officers. At any -rate, it staggered the Nawab. Startled at the audacity of Clive’s attempt -on his camp and its near approach to success, when the names of his -fallen captains were told him he lost what little nerve he possessed, and -in a state of abject fright sent a flag of truce to Calcutta declaring -his readiness to treat for peace. To prove his good faith, as he said, -he at the same time ordered his troops to break camp and withdraw -up-country. The Calcutta Council, for their part, were quite ready to -come to terms. Their demands included the restoration of their trading -rights and of the _status quo_ generally, together with the payment by -the Nawab of a lump sum as compensation for property seized at Calcutta -in the previous June. The terms were acceded to by Suraj-u-daulah, and -articles of peace were ratified on the 9th of February. - -The Council had agreed with their adversary quickly. They had reason to -do so. A yet more threatening cloud was lowering on the horizon. The -settlement with the Nawab came almost as a God-send to the Company’s -politicians at Calcutta, for the long-expected war between England and -France had broken out. - - * * * * * - -Official intimation of the declaration of war had been received at Fort -William five weeks before, but for very urgent reasons it had been -deemed advisable to keep the news secret if possible. The authorities -at Calcutta understood that the French garrison at Chandernagore—barely -twenty-five miles off up the Hooghly river—numbered some five hundred -Europeans and a thousand Sepoys, and the French also had another garrison -at Cossimbazaar (Kasim Bazar), within touch of Chandernagore. What if the -French should make common cause with Suraj-u-daulah, then on his march -down country, and reinforce his horde of armed men with their drilled -troops, officered by men who had seen service. The bare idea was a -nightmare to the Council of Calcutta. - -As it happened, Governor Renault at Chandernagore had received the -news of war with England on the very day (the 6th of January) that the -officials at Fort William had their information. They, too, for their own -particular reasons, had decided for the time being to say nothing about -it. The French at Chandernagore were, as a fact, in a very different -position from what they were thought to be at Calcutta. The garrison -actually numbered only a hundred and forty-six European soldiers, many -of whom were invalids, and some three hundred Sepoys. In addition there -were between three and four hundred officials, traders, and sailors -belonging to ships from France in the river. What was to be done was a -very difficult question. There seemed to be two courses open. One was to -join with the Nawab in his campaign against Calcutta then—in January—just -about to open. Suraj-u-daulah had himself already pressed them to side -with him. He had heard rumours as to the relations between England and -France. The other course for the French was to temporize, and try to -form a private treaty of neutrality between Chandernagore and Calcutta. -This course the French adopted, and they sent an emissary to Calcutta to -make propositions for a treaty. The emissary arrived at Fort William in -the third week of January, and found the Calcutta Council not indisposed -to listen to the suggestion. A deputation was then sent to Calcutta and -negotiations begun. It took some little time, however, to settle on -terms; and then came the sudden collapse of the Nawab’s campaign and his -treaty with the English of the 9th of February. - -That altered the situation entirely. The authorities at Calcutta now saw -matters in quite another light. With the Nawab out of the way, and with -Clive and the pick of the Madras army at their disposal on the spot, why -should they not take the opportunity of ridding themselves of their most -formidable trade rivals once for all? - -It was considered politic, however, not to break off the negotiations -with the French for the moment. The Nawab’s sanction to the carrying -on of hostile operations within his territories ought to be obtained. -The negotiations with the French deputation were meanwhile protracted -on various pretexts. Again the unexpected happened. Suraj-u-daulah’s -reply was a peremptory refusal to permit operations of war in Bengal. -The Calcutta Council on that again took up the question of a treaty -with Chandernagore. It was duly drafted and made ready for signature, -when Admiral Watson himself, as representing the British Government, -intervened. The negotiations hitherto had been no concern of his. Now he -was asked to sign the treaty. The Admiral declined to assent to any terms -with the French. The French settlement at Chandernagore, he pointed out, -was legally a dependency of Pondicherry, where any arrangement come to -would have to be ratified. - -At that moment, early in March, a fresh letter from Suraj-u-daulah came, -in the form of an appeal for assistance against Ahmed Shah, news of whose -capture of Delhi had reached Moorshedabad. In mortal dread of an Afghan -raid on the rich plains of Bengal, Suraj-u-daulah offered Clive a hundred -thousand rupees a month if he would march to his assistance. If Clive -would do so, the English might have a free hand with the French. Two -days after the receipt of the Nawab’s letter at Fort William, a message -came up the river that three ships, bringing a reinforcement of three -companies of infantry and one of artillery, sent round from Bombay on the -news of the Black Hole reaching there, had arrived in the Hooghly, and -that the long-delayed _Cumberland_, with two hundred European infantry -on board, which had had to put back to Vizagapatam, was at Balasore. Now -all thought of an accommodation with Chandernagore, or of neutrality, was -flung to the winds. The French envoys were packed off home with a curt -message that parleying was at an end. They might take it that war with -Chandernagore had already begun. - -Preparations for an immediate advance on Chandernagore were taken in hand -forthwith, and pushed on apace. At the last moment yet another letter, -the third, came in from Suraj-u-daulah, who had got over his alarm about -the Afghans. The Nawab once more forbade interference with Chandernagore. -But it was too late. - -The formal declaration of war with France was read on board the flagship -_Kent_, as the ship’s log records, on the 14th of March. Here is the -entry:— - -“March 14—At an anchor off Calcutta. P.M. Cut up 373 Pounds of Fresh -Beef. Punish’d Joseph Vatier and Thomas Holderness with a Dozen lashes -each for Disorderly Behaviour on Shore and Read His Majesty’s Declaration -of War against the French King.” - -Clive and his troops, numbering, with the reinforcement of three hundred -men of the Bombay army that had been hastened up to Fort William, seven -hundred Europeans and sixteen hundred “Blacks,” as Admiral Watson termed -the Sepoys, had already crossed the river. They had crossed some days -before—before, in fact, the French envoys had left Calcutta, it being -given out that the movement was with a view to be ready to march off -up-country and assist Suraj-u-daulah against the Afghans. Clive camped a -little distance up the river, with the _Bridgewater_ and the _Kingfisher_ -sloop to keep him in easy touch with Calcutta. - -On the 15th the squadron began to move forward. It comprised three -men-of-war in this order: the _Tyger_ ahead, then the _Kent_, lastly -the _Salisbury_. Following them came Clive’s heavy artillery in flats -towed by row-boats. The ships advanced towing and warping their way up -for three days, until they came within sight of Chandernagore. Then they -had to anchor two miles below Fort d’Orleans, as the entrenched work -forming the defence of the settlement was called. Until the tides became -higher it was impossible to make further progress with such big ships. -The artillery were now landed, together with a hundred and forty of the -seamen, who were to throw up the siege batteries and fight the guns. - -These moved across and joined Clive, who, since the early morning of -the 14th, had been carrying on a skirmishing attack on the outworks of -Chandernagore on the western or landward side. - -At Chandernagore itself, meanwhile, during the brief lull before the -bursting of the storm, the French were working night and day on their -defences. The news of the breaking off of the negotiations had come on -the settlement like a thunderbolt from an apparently clearing sky. Blank -dismay fell on all, from the Governor downwards, when they learned what -had happened. For days past they had been confidently looking forward -to see the envoys arrive from Calcutta with the signed treaty in their -hands. The envoys returned with the message: “Delenda est Carthago.” It -was a staggering set-back. But the Governor and his officers were men. -They set themselves to work with the energy of despair to make the best -fight for it they could. Messengers were sent galloping off to the Nawab -and to Cossimbazaar, where the French agent, M. Lawson, had a small -detachment of picked Europeans, imploring immediate help. - -Field works and entrenched positions were thrown up at the most exposed -points outside the main fort, which constituted the stronghold of the -settlement, Fort d’Orleans. Six trading ships were sunk across the -fairway of the Hooghly, a hundred and fifty yards below the fort, to stop -the English men-of-war coming up, and a covering battery, heavily gunned, -was placed to enfilade the channel at close range and bring a punishing -fire on any ships trying to pass the sunken obstacles. A double boom, -moored fast with chains, was also laid across the river. Two bomb-vessels -were anchored broadside-on across the fairway, close to the sunken -vessels, and three fireships were made ready to let drift down stream on -the enemy. Chandernagore Fort itself was a four-sided brick-faced work, -two hundred yards each way, with walls fifteen feet high, constructed on -the regular Vauban system, with a dry ditch and bastions, and a curtain -between the bastions, and with a ravelin covering the main gate. It -mounted ten 32-pounders along each curtain, and eight 32-pounders on the -ravelin. Besides these there was a six-gun battery of lighter pieces -erected on the roof of the high-terraced church of St. Louis, inside the -fort. - -To man his defences M. Renaud de St. Germain, the French Governor, had -in all a hundred and forty-six European soldiers and three hundred -Sepoys, with an auxiliary body of some three hundred Europeans, “men with -muskets,” raised from among the Chandernagore traders and the crews of -the French vessels. - -Chandernagore in itself seemed capable of making a good defence, and -the Governor, indeed, as his arrangements drew towards completion, was -not without hope of being able to hold his own until help, of which -at an early date he received promise, should arrive from the Nawab. -Clive and his army gave him little anxiety—or comparatively little. The -preliminaries of the attack on the land side showed that the French heavy -guns on the ramparts had a command of fire that gave the defence the -mastery on that side. It was the broadsides of the men-of-war that M. -Renaud was anxious about. If only he could stand up against the sailors, -he thought it possible to hold out until the relief he anticipated should -arrive. - -The British men-of-war in the river had to wait at anchor for four -days until the tides suited their further advance. Admiral Watson used -the opportunity to announce the declaration of war to the Governor of -Chandernagore, demanding at the same time the surrender of the fort. -Lieutenant Hey, of the flagship, carried the letter. The reply was -an offer to ransom the place. It was refused flatly. Unconditional -surrender, Admiral Watson sent back word, were his only terms, though -private property would be respected. To that the French made no reply, -but pressed on with their preparations. - -The interval was profitably spent otherwise. It so happened that the -French officers responsible for blocking the fairway had either neglected -to remove the masts of the sunken vessels or were unable to do so before -the English squadron came in sight. Anyhow, they were left sticking up -out of the water—in the cases of five of the six vessels—and showed what -the enemy’s plans in that direction were. Admiral Watson’s first step was -to remove the boom and the two bomb-vessels behind the line of the sunken -vessels, together with the fireships. The boats of the men-of-war were -sent up with muffled oars after dark on the first night after the arrival -of the squadron and cleared these off, by cutting through the boom and -sending the bombs and fireships adrift, causing them to run ashore and -ground hard and fast. “Mr. Delamotte, the master of the _Kent_,” relates -Dr. Ives, “on the second day sounded between the sunken vessels, whose -masts were above water, under continuous cannon shot from the fort, and -found room for our ships to pass between.” - -Treachery, as the French afterwards said, enabled him to do this. One of -their artillery officers, according to French accounts, had a quarrel -with the Governor, deserted and sold the secret of the passage for a -large sum to Admiral Watson. He sent the money, so the story proceeds, -to help his father in France, an aged and poor man, only, however, to -receive back again the price of his treason, together with a bitter -letter of reproach on the receipt of which the traitor hanged himself. -On the other hand, Dr. Ives, on board the flagship, says nothing of any -traitor. Admiral Watson in his dispatch simply says that he was delayed -“until ... I could further discover by sounding a proper channel to pass -through, which the pilots found out without being at the trouble of -weighing any of the vessels.” There was hardly need for a traitor, and no -need at all to pay for information with the masts of the sunken French -vessels in the river standing up in the air, right across the bed of the -Hooghly, for every man and boy in the English squadron to see. There was -a traitor at Chandernagore, De Terraneau, an artillery officer; but he -deserted to Clive’s camp, and, useful as his information proved to the -land attack, he knew nothing about the river defences. - -By midday on the 22nd all was in order for the squadron to go forward -to the final fight. The tides now were running higher every day, and -the next tide would probably serve. That afternoon Rear-Admiral Pocock -(afterwards Sir George, and a very distinguished commander), the Second -in Command of the East Indies squadron, came up the Hooghly rowing up -from Calcutta in his barge. He had hurried up to join, in the hope -of being in time to see something of the fighting. He had left his -flagship, the _Cumberland_, at Balasore, unable to enter the river owing -to the same low tides that had during the past few days delayed the -_Kent_ and her two consorts in approaching Chandernagore. With Admiral -Watson’s sanction, Pocock hoisted his flag for the battle on board the -_Tyger_, to lead the line. - -At dusk that evening, as soon as it could be done without observation by -the enemy, boats crept ahead quietly and lashed lanterns to the masts -of the sunken vessels, so screened as to show their light only in the -direction of the English ships. By means of these the ships were to be -guided before daybreak next morning between the obstacles and across the -danger zone where the French had marked the range, past the heavy battery -that overlooked the sunken ships. - -The order to go forward was given at daybreak. Within five minutes they -were on the move. - -Anchors were silently weighed between 5 and 6 a.m., and on the top of -the flood tide the three ships, the _Tyger_ leading, and the _Kent_ and -_Salisbury_ in her wake, glided ahead through the water with the least -possible noise. Apparently their getting under way was not observed. - -Admiral Watson’s plan of battle was to bring-to directly opposite the -river face of Fort d’Orleans within pistol shot. The _Tyger_ was to lead -on until she came in front of the further bastion of the river face of -the fort, the north-east or “flagstaff bastion,” as it was called, and -then drop anchor. The _Kent_ was to anchor between the two river front -bastions at the north-west and south-east angles of the fort, directly -facing the curtain and the eight-gun ravelin covering the main gate. The -_Salisbury_ was to post herself opposite the south-east, or St. Joseph, -bastion. - -As the _Tyger_, a few minutes before six o’clock, neared the battery -covering the sunken ships, the French ashore sounded the alarm. -Apparently they were surprised. The soldiers in the first battery merely -fired a few rounds at the leading ship as she passed by, a dim spectre in -the half-light, and then the men in the battery cleared out at a run, and -fell back to join the main garrison inside the fort. For their part the -three British men-of-war passed on for their appointed stations without -replying with a single shot. - -The main garrison now were quickly on the _qui vive_, and the south-east -bastion took up the firing; but for the moment the light was too -uncertain for the gunners in Fort d’Orleans to shoot with much effect, -until the _Tyger_ and _Kent_ had nearly drawn up abreast of the fort. -Then, however, they got their chance. - -The French gunners took advantage of it to the full before the men-of-war -were in position. As it were by signal, a tremendous burst of artillery -fire flashed out all along the ramparts from end to end, from bastions -and curtain and ravelin. The tornado of iron beat on the _Tyger_ heavily, -but she stood up to it, forging her way ahead stolidly, and then let -go anchor within her allotted station to a yard. The flagship was not -so lucky. She was following at a half cable’s length astern—a hundred -yards—when, almost at the moment that the _Tyger_ anchored, the tide -turned, and began to race back, swirling down the river. It checked the -_Kent’s_ way instantly, and she hung back at a dead standstill, unable to -breast her way against it. At the same moment a heavy concentrated fire -from the ramparts beat upon her, and the ship, reeling under the terrific -battering began to drift down, stern first. First one anchor was let go, -then another. Both anchors dragged, and the big seventy-gun ship drove -down astern right across the bowsprit of the smaller _Salisbury_. - -The Frenchmen yelled and cheered and redoubled their efforts, and there -was for a space intense excitement. Would the two ships collide and get -foul? At the moment that the flagship first checked her way, Captain -Speke had fallen severely wounded, with, close to him, his little son, a -boy midshipman, acting as aide-de-camp to his father, who was struck down -by the same shot and mortally wounded. - -In a few seconds the _Kent’s_ anchors held, and the ship was brought -up; but she had got into a bad position. The forward-half of the ship -lay partially opposite the south-east bastion, with the after-half -overlapping the southern face of the fort in such a way that some of -the guns of the further bastion on that side, the south-west bastion, -could play upon the quarters and stern. Most of the guns mounted on the -ravelin and along the curtain of the river front could at the same time -train on her bows with a raking fire, assisted by some of the guns on -the north-east or flagstaff bastion, facing the _Tyger_, some of which -could be brought to bear. More serious still was this. The _Salisbury_ -had been pushed entirely out of the fight: had been placed practically -out of action for the day. The channel was not wide enough to let the -_Salisbury_ tow ahead and pass the flagship, and the _Salisbury_ had to -anchor at a spot whence only one or two of her guns could engage. Thus it -came about that the whole brunt of fighting Fort d’Orleans fell on two -ships, the _Tyger_ and the _Kent_, by themselves. - -Not a shot, according to Dr. Ives, had so far been fired in reply to the -enemy’s “tremendous cannonade.” The _Tyger_ was waiting for the _Kent_ to -hoist the red flag. It went up as soon as the _Kent’s_ anchors held. “As -soon as the ships came properly to an anchor, they returned it with such -fury as astonished their adversaries.” “Our ships lay so near the fort,” -says the doctor also, that “the musket balls fired from their tops, by -striking against the chunam walls of the Governor’s palace, which was in -the very centre of the fort, were beaten as flat as a half-crown.” - -Clive’s men were at work meanwhile on the land side. They had begun -pushing the enemy hard on the previous afternoon, and had opened a -brisk attack on the outworks before daylight that morning, under the -pressure of which the French outposts fell back, until they had abandoned -practically all their landward positions beyond the walls of Fort -d’Orleans. Clive’s soldiers after that occupied some bungalows that -stood not far from the walls, from under cover of which they plied the -enemy on the ramparts with a continuous fusillade of musketry, and with -six light guns they had pushed forward. The soldiers, however, could make -little further progress for the present. - -“For three hours nothing was heard but an incessant roll of artillery and -musketry, the crashing of timbers and masonry, the shouts and cheers of -the combatants, and the shrieks and groans of the wounded.” - -Describing the scene on board his own ship during the first two hours, -Dr. Ives says: “The fire was kept up with extraordinary spirit. The flank -guns of the south-west bastion galled the _Kent_ very much, and the -Admiral’s aides-de-camp being all wounded, Mr. Watson went down himself -to Lieutenant William Brereton, who commanded the lower-deck battery, and -ordered him particularly to direct his fire against those guns, and they -were accordingly soon afterwards silenced.” - -Then he relates this incident, which occurred on board just afterwards. -“At eight in the morning,” says the doctor, “several of the enemy’s shot -struck the _Kent_ at the same time; one entered near the foremast, and -set fire to two or three 32-pound cartridges of gunpowder as the boys -held them in their hands ready to charge the guns. By the explosion the -wad-nets and other loose things took fire between decks, and the whole -ship was so filled with smoke that the men in their confusion cried out -she was on fire in the gunner’s store-room, imagining from the shock -they had felt from the balls that a shell had actually fallen into her. -This notion struck a panic into the greatest part of the crew, and -seventy or eighty jumped out of the portholes into the boats that were -alongside the ship. The French presently saw this confusion on board the -_Kent_, and resolving to take the advantage, kept up as hot a fire as -possible upon her during the whole time. Lieutenant Brereton, however, -with the assistance of some other brave men, soon extinguished the -fire. Then running to the ports he begged the seamen to come in again, -upbraiding them for deserting their quarters; but finding this had no -effect on them, he thought the more certain method of succeeding would be -to strike them with a sense of shame. He therefore loudly exclaimed, ‘Are -you Britons? You Englishmen! and fly from danger! For shame! For shame!’ -This reproach had the desired effect; to a man they immediately returned -into the ship, repaired to their quarters, and renewed an inspirited fire -into the enemy.” - -The end was in sight by nine o’clock, and it came within a very few -minutes of the hour. - -“In about three hours from the commencement of the attack, the parapets -of the north and south bastions were almost beaten down, the guns were -mostly dismounted, and we could plainly see from the main-top of the -_Kent_ that the ruins from the parapet and merlons had entirely blocked -up those few guns which otherwise might have been fit for service. We -could easily discern, too, that there had been a great slaughter among -the enemy, who finding that our fire against them rather increased, hung -out the white flag, whereupon a cessation of hostilities took place, and -the Admiral sent Lieutenant Brereton (the only commissioned officer on -board the _Kent_ that was not killed or wounded) and Captain Coote of -the King’s regiment with a flag of truce to the fort, who soon returned, -accompanied by the French Governor’s son, with articles of capitulation.” - -At the moment that the Governor hung out the flag of truce (“waved over -their walls a flag of truce,” in the Admiral’s own words) the landward -side of the fort was still holding Clive’s soldiers at bay. The firing -from the ramparts there continued for some little time after the flag on -the Governor’s palace had been lowered. - -The formal surrender and giving up of the fort took place at three -o’clock in the afternoon. Says Admiral Watson in his dispatch: “I sent -Captain Latham of the _Tyger_ ashore to receive the keys and take -possession of the fort. Col. Clive marched in with the King’s troops -about five in the afternoon.” The _Kent’s_ log notes this: “5.30 p.m. The -Fort at Chandernagore fired 21 guns as a salute to H.M. Colours, after -being hoisted half an hour before.” - -So Chandernagore fell. “It must be acknowledged,” to use the words of Dr. -Ives once more, “that the French made a gallant defence, as they stood -to their guns as long as they had any to fire. We never could learn -how many of their men were killed and wounded on the whole, though they -confessed they had forty dead carried from the south-east bastion. The -north-east bastion was also cleared of its defenders twice.” - -“The fire of the ships,” says the Indian military historian Orme, “did as -much execution in three hours as the batteries on shore would have done -in several days.” “Few naval engagements have excited more admiration,” -says Sir John Malcolm, writing three-quarters of a century afterwards, -“and even at the present day, when the river is so much better known, -the success with which the largest vessels of the fleet were navigated -to Chandernagore and laid alongside the batteries of that settlement is -a subject of wonder.” Summing up results, Colonel Malleson says: “The -capture of Chandernagore was not less a seal to French dominion in Bengal -than it was the starting-point of British supremacy in that province.” - -Admiral Watson in his dispatch states the enemy’s force thus: “They had -in the fort 1200 men, of which 500 were Europeans and 700 Blacks; 183 -pieces of cannon, from 24-pounders and downwards; three small mortars, -and a considerable quantity of ammunition. Besides the ships and vessels -sunk below, to stop up the channel, they sank and ran ashore five large -ships above the fort, and we have taken four sloops and a snow.” - -Dealing with the casualties on the British side, Admiral Watson proceeds -in these words: “The _Kent_ had 19 men killed and 49 wounded, the -_Tyger_ 13 killed and 50 wounded. Among the number killed, was my first -lieutenant, Mr. Samuel Perreau, and the master of the _Tyger_. Among the -wounded was, Mr. Pocock slightly hurt, Captain Speke and his son, by the -same cannon-ball, the latter had his leg shot off. Mr. Rawlins Hey, my -third lieutenant, had his thigh much shattered, and is in great danger. -Mr. Stanton, my fourth lieutenant, slightly wounded by splinters; but the -greatest part of the wounded have suffered much, being hurt chiefly by -cannon shot: Several of them cannot possibly recover.” - -According to the _Kent’s_ log the flagship had three lower-deck guns -dismounted and three on the upper deck, and had 138 shot holes through -her engaged side, besides suffering severe damage aloft to masts and -rigging. - -Next morning Chandernagore paid its formal salute to the victor. From the -_Kent’s_ log: “March 24th, 10 a.m., the Fort saluted the Admiral with 19 -guns.” Then follows: “Fired 18 guns for the burial of the 1st Lieutenant -Perreau.” Lieutenant Rawlins Hey and Midshipman Speke died a few days -later. - -After a ten days’ stay at Chandernagore, to rest the troops, arrange -for the occupation of the place and the disposal of the prisoners, the -men-of-war and the rest of the expedition returned to Fort William. - -Further trouble with Suraj-u-daulah was looming ahead. The Nawab’s -troops that had started to intervene at Chandernagore had halted at -Plassey and gone into camp there. It was less than a hundred miles from -Calcutta, and the authorities strongly objected to their being so near. -There were no signs of any immediate withdrawal, although letters passed -continuously to and fro between the Council and Suraj-u-daulah. Each -side distrusted the other. Then began the series of intrigues between -certain members of the Council and Clive with Mir Jafier and disaffected -officials of the Nawab’s _entourage_, which led to the battle of Plassey -two months later. With the ramifications of the plot, the treachery of -the crafty Hindu go-between Omichand and how it was foiled, our narrative -does not concern itself, beyond the passing reference. Everybody knows -the ugly story of the “White” treaty and the “Red”; one genuine and the -other sham; one honestly signed at the Council table by Admiral Watson, -the other with the Admiral’s signature to it forged secretly, either by -the hand of Clive himself or by some underling at his instigation. The -battle of Plassey, from which the British _raj_ in the East, by common -consent, dates its rise, was the sequel, on the 23rd of the following -June. - -To strengthen Clive’s small army the Royal Navy took over the garrisoning -of Chandernagore for the time being; occupying the place with a hundred -and forty of the flagship’s men, under Lieutenant Clarke of the _Kent_. -Communication between Clive’s army in the field and Calcutta was kept -open by way of Chandernagore and the _Bridgewater_, which ship was sent -some miles higher up the river and anchored there. - -Fifty seaman from the East Indies Squadron with a lieutenant and -seven midshipmen in charge, accompanied Clive’s army, attached to the -artillery. Most of them were from the flagship, and one of the _Kent’s_ -midshipmen, Mr. Shoreditch, was wounded in a hand-to-hand encounter with -one of the Nawab’s French officers. - -More than that, however, the sailors had no small share in winning the -battle for England. At Plassey Clive, as he said, put his trust in God. -It was the sailors who kept his powder dry. It was their guns that -did the work in smashing up the dense masses of the Nawab’s levies in -the critical second stage of the battle, after the deluging monsoon -rain-storm that burst at noon, swamped the ammunition of Suraj-u-daulah’s -artillerymen. On such a detail as the smartness of Admiral Watson’s -handy-men with their tarpaulins and budge-skin powder-covers did the fate -of the epoch-making day of Plassey practically hinge. Only after it had -become plain with which side the fortune of the day rested did Mir Jafier -and his corps pass over and throw in their lot with Clive. - - * * * * * - -Within two months of Plassey Admiral Watson was dead. The climate killed -him in the end. For more than four months past he had been ailing, -and for the past four months had had among his papers the Admiralty’s -permission to return home on sick leave. But, like Nelson during the -last eighteen months of his glorious life while watching the enemy off -Toulon, he would not leave his post while there was duty to be done. The -inactivity after Chandernagore, in the sultry, steamy heats of the rainy -season in Lower Bengal, killed Admiral Watson. - -A plain obelisk on a heavy square base in the graveyard compound of -St. John’s Cathedral, Calcutta, marks the Admiral’s resting-place. It -was erected by Mr. Holwell, the survivor of the Black Hole, during his -governorship a few years later, and is thus inscribed:— - - Here lies interred the Body of - CHARLES WATSON, ESQUIRE, - Vice Admiral of the White, - Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s - Naval Forces in the East Indies, - Who departed this life - On the 16th day of August, 1757, - In the 44th year of his age. - _Geriah taken, February 13th, 1756. - Calcutta freed, January 11th, 1757. - Chandernagore taken, March 23rd, 1757._ - Exegit monumentum aere perennius. - -Monumentum aere perennius? Hardly that. Modern India has no place for -naval memories. Clive—and Clive only—holds the field. - - Hos ego versiculos feci: tulit alter honores - -—wrote Virgil once, in a moment of literary bitterness. If it be given -to those beyond the Veil to know of things on earth, and think, the Shade -of the gallant admiral might well express itself in terms hardly less -strong. - -The East India Company erected a monument to the Admiral in Westminster -Abbey, and King George bestowed a baronetcy of the United Kingdom on his -only son—then a boy—in consideration of his father’s “great and eminent -services.” - - _Est procul hinc_—the legend’s writ, - The frontier grave is far away, - _Qui ante diem periit_ - _Sed miles, sed Prô Patriâ_. - -Is it too extravagant to suggest that, with things as they then were, -with nearly five years of continuous war yet to come, and with enemies’ -fleets in every sea, Admiral Watson, a man young in years for his high -position,[7] might, had he been spared, have well found opportunity for -achieving yet higher fame, even wider renown? His, too, in 1757, was -surely in a real sense a “frontier grave”—the grave of one - - Who might have caught and claspt Renown, - And worn her chaplet here:—and there, - In haunts of jungle-poisoned air, - The flame of life went wavering down. - -The flagship _Kent_, it so happened, did not long outlast her chief. -She had for some time past shown signs of being nearly worn out, and an -official survey of her, shortly after Admiral Watson’s death, resulted -in her condemnation as unfit for sea. She was “cast” and ordered to be -broken up, and on the 15th of September, a month all but a day from -the death of her Admiral, the pennant was hauled down on board the -_Kent_—still lying off Fort William—and the ship’s company were paid off -and drafted into the _Cumberland_, _Tyger_, and _Salisbury_. - -So with the passing of the Admiral and his ship our story reaches its end. - -Chandernagore, of course, is nowadays a French possession, a tiny -territory of three and a half square miles, with a railway station on the -line to Calcutta, where very few people ever get out. It was restored -to France six years after Admiral Watson took it, for no particular -reason it would appear, except that there had been a General Election in -England, and the new Ministry was desirous of reversing the policy of -its predecessors. Our beaten enemies got back almost everything that the -valour of our sailors and soldiers had won for England, in order that -the Treasury Bench might score a point in party politics. But we for our -part have no right to throw stones. We of the present day have seen much -the same thing happen elsewhere. Chandernagore has been twice retaken -since 1763, and twice given back. It was finally handed back to France -in 1816, after the Napoleonic War, the Foreign Office being under the -impression—so, at any rate, the story goes—that it was one of the West -India islands! - - - - -IV - -BOSCAWEN’S BATTLE:—THE TAKING OF THE _TÉMÉRAIRE_ - - Over the seas and far away - “Old Dreadnought” steers to his fight to-day! - - -One of the best known of all our man-of-war names reappears on the roll -of the British fleet in the name _Téméraire_, now borne by one of our -new giant 18,000-ton battleships of the _Dreadnought_ type. This is the -story of how it came to be a British battleship name in the first place, -the story of the act of war which in the sequel led to that historic -man-of-war the “Fighting” _Téméraire_ figuring on another day among the -ships of Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar, to fight there as the _Victory’s_ -chief supporter in the fiercest of the fray. - -How we came to have a _Téméraire_ in the British Navy the name of -course bears on its face. It was originally borne by one of Louis the -Fourteenth’s men-of-war, and at the date of its adoption by capture into -the British service, in 1759—“The Wonderful Year”—had been honourably -known in the French Navy for upwards of ninety years. The first -_Téméraire_ to sail the seas was so named, it would appear, by the Grand -Monarque himself, the name being appointed to a man-of-war of fifty-two -guns, built by contract in Holland for the French service, in the year -1668, when a war with England seemed at hand. King Louis, it is said, -further appointed to the _Téméraire_ on her naming, as a special and -distinctive figure-head, an elaborately carved and gorgeously coloured -effigy of himself in his celebrated “Lion’s Mane” wig, sworded and -spurred and wearing a military _just-au-corps_ tunic of cloth of gold -over a scarlet vest with crimson breeches and crimson stockings—the -orthodox attire of a French sea officer of the _Grand Corps_. - -This first French _Téméraire_ was a ship that the British Navy of her -time saw something of. She formed one of the men-of-war present with the -allied French squadron which played so very peculiar a part when attached -to the Duke of York’s fleet in the battle of Solebay in 1672, and in the -same way also she was present at Prince Rupert’s three drawn battles -with De Ruyter in the following year. As an enemy a few years later, the -first French _Téméraire_ fought against us both at Beachy Head and in the -battle off Cape Barfleur, after which the _Téméraire_ escaped and found -refuge under the harbour batteries of St. Malo. - -“_The Rash_” is what an official return on the French Navy, presented -to Parliament on the 9th of February, 1698, calls the _Téméraire_, -in accordance with the custom then in vogue of translating foreign -men-of-war names appearing in British official documents. It seems -a curious disguise for the name _Téméraire_ perhaps, although even -then it is hardly so grotesque as the names under which some of the -_Téméraire’s_ consorts figure in various House of Commons returns: “_The -Without Danger_,” for instance, for _Le Sans Pareil_; “_The Undertaker_” -or “_The Understanding_” (as two different official lists give it) for -_L’Entreprenante_, another ship; “_The Jolly_” for _Le Joli_; “_The -Fire_” for _Le Fier_; “_The Fiddle_” for _La Fidelle_, a frigate; the -“_Turkish Lady_” for another frigate, _La Turquoise_, and so on. - -Two years after Barfleur—on the 28th of November, 1694—a crippled French -man-of-war was met with, a few miles to the south of the Lizard, by the -British man-of-war _Montagu_. She had been dismasted in a storm out in -the Atlantic and was nearly waterlogged and sinking; and after a few -shots in reply to the _Montagu’s_ challenging gun hauled her colours -down. The enemy’s ship was the “_Timmeraire_, of fifty-six guns,” in the -words of the _Montagu’s_ log. They found it impossible to save the prize, -either to rig jury masts or to take her in tow, as the weather came on -thick and stormy, and in the end cleared the crew out, and on the 3rd of -December abandoned the ship and set her on fire. That was the end of the -first French _Téméraire_. - -Two other _Téméraires_ followed in the French Navy, and then we come to -the ship that became our own first _Téméraire_. This was the _Téméraire_, -of seventy-four guns, built in 1748, which, after fighting against us in -the battle which cost Admiral Byng his life, became prize of war three -years later to the man whose hand signed the order for Byng’s firing -party, Admiral Boscawen, on the day of Boscawen’s defeat of the French -Toulon fleet in Lagos Bay, on Monday, the 19th of August, 1759. - -The taking of our future first _Téméraire_ was one result of the -determined attempt at the invasion of England that the French made in -1759. They had prepared a large army, and transports were assembled to -carry it across the Channel as soon as their Toulon fleet, by coming -round and joining hands with their Brest fleet, had given France the -command of the Channel by providing a sufficient force, as the French -counted, to hold the British fleet in check, and see the expedition -safely over. To leave port, however, was what the French Toulon -fleet—among which was the _Téméraire_—could not do and would not try, -until the British force blockading Toulon under Admiral Boscawen was out -of the way. The Brest fleet, at the same time, watched closely by Hawke’s -powerful fleet, as a mouse in its hole is watched by a cat, could not put -to sea with hope of success unless the Toulon fleet evaded Boscawen and -joined hands with it. - -Chance threw an opportunity of escape in the way of the _Téméraire_ and -her consorts. Various reasons—damage to three of his ships in a somewhat -venturesome attack on some outlying vessels of the French fleet anchored -under the batteries that guarded the entrance to Toulon Roads, and a -general want of water and provisions on board all his ships—induced -Boscawen, in the last week of July, to withdraw temporarily to Gibraltar. -De la Clue, the French Admiral, on learning by chance where Boscawen had -gone and why, snatched at the offered occasion to make his sally. He put -to sea on the 5th of August, determined to risk the passage round. - -The fortune of war at the outset, and for nearly half-way, made a show -of favouring the French. They managed to escape being sighted by the -frigates that Boscawen had posted on the look-out between Malaga and the -Straits. Not an English sail was sighted; nothing to cause disquietude -happened, until just as de la Clue’s ships were in the act of passing -Gibraltar. - -With a brisk Levanter blowing over their taffrails and a thick haze -on the sea, towards dusk on Saturday evening, the 17th of August, the -Toulon fleet, after standing well over to the Barbary shore so as to -give Boscawen’s ships at Gibraltar the go-by, was being carried rapidly -past where the British fleet was lying, when suddenly, just as the -elated Frenchmen were assuring themselves of good success for the rest -of their cruise, almost by accident, as it were, at the eleventh hour -they stumbled on the only one of Boscawen’s look-outs that they had yet -to pass. Just off Ceuta, a little to the eastward of that place, the -_Gibraltar_, a twenty-gun ship, quite unexpectedly to both sides, loomed -out of the mist close alongside the passing French fleet. - -The mischief, from the French point of view, was done. The captain of the -_Gibraltar_ realized at once that the strange fleet he saw heading out of -the Mediterranean and close at hand could only be the enemy from Toulon. -He promptly went about and hauled in for the Spanish coast, firing signal -guns of alarm. The French for their part seemed to have been too much -taken aback to act. As much surprised at the meeting apparently as was -Captain McCleverty of the _Gibraltar_ himself, Admiral de la Clue made -no effort to stop or to silence the tell-tale British scout, although -he might have done so. He simply contented himself with putting out all -his lights, and then he continued to stand on with all sail set, heading -west-north-west, so as to get clear away and out into the Atlantic. - -It was indeed the slip ’twixt the cup and the lip for the _Téméraire’s_ -Admiral. When, at half-past seven that evening, the alarm guns of the -frigate _Gibraltar_ were heard, and the ship herself came into the bay to -report what she had seen, practically half Boscawen’s fleet of fourteen -ships were undergoing refit, lying with sails unbent and topmasts -struck. The energy of the British Admiral and his captains recovered -the situation for England. Taken at a disadvantage as Boscawen’s fleet -was, all hands turned to with such smartness that within two hours of -the alarm guns being first heard every ship in Boscawen’s command was -in sea-going trim, ready for the order to weigh anchor. Before ten that -night, within two and a half hours of the _Gibraltar_ coming in, every -line-of-battle ship of the British Fleet was at sea, together with two -frigates and a fireship, heading through the Straits in chase of the -French under all sail. - -They had their reward before many hours had passed. - -At seven next morning, when off Cape Trafalgar, Boscawen got -sight—although for the moment they were far ahead—of the French fleet: -what bad seamanship during the night had left of it. No fewer than five -ships of de la Clue’s original fleet of twelve had parted company with -their Admiral and gone astray in the night after getting out of the -Straits. They straggled and dropped astern, and found themselves in the -morning out of sight, some leagues distant from their flagship and only -off Cadiz. - -This again led to a disastrous mistake on the part of the French Admiral. -De la Clue, when about seven o’clock he first sighted the leading ships -of Boscawen’s fleet in the distance, coming up astern, took them for -his own missing five, and hove-to his whole fleet to give them time -to join. Worse still: after waiting awhile for them he went about and -actually stood back slowly to meet them—seven French men-of-war in -war time bearing up for fourteen English! He refused to believe that -Boscawen could possibly have got out of Gibraltar so quickly. The French -Admiral, in fact, held on towards the advancing enemy until, when escape -had become impossible, on finding his private signals unanswered, the -horrifying truth of the situation dawned on the unfortunate de la Clue. - -It was then too late. - -He turned and ran for it. He would try and outsail his pursuers if -he could; if not he would seek a refuge and shelter in some neutral -Portuguese port. Boscawen followed promptly, clearing for action as he -neared, and catching up the enemy all the morning hand over hand. - -At noon, a fresh gale helping Boscawen along, he was almost within -gunshot of the French. At two in the afternoon his headmost ships were -near enough to open a long-range fire. - -All that Sunday afternoon a running fight went on, protracted by the -wind suddenly dying away to nearly a calm. The rearmost of the French -squadron, the _Centaure_, a ship of seventy-four guns, practically held -the leading pursuers in check during most of that time. Nothing could be -more courageous than the _Centaure’s_ defence, regardless of the odds -against her. Until nearly nightfall she kept Boscawen’s leading ships -from closing on her and her consorts. The _Centaure_, under orders to -cover the retreat, exchanged a never-ceasing cannonade with the ships of -the English van for five hours, the fight becoming hotter and ever closer -until just before sunset. Then at length, with her three topmasts and the -mizen-mast shot away, and the ship herself so shattered and holed between -wind and water that she was with difficulty kept afloat, the well-fought -_Centaure_ had to lower her colours. She had played her part. She had -gained time for her Admiral to seek the shelter of Lagos Bay. In so doing -the _Centaure_ had lost over two hundred men in killed alone, including -her gallant captain, de Sabran. Although he had received no fewer than -eleven wounds, he still kept the quarter-deck until he received his -twelfth, and death wound. - -A little ahead of the _Centaure_ was Admiral de la Clue’s flagship -_L’Océan_, with the _Téméraire_, and the _Redoutable_ and the _Modeste_ -near by, sailing in a cluster just ahead of her. All four had every now -and then been assisting the _Centaure_, as now one, now another, of the -English ships came within range of their guns. Away in the van of the -French squadron were two more ships, the _Souverain_ and the _Guerrière_, -which were pushing on at some distance ahead of all. - -To escape into neutral waters was the only course practicable to the -French ships, and all they now aimed at, as they held on during the -afternoon, crowding canvas to make land—the coast of Portugal near -Cape St. Vincent—which soon began to rise ahead of them more and more -distinctly. - -A few minutes before the _Centaure_ surrendered there was a sharp -interchange of broadsides between the two flagships, Boscawen’s _Namur_ -and de la Clue’s _Océan_, both three-deckers. The _Namur_ pushed past -the _Centaure_, then plainly _in extremis_, within gunshot of his chief -antagonist. Boscawen fastened on his chosen opponent and engaged the -French Admiral hotly, until a series of mishaps for the _Namur_, lucky -hits on the part of the French gunners, temporarily disabled the British -flagship by shooting down her mizen-mast and main-topsail yard. That -forced the _Namur_ to drop back out of action. - -Admiral Boscawen, the story goes, at once quitted his crippled ship to -go on board the _Newark_, a seventy-four, the nearest ship among the -leaders in the British van, and had a narrow escape from drowning in his -passage from ship to ship; through a cannon-ball which struck his barge -and smashed a hole in it. The Admiral saved his own life and those of the -men with him, as it is related, by his presence of mind. The barge began -to fill and would have sunk under them, had not Boscawen smartly whipped -off his wig and stuffing it into the hole stopped the inrush of water, -enabling them to keep afloat until they could get alongside the _Newark_. - -There was little more firing that evening after the _Centaure_ had made -her submission, but the pursuit of the _Téméraire_ and the other French -ships coastwise went steadily on. - -All that night Boscawen chased, keeping the enemy well in sight, -although, as on the night before, they showed no lights. - -Early next morning only four French ships were to be seen. The -_Souverain_ and the _Guerrière_, the two headmost of the enemy, had -altered course after dark. Being far ahead already, they managed to slip -off unobserved and got clear away. The four ships still before Boscawen -were in themselves, however, sufficient prize. These were now heading -in directly for the land, and were only a short way ahead of the British -Fleet. - -De la Clue was about to make his second mistake. Admiral Boscawen, he -apparently imagined, would think twice about following him into neutral -waters and attacking him there. But the neutrality of Portugal was of -little account at such a moment. Might was right that August day for “Old -Dreadnought.” International proprieties notwithstanding, the British -Admiral “in a very Roman style made free with the coast of Portugal,” as -Horace Walpole put it. Boscawen swept straight down after de la Clue, -with his men at quarters and his guns run out. - -The final phase opened about eight o’clock on the 19th of August, Monday -morning, when the French flagship _L’Océan_ was seen to run heavily -aground. She brought up hard and fast, and the next moment her three -masts went crashing over the side. Boscawen instantly signalled to the -leading British ship, a seventy-four, the _America_, to deal with the -French flagship. The order was carried out promptly. The _America_ -closed nearly alongside the wrecked three-decker and opened fire on her; -whereupon the doomed _L’Océan_ lowered her flag. In the brief interval -before the _America’s_ boats, sent off to take possession of the prize, -could board the French flagship, M. de la Clue himself, mortally wounded -and with one leg broken, was hastily got away and rowed ashore, to die -there a little later. Almost at the same time that _L’Océan_ wrecked -herself, the _Redoutable_ ran on shore close by, breaking her back. - -[Illustration: ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN’S VICTORY - -_Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760._ - -_In the foreground to the right is seen the “Warspite” attacking the -“Téméraire.” Boscawen’s flagship the “Namur” is in the centre flying the -Admiral’s Blue Flag at the main; and at the fore the red battle-flag,—the -“Bloody Flag” of the Old Navy._] - -There remained the _Téméraire_ and the _Modeste_, which two ships, for -their part, let go anchor close under the guns of a Portuguese fort on -shore. The _Warspite_, a seventy-four of equal strength with the bigger -French ship, was told off to deal with the _Téméraire_. She closed on -her antagonist forthwith, in spite of warning shots from the Portuguese -fort, and attacked at pistol-shot range. Hopeless as his case was, with -no possibility of escape open to him, for upwards of an hour M. de -Chastillon, the _Téméraire’s_ captain, made a fight of it. Then having -done all he could he gave up his ship. The _Modeste_ surrendered not long -afterwards, and so Boscawen’s battle ended. - -It was Captain Bently, of the _Warspite_, who gave the Royal Navy its -first _Téméraire_. The story of that morning’s work is told in the -_Warspite’s_ log: - -“August 19th: 4 a.m.—Saw 4 sail of the enemy about 4 or 5 leagues from -us, running inshore. The other two having altered their course in the -night were out of sight. Continued chase and before 8 a.m. the French -admiral ran ashore 6 leagues E. of St. Vincent. All his masts went by the -board. Soon after saw another ashore, 4 miles W. of the French admiral, -and his masts too went by the board. The other two anchored close inshore. - -“9 a.m.—Little wind and fair weather. Admiral anchored 3 leagues from -shore and signalled for all captains. At the same time signalled to the -_Conqueror_ and _Jersey_ to chase N.W. _Warspite_ brought-to. - -“Captain Bently returned from the Admiral and stood inshore for the -easternmost of the enemy’s ships at anchor. The _America_ stood for the -French admiral. Little wind, hazy. Great swell from S.E. 1 p.m. _America_ -anchored to eastward of the Ocean. - -“We continued standing for the other French ships at anchor 2 m. to W. of -the _Ocean_. Soon after a fort fired several shot at the _Warspite_, but -hoisted no colours. Several of the shots struck the ship and did us some -damage. - -“We continued standing in near the French ship and fired a few shot at -her, imagining she would immediately strike her colours; but finding she -did not, stood on and tacked and came close under her stern, and ¼ before -3 we began to engage her: ¼ before 4 she struck. - -“At that time the Vice-Admiral with the _Jersey_, _Guernsey_, and _St. -Albans_ stood in to westward of us after another ship on shore and fired -some guns, when she struck; after which they set her on fire and stood -in towards the Cape where another French ship was at anchor which they -brought off. On our beginning to fire, the _America_ fired some guns on -the _Ocean_: she instantly hauled down her colours. - -“We sent a boat on board and took possession of our prize, which proved -to be the _Téméraire_, 74 guns, 716 men. At ¼ to 5 we cut her cables and -carried her down to the Admiral. - -“In the evening the _Intrepid_ and _America_ set fire to the _Ocean_.” - -Boscawen, with his work accomplished and the Toulon fleet accounted for, -sailed away for England, carrying the _Téméraire_ and the _Modeste_ with -him under British colours, to add both ships, in their original French -names, to the British Navy. His battle in Lagos Bay under the shadow of -the cliffs of Cape St. Vincent, if perhaps few people nowadays remember -it, perhaps have ever heard of it, yet, in the words of Captain Mahan, -“saved England from invasion,” and the _Téméraire’s_ name should always -stand for us as a memento of that fact. - -At the time the event made a widespread impression throughout Europe. -It caused great enthusiasm, as we are told, in the camps of the allied -armies fighting the French beyond the Rhine, and was honoured by a cannon -salute. “We were entertained,” wrote a British officer in the army which -had just fought at Minden, “with a _feu de joie_ within hearing of the -French camp, in honour of Admiral Boscawen’s success against the Toulon -squadron.” - -The little difficulty with Portugal that ensued was settled amicably. The -elder Pitt, then Prime Minister, had his own way of dealing with matters -that would upset the feebler nerved politicians of our modern House of -Commons. The Opposition in the House tried, of course, to make party -capital over Boscawen’s breach of Portuguese neutrality. “Very true,” was -all the answer Pitt deigned to make, “but the enemy’s ships were burned.” -He sent Lord Kinnoull to Lisbon with a polite expression of regret at -the unavoidable necessity of the case, and the incident was not heard of -again. - -For many years after her capture by Boscawen the _Téméraire_ was reckoned -one of the finest seventy-fours in King George’s service, and among the -“crack” ships of the British Navy. She served England both in European -waters and across the Atlantic, with all the most notable admirals of the -time—with Hawke and Boscawen himself; in the Channel Fleet blockading -Brest; and under Keppel, Rodney, and Pocock in the West Indies. After -being for nearly twenty years in commission, the old war-prize in her -closing days—at the beginning of the war with France and Spain, when -the two nations combined against England to assist the rebel American -colonists—was converted into a floating-battery hulk for harbour defence, -on which duty our first _Téméraire_ ended her career. In June, 1784, she -was sold out of the service for breaking up. - -That is the story of our first _Téméraire_, the immediate predecessor of -the famous “Fighting” _Téméraire_ of Trafalgar fame, which formed the -subject of Turner’s masterpiece. - -One battleship of our ironclad fleet has borne the name. That was the -_Téméraire_ which was with Sir Geoffrey Hornby when he passed the -Dardanelles in 1878. She took part also at the bombardment of Alexandria -in 1882, and still exists, converted for use as a floating workshop at -Devonport, under the unrecognizable label of _Indus II_. - -Our new “improved _Dreadnought_” _Téméraire_ of 1907 is the fourth bearer -of the name under the British flag. - - - - -V - -HAWKE’S FINEST PRIZE:—HOW THE _FORMIDABLE_ CHANGED HER FLAG - - The guns that should have conquered us they rusted on the shore, - The men that would have mastered us they drummed and marched no more, - For England was England, and a mighty brood she bore— - When Hawke came swooping from the West! - - -How the British Navy came by its first _Formidable_ man-of-war, the -predecessor in the direct line of the fine first-class battleship, the -_Formidable_ of our modern Navy, is one of the most exciting tales in -our naval annals. It serves too to commemorate one of the most brilliant -victories ever won at sea—the dashing encounter on that eventful winter’s -afternoon in the Bay of Biscay, “When Hawke came swooping from the West”:— - - ’Twas long past noon of a wild November day - When Hawke came swooping from the West; - He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay, - But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast. - Down upon the quicksands, roaring out of sight, - Fiercely beat the storm-wind, darkly fell the night. - But they took the foe for pilot and the cannon’s glare for light, - When Hawke came swooping from the West. - -How the _Formidable_ passed that day from France to England is, indeed, -something of which both England and France may be jointly proud. Never -fought men more heroically on both sides—the enemy to keep, we to -take—amid all the horrors of a furious storm and ever imminent shipwreck -and catastrophe. - -This is the story of how, where, and when the Royal Navy won its first -_Formidable_, the first of a famous line. - -It was the afternoon of the 20th of November, 1759, a Tuesday. The scene -was among the black-fanged reefs of granite rock, and the treacherous -quicksands that fringe the “sickle-shaped sweep” of Quiberon Bay on the -coast of the Morbihan, in Lower Brittany, in the north-eastern quarter of -the Bay of Biscay. The battle was fought in the height of a wild raging -storm from the Atlantic, a tremendous gale from the north-west, howling -blasts of wind, and torrents of hissing rain, and thick, dark weather, -with the sea lashed to fury all round, and gigantic breakers running “so -high that no boat could live for a moment among them,” as one who was -present described. “A network of shoals and sandbanks” is what a French -writer calls Quiberon Bay, “with heavy surf breaking along the shore on -the calmest days of summer, and ugly cross-currents swirling to and fro -with the strength and rush of a mill race”; a place “lined with reefs -that the navigator never sees without alarm, and never passes without -emotion.” - -Hawke and his captains swept down on the French fleet, cornered between -the storm and the shore, in the midst of the rocks and quicksands; -without charts themselves, and for the most part without pilots, or, at -least, pilots that they could trust; flinging themselves on the enemy -heedless of gale and breakers, attacking ship after ship of the French as -each was met with, “to make,” in Hawke’s own expressive words, “downright -work of them.” - -De Conflans, Maréchal de France, commanded the French Fleet. He was one -of a batch of eight marshals created, _honoris causa_, some two years -before; a boon companion of royalty, one of the “flying tables” set, a -fine figure of a man to look at, as his portrait at Versailles shows -him, handsome, tall, and well made, a hard rider to hounds at Compiègne -or Fontainebleau, with a pretty wit in the boudoir and over the card -table; also one of the Pompadour’s courtier friends, which was perhaps -the main reason why a man of de Conflans’ stamp as a naval officer found -himself in chief command at that place that day. There were marshals of -the French Navy as well as of the army under the _ancien régime_. The -rank was first instituted by Louis XIV when he solaced Admiral Tourville -with the _bâton_ and its consequences—a big salary, the title of -“Monseigneur,” and court precedence at the head of the Grand Officers of -State—to make up for his ill-fortune at La Hogue. - -As an admiral Conflans proved an utter failure. That morning, when he -first, some forty miles to westward of Belleisle, saw Hawke approaching, -he formed line and brought-to. He would fight the English, he said, in -the open sea to the south of Belleisle. As Hawke came nearer, when it was -too late, he changed his mind and ran off pell-mell to take shelter among -the reefs and shoals of Quiberon. With Conflans were de Beauffrement, -Vice-Admiral, the second in command, and the Comte de Verger, -Rear-Admiral, the third in command, who had his flag in the _Formidable_. -De Verger’s squadron formed up astern, its place in the line of battle. - -As Hawke’s leading ships began to overtake the French the gallant -Rear-Admiral shortened sail and dropped back. He would await his fate at -what in the circumstances was the post of honour, as rearmost ship of -all. There, practically single-handed, the _Formidable_ bore the brunt of -Hawke’s opening attack. - -Hawke’s van ships caught up the rear of the French Fleet just to the -south-east of Belleisle, as it was in the act of heading to round the -Cardinals, a chain of dangerous rocks and outlying islets, and stand in -for Quiberon Bay, then still ahead of them some eighteen to twenty miles. -Conflans was that distance from his intended refuge when the first shots -went off. Both fleets began to fight as they overlapped, the British -coming up under every stitch of canvas which their masts could stand—“not -a topsail was reefed”—the ships now wallowing in the trough of the waves, -now plunging and rolling and staggering forward on the crest, while heavy -surging cross-seas burst and broke in deluges of seething foam over -the ships’ bows. So terrible was the weather that on board some of the -British ships men were flung down on deck or hurled helplessly about and -seriously injured and maimed. In one or two men were washed overboard and -never seen again. The guns were double-breeched; eight men were at the -wheel in every ship. So on that awful November afternoon did Hawke swoop -down to strike. - -On the French side there were twenty-one ships—with Hawke, twenty-three; -but the French ships were on the average bigger vessels than ours, and -carried heavier guns. That for fighting purposes in such weather gave -Conflans the advantage. Another thing was this: all the fighting that -day was done by barely two-thirds of Hawke’s fleet. A full third of the -British Fleet were too far in rear—out-paced in the chase—and were unable -to come up in time to have any influence on the fortune of the fight. - -Ship after ship of the advancing British Fleet as they reached the enemy -attacked the _Formidable_ hotly. First, the _Dorsetshire_, of seventy -guns, captained by Peter Denis, an Irishman (Anson’s dashing lieutenant -of the old _Centurion_ days), gave her a flying broadside as she swept -by to windward; passing on then and driving ahead, making for the French -van. Then the _Defiance_, another seventy-gun ship, following fast in the -_Dorsetshire’s_ wake, gave the _Formidable_ a second broadside. - -Lord Howe, in the _Magnanime_, a powerful seventy-four and a prize from -the French on a former day, came next. Thierri, best of pilots for -that coast, was at the con. He had volunteered for the _Magnanime_, -as he explained, “parceque le capitaine ’Owe est jeune et brave!” -Howe as he came on meant merely to brush past the _Formidable_ with -as brisk interchange of fire as might be, and then push ahead like -the others to wing the flyers in the van; but a shot from the French, -as he came abreast de Verger, carried his foreyard away and checked -the _Magnanime_. “Black Dick”—Howe’s name in the Navy—closed with the -_Formidable_ instantly. He “bore down upon the Rear Admiral,” in the -words of an eye-witness, “and getting under his lee opened a most -tremendous fire from his thirty-twos and twenty-fours.” “Lord Howe, who -attacked the _Formidable_,” says Horace Walpole, “bore down upon her with -such violence that her prow forced in his lower tier of guns.” In the -collision, as we are told by some one else, the _Formidable’s_ port lids -“were wrenched clean away.” - -Ten minutes later up came the _Warspite_, Sir John Bently, the captor of -the _Téméraire_ in Boscawen’s battle, who had recently joined the Channel -Fleet. Hauling up near at hand, she joined with the _Magnanime_ in the -attack. The two ships were two of the smartest in all the British Navy, -and under their terrific pounding the _Formidable_ was dismasted and -reduced almost to a wreck. “In half an hour,” says our eye-witness, “they -made a dreadful havoc in the _Formidable_, whose fire began to slack.” - -De Verger’s flag, though, still flew defiantly, as did the French ensign -at the staff astern, although the gallant Admiral had already fallen, -as well as his first captain (de Verger’s younger brother), and most of -the other officers, with, in addition, upwards of two hundred men. The -Comte de Verger himself, we are told, was badly wounded at the outset -of the fighting. He was carried below, and had his wounds dressed, but -he refused to stay in the cockpit. He had himself brought up again in a -chair and set down on the quarter-deck. There a little later a second -shot struck him dead. - -Standing up valiantly to Captain Bently and Lord Howe, the _Formidable_ -was as yet to all appearances far from being subdued. She was still -gallantly resisting when a third British ship, the _Montagu_, arrived on -the scene. Her arrival gave the Frenchmen a breathing space. In trying -to cut in between the other two British ships and the _Formidable_ she -ran foul of both her two consorts and caused a serious collision. The -_Montagu_, “instead of pursuing ahead, must needs run between Lord Howe -and the French Admiral, and fell on board the _Magnanime_ and forced her -upon the _Warspite_; thus our three ships were entangled and totally -prevented from continuing the action, but lay all of a heap alongside -the _Formidable_, who might have torn them to pieces if she had not been -almost a wreck herself.” What made the _Formidable’s_ position much the -worse was that she was practically isolated, cut off from the rest of -her fleet. No fewer than seven French ships in her part of the line had -refused combat from the first. They had run off without firing a single -gun—“sans avoir,” in the words of the French naval historian Troude, -“reçu un seul coup de canon.” - -It was now about three in the afternoon. By that time eight or nine of -Hawke’s ships had got into action, and were engaging the enemy as they -overhauled them all along their line. - - * * * * * - -The pick of the French army meanwhile was looking on from the shore, as -big a crowd of spectators, from all accounts, as ever watched a naval -battle. Duplessis-Richelieu, Duc d’Aiguillon, Commander-in-Chief, watched -it from the windmill of St. Pierre, as did from another point the Second -in Command, De La Tour D’Auvergne, father of the “First Grenadier of -France,” then a schoolboy of fourteen. Along the beach forty regiments -of soldiers, horse and foot, were looking on. They formed the army -that the _Formidable_ and her consorts had come to escort across the -Channel, in the transports lying at anchor in Quiberon Bay, for that -projected invasion of England with which all Europe had been ringing -for months past. There they stood, drenched to the skin, all anxiously -looking out over the tumbling waste of waters to see what was to come -of it; motley masses of men crowding out of camp and massed along -the sand dunes and rock ledges of the Quiberon peninsula, or lining -the batteries and ramparts of the forts round the bay—a medley of -cocked-hatted, white-coated officers and men from every arm of the French -king’s service; come down to the shore to see the show. Sturdy linesmen -of Boulonnais and Contis, of Saint Chamond, and old d’Artois stood -there—marching regiments these, that had seen more than one battlefield -elsewhere, but never anything like this. Here were the red waistcoats of -de Bourbon and de Cossé and de Quercy; there the green collars and cuffs -of Beauvoisis, the blue of de Foix, the red coats with yellow facings -of the Irish regiment of Clare; all intermingled with Dragoons de la -Rochefoucauld and de Tessé; Dragoons de la Reine, in their queer-looking -“bonnets de guerre” of royal blue; Dragoons du Dauphin in green coats -with violet facings, silver buttons and silver lace, and helmets covered -with leopard’s skin; Dragoons de Mailly, and the long red cloaks of the -Penthièvre horsemen, adding a flower-bed touch of colour to the scene. -Coast militiamen were in the throng, garbed like the regulars in the -white coats of the line; heavy artillerymen, in sombre blue and dull -red—there were two brigades of them on shore at Quiberon, de Chabrie, and -de la Brosse—the whole mingled together in a motley crowd that stretched -for miles round the bay, gazing their hardest to seaward and facing the -gusts of blinding rain in their anxiety to see what they might of the -battle thundering out in the storm over yonder. Quite a third of the -“État Militaire de France,” of King Louis’ army list, formed the audience -for Hawke and Conflans on the day that saw the _Formidable’s_ name -entered on the roll of the British Fleet. The soldiers, indeed, too, had -a personal interest in the battle beyond the general issue. Some of their -comrades were on board the fleet with Conflans, doing duty as marines; -among them two whole battalions of Saintonge, and a draft or two of the -regiment de Guyenne. They had been shipped at Brest. Poor wretches! -If it was bad for the lookers-on to stand here in the open, drenched -to the skin and chilled to the marrow, what was it over there, out -yonder—heaving and pitching and rolling, at the mercy of a raging storm, -sea-sick and helpless and hopeless, and being shot at with English cannon -balls all the while! - - * * * * * - -It was not until some little time after their collision that the -_Montagu_ and the two other British ships, the _Warspite_ and the -_Magnanime_, got clear of one another. By that time they had drifted to -leeward of the _Formidable_, and were too far off to reopen their attack. -But fresh foes for the brave de Verger’s ship were soon at hand. - -First of these the _Torbay_, Commodore Keppel’s ship, a smart and -powerful seventy-four, ranged alongside. Setting-to briskly by himself, -Keppel gave the Frenchmen a cruelly trying quarter of an hour, after -which the _Resolution_ and the _Swiftsure_, both seventy-gun ships, drew -near to take their part. Keppel, according to his own log, “had silenced -her,” and without waiting to see her colours come down, as the new -arrivals neared the spot he moved off, intent on finding a single-handed -fight for himself further ahead. - -Keppel did so immediately, and settled the fate of the hapless _Thesèe_, -a seventy-four, the same size as his own ship, which went to the bottom -with awful suddenness as they were fighting yard-arm to yard-arm, struck -by a fierce squall that burst on her and heeled her over just as she had -opened her lower-deck ports to leeward in order to give the _Torbay_ a -broadside. Swamped by a tremendous sea, the luckless _Thesèe_ filled -and sank like a stone. Out of eight hundred men on board, not twenty in -all were saved, picked up from floating wreckage. The _Torbay_ herself -narrowly escaped sharing the _Thesèe’s_ fate. Her lower-deck ports had -just been opened too. “Keppel’s,” relates Horace Walpole, “was full of -water, and he thought he was sinking; a sudden squall emptied his ship, -but he was informed all his powder was wet. ‘Then,’ said he, ‘I am sorry -I am safe.’ They came and told him a small quantity was undamaged. ‘Very -well,’ said he, ‘then attack again.’” - -The _Resolution_ and _Swiftsure_ were in turn joined by the _Revenge_, -and then the _Essex_ added herself to the long suffering _Formidable’s_ -foes. Still, though, the _Formidable_ kept her colours flying, while shot -after shot—at intervals—came sullenly from her tiers of ports. She was -practically silenced, but not as Keppel had thought, absolutely. There -was little satisfaction in such odds, and three of the British ships -moved away, leaving the _Resolution_ to finish the business off. - -[Illustration: HAWKE’S VICTORY IN QUIBERON BAY - -_Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760._ - -_The picture shows the “Royal George” (in the centre) sinking the -“Superbe,” and the “Formidable” (immediately beyond the “Superbe” and in -the background) lowering her colours to the “Resolution” (the ship coming -up astern of the “Royal George”)_] - -The _Formidable_ was plainly at her last gasp, as it were; a wreck above -and below, her masts down and her rigging lying in tangled heaps of torn -canvas and cordage over the side, the bulwarks shattered to the level of -the deck, the hull gashed with gaping holes from which streams of sea -water spouted in cascades at every roll of the ship. Still, with all -that, her gallant first lieutenant, the sole surviving naval officer on -board, would not give in. The _Formidable_ was a flagship, he declared, -and, as a point of honour, to a flagship only should she strike. Manning -what guns he could, he made his final effort to hold out just a little -longer. It was magnificent, but it was hardly war. It was heroic, but it -proved impossible. The gallant young Frenchman’s ambition was destined -not to be realized. There was no time for it. The big _Royal George_, -with Hawke’s blue flag flying out at the main, could be seen approaching, -but she was not yet quite alongside. Before the _Royal George_ could -challenge, the deadly fire of the _Resolution’s_ guns had done its -work, and all hope of further resistance was at an end. Yet another -British ship also, the _Burford_, was fast approaching the scene, intent -apparently on joining in with the _Resolution_. It was hopeless now to -wait for the _Royal George_, and the heroically defended ensign of the -_Formidable_ had to come down. The _Formidable_ lowered her colours to -the _Resolution_—exactly at five minutes to four o’clock. - -Towards the end, Conflans himself in the _Soleil Royal_, with de -Beauffremont and one of his captains, tacked and doubled back as if to -the rescue of the _Formidable_, but they were too late. - - * * * * * - -What took place elsewhere on the scene of battle, during the short -three-quarters of an hour that the waning daylight of the stormy winter’s -afternoon lasted, before the fighting had of necessity to cease, are -beyond our limits. How, for instance, the master of the _Royal George_, -getting anxious about the reefs and sandbanks that showed up amid the -breakers on either side as they surged ahead into the fight, declared -that he dared not take the big three-decker further inshore, and drew -from Hawke’s lips the heroic words, “You have done your duty in pointing -out the danger; now go on and lay me beside the French Admiral!”; how the -_Royal George_ herself after that came within an ace of shipwreck as she -fought; of the catastrophe to the French _Superbe_, sent to the bottom -in attempting to keep the _Royal George_ from closing with her flagship, -by one terrific broadside from the _Royal George_, to the horror of the -British flagship’s crew themselves as the smoke of the guns blew off and -they saw three topmasts disappear under water, “in a hideously sudden -manner,” where thirty seconds earlier had floated a noble man-of-war; how -finally Conflans himself sheered off before the _Royal George’s_ guns, -and ran away to wreck his flagship and burn her next morning:—to recount -in detail these and the many other dramatic incidents of that “thunderous -miscellany of cannon and tempest,” as Carlyle called the battle of -Quiberon Bay, are beyond our present scope. - -All was over about five o’clock. As soon as might be after that, victors -and vanquished alike let go anchors where they lay, each ship where best -she could, as the guns gave over firing in the dark, to ride the fearful -night out as well as it was possible on both sides, each holding to -her anchor for dear life, and powerless to help others. “In the night -we heard many guns of distress fired, but, it blowing hard, want of -knowledge of the coast, and whether they were fired by a friend or an -enemy, prevented all means of relief.” - -As the result to England of the afternoon’s work, two French ships were -sunk and one was burned; two surrendered (one stole away before the -weather would allow a boat from an English ship to take possession of -her), one—the _Formidable_—was taken and secured. Of the rest of the -enemy some scraped over the mud-flats at the mouth of the little river -Vilaine, a few miles off, and lay there with broken backs, unable ever -to put to sea again; a small remnant got into Rochfort, losing one of -their number by shipwreck on the way. In killed and wounded and drowned, -the total loss to France in the battle, it has been calculated, numbered -between four and five thousand men. It was probably nearer the higher -figure, for most of the French ships were crammed with men. There were -twelve hundred, it was said, sailors and soldiers, on board Conflans’ -flagship, the _Soleil Royal_, alone. A thousand officers and men were -returned as on board the _Formidable_. - -The French wounded, with a few men rescued from the ships that were sunk, -were sent on shore by cartel to the Duc D’Aiguillon, as soon as the -weather had moderated sufficiently. With them were sent also a hundred -and twenty French soldiers, the poor remnant of a half-battalion of the -regiment of Saintonge, and a company of militiamen gunners from Brest, -who had served on board the _Formidable_. - -Two of our own ships were wrecked in Quiberon Bay, one on the night of -the battle. That was the _Resolution_, to which ship the _Formidable_ -had hauled down her flag. The other was the _Essex_, which was cast away -early next morning while trying to secure Conflans’ flagship. The storm -continued to rage with unabated fury during the whole of the day after -the battle. To Hawke, though, their fate was only part of the price for -the risk incurred in bringing the French to battle. - -This was the victor’s summing up on the day’s work. “When I consider the -season of the year,” wrote Hawke to the Admiralty, in his modestly worded -dispatch, “the hard gales on the day of action, the shortness of the day, -and the coast they were on, I can boldly affirm that all that could -possibly be done has been done. As to the loss we have sustained, let -it be placed to the account of the necessity I was under of running all -risks to break this strong force of the enemy. Had we had but two hours -more daylight the whole had been totally destroyed or taken, for we were -almost up with their van when night overtook us.” In this plain way did -the victor of Quiberon Bay render his account to the nation, this grand -old fighting seaman and leader to whom England has not yet found room for -a monument, either at the Abbey or in St. Paul’s. - -The battle of Quiberon Bay sealed the fate of France at sea for the Seven -Years’ War. The building of “flat bottoms” stopped after that; there was -no more mustering of armies along the French coast, no more discussion in -the Pompadour’s boudoir of schemes for the invasion of England. - - The guns that should have conquered us they rusted on the shore, - The men that would have mastered us they drummed and marched no more, - For England was England, and a mighty brood she bore— - When Hawke came swooping from the West! - -“It seems as though France is never to have a navy,” said King Louis -morosely, while sitting at supper with the Pompadour on the night that -the Quiberon dispatches reached Versailles. - - * * * * * - -A British officer who went on board the _Formidable_ on the morning after -the battle, wrote down a description of the scene that met his eyes -there. “A lieutenant and 80 men,” he says, “being ordered from our ship -on board the _Formidable_ to assist in repairing her rigging, etc., I -embraced the opportunity of seeing the havoc that had been made by the -fire of so many large ships who had battered her. The destruction of -her upper works was dreadful, and her starboard side was pierced like -a cullender by the number of shots she received in the course of the -action. The loss of men was prodigious in killed and wounded, amounting -to more than 500; among the former the Admiral, M. St. André de Verger -and his brother, the first captain, all the other officers either killed -or wounded, except a lieutenant-colonel, who assured me that every man of -his detachment, drawn up on the quarter-deck and forecastle, etc., had -been either killed or wounded but himself; that he had served in the army -for thirty years, had been present at the bloody field of Fontenoy, but -had never before witnessed such a scene of carnage. The grand-chamber was -filled with wounded officers, many of whom had suffered amputation.... -Monsieur major invited me below to certify the number of his patients, -and there a melancholy scene presented itself. The large gun-room and -every space between the guns on the lower deck was crammed with wounded -soldiers and sailors, besides three rows of cradles in the hold, -containing 60 seamen, and many not yet dressed.... I am afraid that few -of the wounded could recover, considering their very miserable situation -and circumstances.” - -As soon as the weather would allow her to start the _Formidable_ was sent -off to England under escort. She arrived at Plymouth “almost in a sinking -state, from the shot-holes she had received, and only kept afloat with -great difficulty.” She rolled away her jury masts, we are told, and the -cook’s coppers were washed out of the ship. The prize crew, the officers -and men from the wrecked _Essex_, and the prisoners, had to live for four -days on the boatswain’s tallow. - -The _Formidable_ was taken into the British Navy, and the name was -registered on the roll of King George’s fleet in its original form; but -the ship had suffered too severe a mauling to be fit for sea service -again. Some ten years after her capture Hawke, as First Lord of the -Admiralty, signed the death warrant of his old prize—the order that -delivered his old Quiberon trophy over to the shipbreaker. - - * * * * * - -One final word. The _Formidable’s_ magnificent defence was the redeeming -event for the other side of the “Journée de M. Conflans,” as the French -Navy, pillorying the memory of its unfortunate Admiral, has ever since -called the battle. So, too, France has recognized it. A new _Formidable_ -was laid down in France at the first fitting opportunity, so named in -honour of the Comte de Verger’s gallant man-of-war. The French battleship -_Formidable_ of to-day—not so long since, with her armour plates of 44 -tons weight each and 75-ton guns, the pride of her fleet, and still, as -reconstructed, a ship capable of striking a hard blow for the honour of -her flag—commemorates the heroism of de Verger and his gallant men for -the twentieth-century French Navy. - - - - -VI - -WHEN THE _VICTORY_ FIRST JOINED THE FLEET - - Thou great vessel, whose tremendous claim - So well is proved to Victory’s famous name! - - -In stately guise, all smart and trim, rides the _Victory_ to-day at the -flagship’s moorings in Portsmouth Harbour, flying at her masthead the red -St. George’s Cross flag of the Admiral holding the chief command at the -principal naval port of the British Empire. To see her now, spick and -span and as smart as paint can make her, she looks at the first glance -barely a day older than the latest launched of the old style wooden -men-of-war that are yet left among us doing harbour duty in various -capacities. The old _St. Vincent_, which passed away only the other day, -a worn-out veteran, was launched ten years after the _Victory_ had fired -her last shotted gun. The still existing _Asia_, at Portsmouth, was -launched thirteen years after the _Victory_ had finally retired from the -sea. The _Victory_ as a fact had been some years afloat and had fought -her first battle long before the great-great-grandfathers of most of us -were old enough to trundle a hoop or spin a top. She forms in herself, -indeed, a direct and actual link between our own day and the times of -George the Second. - -Two famous Admirals of the Seven Years’ War time, Anson and Boscawen, -were the Lords of the Admiralty who signed the order to lay the -_Victory’s_ keel. The names themselves take us back into history well -over a century and a half. And the difference between things then and now -is wider than the gap of years. It is difficult indeed, as we nowadays -see the _Victory_ in Portsmouth Harbour, amidst the stir and activity -of a modern naval port, to realize how wide a space her lifetime really -covers. - - * * * * * - -Imagine yourself as a visitor at Portsmouth on any afternoon almost -of the present year of grace, and observing what takes place in the -harbour round the _Victory_. Here comes along, sliding swiftly past -between ship and shore, a long, low-built black torpedo-boat; or a yet -more grim-looking sleuthhound of the sea, a thirty-knot destroyer, with -squat funnels and high-raised forecastle, from which peers forward the -long barrel of a twelve-pounder, shearing its way ahead on business of -its own. Now a snub-nosed gunnery-school gunboat passes, returning from -a day’s target-practice out beyond the Warner lightship, with a weapon -that can fire from twelve to twenty aimed shots in a minute. Then, it -may be, a brand new twenty-three-knot cruiser passes, coming back -from a trial run, or a huge high-sided four to five hundred feet long -battleship of from fifteen to eighteen thousand tons, stern and resolute -of appearance, her giant barbette guns of massive bulk and enormous -length, weighing each from fifty to sixty tons, and able to send an -eight hundredweight twelve-inch shell from fifteen to twenty miles, and -with the certainty of being able to hit the mark with each shot at half -that range—the horizon limit from on board. It was not so long ago that -one of our battleships (the _Commonwealth_), firing at eight thousand -yards at a target representing an enemy’s battleship, dropped successive -twelve-inch shells into a space the size of a lawn-tennis court, and, at -the same distance at the third round, shot away a boat’s flagstaff that -topped the target. At all times, too, there is a passing and repassing -of Navy steam-launches and pinnaces, and now and again the busy forging -to and fro of puffing harbour tugs and yard craft of all sorts. Such are -every-day sights in Portsmouth Harbour in these times of ours. - -Then carry your mind back to the year in which the _Victory_ first -figured on the Estimates of the Navy—1758. Imagine yourself standing -on the Hard as a sightseer in the Portsmouth of the Seven Years’ War -time—on, say, a day in October of the year when my Lords at Whitehall -were making their final decision about the ship’s dimensions. - -At this same moment, by the way, there is lying in a far-off parsonage, -in an out-of-the-world locality on the Norfolk coast, a puny baby boy, a -fortnight or three weeks old, so sickly that he is not thought likely to -live. So weakly, indeed, is the child that his baptism—at which the name -Horatio was given to the small babe—has taken place privately, just six -days after his birth. - -You would, in Portsmouth Harbour on that October afternoon of 1758, have -seen something very much like this. - -First of all, almost opposite the Hard, and just where the _Victory_ -herself now lies, there is moored a big yellow-sided two-decker of -foreign build flying the British flag. Just now, perhaps, there is no -man-of-war name all the world over of more unpleasant notoriety than -hers. She is the _Monarque_, a seventy-four, taken from the French, and -it was on her quarter-deck, some eighteen months ago, on a dull and -cloudy March day, that they shot Admiral Byng. The _Monarque_ has now -just returned from “Straits” service, and if you went on board her you -would see, still there, and part of the ship’s company, the men of the -platoon of marines who formed Byng’s firing party. - -Near the _Monarque_ lies a big ninety-gun three-decker—a yellow-sided -vessel also, for all men-of-war are so painted. It is the _St. George_. -In her cabin Byng’s court martial sat some twenty months ago. The court, -by a grim coincidence, was held in the very cabin that had been Byng’s -own thirteen years before that, when Byng was captain of this same _St. -George_. There, on a snowy January day, as plenty of people at Portsmouth -can tell you, for they were looking on, Byng stood to hear his sentence -in his own old cabin, crowded almost to suffocation with spectators, -stuffy and close, and the walls “sweating down” with trickling beads of -water; the hapless, doomed British Admiral, standing there, firm and -erect, with squared shoulders, calmly facing his judges, with his own -sword lying on the table, its point turned towards himself. - -To the very last, they say, Byng expected an acquittal. He had not -anticipated, at the worst, a sentence more severe than a reprimand. So -he himself said in the cabin of the _Monarque_, on the very morning of -the 27th January, when the Admiralty Marshal came to accompany him on -board the _St. George_ to hear the finding of the court. He learnt the -dread reality first as he came up the side of the _St. George_. At the -entering port a personal friend, instructed privately by the President of -the Court to do so, stood waiting to give the Admiral a word of warning. -As he met his friend, Byng saw instantly from his downcast countenance -and embarrassed manner that things had gone adversely and that the -sentence was a hard one. “What is the matter,” asked the Admiral, “have -they broke me?” The bearer of the news, convinced that Byng had no idea -of what was coming, hesitated and stammered. Byng stopped short. He -gazed fixedly at his friend for a few seconds, and then changed colour -as he seemed to take in the situation. A moment later he had recovered -himself. Exclaiming in a calm tone, “Well, well, I understand: if nothing -but my blood will satisfy them, let them take it,” he passed with set -countenance into the presence of the Court. - -[Illustration: THE EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG - -_From a Contemporary Print_] - -Beyond the _St. George_ lies another “Mediterranean ship,” just returned -home—the _Revenge_, one of the ships in Byng’s battle. It was the damning -evidence of the _Revenge’s_ captain—Frederick Cornwall, now at home on -half-pay—as they all say in the fleet, that settled Byng’s fate. “If I -cannot disprove what you have said, Captain Cornwall,” exclaimed Byng, as -the one-armed captain of the _Revenge_ turned to leave the cabin, after a -futile attempt at cross-examination on the part of the Admiral, “may the -Lord have mercy on me.” There is no need to go further. - -If you could look round to Spithead from the Hard, you would see the -old _Royal Sovereign_ on duty as the port flagship. On board her it was -that, on the morning of the execution, Admiral Boscawen put his signature -to Byng’s death warrant, and the order for the firing party. She is the -oldest ship in the King’s Navy, in which connection the _Sovereign_ -has other memories of her own. The great Duke of Marlborough named her -at her launch in the year that William the Third died, and it was in -her great-cabin, during the _Sovereign’s_ first cruise, that Rooke’s -council of war planned the swoop on the Vigo treasure galleons, which -Vigo Street, in London, serves to commemorate. Some of the old ship’s -timbers, it is the fact, formed part of the frame of Charles the First’s -world-renowned _Sovereign of the Seas_, and were salved, by special -Admiralty order, out of the _débris_ when the _Sovereign of the Seas_ -was burned at Chatham in January, 1696, by the carelessness of a sleepy -bos’un’s mate. - -Out yonder at Spithead, too, at this moment, rides at anchor yet another -veteran of our old-time navy, the _Royal Anne_. They have a really -marvellous continuity of service, some of these ancient men-of-war. The -_Anne_ carries us back to the time of the Dutch raid up the Medway. She -was launched as the _Royal Charles_ to fill the place of the _Royal -Charles_ that the Dutchmen carried off. William the Third renamed her -the _Queen_, in honour of his consort, and the ship kept that name until -George the First came over. King George, having at that time his legal -consort under lock and key in Germany, promptly renamed the ship. He -called her after himself, _Royal George_—the first of the series. Three -kings, indeed, have been present at this ship’s various “christenings.” -Charles the Second was present at her first naming as the _Royal -Charles_; William the Third saw her renamed the _Queen_. George the -First paid a special visit to Woolwich when she received the name _Royal -George_, and gave £300 to be divided among the dockyard men employed at -the float-out, in honour of the occasion. The name _Royal Anne_ was given -to the ship only two years ago, when the present _Royal George_, Hawke’s -flagship in the Channel Fleet, was launched. She exchanged the name for -that borne on the stocks by the _Royal George_. - -Within sight from the Hard is an 80-gun three-decker, the _Royal -William_, just back from the capture of Louisbourg, Cape Breton. She, -too, was launched as long ago as Charles the Second’s reign, under -the name _Royal Prince_, and she fought her first battle at Solebay, -eighty-six years ago. She carried James Duke of York’s flag during part -of the battle, and Prince Rupert in turn had his flag in her in a later -battle. William the Third gave the ship her present name, and under it -she fought at La Hogue as Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s flagship, not without -distinction. - -If one might dip into the future and witness events just one year later, -the visitor to Portsmouth would then see the _Royal William_ there again, -and again just arrived from across the Atlantic. This time she would be -in other guise—a ship “in mourning,” all over funereal black, with yards -set to point in all directions—“a-cockbill,” as the old term went—and -colours at half-mast, firing minute guns, and with a funeral procession -of boats putting off from alongside to bear to the shore the body of -General Wolfe. - -Off the dockyard, on this October afternoon of 1758, awaiting their turn -for repair, are two jury-rigged ships. One is a small, old-fashioned -sixty-four, firing a broadside of some 540 lb. weight of metal. The other -is a giant 80-gun ship of French build, and brand new. She is bigger than -the finest first-rate in King George’s service, a fair match for the new -_Royal George_, and fires the tremendous broadside of 1136 lb. weight of -metal. Yet the little ship took the big one in a midnight battle last -February. It was as fine a feat of arms as the Navy has seen. The two -are the _Monmouth_ and the _Foudroyant_. They have just come into port, -and both show plenty of marks by way of battle scars. If you were to row -round the _Foudroyant_ you would find her, on her larboard side, where -the _Monmouth_ made her attack, battered almost to splinters. The fight -lasted four and a half hours, from eight till after midnight, and went on -for most of the time within pistol-shot. The _Monmouth_ in that time used -up four tons of powder and about ten tons of cannon-balls. At Gibraltar, -where they repaired the _Foudroyant_ to bring her to England, they had -to plug over seventy shot-holes at the water-line—and two or three -cannon-balls had gone through some of the holes. - -One more word of the _Foudroyant_. It would seem as though, in the -Portsmouth of these times, we cannot lay the shade of Admiral Byng. The -_Foudroyant_ was flagship of the fleet that Byng failed to beat, and -Arthur Gardiner, who later commanded the _Monmouth_ when she took the -_Foudroyant_, was Byng’s flag-captain. Captain Gardiner, after Byng’s -battle, it is said, swore that if ever he got another ship, however -small, and met the _Foudroyant_, he would attack her and take her, or -sink alongside. He got the _Monmouth_ and met the _Foudroyant_ and kept -his word; meeting himself a heroic death on his own quarter-deck in the -heat of the battle. - -A second French man-of-war, taken on the same occasion and also badly -mauled—the _Orphèe_, a smart 70-gun ship, prize to the _Revenge_—lies -near the _Foudroyant_; also recently brought to England from up the -Straits.[8] - -All the day long there keeps on a continuous passing up and down the -harbour of small war-vessels and dockyard craft of every sort. Here a -fireship goes by, a small two-masted vessel, readily distinguishable by -the heavy iron double hooks and grapnels that tip the yard-arms; and that -little boat towing astern. The hooks are meant to grip and hold fast the -fireship’s destined prey as she sheers alongside. The fireship’s crew set -the quick match-train leading to the stacks of pitch-barrels and other -combustibles all over the vessel, ablaze at several points just as they -are closing the enemy, and the little boat is for them to escape in at -the last moment. Now a bomb-ketch passes, a clumsy craft with masts set -well aft and two heavy 13-inch mortars, trained for firing over the bows -right ahead, set side by side in the fore part of the ship, where the -foremast would stand in an ordinary vessel. A rakish-looking Portsmouth -privateer, it may be, now comes by, towing a prize astern of her—some -captured French “sugar ship” from Martinique, snapped up off Ushant. Then -there passes, on the way to one of the guardships or “receiving” ships, -a press-gang tender, coming in from a run along the South Coast. She has -been out for some days to pick up hands for the fleet, and some of those -on board could tell more than one ugly story of high-handed doings among -the villages and farmsteads on the coast, within a night’s march from -the sea. In confinement under hatches on board, it is quite possible, is -also the unfortunate crew of some homeward-bound merchantman, waylaid and -boarded almost within sight of home, off the back of the Isle of Wight. -It is very sad, but this is war time, and the fleet must be manned. - -All day long duty-boats keep going up and down. Now it is an admiral’s -twelve-oared barge with the flag at the bows; now a captain’s gig, or -a pinnace, pulling between ship and shore; now a midshipman’s boat -scurrying off to answer the flagship’s signal. Ships’ long-boats with -water-casks and pursers’ stores for various men-of-war in harbour, pass -and repass, and beer hoys and yard craft of all kinds. You can always -tell a dockyard boat by the heavy way in which the “maties” row, giving -their elbows a curious lift with each stroke. At intervals, also, ships’ -launches and wherries go past, and lighters carrying cables or anchors, -spars and sailcloth, or gangs of shipwrights from the yard on their way -to Spithead to attend to pressing repairs to some Channel Fleet ship or -frigate just come in and impatient to be off again. - -[Illustration: PORTSMOUTH IN THE YEAR THAT THE _VICTORY_ JOINED THE FLEET - - _1. North Dock._ - _2. Boat-Houses._ - _3. Officers’ Houses._ - _4. Dock Clock._ - _5. Commissioner’s House._ - _6. Sail and Mould Loft._ - _7. Rope House._ - _8. Royal Academy._ - _9. Landing Place at the Dock._ - _10. Rigging House._ - _11. The Common._ - _12. Officers’ Lodging in the Gun-Wharf._ - _13. Lamport Gate._ - _14. Portsmouth Church._ - _15. The Point._ - _16. Flag on the Platform._ - _17. Round Tower._ - _18. Spit-Head._ - -_From a Contemporary Print._] - -Now and again, two or three times a month perhaps, a line of ships’ -launches from newly arrived vessels from Spithead are to be seen -following one another up the harbour, crammed with men—swarthy -foreigners, poor, ragged, dejected-looking wretches for the most part. -Each boat has its guard of red-coated marines, standing under arms at -the head and stern, all with bayonets fixed. The boatloads comprise -prisoners of war, taken at sea and on their way to undergo confinement -in Porchester Castle,[9] going to join their two thousand compatriots -already there. A favoured few in due course may obtain exchange by -cartel, but the greater number must perforce endure their captivity to -the end of the war. - -Such were some of the every-day scenes to be witnessed in Portsmouth -Harbour at the very time that the Admiralty order for the building of the -_Victory_ was being drafted. - -Ashore in the streets of Portsea, old salts who had fought with Vernon -when he took Porto Bello, are to be met with any day of the week. You may -come across, indeed, an occasional old fellow who can remember Benbow, -and how the news first came to England of the taking of Gibraltar. And -sitting at his door on a sunny morning you may yet find an old Portsmouth -grandsire here and there who can carry his memory further back still, and -tell you how the bonfires blazed in High Street in honour of the battle -of La Hogue. - -Turn away now from the harbour and the Hard and take a short walk through -the streets of Portsmouth town. Soldiers in the uniform that Corporal -John’s men wore at Blenheim and Ramillies, rub shoulders with you every -hour of the day. Some are for Canada, some for the West Indies, some -for Northern Germany. All are passing through Portsmouth on the way to -the great depôt camp in the Isle of Wight where the troops for oversea -service assemble. Most are men of the foot regiments, with long-skirted -red coats, red waistcoats, and red breeches with high white gaiters. Some -wear the big cocked hat that came in with George the First; others the -tall sugar-loaf grenadier cap of the Prussian pattern. Those with buff -facings are “Howard’s” men; those with yellow facings, “Kingsley’s”; -those with willow green, “Rufane’s”; those with blue, “Duroure’s.” For -six or seven years past our regiments have had numbers, but the men -still hold to the old way, and each regiment calls itself for preference -according to the custom of the army for these eighty years past. Now and -then a party of dragoons pass through the streets, red coated and wearing -black leather fur-crested helmets and long jack-boots. These come from -one of the cavalry camps at Chichester or Southampton. Occasionally, too, -cocked-hatted artillerymen are to be met with, in blue coats with red -waistcoats and breeches and white gaiters. - -Batches of men of the standing garrison of the Fortress of Portsmouth, -the “Royal Invalids,” as the corps they belong to is called, are to -be seen about the streets at all hours; veterans drafted from off the -Chelsea Hospital out-pension list as being sufficiently able-bodied for -home-service fortress duty, old war-worn warriors bearing scars, many of -them got in action at Dettingen and Fontenoy. - -A Portsmouth visitor would certainly, too, have seen in and about the -town a personage of some notoriety in those times: Governor Hawley, -Commandant of the Garrison, the Duke of Cumberland’s hard-riding, -hard-drinking friend. “Bloody Hawley” was what the soldiers called him, -taking the _sobriquet_ from the name that years before the hapless -clansmen of the north gave the man who led “Butcher” Cumberland’s -dragoons in the merciless chase after Culloden. In General Hawley you -would have seen perhaps as badly hated an officer as ever held a King -of England’s commission. “Chief Justice Hawley” the rank and file also -called him: and the reason for it any one would have seen for himself by -walking round Governor’s Green any day of the week, or passing beyond the -postern and strolling out across the Portsmouth ramparts to the glacis on -an execution morning. - - * * * * * - -The talk of the place—and of all England too at the moment—is of a French -invasion. - -England, in 1758, had not yet recovered from her last bad fit of nerves, -brought on by truculent vapourings from Versailles at the outset of the -Seven Years’ War. Government was urgently pushing on arrangements for -forming an efficient militia force to fill the place of the regular -battalions fighting abroad in Germany and in America, in view of the -invasion scare that was threatening in the near future. Already reports -had come to hand from France of the building of flat-bottomed beach-boats -and preparations for large encampments next summer in the vicinity of -the French Channel ports—at Dunkirk and Calais, Havre and St. Malo, and -in Lower Brittany on the shores of Quiberon Bay. In every county of -England and Wales the local authorities were getting ready for the early -muster of the new militia levies—now, for the first time in our history, -to be formed into regiments. Along the coasts of Sussex and Kent, -from Selsea to beyond Dungeness and Hythe, where the open coast-line -might seem to invite attack—at Littlehampton, Brighton, Blatchington, -Seaford, Hastings, Rye, Hythe, Folkestone—the sites for four- and six-gun -batteries were being pegged out by military engineers, to be thrown up -by local labourers under expert supervision. At every point along the -seashore from Spurn Head to the Lizard the beacons were being watched -night and day, while the local authorities of every seaboard district had -standing orders to be ready, on the first alarm of a hostile landing, to -transport the women and children in farm carts to the nearest towns, and -drive inland the horses and sheep and cattle. - -We have to turn over many pages of the world’s history to get to the year -that saw the _Victory_ brought into the British Navy. The Seven Years’ -War itself, the exigencies of which called the _Victory_ into existence, -is nowadays but a schoolbook term. Frederick the Great, in the year that -the _Victory_ first figures in the Navy Estimates, was the man of the -hour. Peter the Great’s daughter ruled in Russia. The “Old Pretender”—the -“warming-pan baby” of Whitehall, of the year 1688—was still alive, -dragging out his last years in Rome as a pensioner of the Pope. Captain -Cook was as yet an unknown master’s mate, serving on board a man-of-war -away across the Atlantic with Boscawen. Nelson, as has been said, was -a long-clothes baby; Napoleon and Wellington were not yet born. The -Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, Viscount Ligonier, was a French -Huguenot refugee, born a subject of the Grand Monarque, who first saw war -under Marlborough at Blenheim. Wolfe was an unheard of Major-General, -nearly at the bottom of the list. News of Clive’s victory at Plassey had -not long reached England. The elder Pitt, “the Great Commoner,” had only -been in power for little over a twelvemonth. William Pitt was not yet -born. Smeaton was building the Eddystone Lighthouse. James Watt was a -Glasgow mathematical instrument maker, his ideas about steam hardly yet -in embryo. Burke was a young Irishman in London, making a poor living out -of essays for Grub Street magazines. Lord Chesterfield was still writing -his letters. Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary was a new book, being advertised -in publishers’ announcements, in two bulky quarto volumes at £4. 10s. -Garrick was playing nightly at Drury Lane. - -It was still the custom at Bath to announce the arrival of lords and -ladies and “nabobs” with peals on the Abbey bells and serenadings by -the Assembly band. Brighton was hardly on the map as yet; it was merely -Brighthelmstone, a Sussex fishing village, just beginning to be visited -for sea bathing by the handful of people who had heard of it through Dr. -Russell’s pamphlets. Old London Bridge still had houses on it. Traffic -in imported merchandise throughout the country was still carried on -by pack-horse. One coach—or “machine”—a month, ran between London and -Edinburgh, and took a fortnight on the road. A similar conveyance between -London and Portsmouth took, under the most favourable conditions, two -whole days. The mails went by postboy, and hardly a week passed without -people failing to get their letters, because the local postboy had been -stopped by a highwayman. Gibbets, indeed, with the bleached bones of -these gentry in chains, stood on every main road out of London. Pirates -were still from time to time publicly borne from the Old Bailey down the -Thames in boats, heavily chained, to be hanged at Execution Dock and -gibbeted at Galleons Point—on the average half a dozen a year. Just as -the Admiralty draughtsmen were outlining the plans of the _Victory_, the -news of the hour for nine people out of ten in England was the committal -of Eugene Aram to York Castle for the murder of Daniel Clark. - -[Illustration: AT PORTSMOUTH POINT - -_Thomas Rowlandson._] - -[Illustration: IN PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR - -_Thomas Rowlandson._] - -On the day that the _Victory’s_ keel was laid two men were pilloried in -Cheapside for blackmailing a City merchant, and a bad egg accidentally -hitting the Sheriff’s officer in charge of the proceedings led to a riot -and fighting with drawn swords. On the day before the _Victory_ was -launched, one Mary Norwood, an unfaithful wife, condemned at Taunton -Assizes for poisoning her husband, was publicly strangled in the -market-place of Ilverston, her home, and her body tied to the stake and -burned before several hundred spectators. - -So far back does the life-story of our “old” _Victory_ take us, touching -at either end the middle of the eighteenth century and the opening years -of the twentieth, directly linking King George the Second with King -Edward the Seventh. - - -HOW THEY BUILT THE _VICTORY_ AT CHATHAM - -This is the story of the building of the _Victory_ at Chatham Dockyard, -and how, why, and when the order to set to work on this particular -first-rate man-of-war was given. - -On the 20th of September, 1758, Lord Anson, First Lord of the Admiralty, -after commanding at sea on Special Service off the coast of France all -the summer, arrived in London to resume his duties on the Board. Nine -days later, in the old parsonage house of Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk, was -born into this world the infant boy to whom six days later was given the -name Horatio Nelson. The two dates are a coincidence of interest in our -story of the _Victory_. - -Anson came back to town to hold conference with Mr. Secretary Pitt, -the War Minister. Pitt had laid his plans for the future, and was -ready. There were first of all to be no more half-military, half-naval -expeditions up and down the coast of France. They had done little real -harm to the enemy, and in two cases had ended in downright failure. The -wits of St. James’s were not to get a second chance for a sneer that -“the French were not to be conquered by every Duke of Marlborough” (an -allusion to the general commanding the troops employed—the second Duke). -The Channel Fleet was not to be received a second time on returning to -Spithead with a dumb peal on the bells of Portsmouth Church. That plan -of campaign had been to some extent a legacy to Pitt from the previous -Ministry; he was prepared now to set on foot his own scheme. Great -Britain would henceforward take the offensive vigorously and deal with -the enemy at all points. Pitt’s plan was to make it first and foremost -a naval war, to attack the oversea possessions of France all the world -over, utilizing every ship at the disposal of the nation. The striking -success achieved by Boscawen at Louisbourg had shown the way, and what -could be done. - -The War Minister’s projects made known to him, Anson acted. On the 14th -of October the First Lord called on the Navy Board—the Department -charged with the general administration and dockyard business of the -Navy—for a detailed return of every seaworthy ship in the fleet, and -of every ship capable of being made seaworthy. On the 24th of October -he called for a Supplementary Return of the older ships, which, if for -the present available, would necessarily, through wear and tear, go -off the effective within three years and need replacing. Both returns, -from details specially supplied by each dockyard, were presented to the -Admiralty on the last day of November. They were considered forthwith, -and a decision in regard to them was come to on the 13th of December. -Five days later, as the result, a shipbuilding programme to add twelve -ships of the line to the fleet was laid, with the Navy Estimates for -the coming year, on the table of the House of Commons. Nine of the -twelve men-of-war proposed were to be put in hand at once—five in the -dockyards and four in merchants’ yards. At the head of the list was a -new first-rate of a hundred guns, as to the preparations for which the -Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard had already received instructions. That -ship was the future _Victory_. - - * * * * * - -They were ready at Chatham. They had been expecting an order of the -kind for some years. Ever since, indeed, the autumn of 1746, when the -Admiralty had made inquiries at Chatham in regard to a new first-rate -that it was then proposed to build at Chatham, “in the room,” as the -official term went, of the three-decker _Victory_, old Admiral Balchen’s -ship, lost with nine hundred men and officers on board, on the Casquets -in the terrible shipwreck of October, 1744. The project for various -reasons had been shelved, but the dockyard authorities at Chatham had -not lost sight of it. To that fact, probably, we owe it that the next -_Victory_, when she at length did come into existence, lasted to fight at -Trafalgar, and also, in some degree, that the _Victory_ remains afloat at -the present hour. - -Any summer’s day in the early Fifties of the eighteenth century the -wayfarer among the uplands of the Kent and Sussex Wealds would have met -processions of “tugs,” as the local timber conveyances were called, drawn -by teams of oxen, laboriously hauling along the rough oak trunks, lopped -and barked, stamped with King George’s broad arrow, and each numbered -with a smear of red paint, that were in the course of events to form the -frame and side timbers of the _Victory_. From Frant and Ashdown, Eridge -and Mabledon, over all the wooded country round Tunbridge Wells where -Kent and Sussex march, by Wadhurst, Buxted, and Mayfield, from Horsham -on the north to nearly as far south as Lewes, they might have been seen -working slowly along the clay-bound forest roads, two-and-twenty oxen -to one trunk in wet weather sometimes, in charge of smock-frocked, -leather-breeched Wealden peasants (“them leather-legged chaps o’ the -Weald”), toiling from cross-road to cross-road towards Maidstone, -where, alongside Messrs. Prentice’s wharves, the Medway timber hoys for -Chatham lay in waiting. Kent and Sussex oak was proverbial at that day -as being without equal in strength and toughness for the frame timbers -and sides and upper works of a man-of-war—the fighting parts of a ship. -And, at the same time, the wayfarer in another land, wandering where the -Vistula rolls its sluggish course northwards to the Baltic, would have -met a great part of the rest of the future _Victory_ in the long rafts -drifting downstream from the oak forests of Poland and East Prussia, -floating slowly along, to arrive at length at the Dantzic contractor’s -yard, and thence finally pass oversea to the saw-pits of Chatham. For -the under-water timbers and planking of our old-time men-of-war and -other parts of a ship exposed to salt water there was no timber in -the world, so it was generally considered at that time, to compare in -durability with “East Country” oak—“‘K’ brand, Dantzic,” in particular. -Also it was cheap. By the end of the year 1754 the pick of the best -shipbuilding timber in England and in all Europe had been placed in store -on the berths and racks at Chatham, available for the expected big ship, -thenceforward to season gradually and improve in keeping year by year. - -The order to the Dockyard Commissioner at Chatham to get ready to take -the _Victory_ in hand was dated the 13th of December, 1758. It directed -Commissioner Cooper to “prepare to set up and build a new ship of -100-guns as soon as a dock shall be available for the purpose.” A sum -of £3200, it also informed the Commissioner, would be set aside in the -coming Navy Estimates for preliminaries. It was the custom at that time -to build first-rates in a dock; they were thought too big to build on a -slip. - -The new ship—no name was as yet officially announced for her—was to be, -as we should nowadays say, an “improved” _Royal George_ (the _Royal -George_ was our latest completed big ship, the same _Royal George_ -that came at a later day to so unfortunate an end), and for six months -the draughtsmen in the office of the Surveyor of the Navy, under the -supervision of Mr. Thomas Slade (afterwards Sir Thomas), Senior Surveyor -of the Navy, the designer of the _Victory_, were busy on the working -plans. These were completed by the first week of June, 1759, and laid -before the Admiralty. They were formally passed on the 14th of June, and -a few days later the Rochester stage-waggon from London stopped at the -dockyard gates to deliver the box with the duplicate plans, all ready to -be laid off and chalked down in detail, each part of the ship the actual -size, on the mould loft floor. Master-Shipwright Lock would then get -his mould-boards and have the saw-pits set going, in readiness for the -arrival of the regulation Navy Board Order to commence building. That -order came on the 7th of July. - -The dock allotted for the building of the new ship at Chatham was that -then known as the “Old Single Dock,” the dock now called “No. 2 Dock,” -near the Admiral Superintendent’s Office and opposite the old yard clock -and bell turret. There, on a Monday morning, the 23rd of July, 1759—an -auspiciously bright and sunny morning as it befell—the keel of the -_Victory_ was laid. - -The ship was to be afloat, according to Admiralty calculations, within -thirty-three months—by the 31st of March, 1762. That meant, in the -existing state of things at Chatham, working on her, at any rate during -the earlier stage of getting the vessel into frame, day and night. They -had two 90-gun three-deckers and two seventy-fours in various stages of -building, besides the _Victory_ to take in hand; and in addition they had -nearly every week extra refits or repairs to undertake for ships coming -in from the fleets at sea—a complication of tasks which involved the -keeping of every man and boy of the two thousand and odd hands then on -the muster-sheets of Chatham yard hard at work from Monday at daylight to -Saturday at dusk. Half the establishment alternately were on overtime, -working on Sundays and nightly through the week, for spells of three -or five hours after bell-ringing—in dockyard lingo, “double tides” and -“nights.” It was the same just then in all our dockyards; the day-gangs -as they worked having each man’s meals brought from home into the yard to -him, to eat in the half-hour allowed, near by his job; the night-gangs -all toiling on under the flaring light of cressets and links, without a -break, until past ten o’clock. - -Amid such surroundings at Chatham they began building the _Victory_, -a hundred and fifty men being employed on the ship at first, to set up -and bolt together the various frames and floor timbers, and fit and fix -together in place the stem and stern pieces and brackets and the huge rib -timbers and beams, as fast as the converter and the sawyers could supply -them. So things went on from August to the following January (1760). Then -the gangs of shipwrights employed on the _Victory_ were reduced, and the -rate of working allowed to slacken down. With the French Mediterranean -Fleet broken up by Boscawen—one half taken or burned and the other half -cut off and shut up at Cadiz—and the French Channel Fleet shattered by -Hawke, and its refugee ships lying broken-backed and stranded up the -Vilaine, on the sandbanks above the bar, the stress of the war was past. -And there was little need to trouble for the immediate future with only -M. Berryer at the Ministry of Marine. - -By August, 1760, the hull timber-work had been put together into the -outline of a ship, and was practically complete in frame, the skeleton of -the future man-of-war. The workmen were then almost all called off, and -the ship, according to custom, was left aside for a space, to “stand in -frame” and season. She had cost so far, according to the Navy Estimates, -upwards of £14,000 in materials and labour. - -Two months later, on the 28th of October, the Admiralty officially named -the _Victory_. On that day their lordships signed an order that “the new -100-gun ship building at Chatham,” as the vessel had hitherto been styled -in all official documents, should take the name of the _Victory_. At the -same time a notification was sent to the Navy Board, directing them “to -cause the name appointed by my Lords to be so registered in the List of -His Majesty’s Navy,” and “communicated” to Chatham Dockyard. - -The name, of course, from the first had been an open secret. There were -at that period seven British warship names which were tacitly accepted -as set apart for first-rate ships of war. They were: _Royal Sovereign_, -_Britannia_, _Royal William_, _Royal Anne_, _Royal George_, _London_, and -_Victory_. These seven had stood at the head of the Navy List as a group -by themselves, in successive ships, for some seventy years and more. -The name _Victory_, in 1760, was the only one not appropriated to any -existing ship. It had been wanting ever since the disaster of 1744, and -the new 100-gun ship, as a first-rate, had a right to it in accordance -with the custom of the service. Thus our present _Victory_ man-of-war is -linked directly with the old-time veterans of her name; thus, indeed, -from the Armada to Trafalgar, in a line of continuous succession— - - Victory to Victory ever - Hands the torch of Glory on. - -But that is not quite all. In a special sense no more appropriate name -could have been given to the British man-of-war laid down as the special -first-rate of the year 1759. In that sense the _Victory_ commemorates in -her name the most brilliant year of warlike achievement in our annals, -the most successful year for British arms that the world ever saw. In -her name, in this regard, our Nelson’s _Victory_ of to-day stands as an -abiding national memorial of England’s greatest year of victory; the -“Wonderful Year,” as our forefathers themselves called it, the year of -Minden and Lagos Bay and Quiberon and Quebec. “We are forced,” wrote -Horace Walpole, in October, 1759, “to ask every morning what victory -there is for fear of missing one.” - -March 31st, 1762, came—the date by which the _Victory_ was to have been -afloat. She was, though, still in frame, hardly advanced beyond that; her -bottom planked over, but all above practically as yet only in skeleton, -little advanced, in fact, beyond the stage at which the shipwrights had -left her eighteen months before. The Admiralty’s change of plans after -the French collapse at sea at the end of 1759 had put her completion off -for two years. It was, however, not entirely lost time. An additional -£12,000 had been laid out meanwhile for the ship in preparing and working -up materials to be used in her, and seasoning them in readiness to push -on with the building when work on the vessel was resumed. - -[Illustration: THE _VICTORY_ ON HER FIRST CRUISE - -_Drawn by Captain Robert Elliot, R.N. Engraved and Published in 1780._] - -The new date for completion, March, 1764, came in its turn, but again -the _Victory_ was not ready. Upwards of £50,000 had by now been spent on -her, and the ship was four-fifths finished, her sides planked to the -upper works and the decks laid. They had slackened off considerably in -regard to new construction at Chatham after the war ended. The dockyard -establishment had been reduced by two-thirds and overtime stopped. -General repairs were the order of the day, to make good the wear-and-tear -of war service at all the dockyards, and practically a third part of the -whole sea-going navy fell to Chatham’s share of mending. - -Another six months was then officially granted for the finishing of -the _Victory_; but this time the Admiralty themselves, and the French -incidentally, caused fresh delay. My Lords did their share by coming down -to Chatham at the end of May, 1764, on a visit of inspection, walking -over the _Victory_ and leaving suggestions for alterations to be made -which would take at least four additional months to carry out. The French -hindered the intended progress by a display of aggressiveness towards -England over the Newfoundland fisheries question, as left arranged by -the recent Treaty of Paris. That trouble at the outset looked so serious -that the workmen at the dockyards were drawn off all ships building and -repairing in order to get part of the Ordinary, the ships in reserve, -into sea-going state at once. So the _Victory_ had her completion again -put off. - -In the midst of this French “disturbance”—as our ancestors of that time -termed international unpleasantnesses of the kind—we may conveniently -take our leave of the _Victory_ on the stocks at Chatham, in the midst of -a series of strange scenes the like of which, happily, have not often -been witnessed in an English dockyard. - -The Newfoundland difficulty was still unsettled, when, at the end of -October, 1764, secret information of a startling nature suddenly reached -the Admiralty from abroad. It was to the effect that a plot was on foot, -with the connivance of the French Government, to destroy the English -dockyards by incendiarism and fire the ships of war under construction. -There proved to be reason to consider the news in a most serious light, -and extraordinary measures of precaution were forthwith ordered at all -the yards. - -At Chatham, the nightly guard-boats patrolling the line of ships laid -up at moorings in the Medway Ordinary, were doubled. Strict orders were -issued to those in charge of the ships in Ordinary to keep their gun-room -ports close shut all night, to send adrift before dark all shore boats -lying astern, to hoist in all the ship’s boats, to haul up on board at -night all the Jacob’s ladders over the stern used by the ship-keepers -for getting on board. All fishing boats and hoys passing up and down -the Medway were kept under observation. All doubtful or strange boats -of any kind on the river were to be challenged and reported. Special -dockyard guard-boats were told off to patrol from sunset to sunrise -along the river front of the yard. All persons landing at the yard from -the guardships after dark were to come alongside and disembark only at -certain specified points. Strangers visiting the yard on business during -the day were to be accompanied throughout their stay; no foreigner of -whatever quality or rank was to be allowed to pass the gates without a -written permit from the Commissioner. The yard-warders posted ashore -on look-out round the walls of the yard were doubled, and marines were -drafted into the yard to keep watch at night, “conformable to the -strictest rules of Garrison duty.” A captain’s guard was posted at the -dockyard gates, and a subaltern’s guard at the North-East Tower. A -special parole with countersign was given out by the Commissioner every -twenty-four hours. Constant patrols of marines were kept on the move -round and about the yard all night. Armed sentries were posted on the -river front, by the workshops and storehouses, the hemp and rope houses, -and the timber berths. No fewer than twenty-two of these sentry-posts -were appointed in and about Chatham dockyard, and each man going on duty -was supplied with three rounds of ball. - -To safeguard the _Victory_, the pride of Chatham, “the finest man-of-war -ever built for the Royal Navy,” as they already spoke of her, a -cocked-hatted, high-gaitered marine sentry, loaded firelock on shoulder, -was kept pacing up and down with steady tramp alongside the dock where -the ship lay, all the night long. His orders were to challenge all -suspicious persons and loiterers, and all persons approaching the ship, -twice—“Halt, who comes there!” If not answered after that, he was to -fire. To prove himself on the alert, at every quarter of an hour, when -the warders on the wall look-out towers struck their bells, the sentry -had to call out the number of his post, passing it on to the next sentry, -and echoing back the hail “All’s well!” A fresh man came on duty every -two hours. To further ensure the safety of the _Victory_, once at least -during every night a “visiting rounds” patrol, comprising an officer -from the main guard and a corporal and file of marines with lantern and -jingling keys, boarded the ship to explore between-decks and below for -lurking evil-doers or any combustibles that might be secreted. - -But Jack the Painter’s time had not yet come. Nothing in the way of -incendiarism happened at Chatham, or at any of the other dockyards in -1764, and after two or three months of unrest, things resumed their -normal state of tranquillity. - -Nothing more happened after that to hinder or delay the completion of -the _Victory_, and by the following March her bulkheads and magazines -were fitted, the port-lids and the rudder hung, and the poop lanterns -in place, and the caulkers and painters were getting through with their -finishing touches. - -On St. George’s day, April 23rd, 1765, the Commissioner at Chatham -reported the _Victory_ to the Admiralty as ready to be launched. The -requisite order in reply, dispatched through the Navy Board, arrived -on the 30th of April. It directed the launch to take place at the next -spring tides These were due on the 7th of May. - - - - -VII - -ON VALENTINE’S NIGHT IN FRIGATE BAY - - If we go forward, we die; - If we go backward, we die; - Better go forward—and live! - - -The story of what happened once in Frigate Bay, St. Kitts, in the West -Indies, recalls one of our “forgotten glories”; a feat of arms that nine -out of ten people, one may be quite certain, have never heard of. Nor -do our general histories say much of it, even of those whose pages make -reference to it. Yet it is one of the very smartest, and neatest, and -cleverest displays that, it may be, any British Admiral ever made, and -it was managed, too, in the face of heroic odds. In every sense it was a -daring and dashing deed of arms, and its moral effect on the enemy at the -time was immense and widespread. It was in February of the year 1782, in -the closing year of England’s long war with France and Spain in alliance -with the rebel American Colonists. At that moment the French under the -Comte de Grasse were in overpowering force in the West Indies, and were -about, as they loudly vaunted, to make a sweeping attack on the five -remaining British Islands, which, they declared openly, would prove an -easy prey. - -Rodney, the British Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies, had gone home -on sick leave for a short time at the end of the preceding season. He -was now on his way out again, with what reinforcements the sorely-tried -Admiralty, at their wits’ end for ships and the men to man them with, -could get together for him; but he had not yet arrived. Sir Samuel Hood -(the famous Lord Hood of a later day), Rodney’s second in command, was -in charge of the station in Rodney’s absence. It was by him that the -brilliant exploit which forms our story here was achieved in Frigate Bay, -St. Kitts. - -Hearing in December, 1781, that the French Admiral, de Grasse, who had -been co-operating with Washington in the Chesapeake, had arrived with -his whole force at Martinique, and was on the point of sailing thence, -or had already sailed, with a large force of troops on board to attack -and capture Barbados, Hood at once followed; to try and hold the enemy in -check till Rodney joined. He had only twenty-two ships of the line to de -Grasse’s twenty-six, but he meant to make a fight of it in any event. - -Six of Hood’s ships, it should be noted, were only 64-gun ships, the -smallest class of vessels placed in the line of battle; and two of the -fleet, also, the _Invincible_ and the _Prudent_, were old vessels, worn -out and crazy. Both, indeed, had been officially reported on as unfit for -sea. Hood’s biggest ship was his own flagship, the _Barfleur_, a 90-gun -ship. De Grasse’s ships, on the other hand, comprised the most powerful -man-of-war in the world—the gigantic _Ville de Paris_ of 112 guns; and -the French had as well twenty seventy-fours and three sixty-fours. - -On his way to Barbados, Hood put into English Harbour, Antigua, the -naval head-quarters of the Leeward Islands Station. There he heard fresh -news. The blow had fallen elsewhere. De Grasse had been delayed on his -way to Barbados by bad weather. He had turned aside, and swooped down -on St. Kitts. He had already begun a fierce attack, it was reported, -and the small British garrison of regulars in the island were in a very -precarious position. They were, however, still holding out. They occupied -an impregnable position on Brimstone Hill, but their supplies were short -and there was treachery among the islanders. - -Hood received details at Antigua of the attack on St. Kitts. Taking on -board the 28th and 69th Foot and two companies of the 13th, part of the -garrison of the island, and arranging also to form two battalions of -marines, made up from the marines serving on board his fleet, Hood sailed -at once to try and save the island. “He sailed,” to use the words of one -of Hood’s officers, “with the inadequate force of 1500 troops, which was -all he could get from the general commanding at Antigua, on the 23rd of -January, to relieve St. Christopher’s, attacked by 9000 Frenchmen under -the Marquis de Bouville” [_sic_] (i.e. de Bouillé). - -Hood proposed to surprise de Grasse at anchor and attack him at daybreak -on the morning of the 24th of January. He knew that the enemy were lying -in Basseterre Roads, a few miles from Brimstone Hill. To counterbalance -the numerical superiority of the French fleet, Hood, in his plan of -attack, proposed to throw the entire British squadron on one portion of -the enemy, which he hoped to overwhelm before the rest could weigh and -come to the rescue. Then he would be able, he expected, to match himself -effectively against what would remain of the French. The plan was foiled -at the outset by the blundering of the officer of the watch on board -the _Nymphe_, a frigate, which, during the night of the 23rd, in the -dark got across the bows of the _Alfred_, a seventy-four, the leader of -the battle-line. She caused a collision that damaged the _Alfred_ very -seriously, and nearly cut the _Nymphe_ in two. - -Owing to the collision Hood’s entire plan had to be altered. The repairs -to the _Alfred_ took all day on the 24th and until ten o’clock on the -morning of the 25th, before the ship was again fit for service, and -during that time the rest of the British fleet lay-to. They were already -in sight of St. Kitts, with the result that the news of Hood’s arrival in -the neighbourhood, up to then unsuspected, reached the French Admiral. -Now there was no longer a question of surprise. Before he actually -sighted the British fleet, de Grasse had got ready for Hood, and had had -time to get under way and stand out to meet him. - -Hood, disappointed though he was, was not baffled. He had a second plan -of action in his mind. He next began to manœuvre as if he did not wish to -come to close quarters with de Grasse—as, indeed, might well be the case, -looking at the odds. He made a series of feints, as though he desired to -shirk a battle and slip away, on which the French Admiral, becoming more -and more confident, stood boldly out to sea after him. That was Hood’s -game. He drew de Grasse clear of St. Kitts and to leeward of the island, -manœuvring meanwhile so as to keep the weather-gage for himself. Then, -suddenly hauling his wind, Hood dashed in, making for the anchorage the -French had quitted in Basseterre Roads. - -He swept in so close along the shores of Nevis—to prevent the enemy -getting within him—that one of his frigates, the _Solebay_, “was wrecked -from not having room to pass between the line-of-battle ship she was -abreast of and the western point of Nevis.” - -Holding his way ahead, Hood slipped right past the French and raced de -Grasse for his own anchorage. Hood won the race on the post. After a -flying interchange of broadsides he brought in his whole fleet, well in -hand, right into Frigate Bay, Basseterre Roads, exactly where de Grasse -had been lying previously, and occupied the very moorings that the French -had originally had. In that way he placed the British fleet between the -French troops on shore and their supporting fleet It was a masterstroke. -Hood had turned the tables exactly. He completely cut off the French -troops on shore from receiving aid from their fleet. - - * * * * * - -Completely surprised and outwitted by the British Admiral’s daring move, -all that de Grasse could do was to attempt to overpower Hood while he was -in the act of anchoring. What happened is described by the officer in the -British fleet who has already been quoted. - -“When he perceived the whole fleet following their leader, he tacked -his fleet together ... and, in consequence, the French fleet approached -within gunshot at a little before three o’clock. De Grasse, who was in -the centre of his line, fetched in the _Ville de Paris_ nearly abreast -of the _Canada_, while the headmost ship of his fleet was drawing in -abreast of Sir Samuel Hood’s ship, the _Barfleur_. Their whole van boldly -advanced towards the _Barfleur_, which reserved her fire until the -brave Frenchman approached within musket shot, when she opened such a -well-directed and quickly repeated fire, that in a few minutes the French -ship had her jib-boom shot away, her sails nearly cut into ribbons, and -her rigging so cut up that she quickly put her helm a-weather, and bore -away from her redoubted antagonist. De Grasse perceiving an opening in -our line, boldly attempted to sever it; but Cornwallis placed himself -in the breach, which he so ably defended that his gigantic opponent was -glad to relinquish the hazardous enterprise. Hood looked on undismayed -at this attack upon his rear, knowing that he could confide in every -individual captain, and very coolly ordered the signal to be made for the -ships ahead to make more sail, in order to hasten their anchoring as soon -as possible. In the meantime, the _St. Albans_ (the leading British ship) -had taken up her station, and anchored at 3 p.m., and the other ships did -the same in succession, while the centre and rear were closely engaged -with the enemy, who pressed them close until every ship was anchored, -when the French wore in succession and stood out to sea.” - -De Grasse made two fierce attacks on Hood next day. - -“On the morning of the 26th, at half-past eight,” continues our officer -eye-witness, “the French fleet were seen coming round Nevis Point, -intending to force a passage, but so singularly felicitous was the -position taken up by the British Admiral, that when the enemy’s leading -ship approached, the wind headed her, so that she could not fetch -above the third ship in our line. The springs of our van ships were so -admirably attended to that the broadsides of four of them were brought -to bear at the same time upon the unfortunate Frenchmen, and were opened -with tremendous effect. - -“The crash occasioned by their destructive broadsides was so tremendous -on board the ship (the _Pluton_), that whole pieces of plank were seen -flying from her off side ere she could escape. The French ships generally -approached the British van with more caution, with the exception of -some, among them being the _Ville de Paris_. De Grasse, in order to -prolong the individual encounter as much as possible, counterbraced his -after-yards to retard his ship’s way through the water along the British -line; and so the French flagship was detained a considerable time abreast -of the _Resolution_, _Prudent_, _Canada_, and _Alfred_ in succession, as -the _Ville de Paris_ slowly forged ahead and fired upon them. - -“During this short but tremendous conflict between the respective -combatants, nothing whatever could be seen of them for upwards of twenty -minutes, save De Grasse’s white flag gracefully floating above the -immense volume of smoke, or the pendants of the other ships. - -“In the afternoon the French made a second attack on our line. It -commenced at fifty minutes past two, and was principally directed against -the centre and rear, the morning attack having convinced them that the -British van was not to be assailed with impunity. Never, perhaps, was a -superior enemy so completely foiled as de Grasse was on this occasion.” - -Hood used all the means in his power to make good the advantage that he -had gained, as we are further told: - -“Sir Samuel Hood not only secured his fleet from any assault by sea, but -also took measures to prevent the enemy from molesting it from the land, -where it was infinitely more vulnerable: for could they have thrown up -any batteries on the hill situated above Green Point, his position would -have been no longer tenable. To prevent such an attempt on the part of -the enemy, he landed the troops that accompanied the fleet in Frigate -Bay, where they took post on the eminence that commanded the narrow neck, -which continues the southern point of St. Christopher’s with the main -island.” - -[Illustration: THE FIRST FIGHT IN FRIGATE BAY, ST. KITTS - -_Admiral Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron of 22 ships (at anchor) beating off -De Grasse’s opening attack, with 38 ships (shown coming into the bay -under full sail) at 2.30 p.m. on January 25th, 1782._ - -_Drawn by N. Pocock, “from a sketch made by a gentleman who happened at -the time to be on a visit at a friend’s, on a height between Basse Terre -and Old Road.”_] - -The troops made an effort to join hands with the garrison on Brimstone -Hill as soon as possible after they had landed. They advanced rapidly, -and in their first fight with the French covering force met with some -success. Driving in the enemy’s outlying detachments, they advanced -some way towards the French main position. Then the situation altered. -De Bouillé himself, at the head of 4000 men, came on the scene. General -Prescott, the British army officer in charge of the relief operations, -had with him only 1,500 men, the soldiers from Antigua. He had refused -to take the two battalions of marines (each of 500 men) which Hood had -had prepared for service on shore and had urged him to take as well. -Hopelessly outnumbered General Prescott had to fall back. In the end he -was compelled to evacuate his camp near the sea and re-embark all his -soldiers on board the fleet. That meant the doom of Brimstone Hill, and -the colony of St. Kitts with it. - -The garrison under Governor Shirley and Brigadier Fraser—comprising the -1st Battalion of the Royals, and the flank companies of the 15th Foot and -a detachment of Royal Artillery, with a handful of local militiamen—from -a thousand to twelve hundred men in all, still held out, doing their -best. As long as they held out Hood made up his mind to stay where he -was. Rodney was overdue now with his promised reinforcement from England, -a dozen ships of the line. If Rodney arrived while the British flag was -still flying in the island and could join hands with Hood, there was yet -a chance of checkmating the enemy and of saving St. Kitts. But could -Brimstone Hill hold out? It was more than doubtful. - -The place was naturally an impregnable fortress, but the fortifications -had been badly placed. The garrison were not numerous enough to line the -walls. They had no heavy guns mounted, and the enemy were day after day -bombarding them with a pitiless fire that closed in on them more and -more, and became fiercer and more deadly and destructive every hour. - - * * * * * - -It is an ugly story—the tale of the fortifications of Brimstone Hill. -Strong entrenchments had been planned a year before, and heavy guns sent -out from England to be mounted on the ramparts. But the local authorities -had not troubled to follow the plans, and what fortifications had been -built had been run up incompletely and carelessly. The guns specially -sent out from Woolwich for the works—brass 24-pounders and 13-inch -mortars—had never been mounted at all. They had, as a fact, been left -lying at the foot of the hill near the seashore, just as they had been -landed, together with their gun carriages and every kind of equipment -complete, besides tons of shot and shell. For over a year the local -authorities had paid no heed to the repeated requests of the governor, -and the general in command of the garrison in the island, to provide -the labour and appliances indispensable for transporting the guns and -material to the top of Brimstone Hill. Rodney himself during the previous -summer had repeatedly urged the island local authorities, as a matter of -public safety, to do their duty in the matter, but all had been in vain. -The result was that de Bouillé and his army had on landing seized the -guns and their ammunition, all lying there ready to hand. The French, in -fact, had formed out of them the very siege train by means of which they -were now able to batter down the weak fortifications on the hill above. -The garrison, on the other hand, had only the few light 3-pounder and -6-pounder field pieces belonging to the Royal Artillery, with which to -reply. - -With the heavy guns provided from England in position, Brimstone Hill -might well have held out till Rodney and his reinforcements had arrived -and joined Hood, when the enemy must have paid dearly for their attempt. -And, at the same time, without the English garrison guns at his disposal, -de Bouillé would have been harmless. By an extraordinary coincidence the -ship carrying the French siege train for St. Kitts had been wrecked on -its way, and the second ship, carrying the French siege ammunition, had -been captured by Hood. The French had actually no other siege artillery -or ammunition nearer than in the gun park on shore at Martinique. - -Rodney, indeed, on learning the facts of the case at St. Kitts after -his arrival, did not hesitate to write to England and to make other -serious imputations on the loyalty of the colonials all through the whole -business. “The inhabitants of Basseterre in St. Christopher’s,” he wrote, -“suffered the enemy to land without firing a single gun, though they had -three good batteries which might have done good service and destroyed -many of the enemy, and certainly prevented their landing at Basseterre.” -“Nor during all the time that Hood was lying off the capital, in Frigate -Bay,” added Rodney, “did a single inhabitant come on board or afford the -least intelligence.” - -The disaffection at St. Kitts, unfortunately, was no isolated case, as -Rodney reported in the same dispatch. Actual treason, indeed, was rife -among the white populations throughout the British West Indies, except in -loyal Jamaica and at Antigua. The planter-militia forces in the various -islands were worse than useless. “Barbados,” wrote Rodney, “is in no -state of defence, and their legislature will not raise a penny to repair -the fortifications.... They wish to be taken, but the rogues shall be -disappointed while I remain here!” Dominica fell into the enemy’s hands -through the vilest treachery. There the garrison of the principal fort -defending the island, near Roseau, the capital, were made drunk by the -colonials, who at the same time plugged up the touch-holes of their -cannon and rendered the soldiers’ muskets useless by putting sand into -the gun locks; after which they signalled to a French expeditionary -column, which had secretly been assisted ashore that same night, to -advance and take possession. - - * * * * * - -At sea, meanwhile, off Frigate Bay, de Grasse watched and waited, -contenting himself with “observing” Hood from just outside gunshot range -of the British fleet. During the three weeks between the 26th of January -and the 13th of February, Hood’s men were, as the Admiral described, -“under arms night and day,” but doing their duty all the time, as Hood -put it, “with a cheerfulness and good humour which charmed me.” This -was in spite of much privation. They were deficient in provisions and -stores, having had but little time to take in anything at Antigua—short -of water and “practically without bread, living on yams and country flour -to eke out their own.” Powder and shot, too, were short in some of the -ships. None of the fleet, indeed, had had an opportunity of replenishing -magazines since they arrived in the West Indies after the fighting in the -Chesapeake in the previous September. - -“The enemy’s fleet made frequent demonstrations of attacking us, but -never came near enough to engage. On the 12th February their fleet -amounted to thirty-two ships of the line, a strong reinforcement from -France having joined, which not only supplied the place of their -disabled ships, but contributed to swell their numbers. On the 13th the -Comte de Grasse despaired of being able to assail with any prospect of -success our little fleet of twenty-two ships, and prudently anchored off -Nevis.” - -The end came for the Brimstone Hill garrison on the 13th of February. -Further resistance was hopeless, and there seemed no prospect of relief -reaching them. The ramparts had been beaten down; their ammunition -was exhausted, most of their guns were disabled. De Bouillé summoned -the place, announcing his intention of storming the works. Unable to -offer more resistance the garrison surrendered, on terms that were -complimentary to the very gallant resistance that they had made. - -Hood, at his anchorage in Frigate Bay, learned the unwelcome news by -a flag of truce from the French camp near Basseterre next morning, -Wednesday, the 14th of February. It meant that he must now look out for -himself. The situation had changed to one of very serious danger for -him. Not only was there de Grasse outside, with a fleet that was being -reinforced almost daily with fresh ships from Martinique, but there -was also the French army on shore. They had already begun throwing -up batteries in which they were mounting the same heavy long range -English guns by means of which they had reduced Brimstone Hill. The -shot and shell from these would speedily render further continuance at -the anchorage impossible. The enemy, moreover, had found an excellent -position for their purpose on a lofty bluff whence they could sweep the -anchorage from end to end. - -De Grasse’s fleet numbered ten ships more than Hood had; and most of the -recent arrivals were 80-gun ships. - -De Grasse’s withdrawal to Nevis for a few hours in order to refit his -fleet out of some storeships that had just arrived from France gave Hood -his chance. The French Admiral made sure that in the circumstances there -was no possibility of the British fleet escaping complete destruction. -Off Nevis he could keep the English fleet in sight, and only a couple -of hours sail from him. Hood seemed, as it were, between the upper and -nether millstones: between the French fleet in overpowering force on one -side, and the batteries on shore on the other, which also, as de Grasse -knew, were to be ready to open fire next day. - - * * * * * - -Once more, though, it was to be the old story of the slip between the cup -and the lip. Hood essayed one desperate chance, and won it. He proved -himself a good deal more than a match for de Grasse and de Bouillé on -shore combined. - -The British Admiral lost no time over his preparations. He had made up -his mind what to do within an hour of receiving the news of the fall of -Brimstone Hill. And then he acted forthwith. - -At noon on the 14th Hood signalled for a lieutenant from every ship to -come on board the flagship _Barfleur_. Certain special instructions -were given out, and the officers were directed to come on board for -further orders after dark—at nine o’clock that night. In accordance -with the admiral’s instructions, at four in the afternoon every ship -ostentatiously lowered top-gallant yards, making things snug for the -night to all appearances, to spectators at a distance. Immediately it -was dark, as quickly as possible stream-anchors were got in, and every -preparation was rapidly made for putting to sea. These left every ship -riding with only one anchor down, the small bower. At nine o’clock, -as had been ordered also, top-gallant yards were quietly rehoisted -and crossed on board every ship. Then the officers told to return for -further orders, pulled silently off to the _Barfleur_ again and reported -everything ready. - -Each officer on arriving was requested to go down to the _Barfleur’s_ -cabin. Hood was there, and he saw each one set his watch exactly by -the flagship’s clock. Then all were ordered to return on board their -respective ships. As the hands of the officers’ watches pointed to -eleven, every ship was to cut her cable, come to sail at once, and -get under way in line of battle ahead, every ship moving out to sea -independently, steering to the westward, keeping on a given line of -bearing. On no account must there be any noise—no hailing, no signalling -whatever. Not a match must be struck on board, and all lights must be -screened. - -Not a single mishap, not one mistake, from all accounts, marred the -execution of the bold manœuvre. - -It was a black and moonless night. As six bells—eleven o’clock—clanged -out on board the _Barfleur_, the other ships each struck six bells. The -next moment a couple of heavy blows with an axe chopped the bower cable -through on board every ship. Then, simultaneously, sails were let fall -silently from the yards everywhere, and were swiftly and silently sheeted -home. At once now, in unison, the whole fleet began to forge ahead, -moving all together through the water. To aid in deceiving the enemy as -to what was happening, lighted ship’s lanterns were left behind, lashed -to poles set up on the casks that had served as cable buoys, making it -appear from a very short distance off as though the fleet were still -there, riding at anchor in the roads. - -The masterly _ruse_ succeeded to the full. The watch on board the English -fleet could see the lights of some of de Grasse’s ships away to seaward. -They themselves, one and all, entirely unobserved, passed out in the -darkness. Not a trace of Hood’s twenty-two ships was visible when de -Grasse came on deck on board his flagship, the _Ville de Paris_, next -morning. - -They met Rodney at sea a few days later;—and then, in due course Rodney -and Hood together smote the French once for all for that war, in the -great battle of “The Glorious Twelfth of April,” 1782.[10] - - - - -VIII - -THE PAGEANT OF THE _DONEGAL_:—A MEMORY OF ’98 - - Joy! joy! the day is come at last, the day of hope and pride— - And see! our crackling bonfires light old Bann’s rejoicing tide, - And gladsome bell and bugle-horn from Newry’s captured towers, - Hark! how they tell the Saxon swine this land is ours—is OURS! - - Come, trample down their robber rule, and smite its venal spawn, - Their foreign laws, their foreign Church, their ermine and their lawn, - With all the specious fry of fraud that robbed us of our own; - And plant our ancient laws again beneath our lineal throne! - - -The name Donegal has a significance to the Royal Navy that is all its -own. It was designated by the Admiralty as a county cruiser name, for one -of the ships of the _Kent_ and _Monmouth_ group; but there is more than -that behind the name. _Donegal_ lettered on the stern of a man-of-war -has its own traditions—associations of a yet wider interest to the -British fleet. The name, as a fact, owes its appearance on the Navy List -to a very special occasion. H.M.S. _Donegal_, in its origin, is only -incidentally connected with County Donegal. The cruiser through her name -stands, in fact, to remind the world that the Royal Navy does not “fear -to speak of ’98.” - -It is quite a little drama how this particular man-of-war name first -came to make its appearance on the roll of the British fleet; and in -that form, perhaps, one may most effectively tell the story—as a sort -of pageant, bringing the details forward in, as it were, a series of -tableaux. - - * * * * * - -First we have the opening scene, in bustling Paris, in the month of -August, 1798, something after this fashion: - - The Marseillaise is pealing! the crowds are mad with joy, - With flags and failtë fêting the gallant Paris Boy, - Who leads the bright procession of Frenchmen gay and bold?, - The Students of the Quarter, the Latin Quarter Old;— - They’re girt with dainty rapiers, they’re gloved with gloves of white, - The knightly Gallic Swordsmen who love the People’s Right! - They bear in bright procession a pledge from France’s shore, - The busts of Hoche and Humbert beneath the Tricolour! - -Then we have a September scene far away. We are now among the wild, -unkempt kerns and peasants of County Donegal, in their villages and rude -moorland huts of turf and boulders, dotted among the lonely valleys -far away amid the bare, desolate, wind-swept uplands and bleak, gaunt, -long-backed ridges, shrouded for half the year in rolling grey mists from -off the ocean, that range along the coasts of North-Western Ireland. -Everywhere the men are hard at work, seated in groups round their peat -fires, all actively engaged in pointing pikes and grinding axes, lashing -scythe-blades to short poles, and putting a fresh edge to ugly crooked -knives; crooning to themselves the while over their toil:— - - Oh, the Frinch are on the say, - Says the Shan Van Voght— - Oh, the Frinch are on the say, - Says the Shan Van Voght— - The Frinch are in the Bay, - They’ll be here without delay, - And the Orange will decay, - Says the Shan Van Voght. - -Again we are on the coast; by Donegal Bay. It is the morning of Friday, -the 12th of October, ’98, between seven and eight o’clock. Eager-faced, -excited watchers line the crags of Bloody Foreland. From the wide, flat -expanse of sea below comes up on the wind the dull, heavy, throbbing -sound of a distant cannonade. It has been getting nearer since daybreak. -It now comes nearer and nearer still; and by degrees, from the direction -of Tory Island, on the horizon over yonder, where a grey rolling cloud of -powder-smoke lies heavy over the sea, two squadrons of men-of-war, two -straggling lines of ships, most of them firing fiercely, come dimly into -view. One is assuredly the long-looked-for French—Commodore Bompart’s -squadron from Brest, bringing three thousand French soldiers and Wolfe -and Matthew Tone. They were to have landed at Lough Swilly yesterday -and raised the country-side. The other is the English fleet—a British -squadron that has followed round from Cawsand Bay under press of sail -to look after M. Bompart. They picked up news of him off the Fastnet -and Achill Island, and pushed on here. On the previous day at noon—as we -learn later on—off Malin Head in a stiff north-westerly gale, the British -look-outs sighted the French squadron; and they have been working to -bring Monsieur Bompart to battle ever since. - -It looks likely to go hard with the French. At the last moment a mishap -checked their attempt to give the British the go-by. Their best ship, the -_Hoche_, a fine 80-gun two-decker, and M. Bompart’s own flagship, got -disabled in a squall last night. Her maintopmast carried away, bringing -down with it the main and mizen top-gallant masts and tearing a gaping -rent in the mainsail. So Sir John Borlase Warren, the British Commodore, -has been able to get level with his enemy, on whom he is now tacking -to bring the fight to close quarters, in conditions where his superior -force—three line-of-battle ships and five frigates to one line-of-battle -ship, eight frigates, and a schooner—ought to decide M. Bompart’s fate -before dinner-time. - -Eleven o’clock. The inevitable has happened. The Frenchmen have been -overpowered at all points and broken up. The French Commodore is now only -holding out as long as possible _pour l’honneur du pavillon_. In the -centre of the battle, a dismantled wreck, with the scuppers running blood -at every heave of the vessel on the swell, lies M. Bompart’s flagship, -the hapless _Hoche_. Three British ships together—a sixty-four and two -frigates—are pouring broadside after broadside into her without ceasing -for a moment. - -Wolfe Tone, the story goes, was on board the _Hoche_, and refused at -the outset a chance that was offered him to get away by a boat to the -_Biche_, a fast-sailing schooner then about to make off, or to one of -the French frigates, by which means alone it was possible for him to -escape. “The action is hopeless,” said the French officers to him on the -quarter-deck; “with the odds against us it can only have one end. We -shall be prisoners of war; but what will become of you?” “No!” replied -Tone. “Shall it be said that I fled when the French were fighting the -battle of my country? No; I shall stand by the ship.” He went below and -took charge of a division of guns in one of the batteries. - -The end, as the watchers on land soon see, comes swiftly. Further -resistance would be murder. Beaten to a standstill, riddled like a sieve, -with twenty-five guns disabled, more than half her men put _hors de -combat_, her lower masts shot through and every moment threatening to go -over the side, her rudder smashed to splinters, with five feet of water -in the hold—down perforce has to come the _Hoche’s_ tricolor. So the -battle ends. - -[Illustration: OUR FIRST _DONEGAL_ - -_The captured French line of battle ship “Hoche,” being towed by the -“Doris,” 36, Lord Ranelagh, into Lough Swilly. Drawn by N. Pocock, from a -sketch made from the “Robust” by Captain R. Williams of the Marines._] - -It is just twenty minutes past eleven. Three other French ships, -overtaken at their first attempt at flight, have already surrendered. The -rest are making off, scattering over the horizon with British frigates -in pursuit, to be run down and taken in the end—all of them except -two.[11] - -The fourth tableau rings down on the piece. The last scene closes some -weeks later in the quiet waters of the Hamoaze off Devonport Dockyard, -whither the _Hoche_ was taken round, with the arrival of an Admiralty -messenger at the Port Admiral’s office. He brings in his dispatch wallet -an official memorandum that “My Lords have been pleased to direct Sir J. -B. Warren’s prize to be registered in the List of the Navy by the name of -the _Donegal_.” - -In this way it was that the name Donegal came originally into the Royal -Navy for a man-of-war, and the battle of October, ’98, off the coast of -Donegal is our present cruiser’s principal bond of connection with the -county. - - * * * * * - -The luckless Wolfe Tone passed from the quarter-deck of the _Hoche_ to -the condemned cell and a suicide’s grave. It came about in this way. The -_Hoche_ was towed into Lough Swilly and the prisoners were landed and -marched to Letterkenny. The Earl of Cavan invited the French officers -to breakfast. Tone was amongst the guests. He was in a French military -uniform. An old college companion at T.C.D., Sir George Hill, recognized -him. “How do you do, Mr. Tone?” said Hill pointedly. “I am very happy -to see you.” Tone greeted Hill cordially, and said, “How are you, Sir -George? How are Lady Hill and your family?” The police, who had had -information that Tone would be among the prisoners, lay in waiting in an -adjoining room. Hill went to them, pointed to Tone, and said, “There is -your man.” Tone was called from the table. He knew what it meant—that -his hour had come, but he went cheerfully to his doom. Entering the -next apartment, he was surrounded by police and soldiers, arrested, -loaded with irons, and hurried off to Dublin Castle. There he was tried -by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged within forty-eight hours. -His request for a firing party was curtly refused. Curran got a writ of -habeas corpus from Lord Chief Justice Kilwarden. But he was too late. -Tone anticipated the execution of the law, and died by his own hand—with -a penknife. - - * * * * * - -The _Donegal_ man-of-war served Great Britain for forty-seven years, -keeping up to the last her reputation of being one of the swiftest -two-deckers afloat. - -Trafalgar should have been one of her battle honours. One of the very -smartest captains that ever trod a British quarter-deck, “a dear -Nelsonian” of exceptional ability and merit, the gallant and chivalrous -Sir Pulteney Malcolm, commanded the _Donegal_ at that time. The -_Donegal_ had been sent by Nelson to Gibraltar to shift the low tier -of water-casks just four days before the battle. While there, at two -o’clock on the morning of Trafalgar day, Monday, the 21st of October, the -_Weazle_ sloop-of-war came bustling into Gibraltar Bay, and firing alarm -guns. She brought the fateful news that the enemy had left Cadiz and were -at sea. Captain Blackwood, of the _Euryalus_, in command of Nelson’s -inshore frigate squadron, had packed the _Weazle_ off to Gibraltar to -call up the six ships of the line, recently detached from Nelson’s fleet, -that had gone in there to fill up water-casks and refit. - -The _Donegal_ was lying with her sails unbent from the yards, her -bowsprit out, and her fore-topmast and foreyard struck. All her powder -had been landed, and the ship was fast alongside the Mole. The crew had -not turned in, as Captain Malcolm was keen to rejoin Nelson off Cadiz at -the earliest moment. When the _Weazle’s_ guns were first heard, they were -hard at work shifting the lower tier of casks in the hold. - -Instantly the order was given to prepare for sea. With extraordinary -celerity the casks were got back into their tiers, and the powder was -hurried into the magazines. The foremast was set up and the bowsprit -replaced, the running rigging rove, and the sails were bent to the yards. -Every man of the seven hundred on board the _Donegal_ was working his -hardest in one way or another. It proved, though, a twenty-two hours’ -job; it would have been a four days’ business in ordinary times. Before -one o’clock on the morning of the 22nd they were hauling out from the -Mole into the bay. Then sea-stores and provisions were taken on board. -Before noon the _Donegal_ was ready for battle; a performance on which -all concerned might justly pride themselves. - -Not one of the other five ships was nearly so well advanced, although -they also had been striving their hardest. Gibraltar is distant from the -scene of the battle off Cape Trafalgar, as the crow flies, just fifty -miles; but no sound of the firing reached there as it would appear, -although at places further off, both in Spain and on the African coast, -they heard the cannonading plainly. All on board the ships at Gibraltar -still hoped to be in time for the expected battle, as it was to them. - -A new spar had been ordered from the dockyard for the foreyard. It had -not arrived by noon on the 23rd. It was forthcoming only at the last -moment, just indeed as the _Donegal_ was in the act of weighing anchor. -Sail was made at once, and they went out of Gibraltar Bay with the -foreyard towing in the water alongside the ship, not yet hoisted on board. - -They had to beat out in the teeth of the wild storm, blowing a hard gale -from the south-west, that, up the coast beyond Tarifa, was wrecking -our Trafalgar prizes. Clawing out against the head wind, the _Donegal_ -won her way foot by foot, and by nightfall had gained the mouth of the -Straits. Then they had to let go anchor, so as not to be swept back in -spite of themselves. Next morning they weighed anchor, and once more -went forward, forcing their way ahead against wind and storm and swamping -seas. - -Damaged British ships began, one by one, to come in sight during the -forenoon. The _Belleisle_ was made out, totally dismasted, in tow of -a frigate. Then the _Victory_ was seen, partially dismasted and also -in tow. The _Donegal_ made her number to the flagship as she passed. -A little time afterwards a third British man-of-war, with her three -topmasts gone, came into view. It was the _Téméraire_. The _Donegal_ -passed quite near, and hailed across: “What news?” The answer was shouted -back from the _Téméraire_ through a speaking trumpet: “Nineteen sail of -the line taken and Lord Nelson killed!” - -On board the _Donegal_ all were listening with straining ears. As the -trumpet bawled the direful intelligence across, a shudder, we are told, -seemed to run through the whole ship, followed by a deep, long drawn-out -groan, plainly heard on board the _Téméraire_ as that ship swept past on -her way. - -They reached Collingwood and the rest of the fleet off San Lucar a few -hours later. At once the _Donegal_ found work to do in finishing off and -taking possession of the stricken and dismasted Spanish three-decker _El -Rayo_, one of the forlorn-hope squadron that had made the sortie from -Cadiz on the 23rd, hoping to find the British fleet in serious distress -after the battle and the storm, and to be able to recapture some of the -prizes. - -Most of _El Rayo’s_ men were taken on board the _Donegal_. In connection -with one of them, Captain Brenton tells this story. “A man fell overboard -from the _Donegal_ in a gale of wind on this occasion; the usual cry was -raised, when some one thoughtlessly called out, ”He is only a Spaniard.” -“Supposing he is only a Spaniard?” said a gallant English seaman, seizing -the end of a rope, and darting into the sea at the same time; “no reason -the poor ⸺ should be drowned!” Happy am I to say, from the information of -Sir P. Malcolm, both men were picked up. - -Besides that, the _Donegal_ rendered invaluable assistance to several of -the badly-damaged British ships during the second gale between the 25th -and the 28th; and in rescuing men from some of the prizes that had been -driven ashore, or were in peril among the reefs here and there along the -rock-bound coast. - -Wrote Collingwood a day or two afterwards: “Everybody was sorry that -Malcolm was not there, because everybody knows his spirit and skill would -have acquired him honour. He got out of Gibraltar when nobody else could, -and was of infinite service to us after the action.” - -By way also of appreciation and acknowledgment of the magnificent -services rendered by the _Donegal_ after the battle, the officers and men -of the Trafalgar fleet, without one dissentient voice, agreed that the -_Donegal_ should be specially permitted to have a share, equally with -themselves, in the Nelson Monument, which the ship’s companies that -fought at Trafalgar immediately after the battle jointly subscribed for, -as their own personal tribute to their dead chief—the tall obelisk on -Portsdown Hill at the back of Portsmouth Harbour. - - * * * * * - -The _Donegal_, three months later, was in the thick of the fighting in -the brilliantly successful battle in the West Indies, when Vice-Admiral -Sir John Duckworth, with a squadron detached by Collingwood off Cadiz, -on special service, captured or destroyed an entire French squadron of -five ships of the line from Brest, including the finest three-decker -in the world, the great 110-gun ship _L’Impérial_, so named in honour -of Napoleon himself. It was in this battle that the British flagship -_Superb_ led down into the fight with a portrait of Nelson lashed to the -mizen stay, and her band playing “Nelson of the Nile.” - -Three of the five French ships lowered their colours to Captain -Malcolm and the _Donegal_. First she led off with a rattling exchange -of broadsides with the mighty French flagship _L’Impérial_. Then she -fastened on a second French ship, and after a sharp set to at close -quarters made her give in. Passing on, the _Donegal_ engaged another -French ship till her colours in turn came down. Then she ran on board -one more Frenchman, the _Jupiter_, a ship that had already been hotly -engaged. The _Jupiter_ surrendered to the _Donegal_ after next to no -defence. Such was the _Donegal’s_ work that day, in a battle that is -really unique in the completeness of its results, but which, owing to -its having taken place within three months of Trafalgar, the world paid -little heed to at the time, and we have since quite forgotten—lost sight -of in the dazzling lustre of the greater event near home. - -Until after Waterloo had been won, the _Donegal_ helped to keep the seas -for England, and on more than one occasion with shotted guns in the face -of the enemy. - -Our second _Donegal_, a wooden 91-gun two-decker, built in the Fifties of -the last century, was one of the very last sent afloat of our old “wooden -walls.” She still exists, under the name of the _Vernon_, torpedo school -ship at Portsmouth. - - * * * * * - -The direct association between the _Donegal_ of the Royal Navy and County -Donegal came into existence first of all in the case of the present -armour-clad cruiser, the _Donegal_ of King Edward’s fleet. She is a -sister ship of the _Kent_, and was launched and named by the Duchess -of Abercorn, as wife of the Lord Lieutenant of Donegal, and at express -desire of the King. The _Donegal_ of to-day was the second ship of our -county cruisers to receive the honour of a special county presentation in -commemoration of the name she bore. The presentation was made before the -assembled officers and men of the ship by the Marquess of Hamilton, as -M.P. for Derry City, and comprised a service of silver plate, inscribed -as the gift of “the King’s subjects in the County of Donegal and the City -of Derry.”[12] - - - - -IX - -ON BOARD OUR FLAGSHIPS AT TRAFALGAR - - -CAPTAIN HARDY AND THOSE WHO MANNED THE _VICTORY_ - - Heard ye the thunder of battle, - Low in the South and afar? - Saw ye the flush of the death-cloud, - Crimson o’er Trafalgar? - Such another day, never, - England shall look on again, - When the battle fought was the hottest, - And the hero of heroes was slain! - -This is a glance at Captain Hardy, the captain of the _Victory_ at -Trafalgar, his lieutenants and other quarter-deck officers of Nelson’s -flagship, and also something of the men who manned the _Victory_ and -where they came from. - -Incidentally this should be said of Nelson’s own personal connection with -the _Victory_. Nelson’s first association with the _Victory_ dated back -to many years before Trafalgar—ever since, indeed, the year in which -he entered the Navy as a boy of twelve. At that time the _Victory_, in -her seventh year afloat, was lying up in reserve at Chatham, the pride -of the Medway, as the finest and biggest first-rate man-of-war in the -British Navy. The boy Nelson while at Chatham saw her day after day for -months, and must have gone on board her. Later on, during the four years -that Nelson served in the Mediterranean under Hood and Jervis, between -1793 and 1797, the _Victory_ was flagship of the fleet, and Nelson, as we -know, was constantly on board her on business with the Admiral. It was on -the _Victory’s_ quarter-deck also that Sir John Jervis, after the battle -of Cape St. Vincent, publicly embraced Nelson and congratulated him on -the magnificent display of heroic daring that he had made that day. In -October, 1805, Nelson had flown his flag on board the _Victory_ for two -and a quarter years, ever since the war began, having at the outset -gladly accepted the offer of her for his flagship from what he knew of -her as the fastest three-decker afloat. - -At Trafalgar “Nelson’s Hardy,” Captain Thomas Masterman Hardy, was -captain of the _Victory_. He was not the “Captain of the Fleet,” that -post being officially vacant during Captain George Murray’s absence on -leave in England owing to urgent private affairs. Hardy’s charming manner -and tact, however, and his pleasant way of “getting on” with everybody -he had to do with in all circumstances, enabled Nelson to manage for -the time being without so invaluable an aid as “Friend Murray” had ever -proved himself. Hardy and Nelson had served together for nearly nine -years on and off, ever since they first met, when Hardy was a lieutenant -in the _Meleager_, a frigate in Nelson’s flying squadron off the Eastern -Riviera. When Nelson hoisted his broad pennant on board the _Minerve_, -towards the end of 1796, Hardy went with him, and he owed something to -Nelson during the cruise. Just before the battle off Cape St. Vincent, -when the _Minerve_ was passing the Straits off Gibraltar, with the -Spanish fleet in pursuit of her, Hardy, then first lieutenant, put off -in a boat to rescue a man who had fallen overboard. The man was picked -up, but the boat was swept by the current right across the bows of the -fast approaching enemy. On board the _Minerve_ they gave the boat up for -lost, when Nelson, risking the capture of the ship and all on board, -brought-to. “By God,” he called out, “I’ll not lose Hardy!” “Back the -mizen topsail!” They picked the boat up almost under the bowsprits of -the enemy, and got off scot-free. After that, the brilliant way in -which Hardy led the _Minerve’s_ boats at the cutting out of the French -brig-of-war _Mutine_ won him his post-captaincy and the command of his -prize, in which he served until after the battle of the Nile when Nelson -moved him into the _Vanguard_ in place of Flag-Captain Berry, sent home -with the dispatches. - -Ever since the battle of the Nile Hardy had followed Nelson’s fortunes -as his flag-captain in the various ships on board which Nelson had his -flag—in the _Vanguard_ first of all, then in the _Foudroyant_, the _San -Josef_, and the _St. George_. It was Hardy also who, on the night before -the attack on Copenhagen, with cool daring, pulled with muffled oars -close alongside the ships of the Danish line and took the soundings -which practically enabled Nelson to win the battle. - -“A bachelor of 35, rather stout in build, with light eyes, bushy -eyebrows, square broad face, plenty of chin, and a mouth whose corners -played between humour and grimness,” is the portrait that a contemporary -gives of Captain Hardy in 1805. - -Hardy—he lived to be Sir Thomas and K.C.B.—now lies in the mausoleum of -the old pensioners’ burial ground at Greenwich Hospital—a veteran laid -to his rest among veterans. No more fitting last abode surely could have -been found for “Hardy of the _Victory_” than amongst those with whom he -had lived and fought and had his being. - - And this be the verse that you grave for me, - Here he lies where he wished to be; - Home is the sailor, home from the sea, - And the hunter home from the hill. - -He has his monument elsewhere: in his native Dorset, where there stands a -massive column of stone, which the men and women of his county in their -pride and affection subscribed for, and set up on a spur of Blackdown (or -Blagdon) Hill, overlooking the little village of Portisham where Hardy -lived as a boy, whence also he set out to accompany Nelson to Trafalgar. -It stands in sight of the house where the Captain of the _Victory_ was -born, on the one hand; while on the other it looks out across the vales -towards the sea, not many miles away: a lonesome, wind-swept spot; a -place to visit by oneself, say on some calm December afternoon, a little -before the shortening winter twilight closes round, and look out from, -seaward for choice— - - ... where afar - The grey sky pales to the dim horizon, - And the murm’ring Channel with its wand’ring sails, - Drifts down through the winter’s day. - -Looking seaward from the top of the monument, standing there over nine -hundred feet above the sea—twice and a quarter the height of St. Paul’s -Cathedral—“the eye rests on an unbroken panorama of coast-line, extending -from the Isle of Wight and St. Katherine’s Point on the east, to Start -Point and the Tors of Dartmoor on the west.... Far down below lie, -clearly spread out as if on a map, Weymouth and the Backwater, as well as -Portland and the Chesil Beach, whilst St. Aldhelm’s Head and the Purbeck -Hills to the left, and Thorncombe Beacon with Golden Cap beyond it to the -right, stand out in prominent grandeur.” - - * * * * * - -These were Captain Hardy’s officers on board Nelson’s flagship, a -complete list of the lieutenants and other quarter-deck officers serving -in the _Victory_ on the 21st of October, 1805:— - -Lieutenants—John Pasco [Flag-Lieutenant] (wounded); John Quilliam; John -Yule; Edward Williams; Andrew King; George Miller Bligh (wounded); George -L. Brown; Alexander Hills; William Ram (killed). - -Master—Thomas Atkinson. - -Surgeon—William Beatty. - -Purser—Walter Burke. - -Chaplain—Rev. John A. Scott. - -Secretary—John Scott (killed). - -Gunner—William Rivers. - -Boatswain—William Wilmet. - -Carpenter—Wm. Bunce. - -Marine Officers—Captain—Charles W. Adair (killed); Lieutenants—Lewis -Buckle Reeves (wounded); James G. Peake (wounded); Lewis Roteley. - -Master’s Mates and Midshipmen—William Chaseman; J. R. Walker; Thomas L. -Robins; Samuel Spencer; Wm. H. Symons; Robt. C. Barton; James Green; -Richard Bulkeley (wounded); John Carslake; Henry Carey; John Felton; -Festing Grindall; Daniel Harrington; John Lyons; David Ogilvie; Alexander -Palmer (killed); John Pollard; James Poad; Oliver Picken; William Rivers -(wounded); James Robertson; Richard F. Roberts: Robert Smith (killed); -Philip Thovez; Thomas Thresher; James Sibbald; Daniel Salter; Francis E. -Collingwood; George A. Westphal (wounded). - -Surgeon’s Mates—Neil Smith; William Westenburgh. - -Clerk—Thomas Whipple (killed). - -First Class Volunteers—Henry Lancaster; Charles Chapell; J. R. Walker. - -Midshipman William Ward Perceval Johnson of the _Childers_ sloop-of-war, -a former first-class Volunteer in the _Victory_, was on board the -flagship at Trafalgar as the guest of his former messmates. He died in -December, 1880, at the age of ninety, one of the five last survivors of -Trafalgar, and the last surviving officer of those on board the _Victory_. - - * * * * * - -At Trafalgar the _Victory’s_ nominal complement as a first-rate, -comprising the “ship’s company,” numbered 837 officers and men, including -in the total as well, 40 boys, 145 marines, and 8 “widows’ men.” She -had actually on board on the 21st of October 804 of all ranks and -ratings, with, in addition, 26 “supernumeraries for victuals”—under -which category Nelson himself and his secretary and personal suite and -certain others were returned. There were 24 officers, including Captain -Hardy and 9 lieutenants, and the various warrant officers; and 31 mates, -midshipmen, and clerks. In action 50 men were at the quarter-deck guns; -20 were stationed on the forecastle; 150 on the main-deck; 180 on the -middle-deck; and 225 on the lower-deck, where the heaviest guns were. -These, it may be observed, had 15 men told off to each, as compared with -12 men each to the middle-deck guns, and 10 men each to the guns on the -main-deck, quarter-deck, and forecastle. The signal-staff, comprising -a lieutenant, with a mate, 3 midshipmen and 9 men, were on the poop, -where the marines had also their post. Forty-eight men and boys were -employed in and about the ship’s three magazines in handing and passing -cartridges, besides 19 more at the hatchways. All these were in addition -to the powder-men—one man to each gun—employed on the battery decks in -supplying the guns’ crews in action. Six men were told off to attend -to the wounded in the cockpit under the orders of the surgeon and his -mates—not a very large number in the circumstances; and there were also -the small-arm men, the carpenter’s gangs to stop shot-holes and attend -to leaks, men told off to see to the state of the rigging, and others in -the various storerooms, at the helm, and so on. This brief _résumé_ will -give an idea of the distribution of the _Victory’s_ ship’s company at -quarters. - -[Illustration: REPRODUCTION OF THE OFFICIAL DRAWING OF THE _VICTORY’S_ -FORETOPSAIL AFTER TRAFALGAR AS RETURNED INTO STORE AT CHATHAM DOCKYARD IN -MARCH, 1806] - - * * * * * - -The ship’s books account for the nationality, or place of birth, of -633 of the officers and men on board the _Victory_, as mustered on the -17th of October, the last muster day before the battle (the Thursday -before Trafalgar), not taking into reckoning the marines or the boys -and supernumeraries. Of the total, 411 were of English birth, 64 were -Scotsmen, 63 Irishmen, and 18 Welshmen. Three men were from Orkney -and Shetland, 2 from the Channel Islands and 1 (Lieutenant Quilliam) -from the Isle of Man. The remainder—71 men, were foreigners, from all -quarters of the known world almost, got together, for the most part, out -of merchant ships under impress warrants: 7 Dutchmen, 22 Americans, 2 -Danes, 3 Frenchmen, 1 Russian, 3 Norwegians, 6 Swedes, 2 North Germans -from Hamburg and 1 Prussian, 9 from various islands in the West Indies, -2 Swiss, 2 Portuguese, 1 African, 1 from Bengal and 1 from Madras, 4 -Italians, and 4 Maltese.[13] - -Of the Englishmen on board: Kent, the old maritime county of England -in the day of the Cinque Ports, and the county of Admiral Rooke, -who won Gibraltar for the British Empire, contributed twenty-seven; -Devonshire, the county of Drake and Raleigh, twenty-four; Hampshire, -twenty; Somerset, the county of Blake and Rodney and the Hoods, four; -Hardy’s county, Dorset, sent fourteen, one of them from Captain Hardy’s -own native village of Portisham; Nelson’s county, Norfolk, contributed -fifteen; Suffolk, whence came Admiral Vernon and Broke of the _Shannon_, -twelve; Essex, nine; Sussex, five; Cornwall, the county of Grenville -of the _Revenge_, and “the great twin brethren” of the Seven Years’ -War, Hawke and Boscawen, seven; Northumberland, Yorkshire (the county -of Martin Frobisher and Captain Cook), and Lancashire, eighteen each; -Durham, seventeen; Lincolnshire, seven; Herefordshire and Oxford, six -each. Wiltshire and Gloucester, five each. Old Benbow’s county of -Shropshire had one representative on board the _Victory_ at Trafalgar. -The other counties, men from which were in Nelson’s flagship that day, -represented by four men each, or fewer, were Berkshire and Bedford, -Worcestershire, Hereford and Cheshire, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Notts, -Middlesex, Leicester, Staffordshire (the county of Anson and St. -Vincent), Derby, Northampton, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. London was -represented on the _Victory’s_ books by a hundred and fifteen men, -Liverpool and Shields by ten each, Newcastle by fourteen, Bristol by -five, Sunderland by four, Manchester by three. Birmingham, Leeds, Bury, -Winchester, Canterbury were among other places represented on board; and -nearly every coast town from Tweedmouth, Hull and Grimsby, and round -to Falmouth and St. Ives, had two or three men with Nelson. There were -Scotsmen there from nearly every Scottish county, from Caithness and -Banff, Ross, and Cromarty, Aberdeen and Inverness, Fife and Forfar, -Berwick, Renfrew, Galloway, Lanark, the county of that _preux chevalier_ -among British naval officers, Cochrane, Lord Dundonald, “the daring in -war,” Ayr and Argyll. Eleven men from Edinburgh were on board; five from -Glasgow; seven from Dundee, the birthplace of Duncan of Camperdown; with -men from Leith, and Peterhead, Dumbarton, and Greenock. From Ireland, in -like manner, men from Donegal fought the _Victory’s_ guns side by side -with men from County Down and Roscommon, Meath and Carlow, Galway and -Sligo, Cavan, Wexford and Waterford, Tipperary and County Cork. Fourteen -men from Dublin were in the British flagship at Trafalgar; eleven from -Cork; ten from Waterford City and Belfast; Carrickfergus and Kinsale were -also represented on board. - -There were men of all ages between twenty and fifty in the crew of the -_Victory_ at Trafalgar, and boys from ten years old—the age of little -Johnnie Doag, an Edinburgh boy, rated as a “First Class Boy,” and -probably the youngest person present on either side at Trafalgar—to lads -of eighteen or nineteen. Four others of the thirty-one in the flagship -(nine short of the complement) were just twelve years old, and six -others, thirteen. The great majority of the men on board were from twenty -to thirty years of age. About 10 per cent were over forty, the majority -of these being between forty-seven and fifty. One of the “powder-monkeys” -on board the _Victory_, it was discovered later, was a woman. Her -husband was also on board the ship. She was a native of Port Mahon, and -an officer who saw her there in 1841 described her as being then “a -sturdy woman of 70.” The last survivor of the seamen and marines on board -the _Victory_ at Trafalgar died at Dundee in November, 1876. - -This interesting detail in regard to the _Victory’s_ crew should be -mentioned in addition. Practically 30 per cent of the seamen were -volunteers, so the ship’s muster-book states. It records in the column -headed “_Whence and whether Prest or not_,” the word “Vol” against 181 of -the names, out of a total of 628 able and ordinary seamen and landsmen. - - * * * * * - -There were, of course, men of all callings in civil life among the -crew—as swept on board by the press-gang for the most part. According to -inquiries made by officers on their own account, almost every trade and -calling of every-day life contributed its quota in those times to the -assortment on board our men-of-war. Collingwood, it is on record, had -among the impressed men sent to one of his ships, a black San Domingo -general, who had somehow found his way across the Atlantic; and also -a Sussex market gardener, and a milkman, these last sent to him for -top-gallant-yard men—poor fellows! - -On board the _Elizabeth_, a seventy-four, for instance, out of a ship’s -company 395 in number, only 177, it is on record, were seamen or of -callings connected with the sea: merchantman-sailors, fishermen, -watermen, and dockyard hands. The other 218 were stated thus: 108 -labourers, 5 joiners, 6 tailors, 14 weavers, 5 coopers, 6 blacksmiths, -3 whitesmiths, 1 slater, 1 umbrella-maker, 1 butcher, 10 shoemakers, 1 -poulterer, 2 stocking-makers, 1 dry-salter, 7 farmers, 1 coppersmith, -4 servants, 3 gardeners, 2 curriers, 1 mattress-maker, 1 tobacco -manufacturer, 1 fustian-cutter, 1 cotton manufacturer, 1 clockmaker, -1 watchmaker, 2 waiters, 1 brickmaker, 2 bricklayers, 1 soldier, 1 -stonecutter, 2 sawyers, 7 painters, 1 corn-factor, 1 staymaker, 1 -glassmaker, 2 hatters, 1 wiremaker, 1 potter, 1 miller, 1 mason, 1 miner, -1 chimney sweep. The same kind of mixture was found on board another -seventy-four, with these additional items: 1 linen draper, 1 artificial -flower-maker, 1 milliner, 1 hinge-maker, 6 more hatters, 5 more barbers, -and another umbrella-maker, 1 button-maker and 1 thimble-maker, 2 flax -and hemp dressers, 3 coach and harness makers, 4 dyers, 1 tanner, 1 -maltster, 1 calendarman, 2 wool-combers, 1 pipe-borer, 1 warehouseman, 1 -tallow-chandler, 1 sadler, 3 pedlars, 1 violin-maker, 1 schoolmaster, and -1 optician. All was fish that came to the press-gang’s net. - -Again, too, to take another case. Captain T. Byam Martin (afterwards Sir -Thomas and Admiral of the Fleet), of the _Implacable_, in May, 1808, -checked the composition of his ship’s company man by man, and sent the -results of his investigation to his brother. “I have just now,” he wrote, -“been amusing myself in ascertaining the diversity of human beings which -compose the crew of a British ship of war, and as I think you will be -entertained with a statement of the ridiculous medley, it shall follow -precisely as their place of nativity is inserted in the ship’s books: -English 285, Irish 130, Welsh 25, Isle of Man 6, Scots 29, Shetland 3, -Orkneys 2, Guernsey 2, Canada 1, Jamaica 1, Trinidad 1, St. Domingo 2, -St. Kitts 1, Martinique 1, Santa Cruz 1, Bermuda 1, Swedes 8, Danes 7, -Prussians 8, Dutch 1, Germans 3, Corsica 1, Portuguese 5, Sicily 1, -Minorca 1, Ragusa 1, Brazils 1, Spanish 2, Madeira 1, Americans 28, West -Indies 2, Bengal 2. This statement does not include officers of any -description, and may be considered applicable to every British ship, with -the exception that _very few of them have so many native subjects_.” - -Of those who fought on board the _Victory’s_ special companion-in-arms -at Trafalgar, the “Fighting” _Téméraire_, Ireland contributed just -two-fifths of the total ship’s company—220 men out of 550.[14] They -came from all parts, according to the ship’s books, mostly from -Waterford, Belfast, Limerick, and Wexford; and about a third from -Dublin, Newry, Kildare, Galway, Kilkenny, and Cork. Scotland supplied -the _Téméraire_ with 58 men; hailing, the greater number of them, from -Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Greenock and Glasgow, Leith and Edinburgh. -Wales contributed 38 men all told; from Swansea, Cardiff, Pembroke, -and Milford, for the most part. Of all the Englishmen on board the -“Fighting” _Téméraire_ at Trafalgar, one county by itself contributed -practically a third of the number—Devonshire. They counted 52 men, -drawn from all over the county: Bideford and Barnstaple, Exeter, -Tavistock, Dorlish [_sic_], Ilfracoome [_sic_], Tiverton, and Dartmouth -and Paignton. From London came 30 men in all. Lancashire had as many -representatives in the ship as all Wales, 38—all except three hailing -from Liverpool or Manchester. Somerset had 24, Cornwall 20, Yorkshire -13, Northumberland and Durham 10 each. These are the numbers from the -other English counties: Norfolk 8 men, Hampshire 7, Kent 6, Cumberland -and Gloucestershire each 5; Essex, Dorset, Chester each 4; Middlesex 3; -Derbyshire, Warwick, Sussex, Cambridge, Worcester, and Suffolk each 2; -Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Shropshire, Leicester, Surrey, Hereford, -and The Isle of White [_sic_] 1 man each. There were 8 Manxmen at -Trafalgar on board the “Fighting” _Téméraire_; 2 Jerseymen, and 1 man -from Guernsey. Jamaica had 1 man on board, and Newfoundland 2 men. As -usual, a number of foreigners figure on the books—66 altogether. They -included: 28 Americans, 9 Germans (mostly from Hamburg and Emden), -6 Swedes, 5 Portuguese, 3 Frenchmen, 3 Spaniards, 1 Dutchman, 1 -Cape-Dutchman, 1 from “Sclavonia” (Peter Valentine by name), 1 Viennese -(Emil Joaquim), 1 from Old Calabar (a negro named Ephraim) and the -remainder from Santa Cruz and other non-British islands in the West -Indies. - -The log of the _Victory_ for the day after the battle accounts for all -who fell on board Nelson’s flagship, whether killed or wounded. It sets -out the full list in this form:— - -“A return of men killed and wounded on board his Majesty’s ship -_Victory_, bearing the flag of the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Nelson, -K.B., Duke of Bronté, Vice-Admiral of the White and Commander-in-Chief, -on the 21st day of October, 1805, in an engagement with the combined -fleets of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar. Thomas Masterman Hardy, -Esq., Captain. - - KILLED - _Names_ _Quality_ - The Right Hon. Lord - Viscount Nelson, K.B., - Duke of Bronté Commander-in-Chief - John Scott, Esq. Secretary - C. W. Adair Captain, Royal Marines - William Ram 9th lieutenant, R.N. - Robert Smith Midshipman - Thomas Whipple Captain’s clerk. - James Mansel Ab.[15] - Thomas Daniels L.M. - Thomas Thomas (1st) Ab. - James North Ordinary - Alfred Taylor Do. - James Parke Do. - William Shaw L.M. - Richard Jewell Ordinary - Charles Davis (1st) Do. - John Bowlin L.M. - William Brown (1st) Ab. - William Mark Do. - George Smith (1st) L.M. - John Wharton Ordinary - John King Quarter-gunner - Robert Davison Ab. - Edward Waters Do. - John Cowarden Ordinary - William Thompson (3rd) Ab. - Thomas Johnson Quartermaster - Andrew Sack Yeoman of signals - Alexander Walker Ab. - Arthur Hervin Ordinary - John Welch (2nd) Ab. - William Skinner Ordinary - Joseph Ward Do. - James Skinner Do. - Stephen Sabine 3rd class (boy) - George Welch 2nd class (boy) - Collin Turner 3rd class (boy) - - _Royal Marines_ - - George Cochran Corporal - James Berry Drummer - James Green Private - John Brown (1st) Do. - Lambert Myers Do. - Samuel Wilks Do. - George Kennedy Do. - Daniel Hillier Do. - John Brannon Do. - James Norgrove Do. - Jeremiah G. Lewis Private - George Wilmott Do. - Bernard McNamara Do. - John Ebbsworth Do. - William Coburne Do. - William Jones Do. - William Perry Do. - John Palmer Do. - - WOUNDED DANGEROUSLY - - John Pasco Signal-lieutenant, R.N. - William Rivers (2nd) Midshipman - Alexander Palmer[16] Do. - John Bush Ordinary - Daniel McPherson L.M. - John Bergen Ordinary - Henry Cramwell[16] L.M. - William Jones (3rd) Do. - Hans Andersen Ab. - David Buchan Do. - Joseph Gordon[16] Ordinary - William Smith (2nd)[16] Do. - John Smith (2nd) Do. - John Saunders 3rd class (boy) - - _Marines_ - - William Taft Corporal - Thomas Raynor Private - John Gregory Do. - William Knight Do. - James Bengass Do. - William Wells Do. - Benjamin Cook Do. - James Hines Do. - Benjamin Matthews Private - Thomas Wilson Do. - Nicholas Dear Do. - - BADLY WOUNDED - - George M. Bligh 6th lieutenant, R.N. - Lewis B. Reeves 2nd lieutenant, R.M. - William Honnor Quarter-gunner - Jeremiah Sullivan Ab. - Peter Hale L.M. - Thomas Green (1st) Ab. - John Francois Ordinary - William Castle Ab. - George Burton Ordinary - James Parker Do. - Edward Dunn Do. - Edward Padden Private, R.M. - - SLIGHTLY WOUNDED - - J. G. Peake 1st lieutenant, R.M. - George A. Westphal Midshipman - Richard Bulkeley Do. - John Geoghegan Clerk to agent victualler - Josiah McPherson L.M. - Thomas Graham Ordinary - Thomas Collard Ab. - Robert Phillips L.M. - John Kinsale Ordinary - Charles Legge L.M. - David Conn Do. - Daniel Leary Ab. - William Taylor Ordinary - John Simm Ab. - Samuel Cooper Do. - William Gillett Ordinary - John Bornkworth Do. - Robert Gibson Ab. - Angus McDonald Do. - George Quinton Quarter-gunner - Edward Grey Ordinary - Samuel Brown Yeoman of powder-room - William Butler Ab. - Samuel Lovett Do. - Daniel Munro Do. - James Curry Do. - Michael McDonald Ordinary - William Fall Ab. - Michael Pennill Do. - Thomas Pain Do. - John Knight Boatswain’s mate - - _Marines_ - - Giovanni Giunti Private - Charles Chappele Do. - Samuel Green Do. - James Fagen Do. - Isaac Harris Do. - John Dutton Do. - George Graves Do. - James Rogers Do. - George Coulston Do. - Nicholas le Contre Do. - Thomas Crofton Do. - - Killed 54 - Dangerously wounded 25 - Badly wounded 12 - Slightly wounded 42” - -One or two eye-witnesses’ accounts from on board the _Victory_, at and -immediately after Trafalgar, give interesting glimpses of what went -on in the ship during the fight. First of all, there is the formal, -matter-of-fact tale as set out in the log:— - -“At 11.30 the enemy opened upon the _Royal Sovereign_. At 11.40 the -_Royal Sovereign_ commenced firing on the enemy. At 11.50, the enemy -began firing on us and the _Téméraire_. - -“At noon, standing for the enemy’s tenth ship, with all possible (sail) -set. Light airs and cloudy. Standing towards the enemy’s van with all -sail set. At 4 minutes past 12, opened our fire on the enemy’s van in -keeping down their line. At 20 minutes past 12, in attempting to pass -through the enemy’s line, we fell on board of the 10th and 11th ships, -when the action became general. About 1.15, the Right Honourable Lord -Viscount Nelson, K.B., and Commander-in-Chief was wounded in the shoulder. - -“At 1.30 the _Redoutable_ having struck her colours we ceased firing -our starboard guns, but continued engaging the _Santisima Trinidad_ and -some of the enemy’s ships on the larboard side. Observed the _Téméraire_ -between the _Redoutable_ and another French ship of the Line, both of -which had struck. Observed the _Royal Sovereign_ with the loss of her -main and mizen-masts, and some of the enemy’s ships around her dismasted. -At 3.10 observed four sail of the enemy’s van tack and stand along our -line to windward. Fired our larboard guns at those which could reach -them. At 3.40 made the signal for our ships to keep their wind and -engage the enemy’s van coming along our weather line. At 4.15 the Spanish -Rear-Admiral to windward struck to some of our ships which had tacked -after them. Observed one of the enemy’s ships blow up, and 14 sail of the -enemy standing towards Cadiz, and 3 sail of the enemy standing to the -southward. Partial firing continued until 4.30, when a victory having -been reported to the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Nelson, K.B., and -Commander-in-Chief, he then died of his wound.” - -Then we have this personal narrative from one of the men on deck, as told -in a quaint letter which James Bagley, a marine of the _Victory_, wrote -home to his sister, while the ship was lying at Spithead with Nelson’s -body on board, awaiting orders to proceed round to the Nore:— - - “_Victory_, SPITHEAD, _Dec. 5, 1805_. - - “DEAR SISTER, - - “Comes with my kind love to you are in good health so thank God - I am; for I am very certain that it is by his mercy that me and - my country is, and you and your religion is kept up; for it - has pleased the Almighty God for to give us a complete victory - of the combined fleets of France and Spain; for there was a - signal for them being out of Cadiz the 19th of October, but we - did not see them till the 21st, in the morning, and about 12 - o’clock we gave three cheers, and then the engagement began - very hot on both sides, but about five o’clock the victory was - ours, and twenty sail-of-the-line struck to us. They had 34 - sail-of-the-line and we had 27 of the line, but the worst of - it was, the flower of the country, Lord Nelson, got wounded at - twelve minutes past one o’clock, and closed his eyes in the - midst of victory. Dear sister, it pleased the Lord to spare - my life, and my brother Thomas his, for he was with the same - gentleman. It was very sharp for us, I assure you, for we had - not a moment’s time till it was over, and the 23rd of the same - instant we got a most shocking gale of wind, and we expected - to go to the bottom, but, thanks be to God, He had mercy on - us, for every ship of ours got safe into harbour, and all the - French but four got knocked to pieces on the rocks. So that is - the most I can tell you of it, for the English is in a right - cause you may depend on it, or else the Lord would not have had - the mercy on us as He has had, for we made five ships strike to - the ship has I am in. We had 125 killed and wounded, and 1500 - in the English fleet killed and wounded, and the enemy 12,000; - so I shall leave you to judge how your country fight for the - religion you enjoy, the laws you possess, and on the other hand - how Bounaparte has trampt them causes down in the places he has - had concern with, for nothing but torment is going forward. So - never think it is disgrace to having brothers in service; but I - have had pretty well on it, and when you write to our mother, - give my love to my sister Betty and my poor mother, and send - me word about her and you shall have your loving brother’s - thanks. So must conclude with hoping this will bring you peace - and love and unity. Then you and me and our dear mother will - meet together to enjoy the fruits of the island as I have been - fighting for. My dear, I shall just give you a description of - Lord Nelson. He is a man about five feet seven, very slender, - of an affable temper; but a rare man for his country, and has - been in 123 actions and skrimmages, and got wounded with a - small ball, but it was mortal. It was his last words, that it - was his lot for me to go, but I am going to heaven, but never - haul down your colours to France, for your men will stick to - you. These words was to Captain Hardy, and so we did, for we - came off victorious, and they have behaved well to us, for they - wanted to take Lord Nelson from us, but we told Captain as we - brought him out we would bring him home; so it was so, and he - was put into a cask of spirits. So I must conclude. Your loving - brother, - - “JAMES BAGLEY.”[17] - -After her arrival in English waters with Nelson’s body on board, the -_Victory_, while on her way round to the Nore, was delayed for some days -by head winds in the Downs. A very interesting letter from a visitor to -her, dated from Dover, the 16th of December, 1805, is in existence. - -“I am just come from on board the _Victory_,” says the writer. “She is -very much mauled, both in her hull and rigging, has upwards of 80 shot -between wind and water: the foremast is very badly wounded indeed, and -though strongly fished, has sunk about six inches: the mainmast also is -badly wounded, and very full of musket shots: she has a jury-mizen mast, -and fore and main top masts, and has a great many shot in her bowsprit -and bows; one of the figures which support the Arms has both the legs -shot off. I clearly ascertained that Lord Nelson was killed by a shot -from the main top of the _Redoutable_: he was standing on the starboard -side of the quarter-deck with his face to the stern when the shot struck -him, and was carried down into one of the wings: he lived about one hour, -and was perfectly sensible until within five minutes of his death. When -carrying down below, although in great pain, he observed the tiller ropes -were not sufficiently tight, and ordered tackles to be got on them, which -now remain. The ship he engaged was so close that they did not fire their -great guns on board the enemy, but only musketry; and manned the rigging -on board; but nearly the whole that left the deck were killed. The ship -had 25 guns dismounted by the _Victory’s_ fire. A shot carried away four -spokes from the wheel of the _Victory_, and never killed or wounded any -of the men steering. Temporary places have been fitted up between the -decks for the wounded men, which are warmed by stoves.” - -We will take our leave of the _Victory_ for the present with a second -letter, dated “Sheerness, the 24th of December,” on the _Victory’s_ -arrival in the Medway, bound for her home port, Chatham, to repair there -after the battle. It was just two days after Nelson’s remains had been -removed to Greenwich Hospital on the way to St. Paul’s. - -“The inhabitants of this place had yesterday the satisfaction of -welcoming the old _Victory_ and her gallant crew to the River Medway: the -noble ship passed close to the Garrison Point, and was received with an -enthusiastic cheering from the shore, which was returned by her crew. The -civilities of the officers of the _Victory_ have been beyond belief in -satisfying the anxious curiosity of numbers who have been on board to see -the ship and the spot where our gallant Nelson fell and died. The fatal -bullet that deprived him of his valuable life is in the possession of the -surgeon of the _Victory_, just as he extracted it from the body, with -part of the epaulet and coat adhering to it. Many of the poor wounded -fellows are on board, nearly well and in good spirits. The bullets in the -lower part of the mainmast are so thick that it is surprising how anyone -on the quarter-deck could have escaped, especially the brave Captain -Hardy, whose amiable character seems to be the greatest alleviation the -officers and crew of the _Victory_ have for the loss of their Nelson.” - - UNDER FIRE WITH COLLINGWOOD - - And when the loving cup’s in hand, - And Honour leads the cry, - They know not old Northumberland - Who’ll pass his memory by. - - When Nelson sailed from Trafalgàr - With all his country’s best, - He held them dear as brothers are, - But one beyond the rest! - -The splendid service that the _Royal Sovereign_ rendered on the 21st of -October, 1805, should appeal to every British man and boy. In the words -of Captain Blackwood—“Nelson’s Blackwood”—who watched the fight, written -immediately after the battle, “of the _Victory_ and the _Royal Sovereign_ -it is impossible to say which achieved the most.” The _Royal Sovereign_ -had been with Nelson off Toulon in 1804. She had gone home to refit when -Nelson went across the Atlantic in pursuit of Admiral Villeneuve. She -rejoined the British fleet off Cadiz just ten days before Trafalgar, when -Collingwood, who had hitherto had his flag in the _Dreadnought_, moved -into her. - -Two interesting preliminary glimpses of Admiral Collingwood on board -the _Royal Sovereign_, on the morning of Trafalgar Day, are given us by -his biographer, Mr. G. L. Newnham Collingwood, who had access to the -Admiral’s papers and letters after his death, and took all possible pains -to get together everything that could be gathered about him from those -who served with Collingwood in the great battle. - -Admiral Collingwood’s “personal conduct on that memorable day well -deserves to be recorded. It has been said that no man is a hero in the -eyes of his valet de chambre, but that this is not universally true -is proved by the account which was given ... by Mr. Smith, Admiral -Collingwood’s valued servant. ‘I entered the Admiral’s cabin,’ he -observed, ‘about daylight, and found him already up and dressing. He -asked if I had seen the French fleet, and on my replying that I had not, -he told me to look out at them, adding that in a very short time we -should see a great deal more of them. I then observed a crowd of ships to -leeward, but I could not help looking with still greater interest at the -Admiral, who, during all this time, was shaving himself with a composure -that quite astonished me.’” - -This is what Collingwood said to his flag-lieutenant and the other -officers, on the Admiral’s first coming up on deck: “Admiral Collingwood -dressed himself that morning with peculiar care, and soon after, meeting -Lieutenant Clavell, advised him to pull off his boots. ‘You had better,’ -he said, ‘put on silk stockings, as I have done; for if one should -get a shot in the legs, they would be so much more manageable for the -surgeon.’ He then proceeded to visit the decks, encouraged the men to -the discharge of their duty, and, addressing the officers, said to them, -‘Now, gentlemen, let us do something to-day which the world may talk of -hereafter.’” - -Then we have this incident, which occurred in the forenoon, as the -British fleet was closing on the enemy:— - -“Lord Nelson had been requested by Captain Blackwood (who was anxious for -the preservation of so invaluable a life) to allow some other vessel to -take the lead, and at last gave permission that the _Téméraire_ should -go ahead of him, but resolving to defeat the order which he had given, -he crowded more sail on the _Victory_ and maintained his place. The -_Royal Sovereign_ was far in advance when Lieutenant Clavell observed -that the _Victory_ was setting her studding-sails, and with that spirit -of honourable emulation which prevailed between the squadrons, and -particularly between these two ships, he pointed it out to Admiral -Collingwood, and requested his permission to do the same. ‘The ships -of our line,’ replied the Admiral, ‘are not yet sufficiently up for -us to do so now, but you may be getting ready.’ The studding-sail and -royal halliards were accordingly manned, and in about ten minutes the -Admiral, observing Lieutenant Clavell’s eyes fixed upon him with a look -of expectation, gave him a nod, on which that officer went to Captain -Rotherham and told him that the Admiral desired him to make all sail. The -order was then given to rig out and hoist away, and in one instant the -ship was under a crowd of sail, and went rapidly ahead. The Admiral then -directed the officers to see that all the men lay down on the decks and -were kept quiet.” - -The _Royal Sovereign’s_ captain at Trafalgar, Collingwood’s -flag-captain, was, like his Admiral, a gallant Northumbrian, Edward -Rotherham, the son of a Hexham doctor. Of him that day the following -story is told. As the battle was about to open, it was pointed out to -Captain Rotherham that the unusually big cocked hat that he wore would -probably render him a special target for the marksmen in the enemy’s -tops. “Let me alone,” was all Rotherham’s reply, “Let me alone. I’ve -always fought in a cocked hat and I always will!” - - * * * * * - -As pre-arranged by Nelson, the British lee column at Trafalgar, fifteen -ships strong, began the action before the weather column, by leading down -and breaking the enemy’s line near its centre. The manœuvre was begun a -few minutes before noon, when, at Collingwood’s order, the _Sovereign_, -with every sail set and every reef shaken out, dashed forward by -herself, sailing “like a frigate,” ahead of the whole British fleet. -Taking on herself the fire of the enemy’s line, centre and rear, as she -advanced, she swept resistlessly under the stern of the Spanish flagship -_Santa Anna_, a gigantic 112-gun three-decker, nearly a mile in front -of Collingwood’s second astern, the _Belleisle_—“the most remarkable -incident of the battle, a feat unparalleled in naval history,” as it has -been called. “See,” exclaimed Nelson with delight to Captain Hardy, as he -watched the _Sovereign’s_ advance; “see how that noble fellow Collingwood -carries his ship into action!” Just at the moment, as it happened, on -the _Royal Sovereign’s_ quarter-deck, Collingwood himself was saying to -his captain, “Rotherham, what would not Nelson give to be here!” - -We know from what a French officer at Trafalgar wrote, that the confident -daring of the _Sovereign’s_ single-handed advance “positively appalled -Villeneuve!”[18] - - * * * * * - -King George the Third, in effigy, led his own fleet that day. The _Royal -Sovereign’s_ figure-head was an immense full-length carving of the King, -represented in the battle-day panoply of a Roman Emperor, his sword at -his side and a sceptre in hand, his red war cloak (_paludamentum_) on his -shoulders, with two attendant winged figures, Fortune and Fame, blowing -trumpets on either side. - - * * * * * - -As the _Sovereign_ closed on the enemy, a French ship, the _Fougueux_, -ranged up close under the stern of the _Santa Anna_, as though to bar -the passage through the line to Collingwood. Captain Rotherham noted -this, and pointed it out to the Admiral. Collingwood’s reply was: “Steer -straight for the Frenchman and take his bowsprit!” So they closed, -and then, driving through the line just under the towering Spanish’s -ship’s stern, the _Sovereign_ opened the fight with her full broadside -treble-shotted. The terrific discharge, at one blow, it has been related, -disabled fourteen guns, and put a large part of the crew _hors de -combat_. “El rompio todos” were the words of an officer of the _Santa -Anna_. After that the Sovereign ranged alongside the big Spaniard to -leeward to fight the battle out gun-muzzle to gun-muzzle. - -[Illustration: TRAFALGAR—12 NOON: AS SKETCHED ON THE SPOT BY A FRENCH -OFFICER - -_French flagship, “Bucentaure,” 80 guns._ - -_“Redoutable,” 74 guns, from which Nelson was shot._ - -_Collingwood in the “Royal Sovereign” opening the attack._ - -_The “Victory” (Nelson’s flag should be at the fore, not as here.)_ - -_From a photograph of the original sepia drawing now in the possession of -a descendant of Captain Lucas of the “Redoutable.”_] - -“In passing the _Santa Anna_” relates Mr. Newnham Collingwood, “the -_Royal Sovereign_ gave her a broadside and a half into her stern, tearing -it down, and killing and wounding 400 of her men. Then, with her helm -hard a-starboard, she ranged up alongside so closely that the lower yards -of the two vessels were locked together. The Spanish Admiral, having seen -that it was the intention of the _Royal Sovereign_ to engage to leeward, -had collected all his strength on the starboard, and such was the weight -of the _Santa Anna’s_ metal, that her broadside made the _Sovereign_ heel -two strakes out of the water.” - -Even a moment like that, though, did not in the least perturb -Collingwood. “Her studding-sails and halliards were now shot away, and -as well as a top-gallant studding-sail were hanging over the gangway -hammocks. Admiral Collingwood called out to Lieutenant Clavell to come -and help him to take it in, observing that they should want it again some -other day. These two officers accordingly rolled it carefully up and -placed it in a boat.” - -No sooner was the _Sovereign_ alongside the _Santa Anna_ than four other -enemies—two French ships, the _Fougueux_ and the _Indomptable_, and two -Spanish, the _San Leandro_ and the _San Justo_—closed round and joined in -to help the _Santa Anna_. - -So hot a cross fire did these four ships keep up on the single British -ship during her, at first, unsupported fight, that, in the words of those -on board the _Sovereign_, “We could see their shots meeting and smashing -together in mid-air round us.” The _Fougueux_, we are also told, “at -one time got so much on the quarter of the _Sovereign_ that she almost -touched.” It was indeed a battle of the giants—a heroic defiance of -heroic odds. - -So magnificent, indeed, did the situation of the _Royal Sovereign_ -appear, fighting single-handed in the thick of the enemy, that it drew -remarks from some of our captains, for the time being lookers-on, on -board the nearest ships that were then coming up astern. “The English -ships,” to quote Admiral Collingwood’s biographer again, “were pressing -forward with their utmost speed in support of their leader, but doubtful -at times of his fate, and rejoicing when, on the slackening of the _Santa -Anna’s_ fire, they discerned his flag still flying above the smoke. One -of his most gallant followers and friend, the captain of the _Tonnant_, -has often expressed the astonishment with which he regarded the _Royal -Sovereign_ as she opened her fire, which, as he declared, ‘so arrested -his attention, that he felt for a few moments as if he himself had -nothing to do but to look on and admire!’” - -How Collingwood bore himself in the battle we hear from two sources. Both -accounts speak of Collingwood’s unmoved demeanour and cool courage under -fire. - -“The Admiral,” says one, “directed Captain Vallack, of the Marines, an -officer of the greatest gallantry, to take his men from off the poop, -that they might not be unnecessarily exposed; but he remained there -himself much longer. At length, descending to the quarter-deck, he -visited the men, enjoining them not to fire a shot in waste; looking -himself along the guns to see that they were properly pointed, and -commending the sailors, particularly a black man, who was afterwards -killed, but who, while he stood beside him, fired ten times directly into -the portholes of the _Santa Anna_.” - -“The Admiral spoke to me,” related Smith, Collingwood’s servant, “about -the middle of the action and again for five minutes immediately after -its close; and on neither occasion could I observe the slightest change -from his ordinary manner. This, at the moment, made an impression on me -which will never be effaced, for I wondered how a person whose mind was -occupied by such a variety of most important concerns could, with the -utmost ease and equanimity, inquire kindly after my welfare, and talk of -common matters as if nothing of any consequence were taking place.” - -Twenty minutes after the _Sovereign_ had by herself beaten off the -_Fougueux_, the leading British ships following astern of the _Sovereign_ -began to reach the spot, and to take off her enemies one by one, except -the _Santa Anna_. With Admiral Alava’s flagship the _Royal Sovereign_ -continued in close encounter, until the _Santa Anna’s_ colours came down. -It was just at that moment that Collingwood received, by an officer of -the _Victory_, Captain Hardy’s first message that Lord Nelson had been -“dangerously wounded.” - -The stubborn stand that the _Santa Anna_ made was a disappointment, -it would appear, to the _Sovereign’s_ men. Their terrible raking -broadside at the outset had plainly “sickened” the Spaniards—as our -men expressively put it—and many on board believed that the enemy must -surrender forthwith. Captain Rotheram, indeed, “came up to the Admiral, -and, shaking him by the hand, said: ‘I congratulate you, sir; she is -slackening her fire, and must soon strike!’” The gallant fellows who -were fighting at the _Royal Sovereign’s_ guns actually thought, it is on -record, that their ship would have the proud distinction of capturing an -enemy’s flagship in the midst of her own fleet before another British -ship had got into action. In the end, though, they had this consolation: -when at length the _Santa Anna_ did surrender; “No ship besides ourselves -fired a shot at her,” wrote one of the _Sovereign’s_ officers, “and you -can have no conception how completely she was ruined.” “Her side,” wrote -Collingwood himself, “was almost entirely beat in.” - -“The _Santa Anna_,” to quote Mr. Newnham Collingwood, “struck at -half-past two o’clock, about the time when the news of Lord Nelson’s -wound was communicated to Admiral Collingwood, but the _Royal Sovereign_ -had been so much injured in her masts and yards by the ships that lay on -her bow and quarter that she was unable to alter her position. Admiral -Collingwood accordingly called the _Euryalus_ to take her in tow, and -make the necessary signals. He dispatched Captain Blackwood to convey the -Spanish Admiral on board the _Euryalus_, but he was stated to be at the -point of death, and Captain Blackwood returned with the Spanish captain. -That officer had already been to the _Royal Sovereign_ to deliver his -sword, and on entering had asked one of the English sailors the name of -the ship. When he was told that it was the _Royal Sovereign_, he replied, -in broken English, while patting one of the guns with his hand, ‘I think -she should be called the _Royal Devil_!’” - -The _Royal Sovereign_, on the _Santa Anna_ surrendering, pushed off from -her giant prize—so big a ship, indeed, that, in Collingwood’s own words, -she “towered over the _Sovereign_ like a castle.” She moved away to seek -another enemy. But the fall of her main and mizen-masts, cut through -and through by shot, prevented her from taking a further part in the -battle until after being taken in tow by the _Euryalus_ frigate, Captain -Blackwood’s ship. The _Sovereign_ was able after that, during the rest -of the action, to employ her broadsides here and there. Her last piece -of work was at the very close of the battle, when she formed one of the -group of ships that Captain Hardy summoned round the _Victory_ to support -the dying chief’s flagship against a threatened attack on the _Victory_ -from the fresh ships of the French van squadron as they passed down the -line. - -The _Royal Sovereign’s_ list of casualties, as officially reported on -the morning after Trafalgar, amounted to forty-seven men killed and -ninety-four wounded. - - * * * * * - -How Collingwood first heard of Nelson’s fate he himself has told us: - -“When my dear friend received his wound,” wrote the Admiral, “he -immediately sent an officer to tell me of it, and give his love to me. -Though the officer was directed to say the wound was not dangerous, I -read in his countenance what I had to fear, and before the action was -over Captain Hardy came to inform me of his death. I cannot tell you how -deeply I was affected; my friendship for him was unlike any thing that I -have left in the Navy—a brotherhood of more than thirty years.” - -Writing to the Duke of Clarence, an old service friend of Collingwood’s -and of Nelson’s as well, he said this: - -“He (Nelson) sent an officer to inform me that he was wounded. I asked -the officer if his wound was dangerous. He hesitated, then said he hoped -it was not; but I saw the fate of my friend in his eye, for his look told -what his tongue could not utter. About an hour after, when the action was -over, Captain Hardy brought me the melancholy account of his death.” - -Another detail of Trafalgar that may be news to some of us is the fact -that Collingwood was wounded in the battle. He said nothing about himself -to any one in any of his letters at the time, nor did he include himself -in the return of wounded sent to the Admiralty. It was only in response -to an anxious inquiry from his wife, who, some months afterwards, heard -a rumour about it and wrote to inquire, that Collingwood, five months -after the battle, first made mention of the matter. His letter to Lady -Collingwood is dated March 29, 1806, and in it the Admiral says: - -“Did I not tell you how my leg was hurt? It was by a splinter—a pretty -severe blow. I had a good many thumps, one way or the other: one on -the back, which I think was the wind of a great shot, for I never saw -anything that did it. You know nearly all were killed or wounded on the -quarter-deck or poop but myself, my Captain, and Secretary, Mr. Cosway, -who was of more use to me than any officer after Clavell. - -“The first inquiry of the Spaniards was about my wound, and exceedingly -surprised they were when I made light of it, for when the captain of the -_Santa Anna_ was brought on board, it was bleeding and swelled, and tied -up with a handkerchief.” - -What was really troubling the frugal north-country mind of Admiral -Collingwood at that moment, as far as he was individually concerned, far -more than his wound, was his out-of-pocket expenses owing to the damage -that the enemy’s shot had done in his steward’s store-room. Writing to -Lady Collingwood, he tells her this:— - -“I have had a great destruction of my furniture and stock. I have hardly -a chair that has not a shot in it, and many have lost both legs and -arms, without hope of pension. My wine was broke in moving, and my pigs -were slain in battle, and these are heavy losses where they cannot be -replaced.” - -One gets an idea of the kind of man Collingwood was also from the -characteristically sympathetic way in which he wrote in a private letter -about one of his officers (Mr. William Chalmers, the master of the _Royal -Sovereign_) who was killed near the Admiral, on the quarter-deck, at his -post by the wheel. - -“I have written to Lloyd’s about Mr. Chalmers’ family. He left a mother -and several sisters, whose chief dependence was on what this worthy man -and valuable officer saved for them from his pay. He stood close to me -when he received his death. A great shot almost divided his body; he laid -his head upon my shoulder, and told me he was slain. I supported him till -two men carried him off. He could say nothing to me, but to bless me; but -as they carried him down, he wished he could but live to read the account -of the action in a newspaper. He lay in the cockpit, among the wounded, -until the _Santa Anna_ struck, and joining in the cheer which they gave -her, expired with it on his lips.” - - * * * * * - -The only personal description of Collingwood’s appearance in existence -is from the pen of a young officer (Midshipman Crawford, of the _Royal -George_) who had an audience of him, to present a letter of introduction, -in October, 1806, just a year after Trafalgar: - -“Being provided with a letter of recommendation to Lord Collingwood, -the Commander-in-Chief, I took an early opportunity to wait upon his -Lordship.... Lord Collingwood was between fifty and sixty, thin and -spare in person, which was then slightly bent, and in height about five -feet ten inches. His head was small, with a pale, smooth, round face, -the features of which would pass without notice, were it not for the -eyes, which were blue, clear, penetrating; and the mouth, the lips of -which were thin and compressed, indicating firmness and decision of -character. He wore his hair powdered, and tied in a _queue_, in the -style of officers of his age at that time; and his clothes were squared -and fashioned after the strictest rules of the good old sea school. To -his very ample coat, which had a stiff, stand-up collar, were appended -broad and very long skirts—the deep flaps of his single-breasted white -waistcoat, descending far below his middle, covered a portion of his -thighs; and blue knee-breeches, with white stockings, and buckles to his -shoes, completed his attire.... - -“On entering his presence, he took a rapid searching survey of me from -head to foot; then ... in a quiet tone, amounting almost to gentleness, -he put a few questions to me in nautics, which I believe I answered to -his satisfaction.” - -Of Collingwood in lighter vein we also get a glimpse. How, a short time -after Trafalgar, he got one of his officers to write up his biography for -a pertinacious newspaper editor is a story that the Admiral himself tells -in a letter to his wife. - -“The editors of the _Naval Chronicle_ have written to me for the history -of my life and progress, for which they are pleased to say the world is -very impatient. Now this rather embarrasses me, for I never could bear -the trumpeter of his own praise. So, to get rid of it as well as I can, -I have employed ⸺ to write a history for me. For my birth and parentage -he has selected two or three chapters of Bamfylde Moore Carew; for my -service in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main he has had good -assistance in the _History of the Buccaneers_; and for my shipwreck he -has copied a great deal out of _Robinson Crusoe_; all which, with a few -anecdotes from the _Lives of the Admirals_, a little distorted, will -make, I am inclined to think, a very respectable piece of biography.” - -Collingwood’s dog, Bounce, was on board the _Royal Sovereign_ at -Trafalgar, tied up out of the way below, in comparative safety, on the -orlop deck. According to Collingwood himself, Bounce did not like cannon -firing. Wrote Collingwood about him, before the battle: “Bounce is my -only pet now, and he is indeed a good fellow; he sleeps by the side -of my cot, whenever I lie in one, until near the time of tacking, and -then marches off, to be out of the hearing of the guns, for he is not -reconciled to them yet.” After the battle, on his master being raised to -the peerage, Bounce—as Collingwood whimsically describes in one of his -home-letters—seemed to grasp the new situation and took to giving himself -airs. “I am out of all patience with Bounce. The consequential airs he -gives himself since he became a right honourable dog are insufferable. -He considers it beneath his dignity to play with commoners’ dogs, and -truly thinks that he does them grace when he condescends to lift up his -leg against them. This, I think, is carrying the insolence of rank to the -extreme, but he is a dog that does it!”[19] - - * * * * * - -As all the world knows, Collingwood never set foot in England after -Trafalgar, doomed, poor homesick fellow, never more to see— - - The pleasant strand of Northumberland - And the lordly towers thereby. - -He wore out his life on duty, waiting and watching at sea for nearly five -long and weary years, for an enemy who did not dare to face him. The -Admiralty could not spare him to come home. - -“He stepped into his boat from Plymouth Dock,” says the writer of a -biographical sketch of Collingwood published shortly after the Admiral’s -death, “on the last day of April, 1805, and returned, five years after, -a peer and a corpse.” Immediately before he embarked, Collingwood -had been conversing with a brother officer, who records an affecting -incident. “The last time I ever saw Lord Collingwood,” wrote Sir T. -Byam Martin, “he was on the point of stepping into his boat, never -again to touch the British shore. We walked together for half an hour, -and as long as I live I shall remember the words with which, in his -accustomed mildness of expression, he alluded to the sacrifices our -professional duties exact of us. He told me the number of years he had -been married, and the number of days he had been with his family since -the war commenced (then of many years duration). ‘My family are _actually -strangers to me_.’ He was greatly overcome by the feelings thus excited, -and, taking me by the hand, he said, ‘What a life of privation is -ours—what an abandonment of everything to our professional duty, _and how -little do the people of England know the sacrifices we make for them_!’ -With this he turned from me to hide the tear which ran down his manly -cheek, and saying ‘Farewell!’ walked to his boat.” - -Slowly killed, if ever man was, by downright hard work, Collingwood died -on the 7th of March, 1810, on board his flagship in the Mediterranean. -On the day before he died his old spirit flickered up once more, and he -murmured to his captain, who bent down over the brave old face, “I may -live to fight the French once more.” The end drew on apace after that, -and the soul of one of the grandest veterans of England at her best, -passed calmly away to the presence of the God in Whom throughout every -hour of his blameless life his trust had been as that of a little child -for its earthly father. “He met death,” said the surgeon who attended -Collingwood, “as became him, with composure and a fortitude which have -seldom been equalled and never surpassed.” - -We know something of how his sailors loved “Old Cuddy,” as the whole -fleet called Collingwood, from what happened at Collingwood’s funeral on -that May day of 1810, when Nelson’s brother-in-arms was laid to his rest -beside his old messmate, friend, and companion in the crypt of St. Paul’s -Cathedral. Lord Chancellor Eldon, beside whom, as a little boy of nine, -the Admiral had sat in class at school, was a mourner at the funeral. -“It was very affecting,” he describes, “his sailors crowded so around, -all anxious to see the last of their commander. One sailor seized me by -the arm, and entreated that I would take him in with me that he might be -there to the end. I told him to stick fast to me, and I did take him in; -but when it came to throwing some earth on the coffin (you know the part -of the service ‘dust to dust’), he burst past me and threw himself into -the vault!” - -No truer description of the man as a fact was ever penned than the words -that Thackeray years afterwards used of Collingwood: “Another true knight -of those days was Cuthbert Collingwood, and I think since heaven made -gentlemen, there is not record of a better one than that.” - - * * * * * - -Collingwood’s officers at Trafalgar, those who served with him on board -the _Royal Sovereign_, were these. According to the muster book the ship -was two lieutenants short on the 21st of October. - -Captain—Edward Rotherham. - -Lieutenants—John Clavell, Joseph Simmons, James Bashford (wounded), -Edward Barker, Brice Gilliland (killed), Francis Blower Gibbes. - -Master—William Chalmers (killed). - -Surgeon—Richard Lloyd. - -Purser—Brinsley S. Oliver. - -Chaplain—Rev. John Rudall. - -Secretary—W. R. Cosway. - -Gunner—Nicholas Brown. - -Boatswain—Isaac Wilkinson (wounded). - -Carpenter—George Clines. - -Marine officers:— - -Captain—Joseph Vallack. - -Lieutenants—Robert Green (killed), Armiger W. Hubbard, James Le Vescomte -(wounded). - -Assistant Surgeons—Primrose Lyon, Henry Towsey. - -Master’s Mates and Midshipmen—Thomas Altoft, Charles A. Antram, Richard -Davison Pritchard, William Sharp, William Watson (wounded), John -Aikenhead (killed), John Doling Morey, Sam Weddle, Thomas P. Robinson, -Charles Coucher, Joseph Del Carrotto, John Chaldecott, Henry Davis, -William Budd Boreham, Gilbert Kennicott (wounded), Thomas Currell, -Granville Thompson (wounded), George Castle, John Parr, Thomas Dickinson -(wounded), John Campbell (wounded), Thomas Braund (mortally wounded), -John Farrant (wounded), John Redwood, John Dobson, William Stock, James -Rudall. - -First Class Volunteers—Meredith Milnekoff, Robert Julian, Archibald -Nagle, Robert Duke Hamilton, John Hill, Claudius Charles, William Lloyd, -Charles Lambert, Charles Chiswick. - - * * * * * - -From the officers we proceed in natural sequence to the men, and with -regard to these, at the outset, there hangs a tale. - -A very curious story is related of Collingwood on the morning of -Trafalgar Day which most of those who have written about him have -repeated. Collingwood, we are told, as the British fleet was approaching -the enemy, went round the decks of the _Royal Sovereign_ and bade the men -at the guns “show those fellows what the tars of the Tyne can do!” More -than that, there is an old print in existence (a copy of which is in the -possession of Earl Nelson) artistically depicting the story, and labelled -with the legend, “Tars of the Tyne.” The ship’s books unfortunately -give quite another version. There were fewer North countrymen on board -the _Royal Sovereign_ at Trafalgar, perhaps, than in any other ship -of the British fleet. Altogether, according to the muster book, there -were in the ship hardly thirty all told, including Collingwood himself -and Captain Rotherham and the youngsters, “the northern boys,” as -Collingwood called them. Of the seamen—A.B.’s, ordinary, and landmen—the -_Sovereign’s_ books name only four as coming from Newcastle, two as -coming from Shields, and one as coming from “Northumberland” at large. -Sunderland sent four men, and the rest were from Durham, three men, with -from Berwick-on-Tweed two, Whitehaven six, Westmorland one. That exhausts -the North-country contingent in the _Royal Sovereign_. - -More than a third of the entire ship’s company on board were Irishmen—240 -men and boys. Scotland, including Shetland and the Hebrides, contributed -forty men, and Wales twenty-one. The London contingent with Collingwood -at Trafalgar was the next largest after the Irishmen—seventy-five men -and boys altogether. Lancashire was represented by forty-six men, Devon -by thirty-four, Hampshire with thirty, Cornwall with twenty-four, -Gloucester (Bristol) and Somerset each by eighteen, Yorkshire and Kent by -ten men each; Lincolnshire, Cheshire, and Dorset each by eight; Norfolk -and Suffolk by seven men each; and so on down to Cambridge, Bedford, -Leicester, Hertfordshire, and Worcester with one man each. - -Yet another interesting point is brought out by the muster book of the -_Royal Sovereign_. We have been told how Collingwood, in the middle -of the fighting, commended a “black man” for his straight shooting. -Apparently the man was a West Indian. There were no fewer than seventy -foreigners and aliens on board Collingwood’s flagship at Trafalgar, -according to the ship’s books, the list being thus made up: Twenty-four -Americans (hailing for the most part from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, -Baltimore, and New Jersey); seven Dutchmen—Dirks and Franz’s and Hendriks -and Rutters—from Friesland, Delft, Maestricht, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam; -one Belgian, from Brussels; three Portuguese from the Azores and Lisbon; -four Prussians and one Pole from Dantzic; two Danes, two Frenchmen, one -Norwegian, one Venetian, one Neapolitan, one Maltese, seven Lascars—two -of them entered as “Jonan” and “Lowannah”—from the East Indies; two -Malays from Batavia, entered as “Soloman” and “Ballee”; one from Bengal, -one from Madras, a third Malay entered as “George”; fifteen West Indians, -from St. Kitts, Barbados, Jamaica, and from Berbice, in British Guiana. - - * * * * * - -Two interesting letters from the _Royal Sovereign_ may serve to conclude -our narrative. One was from a Hampshire lad, one of those fighting below -at the guns. It runs thus:— - -“Honoured Father,—This comes to tell you I am alive and hearty except -three fingers; but that’s not much, it might have been my head. I told -brother Tom I should like to see a greadly [_sic_] battle, and I have -seen one, and we have peppered the Combined rarely; and for the matter of -that, they fought us pretty tightish for French and Spanish. Three of our -mess are killed, and four more of us winged. But to tell you the truth of -it, when the game began, I wished myself at Warnborough with my plough -again; but when they had given us one duster, and I found myself snug -and tight, I ... set to in good earnest, and thought no more about being -killed than if I were at Murrell Green Fair, and I was presently as busy -and as black as a collier. How my fingers got knocked overboard I don’t -know, but off they are, and I never missed them till I wanted them. You -see, by my writing, it was my left hand, so I can write to you and fight -for my King yet. We have taken a rare parcel of ships, but the wind is so -rough we cannot bring them home, else I should roll in money, so we are -busy smashing ’em, and blowing ’em up wholesale. - -“Our dear Admiral Nelson is killed! so we have paid pretty sharply for -licking ’em. I never sat eyes on him, for which I am both sorry and glad; -for, to be sure, I should like to have seen him—but then, all the men in -our ship who have seen him are such soft toads, they have done nothing -but blast their eyes, and cry, ever since he was killed. God bless you! -chaps that fought like the devil, sit down and cry like a wench. I am -still in the _Royal Sovereign_, but the Admiral has left her, for she is -like a horse without a bridle, so he is in a frigate that he may be here -and there and everywhere, for he’s as _cute_ as here and there one, and -as bold as a lion, for all he can cry!—I saw his tears with my own eyes, -when the boat hailed and said my lord was dead. So no more at present -from your dutiful son,—SAM.” - -A pathetic interest attaches to the other letter. It was written on the -morning of the battle by a midshipman of the _Royal Sovereign_, Mr. John -Aikenhead, who was killed in the action. It was apparently meant for his -parents and family in general:— - -“We have just piped to breakfast; thirty-five sail, besides smaller -vessels, are now on our beam, about three miles off. Should I, my dear -parents, fall in defence of my King, let that thought console you. I feel -not the least dread on my spirits. Oh my parents, sisters, brothers, dear -grandfather, grandmother, and aunt, believe me ever yours! - -“Accept, perhaps for the last time, your brother’s love; be assured I -feel for my friends, should I die in this glorious action—glorious, no -doubt, it will be. Every British heart pants for glory. Our old Admiral -(Admiral Collingwood) is quite young with the thoughts of it. If I -survive, nothing will give me greater pleasure than embracing my dearest -relations. Do not, in case I fall, grieve—it will be to no purpose. Many -brave fellows will no doubt fall with me on both sides.” - -The letter added that the writer had made his will and put it in his -desk. It gave also a statement of the property deposited in his chest, -with £10 savings, added since the will was made. “Do not be surprised,” -says the lad in his letter, “to find £10 more—it is mine.” - - -“OLD IRONSIDES” AND THE THIRD IN COMMAND - - “Britannia Victrix” - -The 100-gun three-decker _Britannia_, was the flagship of the third in -command at Trafalgar, Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk. In honour of the -part that the _Britannia_ took in the battle Lord Northesk was created -a Knight of the Bath, and was granted by George the Third the right to -place the name “Trafalgar” on his coat-of-arms, with special heraldic -augmentations. Ever since 1805 the supporters of the heraldic shield of -the earls of Northesk have each borne a staff with a Rear-Admiral of the -White’s flag on it bearing the inscription, “Britannia Victrix.” - -“Old Ironsides” was the _Britannia’s_ every-day name in Nelson’s fleet, -due to the fact, it is said, that the _Britannia_ was the oldest -man-of-war in the fighting line of the Navy. The veteran three-decker on -the 21st of October, 1805, had been afloat just forty-three years and two -days. She was our second _Britannia_, and the first three-decker launched -in George the Third’s reign, the launch taking place at Portsmouth -Dockyard on the 19th of October, 1762, in the presence of twenty thousand -spectators, “who all had the pleasure of seeing as fine a launch as ever -was seen.” - -Trafalgar was the _Britannia’s_ fifth battle. She had had her first -meeting with the enemy as flagship of the Second in Command in the -“Grand Fleet” under Lord Howe, which achieved the relief of Gibraltar -in 1782—a feat that nowadays perhaps we think little of, but which -was thought enough of at the time for such a personage as Frederick -the Great to write an autograph letter of congratulation on it to the -British Admiral. After that she had taken part at Lord Hood’s occupation -of Toulon, in Admiral Hotham’s two actions off Genoa and off Hyères, -as commander-in-chief’s flagship, and on the 14th of February, 1797, -“Glorious Valentine’s Day,” as flagship of the second in command in the -battle off Cape St. Vincent.[20] - -At Trafalgar the _Britannia_ went into action as the fifth or sixth ship -astern of the _Victory_. She had three of the enemy’s ships firing on -her as she ranged forward into the battle under full sail. She broke -the enemy’s line, firing both broadsides as she drove through, after -which she engaged an 80-gun ship and promptly dismasted her opponent. A -little later, we are told, a French officer “was seen to wave a white -handkerchief from the quarter-deck in token of surrender.” Leaving -another of our ships to take possession, the _Britannia_ passed on -forthwith to deal with others of the enemy, and was constantly engaged, -we are told, sometimes with two or three ships of the enemy at once and -fighting on both broadsides. - -This is how the _Britannia’s_ log records her part at Trafalgar, in the -dry, matter-of-fact style usual with such documents:— - -“12.50. We began to engage three of the enemy’s ships, having opened -their fire upon us while running down. 1.10. Observed the ship we were -engaging on our larboard quarter totally dismasted, continued our course -in order to break through the centre of the enemy’s line, engaging on -both sides in passing between their ships. At 3 passed through the line. -4.30. Hauled to the wind on the larboard tack per signal. 5.30. Ceased -firing. Observed the _Achille_, a French line-of-battle ship, on fire, -which soon after blew up.” - -Fortunately the log is not all that we have to rely upon for the story -of the _Britannia’s_ doings at Trafalgar. Some of the officers wrote -down their experiences and impressions, from which we get a remarkably -interesting idea of how things fared on board during the battle. Says, to -begin with, Lieutenant John Barclay in his journal:— - -“½ past 12. Vice-Admiral Collingwood, in the _Royal Sovereign_, commenced -the action, by an attack upon the whole of the enemy’s rear, in the most -gallant manner, and without any immediate prospect of support, from being -so far ahead of the lee division. Took in our studding sails. About ¼ -before 1, Lord Nelson, after having sustained a most galling fire in -running down, opened both sides of the _Victory_ on the headmost ships -of their centre division. He was close followed up by the _Téméraire_, -_Neptune_, _Conqueror_, _Leviathan_, and this ship, and pushed through -their line about the 14th from the van. Several raking shot called forth -exertions about 10 minutes after our noble chief. Here began the din of -war. It became impossible to trace farther except at intervals, when -the smoke cleared away _a little_. At ¼ past 1 the masts of the ship -we were most particularly engaging (larboard side) fell by the board: -supposed to be the _Bucentaure_, but without any flag observed flying. -Continued edging on slowly, for there was very little wind, and our main -topsail in particular was shot almost entirely from the yard. At 3, got -to leeward of their line and hauled up a little on the larboard tack. -Until ¼ past 4 kept up a heavy fire occasionally on both sides on every -French or Spanish ensign flying near us, when we hauled to the wind on -the larboard tack per signal. ½ past 5, all firing ceased except from the -_Achille_, a very fine French ship—wrapt in flames. The cutters instantly -repaired to her assistance, and saved the crew, soon after which she blew -up with a tremendous explosion.” - -Signal-Midshipman John Wells, in a letter home, written during the -week following the battle, has this to say of what he went through and -witnessed: - -“I am very happy to say that the _Britannia_ was certainly a very -fortunate Ship during the whole time, as we had not above 10 killed and -41 wounded although we were the fourth Ship in Action and the last out -of it, and I doubt not that it will be found that she does honour to all -who belong to her, as our fire was not directed to One particular Ship, -but as soon as one had struck to us we immediately made to others and -at one time had five ships blazing away upon us, but we soon tired them -out. As I told you before, I was stationed at the Signals and Colours in -the time of Action and being on the Quarter Deck I had an opportunity -of seeing the whole of the Sport, which I must own rather daunted me -before the first or second broadside; but after then I think I never -should have been tired of drubing [_sic_] the Jokers, particulary [_sic_] -when my ship mates began to fall arround [_sic_] me, which in the room -of disheartening an Englishman only encourages him, as the sight of his -Country Man’s blood makes his heart burn for revenge. - -“I am very sorry to inform you that my worthy friend our signal -Lieutenant was knocked down by a double-headed shot close by my side and -immediately expired, much lamented by his brother Officers and every one -in the Ship; I had several very narrow escapes from the Enemy’s Shot, -but thanks be to the Lord he [_sic_] has still spared me thro’ his great -goodness. - -“Too much credit cannot be given to Lord Northesk and Captain Bullen for -their gallant Conduct during the Engagement, indeed it was the case with -every Officer and Man in the Ship. Immediately the Enemy had struck I -went on board one of the French prizes to take possession of her, and -when I got there I may well say I was shocked to see the sight as I -believe there was not less than 3 or 400 Bodies lying about the Decks, -cut and mangled all to pieces, some dying and others Dead. We took the -remainder of the men that were alive on board of our own Ships, at which -they seemed very glad. And from the Information that we can get from -them they really came out of Cadiz with an intention of fighting, not -thinking us to be above 17 sail of the line and them under the command of -Sir Robt. Calder (but he was not with us at all), and that Lord Nelson -was in England sick. So they thought they were an equal match for our 17 -with there [_sic_] 37—and in fact made themselves so sure of taking us -into Cadiz that several Private Gentlemen came out of Cadiz as passengers -on purpose to see the Action and have the pleasure of towing us in, but -they were once more deceived in our Wooden Walls. Amongst the prisoners -in our Ship there are 5 or 6 of these Gentlemen of pleasure, and I think -they are in a fair way for seeing an English prison before they return to -Cadiz again.” - -Another of the _Britannia’s_ officers, who made use of his opportunities -for seeing what was going on round him, was 2nd Lieutenant L.B. Halloran -of the Royal Marines. He noted this down in his private diary from his -own personal experiences and observations: - -“We piped to breakfast at eight o’clock, and the ship being clear and -ready about nine o’clock, we went to quarters. The Fleet then formed in -two lines, standing slowly and steadily, with every sail set, before the -light breeze, with ensigns and colours flying. Our ship, the _Britannia_, -was the third from the _Victory_, which led the Larboard or Lee line; -we were next the _Neptune_, 98 guns. For some time after the men were -at quarters, before the firing began we heard many of them amusing -themselves with nautical jokes, or reciting scraps from a Prologue which -I had spoken at one of our last Dramatic performances. Among the lines -repeatedly quoted the following seemed the favourite:— - - We have great guns of Tragedy loaded so well, - If they do but go off, they will certainly tell. - -“About 11.30, the _Royal Sovereign_, Admiral Collingwood, which led the -Starboard or Weather line, after sustaining for nearly half an hour -severe firing from the enemy as she approached without returning a -shot, opened her tremendous Broadsides close alongside the _Sta. Anna_, -a Spanish Admiral’s ship. Our people were highly amused, and passed many -jokes on seeing the _Sta. Anna_, almost immediately dismasted and falling -out of line with her colours down. We had not much time to admire the -gallantry of the _Royal Sovereign_ and the ships succeeding her, for it -was our turn to commence, and in passing we poured a most destructive -fire (the guns being double-shotted) into the _Bucentaur_, which ship had -already received the first fire of the _Victory_ and _Neptune_. Her masts -were at once swept away, and her galleries and stern broken to pieces; -her Colours being shot away, some-one waved a white handkerchief from the -remains of the Larboard Gallery in token of Surrender. - -“We then encountered the _Santisima Trinidada_, 240 guns [_sic_] on -four decks (the largest ship then known). We passed under stern of this -magnificent Ship, and gave her a Broadside which shattered the rich -display of sculpture, figures, ornaments, and inscriptions with which she -was adorned. I never saw so beautiful a ship. Luffing up alongside her -four-decked side, of a rich lake colour, she had an imposing effect. - -“We proceeded, and now got into the middle of the Action, where the -denseness of the smoke, the noise and din of Battle, were so great as -to leave little time for observation. Nearly about this time, between -one and two o’clock, a shot struck the muzzle of the gun at which I was -stationed (the aftermost gun on the larboard side of the lower deck), -and killed or wounded every one there stationed, myself and Midshipman -Tompkins only excepted. The shot was a very large one, and split into a -number of pieces, each of which took its victim. We threw the mangled -body of John Jolley, a marine, out of the stern port, his stomach being -shot away; the other sufferers we left to be examined. The gun itself was -split, and our second lieutenant, Roskruge, who came down at that moment -with some orders, advised me to leave the Gun as useless. He had scarcely -left us, when he was brought down senseless with a severe wound in his -head: he breathed, but continued senseless until nine o’clock, when he -died. - -“The Battle continued until five o’clock. Seeing no signal from the -_Victory_, and also missing Admiral Collingwood’s flag, we were in much -uneasiness on Board. The scene presented a strange contrast to the -morning; twenty-one or twenty-two sail of the Enemy’s Line, Prizes and -dismasted, one (_L’Achille_) burning furiously, which soon after blew up, -the sky lowering in the distance, a heavy sea rising, and an awful kind -of pause succeeding the crash of falling yards and masts and the roar of -the guns. - -“Having sent a boat to the _Victory_, we ascertained the death of Lord -Nelson, our Commander-in-Chief. - -“With hearts fraught with blended feelings of sorrow and of triumph, we -set about putting the ship to rights. The evening was fine, though a -storm seemed to be coming up, and around us as the darkness closed in -the scattered and forlorn wrecks lay floating in disorder, while the -conqueror’s ships were repairing damages, shifting prisoners, or making -sail. It was a scene of desolation, helpless prizes and dismantled -victors rolling heavily, as the sea began to roughen with the breeze.... - -“The whole night was occupied in receiving prisoners, and preparing for -stormy weather, which was coming on.” - -This is from the letter that a seaman on board the _Britannia_, James -West, an A.B., wrote to his parents at Newhaven in Sussex:— - -“I am sorry to inform you that I am wounded in the left shoulder, and -that William Hillman was killed at the same time: the shot that killed -him and three others wounded me and five more. Another of my messmates, -Thomas Crosby, was also killed; they both went to their guns like men, -and died close to me. Crosby was shot in three places. Pray inform their -poor friends of their death, and remind them that they died at the same -time as Nelson, and in the moment of glorious victory. Remember me to -all my relations and friends; tell them I am wounded at last, but that I -do not much mind it, for I had my satisfaction of my enemies, as I never -fired my gun in pain I was sure to hit them; I killed and wounded them -in plenty. Should have written you sooner, but the pain in my shoulder -would not let me.” - -During the week following Trafalgar the _Britannia_ received 381 French -prisoners on board: 48 from _L’Aigle_, a captured seventy-four; 140 from -the recaptured _Berwick_, a former British seventy-four; the rest from -the captured _Intrépide_, another seventy-four. The names of all the -prisoners are carefully entered in the _Britannia’s_ books, and among -them appears the name of a Turk, mentioned also by Lieutenant Halloran as -being received on board—Abdalla Fadalla, a prisoner from the _Intrépide_. - - * * * * * - -According to the ship’s books these were the officers, in addition to -Lord Northesk, serving on board the _Britannia_ at Trafalgar:— - -Captain—Charles Bullen. - -Lieutenants—Arthur Atchison; Francis Roskruge (killed); John Houlton -Marshall; Charles Anthony; Richard Lasham; William Blight; John Barclay; -James Lindsay. - -Marine Officers.—Captain—Alexander Watson. Lieutenants—William Jackson; -L. B. J. Halloran; John Cooke. - -Master—Stephen Trounce (wounded). - -Surgeon—Allen Cornfoot. - -Purser—James Hiatt. - -Chaplain—Rev. Lawrence H. Halloran. - -Gunner—Michael Aylward. - -Boatswain—(not joined). - -Carpenter—John Simpson. - -Master’s Mates and Midshipmen—John Adamson; Thos. Goble; James Sudbury; -Silvester Austin; James Rattray; Henry Canham; Em. Blight; John Lang; -William Snell; John W. Pritchard; William Grant (wounded); Francis D. -Lauzun; William Geikie; Josh. Thorndyke; John Coulthred; Andrew Parry; -Charles Thornbury; James L. Peyton; John Brumfield; George Hurst; -George Morey; Charles Pitt; James Robinson; Radford G. Meech; Richard -Molesworth; Charles Wilson; John Bidgood; John Lawrence; William Pinet; -Richard B. Bowden; Benjamin Sheppard; William Pyne. - -Surgeon’s Mates—John Evans; John Owen Martin. - -Clerk—Richard Whichelo. - -First-class Volunteers—James R. Sulivan; Bowkum Tomkyns; Josh. Bailey. - -A glance at the composition of the ship’s company of the _Britannia_, -according to the muster book, shows that the foreigners among the seamen -on board numbered 53 in all. Of that total 18 were Americans, 11 Germans, -6 Danes, 4 Frenchmen, 1 Swede, 4 Dutchmen, 1 East Indian, 2 Africans, -2 Italians, and 4 from the West Indies. Ireland contributed 189 seamen -ratings (the total number of seamen on board the _Britannia_, as mustered -by the ship’s books on Sunday morning, the day before the battle, was -599); Scotland, 42; Wales, 25; the Isle of Man, 6; the Channel Islands, -5; and the Scilly Isles, Shetland, and Skye, 1 each. The full total of -all ranks and ratings on board the _Britannia_ at Trafalgar, as mustered -on the 20th of October, numbered 31 officers, 599 seamen ratings (petty -officers, able seamen, ordinary seamen, and landmen), 28 boys, 126 -marines, 5 supernumeraries, and 8 “widows’ men,” making 797 in all. -The ship’s official complement as a first rate was 837, so that the -_Britannia_ was really 40 men short in the action. - - * * * * * - -One incidental fact that we learn from the _Britannia_ may be added. It -throws a useful sidelight on life and ways at sea in the navy of Nelson’s -day, dealing as it does with the relations that existed between officers -and men on board while waiting off Cadiz for the expected battle. It -proves for one thing also that Lord Northesk’s flagship quite deserved -the designation of a “happy ship.” This was their favourite way of -passing the time off duty, according to Lieutenant Halloran’s journal. - -“August 22nd. Heard that enemy had gone into Cadiz. We steered direct for -that port. Here we remained blockading the place until the arrival of -Lord Nelson in the _Victory_. During this time the officers and ship’s -company amused themselves with dramatic performances. Our first drama, -acted in the Admiral’s cabin, was as appears in the following playbill:— - - This evening, September 4th, 1805, will be performed a drama - called - - ‘LORD HASTINGS.’ - - DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, Mr. Hurst. - EARL OF DERBY, Mr. Martin, assistant surgeon. - RATCLIFFE, Mr. Rattray. - CATESBY, Mr. Thorndyke, midshipman. - HASTINGS, Lieut. Halloran. - - After which will be performed a drama called - - ‘THE TRIUMPH OF FRIENDSHIP; OR, DAMON AND PYTHIAS.’ - - DIONYSIUS, Mr. Hurst. - GELON, Lieut. Halloran. - PALNURIUS, Mr. Austen. - ARGUS, Mr. Rattray. - DAMON, Mr. Martin. - PYTHIAS, Mr. Thorndyke. - - Doors to be opened at 6.30. To begin at 7. - -“Wednesday, September 4th. Off Cadiz. The ship’s company also performed -two or three plays on the main deck, one of them called ‘Miss in her -Teens’: very well done. - -“Thursday, September 12th. We acted another play, called _The Siege -of Colchester_, in which Rattray, Wilson, Bowden, and I took part. -Between the acts I recited the romance of _Alonzo and Imogene_. On this -occasion, the Admiral’s fore-cabin being found too small to hold stage -and audience both, the fore bulk-head of the cabin was taken down, and -the cabin itself turned into a stage, leaving the two side doors for -the stage exits, and the cabin open to the main deck. The stage being -decorated with colours, festoons, wings, etc., with front lights, had a -very pretty effect. The main deck, fitted up with seats, made a capacious -theatre, and all the officers and ship’s company attended. All the future -performances will be represented in the same manner. - -“September 27th. Another party of the officers, under Lieut. Blight’s -direction, performed (with the addition of some good scenery, painted -by Mr. Adams, master’s mate) _The Mock Doctor_. Characters taken by -Messrs. Pitt, Laurence, Johnstone, Geikie, Martin, and Peyton, with -Masters Lauzun and Snell as Dorcas and Charlotte. The ship’s company, -whose theatre was amidships, near the main mast on the main deck, also -performed _The Tragedy of Pizarro_ and at the end of the first act was -recited _The Soliloquy of Dick the Apprentice_. - -“Wednesday, October 9th. We had the play of _Columbus; or, A World -Discovered_, and Rattray, Thorndyke, Wilson, Hurst, Pitt, Austin, -Bidgood, and myself acted, the character of the High Priest of the -Sun being taken by Wichelo, and ladies by Midshipmen Pinett and Pyne, -Priestessess by Masters Shepherd, Bowden, Lever, Jones, etc. On the -playbill it was announced, ‘In the course of the Performance will be two -splendid Processions—a view of the Interior of the Temple of the Sun, -with a Grand Altar burning Incense, etc. Grand Hymn of the Priestesses, -etc. Towards the close of the Play the Destruction of the Temple by an -Earthquake accompanied by Thunder, Lightning, and Hail-Storm! with the -rescue of Cora from the Ruins by Alonzo!! - -“_Catherine and Petruchio_ was the last performance, a few days before -the action of Trafalgar, together with a Play called _The Village_, which -I wrote. - -“It was on the evening of the 19th of October—Saturday—while I was with -some officers in my cabin in the Gunroom, where we were preparing for -another Play for the following Monday, and we were rehearsing, when one -of the Midshipmen came to inform us that a Frigate was joining the Fleet, -with signals flying ‘That the Enemy were at sea.’ We immediately broke up -our theatrical conference. That night was partly passed in the bustle of -preparation, while we stood under easy sail towards Cadiz.”[21] - - * * * * * - -We have in addition the text of a prologue to one of the midshipmen’s -plays, presented before Lord Northesk and the officers. It gives one the -best possible idea of the magnificent self-confidence with which the -British Fleet anticipated the issue of Trafalgar. - - ADDRESS. - - [_Spoken on board his Majesty’s ship “Britannia,” off Cadiz._] - - My Lord and Gentlemen,—Alas! off Cadiz, - How hard it is we can’t address the ladies, - For “if the brave alone deserve the fair,” - Britannia’s sons should surely have their share! - But, since their valour, tho’ upon record, - Like other merits, is its own reward, - Tho’ female charms inspire us not—again - We welcome you—my Lord and Gentlemen! - You, too, brave fellows! who the background tread, - Alike we welcome—jackets blue or red; - And humbly hope that while we give our aid - “To cheer the tedium of a dull blockade,” - To banish _ennui_ for a few short hours, - However feeble our theatric powers, - Our well-meant efforts to amuse awhile, - Will meet the wish’d reward—your fav’ring smile. - - For tho’, while thro’ our parts we swell and pant, - We stun your ears with mock-heroic rant; - We trust “to pay their suff’rings through your eyes,” - By the bright splendours of the gay disguise - In which our heroes (nor let critics grin), - Bedight in robes of “bunting laced with tin,” - As kings or emperors, with mimic rage, - Strut their short hour upon this “floating stage.” - In times of yore, as grave old authors write, - Poets possess’d a kind of “second sight,” - And could (tho’, _entre nous_, ’twas all a hum) - Inform you clearly of “events to come.” - Oh! could the Bard, who, to amuse your time, - Has manufactur’d all this “doggerel rhyme,” - From mortal mists clear his desiring eyes, - And pry into your future destinies: - He would foretell (nor ask you, as a charm, - Like other soothsayers, “to cross his palm”) - What—yes, he sees!—must on your courage wait, - “An happy fortune, and a glorious fate!” - Yes!—he foresees—confirm his prospects, Heav’n, - “Yon coop’d up boasters,” to your wishes giv’n; - Sees their proud ensigns from their standards torn, - Their vanquish’d navies in glad triumph borne; - Sees added laurels grace our Nelson’s brow, - And Victory hovering o’er his glowing prow; - His conqu’ring banners o’er the waves unfurl’d, - And Britain’s thunder rule the wat’ry world. - If aught of prescience to the Muse belong, - Soon, soon, the scenes that animate her song, - In glowing colours shall salute your eyes, - And Heav’n shall bid th’ auspicious morn arise; - When France and Spain shall be again subdued, - And your “brave leader’s” victories renew’d. - - Then, to reward your persevering toils, - With honours crown’d—enrich’d with hostile spoils— - (Her bravest sons—her guardian sailors’ friend) - “Your grateful country” shall her arms extend, - To greet your glad return with conscious pride, - And in her bosom bid your cares subside. - And, while our fam’d “Britannia” shall resort, - In awful grandeur to her wished-for port, - Her loveliest daughters shall with pleasure meet, - And bless “the heroes of the British fleet!” - Your wives, your children, and your friends shall come, - With tears of joy to bid you “welcome home.” - Nor storms nor battle more your bliss shall mar, - But “Peace and Plenty crown the toils of war!” - -At this point we may fitly end the story of “Old Ironsides” at -Trafalgar—and this book. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] See _post_; p. 65. - -[2] Our West India possessions, except Jamaica, Barbados, and St. Lucia, -and Antigua were lost; and the four named were about to be attacked when -Rodney’s victory saved them. Demerara, our West African settlements, -Trincomalee and Ceylon, Minorca, and the American Colonies went also—all -because the Ministry of the day refused to keep the Fleet up to the “Two -Power standard” of those times, “superior to the combined forces of the -House of Bourbon,” _i.e._ France and Spain, who had the two next powerful -fleets after Great Britain. In cash, the war cost England £200,000,000. - -[3] I am indebted to the courtesy of the proprietors of the _Graphic_ for -permission to reproduce the diagrams here given. - -[4] The Kent Trophy Challenge Shield, of which an illustration is given, -is of silver. In the centre chief point appears a representation of -H.M.S. _Kent_, taken from a drawing supplied by the Admiralty. This is -embossed and oxydized. It is surmounted by an enamelled shield, bearing -the Arms of the Association of “Men of Kent and Kentish Men.” Underneath -the ship, entwined with branches of laurel, are scrolls to take the -names of the Officers Commanding. The lower part of shield shows the -arms and motto of the County of Kent, while turrets with protruding -guns form an artistic background. Below is a large ornamental tablet -displaying the presentation inscription, and round the edge of the -shield flows a beautifully modelled pattern of Kentish Hops, Cherries, -Oakleaves, and Cob-nuts, each spray of which is separately modelled and -bent into position, forming an excellent contrast with the white and -burnished groundwork shield. The whole is mounted on a stout polished-oak -shield, size 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft., and surrounded by thirty silver -wreath-medallions, to be inscribed each year with the name of the winning -gun-crew’s captain. The total weight of silver used is 146 ozs. - -[5] A _Kent_ should have been with the two Kentish admirals Rooke and -Byng at the taking of Gibraltar. She was with the fleet, but during -the bombardment was stationed to keep watch off Cape de Gata, for the -possible appearance on the scene of the French Toulon Fleet, which -Rooke fought at Malaga, a month later. From on board the _Kent_, as -the officers’ journals describe, they heard the sound of Rooke’s guns -attacking Gibraltar, and uncertain whether the Toulon Fleet might not -have got round by hugging the African coast, and the firing be that of -the fleet in action with them, the _Kent_ turned back to Gibraltar, -arriving in time to witness the first hoisting of the British flag on the -fortress. - -[6] The usual term with Europeans in the East at that time for the -“natives,” as we say nowadays. - -[7] Nelson was forty-seven when he fell; three years older than Admiral -Watson was at his death. They were both also Vice-Admirals of the White. - -[8] For a full account of the _Monmouth’s_ midnight battle and Captain -Gardiner’s fate, see “Famous Fighters of the Fleet,” pp. 16-35. - -[9] Visitors to modern Southsea, going over what remains of the old keep -of Porchester Castle, will find scrawled all over the stonework of the -walls of the upper apartments many names of the French prisoners of this -time, with sometimes the names of their ships and the dates of their -capture added. - -[10] A full narrative of the campaign and battle is given in “Famous -Fighters of the Fleet,” pp. 52-161. - -[11] Mr. William Stuart, who died at Gortley, Letterkenny, in April, -1903, at the reputed age of one hundred and twenty, used often to relate -how he, as a boy, saw a British frigate arrive in Lough Swilly towing the -French captured flagship, and with Wolfe Tone among the prisoners. - -[12] Incidentally, and to end the present story, it may be interesting -to recall to mind that the Marquess of Donegall is Hereditary Admiral -of Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the United Kingdom. The office had -a real significance formerly, for Lough Neagh in the past, well within -historic times, had a fleet of its own. Sir John Clotworthy, the ancestor -of Viscount Massereene, who lived at Antrim Castle, had a patent for -building as many vessels as might be needed for the King’s service on -Lough Neagh. His fleet set out from Antrim Castle in 1642 to attack the -Irish in their fort at Charlemont. The battle between the fleet on the -lake and the land forces resulted in the defeat of the men on shore, with -their fort, and important consequences. The second Viscount Massereene -was as strong a supporter of William of Orange as his ancestor had been -of the Stuarts. He was made captain of Lough Neagh, and received 6s. 8d. -a day, being bound to build and maintain a gunboat on the lake. The Lough -Neagh Navy has disappeared, but the lake has still its admiral in the -Marquess of Donegall. - -[13] Having regard to the number of foreigners on board the _Victory_, -these facts are in point. For more than fifty years previous to 1794, -foreigners were permitted by Act of Parliament to enter on board British -merchantmen trading overseas to the extent of three-quarters of the -crew. After 1794, “for the encouragement of British seamen,” an Act -was passed reducing the proportion of foreigners to one-quarter of the -ships’ companies, which, however, still left a large number available at -various places for the purposes of impressment for the Navy. As to the -“Impress Service”: in 1805, to keep up the supplies of men, forty-three -permanent stations or “rendezvous” were maintained in Great Britain and -Ireland, with an establishment of twenty-seven captains and sixty-three -lieutenants, permanently on duty, established “in those parts of the -United Kingdom where seamen chiefly resort, at which stations volunteers -and impressed men are asked, and deserters from the Naval Service are -apprehended.” They were distributed as follows: London and Thames, two -captains and ten lieutenants; Deal and the Downs, Liverpool, and Dundee, -a captain and three lieutenants at each place; Falmouth, Hull, Cork, -Cowes, Poole, Waterford, Bristol, Londonderry, Leith, Shields, Dublin, -Portsmouth, and Gosport, a captain and two lieutenants at each place; -Newcastle, Sunderland, Yarmouth, Glasgow and Greenock, Dunbar, Limerick, -Southampton, Romsey, Exeter, Lynn, Swansea, Folkestone, Ramsgate, -Margate, Lerwick, and the Isle of Man, a captain and one lieutenant, or a -lieutenant independently, at each place. - -[14] How the _Téméraire_ played her part at Trafalgar is fully related in -“Famous Fighters of the Fleet,” pp. 231-275. - -[15] “Ab.” stands for Able Seaman; “Ordinary” for Ordinary Seaman; “L.M.” -for Landman or Landsmen, the lowest general rating on board a man-of-war, -comprising new and raw hands for the most part not yet worked up into -shape, though capable of deck duties and at the guns. - -[16] Died of their wounds in the week following the battle. - -[17] The letter was published in some of the newspapers in the last week -of December, 1805. According to the _Victory’s_ muster book there was a -“James Bagley” among the Marines. - -[18] See “The Enemy at Trafalgar” for what they witnessed from the French -and Spanish fleet; also for a Spanish picture of Collingwood’s duel with -the Spanish admiral. - -[19] Bounce remained Collingwood’s faithful companion to the end; all -through those five long, weary years of continuous cruising between Cadiz -and the Dardanelles and off Toulon, until just before, for the worn out, -prematurely-aged warrior himself, death came at length to close his -sufferings, poor Bounce one dark night fell overboard and was seen no -more. - -[20] Trafalgar was also, as it happened, the _Victory’s_ fifth fight. -Collingwood’s _Royal Sovereign_ had been eighteen years launched, and -had been twice in battle. The _Sovereign_ also was actually the biggest -ship in the British fleet that day, 2175 tons burthen, as compared with -the 2162 tons of the _Victory_, and the 2091 tons of the _Britannia_. The -_Téméraire_, again, was the hardest hitter in the whole fleet, owing to -the exceptionally heavy ordnance that she carried on her upper deck. Of -other ships, the _Agamemnon_, the third oldest ship present at Trafalgar, -had fought her first two battles with Kempenfelt and Rodney—names -that already had passed into history. Other ships of Nelson’s fleet, -contemporaries mostly of the _Royal Sovereign_, had taken part in as many -as four fleet battles. Four of them had been in Lord Howe’s fleet on -the “Glorious First of June,” three at St. Vincent, five with Nelson at -the Nile, three at Copenhagen. Three of the _Britannia’s_ consorts—the -_Belleisle_, the _Tonnant_, and the _Spartiate_—were French-built ships, -prizes won in battle. Two of them, indeed, had been captured by Nelson -himself at the Nile. The average age of the ships of Nelson’s Trafalgar -fleet was seventeen years, an age at which in the case of our modern-day -battleships they are reckoned as off the active list and in sight of the -sale list. Only six were less than five years old. One ship only was, so -to speak, a new ship, the _Revenge_, in October, 1805, serving her first -commission within seven months of leaving the stocks at Chatham Dockyard. - -[21] Of the names mentioned, Mr. Johnstone may possible have been John -Johnson, an ex-midshipman, rated an A.B. in July, 1805. Mr. Jones may -have been Mr. Charles S. Jones, the captain’s coxswain. There were -sixteen Jones’s altogether on the _Britannia’s_ books, but none were -among the officers, master’s mates, and midshipmen, or the first-class -volunteers. There was no Lever on board the _Britannia_ in any capacity. - - - - -INDEX - - - “Able men,” 13 - - Adlercron, Colonel, 81, 83 - - Admiralty visit to Chatham 1764, 187 - - Ages of the _Victory’s_ crew at Trafalgar, 232 - - Ahmed Shah, 105 - - Aikenhead, J., midshipman, 271 - - Alarm at Chatham 1764, 188-90 - - Albemarle (Monk), Duke of, 28, 68-70 - - Anson, Lord, Admiral, 62, 161, 177, 178 - - Antigua, 193, 199, 203 - - Apodoca, Spanish Admiral, 63 - - Armada, Spanish, 22-7, 59 - - “Armed Associations,” 37 - - Arrest of Wolfe Tone, 214 - - - Baker, Matthew, 2, 6, 16, 17, 28 - - Baker, “Old Honest Jem,” 11, 19 - - Balasore Roads, 81, 84, 85, 86, 105, 112 - - Banks of Flanders, Battles of, 28, 127 - - Barbados, 192, 193, 202 - - Barclay, J., Lieut., 275 - - Barfleur, Battle off Cape, 29, 67, 117, 127, 128, 143, 167, 171 - - Barham, Lord, Admiral, 62 - - Bart, Jean, 29 - - Bartholomew’s Day, Battle of, 58 - - “Bases,” 12 - - Basseterre Roads, 194, 195, 202, 204 - - Battle Honours of H.M.S. _Kent_, 67, 68 - - Baxster, Boatswain, 9, 16 - - Beatty, Dr., 34 - - Beauffremont, de, French Admiral, 144, 153 - - Beeston, Sir George, Captain, 22, 25, 26 - - Belleisle, 143 - - Benbow, Admiral, 19, 29, 60, 171 - - Bengal Army, 79 - - Bently, Captain, 137, 146, 147 - - Berryer, M., Minister of Marine, 184 - - “Black Dick,” 146 - - Blackwood, Captain, 215, 248, 250, 257 - - “Black Hole,” The, 78, 80, 83, 86, 105 - - Blake, Admiral, 66 - - “Bloody Foreland,” 210 - - Bombay, 82, 86, 88, 105 - - Bomb-ketch, 169 - - Bompart, Commodore, 210-12 - - Borough, Captain Stephen, 6, 7, 15 - - Boscawen, Admiral, 30, 127, 129, 139, 161, 165, 184 - - Boscawen’s wig, 135 - - Bouillé, de, Marquis, 193, 199, 201, 204 - - “Bounce,” Collingwood’s dog, 262, 263 - - Boys, Commodore, 62 - - Braces, The, 87, 88 - - Brereton, W., Lieutenant, 116, 117, 118 - - Brest, Attack on, 27 - - Brest Fleet, 129 - - Brett, Sir Piercey, 62 - - Brighton, 176 - - Brimstone Hill, 124, 199-204 - - Bristol “runners,” 38 - - “Britannia Victrix,” 272 - - Budge-Budge, Attack on, 89, 93, 94, 95, 99 - - Bullen, Captain, 277 - - Bussy, M., 79, 81 - - Byng, George, Lord Torrington, 29, 60 - - Byng, Hon. John, Admiral, 31, 129, 163, 164, 165, 168 - - - Cadiz, 21, 27 - - Calcutta, 78, 79, 80, 88, 96, 102 - - Calcutta’s Council, 102, 104 - - Cannon-periers, 12 - - Cape Finisterre, 21 - - Cape St. Vincent, 134 - - Cape François, Battle off, 31, 34 - - Cape Trafalgar, 132 - - “Captain-General of the Ocean,” 22 - - Career of the _Britannia_, 273, 289 - - Carlyle, 30, 154 - - Casualty List of the _Victory_, 237 - - Celebration of Boscawen’s victory, 139 - - Chacon, General, 63 - - Chalmers, W., Master of the _Royal Sovereign_, 260 - - Chandernagore, 103, 104, 105, 106, 112-120, 121, 125 - - Charles I, King, 19, 48, 49 - - Charles II, King, 19, 48, 49 - - Charlotte, Queen, 19, 50 - - Chastillon, de, Captain, 137 - - Chatham Dockyard, 177, 179-85, 187-90 - - Chesterfield, Lord, 175 - - Cinque Ports Fleet, 57 - - Clarke, Lieutenant, 121 - - Clavell, Lieutenant, 194, 250, 253 - - Clive, 77, 78, 81, 83, 96, 97, 100, 104, 105, 106, 109, 115, 116, - 118, 124 - - Clue, de la, French Admiral, 130, 131, 134, 136 - - Collingwood, 39, 40, 218, 248-71; - biography, 262; - G. L. Newnham, 248, 253; - wounded, 259 - - Commodore Trunnion, 65 - - Comparison between the _Dreadnought_ and _Victory_, 51 - - Conflans, de, French Admiral, 66, 143, 145, 153, 155, 158 - - Conn, Captain, 40 - - Cook, Captain, 19 - - Cooper, Commissioner, 181 - - Coote, Sir Eyre, 88, 90, 118 - - Copenhagen, Bombardment of, 62 - - Cornwall, Frederick, Captain, 165 - - Cornwallis, Hon. W., Captain, 196 - - Corbett, Secretary, 65 - - Corunna Expedition, 27 - - Cossimbazaar, 79, 103, 108 - - Cotes, Admiral, 31 - - “Counter-Armada,” 27 - - Counties represented at Trafalgar, 229-32, 235, 236, 267, 268, 284 - - “Counts of the Saxon shore,” 56 - - Court-martial on Admiral Byng, 163-5 - - Crew of the _Victory_ at Trafalgar, 228, 233 - - Crew of the _Téméraire_, 235-6 - - Crew of the _Royal Sovereign_, 268-9 - - Crew of the _Britannia_, 283, 284 - - Cromwell, 19, 48, 71 - - Crusaders at Lisbon, 57 - - Culverins, 12, 73 - - - D’Aiguillon, Duc de, 148, 155 - - Death of Admiral Watson, 123 - - Defence of the French _Centaure_, 133-4 - - Delamotte, Mr., master of the _Kent_, 110 - - “Demi-Culverins,” 12-73 - - Deptford Dockyard, 6, 7, 11, 14, 18, 59 - - Designing the _Victory_, 182 - - De Spes, Spanish Ambassador, 4 - - Don John of Austria, 3 - - Donegal Bay, battle of, 210-12 - - Donegal peasants, 209 - - Dorset and Captain Hardy, 225-6 - - Dover, 56 - - Dover Road Postmasters, 70 - - Drake, Sir Francis, 19, 21, 22-7 - - Drake, Governor, 79, 80, 86, 88, 96 - - “_Dreadnought_ Seamen’s Hospital,” 41 - - Duckworth, Sir J., Admiral, 219 - - Dumb peal on Portsmouth bells, 178 - - Dum-Dum, 100 - - Dutch raid in the Medway, 166 - - - “Eastern Parts,” 57 - - Edward VI, King, 48 - - Edward VII, King, 48 - - ” ” and the _Dreadnought_, 48-50 - - Elizabeth, Queen, 1-5, 19, 48 - - England’s darkest hour, 34, 38 - - “English Lutheran days,” 22 - - “Espagnols-sur-Mer,” 59 - - Essex, Earl of, 27 - - Eton boat _Dreadnought_, 41 - - ” _Victory_, 41 - - Eugene Aram, 177 - - Eustace, the Monk, 58 - - Evelyn, John, 19 - - Ewens, Captain, of the _Kent_, 69 - - Execution Deck, 179 - - - “Fawcons,” 12 - - Fenner, Thomas, Captain, 21, 27 - - Figure head of the _Royal Sovereign_ at Trafalgar, 252 - - Fireships, 169 - - Fireships in the Hooghly, 96 - - Fitz-Stephen, 2, 52, 57 - - Fogg, Dick, Captain, 61 - - Fogg, Kit, Captain, 61 - - Forrest, Captain, 31, 32 - - Foreign men-of-war names translated, 127, 128 - - Foreigners in the British fleet at Trafalgar, 229-30, 235, 236, 269, - 283 - - Fort d’Orleans, 107, 108, 112, 113, 115 - - Fortifications of Chandernagore, 109 - - Fort St. George, 78, 79 - - ” St. David, 78, 81 - - ” William, 80, 88, 97, 99, 102, 104, 105, 106 - - “Four Days’ Fight,” 28, 67-70 - - “Fowlers,” 12 - - Fraser, Brigadier, 199 - - Frederick the Great, 175 - - “Fresh Men,” 13 - - “Friend Murray,” 223 - - French troops at Quiberon, 148, 150 - - Frigate Bay, St. Kitts, 191, 193, 195, 203, 204, 207 - - - Gardiner, Arthur, Captain, 168 - - Garrick, 176 - - Garrison of Chandernagore, 103, 109, 119 - - George I, King, 166 - - George III, King, 19, 48, 50 - - Gibraltar, 35, 65, 68, 130, 131, 168, 171, 215, 216 - - Gillingham (or Jillingham), Ordinary, 9, 20 - - “Golden Duke,” 22 - - Gonson, B., Treasurer, “Accompte of,” 9 - - Goongee, 98 - - Goschen, Lord, 53, 54 - - Grasse, de, French Admiral, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 198, 203, - 204, 205, 207 - - Gravelines, Battle of, 27 - - Gravina, Spanish Admiral, 40 - - Green Point, St. Kitts, 198 - - Greenwich Hospital Mausoleum, 225 - - Greenwich Palace, 20 - - “Gromets,” 13 - - “Gunlayer’s test,” H.M.S. _Kent_, 75 - - Gunman, C., Captain, 61 - - Guns of the _Dreadnought_, 44-7 - - - “Half Minute Council of War,” 31 - - Halloran, L. B., Lieutenant, Royal Navy, 278, etc. - - Hamilton, W., Midshipman, 98 - - Hardy, Sir T. M., Captain, 34, 223-226 - - Harvey, John, Captain, 62, 63 - - Harvey, Henry, Captain, 63 - - Hastings, Kentish flag at, 50 - - Hawke, Lord, Admiral, 66, 141, 143, 144, 145, 153, 155, 158, 184 - - Hawkins, Sir John, 1, 14, 28 - - Hawley, General, 173 - - Henry VIII, King, 11, 19, 48 - - Herbert, Arthur (Lord Torrington), 61 - - Hervey, Lord, Captain, 61 - - Hey, Rawlins, Lieutenant, 109, 120 - - Highwaymen in 1760, 167 - - Hill, Sir G., 213, 214 - - Hogge, Ralphe, 12 - - Holwell, Mr. T., 86, 123 - - Home Fleet Review, 49 - - Hood, Sir Samuel, Admiral, 192-207 - - Hooghly, City, 98 - - Hooghly, River, 81, 82, 87, 88, 89 - - Horsham, 10, 180 - - Howard, Lord, Lord High Admiral, 24, 25, 26 - - Howe, Lord, Admiral, 50, 145, 146, 147 - - Huguenots, 2-3 - - Hubert de Burgh, 58 - - Hyderabad, 79, 81 - - - Invasion of England, 37, 129, 174 - - “Iron Marquis,” The, 22 - - “Islands Voyage,” 27 - - Isle of Wight, 24 - - Ives, surgeon of the _Kent_, 80, 91, 92, 93, 98, 110, 111, 115, 119 - - - “Jack the Painter,” 190 - - Jamaica, 16 - - James I, King, 19 - - James II, King, 19 - - James, Duke of York, 28, 70, 167 - - Jervis, Sir John (Earl St. Vincent), Admiral, 223 - - Johnson’s _Dictionary_, 175-6 - - - “K” Brand, Dantzic, 181 - - “Kent claims the first blow,” 52, 57 - - Kent County Shield, 52, 55 - - “Kentish Menne in Front,” 52 - - “Kentish Rising,” 62 - - Kentish ragstone cannon-balls, 13 - - Kedgeree, 89 - - Keppel, Commodore, 150, 151 - - Kilpatrick, Major, 79, 88 - - Kinnoull, Lord, 139 - - King, Sir Richard, Captain, 97 - - - Lagos Bay, Battle of, 136-9 - - Langdon, Captain, 31, 32 - - La Tour D’Auvergne, 148 - - Launch of the _Britannia_, 272 - - Launch of the first _Dreadnought_, 14-18 - - Launch of Collingwood’s _Dreadnought_, 38-9 - - Launch of H.M.S. _Kent_, 75 - - Launches, royal, 48 - - Lawson, M., 108 - - Legge, George, Lord Dartmouth, 61 - - Lepanto, Battle of, 4, 5 - - Letter from H.M.S. _Kent_, 68 - - Letter from a _Victory_ marine, 245-6 - - Letter to Suraj-w-daulah, 89 - - Letters from Collingwood’s flagship, 269-71 - - Letters from the _Britannia_, 275-81 - - Ligonier, Viscount, 175 - - Lloyd’s Policies, 37 - - Lock, Master-Shipwright, 182 - - Log of the _Britannia_ at Trafalgar, 274 - - Log of the _Victory_, 242-3 - - ” _Warspite_, 137-8 - - Longsword, William, 58 - - Lord High Admiral, 15, 17, 18, 70 - - Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, 54 - - Louis XIV, 127 - - Louis XV and Quiberon, 156 - - Louisbourg, 167, 178 - - - McCleverty, Captain, 131 - - Madras, 78, 81, 91, 93, 94, 96, 97, 100, 105, 106, 109, 110, 116, - 118, 119, 122, 123 - - Mahan, 139 - - Maidstone, 13, 181 - - Maids of Kent, Flag from, 55 - - Malcolm, Sir John, 119 - - Malcolm, Sir Pulteney, Captain, 214-219 - - Malleson, Colonel, 119 - - Malmsey, 16 - - Manikchand, 87, 89, 90, 91 - - Marlborough, Duke of, 165, 178 - - Marshals in the French Navy, 43 - - Marshmen, 7 - - Mary Norwood’s Execution, 177 - - Mary Stuart, 5 - - “Maryners,” 13 - - Marston Moor, 28 - - Martin, Sir T. B., Admiral of the Fleet, 234, 264 - - Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1, 28 - - Mathews, Admiral, 84 - - Mayapore, 89 - - Medina Sidonia, 21, 23, 25, 26 - - “Mediterranean” Byng, 60 - - Men and Manners in 1758, 175-7 - - “Men of Kent and Kentish Men,” 52-5 - - Militia Camps, 37 - - Minden, 186 - - Minorca, 21, 86, 165, 168 - - Mir Jafier, 121, 122 - - Monument to Admiral Watson, 123, 124 - - “Moors,” 92 - - Moorshedabad, 87, 105 - - Morbihan, 142 - - “Mother of the Maids,” 20 - - Musée de Marine, 36 - - Murray, Geo., Captain, 223 - - - Naming of the _Dreadnought_, 1, 4, 5, 14-18 - - Naming of the _Kent_, 71 - - ” ” _Victory_, 184-6 - - Naval Estimates of 1759, 179, 182 - - Nawab, Vizier of Bengal, 79, 80, 87, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104, 106 - - Nelson, 30, 33, 163, 177, 222-4, 245, 246, 247, 256, 258, 290 - - Nelson and the _Victory_, 222-3 - - ” Monument, Portsdown, 218 - - Nelson’s “Dreadnought” sword, 34 - - Nelson’s “happiest day,” 33, 34 - - Nile, battle of, 62 - - Newfoundland “disturbance,” 187, 188 - - Nevis, 195, 204, 205 - - North Cape, 6 - - North Devon, 6 - - North-East Monsoon, 85 - - North Foreland, Battle off, 58, 67 - - North Sea Packets, 38 - - Northesk, Earl of, Admiral, 272 - - - Officers of the _Britannia_ at Trafalgar, 282-8 - - Officers of the _Royal Sovereign_ at Trafalgar, 266, 267 - - Officers of the _Victory_ at Trafalgar, 226, 228 - - “Old Dreadnought,” 30, 127, 136 - - “Old Ironsides,” 272 - - Old London Bridge, 176 - - “Old Pretender,” the, 175 - - Old Single Dock, Chatham, 182 - - Omichand, 121 - - Opdam, Dutch Admiral, 28 - - Order to build the _Victory_, 181-2 - - Order naming the _Donegal_, 213 - - Orme, Indian historian, 119 - - - Party Politics and the Navy, 35, 125 - - Passaro, Cape, Battle of, 29 - - Peasants of the Weald, 180 - - Pepys, Samuel, 19 - - Perreau, S., Lieut., 120 - - Pett, Phineas, 17, 59, 60 - - Pett, Peter, 2, 6 - - Philip II, King of Spain, 22, 23 - - Pigott, Governor, 81 - - Pitt, Lord Chatham, 139, 178 - - Plan of attack at Chandernagore, 112-13 - - Plassey, the sailors’ part at, 121-2 - - Pocock, Sir G., Admiral, 82, 111, 120 - - Pompadour, Madame de, 143, 156 - - Porchester Castle, 171 - - Portisham, Hardy’s birthplace, 225 - - Portland Bill, 23 - - Porto Bello, 171 - - Portsmouth in the Seven Years’ War, 161-77 - - “Port-pieces,” 12 - - Port Royal, 31 - - Prescott, General, 199 - - Presentation to H.M.S. _Kent_, 52-5 - - Presentation to H.M.S. _Donegal_, 220-1 - - Press-gang, working of, 169, 170, 233, 234 - - “Prencipall Master,” 6, 15, 17 - - Puritan method of naming the Navy, 28, 71-3 - - - Quebec, 186 - - Quiberon Bay, 66, 142, 144, 148, 154, 156 - - - Raleigh, Sir Walter, 27 - - Recalde, J. M. de, 23 - - Refugees from Calcutta, 80, 81, 86, 88 - - Regiments named— - 1st Royals, 199 - 13th Foot, 193 - 15th Foot, 199 - 28th Foot, 193 - 39th Foot, 81, 88, 90 - 69th Foot, 193 - Royal Artillery, 199 - - Relics of the Trafalgar _Dreadnought_, 41 - - Renault de St. Germain (Governor of Chandernagore), 103 - - Rescue of Spaniards after Trafalgar, 217, 218 - - Rivalry between the _Victory_ and _Royal Sovereign_ at Trafalgar, 251 - - Rochelle Expedition, 28 - - Rochfort, 155 - - Rodney, Sir G., Admiral, 65, 192, 200, 201, 202, 207 - - Rodney’s report on the disaffection in the West Indies, 202-204 - - Rooke, Sir George, Admiral, 60, 165 - - Rotherham, E., Captain, 250, 251, 252 - - Rupert, Prince, 28, 68, 70, 117, 167 - - Ruyter de, Dutch Admiral, 28, 68, 117 - - - “St. James’s Day Fight,” 28, 67 - - St. Vincent—Nelson in action, 34, 223 - - St. Lo, Commodore, 62 - - Sabran de, French Captain, 134 - - Sailor’s devotion at Collingwood’s funeral, 265 - - “Saker,” 17, 74 - - Santa Cruz, Marquis de, 22 - - Saxton, Sir C., Commissioner, 39 - - Ships of Kent, 57 - - Ships— - _Achates_, 6 - _Achille_ (Fr.), 274, 276, 280 - _Aid_ or _Ayde_, 3 - _Aigle_ (Fr.), 282 - _Alfred_, 194, 198 - _America_, 136, 138 - _Arethusa_, 66 - _Ark Royal_, 24, 25, 26 - _Augusta_, 31, 32, 33 - _Asia_, 160 - _Barfleur_, 192, 196, 206, 207 - _Belleisle_, 251 - _Berwick_, 282 - _Blaze_, 83 - _Bridgewater_, 82, 83, 89, 90, 96, 98, 106, 121 - _Britannia_, 49, 60, 185, 272, 273, 274, 276, 278, 281, 282, 283, - 284 - _Brunswick_, 62, 63 - _Bucentaure_ (Fr.), 275, 279 - _Canada_, 196, 198 - _Canterbury_, 64, 65 - _Centaure_ (Fr.), 133, 134, 135 - _Centurion_, 145 - _Chatham_, 66 - _Childers_, 227 - _Commonwealth_, 162 - _Conqueror_, 137, 275 - _Cumberland_, 82, 83, 89, 105, 112, 125 - _Deal Castle_, 67 - _Defiance_, 4, 145 - _Deptford_, 66 - _Dieu Repulse_, 4 - _Donegal_, 208, 214-20 - _Dorsetshire_, 145 - _Dover_, 65, 66 - _Dragon_, 84 - _Dreadnought_, 1, 4-9, 11-51, 72, 126, 140, 248 - _Dunbar_, 72 - _Dunkirk_, 72 - _Edinburgh_, 31-33 - _El Rayo_ (Sp.), 217, 218 - _Elizabeth_, 233 - _Elizabeth Jonas_, 3 - _Eltham_, 67 - _Entreprenante_ (Fr.), 128 - _Essex_, 71, 151, 158 - _Euryalus_, 215, 257 - _Faversham_, 67 - _Fidelle_ (Fr.), 128 - _Fier_ (Fr.), 128 - _Folkestone_, 67 - _Formidable_, 141-3, 145, 148, 150, 151, 158 - _Foudroyant_, 168, 169, 224 - _Fougueux_ (Fr.), 252, 254, 255 - _Gibraltar_, 130, 131 - _Great Harry_, 60, 61 - _Greenwich_, 66 - _Greenwich_ (Fr.), 32 - _Guernsey_, 138 - _Guerrière_ (Fr.), 134, 135 - _Hampshire_, 71 - _Henry_, 72 - _Hoche_ (Fr.), 211, 212, 213 - _Impérial_ (Fr.), 218 - _Implacable_, 239 - _Indomptable_ (Fr.), 40, 254 - _Indus II_, 140 - _Intrépide_ (Fr.), 33, 82, 138, 282 - _Invincible_, 190 - _Jersey_, 137, 138 - _Joli_ (Fr.), 128 - _Jupiter_, 219 - _Kent_, 52, 53, 55, 67, 75, 80, 82, 83, 85, 87-92, 94, 95, 98, 106, - 107, 110, 112, 113-18, 120, 122, 124, 125, 128 - _Kentish_, 71, 73, 74 - _Kingfisher_, 80, 82, 88, 89, 96, 98, 106 - _Leviathan_, 275 - _Licorne_ (Fr.), 32 - _Lion_, 24 - _London_, 185 - _Luxborough_ galley, 62 - _Magnanime_, 145, 146, 147, 150 - _Maidstone_, 66 - _Margate_, 67 - _Marston Moor_, 72 - _Marlborough_, 89 - _Mary Rose_, 11, 24, 26, 73 - _Medway_, 67 - _Meleager_, 224 - _Minerve_, 224 - _Montagu_, 128, 147, 150 - _Modeste_ (Fr.), 134, 137, 139 - _Monarque_, 163, 164 - _Monmouth_, 168, 208 - _Mutine_, 224 - _Namur_, 134, 135 - _Naseby_, 19, 72 - _Neptune_, 275, 278, 279 - _Newbury_, 72 - _Nymphe_, 194 - _Ocean_ (Fr.), 134, 136, 138 - _Opiniâtre_ (Fr.), 32, 33 - _Orphèe_ (Fr.), 169 - _Outarde_ (Fr.), 32 - _Prince of Wales_, 20 - _Principe de Asturias_ (Sp.), 40 - _Protector_, 88 - _Prudent_, 192, 198 - _Pluton_ (Fr.), 197 - _Queen Charlotte_, 50 - _Queen_, 166 - _Queenborough_, 67 - _Ramillies_, 63 - _Redoutable_ (Fr.), 134, 136, 242, 246 - _Renommée_ (Fr.), 65 - _Resolution_, 72, 150, 151-3, 155, 198 - _Revenge_, 3, 18, 23, 24, 26, 60, 72, 151, 165, 169 - _Repulse_, 4 - _Royal Anne_, 166, 185 - _Royal Charles_, 70, 72, 166 - _Royal George_, 152-4, 166, 167, 182, 185 - _Royal Prince_, 167 - _Royal Sovereign_, 40, 165, 166, 185, 242, 248, 250, 251-8, 260, - 262, 266, 267-71, 275, 278, 279 - _Royal William_, 167, 185 - _Rochester_, 66 - _Romney_, 66 - _St. Albans_, 138, 197 - _St. George_, 163-5, 224 - _St. Vincent_, 160 - _Salisbury_, 82, 83, 85, 88, 89, 90, 96, 101, 107, 112, 113-15, 125 - _Sandwich_, 65 - _San Josef_ (Sp.), 34, 224 - _San Juan Nepomuceno_ (Sp.), 40 - _San Juan de Compostella_ (Sp.), 64 - _San Justo_ (Sp.), 254 - _San Leandro_ (Sp.), 254 - _San Nicolas_ (Sp.), 34 - _San Vincente_ (Sp.), 64 - _Sans Pareil_ (Fr.), 128 - _Santa Anna_ (Sp.), 23, 251-7, 259, 260, 279 - _Santisima Trinidad_ (Sp.), 242, 279 - _Sauvage_ (Fr.), 128 - _Sceptre_ (Fr.), 32, 33 - _Shannon_, 231 - _Sheerness_, 67 - _Soleil Royal_ (Fr.), 153, 155 - _Solebay_, 195 - _Souverain_ (Fr.), 134, 135 - _Sovereign of the Seas_, 48, 60 - _Superb_, 219 - _Sussex_, 71 - _Swallow_, 26 - _Swiftsure_, 6, 11, 20, 21, 150, 151 - _Téméraire_, 126-9, 131, 134, 135, 137, 139, 140, 146, 217, 235, - 236, 250, 275 - _Thesèe_ (Fr.), 151 - _Thunder_, 90 - _Torrington_, 28, 29, 72 - _Tredagh_, 72 - _Triumph_, 3, 36 - _Turquoise_ (Fr.), 128 - _Tyger_, 82, 83, 85, 88, 89, 90, 95-7, 107, 112, 113, 115, 118, - 120, 125 - _Vanguard_, 224 - _Vengeur_ (Fr.), 62, 63 - _Vernon_, 220 - _Victory_, 3, 6, 18, 24, 26, 34, 43, 50, 51, 60, 126, 160, 163, - 171, 175, 187, 189, 190, 217, 222, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, - 231, 232, 233, 235, 237, 241, 243, 245, 248, 250, 256, 257, - 274, 275, 278, 279, 280, 284 - _Ville de Paris_ (Fr.), 193, 196, 199, 207 - _Warspite_, 137, 138, 146, 147, 150 - _Weazle_, 215 - _Woolwich_, 67 - _Worcester_, 72 - _York_, 92 - - Shirley, Governor, 199 - - Shoreditch, Midshipman, 122 - - Shot, Sussex iron, 12 - - Shovell, Sir Cloudesley, 65, 66, 167 - - Slade, Sir T., 182 - - Sluys, Battle of, 59 - - Smith, Sir Sidney, Admiral, 62 - - Smith, Collingwood’s valet, 249, 255 - - Soldiers at Portsmouth, 172, 173 - - Solebay, Battle of, 28, 29, 167 - - Spert, Sir Thomas, 61 - - Speke, Flag-Captain, 82, 87, 98, 114, 120 - - Speke, Midshipman, 114, 120 - - Spragge, Sir E., Admiral, 29 - - Standard at the Main, 49, 50 - - Standing Cup, 16 - - Stanhope, Countess, 55 - - Stanton, Lieutenant, 120 - - Strahan, of the _Kent_, 91, 93, 94, 95 - - Suckling, M., Captain, 30, 31, 32, 34 - - Suraj-u-daulah, 79, 80, 87, 89, 98, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105, 106 - - - Tagus, 5, 22 - - Tanna, Fort at, 95, 96 - - “Tars of the Tyne!” 267-8 - - Teneriffe, St. Cruz, etc., 62, 66 - - Terraneau, de, 111 - - Theatricals on board the _Britannia_, 284-9 - - Thackeray on Collingwood, 265-6 - - “The Wonderful Year,” 128, 186 - - Thierri, Pilot, 146 - - Thompson, Sir T. B., Captain, 62 - - Three sailors on a raft, 99 - - “Thunderbolt of War,” 22 - - Tilbury camp, 5 - - Timber for the _Victory_, 180-1 - - _Times_, origin of, 38 - - Tone, Wolfe, 210, 212, 213-14 - - Torbay, fortifications at, 37 - - Toulon Fleet, 130, 192 - - Toulon, 129, 130, 131 - - Tourville, 143 - - Tower Wharf “Bynns,” 13 - - Trafalgar, Battle of, 39, 41, 215-19, 222, 289 - - Treachery in the West Indies, 200-3 - - Trincomalee, 85 - - Trinidad, Capture of, 63 - - Turner, 140 - - - Verger, Cte. de, French Admiral, 144, 146, 147, 157, 158 - - Vernon, Admiral, 171 - - Victoria, Queen, 49 - - Vigo Street, London, 165 - - Villeneuve, Admiral, 248, 252 - - Visits to the _Victory_ after Trafalgar, 245-7 - - Visit to the first _Dreadnought_, 9-14 - - Vizagapatam, 105 - - Volunteers on board the _Victory_, 233 - - - Wager, Sir Charles, 30 - - Walpole, Horace, 136, 146, 151, 186 - - Walter, Mr. John, 38 - - Walton, Captain, 9, 30 - - “War of Jenkins’ Ear,” 29 - - Warren, Sir J. B., Admiral, 211-13 - - Watson, Charles, Admiral, 79, 83, 84, 86 - - Weald of Kent, 59 - - Wells, John, Midshipman, 276 - - “Western Ports,” 57 - - William III, King, 165, 166, 167 - - Wine Vaults of Corunna, 27 - - Wolfe, General, 167, 175 - - Woodcot, T., “Prest-master,” 8 - - - - -A HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ROYAL NAVY AND OF MERCHANT -SHIPPING IN RELATION TO THE NAVY - -From 1509 to 1660 - -BY M. OPPENHEIM - -With an Introduction treating of the earlier period - -_With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. =15s.= net_ - - -=Times.=—“Full of historic detail of great interest and novelty derived -from a variety of documentary sources hitherto unexplored.” - -=Athenæum.=—“The first thing that will strike the reader of the ‘History’ -is the extreme amount of original research which is embodied in it.” - -=Daily News.=—“This admirable first volume of an exhaustive work.... -The subject has never been dealt with adequately by any previous -historian.... All students of English naval history will look forward -with eagerness to Mr. Oppenheim’s subsequent volumes.” - -=Pall Mall Gazette.=—“This is a wholly admirable book. It is based upon -patient and careful work done in this much-neglected subject for the -first time. The mass of information he has gathered and digested is -simply appalling.... Though the subject sounds an astonishingly dry one, -Mr. Oppenheim has managed to make it interesting.... He is impartial and -exhaustive, and in his investigations sheds very considerable sidelight -upon various debatable points in English history.” - -=Army and Navy Gazette.=—“One of the most important contributions to -naval history lately issued from the press.... Hitherto naval histories -have avowedly been devoted to executive operations, and never before have -we had a history concerned with that organisation which renders executive -operations possible.... Mr. Oppenheim’s knowledge of his special subject -is unrivalled, and he is admirable in the careful and exhaustive manner -in which he deals with the details of it. These are marshalled with -consummate skill. We shall look with interest for the appearance of his -next volume.” - - - - -THE SPANISH CONQUEST IN AMERICA - -BY SIR ARTHUR HELPS - -Edited, with an Introduction, Maps, and Notes, by - -M. OPPENHEIM - -_In Four Volumes. Crown 8vo. =3s. 6d.= net each_ - - -=Athenæum.=—“A handsome reprint.... Mr. Oppenheim has provided a sensible -and suggestive introduction and additional notes of a useful type. We are -glad to see he does not join in the wholesale condemnation of Spanish -rule in America that is common among ill-informed writers.” - -=Literature.=—“A book, apart from its literary value, of great interest -in the history of the dealings of conquering civilised nations with -aborigines.” - -=Spectator.=—“A very welcome new edition. The book has a singular charm -of its own. It catches that romance, that strange mixture of brightness -and melancholy, which belongs to all early American history.... Sir -Arthur Helps’s literary enthusiasm and his charming touch were made -to deal with such a subject.... The introduction is very interesting, -and the maps, a new feature of this edition, are quite invaluable to a -student of early American history.” - -=Saturday Review.=—“The publisher is wisely bringing out a new edition of -a standard work. Mr. Oppenheim has written a judicious introduction.” - -=Literary World.=—“The editor of the volume before us—we await with -pleasure the three that are to follow—has written an illuminative -introduction, but that is the least of his contributions. Many notes, -additional or corrective, greatly add to the value of this edition, and, -a most important concession to practical usefulness, Helps’s notes, when -consisting of quotations in foreign tongues, have been translated.” - -=Literary World= (_re_ Vol. II.).—“In all that goes to make a book -pleasant to eye and hand it leaves nothing to be desired.... Our renewal -of long-time acquaintance warrants a hearty recommendation of this best -edition of the ‘Spanish Conquest.’ In it intrinsic worth and literary -excellence are supplemented by the capable work and business enterprise -of editor and publisher.” - - - - -JANE AUSTEN’S SAILOR BROTHERS - -By J. H. and F. C. HUBBACK - -Being the Life and Adventures of Sir Francis Austen, G.C.B., Admiral of -the Fleet, and Rear-Admiral Charles Austen. - -_With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net._ - - -PRESS OPINIONS. - -=Daily Telegraph.=—“This pleasant book ... an unpretentious but really -interesting volume; a volume which, although its chief attractions -are literary, has also distinct value for its glimpses of life abroad -during the early years of the nineteenth century ... a capital series of -portraits and facsimiles.” - -=Daily Chronicle.=—“It is a pleasant picture this book gives of English -life a hundred years ago ... clear-cut little pictures of what it meant -to serve the king at sea in the days when Napoleon was pictured in the -imagination of all British subjects as waiting to spring like a tiger -across the ‘ruffled strip of salt.’” - -=Morning Post.=—“Contains many letters from Jane Austen and the sailors, -a number of interesting portraits, so that this volume may be welcomed -as an important addition to Austeniana; but it is besides valuable for -its glimpses of life in the Navy, its illustrations of the feelings and -sentiments of naval officers during the period that preceded and that -which followed the great battle of just one century ago.” - -=Westminster Gazette.=—“The worshipping company of dear Jane’s friends -will, without a doubt, hail this volume with unmixed delight.” - -=Pall Mall Gazette.=—“In this timely issued book we get a tolerably clear -idea of the home life of the Austens, and of life in the Navy in the -opening years of the nineteenth century.” - -=Daily News.=—“A very interesting book ... much interesting historical -matter. The illustrations from portraits and original drawings are -excellent.... It deserves to be read for the fascinating glimpses it -gives of life at sea under our great admirals in eighteen hundred, and -war time.” - - - - -NAPOLEONIC LITERATURE - - -NAPOLEON AND THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. By H. F. B. WHEELER and A. M. -BROADLEY, Author of “The Three Dorset Captains at Trafalgar,” etc. With -108 Illustrations (8 in colours). 2 vols. 32s. net. - -THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. By OSCAR BROWNING, Author of “The Boyhood and Youth -of Napoleon.” With numerous Illustrations. 10s. 6d. net. - -THE BOYHOOD AND YOUTH OF NAPOLEON. Some Chapters on the Early Life of -Buonaparte, 1769-1793. By OSCAR BROWNING. With Portraits. Crown 8vo. 5s. -net. - -THE DUKE OF REICHSTADT. A Biography compiled from new sources of -information. By EDWARD DE WERTHEIMER. With numerous Illustrations, 2 -Photogravure Portraits, and a Facsimile Letter. Demy 8vo. 21s. net. 2nd -Edition. - -WOMEN OF THE SECOND EMPIRE. Chronicles of the Court of Napoleon III. -By FREDERIC LOLIÉE. Translated by ALICE IVIMY. With an Introduction by -RICHARD WHITEING. 51 Portraits, 3 in Photogravure. Demy 8vo. 21s. net. - -MEMOIRS OF THE COUNT DE CARTRIE. A Record of the Extraordinary Events -in the Life of a French Royalist during the War in La Vendée, and of -his Flight to Southampton, where he followed the Humble Occupation of -Gardener. With an Introduction by FRÉDÉRIC MASSON, Appendices and Notes -by PIERRE AMÉDÉE PICHOT and others, and numerous Illustrations, including -a Photogravure Portrait of the Author. Demy 8vo. 16s. net. - -NAPOLEON’S CONQUEST OF PRUSSIA, 1806. By F. LORAINE PETRE, Author of -“Napoleon’s Campaign in Poland, 1806-1807.” With an Introduction by -FIELD-MARSHAL EARL ROBERTS, K.G., V.C., etc. With numerous Maps, Battle -Plans, Portraits, and other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. - -NAPOLEON’S CAMPAIGN IN POLAND, 1806-1807. By F. LORAINE PETRE. A Military -History of Napoleon’s First War with Russia, verified from unpublished -official documents. With Maps and Plans. New Edition. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. -net. - -RALPH HEATHCOTE. Letters of a Young Diplomatist and Soldier during the -Time of Napoleon, giving an Account of the Dispute between the Emperor -and the Elector of Hesse. By COUNTESS GÜNTHER GRÖBEN. 20 Illustrations. -Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. - - - - -BY EDWARD FRASER - -THE ENEMY AT TRAFALGAR - -_Illustrated. Price_ =16s.= - - -EXTRACTS FROM PRESS NOTICES - -“The idea of the book is ‘to render tribute to the gallant men at -whose expense Nelson achieved fame,’ and this idea is admirably -realized.”—TIMES. - -“Mr. Fraser has achieved the apparently impossible feat of presenting the -battle of Trafalgar to the British public from an entirely new point of -view.”—MORNING POST. - -“Its dramatic pages cannot fail to be of absorbing interest.”—DAILY -TELEGRAPH. - -“It indirectly adds to the glory of the victory.”—DAILY GRAPHIC. - -“The tone and spirit of the book are worthy of the two nations -whose death-grip in 1805 has at last resulted in the embrace of -friendship.”—DAILY CHRONICLE. - -“A notable and most fascinating addition to the literature of the grand -deliverance.”—GLOBE. - -“The book has a strong and lively interest for general readers who like -to find in true stories things more sensational and strange than come -within the invention of romance.”—SCOTSMAN. - -“This fascinating and useful book.”—SATURDAY REVIEW. - -“Mr. Fraser has discovered a gap in our knowledge, and filled it in a -very interesting manner.”—ATHENÆUM. - -“English history would gain if there were more books like Mr. -Fraser’s.”—MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. - -“There is a manly ring about the honest enthusiasm that pervades the -pages of this bulky volume, and it is not possible to read them without -being carried away by it.”—GRAPHIC. - -“A series of tableaux and portraits which are as vivid as they are -important.”—ROYAL NAVY LIST. - -“To say that the work is interesting is to pay it a poor compliment. -It is interesting and instructive, and, above all, it breaks new -ground.”—IRISH TIMES. - - - - -BY EDWARD FRASER - -FAMOUS FIGHTERS OF THE FLEET - -_Illustrated. Price_ =6s.= - - -EXTRACTS FROM PRESS NOTICES - -“A graphic and instructive book.”—TIMES. - -“We heartily commend the book.”—STANDARD. - -“Full of life and action.”—DAILY TELEGRAPH. - -“Mr. Fraser has told the story clearly and vividly. His book is a good -book.”—MORNING POST. - -“It is just such history as this that goes to make patriotism.”—DAILY -GRAPHIC. - -“It will help all who read it to realise upon what a foundation of solid -glory our present Navy is built up.”—DAILY CHRONICLE. - -“Full of rich narrative quality and the stuff that moves the blood to new -patriotism and new hopes.”—PALL MALL GAZETTE. - -“A volume teeming with romance, adventure, excitement; the picturesque -detail of personal heroism.”—GLOBE. - -“Admirably forcible and clear.”—SPECTATOR. - -“Mr. Fraser’s book is one to live.”—ATHENÆUM. - -“These are noble stories and Mr. Fraser tells them admirably.”—GUARDIAN. - -“More attractive than any imaginary narrative.”—BRITISH WEEKLY. - -“It stirs the blood to read.”—LITERARY WORLD. - -“Brisk, strong, and spirited, full of the subtle flavour of the past, -and crammed from cover to cover with picturesque incident brilliantly -told.”—NAVY LEAGUE JOURNAL. - -“It combines in admirable form matters of present-day interest and -historic renown.”—LEEDS MERCURY. - -“It will be read with a keen zest by everyone.”—SCOTSMAN. - -“The reader is made to feel like an actual spectator.”—DUNDEE ADVERTISER. - -“Admirers of dashing bravery on the high seas will find delight in Mr. -Fraser’s volume.”—NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE. - -“All capital yarns, chock-full of salt, sulphur, and saltpetre.”—THE -NATION (U.S.A.). - -“Fraser’s Buch lässt nicht zu wünschen.”—ALLGEMEINE SPORT-ZEITUNG. - - - - -[Illustration] - -THE LIBRARY OF GOLDEN THOUGHTS - -_Pott 8vo (6 × 3¾ in.)_ - -_Bound in Cloth. Price 1s. net_ - -_Bound in Leather. Price 2s. net_ - - -FIRST VOLUMES - - GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM THE GOSPELS - GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM THOREAU - GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM SIR THOS. BROWNE - -Printed upon a paper specially manufactured for the series, with end -papers and cover design by Charles Ricketts, and border designs by -Laurence Housman. Each volume has a frontispiece, and is bound in a -manner which will recommend the series specially appropriate for presents. - -JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., LONDON, W. - - - - -Flowers of Parnassus - -_A Series of Famous Poems Illustrated_ - -UNDER THE GENERAL EDITORSHIP OF FRANCIS COUTTS - -_Size 5½ × 4½ in., gilt top_ - -_Bound in Cloth. Price 1s. net_ - -_Bound in Leather. Price 1s. 6d. net_ - - -LIST OF VOLUMES - - GRAY’S ELEGY AND ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE - BROWNING’S THE STATUE AND THE BUST - STEPHEN PHILLIPS’ MARPESSA - ROSSETTI’S THE BLESSED DAMOZEL - THE NUT-BROWN MAID - TENNYSON’S DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN - TENNYSON’S DAY DREAM - SUCKLING’S A BALLADE UPON A WEDDING - FITZGERALD’S RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM - POPE’S THE RAPE OF THE LOCK - WATTS-DUNTON’S CHRISTMAS AT THE MERMAID - BLAKE’S SONGS OF INNOCENCE - SHELLEY’S THE SENSITIVE PLANT - KEATS’S ISABELLA: OR THE POT OF BASIL - WATSON’S WORDSWORTH’S GRAVE - RELIQUES OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON - MILTON’S LYCIDAS - WORDSWORTH’S TINTERN ABBEY - LONGFELLOW’S THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP - WATSON’S THE TOMB OF BURNS - A LITTLE CHILD’S WREATH - MORRIS’S THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE - HOGG’S KILMENY - TENNYSON’S MAUD - DAVIDSON’S THE BALLAD OF A NUN - WORDSWORTH’S RESOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE - THE SONG OF SONGS, WHICH IS SOLOMON’S - -JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., LONDON, W. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/65978-0.zip b/old/65978-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e73b2f4..0000000 --- a/old/65978-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h.zip b/old/65978-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1404e6e..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/65978-h.htm b/old/65978-h/65978-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index c0ad8a9..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/65978-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13838 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Champions of the Fleet, by Edward Fraser. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - -<style type="text/css"> - -a { - text-decoration: none; -} - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -h2.nobreak { - page-break-before: avoid; -} - -hr.chap { - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - clear: both; - width: 65%; - margin-left: 17.5%; - margin-right: 17.5%; -} - -div.chapter { - page-break-before: always; -} - -ul { - list-style-type: none; -} - -li, li.indx { - margin-top: .5em; - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -li.ifrst { - margin-top: 2em; - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -li.isub1 { - padding-left: 4em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -p { - margin-top: 0.5em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -table { - margin: 1em auto 1em auto; - max-width: 40em; - border-collapse: collapse; -} - -th { - padding: 1em 0.25em 0.25em 0.25em; - font-weight: normal; -} - -td { - padding-left: 2.25em; - padding-right: 0.25em; - vertical-align: top; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.ad-box { - margin: auto; - max-width: 35em; - border: 2px solid black; -} - -.box-bottom { - width: 100%; - border-bottom: 2px solid black; -} - -.box { - padding: 0.5em; -} - -.contents td { - text-align: justify; -} - -.contents .tdr, .tdr { - text-align: right; -} - -.contents .tdpg { - vertical-align: bottom; - text-align: right; - white-space: nowrap; -} - -.contents .pad { - padding-bottom: 1em; -} - -.contents .tdsub { - padding-left: 4.25em; - font-size: 80%; - padding-bottom: 1em; -} - -.tdc { - text-align: center; -} - -.total { - border-top: thin solid black; - border-bottom: double black; -} - -.blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 10%; -} - -p.caption { - text-align: center; - margin-bottom: 1em; - font-size: 90%; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -table.caption { - font-size: 90%; -} - -.caption ul { - text-align: left; -} - -table.caption td { - padding-left: 0.25em; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.center { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.ditto { - margin-left: 2em; - margin-right: 2em; -} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.full { - border: thin solid blue; -} - -.filler { - width: 350px; -} - -.fm { - margin: auto; - max-width: 22em; - border: thin solid black; - padding: 0.5em; -} - -.fm ul { - padding-left: 0.5em; -} - -.fm li { - margin-top: .5em; - padding-left: 0em; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.footnotes { - margin-top: 1em; - border: dashed 1px; -} - -.footnote { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - font-size: 0.9em; -} - -.footnote .label { - position: absolute; - right: 84%; - text-align: right; -} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: none; -} - -.gothic { - font-family: 'Old English Text MT', 'Old English', serif; -} - -.larger { - font-size: 150%; -} - -.memorial { - margin: auto; - max-width: 23em; - border: 2px solid black; -} - -.noindent { - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 4%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; -} - -.playbill { - margin: 1.5em auto; - max-width: 30em; -} - -.poetry-container { - text-align: center; - margin: 1em; -} - -.poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; -} - -.poetry .stanza { - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; -} - -.poetry .verse { - padding-left: 3em; -} - -.poetry .indent0 { - text-indent: -3em; -} - -.poetry .indent2 { - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.poetry .indent4 { - text-indent: -1em; -} - -.poetry .indent6 { - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.poetry .indent8 { - text-indent: 1em; -} - -.poetry .indent18 { - text-indent: 6em; -} - -.poetry .indent26 { - text-indent: 10em; -} - -.right { - text-align: right; -} - -.smaller { - font-size: 80%; -} - -.smcap { - font-variant: small-caps; - font-style: normal; -} - -.smcap i { - font-style: italic; -} - -.allsmcap { - font-variant: small-caps; - font-style: normal; - text-transform: lowercase; -} - -.tb { - margin-top: 4em; -} - -.titlepage { - text-align: center; - margin-top: 3em; - text-indent: 0em; -} - -.transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - text-align: center; - font-size: smaller; - padding: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 5em; -} - -.x-ebookmaker img { - max-width: 100%; - width: auto; - height: auto; -} - -.x-ebookmaker .poetry { - display: block; - margin-left: 1.5em; -} - -.x-ebookmaker .blockquote { - margin: 1.5em 5%; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Champions of the Fleet, by Edward Fraser</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Champions of the Fleet</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0;'>Captains and men-of-war and days that helped to make the empire</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edward Fraser</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 2, 2021 [eBook #65978]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET ***</div> - -<div class="transnote full"> -<p><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b> images outlined in blue (like this note is) -are clickable for a larger version.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> - -<p class="center larger">CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="fm"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> - -<p class="center larger"><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</i></p> - -<ul> -<li>FAMOUS FIGHTERS OF THE FLEET.</li> -<li>THE ENEMY AT TRAFALGAR.</li> -<li>THE ROMANCE OF THE KING’S NAVY.</li> -<li class="center smaller">ETC. ETC.</li> -</ul> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus1"> - -<p class="caption">CHAMPIONS THEN AND NOW: THE <i>VICTORY</i> AND THE <i>DREADNOUGHT</i></p> - -<img src="images/illus1.jpg" width="700" height="440" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>Both ships, and the submarine alongside the “Victory,” are shown -on the same scale. The picture is reproduced by kind permission -of the Proprietors of the “Illustrated London News.” Photos by -Stephen Cribb, Southsea.</i></p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage larger">CHAMPIONS<br /> -OF THE FLEET</p> - -<p class="center">CAPTAINS AND MEN-OF-WAR<br /> -AND DAYS THAT HELPED TO<br /> -MAKE THE EMPIRE</p> - -<p class="titlepage">BY EDWARD FRASER</p> - -<p class="center">WITH 19 ILLUSTRATIONS</p> - -<p class="titlepage">LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD<br /> -NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVIII</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage smaller">WM. BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">PREFACE</h2> - -</div> - -<p>These tales of the navy of the fighting -days of old are to some extent, it may -seem, cruises in rather out-of-the-way -waters. At the same time, they may -claim present-day associations that should render -them not out of place just now. How and why, for -instance, the world-famous name <i>Dreadnought</i> came -into the Royal Navy is a story of interest on its own -account that ought to be timely. With that also is -told something of what our <i>Dreadnoughts</i> of old did -under fire in the fighting days of history: with -Drake; against the Armada; with Sir Walter -Raleigh; against De Ruyter and the Dutchmen; -at La Hogue; how one gave the <i>sobriquet</i> “Old -Dreadnought” to the famous Boscawen; how Nelson’s -uncle and patron Maurice Suckling captained -the same ship in battle; of Collingwood in the -<i>Dreadnought</i>; and of the <i>Dreadnought</i> at Trafalgar. -We get, too, a passing glance at certain of the -“points” of our mighty battleship the <i>Dreadnought</i> -of the present hour. Again, in the year -that has seen the name of Clive recalled to the -memory of his countrymen by an ex-Viceroy of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span> -India in connection with the hundred and fiftieth -anniversary of Plassey, what the navy did for Clive -at the most critical moment of his fortunes, how -without its active support on the field of battle Clive -would have been powerless, the forgotten, or certainly -little appreciated, part that the navy took in the -founding of our Indian empire—should be of interest -to English readers. This year again sees a new -<i>Téméraire</i>, one of our “improved <i>Dreadnoughts</i>,” -added to the Royal Navy. The fine story of how -the never-to-be-forgotten name <i>Téméraire</i>—immortalized -alike by Turner and by Trafalgar—first came -to appear on the roll of the British fleet is told here. -And it should be of interest to recall certain incidental -matters concerning the old <i>Victory</i> herself: -among others the circumstances in which she came -to be built and was safely sent afloat in spite of -expected incendiarism; where too those who fought -on board at Trafalgar came from, and how many -representatives each of our counties had with Nelson -in his last fight. Such are some of the matters dealt -with in these pages, which of themselves should -afford entertainment and help also to make this book -useful.</p> - -<p class="right">E. F.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> - -</div> - -<table summary="Contents" class="contents"> - <tr> - <td class="tdr smaller">CHAPTER</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">I.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Our <i>Dreadnoughts</i>:—Their Name and - Battle Record</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#I">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">II.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">“Kent Claims the First Blow”</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#II">52</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">III.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">The Avengers of the Black Hole:—What the - Navy did for Clive</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#III">77</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IV.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Boscawen’s Battle:—The Taking of the - <i>Téméraire</i></span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#IV">126</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">V.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">Hawke’s Finest Prize:—How the <i>Formidable</i> - Changed her Flag</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#V">141</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VI.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">When the <i>Victory</i> First Joined the - Fleet:—How they Built the <i>Victory</i> at Chatham</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#VI">160</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VII.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">On Valentine’s Night in Frigate Bay</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#VII">191</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">VIII.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">The Pageant of the <i>Donegal</i>:—A - Memory of ’98</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#VIII">208</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdr">IX.</td> - <td><span class="smcap">On Board our Flagships at Trafalgar:—Captain - Hardy and those who Manned the <i>Victory</i>—Under Fire with - Collingwood—“Old Ironsides” and the Third in Command</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#IX">222</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - -</div> - -<table summary="List of illustrations" class="contents"> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Champions then and now: the <i>Victory</i> - and the <i>Dreadnought</i></span></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller"><a href="#illus1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Both ships, and the submarine alongside the - <i>Victory</i>, are shown on the same scale. The picture is - reproduced by kind permission of the proprietors of the - <i>Illustrated London News</i>. Photos by Stephen Cribb, - Southsea.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller"><i>Facing page</i></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Our first <i>Dreadnought</i></span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus2">10</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From a contemporary print kindly lent by Mr. - Wentworth Huyshe. The <i>Dreadnought</i> is shown as she - appeared when serving in the “Ship Money” Fleet of Charles - the First—<i>circ.</i> 1637.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">“Old Dreadnought’s” <i>Dreadnought</i></span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus3">28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From the original drawing made in 1740 for the - official dockyard model. Now in the Author’s collection.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Red-Letter Day of Nelson’s Calendar. - How the <i>Dreadnought</i> led the Attack on the 21st of October, - 1757</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus4">34</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">When George the Third was King. Officers - at Afternoon Tea Ashore</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus5">38</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Thomas Rowlandson. 1786.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Manning the Fleet in 1779. A Warm Corner - for the Press Gang</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus6">38</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">James Gillray. October 15th, 1779.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The County and its Ship. The <i>Kent</i> - Trophy Challenge Shield</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus11">54</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From a photograph kindly lent by the designers - and manufacturers of the trophy, Messrs. George Kenning & - Son, Goldsmiths, Little Britain and Aldersgate Street, London. - <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a>[x]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Scene of the Operations under Admiral - Watson and Clive</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus12">76</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From Major James Rennell’s “Bengal Atlas,” - published in 1781. Reproduced by the courtesy of the Royal - Geographical Society.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Admiral Boscawen’s Victory</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus13">136</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">In the foreground to the right is seen the - <i>Warspite</i> attacking the <i>Téméraire</i>. Boscawen’s - flagship, the <i>Namur</i>, is in the centre flying the Admiral’s - Blue Flag at the main, and at the fore the red battle-flag, the - “Bloody Flag” of the Old Navy. Painted by Swaine. Engraved and - published in 1760.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Hawke’s Victory in Quiberon Bay</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus14">152</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">The picture shows the <i>Royal George</i> (in the - centre) sinking the <i>Superbe</i>, and the <i>Formidable</i> - (immediately beyond the <i>Superbe</i> and in the background) - lowering her colours to the <i>Resolution</i> (the ship coming - up astern of the <i>Royal George</i>). Painted by Swaine. Engraved - and published in 1760.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Execution of Admiral Byng</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus15">164</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From a contemporary print.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Portsmouth in the Year that the <i>Victory</i> - joined the Fleet</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus16">170</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From a contemporary print.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">At Portsmouth Point</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus17">176</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Thomas Rowlandson.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">In Portsmouth Harbour</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus18">176</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Thomas Rowlandson.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The <i>Victory</i> on her First Cruise</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus19">186</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Drawn by Captain Robert Elliot, - <span class="allsmcap">R.N.</span> Engraved and Published in 1780.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The First Fight in Frigate Bay, St. Kitts</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus20">198</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">Admiral Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron of 22 ships (at - anchor) beating off De Grasse’s opening attack with 28 ships (shown - coming into the bay under full sail) at 2.30 p.m. on January 25th, - 1782. Drawn by N. Pocock, “from a sketch made by a gentleman who - happened at the time to be on a visit at a friend’s, on a height - between Basse Terre and Old Road.”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Our First <i>Donegal</i></span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus21">212</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">The captured French line-of-battle ship <i>Hoche</i>, - being towed by the <i>Doris</i>, 36, Lord Ranelagh, into Lough Swilly. - Drawn by N. Pocock, from a sketch made from the <i>Robust</i> - by Captain R. Williams of the Marines.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="pad"> <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span> - <span class="smcap">Reproduction of the Official Drawing - of the <i>Victory’s</i> foretopsail after Trafalgar as Returned into Store - at Chatham Dockyard in March, 1806</span></td> - <td class="tdpg pad"><a href="#illus22">228</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Trafalgar—12 noon: as Sketched on the Spot by - a French Officer</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus23">252</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdsub">From a photograph of the original sepia drawing now - in the possession of a descendant of Captain Lucas of the <i>Redoutable</i>.</td> - </tr> - </table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h1>CHAMPIONS<br /> -OF THE FLEET</h1> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To the fame of your name</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the storm has ceased to blow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the fiery fight is heard no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the storm has ceased to blow.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="I">I<br /> -<span class="smaller">OUR <i>DREADNOUGHTS</i>:—<br /> -THEIR NAME AND BATTLE RECORD</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A name through all the world renown’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A name that rouses as a trumpet sound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The “Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s -Day”—on the 24th of August, 1572—was -directly the cause of the coming into -existence of our first <i>Dreadnought</i>.</p> - -<p>Startled and horrified at the terrible news, as the -details of the ghastly story crossed the channel, -Queen Elizabeth replied by instantly calling the -forces of England to arms. John Hawkins, at the -head of twenty ships of war, was sent to cruise off -the Azores. The rest of the fleet was ordered to mobilize -and be ready to concentrate in the Downs. Instructions were -issued for the beacons to be watched. -The militia were ordered to muster and march to the -coast. A subsidy was sent over to the Protestants<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span> -in Holland, and a rush of volunteers followed to -join those from England already in the field. -Huguenot refugees in this country were given leave -to fit out vessels to help their co-religionists at -La Rochelle. Four men-of-war for the Royal Navy -were ordered to be laid down forthwith. They comprised -the most important effort in shipbuilding -that England had made for ten years.</p> - -<p>To facilitate rapidity of building, the work on the -four vessels was divided between the two chief -master-shipwrights—or, as we should say, naval -constructors—of the day: two ships to Matthew -Baker, two ships to Peter Pett. Both men were at -the top of their profession. Peter Pett was a distinguished -member of the great family of naval shipwrights, -whose fame has come down to our own -times. Baker, who was also of a family of naval -shipwrights of repute, was considered by many of -the naval officers of the day as the better man. -“Mr. Baker,” wrote one, “for his skill and surpassing -grounded knowledge in the building of the -ships advantageable to all purposes hath not in any -nation his equal.” Pett and Baker were keen -business rivals, and their rivalry came into play on -the present occasion.</p> - -<p>The names of the new ships were announced in due -course, and represented Her Majesty’s mood on the -occasion. She herself selected and appointed them -with intention. It was Queen Elizabeth’s way to -give her ships “telling” names. “The choice of -energetic names for the ships of her Royal Navy,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span> -it has been said, “was one of the means employed -by the heroic and politic Elizabeth to infuse her -own dauntless spirit into the hearts of her subjects, -and to show to Europe at large how little she -dreaded the mightiest armaments of her enemies.” -More than that, however, needs to be said. As -a rule, in the cases of her bigger ships, the Queen -chose names that carried, in addition, an underlying -meaning, that bore direct allusion to some national -event of the hour. According to one who lived at -the time, writing about the first ship launched by -the Queen, to which, in accordance with old custom, -the sovereign’s name was given: “The great -Shipp called the <i>Elizabeth Jonas</i> was so named by -Her Grace in remembrance of her owne delyverance -from the furye of her Enemys, from which in one -respect she was no less myraculously preserved -than was the prophet Jonas from the Belly of the -whale.” In like manner our first <i>Victory</i> and our -first <i>Triumph</i> were given those ever famous names, -in the first place, of set intention to commemorate -the historic double-event of the year in which they -both joined the Queen’s fleet. The <i>Aid</i>, or <i>Ayde</i>, -another Elizabethan man-of-war, was so called to -commemorate Elizabeth’s first expedition to help -the Huguenots of Normandy in their forlorn hope -struggle for liberty of conscience, which was just -setting out when the <i>Aid</i> went off the stocks. Our -first <i>Revenge</i>, of immortal renown, did not receive -that name at haphazard in the year of Don John of -Austria’s insolent threat to invade England and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> -depose Elizabeth by force of arms. Our first -<i>Repulse</i> was appointed that name—extant to this -day in the Royal Navy for one of our older battleships—in -memory of the defeat of the Spanish -Armada:—<i>Dieu Repulse</i> was the earlier form of the -name as the Queen gave it. And to take at random -two other names from the list, it was to commemorate -the same overthrow of the arch-enemy of -England in those times that Queen Elizabeth chose the -names <i>Defiance</i> and <i>Warspite</i>—in curious reference, -this latter name, to an incident during the fighting -with the Armada—for two others of her men-of-war.</p> - -<p>It was of set purpose that Queen Elizabeth, in the -year of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, chose -the name <i>Dreadnought</i> for one of her ships of war. -The intentions of the Catholic League towards -England were an open secret in every council chamber -of Europe. The papal Bull, excommunicating -and deposing Elizabeth, had been nailed on the -doors of Lambeth Palace. It was at their disposal. -Alva’s butcheries in the Netherlands were fresh in -the recollection of the world, and the memory of -other dark doings came still more closely home to -our own people; how Englishmen had been “seized -in Spain and the New World to linger amidst the -tortures of the Inquisition or to die by its fires.” -Burghley and Walsingham, and others as well, had -fully understood the menace for England and the -warning of Lepanto only two years before. Their -secret agents had supplied them with a copy of -De Spes’ confidential report to Alva and King<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span> -Philip to the effect that the ports of England were -poorly fortified, and that only eleven at most of -Queen Elizabeth’s twenty ships of war were worth -taking into account. They had not forgotten what -had happened three years before, when, under the -guise of an escort for the new Queen of Spain from -Flanders to the Tagus, an extremely formidable -Spanish fleet, fully equipped for war, had come -north and lain for some weeks in the Scheldt, acting -throughout in a very suspicious way. That was -a twelvemonth before Lepanto. Now the situation -seemed even more menacing for England. The -Queen’s so-called Agreement with Spain, lately -come to, for practical purposes was hardly worth the -paper it was drafted on. There was Mary Stuart -and her partizans to be reckoned with also; the -restless intriguing of the Roman Catholics all over -England; open rebellion in Ireland. What might -not the consequences of the Paris massacre involve -in the near future? It was at such a moment that -the name <i>Dreadnought</i> was first appointed to an -English man-of-war, and the Queen’s choice in the -circumstances partook of the nature almost of an -Act of State, specially designed to express the temper -of the nation. In the same spirit of exalted -patriotism in which, at a later day, Elizabeth, from -Tilbury camp, with proud scorn bade King Philip -and the Prince of Parma and all other enemies -of the realm do their worst, the great Queen, of her -own royal will and pleasure, named for the Royal -Navy its first <i>Dreadnought</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span></p> - -<p><i>Swiftsure</i> was the name given to the second ship of -the set. “Swift-suer” was the way the Queen Elizabeth -spelled it—“Swift-pursuer,” that is—not an inappropriate -name for the sister ship of a <i>Dreadnought</i>. -The pair were intended as ships of the line, to use a -later day term. The other two ships of the group -were smaller vessels of the light cruiser class of the -period, intended for service as scouts, as the “eyes -and ears of the fleet” at sea. Their names were the -<i>Achates</i> and the <i>Handmaid</i>, expressive names both -in their way.</p> - -<p>Matthew Baker’s men had the <i>Dreadnought</i> and -<i>Handmaid</i> to build; Pett’s men the <i>Swiftsure</i> and -the <i>Achates</i>. They all started work within three -weeks, and Pett’s men won the race by just a month. -The <i>Swiftsure</i> and the <i>Achates</i> were both sent afloat -on the 11th of October, 1573; the <i>Dreadnought</i> and -the <i>Handmaid</i> on the 10th of the following month.</p> - -<p>An Arctic explorer of those times, whose name lives -on our maps—the man, indeed, who named the North -Cape for us, Captain Stephen Borough (or Borogh, -as he himself usually wrote it), one of “ye foure -Principall Masters in Ordinarye of ye Queene’s -Maᵗⁱᵉˢ Navye Royall,” by special appointment also -the Master of the <i>Victory</i>, and a son of North Devon -in her proudest day—had naval charge and supervision -over the building of the <i>Dreadnought</i> and the -other ships at Deptford. He lodged meanwhile -at Ratcliffe, across the river, and his “traveylinge -chardges,” with the waterman’s receipt for rowing him -to and fro on his weekly visits of inspection, signed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> -“Richard Williams of Ratcliff, Whyrryman,” is -still in existence.</p> - -<p>The marshmen and labourers at the dockyard -began their digging, “working upon ye opening of -ye dockhedde for ye launchynge,” during the first -days of November. That was the first of the preliminaries, -necessitated by the primitive arrangements -of those times. The dock at Deptford in -which the timbers of the <i>Dreadnought</i> were put -together was of the crudest type: practically an -oblong excavation in the river bank, the sides and -inner end of which were shored up and kept from -falling in by wooden planks. The outer end, or -river end, was closed and sealed when a ship was -inside by a water-tight dam of brushwood-faggots, -clay, and stones filled in and rammed down between -the overlapping double gates of the dock. An -“ingyn to drawe water owte of ye dokke,” worked by -relays of labourers, pumped out the water inside the -dock after it was closed. Before the dock could be -re-opened the stones, faggots, etc. of the “tamping” -or stopping had to be dug up and removed. -Then at low water the gates would be swung back, -and the water from the river flow in as the tide rose -for the launch or float-out of the ship into the -river.</p> - -<p>On board the <i>Dreadnought</i>, meanwhile, the finishing -touches were being put by the contractors’ workmen—Thomas -Hodges, of “Parris Garden,” and -Thomas Wells, of Chatham, and their men seeing to -the ironwork fittings, “ye workmanshipp and making<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> -of lockes and boltes, keyes and haidges [<i>sic</i>] for ij -newe cabbons, as also for hookes, and stockelockes, -porthaidges [<i>sic</i>], revetts and countre-revetts, shuttynges -with rings, greate dufftayles and divers -other necessaries”; joiners sent by “Jullyan -Richards of London, widdow,” who had a contract -for certain other fittings; other joiners from Lewys -Stocker, also of London, seeing to “ye sellynges -[<i>sic</i>] and formysling ye cabbins and makyng casements -for windows, seelings, awmeryes [<i>sic</i>], cupboards, -settes, bedsteddes, formes, stools, trisstelles, -tables,” etc. “for her Grace’s newe shippe ye -<i>Dreadnaughte</i>.” Hard by, alongside Deptford creek, -were lying the masts for the ship, ready to be put in -place after she was afloat; with “toppes greate and -small, mayne-tops, ffore-toppe, mizzen-toppe, and -toppe-galantes;” besides barge loads from Richard -Pope, of “Ereth,” of “gravaille for ye ballistynge -of hur highness Shipe called ye <i>Dreadnaughte</i> at iiijᵈ -every time.” Prest-master Thomas Woodcot was -meanwhile hard at work elsewhere, “travailling -about the presting of marynnars within the River of -Theames for ye Launchynge and Rigging of Hur -highnes’ ij newe shippes at Deptfordstraund [<i>sic</i>] by -the space of viii daies at iijs iiijd per diem.”</p> - -<p>The future “nucleus crew” of the <i>Dreadnought</i>, -who were to act as ship-keepers on board when the -ship went round to moor with the rest of the fleet -laid up in the Medway, had been warned to be at -Deptford by the morning of the 10th of November. -They were drawn apparently from the ships lying<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> -off Gillingham, just below Chatham, or “Jillingham -Ordinarie”—the “Fleet Reserve,” as we say nowadays—and -numbered, all told, ten men and a boy. -These were the names of our original “Dreadnoughts” -of three hundred and thirty-three years -ago, and their quarterly pay, according to “The -Accompte as well Ordinarie as Extraordinarie of -Benjamin Gonson, Treasurer of ye Quene’s Majestie’s -Maryn cawses,” 1574, a quaint, bulky, ponderous, -parchment covered volume, of massive proportions, -laced with faded green silk, and bound with leather -straps, now well worn and in parts frayed nearly -away:</p> - -<p class="center">THE “DREADNAUGHTE.”</p> - -<table summary="The crew of the “DREADNAUGHTE” and their pay"> - <tr> - <th>MARYNERS.</th> - <th></th> - <th></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Robarte Baxster, boteson:—xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxxvijˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vjᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Richard Boureman, cooke: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxixˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Awsten: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Nicholas Francton: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Christofer Parr, gromett: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">jᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Henry Osbourne: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Laske: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Richard Shutt: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Robartt Woodnaughtt: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Appleford: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxjˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">vᵈ</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Huntt, master gonner: xij wekes vj daies</td> - <td class="tdr">xxxijˢ</td> - <td class="tdr">ijᵈ</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>This is what the <i>Dreadnought</i> looked like as she -lay in the dock on the Tuesday morning that saw the -ship take the water. Imagine a solid-looking heavily-timbered -hull, round bowed, with long, raking forward -prow or beak, reaching out some ten or twelve -yards ahead of the actual vessel, and with at the -after-end a lofty towering poop with shallow overhanging<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> -balustraded gallery. Amidships the vessel -is of a width equal to nearly a third of her length. -From the “greate beaste,” the figure-head—a -dragon—“gilded and laid with fine gold,” representing -one of the supporters of the Queen’s arms, -set up on the tip of the beak, away aft to the stern -gallery is a distance of, over all, about a hundred and -twenty feet. The body of the hull itself has a keel -length of some eighty feet—from rudder post to -fore-foot. Along the water-line the bends are all -tarred over, with varnished side planking above, -tough oak timber from the Crown lands of the -Sussex Weald by Horsham. The topsides above -are varnished to the bulwarks, where a touch of -colour shows; ornamental carved and painted work -in royal Tudor green and white, laid on in -“colours of oil” and garnished with Her Majesty’s -family badges in gold, and with here and there, on -the balustrades of the quarter-rails and stern gallery, -an additional touch of red. On the stern, “painted -in oils,” are the arms of England, with the Lion and -the Dragon, the Queen’s royal supporters, and -below, on a scroll, Her Majesty’s motto, <i>Semper -Eadem</i>.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus2"> - -<p class="caption">OUR FIRST <i>DREADNOUGHT</i></p> - -<img src="images/illus2.jpg" width="700" height="440" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>From a Contemporary Print kindly lent by Mr. Wentworth Huyshe. -(The “Dreadnought” is shown as she appeared when serving in the -“Ship Money” Fleet of Charles the First:—circ. 1637).</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>These are other things about the ship that would -strike the Deptford visitor of that day. The square-headed -forecastle is low and squat in appearance, -compared with the piled-up, narrow poop right aft, -looking over from which a foreign visitor to the -Queen’s fleet once declared that “it made one -shudder to look downwards.” The bottom of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> -ship is coated with “tallow and rosin mingled with -pitch.” The square-cut, wide portholes, out of which -the guns will point when they are on board—the -Tower lighters will bring them down for mounting in -a week or two—were the idea, they say in the yard, -of Master Shipwright Baker’s father, old James -Baker, many years ago King Harry’s shipwright, -improving on the original French style. It was old -Baker too, they say, who “first adapted English -ships to carry heavy guns.” The Reformers wanted -to send the old man to the stake for “being in -the possession of some forbidden books”; but King -Harry could not afford to let them burn England’s -best naval architect even for the benefit of Protestantism.</p> - -<p>The <i>Dreadnought’s</i> gun-ports should open some -four feet clear of the water. People have not forgotten -the horror of the <i>Mary Rose</i>; what happened -to her; how she came to go down one summer’s day -at Spithead. The waist bulwarks of the <i>Dreadnought</i>, -if she swims as she ought, will be some -twenty feet above the water-line. Nearly four hundred -tons in burden is our new man-of-war—five -tons heavier than the <i>Swiftsure</i>, than which ship too -she is six feet longer, though the pair reckon as -sister ships. Upwards of six thousand pounds out -of Queen Elizabeth’s treasury (about £30,000 at present -day value) will have been the cost of the <i>Dreadnought</i> -when she leaves Deptford dockyard.</p> - -<p>We will go on board for a brief look round the -<i>Dreadnought</i> within. As we enter the ship we note<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> -how both the half-deck and the fore and aft castles -are loopholed for both arrow-fire and musketry, so as -to sweep the waist should an enemy board and get -a footing amidships. Some of the lighter guns -would be able to help. The heavier guns are mostly -on the broadside, and are mounted on the decks -below in a double tier. The <i>Dreadnought</i> altogether -carries forty-two guns. Sixteen of them are heavy -guns: two “cannon-periers” of six-inch bore, hard -hitters, firing twenty-four pounder stone shot; four -“culverins,” seventeen and a half pounders, twelve -feet long and five and half inches in the bore, firing -iron shot, and able to throw a ball upwards of -three miles—“random shot.” There are also ten -“demi-culverins,” nine-pounders, firing four and a -half inch iron shot. The lighter guns are six -“sakers,” pieces nine feet long (five-pounders, of -three and a half inch bore) and two “fawcons” -(three-pounders). The heavier guns are all muzzle-loaders. -Distributed over the upper decks are -eighteen breech-loading guns, for fighting at -close quarters and rapid firing: “port-pieces,” -“fowlers,” and “bases,” as they are called. They -are on swivel mountings, and fire stone and iron -shot.</p> - -<p>All told, the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> armament weighs -thirty-two tons. The guns are from Master Ralphe -Hogge, “the Queen’s gunstone maker, and gunfounder -to the Council.” They are of Sussex iron, -from Master Hogge’s own foundry at Buxted. At -this moment they are waiting at the Tower, together<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> -with the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> supplies of iron shot and -cannon balls of Kentish ragstone from Her Majesty’s -quarries at Maidstone, stacked “in ye Bynns upon -ye Tower Wharfe each side Traitor’s Gate.” -When the <i>Dreadnought</i> goes into battle she will -carry some two hundred officers and men all told: -a hundred and thirty “maryners”—“Able men for -topyard, helme and lead,” and “gromets,” or boys -and “Fresh men”; with twenty gunners and -fifty soldiers. To keep her at sea will cost the -Queen £303. 6s. 8d. a month for sea-wages and -victualling. Three weeks provisions and water is -the most that the ship can stow, owing to the space -wanted for the ballast, the cables for the four anchors, -and the ammunition and sea stores. That is why -victualling ships have to attend Her Majesty’s fleets -on service outside the Narrow Seas. The “cook -room,” of bricks and iron and paving stones, is in -the hold over the ballast. Two more notes may be -made as we return on deck and quit the ship. The -captain’s cabin, opening on the gallery aft, is neatly -wainscoted and garnished with green and white -chintz, and with curtains of darnix hung at the -latticed cabin windows. There are three boats for -the <i>Dreadnought</i>: the “great boat,” which tows -astern at all times, the cock-boat and the skiff, both -of which stow inboard. John Clerk, “of Redryffe, -Shipwrighte,” built the “great boat,” being paid -£24, in the terms of his bill, “For the Workmanshipp -and makeinge of a new Boate for her Highness’ -Shipp, the <i>Dreadnought</i>; conteyninge xi foote<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> -Di. in lengthe; ix foote Di. in Breadthe; and iij -foote ij inches in Depthe.—By agrement.”</p> - -<p>A brave show should our gallant <i>Dreadnought</i> -make when she goes forth to war, with her varnished -sides and rows of frowning guns and painted top-armours -(the handiwork, according to his bill, of -Master Coteley, of Deptford), and all her wide -spreading sails set (“John Hawkins, Esquire, of -London,” supplied these), and at the masthead, -high above all, her flag of St. George of white -Dowlas canvas with a blood-red cross of cloth -sewn on.</p> - -<p class="tb">The appointed day has come, and the time for the -sending afloat and formal naming of the <i>Dreadnought</i>: -Tuesday afternoon, the 10th of November, -1573.</p> - -<p>The ship lies ready for launching at the appointed -moment, having been duly “struck” upon the launching -ways a day or two before, under the supervision -of Master Baker himself, in the dock where she has -been building; shored up on either side, and with -the lifting screws and “crabs” prepared to heave her -off. The dockhead has been dug out and finally -cleared at low tide on Monday, leaving the double -gates free and in order, ready to be swung back and -opened as soon as the tide begins to make on -Tuesday morning.</p> - -<p>We will imagine ourselves on the spot at the time -and looking on at what took place. It is possible to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> -do so, thanks to a manuscript left by Phineas Pett, -Peter’s son and successor at Deptford royal yard.</p> - -<p>All is ready for the day’s proceedings by a little -after noon, when the important personages taking -part at the launch, “by commandement of ye officers -of Her Grace’s Maryn Causys,” and the invited -guests and superior officials of the dockyard assemble -for a light refection of cake and wine in the -Master Shipwright’s “lodging,” preliminary to the -ceremony.</p> - -<p>Who named the <i>Dreadnought</i> on that day? Unfortunately -that one detail is not mentioned in any -existing record, and the Navy Office book for the year, -where the name would certainly have been found, together -with the honorarium or fee, paid according to -custom, is missing. Most probably it was Captain -Stephen Borough himself, and we may imagine him -there, apparelled for the day in crimson velvet and -gold lace, in the full uniform of one entitled to wear -“Her Maᵗⁱᵉˢ cote of ordinarie.” His rank and -standing as one of the “Principall Masters of the -Queen’s Maᵗⁱᵉˢ Navie in Ordinarie” qualified him for -performance of so dignified a duty. The Principal -Masters were often deputed by the Lord High -Admiral to preside on his behalf at the launches of -men-of-war and perform the name-giving ceremony.</p> - -<p>While the high officers are having their refreshments -in Master Shipwright Baker’s lodging, Boatswain -Baxster and the assistant shipwrights are -stationing the men on board and at the launching -tackles. The customary “musicke” then makes its<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> -appearance, “a noyse of trumpetts and drums,” who -post themselves on the poop and the forecastle of -the ship. Next, a “standing cup” of silver-gilt, -filled to the brim with Malmsey of the best, is set up -on a pedestal fixed prominently on the poop, and the -Queen’s colours are hoisted on board, together with -the flag of St. George. At the same time pennons -and streamers of Tudor green and white, and -decorated with royal emblems and badges, are -ranged here and there along the ship’s sides and on -the forecastle.</p> - -<p>All is ready ere long, and then, forthwith, -word is sent to Master Shipwright Baker and the -gentlemen of the company. Forthwith the procession -forms itself and sets out in stately fashion to go -on board.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With his grey hair unbonneted</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The old sea-captain comes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind him march the halberdiers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before him sound the drums.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>So escorted and attended the personage of the -hour paces his way forth and proceeds on board the -new ship, passing along the decks and ascending to -the poop where the company group themselves -according to precedence, near by the glittering silver-gilt -wine cup. Master Shipwright Baker then gives -the signal, and Boatswain Baxster’s whistle shrills -out. At once the gangs of men standing ready -at the crabs and windlasses heave taut, and a -moment later, as the ship begins her first movement -outwards, the trumpets and drums sound forth. So, -at a leisurely rate at the outset, gliding off foot by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -foot into deeper water, the new man-of-war hauls -gradually out and clears past the dock gates till well -into the stream. The anchor is then let go and she -brings up. Now it is for Captain Borough—allowing -it to have been he—to do his part.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Stans procul in prorâ, pateram tenet extaque salsos</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Porricit in fluctus ac vina liquentia fundit.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The trumpets and drums cease as the “Principall -Master” steps forward and takes up his position -beside the standing cup. He raises the gleaming -cup on high so that all around may see. Then, amid -universal silence, he proclaims, in a clear resonant -voice that every one may hear: “By commandment -of Her Grace, whom God preserve, I name this ship -the <i>Dreadnought</i>! God save the Queen!” As the -Lord High Admiral’s representative utters the last -word, he drinks from the cup, and a moment after -ceremoniously pours out a portion of the wine upon -the deck. The next moment, with a wide sweep -of the arm, he heaves the standing cup, with a little -wine left in it, into the river—a sacrifice, as it were, -on behalf of the bride newly-wedded to the sea, or -that the Queen’s cup might never be put to base -uses—perhaps, indeed, as a sort of propitiatory act. -So it was done, says Master Phineas Pett, “according -to the ancient custom and ceremony performed -at such times.” Again there is a blare of trumpets -and a ruffle from the drums, with cheers afloat and -ashore for Her Grace, and hearty congratulations to -Master Matthew Baker on the occasion. After -that the <i>Dreadnought</i> is formally inspected between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -decks and below, and the crew’s health is drunk by -the high officers in ship’s beer—sure to be of a good -brew on a launching day.</p> - -<p>By the time that all is over the ship has been warped -back alongside the shore again, and the company -adjourn thereupon to wind up the day’s proceedings -with a good old English dinner, given to the Master -Shipwright and the officials of the yard at the Lord -High Admiral’s expense.</p> - -<p>Such is a passing glimpse of the memorable scene—as -far as one may venture to reconstruct it—on -“Dreadnought Day” at Deptford Royal Dockyard, -that Tuesday afternoon, in Tudor times, three hundred -and thirty-three years ago. It is hard to fancy -such doings, at Deptford of all places, now. Oxen -and sheep for the London meat market nowadays -stand penned in lairs on the site of the filled-in -dock whence the <i>Dreadnought</i> was floated out—the -same dock whence the Armada <i>Victory</i> had preceded -her, whence Grenville’s <i>Revenge</i> followed her. -Master Shipwright Baker’s lodging is nowadays -a cattle drovers’ drinking bar. The old-time navy -buildings—their origin even now easily recognisable, -at any rate externally—serve as slaughterhouses, -and so forth, among which rough butcher -lads, reeking of the shambles, jostle daily to and -fro. On every side is bustle and clatter and -hustling, the rumbling of Smithfield meat vans -over the old-time cobble stones, the jargon of -Yankee bullock-men, the bleating of sheep under -sentence of death. Strange and hard is the fate that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> -in these material times of ours has overtaken what was -once the premier Royal Dockyard of England, this -former temple, so to speak, of the guardian deity of -our sea-girt realm:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">This ruined shrine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whence worship ne’er shall rise again:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The owl and bat inhabit here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The snake nests in the altar stone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sacred vessels moulder near—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The image of the god is gone!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Fallen indeed from its high estate of former days -is the ancient royal establishment of “Navy-building -town.” Where bluff King Hal used to walk and -talk with Matthew Baker’s father, “old honest Jem”; -where our sixth Edward paid a long-remembered -visit, to be “banketted” (as the royal spelling has -it) and see two men-of-war go off the ways; where -Elizabeth knighted Francis Drake, and James and -Charles rode down in state on many a gala day; -where Cromwell paid his second naval visit—his -“grandees” attending him, and escort of clanking -Ironsides—to see the vindictively named <i>Naseby</i> take -the water; where our second Charles liked to saunter -on occasion with Rupert at his side, and chattering -Pepys and John Evelyn in his train; where James -the Second, dull and morose of mood, for the sands -of his monarchy were already running out, paid his -last historic visit one gloomy autumn afternoon of -1688; where brave old Benbow liked best to spend -the mornings of his half-pay life on shore, and -Captain Cook set out on his last voyage; where -George the Third drove down with Queen Charlotte<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> -to do honour to the naming of a <i>Prince of Wales</i> -man-of-war; where, too, Royalty of our own time -has more than once visited—is now “a market for -the landing, sale, and slaughtering of foreign cattle.” -The glory has departed—the image of the god is -gone!</p> - -<p class="tb">The <i>Dreadnought</i> and <i>Swiftsure</i> and the two -smaller ships were masted and rigged and completed -for service during November and the early -days of December, after which, with the help of a -hundred and fifty extra hands, “prested in ye river -of Theames for ye transportyngs about,” they set off -on the twentieth of the month to join the fleet lying -“in ordinary” in the Medway—an eight days’ voyage -as it proved, owing to squally weather and an east -wind. The Queen was to have seen the <i>Dreadnought</i> -and her squadron pass the palace at Greenwich and -salute the royal standard with cannon and a display -of masthead flags, as was the Tudor naval usage -when the sovereign was in residence, but there had -been a domestic misadventure at Placentia just a few -days before. While talking with her maids of -honour one afternoon, one of the Queen’s ladies—“the -Mother of the Maids”—had suddenly dropped -dead in the royal presence, and the Court had hastily -removed to Whitehall. So the <i>Dreadnought</i> had no -royal standard to salute. Three days after Christmas -the Deptford squadron took up their moorings -in “Jillingham water.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span></p> - -<p>“Powerful vessels ... with little tophamper and -very light, which is a great advantage for close -quarters and with much artillery, the heavy pieces -being close to the water,” reported, in a confidential -letter now in the royal archives at Simancas, one of -the King of Spain’s agents in England who saw the -<i>Dreadnought</i> and <i>Swiftsure</i> not long after they had -joined the Medway fleet. So too, indeed, some of -King Philip’s sailors were destined to find out for -themselves.</p> - -<p class="tb">The Dons, indeed, were destined to taste something -of the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> quality more than once; -beginning with the memorable event of the “Singeing -of the King of Spain’s Beard.” There, Drake’s -right-hand man on many a battle day, commanded -the <i>Dreadnought</i>, Captain Thomas Fenner, a sturdy -son of Sussex and a seaman who knew his business.</p> - -<p>How thoroughly Drake—“fiend incarnate; his -name Tartarean, unfit for Christian lips; Draco—a -dragon, a serpent, emblem of Diabolus; Satanas -himself”—did his work among the Spaniards at -Cadiz, burning eighteen of their finest royal galleons, -and carrying off six more in spite of fireships and -all the shooting of the Spanish batteries, is history. -The <i>Dreadnought</i>, after experiencing a narrow -escape from shipwreck off Cape Finisterre at the -outset of her cruise, took her full share of what -fighting there was. She was present, too, at the -second act of the drama, which took place off the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> -Tagus with so fatal a sequel for the hapless Commander-in-Chief -designate of the Armada, the -Marquis de Santa Cruz—the “Iron Marquis,” -“Thunderbolt of War,” the real Hero of Lepanto, -by reputation the ablest sea-officer the world had -yet seen. First, the news that his flagship and the -finest fighting galleons of his own picked squadron—all -named, too, after the most helpful among the -Blessed Saints of the Calendar—together with his -best transports and victuallers, had been boarded -and taken and sacrilegiously set ablaze to, burned -to the water’s edge, one after the other, by those -“accursed English Lutheran dogs.” Worse still. -To be then defied to his face, he, Spain’s “Captain-General -of the Ocean”; to be audaciously challenged -to come out and fight and have his revenge then -and there—Drake and the <i>Dreadnought</i> and the rest -openly waiting for him—in the offing. The shame -of the disaster was enough to kill the haughty -Hidalgo, to make him fall sick and turn his face -to the wall and die, without Philip’s espionage -and unworthy insults goading him to the grave. -The <i>Dreadnought</i> had a hand in shaping the destinies -of England, for, in the words of the Spanish popular -saying, “to the Iron Marquis succeeded the Golden -Duke,” whose hopeless incompetence gave England -every chance in the next year’s fighting.</p> - -<p>In the opening encounter with the Spanish -Armada that July Sunday afternoon of 1588, no -ship of all the Queen’s fleet bore herself better than -did the <i>Dreadnought</i>. Captain George Beeston, of an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> -ancient Surrey family, held command on board the -<i>Dreadnought</i>. He was a veteran officer of the -Queen’s fleet—more than twenty-five years had gone -by since he first trod the quarter-deck as a captain. -Leading in among the enemy, after the first hour of -long-range firing between the English van and the -Spanish rear had brought both sides to closer -quarters, the <i>Dreadnought</i> with the ships that followed -Drake’s flagship the <i>Revenge</i>, for nearly three hours -fought first with one and then with another of the -most powerful of the Spanish rear-guard ships. -After that, forcing their way among the Spaniards -as they gave back and began to crowd on their -main body, she had a sharp set-to with the big -galleons, led by Juan Martinez de Recalde, perhaps -the best seaman in all King Philip’s navy, commander -of the rear-division of the Armada. On -the <i>Santa Ana</i> and her consorts the <i>Revenge</i> and -<i>Dreadnought</i> and the rest made a spirited attack, -pushing Recalde so hard that eventually Medina -Sidonia himself, the Spanish Admiral, had to turn -back and come to the rescue with every ship at his -disposal. It was enough; Drake and his men had -played their part. Before Medina Sidonia’s advance -in force, the <i>Revenge</i> and <i>Dreadnought</i> left the <i>Santa -Ana</i>, and with the rest of the attacking English -van drew off. They had done an excellent day’s -work.</p> - -<p>There was harder work for the <i>Dreadnought</i> in the -great battle of Tuesday off Portland Bill. First -came the fierce brush in the morning, when Drake<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> -and Lord Howard and the leaders of the English -fleet, after a daring attempt to work in between the -Spanish fleet and the Dorset coast, had to tack at -the last moment, baffled for want of sea room, and -were closed with by the enemy in the act of going -about. On came the galleons exultantly, their crews -shouting and cheering, amid a blare of trumpets and -ruffle of drums, in full confidence to run down and sink -the lighter built English vessels. It was a moment -of extreme peril:—but at the very last, suddenly, the -fortune of the day changed. As the Spaniards -seemed to be upon them the wind shifted, the -English sails filled, ship by ship and all together, -and then stretching out with bowsprits pointing seaward, -the <i>Revenge</i>, <i>Victory</i>, <i>Ark Royal</i>, <i>Dreadnought</i>, -and the others safely cleared the enemy, pouring in -so fierce a fire as they passed that the Spanish ships -had to sheer off. This was the first fight of the -day. Later, when the wind, going round with the -sun, shifted again and gave Drake and Howard the -weather gage, came on the most desperate encounter -with the Armada that our ships had yet seen. Lord -Howard in the <i>Ark Royal</i> and Drake in the <i>Revenge</i>, -with the <i>Dreadnought</i>, the <i>Lion</i>, the <i>Victory</i>, and the -<i>Mary Rose</i> near at hand, driving ahead before the -wind, pushed into the thick of the Spanish main -body, and attacked the enemy, in a long and furious -battle that lasted until the afternoon sun was nearing -the horizon.</p> - -<p>A third day of battle was yet to come—Thursday’s -hot fight off the back of the Isle Wight, and here<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -again the <i>Dreadnought</i> took her full share of what -was done, until the long summer day drew to its -close and the Armada “gathered in a roundel,” -sullenly stood off eastward, proposing to fight no -more until the coast of Flanders had been made.</p> - -<p>Next morning the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> captain was -summoned on board Lord Howard’s flagship, the -<i>Ark Royal</i>. He returned “Sir George,” knighted -by the Lord High Admiral on the quarter-deck, in -the presence of the enemy.</p> - -<p>Sunday night saw the fireship attack, so disastrous -to the Armada, and next morning followed the -crowning victory of the week’s campaign, the great -fight off Gravelines of Monday, the 29th of July, “the -great battle which, more distinctly perhaps than any -battle of modern times, has moulded the history of -Europe—the battle which curbed the gigantic power -of Spain, which shattered the Spanish prestige and -established the basis of England’s empire.” Here -the <i>Dreadnought</i> distinguished herself again, fighting -in the thick of the fray from eight in the morning to -four in the afternoon, within pistol-shot of the enemy -most of the time.</p> - -<p>From six till nearly eight the ships of Drake’s -squadron had to bear the brunt of the fight, with, for -antagonists, Medina Sidonia himself and his chief -captains, who had gathered to stand by their admiral. -Trying to rally the Armada after the panic of the -night, this gallant band had at first, from before daybreak, -anchored in a group, to act as rear-guard to -the Spanish fleet, firing signal guns to stop their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> -flying consorts, and sending pinnaces to order the -fugitives back. Then Hawkins in the <i>Victory</i>, with the -<i>Dreadnought</i>, the <i>Mary Rose</i>, and <i>Swallow</i>, and other -ships unnamed, came up and struck in. Now -moving ahead through her own smoke to plunge into -the mêlée and come to the rescue of some hard-pressed -consort, now working tack for tack parallel with and -firing salvo after salvo at short range into some towering -galleon or huge water-centipede-like galleass—so -the hours of that eventful forenoon wore through -on the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> powder-begrimed decks. “Sir -George Beeston behaved himself valiantly,” records -the official <i>Relation of Proceedings</i>, drawn up for the -Lord High Admiral. In vain did the most formidable -of the Spanish galleons try to close and board. -Ship after ship was forced back with shattered -bulwarks and splintered sides, and with their -scuppers spouting blood, after each English broadside, -as the round shot crashed in among the masses -of Spanish soldiery, packed on board the galleons -as closely almost as they could stand.</p> - -<p>More Spaniards joined their admiral as Sidonia -passed north, the Spanish rear and centre squadrons -forming together a long straggling array, among -the ships of which, from nine to after one o’clock, -the <i>Revenge</i>, <i>Victory</i>, <i>Dreadnought</i>, <i>Triumph</i>, <i>Ark -Royal</i>, and the rest charged through and through -fighting both broadsides. Shortly after two o’clock, -the English ships passed on, pressing forward to -overtake the Spanish van group of galleons. By -four o’clock the battle was won, but firing went on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -till nearly six, “when every man was weary with -labour, and our cartridges spent and our ammunition -wasted” (<i>i.e.</i> used up).</p> - -<p>Once more the <i>Dreadnought</i> followed the fortunes -of Drake’s flag to battle; again, too, as Captain -Fenner’s ship. In the year after the Armada she -had her part in escorting the Corunna expedition, -the “counter-Armada,” designed to beat up the -quarters of the enemy at home and attempt the -wresting of Portugal from the Spanish yoke. A -landing party of “Dreadnoughts” fought ashore. -Led by Drake and the general of the soldiers, Sir -John Norris, they drove the Spaniards before them. -“Unto every volly flying round their ears,” says -old Stow, “the generall, turning his face towards the -enemie would bow and vale his bonnet, saying ‘I -thank you, Sir! I thank you, Sir!’ to the great -admiration of all his campe and of Generall Drake.” -The wine vaults of Corunna, however, interposed on -behalf of Spain. Soldiers and sailors alike broke in -and got drunk, and all that could be done after that -was to reship the men and write the campaign down -a failure.</p> - -<p>In the attack on Brest in 1594, when Sir Martin -Frobisher met his death, the <i>Dreadnought</i> had her -share. Two years after that she fought with Essex -and Raleigh in the grand attack on Cadiz—this time -as one of the picked ships of Sir Walter Raleigh’s -own “inshore squadron.” She sailed with Sir -Walter again after that in the celebrated “Islands -Voyage”; and then the curtain rings down on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -memorable days of the story of the <i>Dreadnought</i> -of the Great Queen’s fleet. The old ship lasted -afloat (after an expensive rebuild in James the First’s -reign) until the time of the Civil War. She figured -in the interim in the Rochelle Expedition and also in -one of Charles the First’s Ship-money fleets. The -<i>Dreadnought</i> of St. Bartholomew’s Day and Matthew -Baker made her last cruise of all in the year of -Marston Moor.</p> - -<p class="tb">Six <i>Dreadnoughts</i> in all have flown the pennant -since England’s Armada <i>Dreadnought</i> passed -away.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 540px;" id="illus3"> - -<p class="caption">“OLD DREADNOUGHT’S” <i>DREADNOUGHT</i></p> - -<img src="images/illus3.jpg" width="540" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>From the original drawing made in 1740 for the official dockyard -model. Now in the Author’s Collection.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>Charles the Second’s <i>Dreadnought</i> was our second -man-of-war of the name. Originally the <i>Torrington</i>, -one of Cromwell’s frigates, and named, after the -Puritan usage, to commemorate a Roundhead victory -over the hapless Cavaliers, Restoration Year saw the -ship renamed <i>Dreadnought</i>, under which style she -rendered the State good service for many a long -year to come. In that time the <i>Dreadnought</i> fought, -always with credit, in no fewer than seven fleet -battles. She was with the Duke of York when he -beat Opdam off Lowestoft in 1665; with Monk, -Duke of Albemarle, and Prince Rupert in the “Four -Days’ Fight” of 1666; at the defeat of De Ruyter in -the St. James’s Day Fight of the same year. Solebay, -in the Third Dutch War, was another of our second -<i>Dreadnought’s</i> notable days, and also Prince Rupert’s -three drawn battles with De Ruyter off the Banks<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -of Flanders in 1673. Worn out with thirty-six -years’ service (reckoning from the day that the <i>Torrington</i> -first took the water), the <i>Dreadnought</i> had -set forth to meet the famous French corsair, Jean -Bart, in the North Sea, when, one stormy October -night of 1690, she foundered off the South Foreland. -Happily, the boats of her squadron had time to -rescue those on board.</p> - -<p>Our fourth <i>Dreadnought</i>, William the Third’s ship, -fought the French at Barfleur and La Hogue, and -after that did good service down to the Peace -of Ryswick as a Channel cruiser and in charge -of convoys. She served all through “Queen Anne’s -War,” by chance only missing Benbow’s last fight. -Later, the <i>Dreadnought</i> was with the elder Byng—Lord -Torrington—at the battle off Cape Passaro, in -the Straits of Messina, in 1718, where one, if not -two, Spaniards lowered their colours to her. The -<i>Dreadnought</i> on that occasion formed one of Captain -Walton’s detached squadron, whose exploit history -has kept on record, thanks to Captain Walton’s -dispatch to the admiral, as set forth in the popular -version of it: “Sir, we have taken all the ships -on the coast, the number as per margin.” Of that -dispatch more will be said elsewhere.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The <i>Dreadnought</i> -ended her days in George the Second’s reign, -at the close of the war sometimes spoken of as -“The War of Jenkins’ Ear.”</p> - -<p>Two <i>Dreadnought</i> officers, Sir Edward Spragge, -who captained our second <i>Dreadnought</i> in the “Four<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> -Days’ Fight,” and Sir Charles Wager, a very famous -admiral in his day, First Lieutenant of our third -<i>Dreadnought</i> in the year before La Hogue, have -monuments in Westminster Abbey.</p> - -<p>Boscawen’s <i>Dreadnought</i> comes next, a sixty-gun -ship built in the year 1742. She was the first ship -of the line that Boscawen had the command of, and -she gave him his <i>sobriquet</i> in the Navy, “Old Dreadnought,” -the name of his ship just hitting off the -tough old salt’s chief characteristic—absolute -fearlessness. An incident that occurred on board the -<i>Dreadnought</i> while Boscawen commanded the ship -gave the <i>sobriquet</i> vogue. It is, too, a fine sample of -what Carlyle calls “two o’clock in the morning -courage.”</p> - -<p>It was in the year 1744, when we were at war with -both France and Spain, one night when the <i>Dreadnought</i> -was cruising in the channel. The officer of -the watch, the story goes, came down after midnight -to Captain Boscawen’s cabin and awoke him, -saying, “Sir, there are two large ships which look -like Frenchmen bearing down on us; what are we to -do?” “Do?” answered Boscawen, turning out of -his cot and going on deck in his nightshirt, “Do? -why, d⸺ ’em; fight ’em!” The fight did not -come off, however, as the suspicious strangers disappeared.</p> - -<p>On board Boscawen’s <i>Dreadnought</i> it was that, -fourteen years later, Nelson’s uncle, Maurice Suckling, -who got Nelson his first appointment in the Royal -Navy, and under whose command the boy Nelson<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -first went to sea, made his mark as a post-captain. -It was in the West Indies in 1757, the year in -which Byng was shot, and the day was the 21st of -October.</p> - -<p>The <i>Dreadnought</i> with two consorts met seven -French men-of-war, four of them individually bigger -and more heavily gunned ships than ours, and the -other three powerful frigates, and gave them a sound -thrashing.</p> - -<p>The news was received in England with exceptional -gratification as the first sign of the turn of the -tide since Byng’s defeat off Minorca. That was one -thing about it that stamped the event in popular -memory. A second memorable thing was the incident, -according to the popular story, of the -“Half Minute Council of War” that preceded the -fight.</p> - -<p>The three British ships were the <i>Augusta</i>, Captain -Forrest; the <i>Dreadnought</i>, Captain Maurice Suckling; -and the <i>Edinburgh</i>, Captain Langdon. The three -had been sent by the admiral at Jamaica to cruise off -Cape François, in order to intercept a large French -homeward merchant convoy reported to be weakly -guarded. The available French naval force on the station -was believed to be too weak to face our little squadron. -But, unknown to Admiral Cotes at Port Royal, -fresh men-of-war had just arrived from France purposely -to see the convoy home. In the result, when our -three ships arrived off Cape François, seven French -ships stood out to meet them. In spite of the odds -the British three held on their course.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p> - -<p>These were the forces on either side, in ships and -men:—</p> - -<table summary="The strength of the French and British forces"> - <tr> - <th colspan="6"><span class="smcap">British Line of Battle.</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>Dreadnought</i></td> - <td class="tdr">60</td> - <td>guns</td> - <td>Capt. Suckling</td> - <td class="tdr">375</td> - <td>men</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>Augusta</i></td> - <td class="tdr">60</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td>Capt. Forrest</td> - <td class="tdr">390</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>Edinburgh</i></td> - <td class="tdr">64 </td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td>Capt. Langdon</td> - <td class="tdr">467</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">184</td> - <td>guns.</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">1232</td> - <td>men.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="6"><span class="smcap">French Line of Battle.</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>La Sauvage</i></td> - <td class="tdr">30</td> - <td>guns</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">206</td> - <td>men</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>L’Intrépide</i> (Commodore)</td> - <td class="tdr">74</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">900</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>L’Opiniâtre</i></td> - <td class="tdr">64</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">640</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>Le Greenwich</i> (formerly British)</td> - <td class="tdr">50</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">400</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>La Licorne</i></td> - <td class="tdr">30</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">200</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>Le Sceptre</i></td> - <td class="tdr">74</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">750</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><i>L’Outarde</i></td> - <td class="tdr">44</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr">350</td> - <td class="tdc">”</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">366</td> - <td>guns.</td> - <td></td> - <td class="tdr total">3446</td> - <td>men.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>Directly the French came in sight the senior -officer, Captain Forrest of the <i>Augusta</i>, signalled -to the other two captains to come on board for a -council of war. They came, and, the story goes, -arrived alongside the <i>Augusta</i> together and mounted -the ship’s side together. As they stepped on to the -<i>Augusta’s</i> gangway, Captain Forrest, it is related, -addressed the two officers in these terms: “Gentlemen, -you see the enemy are out; shall we engage -them?” “By all means,” said Captain Suckling. “It -would be a pity to disappoint them,” said Captain -Langdon. “Very well, then,” replied Forrest; -“will you gentlemen go back to your ships and -clear for action?” The two captains bowed, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> -turned and withdrew without having, as it was said, -actually set foot on the senior officer’s quarter-deck.</p> - -<p>Within three-quarters of an hour they were in -action, the <i>Dreadnought</i> leading in and attacking -the French headmost ship as the squadrons closed. -Captain Suckling opened the fight by throwing the -<i>Dreadnought</i> right across the bows of the <i>Intrépide</i>, -a 74, and much the bigger ship, forcing her to sheer -off to port to avoid being raked.</p> - -<p>Backed up by the <i>Augusta</i> and the <i>Edinburgh</i>, -the <i>Dreadnought</i> was able to overwhelm the French -commodore with her fire, and force the crippled -<i>Intrépide</i> back on the next ship, the <i>Opiniâtre</i>. -That vessel in turn backed into the fourth French -ship, and she into another, the <i>Sceptre</i>. The four -big ships of the enemy were accounted for. Our -three ships seized the opportunity. Well in hand -themselves, they pounded away, broadside after -broadside, into the hapless Frenchmen, who were -too much occupied in trying to disentangle themselves -to do more than make a feeble and ineffective -reply. By the time that they got clear the British -squadron had so far got the upper hand that the -French drew off, leaving the British squadron -masters of the field. All of our three ships suffered -severely, the <i>Dreadnought</i> most of all.</p> - -<p>In Nelson’s lifetime the day was always observed -by the family at Burnham Thorpe with -special festivities, and Nelson himself often called -it, it is on record, “the happiest day of the year.” -More than that too, Nelson himself more than once<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> -half playfully expressed his conviction that he too -might some time fight a battle on another 21st of -October, and make the day for the family even more -of a red-letter day. As a fact, during the last three -weeks of his life on board the <i>Victory</i> off Cadiz, in -October, 1805, Nelson, with a prescience that the event -justified, used these words both to Captain Hardy -and to Dr. Beatty the surgeon of the flagship: -“The 21st of October will be our day!”</p> - -<p>Captain Maurice Suckling’s “Dreadnought” sword -was bequeathed to Nelson and was ever kept by him -as his most treasured possession. He always wore -it in battle, it is said; notably at St. Vincent, when -he boarded and took the two great Spanish ships the -<i>San Nicolas</i> and the <i>San Josef</i>; and his right hand -was grasping it when the grape shot shattered his -arm at Teneriffe.</p> - -<p>The <i>Dreadnought</i> of Boscawen and Maurice -Suckling ended her days at perhaps England’s -darkest hour of national trial—at the time of the -American War. She was doing harbour duty at -Portsmouth at the time, as a guard and receiving -ship.</p> - -<p>At no period, perhaps in all our history did the -future and the prospects of the British Empire seem -so absolutely hopeless. We were fighting for existence -against France and Spain, the two chief maritime -Powers of Europe; and at the same time the -vitality of the nation was being sapped by the never-ceasing -struggle with the American colonists, now in -its seventh year. Holland had added herself to our<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> -foes; Russia and the Baltic Powers were banded -together in a league of “armed neutrality,” and -stood by sullen and menacing. That, however, was -not the worst. The price of naval impotence had to -be paid. Great Britain was no longer mistress of -the sea. She had lost command of the sea, and -was drinking the bitter cup of consequent humiliation -to the dregs.</p> - -<div class="figcenter full" style="width: 700px;" id="illus4"> - -<p class="caption">THE RED-LETTER DAY OF NELSON’S CALENDAR. HOW THE -<i>DREADNOUGHT</i> LED THE ATTACK ON THE 21st OF OCTOBER, 1757</p> - -<a href="images/illus4-full.jpg"><img src="images/illus4.jpg" width="700" height="475" alt="" /></a> - -<table summary="Ships" class="caption" style="width: 650px;"> - <tr> - <td><i>“Edinburgh.”</i></td> - <td><i>“Augusta.”</i></td> - <td class="filler"></td> - <td><i>“Dreadnought.”</i></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="caption"><i>Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>It was the direct outcome of party politics and -short sighted naval retrenchments in time of peace, -pandering to the clamour of ministerial supporters -in the House of Commons. The printed Debates -and Journals of the House between 1773 and 1781 -are extant, as are also the summaries of the <i>Gentleman’s -Magazine</i>, for those who care to learn what -passed.</p> - -<p>Out-matched and out-classed at every point, the -British fleet found itself held in check all the world -over. Colony after colony was wrested from us, or -had to be let go, while our squadrons in distant seas -had not strength enough to do better than fight -drawn battles.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Gibraltar, closely beset by sea and -land, was still holding out, but no man dared -prophesy what news of the great fortress might not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -arrive next. Minorca, England’s other Mediterranean -possession, had to surrender. The enemy -were masters of the island, after driving the garrison -into their last defences at St. Philip’s Castle. -Nearer home, Ireland, in the enjoyment of Home -Rule, was using the hour of Great Britain’s difficulty -as her opportunity for demanding practical independence, -with eighty thousand Irish volunteers under -arms to back up the threats of the Dublin Parliament.</p> - -<p>The Channel Fleet, though reinforced with every -ship it was possible to find crews for, held the -Channel practically on sufferance. Once it had to -retreat before the enemy and seek refuge at Spithead. -On another occasion the enemy were on the -point of attacking it in Torbay with such preponderance -of force that overwhelming disaster must have -befallen it. Fortunately for England the French -and Spanish admirals disagreed at the last moment -and turned back.</p> - -<p>Hanging in a frame on the walls of the Musée de -Marine at the Louvre the English visitor to Paris -to-day may see a draft original “State,” giving the -official details of the divisions and brigades and the -ships to escort them, of one of the French armies -which was to be thrown across into England. It -was no empty menace, and for three years the -beacons along our south and east coasts had to be -watched nightly; while camps of soldiers, horse and -foot and artillery—the few regulars that had not -been sent off to America—with all the militia regiments<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -in the kingdom, extended all the way round, -at points, from Caithness to Cornwall. To safeguard -London there were camps of from eight to -ten battalions each, mostly militia, at Coxheath, -near Maidstone, at Dartford, at Warley, at Danbury -in Essex, and at Tiptree Heath. To secure -the colliery shipping of the Tyne two militia battalions -were under canvas near Gateshead. A camp -at Dunbar and Haddington watched over Edinburgh. -The West Country was guarded by a big -camp of fifteen militia battalions at Roborough, -near Plymouth, with an outlying camp on Buckland -Down, near Tavistock. To prevent the enemy -making use of Torbay, Berry Head was fortified, -the ruins of the old Roman camp of Vespasian’s -legionaries there being utilized to build two twenty-four -pounder batteries overlooking the passage into -the bay. Every town almost throughout England -had its “Armed Association” or “Fencibles,” -volunteers, the men of which, by special permission -from the Archbishop of Canterbury, drilled after -church time every Sunday.</p> - -<p>The effect on the oversea commerce of the -country, penalized by excessive insurance rates, -was calamitous. From 25 to 30 per cent premium -was paid at Lloyds on cargoes from Bristol, Liverpool, -and Glasgow to New York (still in British -hands); and 20 per cent to the West Indies. As -to the reality of the risk. On one occasion the -enemy captured an Indiaman fleet bodily off -Madeira, only eight vessels out of sixty-three escaping,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> -with a loss to Great Britain of a million and -a half sterling, including £300,000 in specie. We -have, indeed, at this moment a daily reminder of -the disaster. One of the unfortunate underwriters -was a Mr. John Walter. His whole fortune swept -away, he took to journalism, and the <i>Times</i> newspaper -was the result. Home waters were hardly -more secure. Rather than pay the excessive extra -premium demanded for the voyage up Channel, -London merchants had their goods unladen at -Bristol, and carried in light flat-bottomed craft -called “runners,” built specially for the traffic, up -the Severn to Gloucester, thence to be carted across -to Lechlade for conveyance to their destination by -barge down the Thames. At the same time the -North Sea packets from Edinburgh (Grangemouth) -to London refused all passengers who would not undertake -to assist in the defence of the vessel in emergency. -Printed notices were pasted up at the wharves -announcing that no Quakers would be carried.</p> - -<p>To such a pass had the loss of her supremacy at -sea reduced Great Britain in the closing year of our -fourth <i>Dreadnought’s</i> career.</p> - -<p>Our fifth <i>Dreadnought</i> fought at Trafalgar. She -was a 98-gun ship, one of the same set as the -famous “fighting” <i>Téméraire</i>. The newspapers of -the day made a good deal of her launch, which -took place at Portsmouth Dockyard, on Saturday, -the 13th of June, 1801. Here is an extract from one -account:—</p> - -<p>“At about twelve o’clock this fine ship, which has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> -been thirteen years upon the stocks, was launched -from the dockyard with all the naval splendour that -could possibly be given to aid the grandeur and -interest of the spectacle. She was decorated with -an Ensign, Jack, Union, and the Imperial Standard, -and had the marine band playing the distinguished -martial pieces of ‘God save the King,’ ‘Rule Britannia,’ -etc. etc. A prodigious concourse of persons, -to the amount, as is supposed, of at least 10,000, -assembled, and were highly delighted by the magnificence -of the ship and the beautiful manner in which -she entered the watery element. But what afforded -great satisfaction was, that, in the passage of this -immense fabric from the stocks, not a single accident -happened. She was christened by Commissioner Sir -Charles Saxton, who, as usual, broke a bottle of wine -over her stem. Her complement of guns is to be 98, -and she has the following significant emblem at her -head; viz.—a lion couchant on a scroll containing -the imperial arms as emblazoned on the Standard. -This is remarkably well timed and adapted to her as -being the first man-of-war launched since the Union -of the British Isles.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus5"> - -<p class="caption">WHEN GEORGE THE THIRD WAS KING. OFFICERS AT AFTERNOON TEA ASHORE.</p> - -<img src="images/illus5.jpg" width="440" height="325" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>Thomas Rowlandson. 1786.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus6"> - -<p class="caption">MANNING THE FLEET IN 1779. A WARM CORNER FOR THE PRESS GANG.</p> - -<img src="images/illus6.jpg" width="440" height="300" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>James Gillray. Oct. 15, 1779.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>For twelve months before Trafalgar, the <i>Dreadnought</i> -was Collingwood’s flagship in the Channel -Fleet. Collingwood passed most of the time cruising -on blockade duty in the Bay of Biscay, where -he used to spend his nights pacing on deck to and -fro restlessly, expecting the enemy at any moment, -and snatching intervals of sleep lying down on a -gun-carriage on the quarter-deck. Collingwood<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> -only changed from her into the bigger <i>Royal -Sovereign</i> ten days before the battle. Under the -eye of the former captain of our first <i>Excellent</i> -man-of-war, the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> men had been trained -to fire three broadsides in one minute and a half—a -gunnery record for that day.</p> - -<p>At Trafalgar the <i>Dreadnought</i> fought as one of the -ships in Collingwood’s line, and did the best with -what opportunity came her way.</p> - -<p>“This quiet old <i>Dreadnought</i>” wrote Dickens of -his visit to the ship in her last years, “whose fighting -days are all over—<i>sans</i> guns, <i>sans</i> shot, <i>sans</i> -shells, <i>sans</i> everything—did fight at Trafalgar under -Captain Conn—did figure as one of the hindmost -ships in the column which Collingwood led—went -into action about two in the afternoon, and captured -the <i>San Juan</i> in fifteen minutes.”</p> - -<p>While fighting the <i>San Juan</i>—the <i>San Juan Nepomuceno</i>, -a Spanish seventy-four—the <i>Dreadnought</i> -had to keep off two other Spaniards and a Frenchman -at the same time; Admiral Gravina’s flagship, -the <i>Principe de Asturias</i>, of 112 guns, and the <i>San -Justo</i> and <i>Indomptable</i>, two seventy-fours. The <i>San -Juan</i> in the end proved an easy prize, for she had -been already severely mauled by some of Collingwood’s -leading ships. On being run alongside of -she gave in quickly. Without staying to take -possession, the <i>Dreadnought</i> pushed on to close -with the big <i>Principe de Asturias</i>, and gave her -several broadsides, one shot from which mortally -wounded Admiral Gravina. The Spanish three-decker,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> -however, managed to disengage, and made -off, to lead the escaping ships in their flight for -Cadiz. Thus the <i>Dreadnought</i> was baulked of her -big prize.</p> - -<p>It was the Trafalgar <i>Dreadnought</i> that gave the -name to that great international institution, the -<i>Dreadnought</i> Seamen’s Hospital, at Greenwich. -This, of course, was long after Trafalgar, for the -“wooden whopper of the Thames,” as Dickens -called the old three-decker in her old age, did not -make her appearance off Greenwich until a quarter -of a century later. The fine old veteran of “Eighteen -Hundred and War Time,” lasted until 1857, -and to the end they preserved on board as the -special relic of interest, “a piece of glass from a -cabin skylight scrawled over, with somebody’s -diamond ring, with the names of those officers who -were in her at Trafalgar.” Another old three-decker -replaced the Trafalgar ship until 1870, when the -institution was removed on shore. At Chatham -to-day, in the dockyard museum, visitors may see -the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> bell which was on board the old -ship during the battle, and was removed from her -when the <i>Dreadnought</i> was broken up. Yet another -memento of the Trafalgar <i>Dreadnought</i> exists in the -Eton eight-oar <i>Dreadnought</i>, one of the “Lower -Boats,” and so-called originally, together with the -boat that bears the name <i>Victory</i>, in honour of Nelson -and Trafalgar.</p> - -<p>Our sixth <i>Dreadnought</i> is a still existing ironclad -turret-ship, mounting four 38-ton muzzle loaders,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> -launched in 1875. She is a ship of 10,820 tons, and -cost to complete for sea £619,739. She served for -ten years—from 1884 to 1894—in the Mediterranean, -and after that as a coast-guard ship in Bantry Bay. -Paid off finally in 1905, the <i>Dreadnought</i> now lies -at her last moorings in the Kyles of Bute, awaiting -the final day of all for her naval career, and the -auctioneer’s hammer.</p> - -<p>To conclude with a flying glance at our mighty -battleship, the <i>Dreadnought</i> of to-day, the seventh -bearer of the name until now, and as all the -world knows by far the most powerful man-of-war -that has ever sailed the seas. She is the biggest -and the heaviest and the fastest and the hardest-hitting -vessel that any navy as yet has seen afloat. -And more than that. The <i>Dreadnought</i> has been -so built as to be practically unsinkable by mine or -torpedo; while at the same time her tremendous -battery of ten 12-in. guns—huge cannon, each forty-five -feet long—makes her absolutely irresistible in -battle against all comers; a match for any two—probably -any three—of the biggest battleships in foreign -navies afloat at the present hour.</p> - -<p>These are some of the “points”—some of the -leading features—of this grim <i>mastodonte de mer</i> -of ours, His Majesty’s battleship, the <i>Dreadnought</i>. -With her coal, ammunition, and sea stores on board, -the <i>Dreadnought</i> weighs—or displaces in equivalent -bulk of sea water, according to the present-day -method of reckoning the size of men-of-war—17,800 -tons.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span></p> - -<p>Put the <i>Dreadnought</i> bodily inside St. Paul’s and -she would fill the whole nave and chancel of the -Cathedral from reredos to the Western doors. Her -length would take up the whole of one side of Trafalgar -Square. Her width would exactly fill Northumberland -Avenue, leaving only some half-dozen -inches between the house fronts on either side and -the outside of the hull. Two <i>Victorys</i> and a frigate -of Nelson’s day, fully manned and rigged, could be packed -away within the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> hull.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus7"> - -<img src="images/illus7.jpg" width="440" height="225" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption">[Our <i>Dreadnought</i> of to-day: deck-plan -to scale; showing the disposition of the 12-in. 58-ton turret-guns -and their arcs of training. (Bows to the right.)]<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>Measured from end to end, from bows to stern, -the ship’s hull extends 490 feet. From forecastle to -keel, measuring vertically, is a matter of some 60 -feet down, equivalent to about the normal height of -a church tower.</p> - -<p>What, however, above everything else, specially<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -distinguishes the <i>Dreadnought</i> from all other warships -afloat, is her terrific battery. Hitherto four -12-inch guns have formed the standard main armament -for all battleships. The <i>Dreadnought</i> carries -ten 12-inch guns of a new and more powerful type -than any heretofore in existence. They are mounted -in pairs in “redoubts,” armoured with Krupp steel -eleven inches thick, and are so grouped on board -that when fighting broadside-on with an enemy, -eight of the ten guns will bear on the enemy and be -in action throughout. In chase, or fighting end-on, -six of the guns are available at all times. The -firing charge per gun of “modified” cordite weighs -by itself 2 cwt.—the weight of a sack of coals on a -street coal-cart. In the hour of battle each discharge -from the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> broadside will hurl -into the enemy three tons of “metal”—bursting -shells—each shell being from three to four feet long, -and weighing singly 7½ cwt. With each shot also, -bang goes £80, the cost of the cartridge and its projectile. -Twelve thousand yards will be the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> -chosen range for engaging—six miles—about -as far as clear vision is possible above the horizon.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus8"> - -<img src="images/illus8.jpg" width="440" height="125" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption">[Curve of flight, or trajectory, of 850 lb. -projectile from a <i>Dreadnought</i> -12-in. turret-gun fired with full service charge.]</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus9"> - -<img src="images/illus9.jpg" width="440" height="300" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption">[The 12-in. gun is about the same weight as an ordinary -railway passenger train engine.]</p> - -</div> - -<p>“Mark X” is the official style for the <i>Dreadnought</i> -class of 12-inch gun. It is the most powerful piece -of ordnance in the world. It weighs upwards of fifty-eight -tons, about the weight of a larger “tank” railway -engine of the kind that brings the suburban -bread-winner up to London every morning. Its -muzzle velocity—the speed at which the shot flashes -forth from the gun—is 2900 feet (966⅔ yards, or well -over half a mile) in a second. The force with which -the shot starts off is enough to send it through a -solid slab of wrought iron set close up in front of -the muzzle of the gun 4¼ feet thick. When fired -with full charges, each gun develops a force able to -lift the <i>Dreadnought</i> herself bodily nearly a yard up, -exerting a force equivalent to 47,697 “foot-tons,” in -gunnery language. The entire broadside of eight -12-inch guns, fired simultaneously, as at the gun<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> -trial off the Isle of Wight, develops a force sufficient -to heave the huge vessel herself, 21 feet up—nearly -out of the water, in fact.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus10"> - -<img src="images/illus10.jpg" width="440" height="350" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption">[Extreme range of the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> turret-guns:—Fired from -in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral.]</p> - -</div> - -<p>As an instance of the tremendous range of the -<i>Dreadnought’s</i> guns: mounted on one of the Dover -forts, they could easily drop shells on the deck of a -Channel packet in the act of leaving Calais harbour. -Imagine one of them mounted in front of St. Paul’s -and firing with full charges in any direction. Its -shells would burst over Slough in one direction -and over Gravesend in the other. Hertford, St. -Albans, Chertsey, Sevenoaks, would all be within -range. Twenty-five miles is the extreme estimated -range of a shot fired with a full service charge, and -the trajectory of the projectile would, at its culminating<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -point, attain a height in the air of nearly six -miles, twice the height of Mont Blanc.</p> - -<p>They are “wire guns,” as the term goes, constructed -in each case by winding coil on coil of steel -ribbon or “tape” (a quarter of an inch wide and ·06 -of an inch thick), round and round on an inner steel -tube, the barrel of the piece; just as the string is -wound round the handle of a cricket bat. The tape -or “wire” is then covered by outer “jackets,” or -tubes of steel. Upwards of 228,800 yards of wire—a -length of 130 miles—weighing some 15 tons, are -required for each of the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> 12-inch -guns, and it takes from three to four weeks to wind -on the wire. The rifling of the barrel comprises forty-eight -grooves, varying in depth from ·08 of an inch at -the muzzle to ·1 at the breech. Each of the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> -guns, separately, employs in its manufacture -from first to last upwards of five hundred men in -various capacities, and costs, as turned out ready to -send on board, but without sighting and other vital -appliances, between £10,000 and £11,000.</p> - -<p>The <i>Dreadnought</i> carries eleven inches of Krupp -steel armour on her sides, turrets, and conning -tower, and rather thinner armour at the bows and -stern. Her speed of twenty-one knots makes her a full -two knots faster than any existing battleship. She -is the first battleship in any navy to be propelled by -the Parsons turbine, to which her speed is due. -Lastly, the cost of the <i>Dreadnought</i> is officially -stated at £1,797,497.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span></p> - -<p>Exceptional in themselves, and of exceptional -historic interest as well, are the honours that have -fallen to the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> lot within the few months -that our great naval masterpiece has been in existence.</p> - -<p>At the outset the <i>Dreadnought</i> had the good fortune -to be named and sent afloat by His Majesty King -Edward personally. That in itself was an exceptional -honour, and one that has fallen to the lot of -very few ships of the Royal Navy—to be named and -sent afloat by the reigning sovereign. There have -been just six instances in all, from the earliest times -to the present day. Queen Victoria launched four -men-of-war during her long reign; but no King of -England ever launched a ship in the four hundred -years between King Edward and Henry the Eighth: -King Edward with the <i>Dreadnought</i> and Henry the -Eighth with the <i>Great Harry</i> are the two historic -instances. Many of our sovereigns, of course—practically -all of them: Edward the Sixth, Queen -Elizabeth, the Stuart kings, Cromwell also, George -the Third, and William the Fourth—attended in -state on various occasions to witness the launch of -some notable man-of-war, but they were present only -as spectators, and took no part in the actual proceedings. -Charles the First was to have personally -named the famous <i>Sovereign of the Seas</i>, with the -same ceremonial used at the launch of our first -<i>Dreadnought</i>, and rode down with his Court to -Woolwich to do so; but they could not get the ship -out of dock, and the King rode back to Whitehall<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> -disappointed, deputing the Lord High Admiral to -name the ship when she did get clear—not till -between eight and nine in the evening. Charles the -Second, in like manner, was to have personally -named our first <i>Britannia</i>, but His Majesty was taken -ill on the day before. Again too, as it also happened, -there was a hitch at the launch. The -<i>Britannia</i> stuck fast for twelve hours, and then went -off at midnight to the flare of torches and cressets, -after which a courier was hurried off at gallop to -Whitehall, to acquaint the King, “lest certain base -reports (i.e. that the <i>Britannia</i> had fallen over in -dock) may have reached your Majesty.”</p> - -<p>Yet another exceptional honour that befel the -<i>Dreadnought</i> was after the great review of the Home -Fleet off Cowes, on the first Monday of August this -year, when King Edward, with Queen Alexandra, -the Prince of Wales, and Prince Edward of Wales, -with Sir John Fisher and members of the Royal suite, -went out on board the <i>Dreadnought</i> to beyond -Spithead to witness target-practice with the <i>Dreadnought’s</i> -turret-guns; the memorable occasion on -which, at 2640 yards’ range, the four 12-in. guns -that fired, scored within two and a half minutes nine -bull’s-eyes and two “outers” out of twelve rounds -discharged. Never to be forgotten was the scene as -the <i>Dreadnought</i> passed down the double lines of the -Home Fleet in the brilliant sunshine; the ships all -dressed with flags, and with decks manned, and -cheering, and firing salutes—the giant ship herself -flying the Royal Standard at the masthead and at<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> -either yard-arm the Union Flag, symbol of His -Majesty’s rank as Admiral of the Fleet, and the -Admiralty Anchor Flag, a combination not seen on -board a British man-of-war of the fighting-line, even -in those historic waters, for over a century—not, -indeed, since that summer’s morning of 1794, when -the three flags flew together at the mastheads of the -famous <i>Queen Charlotte</i>, denoting King George the -Third’s presence on board, with his Queen, on his -visit to present a diamond-hilted sword of honour to -Lord Howe, then just arrived with the prizes taken -on the Glorious First of June. That also was the -last occasion, until the other day, on which a King -and Queen of England were together on board a -British man-of-war at sea.</p> - -<p>The guns fired before the King and Queen were -those in the two after-turrets, and the targets used -were the usual service ones, 16 ft. by 20 ft., with -a central bull’s-eye 14 ft. square. The range was -about a mile and a half, and six rounds were fired -from each turret. Of the three shots placed outside -the bull’s-eye, two went through the target, whilst -the third, which missed, cut away the rope fastening -the canvas of the target to the framework. Two -of the shots in the bull’s-eye went through the very -centre, through a small circle, about thirty inches in -diameter, marked in the middle of the target.</p> - -<p>We will conclude this outline of our <i>Dreadnoughts’</i> -story with a brief tabular statement of certain points -in detail of comparison and contrast between the -<i>Dreadnought</i> of to-day and the historic <i>Victory</i>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span></p> - -<p class="center">THE <i>DREADNOUGHT</i> AND <i>VICTORY</i> COMPARED</p> - -<table summary="The Dreadnought and Victory compared"> - <tr> - <th></th> - <th><i>DREADNOUGHT.</i></th> - <th><i>VICTORY.</i></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Time Building</td> - <td class="tdr">16 months</td> - <td>Five years ten months</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Total Cost</td> - <td class="tdr">£1,797,497</td> - <td>£89,000</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Displacement</td> - <td class="tdr">17,900 tons</td> - <td>3400 tons.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Total Weight Broadside</td> - <td class="tdr">6800 lb.</td> - <td>1160 lb.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Extreme Range of Guns</td> - <td class="tdr">25 miles</td> - <td>3 miles.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Penetration of armour at six miles</td> - <td class="tdr">9 in. Krupp Steel</td> - <td></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Penetration at all distances</td> - <td class="tdr"></td> - <td>Nil.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Heaviest Gun</td> - <td class="tdr">12 inch</td> - <td>6 inch.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Weight of Charge</td> - <td class="tdr">265 lb. (M.D. cordite).</td> - <td>10½ lb. (gunpowder).</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Time to make Gun</td> - <td class="tdr">12 to 15 months</td> - <td>Four guns a week.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Cost per Gun</td> - <td class="tdr">£11,000</td> - <td>£57. 15s.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Average Weight per Gun</td> - <td class="tdr">58 tons</td> - <td>56 cwt.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Complement</td> - <td class="tdr">780 men</td> - <td>850 men.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Length</td> - <td class="tdr">490 ft.</td> - <td>226 ft. 6 in.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Breadth</td> - <td class="tdr">82 ft.</td> - <td>52 ft.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Mean Load Draught</td> - <td class="tdr">26 ft. 6 in.</td> - <td>25 ft.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Number of Guns</td> - <td class="tdr">37</td> - <td>104</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Speed</td> - <td class="tdr">21½ knots</td> - <td>10 knots.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II">II<br /> -<span class="smaller">“KENT CLAIMS THE FIRST BLOW!”</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">“<span class="gothic">The Kentishe Menne in Front!</span>”</p> - -</div> - -<p>“Kent claims for itself the first blow in -battle against alien enemies.” The -hand that penned these words has lain -in the grave for over seven centuries; -but old William Fitz-Stephen of Canterbury -knew what he meant, and meant what he wrote. -They are words that our fine “county cruiser” -the <i>Kent</i> of to-day—to which the ladies of Kent -have presented a silken battle flag and the Men -of Kent a silver shield and other gifts, to incite the -<i>Kent’s</i> bluejackets to shoot straight—might well -adopt and make the ship’s motto. It was from the -County of Kent that the initiative came in the movement -which has had such excellent results in inducing -the county people in other counties all over -Great Britain and Ireland to display a practical -interest in the warships that bear the county names; -and the idea has since spread in other cases throughout -the Empire.</p> - -<p>The county “Association of Men of Kent and -Kentish Men” of their own accord took the initial<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> -step in the spring of 1899 by approaching the late -Lord Goschen, then First Lord of the Admiralty, -with a request that one of four cruisers of a new -type, to be built under the supplemental programme -of the previous August, might be named after the -County of Kent. The request was heartily received, -and in response the name <i>Kent</i> was announced for -the first of the new ships. A little later the Men of -Kent made a second proposal. They asked permission -to establish among themselves a “county -memorial for the new county-cruiser <i>Kent</i>,” expressing -their “desire and intention to do something -to keep up a continual connection between -the county and the good ship, and to cause a -sustained interest to be taken in her fortunes and the -welfare of those on board.” Lord Goschen acceded -to that request, and a county subscription was -immediately set on foot by Lord Harris, the president -of the Association for the year, to form a Kent county -trophy fund for the cruiser <i>Kent</i>. It was proposed to -present the ship, on commissioning, with a challenge -trophy in silver, to be competed for annually among -the gun crews of the ship, the champion gun team -for each year to have their names inscribed on the -trophy and receive a special monetary reward from a -county fund established with the trophy. The trophy -itself was to be kept on board and to be displayed on -special and festive occasions in the mess of the winning -team. Whenever the <i>Kent</i> was out of commission -the trophy would be cared for by the Captain of the -Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, or at Greenwich<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> -Naval College.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> The movement received cordial support -from Lord Selborne, Lord Goschen’s successor -at the Admiralty, and from the late Earl Stanhope, -the then Lord Lieutenant of Kent, and the late Lord -Salisbury, then Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. -More than that, indeed. Interested by the patriotic -action taken by the County of Kent on behalf of its -cruiser namesake, His Majesty the King was himself -graciously pleased to command that in the cases of -future ships bearing the names of counties the Lords -Lieutenant of the counties concerned were to be -requested by the Admiralty to nominate in each case -some lady connected with the county to perform the -naming and launching ceremony.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 540px;" id="illus11"> - -<p class="caption">THE COUNTY AND ITS SHIP. THE <i>KENT</i> TROPHY CHALLENGE SHIELD</p> - -<img src="images/illus11.jpg" width="540" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>From a photograph kindly lent by the Designers and Manufacturers -of the Trophy, Messrs. George Kenning & Son, Goldsmiths, Little Britain -and Aldersgate Street, London.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>The trophy-shield subscribed for by the Men of -Kent, together with an album for the names and -scores of its winners from time to time, was formally<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> -handed over to the captain and ship’s company of the -<i>Kent</i> at Sheerness by representatives of the County -Association, the gift being received with every mark -of regard and genuine welcome. Following on that, -a deputation of county ladies, headed by the Countess -Stanhope, the wife of the Lord Lieutenant, presented -the favoured ship with two flags, a beautiful silken -ensign and a silken Union Jack, subscribed for by -the County Association of “Maids of Kent and -Kentish Maids.” The flags were brought on board -in the beautiful box of Kentish Heart of Oak in -which they are now kept under the sentry before the -captain’s cabin. The ensign was bent on the halyards -and ceremoniously hoisted to the peak by -Countess Stanhope in the presence of the assembled -officers and crew of the <i>Kent</i>, and the Jack was -hoisted by the Hon. Secretary of the Ladies’ Committee, -Mrs. Bills, the proceedings winding up with -a luncheon to the ladies on the after-deck by Captain -Gamble and his officers, and an afternoon dance on -board.</p> - -<p class="tb">That the name of the ancient maritime county of -England should be borne in the fleet to-day by a -modern British warship is in itself a matter of historic -interest. There are, indeed, very excellent -reasons why the County of Kent should receive distinguished -treatment from the Admiralty, why its -name deserves to be honourably commemorated in -the British fleet of to-day.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span></p> - -<p>Kent has a place of its own in regard to the naval -annals of England, old-time associations with the -oversea defence of England and the national navy, -that stand quite by themselves. The associations -indeed go back across fifteen centuries, to the earliest -days of our “rough island story”; so far back, indeed, -as the old old times of the “Counts of the -Saxon Shore.”</p> - -<p>Dover and Reculver, the two principal Kentish -ports of the days when Britain was a Roman -province, were central stations in the widespread -line of outposts along the coast whence watch and -ward were kept for the coming of the Norseland -raiders oversea in the springtime year by year.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Bared to the sun and soft, warm air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Streams back the Norseman’s yellow hair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I see the gleam of axe and spear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sound of smitten shields I hear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Keeping a harsh, barbaric time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Saga’s chant and Runic rhyme.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>From the pharos on the Foreland in those strenuous -times of long ago keen-sighted men of Kent kept -look-out daily, scanning the horizon from sunrise -to sunset; ever on the alert to start the alarm and -pass it on to where the Roman coast defence galleys -lay at their moorings off the mouth of the Wantsum -Channel by Richborough Castle.</p> - -<p>Alike on land and sea theirs was the post of honour. -At Hastings, led by the stout Earl Leofwine, as we -know—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A standard made of sylke and jewells rare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was borne near Harold at the Kenters Head.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">And centuries after that, whenever the King of England<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> -was in the field, they claimed the right to lead -the van—“The Kentishe Menne in front!”</p> - -<p>The Kentish contingent—the “Eastern Ports” -contingent—formed the bulk and the backbone of the -Cinque Ports fleets of the Middle Ages, both in -ships and men. Four of the five “Head Ports” in -the famous confederation were Kentish ports—Sandwich, -Dover, Romney, and Hythe. The “Eastern -Ports” counted twenty-one limbs, “Members”; the -“Western Ports”—Hastings with the two “Ancient -Towns” attached—ten “Members.” The old Cinque -Ports Navy, in these times of ours it may be, is little -more than a name, a faded memory of a dim and -distant past, a perished institution of a dead old time; -yet it was once an actual fact, a living hot-blooded -reality, the chief guarantee of our national existence, -a very real bulwark, the foremost defence of England -from foreign invasion. “The courage of those -sailors who manned the rude barks of the Cinque -Ports first made the flag of England terrible on the -seas.” For all that we have to thank, in the first -place, the Men of Kent, that Kent of which old -twelfth-century Fitz-Stephen, monk of Canterbury -and historian of his own times, was thinking when -he wrote, “Kent claims for itself the first blow in -battle against alien enemies.”</p> - -<p>The Kentish ships of the Cinque Ports, “Ships of -Kent” they are explicitly called, took a leading part -with the Crusaders’ fleet which on its way to the -Holy Land for the Second Crusade, in the year 1147, -captured Lisbon from the Moors. Kentish men<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -fought with that fine leader, William Longsword, -Earl of Salisbury, “Warden of the Cinque,” when -he fell on the French King’s fleet at Damme—just -three years before King John put his mark to Magna -Charta.</p> - -<p>It was a squadron of the Kentish ships of the -Ports’ federation that, in the year after Magna -Charta, under one of England’s finest heroes and -greatest men, that grand fellow, stout-hearted -Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, Chief Justiciar of -England and Constable of Dover Castle, Cœur -de Lion’s favourite pupil in arms, saved England -from invasion by rounding up the fleet with which -the renegade leader Eustace the Monk—“pirata -nequissimus” one old chronicler calls him—was -making for the Thames, and dealing the French the -first of the series of knock-down blows of which -Nelson struck the last at Trafalgar. The story of the -“Battle of Bartholomew’s Day,” the 24th of August, -1217, is one we ought not willingly to let die. There -is hardly a finer tale in all our history than that -which tells how De Burgh’s sixteen Cinque Port -warships from Dover, with nineteen or twenty small -craft, stood out to meet the Monk’s hundred and odd -ships—eighty of them the largest vessels of the time—off -the North Foreland; swept round them astern, -weathered them and closed, grappled them fast, -under cover of a stinging fire of archery and crossbow -bolts, cut down their sails, and then, flinging -up in the air handfuls of quicklime to blow into the -faces of the Frenchmen, boarded and overpowered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> -the enemy in hand-to-hand fight with falchion and -pike and battle-axe. They fought it out from early -morning until the afternoon was spent, when fifty-five -ships of the Monk’s fleet had been taken, and -the rest, except fifteen ships that ran away, all sent -to the bottom.</p> - -<p>Again, in the tremendous Midsummer Day’s battle -in the harbour of Sluys, the “Trafalgar of the -Middle Ages,” although to most people the event is -barely a schoolbook memory—the great naval victory -that made Creçy possible—once more the Ship-and-Lion -flag at the masthead of vessels from the -four Kent ports was to the fore, well up in the van -of King Edward’s attacking fleet and in the thickest -of the fighting. And at the battle of “Espagnols-sur-Mer,” -off Winchelsea, where again Edward the -Third fought in person, together with the Black -Prince; off St. Mahé; and at Harfleur, covering -Henry the Fifth’s landing for the march that ended -at Agincourt, and in many another hard-fought -action in the Narrow Seas after that, Kentish men in -the Kentish ships of the Ports’ Navy full well played -their part.</p> - -<p>It was oak from the Weald of Kent for the most -part that built the men-of-war of Queen Elizabeth’s -fleet which drove the Spanish Armada through the -Channel and North Sea to its doom on the reefs of -Stornaway and the quicksands of Connemara—ships -timbered and planked with oak from the Kentish -Weald, and shaped and framed and clamped together -in the Kentish Dockyards of Deptford and Woolwich.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> -Phineas Pett, a Kentish man by birth, -designed and built the famous <i>Sovereign of the -Seas</i>; and his grandson, Sir Phineas Pett, designed -and built our first <i>Britannia</i>. The <i>Great Harry</i> was -mostly built of Kentish oak; as was, at a later -day, Sir Richard Grenville’s “little” <i>Revenge</i>, and, -at a still later day, Nelson’s <i>Victory</i>, launched at -Chatham.</p> - -<p class="tb">It was a Man of Kent who, as admiral in chief -command, planned and gave the order for the capture -of Gibraltar. It was another Man of Kent -who, as admiral second in command, carried that -order out. Sir George Rooke, one of the Rookes of -Monk’s Horton, Kent—by far the ablest sea-officer -in the British service in the hundred years between -Blake and Hawke—was the Commander-in-Chief -before Gibraltar. Byng, Sir George Byng, was the -second in command—the elder of the two Byngs -known to naval history, “Mediterranean Byng,” as -he was called in the Navy in connection with a later -exploit of his, and remembered nowadays as the -Byng who beat the enemy and was not shot. He -became Lord Viscount Torrington, and may, in like -manner, be distinguished from the other Lord Torrington -of naval history (Arthur Herbert) as the -Torrington who beat the enemy and was not court-martialled -and broke.</p> - -<p>A famous family of old-time Kent were the Byngs, -seated at Wrotham ever since the fifteenth century, -more than one member of which came to the front<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> -in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and the Stuart -kings. Such as, for instance, the fine old Kentish -cavalier of Browning’s rousing song:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Kentish Sir Byng stood for his King,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bidding the crop-headed Parliament swing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, pressing a troop unable to stoop</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And see the rogues flourish and honest folk droop,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Marched them along,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Fifty score strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">Fifty score strong! Fifty score strong!</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Other Kentish men of note associated directly -with the Old Navy were Sir Thomas Spert, founder -of Trinity House, and captain of the <i>Harry Grace à -Dieu</i> when Henry the Eighth crossed the Straits of -Dover in her to the Field of the Cloth of Gold; Sir -William Hervey, of Kidbrooke, “who greatly distinguished -himself in boarding one of the vessels -composing the Spanish Armada,” and was raised to -the peerage as Lord Hervey; old Captain Dick -Fogg, of Repton, near Ashford, captain under -Charles the First of the tenth whelp and the <i>Victory</i> -and of other men-of-war of note; Kit Fogg, his -son, who fought for England in half a score of sea-fights -under Charles the Second and down to the -time of Queen Anne; Christopher Gunman, a bold -fireship and frigate captain in the Dutch wars, -captain of the Duke of York’s flagship at Solebay, -who later on nearly drowned the future James the -Second; George Legge, afterwards the Earl of -Dartmouth, whose valour in battle at Solebay made<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> -his fortune, a member of a Kent county family of -long descent; two notable Commodores, two St. Lo’s -of Northfleet; Commodore Boys of the <i>Luxborough</i> -galley; Sir Piercey Brett, who as a lieutenant went -round the world with Anson, and lived to be one -of the most distinguished officers of his day; Sir -Thomas Boulden Thompson, who fought under -Nelson at Teneriffe, at the Nile, and at Copenhagen. -These are a few names taken at random.</p> - -<p>Sir Sidney Smith, the “Hero of Acre,” the man -who made Bonaparte, as the Emperor himself put -it, “miss his destiny,” was of Kentish birth and -family, and learned his “three R’s” at Tunbridge -School; and it was to Lord Barham, as First Lord -of the Admiralty, that Nelson reported himself in -September, 1805, when he volunteered to shorten -his leave at home and go out at once to fight the -enemy at Trafalgar.</p> - -<p>It was Kent, too, that gave England Captain -John Harvey—one of the Harveys of Eastrey, a -family that for generations had sent its sons into the -Navy—captain of the <i>Brunswick</i> on Lord Howe’s -famous day, the “Glorious First of June,” 1794, -who fell mortally wounded in close action with the -French <i>Vengeur</i>. When the two ships first collided, -the master of the <i>Brunswick</i> proposed to cut the -<i>Vengeur</i> clear. “No,” answered Captain Harvey; -“we’ve got her, and we’ll keep her!” After he -received his mortal wound he refused to let himself -be carried off the quarter-deck. He dragged himself -down to the cockpit, saying as he went off the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> -deck, “Remember my last words: the colours of -the <i>Brunswick</i> must never be struck!” A brother, -Henry Harvey, was the admiral whose name is still -to be met with on old tavern signboards here and -there in East Kent. Henry Harvey, captain of the -<i>Ramillies</i>, came to his brother’s aid on the 1st of -June, and with three terrific broadsides finished off -the <i>Vengeur</i> for the <i>Brunswick</i>, amid resounding -cheers from the <i>Brunswick’s</i> men, and giving occasion -to an officer in another ship who was looking on to -improvise on King David: “Behold how good and -joyful a thing it is for brethren to fight together in -unity!”</p> - -<p>It was this same Henry Harvey who, as a rear-admiral, -later in the Great War (in 1797), took -Trinidad. That the conquest proved an easy business -was not his fault. The Commander-in-Chief of -the Spanish squadron at Trinidad, Admiral Apodoca, -when he saw Admiral Harvey coming, without clearing -for action or firing a shot set fire to his ships -and escaped ashore. He took horse and galloped -off, and presented himself, excited and panting with -his exertions, before the Governor of the island, -General Chacon. “I have burnt my ships, sir,” he -burst in with, “in case they should fall into the -power of the English.” “Burnt them?” exclaimed -the astonished Governor; “destroyed them! Have -you saved nothing?” “Oh, yes I have!” Apodoca -replied. “Yes I have! I have! I have saved”—drawing -a carved and painted wooden image, some -fifteen inches long, from under his cloak as he spoke—“my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> -flagship’s patron saint—I have saved San -Juan de Compostella!” That Apodoca’s flagship -was the <i>San Vincente</i>, and that there was no <i>San -Juan de Compostella</i> on the Spanish Navy List at -the time, are details the story does not concern itself -with.</p> - -<p class="tb">Yet another interesting connection between Kent -and the sea service of bygone times is this. H.M.S. -<i>Kent’s</i> name is not the only man-of-war name associated -with the county that has figured in the fighting -days of old. No fewer than eighteen other man-of-war -names connected with the county of Kent have from -time to time been borne on the roll of the British -fleet. It was on board a <i>Canterbury</i> that a notable -naval officer of the earlier part of the eighteenth -century, Captain George Walton, penned words -which have been quoted over and over again as a -masterpiece of conciseness. He had been in pursuit -of a Spanish squadron, and on his return, as most -of us have read, reported as follows:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">“<i>To Admiral Sir George Byng, Commander-in-Chief.</i></p> - -<p class="noindent">“Sir,</p> - -<p>“We have taken and destroyed all the -Spanish ships and vessels which were upon -the coast, as per margin.</p> - -<p class="center">“I am, etc.,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">George Walton</span>.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span></p> - -<p class="right">“Canterbury, off Syracusa, <i>August 16, 1718</i>.</p> - -<p>“One of 60 guns, one of 54, one of 40, one of 24—taken; -one of 54, two of 40, one of 30 guns, with -a fireship and two bomb vessels—burnt.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>As a fact, unfortunately, Captain Walton’s “dispatch” -was written in quite another way. The -captain of the <i>Canterbury</i> really sent the admiral a -letter of two pages. What is passed off as his whole -“dispatch,” is actually only the concluding sentence -of the letter, excerpted and dressed up. An unscrupulous -admiralty official, for the purposes of a -book on the campaign, manipulated the letter and -printed its last paragraph by itself as the entire -despatch. Historians following one another have -since then simply copied Secretary Corbett.</p> - -<p>Our first <i>Sandwich</i> broke the French line at the -battle of La Hogue, and lost her gallant captain in -doing it. Another bore Rodney’s flag in five battles—two -with the Spaniards and three with the French—and -was at the first relief of Gibraltar during the -Great Siege. Our first <i>Dover</i> was present at the -taking of Jamaica. Another won fame as Captain -Cloudesley Shovell’s ship. Commodore Trunnion -served on board another <i>Dover</i>, if Smollett spoke by -the card in making him express a wish to be buried -“in the red jacket which I wore when I boarded the -<i>Renummy</i>.” Apart from the taking of Louis the -Fifteenth’s frigate <i>Renommée</i>, if we count in other -French and Spanish frigates and privateers taken,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> -our various <i>Dovers</i>, in their time, must have brought -home captured flags enough to deck the town out -from end to end. All, of course, have long since -rotted out of existence. People in old times set -little store by such trophies. “What are you going -to do with all these flags?” a friend once asked of a -frigate captain who, in his barge, gaily decorated -from bows to stern with the colours of ships taken -during the commission, was being pulled in from -Spithead to land at the old Sally Port, Portsmouth. -“Do with them?” came the reply. “Why, take ’em -home and hang ’em on the trees round father’s -garden.”</p> - -<p>It was a <i>Chatham</i> whose twenty-four pounders, -one May morning, just a hundred and forty-eight -years ago, gave the Royal Navy our first, and the -original, “Saucy” <i>Arethusa</i>. One <i>Maidstone</i> fought -with Blake at Santa Cruz de Teneriffe. Another, -acting as “guide of the fleet,” led Hawke to victory -on that stormy November afternoon among the reefs -of Quiberon Bay, which the French Navy, pillorying -the memory of its unfortunate admiral, has ever -since called “la journée de M. Conflans.”</p> - -<p>A <i>Greenwich</i> fought at La Hogue, and was one of -Benbow’s squadron in his last fight. One <i>Deptford</i> -was also at La Hogue, and another with Byng off -Minorca, where the <i>Deptford</i>, at any rate, did her -duty. A <i>Romney</i>, in Queen Anne’s war, after a -career of distinction, went down with all on board -to westward of St. Agnes, Scilly, on the night of -the catastrophe to Sir Cloudesley Shovell. <i>Rochester</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> -and <i>Medway</i>, and <i>Sheerness</i>, are also man-of-war -names that have attaching to them interesting memories -of the fighting days of old, as have too, in one -way or other, in differing degrees, the remaining -names of the group, <i>Woolwich</i> and <i>Faversham</i>, -<i>Eltham</i> and <i>Deal Castle</i>, <i>Margate</i>, <i>Queenborough</i>, -and <i>Folkestone</i>.</p> - -<p class="tb">Our modern-day cruiser the <i>Kent</i> has her own -story also as a man-of-war, a notable and interesting -historic reputation of her own, to uphold. This -summary will give its points, the “battle honours” -which the <i>Kent</i> would be entitled to bear on her -ship’s flag were our ships authorized to follow the -practice of the army in regard to regimental flags.</p> - -<p class="center">H.M.S. <i>KENT</i>.</p> - -<table summary="Battles that H.M.S. Kent was involved in"> - <tr> - <td>Blake’s victory over Tromp off Portland</td> - <td>Feb.,</td> - <td>1653</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Blake and Monk’s victory off Lowestoft</td> - <td>June,</td> - <td>1653</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Monk’s victory over Tromp off Camperdown</td> - <td>July,</td> - <td>1653</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Blake’s bombardment of Tunis</td> - <td>April,</td> - <td>1655</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Duke of York’s victory off the North Foreland</td> - <td>June,</td> - <td>1665</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Rupert and Albemarle—“The Four Days’ Fight”</td> - <td>June,</td> - <td>1666</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Rupert and Albemarle—“The St. James’s Day Fight”</td> - <td>July,</td> - <td>1666</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Battle off Cape Barfleur and Attack at La Hogue</td> - <td>May,</td> - <td>1692</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Rooke’s battle in Vigo Bay</td> - <td>Oct.,</td> - <td>1702</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Capture of a French convoy off Granville</td> - <td>July,</td> - <td>1703<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Battle of Malaga<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></td> - <td>Aug.,</td> - <td>1704</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Siege of Barcelona</td> - <td>Sept.,</td> - <td>1705</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Action with Duguay Trouin</td> - <td>April,</td> - <td>1709</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Capture of the French 60-gun ship <i>Superbe</i></td> - <td>July,</td> - <td>1710</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Sir George Byng’s victory off Messina</td> - <td>July,</td> - <td>1718</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Relief of Gibraltar</td> - <td>Feb.,</td> - <td>1727</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Capture of the Spanish 74-gun ship <i>Princessa</i></td> - <td>April,</td> - <td>1740</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Hawke’s victory off Finisterre</td> - <td>Oct.,</td> - <td>1747</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Taking of Geriah</td> - <td>Feb.,</td> - <td>1756</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Recapture of Calcutta and bombardment of Chandernagore</td> - <td>Feb.,</td> - <td>1757</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Alexandria</td> - <td>Mar.,</td> - <td>1801</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Service with Nelson off Toulon</td> - <td></td> - <td>1803-4</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>In the Mediterranean</td> - <td></td> - <td>1807-12</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>A peculiarly interesting memento of the <i>Kent</i> in -connection with one of these battles is in existence. -It refers to the part played by the <i>Kent</i> of Charles -the Second’s navy just before the battle of June, 1666, -“The Four Days’ Fight,” in which Monk, Duke -of Albemarle, during Prince Rupert’s temporary -absence with a third of the fleet in the Channel, -without waiting for Rupert to rejoin, rashly flung -his weaker force on De Ruyter with the whole of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> -the Dutch fleet at hand and brought about a general -engagement.</p> - -<p>The <i>Kent</i> had been sent off on the 27th of May on -a scouting cruise between “Blackness” (the old -name for Cape Grisnez) and Ostend. Late in the -evening of the 30th of May the following letter was -handed to the Duke of Albemarle from the captain -of the <i>Kent</i>, sent across by a Dutch ketch that the -<i>Kent</i> had taken:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="noindent">“May it please yr Grace,</p> - -<p>“This morning being off Gravelines in chase -of a small ship and a ketch belonging to Newport, -as they pretend, whom I have sent into the Downs -to your Grace, I mett with a Swede who came from -Amsterdam on Sunday last in his ballast, bound for -Bordeaux, who relates that 75 sayle of the Flemish -Fleet sett sayle out of the Texel the 21st present, -and 28 more from Zealand, leaving 6 ships behind -them, whose men they tooke out to man the rest of -the Fleet, & stoode away to the Northwest, which -as my duty binds me I have thought fit to acquaint -yr Grace with: & humbly kissing your hands I -remain</p> - -<p class="center">“Yr Grace’s most humble servant to be commanded,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">Thos. Ewens</span>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“From aboard his Matⁱᵉˢ shipp <i>Kent</i>:<br /> -this 30th May, 1666.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The captain of the <i>Kent’s</i> letter was considered -so important that Albemarle at once sent it off by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> -express to the Admiralty. It is still in existence; -a stained sheet of yellowish paper with the writing -crabbed and not easily decipherable, and brown -with age and faded. The letter, with Albemarle’s -covering note, was found many years afterwards -among some correspondence that had belonged -to King James the Second, just as the letter had -been filed on its receipt at the Admiralty in 1666, -when James, Duke of York, was Lord High -Admiral. It is endorsed:—</p> - -<p>“For his Grace the Duke of Albemarle, aboard -the <i>Royall Charles</i> this ⸺ d.dd. In the Downes.”</p> - -<p>Albemarle’s covering letter to the Admiralty bears -the curiously scrawled endorsements of the various -postmasters on the Dover Road as they passed -the courier along on his hurried journey up to -London:—“Received ye packett at Canterbury, att -past 5 in ye Morneing, by Mee, Edw Wheiston”; -“Sittingborne, past 8 in ye morning, by mee Wm -Webb”; “Rochester, past ten Before noon, Wm -Brooker”; “Gravesend at nowne, Hen White.”</p> - -<p>Albemarle was roughly handled and had to beat -a retreat for the mouth of the Thames—fighting a -rear-guard action, skilfully conducted and gallantly -contested. Rupert joined him just in time to avert -disaster, but one of the English flagships, the -<i>Prince</i>, grounded at the last moment on the -Galloper Shoal, and was taken by the Dutch and -burned as she lay. This was just as the <i>Kent</i> rejoined -the flag, in time for the last day’s battle.</p> - -<p>Cromwell, it is curious to note, first gave the name<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> -Kent to the navy for a man-of-war; one November -day of the year 1652. On that day—Saturday, the -6th of November—an application from the Admiralty -Committee as to the names for four frigates, -two of which were to be launched in the following -week, was laid before the Lord General Cromwell -and the Commonwealth Council of State. The reply -was that the following would be the names: <i>Kentish</i>, -<i>Essex</i>, <i>Hampshire</i>, and <i>Sussex</i>. So a State Paper, -now among the national archives in the Record -Office, explicitly states. In their selection the -Council made thereby a new departure, and introduced -a set of man-of-war names entirely different -from any before known at sea. The little group of -four ships named in November, 1652, leads the way -at the head of the long series of British men-of-war -which have borne the names of our counties in -battle on the sea with distinction on so many historic -days.</p> - -<p>Why the form “Kentish” was preferred to -“Kent” for the first of the four ships, is a -matter that is not quite obvious. The name, of -course, may have been appointed for no particular -reason. The four names chosen were names of four -seaboard counties, locally interested in maritime -affairs, and it may well have been thought that to -call one of the ships the “Kentish” was much the -same thing as calling her the “Kent.” On the -other hand, there may have been in addition something -behind, in regard to the name appointed. -Everybody knows, <i>teste</i> Lord Macaulay, why the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> -Puritan authorities put down bull-baiting; not because -it hurt the bull, but because it pleased the -people. The Puritans rather liked, it is to be feared, -making themselves deliberately offensive to those -who saw otherwise to them. It is certainly curious, -if not significant, that at the Restoration the name -“Kentish” disappears forthwith from off the official -Navy List, and “Kent” appears instead. This -was just at the time, too, that certain distinctly -obnoxious names, bestowed on men-of-war by the -Puritan authorities, as, for instance, <i>Naseby</i>, <i>Marston -Moor</i>, <i>Worcester</i>, <i>Torrington</i>, <i>Newbury</i>, <i>Dunbar</i>, -<i>Tredagh</i> (the vernacular for <i>Drogheda</i>), were replaced -by names such as <i>Royal Charles</i>, <i>York</i>, -<i>Dunkirk</i>, <i>Dreadnought</i>, <i>Revenge</i>, <i>Henry</i>, and <i>Resolution</i>.</p> - -<p>Was any reference intended in the form “Kentish,” -as originally appointed for the new ship of 1652, to -the “Kentish Rising” of 1648, and its hard fate -under the sword blades of Fairfax’s troopers? Was -the name designed as a reminder to the Royalists -of South-Eastern England? Was it meant as a -memento of the penalty that had been paid by so -many who, only four years before, had buckled on -sword and ridden forth so blithely to the county -marching song:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Kentish men, keep your King,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Long swords and brave hearts bring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down with the rebels, and slit their crop ears!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hell now is wanting rogues,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Send there the canting dogges,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ride to the scurry, my Kent cavaliers!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">God and our King for grace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leave now your wives’ embrace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up and avenge all their insults for years!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ironsides! Who’s afear?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pack ’em to Lucifer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ride to the scurry, my Kent cavaliers!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">The name “Kentish,” if introduced with such intention, -would help in serving to recall in the stately -mansions of the squires of Kent, and in many a -humble yeoman’s home as well, why there were -vacant places round the family board.</p> - -<p class="tb">A brief comparison between Cromwell’s <i>Kentish</i> -and her lineal successor of our own day, His Majesty’s -ship the <i>Kent</i>, may be of interest in conclusion.</p> - -<p>The <i>Kentish</i> was of 601 tons burthen, 187 feet in -length of hull, 32½ feet beam, and 15 feet draught. -Our modern <i>Kent</i> is 440 feet between perpendiculars -(463½ feet over all), 66 feet beam, and 24½ feet depth. -The first <i>Kent</i>, under full sail, might perhaps do -nine knots at her best speed; the present <i>Kent</i>, with -her engines of 22,000 horse power, has done twenty-three -knots an hour. The first <i>Kent’s</i> guns, forty in -number, were identical with the guns that Queen -Elizabeth’s fleet carried when it fought the Spanish -Armada; the same kind of guns, practically, that -Henry the Eighth’s <i>Mary Rose</i> had on board when -she capsized at Spithead. The same quaint old -mediæval style of nomenclature, indeed, was still in -vogue for the <i>Kentish’s</i> guns. They were called -culverins (18-pounders), demi-culverins (9-pounders),<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> -and sakers (6-pounders). The heaviest of them, the -culverins, weighed 48 cwt. each, and were 5½ inches -in calibre. The <i>Kentish’s</i> guns also were of brass, -specially cast for her; refounded, for the most part, -according to an existing Ordnance order, out of -condemned pieces and captured Royalist cannon. -According to a curious manuscript list of the ship’s -equipment, the <i>Kentish</i> when ready for sea had on -board as her establishment of war stores—908 round -shot, 468 double-headed shot, 100 barrels of powder, -60 muskets; and for close-quarter fighting, 7 -blunderbusses, 60 pikes, and 40 hatchets. The -modern <i>Kent</i> carries as her main armament 6-inch -quick-firing steel guns, each firing 100-pounder shot -and shell, and able to discharge, each piece in half a -minute, heavier metal than the whole broadside -(270 lb.) of the original <i>Kentish</i>. The old ship, of -course, was built of wood, oak timber; most of -which, as a curious fact, seems to have been cut on -the confiscated estates of delinquent Royalists in the -County of Kent. The new <i>Kent</i>, built of steel, and -with 4-inch Krupp armour along her water line, cost -to complete for sea upwards of three-quarters of a -million sterling; the <i>Kentish</i> frigate, guns and all, -cost £5000, or in present-day money from £20,000 to -£25,000.</p> - -<p>That the gallant “Kents” of His Majesty’s navy -at the present hour are quite ready to give a satisfactory -account of themselves before the enemy, -should occasion arise, may be judged from their -firing record in the “gunlayers competition” for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> -1907. With the 12-pounder, the average per -gun for the whole ship was 11·18 hits a minute. -Petty Officer Nash achieved fourteen hits in fourteen -rounds, the run, during which the score was -made, being only of fifty-five seconds duration. In -his fifty-five seconds Able Seaman Ramsden fired -fifteen rounds, the time taken to load and fire each -time being just over three and a half seconds, and -he hit the target thirteen times. During the light -quick-firing gunlayers’ test, the <i>Kent</i> fired, in the -short space of fifty-five seconds, 107 rounds, scoring -83 hits, from her 12-pounders; and 42 rounds, -scoring 35 hits, from her 3-pounders. Some of the -guns hit the target with every shot they fired, and -the loading was wonderfully smart, averaging 15 -rounds per gun for the fifty-five seconds.</p> - -<p>The <i>Kent</i> of King Edward’s fleet was laid down -at Portsmouth Dockyard on the 12th of February, -1900, as a first-class armoured cruiser, and launched -on Wednesday, the 6th of March, 1901, Lady -Hotham, the wife of the Admiral Commander-in-Chief -at Portsmouth, naming the ship in the orthodox -way, with wine grown and produced within the -British Empire, and specially presented for the -ceremony by the Agent General of South Australia. -The <i>Kent</i> was the first to be launched of our modern -set of County Cruisers. She was also the first to -hoist the pennant and join the fleet at sea.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus12"> - -<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Scene of the Operations under -Admiral Watson and Clive</span></p> - -<img src="images/illus12.jpg" width="700" height="350" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption">[From Major James Rennell’s “Bengal Atlas,” -published in 1781. Reproduced -by the courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III">III<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE AVENGERS OF THE BLACK HOLE:—<br /> -WHAT THE NAVY DID FOR CLIVE</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fathers in glory do sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That gathered with him to the fight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the sons shall eternally keep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tablet of gratitude bright.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This year, 1907, has witnessed the coming -round of the hundred and fiftieth anniversary -of the establishment of British rule -in India. It has recalled to memory too, -among some of us at any rate, the name of one of -the great Englishmen of history, Clive, and how he -set his hand to the work which, in its ultimate outcome, -placed the realms of the Great Mogul beneath -the sovereignty of the British flag. The part that -the Royal Navy took side by side with Clive and his -soldiers is perhaps hardly as fully recognized as it -should be, considering all that it meant. For that -reason, among others, the fine story of what took -place, of the help that our bluejackets of that time -gave when the situation was most critical, finds its -place here. The navy had its own <i>rôle</i> to take in -the stirring drama, and it fulfilled it—completely,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> -faultlessly, resistlessly. Without the navy—the -squadron then on duty in Indian waters—Clive -would have been powerless, and the golden hour for -England, with its opportunities, would have had to -be let go by.</p> - -<p>In the summer of 1757 the British East Indies -Squadron had not long arrived in the Bay of Bengal. -It had come out from England four or five months -previously in anticipation of the outbreak of a war -with France. After carrying out operations against -the pirate strongholds of the Malabar coast, it had -gone round to take post off Madras, at that time the -most important of the British settlements in the -East. It was in the neighbourhood of Fort St. -George when, absolutely as a bolt from the blue, -came the news of the catastrophe at Calcutta, which -led to the tragedy of the Black Hole.</p> - -<p>At that moment news was expected by every ship -from England that war had been declared with -France, and part of the British squadron was on the -watch down the coast, off St. David’s. It seemed -quite possible, indeed, that the first intelligence of -war might be the appearance on the scene of a -French squadron from Mauritius, cleared for action. -All were keenly on the alert, almost from the first -arrival of the British force on the coast. There was -no means of knowing whether the French were not -already on their way, and every precaution was taken -against surprise. A daily masthead look-out was kept -for six weeks, the ships being maintained in readiness -every night to clear for action at short notice.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span></p> - -<p>So little was trouble from the north expected, that -month of July, 1757, that an expeditionary force -under Clive to assist the Subahdar of Hyderabad -in his quarrel with M. Bussy was on the point of -setting out.</p> - -<p>To help the Subahdar a force of three hundred -European soldiers and fifteen hundred Sepoys of -the Madras army was told off, and to counteract the -consequent weakening of the garrison of Madras, -Admiral Watson, the Commander-in-Chief of the -East Indies Squadron, was requested to bring his -squadron higher up the coast so as to keep guard in -the immediate vicinity of Fort St. George.</p> - -<p>The Admiral did as he was asked, after which, -just as the Hyderabad column was on the point of -marching off, the blow from Bengal fell.</p> - -<p>In the second week of July a letter came from -Governor Drake at Calcutta with the news that the -new Nawab-Vizier of Bengal, Suraj-u-daulah, had -seized the Honourable East India Company’s -factory at Cossimbazar and made the officials there -prisoners. There was great anxiety at Madras, and -Major Kilpatrick, of the East India Company’s service, -with three companies of European troops, was -at once sent north, on board a Company’s ship, to -render what assistance he could. The Bengal military -establishment at that time comprised only five -hundred men—two hundred Europeans and three -hundred Sepoys. The dispatch of the soldiers for -Calcutta delayed the start of the expedition for -Hyderabad; and then, just as marching orders were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> -about to be given for the second time, on the 5th of -August, a second letter from Bengal arrived.</p> - -<p>To the amazement and consternation of all, they -learnt that Calcutta had fallen. Suraj-u-daulah had -swooped down on the settlement with seventy thousand -men, with cannon and four hundred elephants, -and had captured Fort William. Governor Drake -sent the message from a place called Fulta, a riverside -village in the Sunderbunds, some forty miles -below Calcutta. The garrison of Fort William, -he said, had made a defence for five days, after -which, ammunition failing, he and the higher -officials had taken refuge on board what ships there -were in the Hooghly and retreated with them to -Fulta. The women were safe on board the ships, -said the Governor, but all were in the utmost distress -and great danger. They appealed for help at -the earliest possible moment. Not a word was said -of any one being left behind in Fort William; not a -syllable about the tragedy of the Black Hole. News -of that apparently had not yet reached Fulta. But -without the crowning tragedy, the news, as it reached -Madras, was bad enough. It came with stunning -effect: “A blow as filled us all with inexpressible -consternation,” to use the words of Dr. Ives, the -surgeon of Admiral Watson’s flagship, the <i>Kent</i>.</p> - -<p>To recover Calcutta and take vengeance on the -Nawab were the thoughts uppermost in every one’s -mind at Madras. A sloop-of-war, the <i>Kingfisher</i>, -was hastily dispatched northward on the day after -the receipt of the news to render assistance to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> -ships with the refugees on board, which would probably -be found lying weather-bound in the Hooghly. -The troops for Hyderabad were ordered to stand -fast. An urgent message was sent to Fort St. David -to summon Clive to the Presidency. Clive hurried -to Madras, and with Governor Pigott and the -Council discussed the situation.</p> - -<p>Discussion, however, soon disclosed a difference -of opinion as to what should be done. Some of the -leading people at Madras were nervous for themselves. -Certain members of the Council objected to -any weakening of the garrison. War with France, -they said, was imminent. It was quite possible -indeed, according to late advices from Hyderabad, -that the Subahdar and M. Bussy might settle their -quarrel and combine against Madras. With that -possibility before them, was it wise to strip Madras -entirely of its garrison, now that the worst had -already happened in Bengal? The Council met day -after day, and adjourned without coming to any -decision. Fortunately in the end the bolder spirits -prevailed. By a majority the Council decided to -equip an expedition and send help to Bengal as soon -as the weather—it was the monsoon season—would -let the expedition start.</p> - -<p>It was agreed, after a consultation with Admiral -Watson, that Colonel Adlercron’s regiment (39th -Foot) and 1500 Sepoys should be shipped on board -the men-of-war and some Indiamen then in the -Roads, and proceed to Balasore, at the mouth of the -Hooghly. There the vessels then housing the Calcutta<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> -refugees would transfer them on board the -three larger men-of-war, the flagship <i>Kent</i>, the -<i>Cumberland</i>, and the <i>Tyger</i>, which ships, it was -held, drew too much water to cross the shoals at the -mouth of the Hooghly. The Indiamen and the -Calcutta ships would then transport the soldiers -up the river and recapture Calcutta, escorted and -assisted by three smaller men-of-war, the <i>Salisbury</i>, -the <i>Bridgewater</i>, and the <i>Kingfisher</i>.</p> - -<p>These arrangements had all been completed when -something totally unexpected happened. A Bombay -runner arrived with dispatches from the Admiralty, -sent overland, recalling the whole of Admiral -Watson’s squadron to England at once. “It was,” -as Dr. Ives describes, “a terrible blow.” But the -Admiral proved equal to the situation. He held an -informal consultation in his cabin with his second in -command, Rear-Admiral Pocock, and Flag-Captain -Speke. Taking all responsibility on himself, the -Admiral decided to postpone his departure until -after the expedition to Bengal had been successfully -carried through. An emergency had arisen, he -wrote in his reply to England, which the Admiralty -could not have foreseen, which imperatively required -the continued presence of the squadron on the -station. Then Admiral Watson went ashore to -communicate his dispatches to the Governor in -Council. His opening intimation that the men-of-war -had been recalled created, in the words of Dr. Ives, -“blank consternation.” It would mean, as -the Council formally resolved, “the total ruin of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> -the Company’s affairs in the Indies.” They expressed -themselves as helpless without the Navy, and -were overwhelmingly grateful when they learned -that the Admiral had decided, on his own responsibility, -to disobey his orders.</p> - -<p>At the last moment, though, there was further -delay; it was over a question of military etiquette. -Who should command the expedition—Colonel -Adlercron, a King’s officer, or Lieutenant-Colonel -Clive, a Company’s officer, who had local rank as -colonel? There was further wrangling over this -matter, and valuable time was lost, until it was finally -settled that the supreme command of both sea and -land forces should be vested in Vice-Admiral Watson -as senior commissioned officer in the East, with -Clive in charge of the troops—both King’s and -Company’s.</p> - -<p>The expedition finally set sail on the 16th of -October, two months and ten days after the news -of the Black Hole first reached Madras. It comprised -five men-of-war—the <i>Kent</i>, <i>Cumberland</i>, <i>Tyger</i>, -<i>Salisbury</i>, <i>Bridgewater</i>, and the <i>Blaze</i>, a fireship; -three Company’s Indiamen, and two country ships. -All the ships carried soldiers and army stores.</p> - -<p>Vice-Admiral Charles Watson, the Commander-in-Chief -in the East Indies, was a capable and zealous -leader. He was a naval officer of the very best type, -and in addition, it was admitted on all hands, a noble-hearted, -considerate English gentleman. He had -been very seriously ill while on the way out from -England—so ill indeed that, on learning soon after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> -his first arrival at Bombay that there was a possibility -of the expected war with the French not -breaking out for some time, he had applied to go -home again at once on sick leave. When he reached -Madras he learnt officially that war was imminent, -and he wrote off at once cancelling his application. -If that were so there was no going home now for -Admiral Watson. Ill as he was, he would stay out -to fight the French once more. It was characteristic -of the man—of the captain of the <i>Dragon</i> in 1743—who, -as the Navy of those days well remembered, -when detached by Admiral Mathews from off Toulon, -as a special favour to a smart officer, to cruise off -Cadiz just when the treasure galleons from the -Spanish Main were expected to arrive, with additional -instructions to go on afterwards to Lisbon and carry -the merchants’ treasure thence to England—the most -lucrative employment a naval man could possibly -look for—deliberately, on hearing at Gibraltar that a -battle was likely to take place off Toulon, turned his -back on a sum of prize-money that would have made -him wealthy for life, saying, “He thought his ship -would be wanted with the fleet.” The old heroic -spirit of a captain who had been specially mentioned -in dispatches for gallantry in every battle that he -fought in—by Mathews off Toulon, and in 1747 by -both Anson and Hawke—overcame the bodily weakness -of an invalid.</p> - -<p>It took six weeks to reach Balasore Roads, a -distance of only seven hundred miles on a direct -course. Owing to the delay at Madras they had, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> -the phrase went, “lost the passage.” With the -south-west monsoon, which held from May to the -middle of September, it took ordinarily from ten -days to a fortnight to sail from Madras to Calcutta. -Now they had the north-east monsoon to face—head -winds all the way. It was not until the first -week of December that the leading ships of the -squadron were able to reach Balasore. They had -sailed, with the wind, according to the flagship’s log, -at west-north-west. Next day the wind shifted to -north-east, dead against them. The strong current -in the Bay of Bengal, which at that time of year sets -down the Coromandel coast at one to five knots -an hour, swept the squadron down until they came -within sight of Point San Pedro, in Ceylon, thirteen -leagues east of Trincomalee. On some days there -were dead calms, when they barely made from three -to five miles’ progress in twenty-four hours. Between -the 28th of October and the 5th of November -only six leagues’ advance was made altogether. -Rough weather set in, during which the <i>Salisbury</i> -sprang a dangerous leak, and the whole squadron -had to shorten sail and stand by for a whole day -until the leak had been found and stopped. Finally, -a storm scattered the squadron far and wide. The -<i>Kent</i> and <i>Tyger</i>, the two leading ships, arrived -at Balasore Roads on the 3rd of December by -themselves. The rest of the squadron were at -that time miles astern, trying to weather Palmyras -Point. Two of the ships, indeed, never got to -Balasore at all; they had to bear away until<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> -they drifted right round Ceylon and anchored at -Bombay.</p> - -<p>At Balasore Admiral Watson got fresh news about -what had been happening in Bengal. He now heard, -for the first time, details of the taking of Fort William -and of the grim tragedy of the Black Hole. Two -English pilots who boarded the flagship told the -story. The attack, said the men, opened on June -15th, Tuesday, and after a vain attempt to hold the -gaol and Court House and a small redoubt in front -of the city, the garrison had been driven into the -fort. There it was found they had only ammunition -for three days’ fighting. The women and children -were thereupon sent on board the ships in the river, -lying off the Maidan, and in the confusion that -followed their departure, Governor Drake and most -of the leading civilians—according to the pilots—deserted -their posts, and stole off on board ship to -join the women, after which they induced the skippers -to weigh anchor and drop down the river, leaving -the garrison cut off and without means of escape. -These under Mr. Holwell, a member of the Council, -had fought on gallantly, keeping the enemy off until -the afternoon of Sunday the 20th, when, being at -their last cartridge, they beat a parley. While they -were talking from the walls, the enemy by treachery -got possession of one of the fort gates (that in the -rear), rushed the guard, and compelled the garrison -to surrender at discretion. That night the prisoners, -a hundred and seventy-five in number, were crammed -all together into the Black Hole, whence next morning<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> -only sixteen were left alive. Of the sixteen, -Mr. Holwell and Mr. Burdett, a writer, with two -others, had been heavily ironed and sent to the -Nawab’s camp. Such was the tale told to Admiral -Watson.</p> - -<p>The refugees at Fulta, added the pilots, were in a -deplorable state; fever-stricken and short of food; in -terror of their lives; living, some in tents on shore, -some on board the ships in the river. The Nawab, -it was reported, had withdrawn to Moorshedabad, -but his general, Manikchand, was at Calcutta with -nearly four thousand men. He was busy throwing -up batteries at various points along the river bank to -bar any approach by ships.</p> - -<p>Admiral Watson, on hearing that, made up his -mind to try and get up the Hooghly to Fulta with -the <i>Kent</i> at once, without waiting for the rest of the -squadron or the troops.</p> - -<p>The pilots, however, made objection to carrying -the flagship into the river. It was impossible, they -said, to get so big a ship over the Braces, the belt of -shoals across the mouth of the Hooghly on the -Balasore side, with the tides as they were. They -doubted, indeed, if it could be done at all, even at -spring tides. On the usual “crossing track” over -the Western Brace, the deepest channel, they said, -was only three fathoms. But Admiral Watson had -made up his mind to try. On the pilots finally declining -to assist in taking the flagship into the river -Captain Speke, the captain of the <i>Kent</i>, volunteered -to make the attempt. He had been up the Hooghly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> -once before, and he could, he believed, find a channel -deep enough to carry the <i>Kent</i> over the Braces. -The <i>Tyger</i> was to remain behind to bring on the rest -of the squadron on their arrival.</p> - -<p>The flagship set out, after a week’s further detention -at Balasore owing to strong north easterly -winds, her boats towing her. Captain Speke navigated -the ship, and with such success that a channel -was found through the Western Brace that gave four -fathoms of water at half-tide. It proved sufficient to -float the ship over safely. On the 12th of December, -they were at anchor off Kedgeree (Khichri), sixty-seven -miles from Fort William by water. After this -the wind changed to westerly and the <i>Kent</i> was able -to work up the estuary under sail.</p> - -<p>Fulta was reached on the 15th, and the rescue of -the fugitives from Calcutta effected. Major Kilpatrick -and his men were found there, and the <i>Kingfisher</i>. -The flagship herself had on board two -hundred and fifty men of the 39th Foot under Captain -Eyre Coote, afterwards the celebrated General -Sir Eyre Coote. There was also a detachment of -Sepoys, who had arrived two days before by the -<i>Protector</i>, a Bombay cruiser, which had touched at -Madras just after the squadron left there, and had -since got ahead of them. At Fulta Governor Drake, -the ex-Governor of Calcutta, came on board to see -the Admiral.</p> - -<p>The <i>Tyger</i> reached Fulta on the 16th, and the -<i>Salisbury</i> and the rest of the men-of-war and the -Indiamen with the troops on board, between then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> -and the 26th. The <i>Cumberland</i> and the <i>Marlborough</i> -Indiaman were still missing.</p> - -<p>The tides, meanwhile, were too low to allow any -of the ships to cross the sand-bar above Fulta and -proceed further up the Hooghly until after the 27th.</p> - -<p>Admiral Watson used the interval to send a -letter to Suraj-u-daulah. He wrote courteously, -but firmly, demanding the immediate restoration of -Calcutta and compensation for property looted and -destroyed. The letter was sent off on the 18th of -December, but no reply came. None had arrived -ten days later, when the forward movement up the -river began. The <i>Kent</i>, <i>Tyger</i>, <i>Salisbury</i>, <i>Bridgewater</i>, -and <i>Kingfisher</i> comprised the ships told off -for the recovery of Calcutta. They carried up with -them eight hundred soldiers and twelve hundred -Sepoys—all that were available in the absence of the -detachments on board the belated ships.</p> - -<p>The first fight took place at Baj-Baj, or Budge-Budge, -as the name was spelled by the English, -where a fort on the right bank of the Hooghly -threatened to bar their passage. Owing to the -narrow and tortuous channel the ships could only -move up in line ahead. They sailed with the <i>Tyger</i> -leading, and the flagship next. The Nawab’s troops -were reported to be in force at Budge-Budge, which -mounted eighteen 24-pounders, and was built with -bastions and curtains and a wet ditch.</p> - -<p>Clive and his Sepoys were put ashore at Mayapore, -ten miles below Budge-Budge, to act against Manikchand, -whose army had taken post in the neighbourhood<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> -of the fort. Manikchand’s men, though, -made only a poor stand, and fell back, their position -being turned by the steady advance of the <i>Tyger</i> -and <i>Kent</i>.</p> - -<p>The ships anchored that night, and proceeded -next morning, the enemy on shore at the same time -falling back before them on Budge-Budge.</p> - -<p>Between seven and eight o’clock, as the <i>Tyger</i> -and <i>Kent</i> rounded into the reach in front of the fort, -the Nawab’s gunners opened a brisk cannonade.</p> - -<p>The two ships took no notice, beyond firing a few -guns to cover their approach and shroud themselves -in smoke, until they had come abreast of the ramparts. -Then, at three minutes past eight by the -<i>Kent’s</i> log, both ships let go anchor, and as the -<i>Kent</i> ran up the red flag at the fore, the first broadside -thundered out. The battle lasted for an hour -and a half before the nearest ships astern, the <i>Salisbury</i> -and <i>Bridgewater</i> could join in. About the same -time Clive’s Sepoys got again into action with -Manikchand’s troops on the further side of Budge-Budge. -Captain Coote and men of the 39th Foot on -board the <i>Kent</i> were now landed to reinforce Clive, -while the navy dealt with the fort, the key of the -position. The Nawab’s gunners for their part fought -their pieces bravely, and the tough chunam and -brick of the walls of Budge-Budge stood four hours -more hard battering. By half-past one, however, -the breastwork rampart facing the river had been -almost smashed down all along its length, and the -guns there all either dismounted or disabled.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span></p> - -<p>The Nawab’s troops on shore had by this time -begun to draw off, and the action slackened down to -a casual musketry fire here and there. The fort, -however, still held out, and a sharp fusillade came -from its walls. Apparently the garrison were looking -for Manikchand’s return to their relief. Admiral -Watson on that sent for Clive, and a Council of War -was held on board the <i>Kent</i>. It was decided to storm -Budge-Budge at daybreak next morning. Clive’s -soldiers were given the afternoon to rest after their -work of the past twenty-four hours. To assist in -the storming a naval battalion, made up of an officer, -two midshipmen, and forty men from each of the -men-of-war, was landed, with two of the <i>Kent’s</i> -9-pounders which were to batter in the main gate.</p> - -<p>As things turned out there was no need of the -storming party. That evening, while the troops -were bivouacking before the fort, a sailor from the -<i>Kent</i> took Budge-Budge all by himself. The story -is best told in the words of Dr. Ives, our correspondent -on the spot:</p> - -<p>“All was now quiet in the camp,” he begins, -“and we on board the ships, which lay at their -anchors but a small distance from the shore, had -entertained thoughts of making use of this interval -to refresh ourselves with an hour or two of sleep, but -suddenly a loud and universal acclamation was heard -from the shore, and soon afterwards an account was -brought to the Admiral that the place had been -taken by storm.”</p> - -<p>Great was the astonishment on board at the news,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> -and “great joy” as Dr. Ives relates, “the more so -as it was quite unexpected.” Then, as it would -seem, when they heard what had actually taken place, -everybody affected to be scandalized rather than -pleased. “When the particular circumstances that -ushered in this success were related,” continues the -worthy surgeon of the <i>Kent</i>, “our exultation was -greatly abated, because we found that the rules so -indispensably necessary in all military exploits had -been disregarded in the present instance, and therefore -could not help looking upon the person who had -the principal hand in this victory rather as an object -of chastisement than of applause.”</p> - -<p>This, to resume with the Doctor, is how Budge-Budge -fell:</p> - -<p>“During the tranquil state of the camp, one -Strahan, a common sailor, belonging to the <i>Kent</i>, -having been just served with grog (arrack mixed -with water), had his spirits too much elated to think -of taking any rest: he therefore strayed by himself -towards the fort, and imperceptibly got under the -walls. Being advanced thus far without interruption, -he took it into his head to scale it at a breach that -had been made by the cannon of the ships, and -having luckily gotten upon the bastion, he there discovered -several Moors<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> sitting upon the platform, at -whom he flourished his cutlass and fired his pistol, -and then, after giving three loud huzzas, cried out—“The -place is mine.” The Moorish soldiers immediately<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> -attacked him, and he defended himself with -incomparable resolution, but in the rencounter had -the misfortune to have the blade of his cutlass cut in -two, about a foot from the hilt. This mischance, -however, did not happen until he was near being -supported by two or three other sailors who had -accidentally straggled to the same part of the fort on -which the other had mounted. They, hearing -Strahan’s huzzas, immediately scaled the breach likewise, -and echoing the triumphant sound roused the -whole army, who, taking the alarm, presently fell on -pell-mell, without orders and without discipline, -following the example of the sailors.”</p> - -<p>Completely taken by surprise and scared out of -their wits the garrison bolted <i>en masse</i>, and Budge-Budge -was ours. It was found to mount in all -eighteen guns, mostly 24-pounders—the average size -of a siege piece of the day—and to have a well -stocked magazine.</p> - -<p>Neither the Admiral’s official dispatch nor the flagship’s -log, as it happens, make any mention whatever -of Strahan or his exploit. Admiral Watson says: -“At half-past eight the body of the fort was on fire, -and immediately after news was received that the -Place was taken, but the few people in it had all -escaped.” The flagship’s log is briefer still. It -simply notes: “At forty-five minutes past eight -Captain Bridge came on board with an account of -our being in possession of the Fort.”</p> - -<p>Next morning, according to the etiquette of the -time, the British flag was hoisted on the ramparts of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> -the fort and a seventeen-gun salute to Admiral -Watson, as commander-in-chief of the expedition, -was ceremoniously fired.</p> - -<p>That being done, Strahan was brought before the -Admiral by the master-at-arms to explain matters. -Admiral Watson, we are told, “thought it necessary -to show himself displeased with a measure in which -the want of all discipline so notoriously appeared. -He therefore angrily accosted this brave fellow -with: ‘Strahan, what is this you have been doing?’ -The untutored hero, after having made his bow, -scratched his head and, with one hand twirling his -hat, replied: ‘Why, to be sure, sir, it was I who -took the fort, but I hope there was no harm in it.’ -The Admiral with difficulty suppressed a smile -excited by the simplicity of the answer, and the -language and the manner which he used in recounting -the several particulars of his mad exploit. -Admiral Watson then expatiated on the fatal consequences -that might have attended his irregular -conduct, and with a severe rebuke dismissed him, -but not without dropping some hints that at a proper -opportunity he would certainly be punished for his -temerity. Strahan, amazed to find himself blamed -for an action that he thought deserved praise and -for which he expected to have received applause, in -passing from the Admiral’s cabin muttered, ‘If -I’m flogged for this here action, I’ll never take -another fort by myself as long as I live!’”</p> - -<p>Some of the <i>Kent’s</i> officers, as we are told, afterwards -interceded with the Admiral for Strahan.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> -They were prompted, according to Dr. Ives, by -Admiral Watson himself, who made that the excuse -for openly pardoning the man. The Admiral, it -would seem, was also desirous of promoting Strahan -to boatswain’s mate, with the idea of advancing him -later on to full boatswain; but unfortunately Strahan -was too fond of his grog. His irregular ways -in other respects were against him, and nothing -could be done to reclaim him. His own highest -ambition, as Strahan himself afterwards declared, -was to get a cook’s berth on board a first rate. -Whether he ever got one history has not recorded. -All that is known of him for certain is that twenty -years afterwards he was alive and a Greenwich -Hospital pensioner.</p> - -<p>The troops were re-embarked on the evening of -the 30th, all except the Sepoys, who were ordered to -keep advancing along the river bank. Then next -morning the squadron moved forward again, keeping -the English soldiers on board. On the 31st the -whole day was spent in laboriously working up the -river, a difficult and intricate piece of navigation, -owing to cross currents and dangerous shoals.</p> - -<p>New Year’s Day promised to be interesting, for -they had Tanna just ahead of them, where there was -a fort on one side of the river and a battery on the -other. A stiff fight was looked for here, the position -being a good one to make a stand at. But news -of what had happened at Budge-Budge had gone in -advance of them. As the <i>Tyger</i> and <i>Kent</i> drew -near the works the garrisons on both sides suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> -abandoned their guns and bolted. Not a shot was -fired. The boats of the squadron were promptly -sent ashore, and the fort and battery taken possession -of. Forty pieces of cannon in all, many of -them heavy guns, were found mounted and all well -supplied with ammunition. In the afternoon the -boats were again called away and dispatched up the -river, manned and armed. It was reported that -the enemy had had some half dozen native vessels -prepared as fireships, and were waiting with them a -little higher up, all ready to float down with the ebb -of the tide that night on the squadron at its anchorage. -The fireships were boarded and destroyed -without serious opposition being offered.</p> - -<p>Calcutta was in sight next morning. The squadron -now comprised the <i>Tyger</i>, <i>Kent</i>, <i>Bridgewater</i>, and -<i>Kingfisher</i>. The <i>Salisbury</i> had been left behind at -Tanna to demolish the fortifications there and -prevent their being re-occupied. Admiral Watson -had also with him an extra vessel, the <i>Thunder</i>, a -bomb-vessel, one of the country-ships found at Fulta -and converted there for emergency purposes, in case -bombardment might be needed to drive the enemy -out of Fort William.</p> - -<p>As before the attack on Budge-Budge, Clive and -the Company’s European troops were put ashore -early. They were to move on the place overland -while the ships attacked along the waterside.</p> - -<p>Firing began at a quarter to ten from some -batteries recently thrown up a little below Fort -William, but, cowed by the experiences of their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> -comrades at Budge-Budge, as the <i>Tyger</i> and <i>Kent</i> -closed on them the gunners in the outlying batteries -cleared out and made off. Fort William itself was -within range at ten o’clock, and twenty minutes later -the <i>Tyger</i> and <i>Kent</i> let go anchor abreast of the -ramparts and opened fire. The fort replied briskly, -and kept up a hot fire for an hour and fifty minutes. -Then suddenly the garrison, numbering some five -hundred men ceased firing and deserted their guns, -streaming off to the rear out of the fort. Clive’s -soldiers on shore were beginning to work round on -the further side, and fearful at the idea of their retreat -being cut off, the garrison gave way and fled in -confusion. With the recapture of Fort William the -main object of the expedition had been achieved. -On board the squadron the casualties from first to -last had been nine seamen and three soldiers killed -and twenty-six seamen and five soldiers wounded.</p> - -<p>Admiral Watson landed a party of seamen and the -men of the 39th Foot serving on board the squadron, -all in charge of Captain Richard King (afterwards -Sir Richard), of the Royal Navy, a volunteer on -board the <i>Kent</i>, who took formal possession of Fort -William in the King’s name. Later in the day -Clive took over the charge of the place until the next -morning, when he formally delivered the keys of -Fort William over to the Admiral, who in turn -formally handed them to Governor Drake. The -ceremony of officially declaring war against the -Nawab was at the same time ceremoniously -performed, Governor Drake proclaiming war in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> -name of the Honourable East India Company, after -Admiral Watson had declared it in the name of His -Majesty King George. Upwards of ninety guns -were found in Fort William and a large store of -ammunition.</p> - -<p>The Navy in the events of the six weeks campaign -against Suraj-u-daulah that followed, bore the brunt -of the hard work and had their share in the fighting. -First, a week after the taking of Calcutta, an -expedition was sent up the Hooghly to attack the -fort at the city of Hooghly, thirty miles up the -river, the Nawab’s capital of Lower Bengal. All -the boats of the squadron, manned and armed, with -the <i>Bridgewater</i> and the <i>Kingfisher</i> carrying two -hundred European soldiers and two hundred and -fifty Sepoys formed the expeditionary force. The fort -at Hooghly was stormed, a midshipman of the -<i>Kent</i>, Mr. William Hamilton, and two seamen of -the flagship being among the killed, and several -men were wounded. The Nawab’s treasury was -looted and the town burned. After that the sailors, -under Captain Speke of the <i>Kent</i>, and with a small -military detachment, went three miles higher up and -burned the immense storehouses and granaries of -the Nawab’s army at Goongee. Suraj-u-daulah’s -advanced guard of some five thousand men was -encamped close by in force, and attacked the little -column, but the enemy were handsomely beaten off -and the work carried through with complete success.</p> - -<p>Again we have from Dr. Ives, incidentally, a -curious story of much the same kind as that already<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> -told of Strahan at Budge-Budge. Three men from the -flagship, as it would seem, on the force returning to -Hooghly, were missed. There was no trace of them -or their fate. Nobody had seen them after the opening -of the fight. Their disappearance could in no -way be accounted for, except that they had been shot -and overlooked in some extraordinary way. They -were therefore entered as “killed.” Next morning, -to the general surprise, the three men made their -appearance safe and sound, with an extraordinary -tale of adventure. “Early the next morning,” to -quote the doctor’s words, “a raft was observed floating -down the river, and on it sat with the greatest -composure possible our three missing sailors, who -after they were taken off and brought on board their -ship, gave the following account of their adventure.” -After the fighting they had straggled and -gone to sleep. “Awakening in the beginning of -the night, and perceiving their companions had left -them, they judged it expedient to set fire to all the -villages in order to intimidate the enemy and make -them believe the whole detachment still continued on -shore which had done them so much mischief the -previous day. As soon as the day broke they repaired -to the water’s edge to search for a boat, in -which they hoped to be conveyed on board their -ship. No such thing, however, could be found, -but luckily for them this raft at length presented -itself, on which they resolved to trust themselves.”</p> - -<p>The men’s story explained at the same time certain -mysterious fires on shore during the previous night<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> -which it had considerably puzzled those on board -the ships to account for.</p> - -<p>For the remainder of the month the squadron lay -quietly at its anchorage off Fort William. Things -meanwhile were shaping themselves elsewhere for -more fighting.</p> - -<p>Incensed beyond measure at having Calcutta -wrested back from him and at the destruction of his -State granaries at Hooghly, Suraj-u-daulah vowed -vengeance. He would not rest, he swore, until he -had driven every Englishman out of Bengal, and he -promptly set to work to assemble his soldiery and -make good his words. While his forces were -mustering, to gain time the Nawab wrote to Admiral -Watson, and expressed himself desirous of coming -to an arrangement on friendly terms. When his -preparations were completed he abruptly broke off -the negotiations, and marched with his whole force -directly on Calcutta. The Nawab’s army was estimated -at between forty and fifty thousand horse and -foot, with forty guns.</p> - -<p>Colonel Clive, on the first information of the -enemy being on the move, on the 4th of February -took post near Dum-dum with all the available -troops—seven hundred Europeans, thirteen hundred -Sepoys, and fourteen 6-pounders. He was outflanked -though at the outset by the pushing forward -of the Nawab’s advanced guard, and had to send off -to Admiral Watson for help. It was at once -afforded. Within less than an hour a strong naval -brigade of nearly six hundred men, had landed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> -under arms. It was a night march to get to the -army, and the seamen reached Clive at two in the -morning, just as his little force was on the point of -setting out with the idea of surprising Suraj-u-daulah -in his quarters. The sailors joined the -column, and they started. All promised well until -they neared the enemy’s lines. Then, at the critical -moment, a dense fog, “thicker than on the Banks of -Newfoundland,” suddenly rolled up. The fog upset -the native guides. Instead of striking the Nawab’s -camp they bore off to the left. That brought Clive -front to front with a long field work, behind which -the right wing of Suraj-u-daulah’s army lay entrenched. -Almost at the same moment the sun rose, -and the fog thinned off and dispersed, leaving the -small English force in a position that at the first -glance looked well-nigh desperate.</p> - -<p>It was not Clive’s way, however, to lose his head. -He fell back quickly and steadily, making a rear-guard -fight of it for six hours, all the time keeping -the enemy off and dealing great slaughter among -their pursuing columns by the continuous cannonade -from his 6-pounders, until at noon he regained the -camp. In the fighting two of the guns had to be -abandoned owing to their carriages breaking down. -The loss on the English side was: a lieutenant of -the <i>Salisbury</i> mortally wounded, twelve seamen and -twenty-nine soldiers and Sepoys killed, including two -captains of the Company’s troops, fifteen seamen and -between forty and fifty soldiers and Sepoys wounded. -Suraj-u-daulah’s loss was reported by a spy as being<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> -upwards of thirteen hundred, including some of his -best officers. At any rate, it staggered the Nawab. -Startled at the audacity of Clive’s attempt on his -camp and its near approach to success, when the -names of his fallen captains were told him he lost -what little nerve he possessed, and in a state of -abject fright sent a flag of truce to Calcutta declaring -his readiness to treat for peace. To prove his good -faith, as he said, he at the same time ordered his -troops to break camp and withdraw up-country. -The Calcutta Council, for their part, were quite -ready to come to terms. Their demands included -the restoration of their trading rights and of the -<i>status quo</i> generally, together with the payment by -the Nawab of a lump sum as compensation for property -seized at Calcutta in the previous June. The -terms were acceded to by Suraj-u-daulah, and -articles of peace were ratified on the 9th of February.</p> - -<p>The Council had agreed with their adversary -quickly. They had reason to do so. A yet more -threatening cloud was lowering on the horizon. -The settlement with the Nawab came almost as a -God-send to the Company’s politicians at Calcutta, -for the long-expected war between England and -France had broken out.</p> - -<p class="tb">Official intimation of the declaration of war had -been received at Fort William five weeks before, but -for very urgent reasons it had been deemed advisable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> -to keep the news secret if possible. The authorities -at Calcutta understood that the French garrison -at Chandernagore—barely twenty-five miles off up -the Hooghly river—numbered some five hundred -Europeans and a thousand Sepoys, and the French -also had another garrison at Cossimbazaar (Kasim -Bazar), within touch of Chandernagore. What if -the French should make common cause with Suraj-u-daulah, -then on his march down country, and -reinforce his horde of armed men with their drilled -troops, officered by men who had seen service. The -bare idea was a nightmare to the Council of Calcutta.</p> - -<p>As it happened, Governor Renault at Chandernagore -had received the news of war with England on -the very day (the 6th of January) that the officials at -Fort William had their information. They, too, for -their own particular reasons, had decided for the -time being to say nothing about it. The French at -Chandernagore were, as a fact, in a very different -position from what they were thought to be at -Calcutta. The garrison actually numbered only a -hundred and forty-six European soldiers, many of -whom were invalids, and some three hundred -Sepoys. In addition there were between three and -four hundred officials, traders, and sailors belonging -to ships from France in the river. What was to be -done was a very difficult question. There seemed to be -two courses open. One was to join with the Nawab -in his campaign against Calcutta then—in January—just -about to open. Suraj-u-daulah had himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -already pressed them to side with him. He had -heard rumours as to the relations between England -and France. The other course for the French was to -temporize, and try to form a private treaty of neutrality -between Chandernagore and Calcutta. This course -the French adopted, and they sent an emissary to -Calcutta to make propositions for a treaty. The -emissary arrived at Fort William in the third week -of January, and found the Calcutta Council not indisposed -to listen to the suggestion. A deputation was -then sent to Calcutta and negotiations begun. It -took some little time, however, to settle on terms; -and then came the sudden collapse of the Nawab’s -campaign and his treaty with the English of the 9th -of February.</p> - -<p>That altered the situation entirely. The authorities -at Calcutta now saw matters in quite another -light. With the Nawab out of the way, and with -Clive and the pick of the Madras army at their -disposal on the spot, why should they not take the -opportunity of ridding themselves of their most -formidable trade rivals once for all?</p> - -<p>It was considered politic, however, not to break -off the negotiations with the French for the moment. -The Nawab’s sanction to the carrying on of hostile -operations within his territories ought to be obtained. -The negotiations with the French deputation were -meanwhile protracted on various pretexts. Again -the unexpected happened. Suraj-u-daulah’s reply -was a peremptory refusal to permit operations of -war in Bengal. The Calcutta Council on that again<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> -took up the question of a treaty with Chandernagore. -It was duly drafted and made ready for signature, -when Admiral Watson himself, as representing -the British Government, intervened. The negotiations -hitherto had been no concern of his. Now he -was asked to sign the treaty. The Admiral declined -to assent to any terms with the French. The French -settlement at Chandernagore, he pointed out, was -legally a dependency of Pondicherry, where any -arrangement come to would have to be ratified.</p> - -<p>At that moment, early in March, a fresh letter -from Suraj-u-daulah came, in the form of an appeal -for assistance against Ahmed Shah, news of whose -capture of Delhi had reached Moorshedabad. In -mortal dread of an Afghan raid on the rich plains -of Bengal, Suraj-u-daulah offered Clive a hundred -thousand rupees a month if he would march to his -assistance. If Clive would do so, the English might -have a free hand with the French. Two days after -the receipt of the Nawab’s letter at Fort William, a -message came up the river that three ships, bringing -a reinforcement of three companies of infantry and -one of artillery, sent round from Bombay on the -news of the Black Hole reaching there, had arrived -in the Hooghly, and that the long-delayed <i>Cumberland</i>, -with two hundred European infantry on board, -which had had to put back to Vizagapatam, was at -Balasore. Now all thought of an accommodation with -Chandernagore, or of neutrality, was flung to the -winds. The French envoys were packed off home -with a curt message that parleying was at an end.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> -They might take it that war with Chandernagore -had already begun.</p> - -<p>Preparations for an immediate advance on Chandernagore -were taken in hand forthwith, and pushed -on apace. At the last moment yet another letter, -the third, came in from Suraj-u-daulah, who had -got over his alarm about the Afghans. The Nawab -once more forbade interference with Chandernagore. -But it was too late.</p> - -<p>The formal declaration of war with France was -read on board the flagship <i>Kent</i>, as the ship’s log -records, on the 14th of March. Here is the entry:—</p> - -<p>“March 14—At an anchor off Calcutta. P.M. -Cut up 373 Pounds of Fresh Beef. Punish’d Joseph -Vatier and Thomas Holderness with a Dozen lashes -each for Disorderly Behaviour on Shore and Read -His Majesty’s Declaration of War against the French -King.”</p> - -<p>Clive and his troops, numbering, with the reinforcement -of three hundred men of the Bombay army -that had been hastened up to Fort William, seven -hundred Europeans and sixteen hundred “Blacks,” -as Admiral Watson termed the Sepoys, had already -crossed the river. They had crossed some days -before—before, in fact, the French envoys had -left Calcutta, it being given out that the movement -was with a view to be ready to march off up-country -and assist Suraj-u-daulah against the Afghans. Clive -camped a little distance up the river, with the <i>Bridgewater</i> -and the <i>Kingfisher</i> sloop to keep him in easy -touch with Calcutta.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span></p> - -<p>On the 15th the squadron began to move forward. -It comprised three men-of-war in this order: the -<i>Tyger</i> ahead, then the <i>Kent</i>, lastly the <i>Salisbury</i>. -Following them came Clive’s heavy artillery in flats -towed by row-boats. The ships advanced towing -and warping their way up for three days, until they -came within sight of Chandernagore. Then they -had to anchor two miles below Fort d’Orleans, as -the entrenched work forming the defence of the -settlement was called. Until the tides became higher -it was impossible to make further progress with such -big ships. The artillery were now landed, together -with a hundred and forty of the seamen, who were -to throw up the siege batteries and fight the guns.</p> - -<p>These moved across and joined Clive, who, since -the early morning of the 14th, had been carrying on -a skirmishing attack on the outworks of Chandernagore -on the western or landward side.</p> - -<p>At Chandernagore itself, meanwhile, during the -brief lull before the bursting of the storm, the French -were working night and day on their defences. The -news of the breaking off of the negotiations had -come on the settlement like a thunderbolt from an -apparently clearing sky. Blank dismay fell on all, -from the Governor downwards, when they learned -what had happened. For days past they had been -confidently looking forward to see the envoys arrive -from Calcutta with the signed treaty in their hands. -The envoys returned with the message: “Delenda -est Carthago.” It was a staggering set-back. But -the Governor and his officers were men. They<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> -set themselves to work with the energy of despair to -make the best fight for it they could. Messengers -were sent galloping off to the Nawab and to Cossimbazaar, -where the French agent, M. Lawson, had -a small detachment of picked Europeans, imploring -immediate help.</p> - -<p>Field works and entrenched positions were thrown -up at the most exposed points outside the main fort, -which constituted the stronghold of the settlement, -Fort d’Orleans. Six trading ships were sunk across -the fairway of the Hooghly, a hundred and fifty yards -below the fort, to stop the English men-of-war coming -up, and a covering battery, heavily gunned, was -placed to enfilade the channel at close range and -bring a punishing fire on any ships trying to pass -the sunken obstacles. A double boom, moored fast -with chains, was also laid across the river. Two -bomb-vessels were anchored broadside-on across the -fairway, close to the sunken vessels, and three fireships -were made ready to let drift down stream on -the enemy. Chandernagore Fort itself was a four-sided -brick-faced work, two hundred yards each way, -with walls fifteen feet high, constructed on the -regular Vauban system, with a dry ditch and -bastions, and a curtain between the bastions, and -with a ravelin covering the main gate. It mounted -ten 32-pounders along each curtain, and eight 32-pounders -on the ravelin. Besides these there was -a six-gun battery of lighter pieces erected on the -roof of the high-terraced church of St. Louis, inside -the fort.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span></p> - -<p>To man his defences M. Renaud de St. Germain, -the French Governor, had in all a hundred and forty-six -European soldiers and three hundred Sepoys, with -an auxiliary body of some three hundred Europeans, -“men with muskets,” raised from among the Chandernagore -traders and the crews of the French -vessels.</p> - -<p>Chandernagore in itself seemed capable of making -a good defence, and the Governor, indeed, as his -arrangements drew towards completion, was not -without hope of being able to hold his own until -help, of which at an early date he received promise, -should arrive from the Nawab. Clive and his army -gave him little anxiety—or comparatively little. -The preliminaries of the attack on the land side -showed that the French heavy guns on the ramparts -had a command of fire that gave the defence the -mastery on that side. It was the broadsides of the -men-of-war that M. Renaud was anxious about. If -only he could stand up against the sailors, he thought -it possible to hold out until the relief he anticipated -should arrive.</p> - -<p>The British men-of-war in the river had to wait -at anchor for four days until the tides suited their -further advance. Admiral Watson used the opportunity -to announce the declaration of war to the -Governor of Chandernagore, demanding at the same -time the surrender of the fort. Lieutenant Hey, of -the flagship, carried the letter. The reply was -an offer to ransom the place. It was refused flatly. -Unconditional surrender, Admiral Watson sent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> -back word, were his only terms, though private -property would be respected. To that the French -made no reply, but pressed on with their preparations.</p> - -<p>The interval was profitably spent otherwise. It -so happened that the French officers responsible for -blocking the fairway had either neglected to remove -the masts of the sunken vessels or were unable to -do so before the English squadron came in sight. -Anyhow, they were left sticking up out of the water—in -the cases of five of the six vessels—and -showed what the enemy’s plans in that direction -were. Admiral Watson’s first step was to remove -the boom and the two bomb-vessels behind the -line of the sunken vessels, together with the fireships. -The boats of the men-of-war were sent up -with muffled oars after dark on the first night after -the arrival of the squadron and cleared these off, by -cutting through the boom and sending the bombs -and fireships adrift, causing them to run ashore and -ground hard and fast. “Mr. Delamotte, the master -of the <i>Kent</i>,” relates Dr. Ives, “on the second day -sounded between the sunken vessels, whose masts -were above water, under continuous cannon shot -from the fort, and found room for our ships to pass -between.”</p> - -<p>Treachery, as the French afterwards said, enabled -him to do this. One of their artillery officers, according -to French accounts, had a quarrel with the -Governor, deserted and sold the secret of the passage -for a large sum to Admiral Watson. He sent the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> -money, so the story proceeds, to help his father in -France, an aged and poor man, only, however, to -receive back again the price of his treason, together -with a bitter letter of reproach on the receipt of -which the traitor hanged himself. On the other -hand, Dr. Ives, on board the flagship, says nothing -of any traitor. Admiral Watson in his dispatch -simply says that he was delayed “until ... I -could further discover by sounding a proper channel -to pass through, which the pilots found out without -being at the trouble of weighing any of the vessels.” -There was hardly need for a traitor, and no need at -all to pay for information with the masts of the -sunken French vessels in the river standing up in -the air, right across the bed of the Hooghly, for -every man and boy in the English squadron to -see. There was a traitor at Chandernagore, De -Terraneau, an artillery officer; but he deserted to -Clive’s camp, and, useful as his information proved -to the land attack, he knew nothing about the river -defences.</p> - -<p>By midday on the 22nd all was in order for the -squadron to go forward to the final fight. The tides -now were running higher every day, and the next -tide would probably serve. That afternoon Rear-Admiral -Pocock (afterwards Sir George, and a very -distinguished commander), the Second in Command -of the East Indies squadron, came up the Hooghly -rowing up from Calcutta in his barge. He had -hurried up to join, in the hope of being in time to see -something of the fighting. He had left his flagship,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> -the <i>Cumberland</i>, at Balasore, unable to enter the -river owing to the same low tides that had during the -past few days delayed the <i>Kent</i> and her two consorts -in approaching Chandernagore. With Admiral -Watson’s sanction, Pocock hoisted his flag for the -battle on board the <i>Tyger</i>, to lead the line.</p> - -<p>At dusk that evening, as soon as it could be done -without observation by the enemy, boats crept ahead -quietly and lashed lanterns to the masts of the -sunken vessels, so screened as to show their light -only in the direction of the English ships. By -means of these the ships were to be guided before -daybreak next morning between the obstacles and -across the danger zone where the French had marked -the range, past the heavy battery that overlooked the -sunken ships.</p> - -<p>The order to go forward was given at daybreak. -Within five minutes they were on the move.</p> - -<p>Anchors were silently weighed between 5 and -6 a.m., and on the top of the flood tide the three -ships, the <i>Tyger</i> leading, and the <i>Kent</i> and <i>Salisbury</i> -in her wake, glided ahead through the water with -the least possible noise. Apparently their getting -under way was not observed.</p> - -<p>Admiral Watson’s plan of battle was to bring-to -directly opposite the river face of Fort d’Orleans -within pistol shot. The <i>Tyger</i> was to lead on until -she came in front of the further bastion of the river -face of the fort, the north-east or “flagstaff bastion,” as -it was called, and then drop anchor. The <i>Kent</i> was -to anchor between the two river front bastions at the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> -north-west and south-east angles of the fort, directly -facing the curtain and the eight-gun ravelin covering -the main gate. The <i>Salisbury</i> was to post herself -opposite the south-east, or St. Joseph, bastion.</p> - -<p>As the <i>Tyger</i>, a few minutes before six o’clock, -neared the battery covering the sunken ships, the -French ashore sounded the alarm. Apparently they -were surprised. The soldiers in the first battery -merely fired a few rounds at the leading ship as she -passed by, a dim spectre in the half-light, and then -the men in the battery cleared out at a run, and fell -back to join the main garrison inside the fort. For -their part the three British men-of-war passed on for -their appointed stations without replying with a -single shot.</p> - -<p>The main garrison now were quickly on the <i>qui -vive</i>, and the south-east bastion took up the firing; -but for the moment the light was too uncertain for -the gunners in Fort d’Orleans to shoot with much -effect, until the <i>Tyger</i> and <i>Kent</i> had nearly drawn up -abreast of the fort. Then, however, they got their -chance.</p> - -<p>The French gunners took advantage of it to the -full before the men-of-war were in position. As it -were by signal, a tremendous burst of artillery fire -flashed out all along the ramparts from end to end, -from bastions and curtain and ravelin. The tornado -of iron beat on the <i>Tyger</i> heavily, but she stood up -to it, forging her way ahead stolidly, and then let -go anchor within her allotted station to a yard. The -flagship was not so lucky. She was following at a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> -half cable’s length astern—a hundred yards—when, -almost at the moment that the <i>Tyger</i> anchored, the -tide turned, and began to race back, swirling down -the river. It checked the <i>Kent’s</i> way instantly, -and she hung back at a dead standstill, unable to -breast her way against it. At the same moment a -heavy concentrated fire from the ramparts beat upon -her, and the ship, reeling under the terrific battering -began to drift down, stern first. First one anchor -was let go, then another. Both anchors dragged, -and the big seventy-gun ship drove down astern -right across the bowsprit of the smaller <i>Salisbury</i>.</p> - -<p>The Frenchmen yelled and cheered and redoubled -their efforts, and there was for a space intense excitement. -Would the two ships collide and get foul? At -the moment that the flagship first checked her way, -Captain Speke had fallen severely wounded, with, -close to him, his little son, a boy midshipman, acting -as aide-de-camp to his father, who was struck down -by the same shot and mortally wounded.</p> - -<p>In a few seconds the <i>Kent’s</i> anchors held, and the -ship was brought up; but she had got into a bad -position. The forward-half of the ship lay partially -opposite the south-east bastion, with the after-half -overlapping the southern face of the fort in such a -way that some of the guns of the further bastion on -that side, the south-west bastion, could play upon -the quarters and stern. Most of the guns mounted -on the ravelin and along the curtain of the river -front could at the same time train on her bows with -a raking fire, assisted by some of the guns on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> -north-east or flagstaff bastion, facing the <i>Tyger</i>, -some of which could be brought to bear. More -serious still was this. The <i>Salisbury</i> had been -pushed entirely out of the fight: had been placed -practically out of action for the day. The channel -was not wide enough to let the <i>Salisbury</i> tow ahead -and pass the flagship, and the <i>Salisbury</i> had to -anchor at a spot whence only one or two of her guns -could engage. Thus it came about that the whole -brunt of fighting Fort d’Orleans fell on two ships, -the <i>Tyger</i> and the <i>Kent</i>, by themselves.</p> - -<p>Not a shot, according to Dr. Ives, had so far -been fired in reply to the enemy’s “tremendous -cannonade.” The <i>Tyger</i> was waiting for the <i>Kent</i> -to hoist the red flag. It went up as soon as the -<i>Kent’s</i> anchors held. “As soon as the ships came -properly to an anchor, they returned it with such -fury as astonished their adversaries.” “Our ships -lay so near the fort,” says the doctor also, that “the -musket balls fired from their tops, by striking against -the chunam walls of the Governor’s palace, which -was in the very centre of the fort, were beaten as -flat as a half-crown.”</p> - -<p>Clive’s men were at work meanwhile on the land -side. They had begun pushing the enemy hard on -the previous afternoon, and had opened a brisk -attack on the outworks before daylight that morning, -under the pressure of which the French outposts fell -back, until they had abandoned practically all their -landward positions beyond the walls of Fort d’Orleans. -Clive’s soldiers after that occupied some bungalows<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -that stood not far from the walls, from under -cover of which they plied the enemy on the ramparts -with a continuous fusillade of musketry, and with -six light guns they had pushed forward. The -soldiers, however, could make little further progress -for the present.</p> - -<p>“For three hours nothing was heard but an incessant -roll of artillery and musketry, the crashing of -timbers and masonry, the shouts and cheers of the -combatants, and the shrieks and groans of the -wounded.”</p> - -<p>Describing the scene on board his own ship -during the first two hours, Dr. Ives says: “The -fire was kept up with extraordinary spirit. The -flank guns of the south-west bastion galled the -<i>Kent</i> very much, and the Admiral’s aides-de-camp -being all wounded, Mr. Watson went down himself -to Lieutenant William Brereton, who commanded -the lower-deck battery, and ordered him -particularly to direct his fire against those guns, and -they were accordingly soon afterwards silenced.”</p> - -<p>Then he relates this incident, which occurred on -board just afterwards. “At eight in the morning,” -says the doctor, “several of the enemy’s shot struck -the <i>Kent</i> at the same time; one entered near the -foremast, and set fire to two or three 32-pound cartridges -of gunpowder as the boys held them in their -hands ready to charge the guns. By the explosion -the wad-nets and other loose things took fire between -decks, and the whole ship was so filled with smoke -that the men in their confusion cried out she was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> -on fire in the gunner’s store-room, imagining from -the shock they had felt from the balls that a shell -had actually fallen into her. This notion struck a -panic into the greatest part of the crew, and seventy -or eighty jumped out of the portholes into the boats -that were alongside the ship. The French presently -saw this confusion on board the <i>Kent</i>, and resolving -to take the advantage, kept up as hot a fire as possible -upon her during the whole time. Lieutenant Brereton, -however, with the assistance of some other brave -men, soon extinguished the fire. Then running to the -ports he begged the seamen to come in again, upbraiding -them for deserting their quarters; but finding -this had no effect on them, he thought the more -certain method of succeeding would be to strike -them with a sense of shame. He therefore loudly -exclaimed, ‘Are you Britons? You Englishmen! -and fly from danger! For shame! For shame!’ -This reproach had the desired effect; to a man they -immediately returned into the ship, repaired to their -quarters, and renewed an inspirited fire into the -enemy.”</p> - -<p>The end was in sight by nine o’clock, and it came -within a very few minutes of the hour.</p> - -<p>“In about three hours from the commencement of -the attack, the parapets of the north and south -bastions were almost beaten down, the guns were -mostly dismounted, and we could plainly see from -the main-top of the <i>Kent</i> that the ruins from the -parapet and merlons had entirely blocked up those -few guns which otherwise might have been fit for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> -service. We could easily discern, too, that there -had been a great slaughter among the enemy, who -finding that our fire against them rather increased, -hung out the white flag, whereupon a cessation of -hostilities took place, and the Admiral sent Lieutenant -Brereton (the only commissioned officer on -board the <i>Kent</i> that was not killed or wounded) and -Captain Coote of the King’s regiment with a flag of -truce to the fort, who soon returned, accompanied -by the French Governor’s son, with articles of -capitulation.”</p> - -<p>At the moment that the Governor hung out the -flag of truce (“waved over their walls a flag of -truce,” in the Admiral’s own words) the landward -side of the fort was still holding Clive’s soldiers at -bay. The firing from the ramparts there continued -for some little time after the flag on the Governor’s -palace had been lowered.</p> - -<p>The formal surrender and giving up of the fort -took place at three o’clock in the afternoon. Says -Admiral Watson in his dispatch: “I sent Captain -Latham of the <i>Tyger</i> ashore to receive the keys and -take possession of the fort. Col. Clive marched in -with the King’s troops about five in the afternoon.” -The <i>Kent’s</i> log notes this: “5.30 p.m. The Fort at -Chandernagore fired 21 guns as a salute to H.M. -Colours, after being hoisted half an hour before.”</p> - -<p>So Chandernagore fell. “It must be acknowledged,” -to use the words of Dr. Ives once more, -“that the French made a gallant defence, as they -stood to their guns as long as they had any to fire.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> -We never could learn how many of their men were -killed and wounded on the whole, though they confessed -they had forty dead carried from the south-east -bastion. The north-east bastion was also -cleared of its defenders twice.”</p> - -<p>“The fire of the ships,” says the Indian military -historian Orme, “did as much execution in three -hours as the batteries on shore would have done in -several days.” “Few naval engagements have excited -more admiration,” says Sir John Malcolm, -writing three-quarters of a century afterwards, “and -even at the present day, when the river is so much -better known, the success with which the largest -vessels of the fleet were navigated to Chandernagore -and laid alongside the batteries of that settlement is a -subject of wonder.” Summing up results, Colonel -Malleson says: “The capture of Chandernagore was -not less a seal to French dominion in Bengal than it -was the starting-point of British supremacy in that -province.”</p> - -<p>Admiral Watson in his dispatch states the enemy’s -force thus: “They had in the fort 1200 men, of which -500 were Europeans and 700 Blacks; 183 pieces of -cannon, from 24-pounders and downwards; three -small mortars, and a considerable quantity of ammunition. -Besides the ships and vessels sunk below, -to stop up the channel, they sank and ran ashore five -large ships above the fort, and we have taken four -sloops and a snow.”</p> - -<p>Dealing with the casualties on the British side, -Admiral Watson proceeds in these words: “The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> -<i>Kent</i> had 19 men killed and 49 wounded, the <i>Tyger</i> -13 killed and 50 wounded. Among the number killed, -was my first lieutenant, Mr. Samuel Perreau, and -the master of the <i>Tyger</i>. Among the wounded was, -Mr. Pocock slightly hurt, Captain Speke and his son, -by the same cannon-ball, the latter had his leg shot -off. Mr. Rawlins Hey, my third lieutenant, had his -thigh much shattered, and is in great danger. Mr. -Stanton, my fourth lieutenant, slightly wounded by -splinters; but the greatest part of the wounded have -suffered much, being hurt chiefly by cannon shot: -Several of them cannot possibly recover.”</p> - -<p>According to the <i>Kent’s</i> log the flagship had three -lower-deck guns dismounted and three on the upper -deck, and had 138 shot holes through her engaged -side, besides suffering severe damage aloft to masts -and rigging.</p> - -<p>Next morning Chandernagore paid its formal salute -to the victor. From the <i>Kent’s</i> log: “March 24th, -10 a.m., the Fort saluted the Admiral with 19 guns.” -Then follows: “Fired 18 guns for the burial of the -1st Lieutenant Perreau.” Lieutenant Rawlins Hey -and Midshipman Speke died a few days later.</p> - -<p>After a ten days’ stay at Chandernagore, to rest the -troops, arrange for the occupation of the place and -the disposal of the prisoners, the men-of-war and the -rest of the expedition returned to Fort William.</p> - -<p>Further trouble with Suraj-u-daulah was looming -ahead. The Nawab’s troops that had started to intervene -at Chandernagore had halted at Plassey and -gone into camp there. It was less than a hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> -miles from Calcutta, and the authorities strongly -objected to their being so near. There were no signs -of any immediate withdrawal, although letters passed -continuously to and fro between the Council and -Suraj-u-daulah. Each side distrusted the other. -Then began the series of intrigues between certain -members of the Council and Clive with Mir Jafier -and disaffected officials of the Nawab’s <i>entourage</i>, -which led to the battle of Plassey two months -later. With the ramifications of the plot, the -treachery of the crafty Hindu go-between Omichand -and how it was foiled, our narrative does not -concern itself, beyond the passing reference. Everybody -knows the ugly story of the “White” treaty -and the “Red”; one genuine and the other sham; -one honestly signed at the Council table by Admiral -Watson, the other with the Admiral’s signature to it -forged secretly, either by the hand of Clive himself -or by some underling at his instigation. The battle -of Plassey, from which the British <i>raj</i> in the East, -by common consent, dates its rise, was the sequel, on -the 23rd of the following June.</p> - -<p>To strengthen Clive’s small army the Royal Navy -took over the garrisoning of Chandernagore for the -time being; occupying the place with a hundred and -forty of the flagship’s men, under Lieutenant Clarke -of the <i>Kent</i>. Communication between Clive’s army -in the field and Calcutta was kept open by way of -Chandernagore and the <i>Bridgewater</i>, which ship was -sent some miles higher up the river and anchored -there.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span></p> - -<p>Fifty seaman from the East Indies Squadron with -a lieutenant and seven midshipmen in charge, accompanied -Clive’s army, attached to the artillery. Most -of them were from the flagship, and one of the <i>Kent’s</i> -midshipmen, Mr. Shoreditch, was wounded in a hand-to-hand -encounter with one of the Nawab’s French -officers.</p> - -<p>More than that, however, the sailors had no small -share in winning the battle for England. At Plassey -Clive, as he said, put his trust in God. It was the -sailors who kept his powder dry. It was their guns -that did the work in smashing up the dense masses -of the Nawab’s levies in the critical second stage of -the battle, after the deluging monsoon rain-storm -that burst at noon, swamped the ammunition of -Suraj-u-daulah’s artillerymen. On such a detail as -the smartness of Admiral Watson’s handy-men with -their tarpaulins and budge-skin powder-covers did -the fate of the epoch-making day of Plassey practically -hinge. Only after it had become plain with -which side the fortune of the day rested did Mir -Jafier and his corps pass over and throw in their lot -with Clive.</p> - -<p class="tb">Within two months of Plassey Admiral Watson -was dead. The climate killed him in the end. For -more than four months past he had been ailing, and -for the past four months had had among his papers -the Admiralty’s permission to return home on sick -leave. But, like Nelson during the last eighteen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> -months of his glorious life while watching the -enemy off Toulon, he would not leave his post while -there was duty to be done. The inactivity after -Chandernagore, in the sultry, steamy heats of the -rainy season in Lower Bengal, killed Admiral -Watson.</p> - -<p>A plain obelisk on a heavy square base in the -graveyard compound of St. John’s Cathedral, -Calcutta, marks the Admiral’s resting-place. It -was erected by Mr. Holwell, the survivor of the Black -Hole, during his governorship a few years later, and -is thus inscribed:—</p> - -<div class="memorial"> - -<p class="center">Here lies interred the Body of<br /> -<span class="smcap">Charles Watson, Esquire</span>,<br /> -Vice Admiral of the White,<br /> -Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s<br /> -Naval Forces in the East Indies,<br /> -Who departed this life<br /> -On the 16th day of August, 1757,<br /> -In the 44th year of his age.<br /> -<i>Geriah taken, February 13th, 1756.<br /> -Calcutta freed, January 11th, 1757.<br /> -Chandernagore taken, March 23rd, 1757.</i><br /> -Exegit monumentum aere perennius.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Monumentum aere perennius? Hardly that. -Modern India has no place for naval memories. -Clive—and Clive only—holds the field.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hos ego versiculos feci: tulit alter honores</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">—wrote Virgil once, in a moment of literary bitterness.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> -If it be given to those beyond the Veil to -know of things on earth, and think, the Shade of the -gallant admiral might well express itself in terms -hardly less strong.</p> - -<p>The East India Company erected a monument to -the Admiral in Westminster Abbey, and King -George bestowed a baronetcy of the United Kingdom -on his only son—then a boy—in consideration of his -father’s “great and eminent services.”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Est procul hinc</i>—the legend’s writ,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The frontier grave is far away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Qui ante diem periit</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Sed miles, sed Prô Patriâ</i>.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="noindent">Is it too extravagant to suggest that, with things as -they then were, with nearly five years of continuous -war yet to come, and with enemies’ fleets in every -sea, Admiral Watson, a man young in years for his -high position,<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> might, had he been spared, have well -found opportunity for achieving yet higher fame, -even wider renown? His, too, in 1757, was surely -in a real sense a “frontier grave”—the grave of one</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Who might have caught and claspt Renown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And worn her chaplet here:—and there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In haunts of jungle-poisoned air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flame of life went wavering down.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The flagship <i>Kent</i>, it so happened, did not long -outlast her chief. She had for some time past -shown signs of being nearly worn out, and an -official survey of her, shortly after Admiral Watson’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> -death, resulted in her condemnation as unfit for sea. -She was “cast” and ordered to be broken up, and on -the 15th of September, a month all but a day from -the death of her Admiral, the pennant was hauled -down on board the <i>Kent</i>—still lying off Fort -William—and the ship’s company were paid off and -drafted into the <i>Cumberland</i>, <i>Tyger</i>, and <i>Salisbury</i>.</p> - -<p>So with the passing of the Admiral and his ship -our story reaches its end.</p> - -<p>Chandernagore, of course, is nowadays a French -possession, a tiny territory of three and a half square -miles, with a railway station on the line to Calcutta, -where very few people ever get out. It was restored -to France six years after Admiral Watson took it, for -no particular reason it would appear, except that -there had been a General Election in England, and -the new Ministry was desirous of reversing the -policy of its predecessors. Our beaten enemies got -back almost everything that the valour of our -sailors and soldiers had won for England, in order -that the Treasury Bench might score a point in -party politics. But we for our part have no right -to throw stones. We of the present day have seen -much the same thing happen elsewhere. Chandernagore -has been twice retaken since 1763, and twice -given back. It was finally handed back to France in -1816, after the Napoleonic War, the Foreign Office -being under the impression—so, at any rate, the story -goes—that it was one of the West India islands!</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV">IV<br /> -<span class="smaller">BOSCAWEN’S BATTLE:—<br /> -THE TAKING OF THE <i>TÉMÉRAIRE</i></span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Over the seas and far away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Old Dreadnought” steers to his fight to-day!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>One of the best known of all our man-of-war -names reappears on the roll of the -British fleet in the name <i>Téméraire</i>, now -borne by one of our new giant 18,000-ton -battleships of the <i>Dreadnought</i> type. This is the -story of how it came to be a British battleship name -in the first place, the story of the act of war which in -the sequel led to that historic man-of-war the “Fighting” -<i>Téméraire</i> figuring on another day among the -ships of Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar, to fight there -as the <i>Victory’s</i> chief supporter in the fiercest of the -fray.</p> - -<p>How we came to have a <i>Téméraire</i> in the British -Navy the name of course bears on its face. It was -originally borne by one of Louis the Fourteenth’s -men-of-war, and at the date of its adoption by capture -into the British service, in 1759—“The Wonderful -Year”—had been honourably known in the -French Navy for upwards of ninety years. The first<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> -<i>Téméraire</i> to sail the seas was so named, it would -appear, by the Grand Monarque himself, the name -being appointed to a man-of-war of fifty-two guns, -built by contract in Holland for the French service, -in the year 1668, when a war with England seemed -at hand. King Louis, it is said, further appointed -to the <i>Téméraire</i> on her naming, as a special and -distinctive figure-head, an elaborately carved and -gorgeously coloured effigy of himself in his celebrated -“Lion’s Mane” wig, sworded and spurred and -wearing a military <i>just-au-corps</i> tunic of cloth of gold -over a scarlet vest with crimson breeches and crimson -stockings—the orthodox attire of a French sea officer -of the <i>Grand Corps</i>.</p> - -<p>This first French <i>Téméraire</i> was a ship that the -British Navy of her time saw something of. She -formed one of the men-of-war present with the allied -French squadron which played so very peculiar a -part when attached to the Duke of York’s fleet in the -battle of Solebay in 1672, and in the same way also -she was present at Prince Rupert’s three drawn -battles with De Ruyter in the following year. As an -enemy a few years later, the first French <i>Téméraire</i> -fought against us both at Beachy Head and in the -battle off Cape Barfleur, after which the <i>Téméraire</i> -escaped and found refuge under the harbour batteries -of St. Malo.</p> - -<p>“<i>The Rash</i>” is what an official return on the -French Navy, presented to Parliament on the 9th of -February, 1698, calls the <i>Téméraire</i>, in accordance -with the custom then in vogue of translating foreign<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> -men-of-war names appearing in British official documents. -It seems a curious disguise for the name -<i>Téméraire</i> perhaps, although even then it is hardly -so grotesque as the names under which some of the -<i>Téméraire’s</i> consorts figure in various House of Commons -returns: “<i>The Without Danger</i>,” for instance, -for <i>Le Sans Pareil</i>; “<i>The Undertaker</i>” or “<i>The -Understanding</i>” (as two different official lists give it) -for <i>L’Entreprenante</i>, another ship; “<i>The Jolly</i>” for -<i>Le Joli</i>; “<i>The Fire</i>” for <i>Le Fier</i>; “<i>The Fiddle</i>” -for <i>La Fidelle</i>, a frigate; the “<i>Turkish Lady</i>” for -another frigate, <i>La Turquoise</i>, and so on.</p> - -<p>Two years after Barfleur—on the 28th of November, -1694—a crippled French man-of-war was met -with, a few miles to the south of the Lizard, by the -British man-of-war <i>Montagu</i>. She had been dismasted -in a storm out in the Atlantic and was nearly waterlogged -and sinking; and after a few shots in reply to -the <i>Montagu’s</i> challenging gun hauled her colours -down. The enemy’s ship was the “<i>Timmeraire</i>, of -fifty-six guns,” in the words of the <i>Montagu’s</i> log. -They found it impossible to save the prize, either to -rig jury masts or to take her in tow, as the weather -came on thick and stormy, and in the end cleared -the crew out, and on the 3rd of December abandoned -the ship and set her on fire. That was the -end of the first French <i>Téméraire</i>.</p> - -<p>Two other <i>Téméraires</i> followed in the French -Navy, and then we come to the ship that became our -own first <i>Téméraire</i>. This was the <i>Téméraire</i>, of -seventy-four guns, built in 1748, which, after fighting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> -against us in the battle which cost Admiral -Byng his life, became prize of war three years later -to the man whose hand signed the order for Byng’s -firing party, Admiral Boscawen, on the day of Boscawen’s -defeat of the French Toulon fleet in Lagos -Bay, on Monday, the 19th of August, 1759.</p> - -<p>The taking of our future first <i>Téméraire</i> was one -result of the determined attempt at the invasion of -England that the French made in 1759. They had -prepared a large army, and transports were assembled -to carry it across the Channel as soon as their -Toulon fleet, by coming round and joining hands -with their Brest fleet, had given France the command -of the Channel by providing a sufficient force, -as the French counted, to hold the British fleet in -check, and see the expedition safely over. To leave -port, however, was what the French Toulon fleet—among -which was the <i>Téméraire</i>—could not do and -would not try, until the British force blockading -Toulon under Admiral Boscawen was out of the -way. The Brest fleet, at the same time, watched -closely by Hawke’s powerful fleet, as a mouse in its -hole is watched by a cat, could not put to sea with -hope of success unless the Toulon fleet evaded Boscawen -and joined hands with it.</p> - -<p>Chance threw an opportunity of escape in the way -of the <i>Téméraire</i> and her consorts. Various reasons—damage -to three of his ships in a somewhat -venturesome attack on some outlying vessels of -the French fleet anchored under the batteries that -guarded the entrance to Toulon Roads, and a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> -general want of water and provisions on board all -his ships—induced Boscawen, in the last week of -July, to withdraw temporarily to Gibraltar. De la -Clue, the French Admiral, on learning by chance -where Boscawen had gone and why, snatched at the -offered occasion to make his sally. He put to sea -on the 5th of August, determined to risk the passage -round.</p> - -<p>The fortune of war at the outset, and for nearly -half-way, made a show of favouring the French. -They managed to escape being sighted by the frigates -that Boscawen had posted on the look-out -between Malaga and the Straits. Not an English -sail was sighted; nothing to cause disquietude happened, -until just as de la Clue’s ships were in the -act of passing Gibraltar.</p> - -<p>With a brisk Levanter blowing over their taffrails -and a thick haze on the sea, towards dusk on Saturday -evening, the 17th of August, the Toulon fleet, after -standing well over to the Barbary shore so as to give -Boscawen’s ships at Gibraltar the go-by, was being -carried rapidly past where the British fleet was -lying, when suddenly, just as the elated Frenchmen -were assuring themselves of good success for the -rest of their cruise, almost by accident, as it were, -at the eleventh hour they stumbled on the only -one of Boscawen’s look-outs that they had yet to -pass. Just off Ceuta, a little to the eastward of that -place, the <i>Gibraltar</i>, a twenty-gun ship, quite unexpectedly -to both sides, loomed out of the mist close -alongside the passing French fleet.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span></p> - -<p>The mischief, from the French point of view, was -done. The captain of the <i>Gibraltar</i> realized at once -that the strange fleet he saw heading out of the -Mediterranean and close at hand could only be -the enemy from Toulon. He promptly went about -and hauled in for the Spanish coast, firing signal -guns of alarm. The French for their part seemed to -have been too much taken aback to act. As much -surprised at the meeting apparently as was Captain -McCleverty of the <i>Gibraltar</i> himself, Admiral de la -Clue made no effort to stop or to silence the tell-tale -British scout, although he might have done so. He -simply contented himself with putting out all his -lights, and then he continued to stand on with all -sail set, heading west-north-west, so as to get clear -away and out into the Atlantic.</p> - -<p>It was indeed the slip ’twixt the cup and the lip for -the <i>Téméraire’s</i> Admiral. When, at half-past seven -that evening, the alarm guns of the frigate <i>Gibraltar</i> -were heard, and the ship herself came into the bay to -report what she had seen, practically half Boscawen’s -fleet of fourteen ships were undergoing refit, lying -with sails unbent and topmasts struck. The energy -of the British Admiral and his captains recovered the -situation for England. Taken at a disadvantage -as Boscawen’s fleet was, all hands turned to with -such smartness that within two hours of the alarm -guns being first heard every ship in Boscawen’s -command was in sea-going trim, ready for the order -to weigh anchor. Before ten that night, within two -and a half hours of the <i>Gibraltar</i> coming in, every<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> -line-of-battle ship of the British Fleet was at sea, -together with two frigates and a fireship, heading -through the Straits in chase of the French under -all sail.</p> - -<p>They had their reward before many hours had -passed.</p> - -<p>At seven next morning, when off Cape Trafalgar, -Boscawen got sight—although for the moment they -were far ahead—of the French fleet: what bad seamanship -during the night had left of it. No fewer -than five ships of de la Clue’s original fleet of twelve -had parted company with their Admiral and gone -astray in the night after getting out of the Straits. -They straggled and dropped astern, and found -themselves in the morning out of sight, some -leagues distant from their flagship and only off -Cadiz.</p> - -<p>This again led to a disastrous mistake on the part -of the French Admiral. De la Clue, when about -seven o’clock he first sighted the leading ships of -Boscawen’s fleet in the distance, coming up astern, -took them for his own missing five, and hove-to -his whole fleet to give them time to join. Worse -still: after waiting awhile for them he went about and -actually stood back slowly to meet them—seven -French men-of-war in war time bearing up for fourteen -English! He refused to believe that Boscawen -could possibly have got out of Gibraltar so quickly. -The French Admiral, in fact, held on towards the -advancing enemy until, when escape had become -impossible, on finding his private signals unanswered,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> -the horrifying truth of the situation dawned on the -unfortunate de la Clue.</p> - -<p>It was then too late.</p> - -<p>He turned and ran for it. He would try and outsail -his pursuers if he could; if not he would seek a -refuge and shelter in some neutral Portuguese port. -Boscawen followed promptly, clearing for action as -he neared, and catching up the enemy all the morning -hand over hand.</p> - -<p>At noon, a fresh gale helping Boscawen along, he -was almost within gunshot of the French. At two -in the afternoon his headmost ships were near enough -to open a long-range fire.</p> - -<p>All that Sunday afternoon a running fight went -on, protracted by the wind suddenly dying away -to nearly a calm. The rearmost of the French -squadron, the <i>Centaure</i>, a ship of seventy-four guns, -practically held the leading pursuers in check during -most of that time. Nothing could be more courageous -than the <i>Centaure’s</i> defence, regardless of the odds -against her. Until nearly nightfall she kept Boscawen’s -leading ships from closing on her and her -consorts. The <i>Centaure</i>, under orders to cover the -retreat, exchanged a never-ceasing cannonade with -the ships of the English van for five hours, the -fight becoming hotter and ever closer until just before -sunset. Then at length, with her three topmasts -and the mizen-mast shot away, and the ship herself -so shattered and holed between wind and water that -she was with difficulty kept afloat, the well-fought -<i>Centaure</i> had to lower her colours. She had played<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> -her part. She had gained time for her Admiral to -seek the shelter of Lagos Bay. In so doing the -<i>Centaure</i> had lost over two hundred men in killed -alone, including her gallant captain, de Sabran. -Although he had received no fewer than eleven -wounds, he still kept the quarter-deck until he received -his twelfth, and death wound.</p> - -<p>A little ahead of the <i>Centaure</i> was Admiral de la -Clue’s flagship <i>L’Océan</i>, with the <i>Téméraire</i>, and the -<i>Redoutable</i> and the <i>Modeste</i> near by, sailing in a -cluster just ahead of her. All four had every now -and then been assisting the <i>Centaure</i>, as now one, -now another, of the English ships came within range -of their guns. Away in the van of the French -squadron were two more ships, the <i>Souverain</i> and -the <i>Guerrière</i>, which were pushing on at some distance -ahead of all.</p> - -<p>To escape into neutral waters was the only course -practicable to the French ships, and all they now -aimed at, as they held on during the afternoon, -crowding canvas to make land—the coast of Portugal -near Cape St. Vincent—which soon began to -rise ahead of them more and more distinctly.</p> - -<p>A few minutes before the <i>Centaure</i> surrendered -there was a sharp interchange of broadsides between -the two flagships, Boscawen’s <i>Namur</i> and de -la Clue’s <i>Océan</i>, both three-deckers. The <i>Namur</i> -pushed past the <i>Centaure</i>, then plainly <i>in extremis</i>, -within gunshot of his chief antagonist. Boscawen -fastened on his chosen opponent and engaged the -French Admiral hotly, until a series of mishaps for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> -the <i>Namur</i>, lucky hits on the part of the French -gunners, temporarily disabled the British flagship by -shooting down her mizen-mast and main-topsail yard. -That forced the <i>Namur</i> to drop back out of action.</p> - -<p>Admiral Boscawen, the story goes, at once quitted -his crippled ship to go on board the <i>Newark</i>, a -seventy-four, the nearest ship among the leaders in -the British van, and had a narrow escape from -drowning in his passage from ship to ship; through -a cannon-ball which struck his barge and smashed a -hole in it. The Admiral saved his own life and those -of the men with him, as it is related, by his presence -of mind. The barge began to fill and would have -sunk under them, had not Boscawen smartly whipped -off his wig and stuffing it into the hole stopped the -inrush of water, enabling them to keep afloat until -they could get alongside the <i>Newark</i>.</p> - -<p>There was little more firing that evening after the -<i>Centaure</i> had made her submission, but the pursuit -of the <i>Téméraire</i> and the other French ships coastwise -went steadily on.</p> - -<p>All that night Boscawen chased, keeping the -enemy well in sight, although, as on the night -before, they showed no lights.</p> - -<p>Early next morning only four French ships were -to be seen. The <i>Souverain</i> and the <i>Guerrière</i>, the -two headmost of the enemy, had altered course after -dark. Being far ahead already, they managed to -slip off unobserved and got clear away. The four -ships still before Boscawen were in themselves, -however, sufficient prize. These were now heading<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> -in directly for the land, and were only a short way -ahead of the British Fleet.</p> - -<p>De la Clue was about to make his second mistake. -Admiral Boscawen, he apparently imagined, -would think twice about following him into neutral -waters and attacking him there. But the neutrality -of Portugal was of little account at such a moment. -Might was right that August day for “Old Dreadnought.” -International proprieties notwithstanding, -the British Admiral “in a very Roman style made -free with the coast of Portugal,” as Horace Walpole -put it. Boscawen swept straight down after de la -Clue, with his men at quarters and his guns run out.</p> - -<p>The final phase opened about eight o’clock on the -19th of August, Monday morning, when the French -flagship <i>L’Océan</i> was seen to run heavily aground. -She brought up hard and fast, and the next moment -her three masts went crashing over the side. Boscawen -instantly signalled to the leading British ship, -a seventy-four, the <i>America</i>, to deal with the French -flagship. The order was carried out promptly. -The <i>America</i> closed nearly alongside the wrecked -three-decker and opened fire on her; whereupon -the doomed <i>L’Océan</i> lowered her flag. In the brief -interval before the <i>America’s</i> boats, sent off to take -possession of the prize, could board the French flagship, -M. de la Clue himself, mortally wounded and -with one leg broken, was hastily got away and rowed -ashore, to die there a little later. Almost at the same -time that <i>L’Océan</i> wrecked herself, the <i>Redoutable</i> -ran on shore close by, breaking her back.</p> - -<div class="figcenter full" style="width: 700px;" id="illus13"> - -<p class="caption">ADMIRAL BOSCAWEN’S VICTORY</p> - -<a href="images/illus13-full.jpg"><img src="images/illus13.jpg" width="700" height="475" alt="" /></a> - -<p class="caption"><i>Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760.</i></p> - -<p class="caption"><i>In the foreground to the right is seen the “Warspite” attacking -the “Téméraire.” Boscawen’s flagship the “Namur” is in the centre -flying the Admiral’s Blue Flag at the main; and at the fore the red -battle-flag,—the “Bloody Flag” of the Old Navy.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span></p> - -<p>There remained the <i>Téméraire</i> and the <i>Modeste</i>, -which two ships, for their part, let go anchor close -under the guns of a Portuguese fort on shore. The -<i>Warspite</i>, a seventy-four of equal strength with the -bigger French ship, was told off to deal with the -<i>Téméraire</i>. She closed on her antagonist forthwith, -in spite of warning shots from the Portuguese fort, -and attacked at pistol-shot range. Hopeless as his -case was, with no possibility of escape open to him, -for upwards of an hour M. de Chastillon, the -<i>Téméraire’s</i> captain, made a fight of it. Then having -done all he could he gave up his ship. The <i>Modeste</i> -surrendered not long afterwards, and so Boscawen’s -battle ended.</p> - -<p>It was Captain Bently, of the <i>Warspite</i>, who gave -the Royal Navy its first <i>Téméraire</i>. The story of -that morning’s work is told in the <i>Warspite’s</i> log:</p> - -<p>“August 19th: 4 a.m.—Saw 4 sail of the enemy -about 4 or 5 leagues from us, running inshore. The -other two having altered their course in the night -were out of sight. Continued chase and before -8 a.m. the French admiral ran ashore 6 leagues E. of -St. Vincent. All his masts went by the board. -Soon after saw another ashore, 4 miles W. of the -French admiral, and his masts too went by the board. -The other two anchored close inshore.</p> - -<p>“9 a.m.—Little wind and fair weather. Admiral -anchored 3 leagues from shore and signalled for all -captains. At the same time signalled to the <i>Conqueror</i> -and <i>Jersey</i> to chase N.W. <i>Warspite</i> brought-to.</p> - -<p>“Captain Bently returned from the Admiral and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> -stood inshore for the easternmost of the enemy’s -ships at anchor. The <i>America</i> stood for the French -admiral. Little wind, hazy. Great swell from S.E. -1 p.m. <i>America</i> anchored to eastward of the Ocean.</p> - -<p>“We continued standing for the other French -ships at anchor 2 m. to W. of the <i>Ocean</i>. Soon after -a fort fired several shot at the <i>Warspite</i>, but hoisted -no colours. Several of the shots struck the ship and -did us some damage.</p> - -<p>“We continued standing in near the French ship -and fired a few shot at her, imagining she would -immediately strike her colours; but finding she did -not, stood on and tacked and came close under her -stern, and ¼ before 3 we began to engage her: ¼ before -4 she struck.</p> - -<p>“At that time the Vice-Admiral with the <i>Jersey</i>, -<i>Guernsey</i>, and <i>St. Albans</i> stood in to westward of -us after another ship on shore and fired some guns, -when she struck; after which they set her on fire -and stood in towards the Cape where another French -ship was at anchor which they brought off. On our -beginning to fire, the <i>America</i> fired some guns on -the <i>Ocean</i>: she instantly hauled down her colours.</p> - -<p>“We sent a boat on board and took possession of -our prize, which proved to be the <i>Téméraire</i>, 74 guns, -716 men. At ¼ to 5 we cut her cables and carried -her down to the Admiral.</p> - -<p>“In the evening the <i>Intrepid</i> and <i>America</i> set fire -to the <i>Ocean</i>.”</p> - -<p>Boscawen, with his work accomplished and the -Toulon fleet accounted for, sailed away for England,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> -carrying the <i>Téméraire</i> and the <i>Modeste</i> with him -under British colours, to add both ships, in their -original French names, to the British Navy. His -battle in Lagos Bay under the shadow of the cliffs -of Cape St. Vincent, if perhaps few people nowadays -remember it, perhaps have ever heard of it, -yet, in the words of Captain Mahan, “saved England -from invasion,” and the <i>Téméraire’s</i> name should -always stand for us as a memento of that fact.</p> - -<p>At the time the event made a widespread impression -throughout Europe. It caused great enthusiasm, -as we are told, in the camps of the allied armies -fighting the French beyond the Rhine, and was -honoured by a cannon salute. “We were entertained,” -wrote a British officer in the army which -had just fought at Minden, “with a <i>feu de joie</i> -within hearing of the French camp, in honour of -Admiral Boscawen’s success against the Toulon -squadron.”</p> - -<p>The little difficulty with Portugal that ensued was -settled amicably. The elder Pitt, then Prime Minister, -had his own way of dealing with matters that would -upset the feebler nerved politicians of our modern -House of Commons. The Opposition in the House -tried, of course, to make party capital over Boscawen’s -breach of Portuguese neutrality. “Very -true,” was all the answer Pitt deigned to make, -“but the enemy’s ships were burned.” He sent -Lord Kinnoull to Lisbon with a polite expression -of regret at the unavoidable necessity of the case, -and the incident was not heard of again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span></p> - -<p>For many years after her capture by Boscawen -the <i>Téméraire</i> was reckoned one of the finest seventy-fours -in King George’s service, and among the -“crack” ships of the British Navy. She served -England both in European waters and across the -Atlantic, with all the most notable admirals of the -time—with Hawke and Boscawen himself; in the -Channel Fleet blockading Brest; and under Keppel, -Rodney, and Pocock in the West Indies. After -being for nearly twenty years in commission, the -old war-prize in her closing days—at the beginning -of the war with France and Spain, when the two -nations combined against England to assist the rebel -American colonists—was converted into a floating-battery -hulk for harbour defence, on which duty our -first <i>Téméraire</i> ended her career. In June, 1784, she -was sold out of the service for breaking up.</p> - -<p>That is the story of our first <i>Téméraire</i>, the immediate -predecessor of the famous “Fighting” -<i>Téméraire</i> of Trafalgar fame, which formed the -subject of Turner’s masterpiece.</p> - -<p>One battleship of our ironclad fleet has borne the -name. That was the <i>Téméraire</i> which was with Sir -Geoffrey Hornby when he passed the Dardanelles in -1878. She took part also at the bombardment of -Alexandria in 1882, and still exists, converted for use -as a floating workshop at Devonport, under the -unrecognizable label of <i>Indus II</i>.</p> - -<p>Our new “improved <i>Dreadnought</i>” <i>Téméraire</i> of -1907 is the fourth bearer of the name under the -British flag.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="V">V<br /> -<span class="smaller">HAWKE’S FINEST PRIZE:—<br /> -HOW THE <i>FORMIDABLE</i> CHANGED HER FLAG</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The guns that should have conquered us they rusted on the shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The men that would have mastered us they drummed and marched no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For England was England, and a mighty brood she bore—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Hawke came swooping from the West!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>How the British Navy came by its first -<i>Formidable</i> man-of-war, the predecessor -in the direct line of the fine first-class -battleship, the <i>Formidable</i> of our -modern Navy, is one of the most exciting tales -in our naval annals. It serves too to commemorate -one of the most brilliant victories ever won at sea—the -dashing encounter on that eventful winter’s afternoon -in the Bay of Biscay, “When Hawke came -swooping from the West”:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas long past noon of a wild November day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Hawke came swooping from the West;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He heard the breakers thundering in Quiberon Bay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But he flew the flag for battle, line abreast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down upon the quicksands, roaring out of sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fiercely beat the storm-wind, darkly fell the night.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But they took the foe for pilot and the cannon’s glare for light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Hawke came swooping from the West.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span></p> - -<p>How the <i>Formidable</i> passed that day from France -to England is, indeed, something of which both -England and France may be jointly proud. Never -fought men more heroically on both sides—the enemy -to keep, we to take—amid all the horrors of a furious -storm and ever imminent shipwreck and catastrophe.</p> - -<p>This is the story of how, where, and when the -Royal Navy won its first <i>Formidable</i>, the first of -a famous line.</p> - -<p>It was the afternoon of the 20th of November, -1759, a Tuesday. The scene was among the black-fanged -reefs of granite rock, and the treacherous -quicksands that fringe the “sickle-shaped sweep” of -Quiberon Bay on the coast of the Morbihan, in -Lower Brittany, in the north-eastern quarter of the -Bay of Biscay. The battle was fought in the -height of a wild raging storm from the Atlantic, -a tremendous gale from the north-west, howling -blasts of wind, and torrents of hissing rain, and -thick, dark weather, with the sea lashed to fury all -round, and gigantic breakers running “so high -that no boat could live for a moment among them,” -as one who was present described. “A network of -shoals and sandbanks” is what a French writer calls -Quiberon Bay, “with heavy surf breaking along the -shore on the calmest days of summer, and ugly -cross-currents swirling to and fro with the strength -and rush of a mill race”; a place “lined with reefs -that the navigator never sees without alarm, and -never passes without emotion.”</p> - -<p>Hawke and his captains swept down on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> -French fleet, cornered between the storm and the -shore, in the midst of the rocks and quicksands; without -charts themselves, and for the most part without -pilots, or, at least, pilots that they could trust; flinging -themselves on the enemy heedless of gale and -breakers, attacking ship after ship of the French as -each was met with, “to make,” in Hawke’s own expressive -words, “downright work of them.”</p> - -<p>De Conflans, Maréchal de France, commanded -the French Fleet. He was one of a batch of eight -marshals created, <i>honoris causa</i>, some two years -before; a boon companion of royalty, one of the -“flying tables” set, a fine figure of a man to look -at, as his portrait at Versailles shows him, handsome, -tall, and well made, a hard rider to hounds at -Compiègne or Fontainebleau, with a pretty wit in -the boudoir and over the card table; also one of the -Pompadour’s courtier friends, which was perhaps -the main reason why a man of de Conflans’ stamp -as a naval officer found himself in chief command at -that place that day. There were marshals of the -French Navy as well as of the army under the -<i>ancien régime</i>. The rank was first instituted by -Louis XIV when he solaced Admiral Tourville with -the <i>bâton</i> and its consequences—a big salary, the -title of “Monseigneur,” and court precedence at -the head of the Grand Officers of State—to make up -for his ill-fortune at La Hogue.</p> - -<p>As an admiral Conflans proved an utter failure. -That morning, when he first, some forty miles to -westward of Belleisle, saw Hawke approaching, he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> -formed line and brought-to. He would fight the -English, he said, in the open sea to the south of Belleisle. -As Hawke came nearer, when it was too late, -he changed his mind and ran off pell-mell to take -shelter among the reefs and shoals of Quiberon. -With Conflans were de Beauffrement, Vice-Admiral, -the second in command, and the Comte de Verger, -Rear-Admiral, the third in command, who had his -flag in the <i>Formidable</i>. De Verger’s squadron formed -up astern, its place in the line of battle.</p> - -<p>As Hawke’s leading ships began to overtake the -French the gallant Rear-Admiral shortened sail -and dropped back. He would await his fate at -what in the circumstances was the post of honour, -as rearmost ship of all. There, practically single-handed, -the <i>Formidable</i> bore the brunt of Hawke’s -opening attack.</p> - -<p>Hawke’s van ships caught up the rear of the -French Fleet just to the south-east of Belleisle, as it -was in the act of heading to round the Cardinals, a -chain of dangerous rocks and outlying islets, and -stand in for Quiberon Bay, then still ahead of them -some eighteen to twenty miles. Conflans was that -distance from his intended refuge when the first -shots went off. Both fleets began to fight as they -overlapped, the British coming up under every -stitch of canvas which their masts could stand—“not -a topsail was reefed”—the ships now wallowing -in the trough of the waves, now plunging and -rolling and staggering forward on the crest, while -heavy surging cross-seas burst and broke in deluges<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> -of seething foam over the ships’ bows. So terrible -was the weather that on board some of the British -ships men were flung down on deck or hurled helplessly -about and seriously injured and maimed. In -one or two men were washed overboard and never -seen again. The guns were double-breeched; eight -men were at the wheel in every ship. So on that -awful November afternoon did Hawke swoop down -to strike.</p> - -<p>On the French side there were twenty-one ships—with -Hawke, twenty-three; but the French ships -were on the average bigger vessels than ours, and -carried heavier guns. That for fighting purposes in -such weather gave Conflans the advantage. Another -thing was this: all the fighting that day was done -by barely two-thirds of Hawke’s fleet. A full third -of the British Fleet were too far in rear—out-paced -in the chase—and were unable to come up in time -to have any influence on the fortune of the fight.</p> - -<p>Ship after ship of the advancing British Fleet as -they reached the enemy attacked the <i>Formidable</i> -hotly. First, the <i>Dorsetshire</i>, of seventy guns, captained -by Peter Denis, an Irishman (Anson’s dashing -lieutenant of the old <i>Centurion</i> days), gave her a -flying broadside as she swept by to windward; passing -on then and driving ahead, making for the -French van. Then the <i>Defiance</i>, another seventy-gun -ship, following fast in the <i>Dorsetshire’s</i> wake, -gave the <i>Formidable</i> a second broadside.</p> - -<p>Lord Howe, in the <i>Magnanime</i>, a powerful seventy-four -and a prize from the French on a former day,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> -came next. Thierri, best of pilots for that coast, -was at the con. He had volunteered for the <i>Magnanime</i>, -as he explained, “parceque le capitaine ’Owe -est jeune et brave!” Howe as he came on meant -merely to brush past the <i>Formidable</i> with as brisk -interchange of fire as might be, and then push ahead -like the others to wing the flyers in the van; but a -shot from the French, as he came abreast de Verger, -carried his foreyard away and checked the <i>Magnanime</i>. -“Black Dick”—Howe’s name in the Navy—closed -with the <i>Formidable</i> instantly. He “bore -down upon the Rear Admiral,” in the words of an -eye-witness, “and getting under his lee opened a -most tremendous fire from his thirty-twos and twenty-fours.” -“Lord Howe, who attacked the <i>Formidable</i>,” -says Horace Walpole, “bore down upon her with -such violence that her prow forced in his lower tier -of guns.” In the collision, as we are told by some -one else, the <i>Formidable’s</i> port lids “were wrenched -clean away.”</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later up came the <i>Warspite</i>, Sir John -Bently, the captor of the <i>Téméraire</i> in Boscawen’s -battle, who had recently joined the Channel Fleet. -Hauling up near at hand, she joined with the <i>Magnanime</i> -in the attack. The two ships were two of the -smartest in all the British Navy, and under their -terrific pounding the <i>Formidable</i> was dismasted and -reduced almost to a wreck. “In half an hour,” says -our eye-witness, “they made a dreadful havoc in the -<i>Formidable</i>, whose fire began to slack.”</p> - -<p>De Verger’s flag, though, still flew defiantly, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> -did the French ensign at the staff astern, although -the gallant Admiral had already fallen, as well as his -first captain (de Verger’s younger brother), and -most of the other officers, with, in addition, upwards -of two hundred men. The Comte de Verger himself, -we are told, was badly wounded at the outset of the -fighting. He was carried below, and had his wounds -dressed, but he refused to stay in the cockpit. He -had himself brought up again in a chair and set -down on the quarter-deck. There a little later a -second shot struck him dead.</p> - -<p>Standing up valiantly to Captain Bently and -Lord Howe, the <i>Formidable</i> was as yet to all appearances -far from being subdued. She was still gallantly -resisting when a third British ship, the -<i>Montagu</i>, arrived on the scene. Her arrival gave -the Frenchmen a breathing space. In trying to cut -in between the other two British ships and the <i>Formidable</i> -she ran foul of both her two consorts and -caused a serious collision. The <i>Montagu</i>, “instead -of pursuing ahead, must needs run between Lord -Howe and the French Admiral, and fell on board the -<i>Magnanime</i> and forced her upon the <i>Warspite</i>; thus -our three ships were entangled and totally prevented -from continuing the action, but lay all of a heap -alongside the <i>Formidable</i>, who might have torn -them to pieces if she had not been almost a wreck -herself.” What made the <i>Formidable’s</i> position -much the worse was that she was practically isolated, -cut off from the rest of her fleet. No fewer than -seven French ships in her part of the line had refused<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> -combat from the first. They had run off without firing -a single gun—“sans avoir,” in the words of the -French naval historian Troude, “reçu un seul coup -de canon.”</p> - -<p>It was now about three in the afternoon. By that -time eight or nine of Hawke’s ships had got into -action, and were engaging the enemy as they overhauled -them all along their line.</p> - -<p class="tb">The pick of the French army meanwhile was looking -on from the shore, as big a crowd of spectators, -from all accounts, as ever watched a naval battle. -Duplessis-Richelieu, Duc d’Aiguillon, Commander-in-Chief, -watched it from the windmill of St. Pierre, -as did from another point the Second in Command, -De La Tour D’Auvergne, father of the “First -Grenadier of France,” then a schoolboy of fourteen. -Along the beach forty regiments of soldiers, horse -and foot, were looking on. They formed the army -that the <i>Formidable</i> and her consorts had come to -escort across the Channel, in the transports lying -at anchor in Quiberon Bay, for that projected invasion -of England with which all Europe had -been ringing for months past. There they stood, -drenched to the skin, all anxiously looking out -over the tumbling waste of waters to see what was -to come of it; motley masses of men crowding out -of camp and massed along the sand dunes and rock -ledges of the Quiberon peninsula, or lining the -batteries and ramparts of the forts round the bay—a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> -medley of cocked-hatted, white-coated officers and -men from every arm of the French king’s service; -come down to the shore to see the show. Sturdy -linesmen of Boulonnais and Contis, of Saint Chamond, -and old d’Artois stood there—marching regiments -these, that had seen more than one battlefield -elsewhere, but never anything like this. Here were -the red waistcoats of de Bourbon and de Cossé and -de Quercy; there the green collars and cuffs of -Beauvoisis, the blue of de Foix, the red coats with -yellow facings of the Irish regiment of Clare; all -intermingled with Dragoons de la Rochefoucauld -and de Tessé; Dragoons de la Reine, in their queer-looking -“bonnets de guerre” of royal blue; Dragoons -du Dauphin in green coats with violet facings, silver -buttons and silver lace, and helmets covered with -leopard’s skin; Dragoons de Mailly, and the long -red cloaks of the Penthièvre horsemen, adding a -flower-bed touch of colour to the scene. Coast -militiamen were in the throng, garbed like the -regulars in the white coats of the line; heavy -artillerymen, in sombre blue and dull red—there -were two brigades of them on shore at Quiberon, -de Chabrie, and de la Brosse—the whole mingled -together in a motley crowd that stretched for miles -round the bay, gazing their hardest to seaward and -facing the gusts of blinding rain in their anxiety to -see what they might of the battle thundering out -in the storm over yonder. Quite a third of the -“État Militaire de France,” of King Louis’ army list, -formed the audience for Hawke and Conflans on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> -the day that saw the <i>Formidable’s</i> name entered on -the roll of the British Fleet. The soldiers, indeed, -too, had a personal interest in the battle beyond -the general issue. Some of their comrades were -on board the fleet with Conflans, doing duty as -marines; among them two whole battalions of -Saintonge, and a draft or two of the regiment -de Guyenne. They had been shipped at Brest. Poor -wretches! If it was bad for the lookers-on to stand -here in the open, drenched to the skin and chilled -to the marrow, what was it over there, out yonder—heaving -and pitching and rolling, at the mercy -of a raging storm, sea-sick and helpless and hopeless, -and being shot at with English cannon balls -all the while!</p> - -<p class="tb">It was not until some little time after their collision -that the <i>Montagu</i> and the two other British ships, -the <i>Warspite</i> and the <i>Magnanime</i>, got clear of one -another. By that time they had drifted to leeward of -the <i>Formidable</i>, and were too far off to reopen their -attack. But fresh foes for the brave de Verger’s -ship were soon at hand.</p> - -<p>First of these the <i>Torbay</i>, Commodore Keppel’s -ship, a smart and powerful seventy-four, ranged -alongside. Setting-to briskly by himself, Keppel -gave the Frenchmen a cruelly trying quarter of an -hour, after which the <i>Resolution</i> and the <i>Swiftsure</i>, -both seventy-gun ships, drew near to take their part. -Keppel, according to his own log, “had silenced<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> -her,” and without waiting to see her colours come -down, as the new arrivals neared the spot he moved -off, intent on finding a single-handed fight for himself -further ahead.</p> - -<p>Keppel did so immediately, and settled the fate -of the hapless <i>Thesèe</i>, a seventy-four, the same size -as his own ship, which went to the bottom with awful -suddenness as they were fighting yard-arm to yard-arm, -struck by a fierce squall that burst on her and -heeled her over just as she had opened her lower-deck -ports to leeward in order to give the <i>Torbay</i> a -broadside. Swamped by a tremendous sea, the -luckless <i>Thesèe</i> filled and sank like a stone. Out of -eight hundred men on board, not twenty in all were -saved, picked up from floating wreckage. The -<i>Torbay</i> herself narrowly escaped sharing the <i>Thesèe’s</i> -fate. Her lower-deck ports had just been opened -too. “Keppel’s,” relates Horace Walpole, “was -full of water, and he thought he was sinking; a -sudden squall emptied his ship, but he was informed -all his powder was wet. ‘Then,’ said he, ‘I am -sorry I am safe.’ They came and told him a small -quantity was undamaged. ‘Very well,’ said he, -‘then attack again.’”</p> - -<p>The <i>Resolution</i> and <i>Swiftsure</i> were in turn joined -by the <i>Revenge</i>, and then the <i>Essex</i> added herself to -the long suffering <i>Formidable’s</i> foes. Still, though, -the <i>Formidable</i> kept her colours flying, while shot -after shot—at intervals—came sullenly from her -tiers of ports. She was practically silenced, but not -as Keppel had thought, absolutely. There was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> -little satisfaction in such odds, and three of the -British ships moved away, leaving the <i>Resolution</i> to -finish the business off.</p> - -<div class="figcenter full" style="width: 700px;" id="illus14"> - -<p class="caption">HAWKE’S VICTORY IN QUIBERON BAY</p> - -<a href="images/illus14-full.jpg"><img src="images/illus14.jpg" width="700" height="475" alt="" /></a> - -<p class="caption"><i>Painted by Swaine. Engraved and Published in 1760.</i></p> - -<p class="caption"><i>The picture shows the “Royal George” (in the centre) sinking the -“Superbe,” and the “Formidable” (immediately beyond the “Superbe” and -in the background) lowering her colours to the “Resolution” (the ship -coming up astern of the “Royal George”)</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>The <i>Formidable</i> was plainly at her last gasp, as it -were; a wreck above and below, her masts down -and her rigging lying in tangled heaps of torn -canvas and cordage over the side, the bulwarks -shattered to the level of the deck, the hull gashed -with gaping holes from which streams of sea water -spouted in cascades at every roll of the ship. Still, -with all that, her gallant first lieutenant, the sole -surviving naval officer on board, would not give in. -The <i>Formidable</i> was a flagship, he declared, and, as -a point of honour, to a flagship only should she -strike. Manning what guns he could, he made his -final effort to hold out just a little longer. It was -magnificent, but it was hardly war. It was heroic, -but it proved impossible. The gallant young -Frenchman’s ambition was destined not to be -realized. There was no time for it. The big <i>Royal -George</i>, with Hawke’s blue flag flying out at the -main, could be seen approaching, but she was not -yet quite alongside. Before the <i>Royal George</i> could -challenge, the deadly fire of the <i>Resolution’s</i> guns had -done its work, and all hope of further resistance was -at an end. Yet another British ship also, the -<i>Burford</i>, was fast approaching the scene, intent -apparently on joining in with the <i>Resolution</i>. It -was hopeless now to wait for the <i>Royal George</i>, and -the heroically defended ensign of the <i>Formidable</i> -had to come down. The <i>Formidable</i> lowered her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> -colours to the <i>Resolution</i>—exactly at five minutes to -four o’clock.</p> - -<p>Towards the end, Conflans himself in the <i>Soleil -Royal</i>, with de Beauffremont and one of his captains, -tacked and doubled back as if to the rescue -of the <i>Formidable</i>, but they were too late.</p> - -<p class="tb">What took place elsewhere on the scene of battle, -during the short three-quarters of an hour that -the waning daylight of the stormy winter’s afternoon -lasted, before the fighting had of necessity to -cease, are beyond our limits. How, for instance, the -master of the <i>Royal George</i>, getting anxious about -the reefs and sandbanks that showed up amid the -breakers on either side as they surged ahead into -the fight, declared that he dared not take the big -three-decker further inshore, and drew from Hawke’s -lips the heroic words, “You have done your duty in -pointing out the danger; now go on and lay me -beside the French Admiral!”; how the <i>Royal George</i> -herself after that came within an ace of shipwreck as -she fought; of the catastrophe to the French <i>Superbe</i>, -sent to the bottom in attempting to keep the <i>Royal -George</i> from closing with her flagship, by one terrific -broadside from the <i>Royal George</i>, to the horror of -the British flagship’s crew themselves as the smoke -of the guns blew off and they saw three topmasts -disappear under water, “in a hideously sudden -manner,” where thirty seconds earlier had floated a -noble man-of-war; how finally Conflans himself<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> -sheered off before the <i>Royal George’s</i> guns, and ran -away to wreck his flagship and burn her next morning:—to -recount in detail these and the many other -dramatic incidents of that “thunderous miscellany -of cannon and tempest,” as Carlyle called the -battle of Quiberon Bay, are beyond our present -scope.</p> - -<p>All was over about five o’clock. As soon as might -be after that, victors and vanquished alike let go -anchors where they lay, each ship where best she -could, as the guns gave over firing in the dark, to -ride the fearful night out as well as it was possible -on both sides, each holding to her anchor for dear -life, and powerless to help others. “In the night -we heard many guns of distress fired, but, it blowing -hard, want of knowledge of the coast, and whether -they were fired by a friend or an enemy, prevented -all means of relief.”</p> - -<p>As the result to England of the afternoon’s work, -two French ships were sunk and one was burned; -two surrendered (one stole away before the weather -would allow a boat from an English ship to take -possession of her), one—the <i>Formidable</i>—was taken -and secured. Of the rest of the enemy some scraped -over the mud-flats at the mouth of the little river -Vilaine, a few miles off, and lay there with broken -backs, unable ever to put to sea again; a small -remnant got into Rochfort, losing one of their -number by shipwreck on the way. In killed and -wounded and drowned, the total loss to France in -the battle, it has been calculated, numbered between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> -four and five thousand men. It was probably nearer -the higher figure, for most of the French ships were -crammed with men. There were twelve hundred, it -was said, sailors and soldiers, on board Conflans’ -flagship, the <i>Soleil Royal</i>, alone. A thousand -officers and men were returned as on board the -<i>Formidable</i>.</p> - -<p>The French wounded, with a few men rescued -from the ships that were sunk, were sent on shore -by cartel to the Duc D’Aiguillon, as soon as the -weather had moderated sufficiently. With them -were sent also a hundred and twenty French soldiers, -the poor remnant of a half-battalion of the regiment -of Saintonge, and a company of militiamen gunners -from Brest, who had served on board the <i>Formidable</i>.</p> - -<p>Two of our own ships were wrecked in Quiberon -Bay, one on the night of the battle. That was the -<i>Resolution</i>, to which ship the <i>Formidable</i> had hauled -down her flag. The other was the <i>Essex</i>, which -was cast away early next morning while trying to -secure Conflans’ flagship. The storm continued to -rage with unabated fury during the whole of the -day after the battle. To Hawke, though, their fate -was only part of the price for the risk incurred in -bringing the French to battle.</p> - -<p>This was the victor’s summing up on the day’s -work. “When I consider the season of the year,” -wrote Hawke to the Admiralty, in his modestly -worded dispatch, “the hard gales on the day of -action, the shortness of the day, and the coast they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> -were on, I can boldly affirm that all that could -possibly be done has been done. As to the loss we -have sustained, let it be placed to the account of the -necessity I was under of running all risks to break -this strong force of the enemy. Had we had but -two hours more daylight the whole had been totally -destroyed or taken, for we were almost up with their -van when night overtook us.” In this plain way did -the victor of Quiberon Bay render his account to the -nation, this grand old fighting seaman and leader to -whom England has not yet found room for a monument, -either at the Abbey or in St. Paul’s.</p> - -<p>The battle of Quiberon Bay sealed the fate of -France at sea for the Seven Years’ War. The building -of “flat bottoms” stopped after that; there -was no more mustering of armies along the French -coast, no more discussion in the Pompadour’s boudoir -of schemes for the invasion of England.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The guns that should have conquered us they rusted on the shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The men that would have mastered us they drummed and marched no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For England was England, and a mighty brood she bore—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Hawke came swooping from the West!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“It seems as though France is never to have a -navy,” said King Louis morosely, while sitting at -supper with the Pompadour on the night that the -Quiberon dispatches reached Versailles.</p> - -<p class="tb">A British officer who went on board the <i>Formidable</i> -on the morning after the battle, wrote down a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> -description of the scene that met his eyes there. -“A lieutenant and 80 men,” he says, “being -ordered from our ship on board the <i>Formidable</i> to -assist in repairing her rigging, etc., I embraced the -opportunity of seeing the havoc that had been made -by the fire of so many large ships who had battered -her. The destruction of her upper works was -dreadful, and her starboard side was pierced like a -cullender by the number of shots she received in -the course of the action. The loss of men was -prodigious in killed and wounded, amounting to -more than 500; among the former the Admiral, -M. St. André de Verger and his brother, the first -captain, all the other officers either killed or -wounded, except a lieutenant-colonel, who assured -me that every man of his detachment, drawn up on -the quarter-deck and forecastle, etc., had been either -killed or wounded but himself; that he had served -in the army for thirty years, had been present at the -bloody field of Fontenoy, but had never before -witnessed such a scene of carnage. The grand-chamber -was filled with wounded officers, many of -whom had suffered amputation.... Monsieur -major invited me below to certify the number of -his patients, and there a melancholy scene presented -itself. The large gun-room and every space -between the guns on the lower deck was crammed -with wounded soldiers and sailors, besides three -rows of cradles in the hold, containing 60 seamen, -and many not yet dressed.... I am -afraid that few of the wounded could recover,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> -considering their very miserable situation and circumstances.”</p> - -<p>As soon as the weather would allow her to start -the <i>Formidable</i> was sent off to England under escort. -She arrived at Plymouth “almost in a sinking state, -from the shot-holes she had received, and only kept -afloat with great difficulty.” She rolled away her -jury masts, we are told, and the cook’s coppers were -washed out of the ship. The prize crew, the officers -and men from the wrecked <i>Essex</i>, and the prisoners, -had to live for four days on the boatswain’s tallow.</p> - -<p>The <i>Formidable</i> was taken into the British Navy, -and the name was registered on the roll of King -George’s fleet in its original form; but the ship had -suffered too severe a mauling to be fit for sea service -again. Some ten years after her capture Hawke, -as First Lord of the Admiralty, signed the death -warrant of his old prize—the order that delivered his -old Quiberon trophy over to the shipbreaker.</p> - -<p class="tb">One final word. The <i>Formidable’s</i> magnificent -defence was the redeeming event for the other side -of the “Journée de M. Conflans,” as the French -Navy, pillorying the memory of its unfortunate -Admiral, has ever since called the battle. So, too, -France has recognized it. A new <i>Formidable</i> was -laid down in France at the first fitting opportunity, -so named in honour of the Comte de Verger’s -gallant man-of-war. The French battleship <i>Formidable</i> -of to-day—not so long since, with her armour<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> -plates of 44 tons weight each and 75-ton guns, the -pride of her fleet, and still, as reconstructed, a ship -capable of striking a hard blow for the honour of -her flag—commemorates the heroism of de Verger -and his gallant men for the twentieth-century -French Navy.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VI">VI<br /> -<span class="smaller">WHEN THE <i>VICTORY</i> FIRST JOINED THE FLEET</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou great vessel, whose tremendous claim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So well is proved to Victory’s famous name!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In stately guise, all smart and trim, rides the -<i>Victory</i> to-day at the flagship’s moorings in -Portsmouth Harbour, flying at her masthead -the red St. George’s Cross flag of the Admiral -holding the chief command at the principal naval -port of the British Empire. To see her now, spick -and span and as smart as paint can make her, she -looks at the first glance barely a day older than the -latest launched of the old style wooden men-of-war -that are yet left among us doing harbour duty in -various capacities. The old <i>St. Vincent</i>, which -passed away only the other day, a worn-out veteran, -was launched ten years after the <i>Victory</i> had fired -her last shotted gun. The still existing <i>Asia</i>, at -Portsmouth, was launched thirteen years after the -<i>Victory</i> had finally retired from the sea. The <i>Victory</i> -as a fact had been some years afloat and had fought -her first battle long before the great-great-grandfathers -of most of us were old enough to trundle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> -a hoop or spin a top. She forms in herself, indeed, -a direct and actual link between our own day and -the times of George the Second.</p> - -<p>Two famous Admirals of the Seven Years’ War -time, Anson and Boscawen, were the Lords of the -Admiralty who signed the order to lay the <i>Victory’s</i> -keel. The names themselves take us back into -history well over a century and a half. And the -difference between things then and now is wider -than the gap of years. It is difficult indeed, as we -nowadays see the <i>Victory</i> in Portsmouth Harbour, -amidst the stir and activity of a modern naval port, -to realize how wide a space her lifetime really -covers.</p> - -<p class="tb">Imagine yourself as a visitor at Portsmouth on -any afternoon almost of the present year of grace, and -observing what takes place in the harbour round the -<i>Victory</i>. Here comes along, sliding swiftly past between -ship and shore, a long, low-built black torpedo-boat; -or a yet more grim-looking sleuthhound of -the sea, a thirty-knot destroyer, with squat funnels -and high-raised forecastle, from which peers forward -the long barrel of a twelve-pounder, shearing -its way ahead on business of its own. Now a -snub-nosed gunnery-school gunboat passes, returning -from a day’s target-practice out beyond the -Warner lightship, with a weapon that can fire from -twelve to twenty aimed shots in a minute. Then, it -may be, a brand new twenty-three-knot cruiser passes,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> -coming back from a trial run, or a huge high-sided -four to five hundred feet long battleship of from -fifteen to eighteen thousand tons, stern and resolute -of appearance, her giant barbette guns of massive -bulk and enormous length, weighing each from fifty -to sixty tons, and able to send an eight hundredweight -twelve-inch shell from fifteen to twenty miles, -and with the certainty of being able to hit the mark -with each shot at half that range—the horizon limit -from on board. It was not so long ago that one of -our battleships (the <i>Commonwealth</i>), firing at eight -thousand yards at a target representing an enemy’s -battleship, dropped successive twelve-inch shells into -a space the size of a lawn-tennis court, and, at the -same distance at the third round, shot away a boat’s -flagstaff that topped the target. At all times, too, -there is a passing and repassing of Navy steam-launches -and pinnaces, and now and again the busy -forging to and fro of puffing harbour tugs and yard -craft of all sorts. Such are every-day sights in -Portsmouth Harbour in these times of ours.</p> - -<p>Then carry your mind back to the year in which -the <i>Victory</i> first figured on the Estimates of the -Navy—1758. Imagine yourself standing on the -Hard as a sightseer in the Portsmouth of the Seven -Years’ War time—on, say, a day in October of the -year when my Lords at Whitehall were making their -final decision about the ship’s dimensions.</p> - -<p>At this same moment, by the way, there is lying -in a far-off parsonage, in an out-of-the-world locality -on the Norfolk coast, a puny baby boy, a fortnight<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> -or three weeks old, so sickly that he is not thought -likely to live. So weakly, indeed, is the child that -his baptism—at which the name Horatio was given -to the small babe—has taken place privately, just six -days after his birth.</p> - -<p>You would, in Portsmouth Harbour on that -October afternoon of 1758, have seen something -very much like this.</p> - -<p>First of all, almost opposite the Hard, and just -where the <i>Victory</i> herself now lies, there is moored a -big yellow-sided two-decker of foreign build flying -the British flag. Just now, perhaps, there is no man-of-war -name all the world over of more unpleasant -notoriety than hers. She is the <i>Monarque</i>, a seventy-four, -taken from the French, and it was on her -quarter-deck, some eighteen months ago, on a dull and -cloudy March day, that they shot Admiral Byng. -The <i>Monarque</i> has now just returned from “Straits” -service, and if you went on board her you would see, -still there, and part of the ship’s company, the men -of the platoon of marines who formed Byng’s firing -party.</p> - -<p>Near the <i>Monarque</i> lies a big ninety-gun three-decker—a -yellow-sided vessel also, for all men-of-war -are so painted. It is the <i>St. George</i>. In her cabin -Byng’s court martial sat some twenty months ago. -The court, by a grim coincidence, was held in the -very cabin that had been Byng’s own thirteen years -before that, when Byng was captain of this same <i>St. -George</i>. There, on a snowy January day, as plenty -of people at Portsmouth can tell you, for they were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> -looking on, Byng stood to hear his sentence in his -own old cabin, crowded almost to suffocation with -spectators, stuffy and close, and the walls “sweating -down” with trickling beads of water; the hapless, -doomed British Admiral, standing there, firm and -erect, with squared shoulders, calmly facing his -judges, with his own sword lying on the table, its -point turned towards himself.</p> - -<p>To the very last, they say, Byng expected an acquittal. -He had not anticipated, at the worst, a sentence -more severe than a reprimand. So he himself -said in the cabin of the <i>Monarque</i>, on the very morning -of the 27th January, when the Admiralty Marshal -came to accompany him on board the <i>St. George</i> to -hear the finding of the court. He learnt the dread -reality first as he came up the side of the <i>St. George</i>. -At the entering port a personal friend, instructed -privately by the President of the Court to do so, -stood waiting to give the Admiral a word of warning. -As he met his friend, Byng saw instantly from his -downcast countenance and embarrassed manner that -things had gone adversely and that the sentence was -a hard one. “What is the matter,” asked the -Admiral, “have they broke me?” The bearer of -the news, convinced that Byng had no idea of -what was coming, hesitated and stammered. Byng -stopped short. He gazed fixedly at his friend for a -few seconds, and then changed colour as he seemed -to take in the situation. A moment later he had recovered -himself. Exclaiming in a calm tone, “Well, -well, I understand: if nothing but my blood will<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> -satisfy them, let them take it,” he passed with set -countenance into the presence of the Court.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus15"> - -<p class="caption">THE EXECUTION OF ADMIRAL BYNG</p> - -<img src="images/illus15.jpg" width="700" height="350" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>From a Contemporary Print</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>Beyond the <i>St. George</i> lies another “Mediterranean -ship,” just returned home—the <i>Revenge</i>, one -of the ships in Byng’s battle. It was the damning -evidence of the <i>Revenge’s</i> captain—Frederick Cornwall, -now at home on half-pay—as they all say in -the fleet, that settled Byng’s fate. “If I cannot disprove -what you have said, Captain Cornwall,” exclaimed -Byng, as the one-armed captain of the -<i>Revenge</i> turned to leave the cabin, after a futile -attempt at cross-examination on the part of the -Admiral, “may the Lord have mercy on me.” -There is no need to go further.</p> - -<p>If you could look round to Spithead from the -Hard, you would see the old <i>Royal Sovereign</i> on -duty as the port flagship. On board her it was that, -on the morning of the execution, Admiral Boscawen -put his signature to Byng’s death warrant, and the -order for the firing party. She is the oldest ship in -the King’s Navy, in which connection the <i>Sovereign</i> -has other memories of her own. The great Duke of -Marlborough named her at her launch in the year -that William the Third died, and it was in her great-cabin, -during the <i>Sovereign’s</i> first cruise, that Rooke’s -council of war planned the swoop on the Vigo treasure -galleons, which Vigo Street, in London, serves to -commemorate. Some of the old ship’s timbers, it -is the fact, formed part of the frame of Charles the -First’s world-renowned <i>Sovereign of the Seas</i>, and -were salved, by special Admiralty order, out of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> -<i>débris</i> when the <i>Sovereign of the Seas</i> was burned at -Chatham in January, 1696, by the carelessness of a -sleepy bos’un’s mate.</p> - -<p>Out yonder at Spithead, too, at this moment, rides -at anchor yet another veteran of our old-time navy, -the <i>Royal Anne</i>. They have a really marvellous -continuity of service, some of these ancient men-of-war. -The <i>Anne</i> carries us back to the time of the -Dutch raid up the Medway. She was launched as -the <i>Royal Charles</i> to fill the place of the <i>Royal -Charles</i> that the Dutchmen carried off. William the -Third renamed her the <i>Queen</i>, in honour of his consort, -and the ship kept that name until George the -First came over. King George, having at that time -his legal consort under lock and key in Germany, -promptly renamed the ship. He called her after -himself, <i>Royal George</i>—the first of the series. Three -kings, indeed, have been present at this ship’s -various “christenings.” Charles the Second was -present at her first naming as the <i>Royal Charles</i>; -William the Third saw her renamed the <i>Queen</i>. -George the First paid a special visit to Woolwich -when she received the name <i>Royal George</i>, and -gave £300 to be divided among the dockyard -men employed at the float-out, in honour of the -occasion. The name <i>Royal Anne</i> was given to the -ship only two years ago, when the present <i>Royal -George</i>, Hawke’s flagship in the Channel Fleet, was -launched. She exchanged the name for that borne -on the stocks by the <i>Royal George</i>.</p> - -<p>Within sight from the Hard is an 80-gun three-decker,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> -the <i>Royal William</i>, just back from the -capture of Louisbourg, Cape Breton. She, too, -was launched as long ago as Charles the Second’s -reign, under the name <i>Royal Prince</i>, and she fought -her first battle at Solebay, eighty-six years ago. She -carried James Duke of York’s flag during part of -the battle, and Prince Rupert in turn had his flag in -her in a later battle. William the Third gave the -ship her present name, and under it she fought at La -Hogue as Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s flagship, not -without distinction.</p> - -<p>If one might dip into the future and witness events -just one year later, the visitor to Portsmouth would -then see the <i>Royal William</i> there again, and again -just arrived from across the Atlantic. This time she -would be in other guise—a ship “in mourning,” all -over funereal black, with yards set to point in all -directions—“a-cockbill,” as the old term went—and -colours at half-mast, firing minute guns, and with -a funeral procession of boats putting off from alongside -to bear to the shore the body of General -Wolfe.</p> - -<p>Off the dockyard, on this October afternoon of -1758, awaiting their turn for repair, are two jury-rigged -ships. One is a small, old-fashioned sixty-four, -firing a broadside of some 540 lb. weight of -metal. The other is a giant 80-gun ship of French -build, and brand new. She is bigger than the finest -first-rate in King George’s service, a fair match for -the new <i>Royal George</i>, and fires the tremendous -broadside of 1136 lb. weight of metal. Yet the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> -little ship took the big one in a midnight battle last -February. It was as fine a feat of arms as the -Navy has seen. The two are the <i>Monmouth</i> and the -<i>Foudroyant</i>. They have just come into port, and -both show plenty of marks by way of battle scars. -If you were to row round the <i>Foudroyant</i> you would -find her, on her larboard side, where the <i>Monmouth</i> -made her attack, battered almost to splinters. The -fight lasted four and a half hours, from eight till after -midnight, and went on for most of the time within -pistol-shot. The <i>Monmouth</i> in that time used up -four tons of powder and about ten tons of cannon-balls. -At Gibraltar, where they repaired the -<i>Foudroyant</i> to bring her to England, they had to -plug over seventy shot-holes at the water-line—and -two or three cannon-balls had gone through some of -the holes.</p> - -<p>One more word of the <i>Foudroyant</i>. It would -seem as though, in the Portsmouth of these times, -we cannot lay the shade of Admiral Byng. The -<i>Foudroyant</i> was flagship of the fleet that Byng failed -to beat, and Arthur Gardiner, who later commanded -the <i>Monmouth</i> when she took the <i>Foudroyant</i>, was -Byng’s flag-captain. Captain Gardiner, after Byng’s -battle, it is said, swore that if ever he got another -ship, however small, and met the <i>Foudroyant</i>, he -would attack her and take her, or sink alongside. -He got the <i>Monmouth</i> and met the <i>Foudroyant</i> and -kept his word; meeting himself a heroic death on -his own quarter-deck in the heat of the battle.</p> - -<p>A second French man-of-war, taken on the same<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> -occasion and also badly mauled—the <i>Orphèe</i>, a smart -70-gun ship, prize to the <i>Revenge</i>—lies near the -<i>Foudroyant</i>; also recently brought to England from -up the Straits.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> - -<p>All the day long there keeps on a continuous -passing up and down the harbour of small war-vessels -and dockyard craft of every sort. Here a -fireship goes by, a small two-masted vessel, readily -distinguishable by the heavy iron double hooks -and grapnels that tip the yard-arms; and that little -boat towing astern. The hooks are meant to grip -and hold fast the fireship’s destined prey as she -sheers alongside. The fireship’s crew set the quick -match-train leading to the stacks of pitch-barrels -and other combustibles all over the vessel, ablaze at -several points just as they are closing the enemy, -and the little boat is for them to escape in at the last -moment. Now a bomb-ketch passes, a clumsy craft -with masts set well aft and two heavy 13-inch mortars, -trained for firing over the bows right ahead, -set side by side in the fore part of the ship, where -the foremast would stand in an ordinary vessel. A -rakish-looking Portsmouth privateer, it may be, now -comes by, towing a prize astern of her—some captured -French “sugar ship” from Martinique, snapped -up off Ushant. Then there passes, on the way to one -of the guardships or “receiving” ships, a press-gang -tender, coming in from a run along the South Coast. -She has been out for some days to pick up hands for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> -the fleet, and some of those on board could tell -more than one ugly story of high-handed doings -among the villages and farmsteads on the coast, -within a night’s march from the sea. In confinement -under hatches on board, it is quite possible, is also -the unfortunate crew of some homeward-bound -merchantman, waylaid and boarded almost within -sight of home, off the back of the Isle of Wight. It -is very sad, but this is war time, and the fleet must -be manned.</p> - -<p>All day long duty-boats keep going up and down. -Now it is an admiral’s twelve-oared barge with the -flag at the bows; now a captain’s gig, or a pinnace, -pulling between ship and shore; now a midshipman’s -boat scurrying off to answer the flagship’s signal. -Ships’ long-boats with water-casks and pursers’ -stores for various men-of-war in harbour, pass and -repass, and beer hoys and yard craft of all kinds. -You can always tell a dockyard boat by the heavy -way in which the “maties” row, giving their elbows a -curious lift with each stroke. At intervals, also, ships’ -launches and wherries go past, and lighters carrying -cables or anchors, spars and sailcloth, or gangs of -shipwrights from the yard on their way to Spithead -to attend to pressing repairs to some Channel Fleet -ship or frigate just come in and impatient to be off -again.</p> - -<div class="figcenter full" style="width: 700px;" id="illus16"> - -<p class="caption">PORTSMOUTH IN THE YEAR THAT THE <i>VICTORY</i> JOINED THE FLEET</p> - -<a href="images/illus16-full.jpg"><img src="images/illus16.jpg" width="700" height="400" alt="" /></a> - -<table summary="List of landmarks visible in the picture" class="caption"> - <tr> - <td> - <ul> - <li><i>1. North Dock.</i></li> - <li><i>2. Boat-Houses.</i></li> - <li><i>3. Officers’ Houses.</i></li> - <li><i>4. Dock Clock.</i></li> - <li><i>5. Commissioner’s House.</i></li> - <li><i>6. Sail and Mould Loft.</i></li> - </ul> - </td> - <td> - <ul> - <li><i>7. Rope House.</i></li> - <li><i>8. Royal Academy.</i></li> - <li><i>9. Landing Place at the Dock.</i></li> - <li><i>10. Rigging House.</i></li> - <li><i>11. The Common.</i></li> - <li><i>12. Officers’ Lodging in the Gun-Wharf.</i></li> - </ul> - </td> - <td> - <ul> - <li><i>13. Lamport Gate.</i></li> - <li><i>14. Portsmouth Church.</i></li> - <li><i>15. The Point.</i></li> - <li><i>16. Flag on the Platform.</i></li> - <li><i>17. Round Tower.</i></li> - <li><i>18. Spit-Head.</i></li> - </ul> - </td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="caption"><i>From a Contemporary Print.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>Now and again, two or three times a month perhaps, -a line of ships’ launches from newly arrived -vessels from Spithead are to be seen following one -another up the harbour, crammed with men—swarthy<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> -foreigners, poor, ragged, dejected-looking wretches -for the most part. Each boat has its guard of red-coated -marines, standing under arms at the head and -stern, all with bayonets fixed. The boatloads comprise -prisoners of war, taken at sea and on their -way to undergo confinement in Porchester Castle,<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> -going to join their two thousand compatriots already -there. A favoured few in due course may obtain -exchange by cartel, but the greater number must -perforce endure their captivity to the end of the -war.</p> - -<p>Such were some of the every-day scenes to be -witnessed in Portsmouth Harbour at the very time -that the Admiralty order for the building of the -<i>Victory</i> was being drafted.</p> - -<p>Ashore in the streets of Portsea, old salts who had -fought with Vernon when he took Porto Bello, are -to be met with any day of the week. You may come -across, indeed, an occasional old fellow who can -remember Benbow, and how the news first came to -England of the taking of Gibraltar. And sitting at -his door on a sunny morning you may yet find an -old Portsmouth grandsire here and there who can -carry his memory further back still, and tell you how -the bonfires blazed in High Street in honour of the -battle of La Hogue.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span></p> - -<p>Turn away now from the harbour and the Hard -and take a short walk through the streets of Portsmouth -town. Soldiers in the uniform that Corporal -John’s men wore at Blenheim and Ramillies, rub -shoulders with you every hour of the day. Some are -for Canada, some for the West Indies, some for -Northern Germany. All are passing through Portsmouth -on the way to the great depôt camp in the -Isle of Wight where the troops for oversea service -assemble. Most are men of the foot regiments, with -long-skirted red coats, red waistcoats, and red -breeches with high white gaiters. Some wear the -big cocked hat that came in with George the First; -others the tall sugar-loaf grenadier cap of the -Prussian pattern. Those with buff facings are -“Howard’s” men; those with yellow facings, “Kingsley’s”; -those with willow green, “Rufane’s”; those -with blue, “Duroure’s.” For six or seven years past -our regiments have had numbers, but the men still -hold to the old way, and each regiment calls itself -for preference according to the custom of the army -for these eighty years past. Now and then a party -of dragoons pass through the streets, red coated and -wearing black leather fur-crested helmets and long -jack-boots. These come from one of the cavalry -camps at Chichester or Southampton. Occasionally, -too, cocked-hatted artillerymen are to be met with, in -blue coats with red waistcoats and breeches and -white gaiters.</p> - -<p>Batches of men of the standing garrison of the -Fortress of Portsmouth, the “Royal Invalids,” as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> -corps they belong to is called, are to be seen about -the streets at all hours; veterans drafted from off the -Chelsea Hospital out-pension list as being sufficiently -able-bodied for home-service fortress duty, old war-worn -warriors bearing scars, many of them got in -action at Dettingen and Fontenoy.</p> - -<p>A Portsmouth visitor would certainly, too, have -seen in and about the town a personage of some -notoriety in those times: Governor Hawley, Commandant -of the Garrison, the Duke of Cumberland’s -hard-riding, hard-drinking friend. “Bloody Hawley” -was what the soldiers called him, taking the -<i>sobriquet</i> from the name that years before the hapless -clansmen of the north gave the man who led -“Butcher” Cumberland’s dragoons in the merciless -chase after Culloden. In General Hawley you -would have seen perhaps as badly hated an officer as -ever held a King of England’s commission. “Chief -Justice Hawley” the rank and file also called him: -and the reason for it any one would have seen for -himself by walking round Governor’s Green any day -of the week, or passing beyond the postern and -strolling out across the Portsmouth ramparts to the -glacis on an execution morning.</p> - -<p class="tb">The talk of the place—and of all England too at -the moment—is of a French invasion.</p> - -<p>England, in 1758, had not yet recovered from her -last bad fit of nerves, brought on by truculent vapourings -from Versailles at the outset of the Seven Years’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> -War. Government was urgently pushing on arrangements -for forming an efficient militia force -to fill the place of the regular battalions fighting -abroad in Germany and in America, in view of the -invasion scare that was threatening in the near -future. Already reports had come to hand from -France of the building of flat-bottomed beach-boats -and preparations for large encampments next summer -in the vicinity of the French Channel ports—at Dunkirk -and Calais, Havre and St. Malo, and in Lower -Brittany on the shores of Quiberon Bay. In every -county of England and Wales the local authorities -were getting ready for the early muster of the new -militia levies—now, for the first time in our history, -to be formed into regiments. Along the coasts of -Sussex and Kent, from Selsea to beyond Dungeness -and Hythe, where the open coast-line might seem to -invite attack—at Littlehampton, Brighton, Blatchington, -Seaford, Hastings, Rye, Hythe, Folkestone—the -sites for four- and six-gun batteries were being -pegged out by military engineers, to be thrown up -by local labourers under expert supervision. At -every point along the seashore from Spurn Head -to the Lizard the beacons were being watched night -and day, while the local authorities of every seaboard -district had standing orders to be ready, on the first -alarm of a hostile landing, to transport the women -and children in farm carts to the nearest towns, and -drive inland the horses and sheep and cattle.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span></p> - -<p>We have to turn over many pages of the world’s -history to get to the year that saw the <i>Victory</i> brought -into the British Navy. The Seven Years’ War itself, -the exigencies of which called the <i>Victory</i> into existence, -is nowadays but a schoolbook term. Frederick -the Great, in the year that the <i>Victory</i> first figures in -the Navy Estimates, was the man of the hour. Peter -the Great’s daughter ruled in Russia. The “Old Pretender”—the -“warming-pan baby” of Whitehall, of -the year 1688—was still alive, dragging out his last -years in Rome as a pensioner of the Pope. Captain -Cook was as yet an unknown master’s mate, serving -on board a man-of-war away across the Atlantic with -Boscawen. Nelson, as has been said, was a long-clothes -baby; Napoleon and Wellington were not -yet born. The Commander-in-Chief of the British -Army, Viscount Ligonier, was a French Huguenot -refugee, born a subject of the Grand Monarque, -who first saw war under Marlborough at Blenheim. -Wolfe was an unheard of Major-General, nearly at -the bottom of the list. News of Clive’s victory at -Plassey had not long reached England. The elder -Pitt, “the Great Commoner,” had only been in -power for little over a twelvemonth. William Pitt -was not yet born. Smeaton was building the Eddystone -Lighthouse. James Watt was a Glasgow -mathematical instrument maker, his ideas about -steam hardly yet in embryo. Burke was a young -Irishman in London, making a poor living out of -essays for Grub Street magazines. Lord Chesterfield -was still writing his letters. Dr. Johnson’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> -Dictionary was a new book, being advertised in -publishers’ announcements, in two bulky quarto -volumes at £4. 10s. Garrick was playing nightly -at Drury Lane.</p> - -<p>It was still the custom at Bath to announce the -arrival of lords and ladies and “nabobs” with peals -on the Abbey bells and serenadings by the Assembly -band. Brighton was hardly on the map as yet; it -was merely Brighthelmstone, a Sussex fishing village, -just beginning to be visited for sea bathing by the -handful of people who had heard of it through -Dr. Russell’s pamphlets. Old London Bridge still -had houses on it. Traffic in imported merchandise -throughout the country was still carried on by pack-horse. -One coach—or “machine”—a month, ran -between London and Edinburgh, and took a fortnight -on the road. A similar conveyance between London -and Portsmouth took, under the most favourable -conditions, two whole days. The mails went by -postboy, and hardly a week passed without people -failing to get their letters, because the local postboy -had been stopped by a highwayman. Gibbets, -indeed, with the bleached bones of these gentry in -chains, stood on every main road out of London. -Pirates were still from time to time publicly borne -from the Old Bailey down the Thames in boats, -heavily chained, to be hanged at Execution Dock -and gibbeted at Galleons Point—on the average half -a dozen a year. Just as the Admiralty draughtsmen -were outlining the plans of the <i>Victory</i>, the news -of the hour for nine people out of ten in England<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> -was the committal of Eugene Aram to York Castle -for the murder of Daniel Clark.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus17"> - -<p class="caption">AT PORTSMOUTH POINT</p> - -<img src="images/illus17.jpg" width="440" height="300" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>Thomas Rowlandson.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 440px;" id="illus18"> - -<p class="caption">IN PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR</p> - -<img src="images/illus18.jpg" width="440" height="300" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>Thomas Rowlandson.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>On the day that the <i>Victory’s</i> keel was laid two -men were pilloried in Cheapside for blackmailing a -City merchant, and a bad egg accidentally hitting -the Sheriff’s officer in charge of the proceedings led to -a riot and fighting with drawn swords. On the day -before the <i>Victory</i> was launched, one Mary Norwood, -an unfaithful wife, condemned at Taunton Assizes -for poisoning her husband, was publicly strangled in -the market-place of Ilverston, her home, and her -body tied to the stake and burned before several -hundred spectators.</p> - -<p>So far back does the life-story of our “old” <i>Victory</i> -take us, touching at either end the middle of the -eighteenth century and the opening years of the -twentieth, directly linking King George the Second -with King Edward the Seventh.</p> - -<h3>HOW THEY BUILT THE <i>VICTORY</i> AT CHATHAM</h3> - -<p>This is the story of the building of the <i>Victory</i> at -Chatham Dockyard, and how, why, and when the -order to set to work on this particular first-rate man-of-war -was given.</p> - -<p>On the 20th of September, 1758, Lord Anson, -First Lord of the Admiralty, after commanding at -sea on Special Service off the coast of France all -the summer, arrived in London to resume his duties -on the Board. Nine days later, in the old parsonage -house of Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk, was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> -born into this world the infant boy to whom six days -later was given the name Horatio Nelson. The two -dates are a coincidence of interest in our story of the -<i>Victory</i>.</p> - -<p>Anson came back to town to hold conference with -Mr. Secretary Pitt, the War Minister. Pitt had laid -his plans for the future, and was ready. There were -first of all to be no more half-military, half-naval -expeditions up and down the coast of France. They -had done little real harm to the enemy, and in two -cases had ended in downright failure. The wits of -St. James’s were not to get a second chance for a -sneer that “the French were not to be conquered by -every Duke of Marlborough” (an allusion to the -general commanding the troops employed—the -second Duke). The Channel Fleet was not to be -received a second time on returning to Spithead -with a dumb peal on the bells of Portsmouth Church. -That plan of campaign had been to some extent a -legacy to Pitt from the previous Ministry; he was -prepared now to set on foot his own scheme. Great -Britain would henceforward take the offensive -vigorously and deal with the enemy at all points. -Pitt’s plan was to make it first and foremost a naval -war, to attack the oversea possessions of France all -the world over, utilizing every ship at the disposal of -the nation. The striking success achieved by Boscawen -at Louisbourg had shown the way, and what -could be done.</p> - -<p>The War Minister’s projects made known to him, -Anson acted. On the 14th of October the First<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> -Lord called on the Navy Board—the Department -charged with the general administration and dockyard -business of the Navy—for a detailed return of -every seaworthy ship in the fleet, and of every ship -capable of being made seaworthy. On the 24th of -October he called for a Supplementary Return of the -older ships, which, if for the present available, -would necessarily, through wear and tear, go off the -effective within three years and need replacing. -Both returns, from details specially supplied by each -dockyard, were presented to the Admiralty on the -last day of November. They were considered forthwith, -and a decision in regard to them was come to -on the 13th of December. Five days later, as the -result, a shipbuilding programme to add twelve -ships of the line to the fleet was laid, with the Navy -Estimates for the coming year, on the table of the -House of Commons. Nine of the twelve men-of-war -proposed were to be put in hand at once—five -in the dockyards and four in merchants’ yards. At -the head of the list was a new first-rate of a hundred -guns, as to the preparations for which the Commissioner -of Chatham Dockyard had already received -instructions. That ship was the future <i>Victory</i>.</p> - -<p class="tb">They were ready at Chatham. They had been -expecting an order of the kind for some years. Ever -since, indeed, the autumn of 1746, when the Admiralty -had made inquiries at Chatham in regard to a new -first-rate that it was then proposed to build at Chatham,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> -“in the room,” as the official term went, of the -three-decker <i>Victory</i>, old Admiral Balchen’s ship, -lost with nine hundred men and officers on board, -on the Casquets in the terrible shipwreck of October, -1744. The project for various reasons had been -shelved, but the dockyard authorities at Chatham -had not lost sight of it. To that fact, probably, we -owe it that the next <i>Victory</i>, when she at length did -come into existence, lasted to fight at Trafalgar, and -also, in some degree, that the <i>Victory</i> remains afloat -at the present hour.</p> - -<p>Any summer’s day in the early Fifties of the -eighteenth century the wayfarer among the uplands -of the Kent and Sussex Wealds would have met -processions of “tugs,” as the local timber conveyances -were called, drawn by teams of oxen, laboriously -hauling along the rough oak trunks, lopped -and barked, stamped with King George’s broad -arrow, and each numbered with a smear of red -paint, that were in the course of events to form the -frame and side timbers of the <i>Victory</i>. From Frant -and Ashdown, Eridge and Mabledon, over all the -wooded country round Tunbridge Wells where Kent -and Sussex march, by Wadhurst, Buxted, and Mayfield, -from Horsham on the north to nearly as far -south as Lewes, they might have been seen working -slowly along the clay-bound forest roads, two-and-twenty -oxen to one trunk in wet weather sometimes, -in charge of smock-frocked, leather-breeched -Wealden peasants (“them leather-legged chaps o’ -the Weald”), toiling from cross-road to cross-road<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> -towards Maidstone, where, alongside Messrs. Prentice’s -wharves, the Medway timber hoys for Chatham -lay in waiting. Kent and Sussex oak was proverbial -at that day as being without equal in strength -and toughness for the frame timbers and sides and -upper works of a man-of-war—the fighting parts of -a ship. And, at the same time, the wayfarer in -another land, wandering where the Vistula rolls its -sluggish course northwards to the Baltic, would -have met a great part of the rest of the future <i>Victory</i> -in the long rafts drifting downstream from the oak -forests of Poland and East Prussia, floating slowly -along, to arrive at length at the Dantzic contractor’s -yard, and thence finally pass oversea to the saw-pits -of Chatham. For the under-water timbers and -planking of our old-time men-of-war and other parts -of a ship exposed to salt water there was no -timber in the world, so it was generally considered -at that time, to compare in durability with “East -Country” oak—“‘K’ brand, Dantzic,” in particular. -Also it was cheap. By the end of the year -1754 the pick of the best shipbuilding timber in -England and in all Europe had been placed in store -on the berths and racks at Chatham, available for -the expected big ship, thenceforward to season -gradually and improve in keeping year by year.</p> - -<p>The order to the Dockyard Commissioner at Chatham -to get ready to take the <i>Victory</i> in hand was -dated the 13th of December, 1758. It directed Commissioner -Cooper to “prepare to set up and build a -new ship of 100-guns as soon as a dock shall be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> -available for the purpose.” A sum of £3200, it also -informed the Commissioner, would be set aside in -the coming Navy Estimates for preliminaries. It was -the custom at that time to build first-rates in a dock; -they were thought too big to build on a slip.</p> - -<p>The new ship—no name was as yet officially -announced for her—was to be, as we should nowadays -say, an “improved” <i>Royal George</i> (the <i>Royal -George</i> was our latest completed big ship, the same -<i>Royal George</i> that came at a later day to so unfortunate -an end), and for six months the draughtsmen -in the office of the Surveyor of the Navy, under the -supervision of Mr. Thomas Slade (afterwards Sir -Thomas), Senior Surveyor of the Navy, the designer -of the <i>Victory</i>, were busy on the working plans. -These were completed by the first week of June, -1759, and laid before the Admiralty. They were -formally passed on the 14th of June, and a few days -later the Rochester stage-waggon from London -stopped at the dockyard gates to deliver the box -with the duplicate plans, all ready to be laid off and -chalked down in detail, each part of the ship the -actual size, on the mould loft floor. Master-Shipwright -Lock would then get his mould-boards and -have the saw-pits set going, in readiness for the -arrival of the regulation Navy Board Order to commence -building. That order came on the 7th of -July.</p> - -<p>The dock allotted for the building of the new ship -at Chatham was that then known as the “Old -Single Dock,” the dock now called “No. 2 Dock,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> -near the Admiral Superintendent’s Office and opposite -the old yard clock and bell turret. There, on a -Monday morning, the 23rd of July, 1759—an auspiciously -bright and sunny morning as it befell—the -keel of the <i>Victory</i> was laid.</p> - -<p>The ship was to be afloat, according to Admiralty -calculations, within thirty-three months—by the 31st -of March, 1762. That meant, in the existing state -of things at Chatham, working on her, at any rate -during the earlier stage of getting the vessel into -frame, day and night. They had two 90-gun -three-deckers and two seventy-fours in various -stages of building, besides the <i>Victory</i> to take in -hand; and in addition they had nearly every week -extra refits or repairs to undertake for ships coming -in from the fleets at sea—a complication of tasks -which involved the keeping of every man and boy of -the two thousand and odd hands then on the muster-sheets -of Chatham yard hard at work from Monday -at daylight to Saturday at dusk. Half the establishment -alternately were on overtime, working on -Sundays and nightly through the week, for spells of -three or five hours after bell-ringing—in dockyard -lingo, “double tides” and “nights.” It was the -same just then in all our dockyards; the day-gangs -as they worked having each man’s meals brought -from home into the yard to him, to eat in the half-hour -allowed, near by his job; the night-gangs all -toiling on under the flaring light of cressets and -links, without a break, until past ten o’clock.</p> - -<p>Amid such surroundings at Chatham they began<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> -building the <i>Victory</i>, a hundred and fifty men being -employed on the ship at first, to set up and bolt -together the various frames and floor timbers, and -fit and fix together in place the stem and stern pieces -and brackets and the huge rib timbers and beams, as -fast as the converter and the sawyers could supply -them. So things went on from August to the -following January (1760). Then the gangs of shipwrights -employed on the <i>Victory</i> were reduced, and -the rate of working allowed to slacken down. With -the French Mediterranean Fleet broken up by Boscawen—one -half taken or burned and the other half -cut off and shut up at Cadiz—and the French -Channel Fleet shattered by Hawke, and its refugee -ships lying broken-backed and stranded up the -Vilaine, on the sandbanks above the bar, the stress -of the war was past. And there was little need to -trouble for the immediate future with only M. Berryer -at the Ministry of Marine.</p> - -<p>By August, 1760, the hull timber-work had been -put together into the outline of a ship, and was -practically complete in frame, the skeleton of the -future man-of-war. The workmen were then almost -all called off, and the ship, according to custom, was -left aside for a space, to “stand in frame” and -season. She had cost so far, according to the Navy -Estimates, upwards of £14,000 in materials and -labour.</p> - -<p>Two months later, on the 28th of October, the -Admiralty officially named the <i>Victory</i>. On that -day their lordships signed an order that “the new<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> -100-gun ship building at Chatham,” as the vessel -had hitherto been styled in all official documents, -should take the name of the <i>Victory</i>. At the same -time a notification was sent to the Navy Board, -directing them “to cause the name appointed by -my Lords to be so registered in the List of His -Majesty’s Navy,” and “communicated” to Chatham -Dockyard.</p> - -<p>The name, of course, from the first had been an -open secret. There were at that period seven British -warship names which were tacitly accepted as set -apart for first-rate ships of war. They were: <i>Royal -Sovereign</i>, <i>Britannia</i>, <i>Royal William</i>, <i>Royal Anne</i>, -<i>Royal George</i>, <i>London</i>, and <i>Victory</i>. These seven -had stood at the head of the Navy List as a group -by themselves, in successive ships, for some seventy -years and more. The name <i>Victory</i>, in 1760, was -the only one not appropriated to any existing ship. -It had been wanting ever since the disaster of 1744, -and the new 100-gun ship, as a first-rate, had a -right to it in accordance with the custom of the -service. Thus our present <i>Victory</i> man-of-war is -linked directly with the old-time veterans of her -name; thus, indeed, from the Armada to Trafalgar, -in a line of continuous succession—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Victory to Victory ever</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hands the torch of Glory on.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But that is not quite all. In a special sense no -more appropriate name could have been given to -the British man-of-war laid down as the special -first-rate of the year 1759. In that sense the <i>Victory</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> -commemorates in her name the most brilliant year -of warlike achievement in our annals, the most successful -year for British arms that the world ever -saw. In her name, in this regard, our Nelson’s -<i>Victory</i> of to-day stands as an abiding national -memorial of England’s greatest year of victory; the -“Wonderful Year,” as our forefathers themselves -called it, the year of Minden and Lagos Bay and -Quiberon and Quebec. “We are forced,” wrote -Horace Walpole, in October, 1759, “to ask every -morning what victory there is for fear of missing -one.”</p> - -<p>March 31st, 1762, came—the date by which the -<i>Victory</i> was to have been afloat. She was, though, -still in frame, hardly advanced beyond that; her -bottom planked over, but all above practically as -yet only in skeleton, little advanced, in fact, beyond -the stage at which the shipwrights had left her -eighteen months before. The Admiralty’s change -of plans after the French collapse at sea at the end -of 1759 had put her completion off for two years. -It was, however, not entirely lost time. An additional -£12,000 had been laid out meanwhile for the -ship in preparing and working up materials to be -used in her, and seasoning them in readiness to push -on with the building when work on the vessel was -resumed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus19"> - -<p class="caption">THE <i>VICTORY</i> ON HER FIRST CRUISE</p> - -<img src="images/illus19.jpg" width="700" height="500" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>Drawn by Captain Robert Elliot, R.N. -Engraved and Published in 1780.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>The new date for completion, March, 1764, came -in its turn, but again the <i>Victory</i> was not ready. -Upwards of £50,000 had by now been spent on -her, and the ship was four-fifths finished, her sides<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> -planked to the upper works and the decks laid. -They had slackened off considerably in regard to -new construction at Chatham after the war ended. -The dockyard establishment had been reduced by -two-thirds and overtime stopped. General repairs -were the order of the day, to make good the wear-and-tear -of war service at all the dockyards, and -practically a third part of the whole sea-going navy -fell to Chatham’s share of mending.</p> - -<p>Another six months was then officially granted for -the finishing of the <i>Victory</i>; but this time the -Admiralty themselves, and the French incidentally, -caused fresh delay. My Lords did their share by -coming down to Chatham at the end of May, 1764, on -a visit of inspection, walking over the <i>Victory</i> and -leaving suggestions for alterations to be made which -would take at least four additional months to carry -out. The French hindered the intended progress by -a display of aggressiveness towards England over -the Newfoundland fisheries question, as left arranged -by the recent Treaty of Paris. That trouble at the -outset looked so serious that the workmen at the -dockyards were drawn off all ships building and -repairing in order to get part of the Ordinary, the -ships in reserve, into sea-going state at once. So -the <i>Victory</i> had her completion again put off.</p> - -<p>In the midst of this French “disturbance”—as -our ancestors of that time termed international -unpleasantnesses of the kind—we may conveniently -take our leave of the <i>Victory</i> on the stocks at -Chatham, in the midst of a series of strange scenes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> -the like of which, happily, have not often been -witnessed in an English dockyard.</p> - -<p>The Newfoundland difficulty was still unsettled, -when, at the end of October, 1764, secret information -of a startling nature suddenly reached the Admiralty -from abroad. It was to the effect that a plot was on -foot, with the connivance of the French Government, -to destroy the English dockyards by incendiarism -and fire the ships of war under construction. There -proved to be reason to consider the news in a most -serious light, and extraordinary measures of precaution -were forthwith ordered at all the yards.</p> - -<p>At Chatham, the nightly guard-boats patrolling -the line of ships laid up at moorings in the Medway -Ordinary, were doubled. Strict orders were issued -to those in charge of the ships in Ordinary to keep -their gun-room ports close shut all night, to send -adrift before dark all shore boats lying astern, to -hoist in all the ship’s boats, to haul up on board at -night all the Jacob’s ladders over the stern used by -the ship-keepers for getting on board. All fishing -boats and hoys passing up and down the Medway -were kept under observation. All doubtful or strange -boats of any kind on the river were to be challenged -and reported. Special dockyard guard-boats were -told off to patrol from sunset to sunrise along the -river front of the yard. All persons landing at the -yard from the guardships after dark were to come -alongside and disembark only at certain specified -points. Strangers visiting the yard on business -during the day were to be accompanied throughout<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> -their stay; no foreigner of whatever quality or rank -was to be allowed to pass the gates without a written -permit from the Commissioner. The yard-warders -posted ashore on look-out round the walls of the -yard were doubled, and marines were drafted into -the yard to keep watch at night, “conformable to -the strictest rules of Garrison duty.” A captain’s -guard was posted at the dockyard gates, and a -subaltern’s guard at the North-East Tower. A -special parole with countersign was given out by -the Commissioner every twenty-four hours. Constant -patrols of marines were kept on the move round -and about the yard all night. Armed sentries were -posted on the river front, by the workshops and -storehouses, the hemp and rope houses, and the -timber berths. No fewer than twenty-two of these -sentry-posts were appointed in and about Chatham -dockyard, and each man going on duty was supplied -with three rounds of ball.</p> - -<p>To safeguard the <i>Victory</i>, the pride of Chatham, -“the finest man-of-war ever built for the Royal Navy,” -as they already spoke of her, a cocked-hatted, high-gaitered -marine sentry, loaded firelock on shoulder, -was kept pacing up and down with steady tramp alongside -the dock where the ship lay, all the night long. -His orders were to challenge all suspicious persons -and loiterers, and all persons approaching the ship, -twice—“Halt, who comes there!” If not answered -after that, he was to fire. To prove himself on the -alert, at every quarter of an hour, when the warders -on the wall look-out towers struck their bells, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> -sentry had to call out the number of his post, passing -it on to the next sentry, and echoing back the hail -“All’s well!” A fresh man came on duty every two -hours. To further ensure the safety of the <i>Victory</i>, -once at least during every night a “visiting rounds” -patrol, comprising an officer from the main guard -and a corporal and file of marines with lantern and -jingling keys, boarded the ship to explore between-decks -and below for lurking evil-doers or any combustibles -that might be secreted.</p> - -<p>But Jack the Painter’s time had not yet come. -Nothing in the way of incendiarism happened at -Chatham, or at any of the other dockyards in 1764, -and after two or three months of unrest, things -resumed their normal state of tranquillity.</p> - -<p>Nothing more happened after that to hinder or -delay the completion of the <i>Victory</i>, and by the -following March her bulkheads and magazines were -fitted, the port-lids and the rudder hung, and the -poop lanterns in place, and the caulkers and painters -were getting through with their finishing touches.</p> - -<p>On St. George’s day, April 23rd, 1765, the Commissioner -at Chatham reported the <i>Victory</i> to the -Admiralty as ready to be launched. The requisite -order in reply, dispatched through the Navy Board, -arrived on the 30th of April. It directed the launch -to take place at the next spring tides These were -due on the 7th of May.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VII">VII<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON VALENTINE’S NIGHT IN FRIGATE BAY</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If we go forward, we die;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If we go backward, we die;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Better go forward—and live!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The story of what happened once in Frigate -Bay, St. Kitts, in the West Indies, recalls -one of our “forgotten glories”; a feat of -arms that nine out of ten people, one may -be quite certain, have never heard of. Nor do our -general histories say much of it, even of those whose -pages make reference to it. Yet it is one of the very -smartest, and neatest, and cleverest displays that, it -may be, any British Admiral ever made, and it was -managed, too, in the face of heroic odds. In every -sense it was a daring and dashing deed of arms, and -its moral effect on the enemy at the time was immense -and widespread. It was in February of the year -1782, in the closing year of England’s long war with -France and Spain in alliance with the rebel American -Colonists. At that moment the French under the -Comte de Grasse were in overpowering force in the -West Indies, and were about, as they loudly vaunted, -to make a sweeping attack on the five remaining<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> -British Islands, which, they declared openly, would -prove an easy prey.</p> - -<p>Rodney, the British Commander-in-Chief in the -West Indies, had gone home on sick leave for a -short time at the end of the preceding season. He -was now on his way out again, with what reinforcements -the sorely-tried Admiralty, at their wits’ end -for ships and the men to man them with, could get -together for him; but he had not yet arrived. Sir -Samuel Hood (the famous Lord Hood of a later -day), Rodney’s second in command, was in charge -of the station in Rodney’s absence. It was by him -that the brilliant exploit which forms our story here -was achieved in Frigate Bay, St. Kitts.</p> - -<p>Hearing in December, 1781, that the French -Admiral, de Grasse, who had been co-operating with -Washington in the Chesapeake, had arrived with his -whole force at Martinique, and was on the point of -sailing thence, or had already sailed, with a large -force of troops on board to attack and capture Barbados, -Hood at once followed; to try and hold the -enemy in check till Rodney joined. He had only -twenty-two ships of the line to de Grasse’s twenty-six, -but he meant to make a fight of it in any event.</p> - -<p>Six of Hood’s ships, it should be noted, were only -64-gun ships, the smallest class of vessels placed in -the line of battle; and two of the fleet, also, the -<i>Invincible</i> and the <i>Prudent</i>, were old vessels, worn -out and crazy. Both, indeed, had been officially -reported on as unfit for sea. Hood’s biggest ship -was his own flagship, the <i>Barfleur</i>, a 90-gun ship.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> -De Grasse’s ships, on the other hand, comprised the -most powerful man-of-war in the world—the gigantic -<i>Ville de Paris</i> of 112 guns; and the French had -as well twenty seventy-fours and three sixty-fours.</p> - -<p>On his way to Barbados, Hood put into English -Harbour, Antigua, the naval head-quarters of the -Leeward Islands Station. There he heard fresh -news. The blow had fallen elsewhere. De Grasse -had been delayed on his way to Barbados by bad -weather. He had turned aside, and swooped down -on St. Kitts. He had already begun a fierce attack, -it was reported, and the small British garrison of -regulars in the island were in a very precarious -position. They were, however, still holding out. -They occupied an impregnable position on Brimstone -Hill, but their supplies were short and there -was treachery among the islanders.</p> - -<p>Hood received details at Antigua of the attack -on St. Kitts. Taking on board the 28th and 69th -Foot and two companies of the 13th, part of the -garrison of the island, and arranging also to form -two battalions of marines, made up from the marines -serving on board his fleet, Hood sailed at once to -try and save the island. “He sailed,” to use the -words of one of Hood’s officers, “with the inadequate -force of 1500 troops, which was all he could get from -the general commanding at Antigua, on the 23rd of -January, to relieve St. Christopher’s, attacked by 9000 -Frenchmen under the Marquis de Bouville” [<i>sic</i>] (i.e. -de Bouillé).</p> - -<p>Hood proposed to surprise de Grasse at anchor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> -and attack him at daybreak on the morning of the -24th of January. He knew that the enemy were -lying in Basseterre Roads, a few miles from Brimstone -Hill. To counterbalance the numerical superiority -of the French fleet, Hood, in his plan of -attack, proposed to throw the entire British squadron -on one portion of the enemy, which he hoped to -overwhelm before the rest could weigh and come -to the rescue. Then he would be able, he expected, -to match himself effectively against what would -remain of the French. The plan was foiled at the -outset by the blundering of the officer of the watch -on board the <i>Nymphe</i>, a frigate, which, during the -night of the 23rd, in the dark got across the bows -of the <i>Alfred</i>, a seventy-four, the leader of the battle-line. -She caused a collision that damaged the -<i>Alfred</i> very seriously, and nearly cut the <i>Nymphe</i> -in two.</p> - -<p>Owing to the collision Hood’s entire plan had to -be altered. The repairs to the <i>Alfred</i> took all day -on the 24th and until ten o’clock on the morning of -the 25th, before the ship was again fit for service, and -during that time the rest of the British fleet lay-to. -They were already in sight of St. Kitts, with -the result that the news of Hood’s arrival in the -neighbourhood, up to then unsuspected, reached the -French Admiral. Now there was no longer a question -of surprise. Before he actually sighted the -British fleet, de Grasse had got ready for Hood, and -had had time to get under way and stand out to -meet him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span></p> - -<p>Hood, disappointed though he was, was not -baffled. He had a second plan of action in his -mind. He next began to manœuvre as if he did not -wish to come to close quarters with de Grasse—as, -indeed, might well be the case, looking at the -odds. He made a series of feints, as though he -desired to shirk a battle and slip away, on which the -French Admiral, becoming more and more confident, -stood boldly out to sea after him. That was Hood’s -game. He drew de Grasse clear of St. Kitts and to -leeward of the island, manœuvring meanwhile so as -to keep the weather-gage for himself. Then, suddenly -hauling his wind, Hood dashed in, making for -the anchorage the French had quitted in Basseterre -Roads.</p> - -<p>He swept in so close along the shores of Nevis—to -prevent the enemy getting within him—that one -of his frigates, the <i>Solebay</i>, “was wrecked from not -having room to pass between the line-of-battle ship -she was abreast of and the western point of Nevis.”</p> - -<p>Holding his way ahead, Hood slipped right past -the French and raced de Grasse for his own anchorage. -Hood won the race on the post. After a flying -interchange of broadsides he brought in his whole -fleet, well in hand, right into Frigate Bay, Basseterre -Roads, exactly where de Grasse had been -lying previously, and occupied the very moorings -that the French had originally had. In that way he -placed the British fleet between the French troops -on shore and their supporting fleet It was a masterstroke. -Hood had turned the tables exactly. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> -completely cut off the French troops on shore from -receiving aid from their fleet.</p> - -<p class="tb">Completely surprised and outwitted by the British -Admiral’s daring move, all that de Grasse could do -was to attempt to overpower Hood while he was -in the act of anchoring. What happened is described -by the officer in the British fleet who has -already been quoted.</p> - -<p>“When he perceived the whole fleet following -their leader, he tacked his fleet together ... and, -in consequence, the French fleet approached within -gunshot at a little before three o’clock. De Grasse, -who was in the centre of his line, fetched in the <i>Ville -de Paris</i> nearly abreast of the <i>Canada</i>, while the -headmost ship of his fleet was drawing in abreast of -Sir Samuel Hood’s ship, the <i>Barfleur</i>. Their whole -van boldly advanced towards the <i>Barfleur</i>, which reserved -her fire until the brave Frenchman approached -within musket shot, when she opened such a well-directed -and quickly repeated fire, that in a few -minutes the French ship had her jib-boom shot away, -her sails nearly cut into ribbons, and her rigging so -cut up that she quickly put her helm a-weather, and -bore away from her redoubted antagonist. De -Grasse perceiving an opening in our line, boldly -attempted to sever it; but Cornwallis placed himself -in the breach, which he so ably defended that his -gigantic opponent was glad to relinquish the -hazardous enterprise. Hood looked on undismayed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> -at this attack upon his rear, knowing that he could -confide in every individual captain, and very coolly -ordered the signal to be made for the ships ahead to -make more sail, in order to hasten their anchoring as -soon as possible. In the meantime, the <i>St. Albans</i> -(the leading British ship) had taken up her station, -and anchored at 3 p.m., and the other ships did -the same in succession, while the centre and rear -were closely engaged with the enemy, who pressed -them close until every ship was anchored, when the -French wore in succession and stood out to sea.”</p> - -<p>De Grasse made two fierce attacks on Hood next -day.</p> - -<p>“On the morning of the 26th, at half-past eight,” -continues our officer eye-witness, “the French fleet -were seen coming round Nevis Point, intending to -force a passage, but so singularly felicitous was the -position taken up by the British Admiral, that -when the enemy’s leading ship approached, the -wind headed her, so that she could not fetch above -the third ship in our line. The springs of our van -ships were so admirably attended to that the broadsides -of four of them were brought to bear at the -same time upon the unfortunate Frenchmen, and -were opened with tremendous effect.</p> - -<p>“The crash occasioned by their destructive broadsides -was so tremendous on board the ship (the -<i>Pluton</i>), that whole pieces of plank were seen flying -from her off side ere she could escape. The French -ships generally approached the British van with more -caution, with the exception of some, among them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span> -being the <i>Ville de Paris</i>. De Grasse, in order to -prolong the individual encounter as much as possible, -counterbraced his after-yards to retard his ship’s way -through the water along the British line; and so the -French flagship was detained a considerable time -abreast of the <i>Resolution</i>, <i>Prudent</i>, <i>Canada</i>, and <i>Alfred</i> -in succession, as the <i>Ville de Paris</i> slowly forged -ahead and fired upon them.</p> - -<p>“During this short but tremendous conflict between -the respective combatants, nothing whatever could be -seen of them for upwards of twenty minutes, save -De Grasse’s white flag gracefully floating above the -immense volume of smoke, or the pendants of the -other ships.</p> - -<p>“In the afternoon the French made a second attack -on our line. It commenced at fifty minutes past two, -and was principally directed against the centre and -rear, the morning attack having convinced them that -the British van was not to be assailed with impunity. -Never, perhaps, was a superior enemy so completely -foiled as de Grasse was on this occasion.”</p> - -<p>Hood used all the means in his power to make -good the advantage that he had gained, as we are -further told:</p> - -<p>“Sir Samuel Hood not only secured his fleet from -any assault by sea, but also took measures to prevent -the enemy from molesting it from the land, where it -was infinitely more vulnerable: for could they have -thrown up any batteries on the hill situated above -Green Point, his position would have been no longer -tenable. To prevent such an attempt on the part of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> -the enemy, he landed the troops that accompanied -the fleet in Frigate Bay, where they took post on the -eminence that commanded the narrow neck, which -continues the southern point of St. Christopher’s -with the main island.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus20"> - -<p class="caption">THE FIRST FIGHT IN FRIGATE BAY, ST. KITTS</p> - -<img src="images/illus20.jpg" width="700" height="440" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>Admiral Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron of 22 ships (at anchor) beating -off De Grasse’s opening attack, with 38 ships (shown coming into the -bay under full sail) at 2.30 p.m. on January 25th, 1782.</i></p> - -<p class="caption"><i>Drawn by N. Pocock, “from a sketch made by a gentleman who happened -at the time to be on a visit at a friend’s, on a height between Basse -Terre and Old Road.”</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>The troops made an effort to join hands with the -garrison on Brimstone Hill as soon as possible after -they had landed. They advanced rapidly, and in their -first fight with the French covering force met with -some success. Driving in the enemy’s outlying detachments, -they advanced some way towards the -French main position. Then the situation altered. -De Bouillé himself, at the head of 4000 men, came on -the scene. General Prescott, the British army officer -in charge of the relief operations, had with him -only 1,500 men, the soldiers from Antigua. He had -refused to take the two battalions of marines (each -of 500 men) which Hood had had prepared for service -on shore and had urged him to take as well. Hopelessly -outnumbered General Prescott had to fall back. -In the end he was compelled to evacuate his camp -near the sea and re-embark all his soldiers on board -the fleet. That meant the doom of Brimstone Hill, -and the colony of St. Kitts with it.</p> - -<p>The garrison under Governor Shirley and Brigadier -Fraser—comprising the 1st Battalion of the -Royals, and the flank companies of the 15th Foot -and a detachment of Royal Artillery, with a handful -of local militiamen—from a thousand to twelve -hundred men in all, still held out, doing their best. -As long as they held out Hood made up his mind<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> -to stay where he was. Rodney was overdue now -with his promised reinforcement from England, a -dozen ships of the line. If Rodney arrived while -the British flag was still flying in the island and -could join hands with Hood, there was yet a chance -of checkmating the enemy and of saving St. Kitts. -But could Brimstone Hill hold out? It was more -than doubtful.</p> - -<p>The place was naturally an impregnable fortress, -but the fortifications had been badly placed. The -garrison were not numerous enough to line the walls. -They had no heavy guns mounted, and the enemy -were day after day bombarding them with a pitiless -fire that closed in on them more and more, and became -fiercer and more deadly and destructive every -hour.</p> - -<p class="tb">It is an ugly story—the tale of the fortifications -of Brimstone Hill. Strong entrenchments had been -planned a year before, and heavy guns sent out from -England to be mounted on the ramparts. But the -local authorities had not troubled to follow the plans, -and what fortifications had been built had been run -up incompletely and carelessly. The guns specially -sent out from Woolwich for the works—brass -24-pounders and 13-inch mortars—had never been -mounted at all. They had, as a fact, been left -lying at the foot of the hill near the seashore, just -as they had been landed, together with their gun -carriages and every kind of equipment complete,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span> -besides tons of shot and shell. For over a year the -local authorities had paid no heed to the repeated -requests of the governor, and the general in command -of the garrison in the island, to provide the -labour and appliances indispensable for transporting -the guns and material to the top of Brimstone Hill. -Rodney himself during the previous summer had -repeatedly urged the island local authorities, as a -matter of public safety, to do their duty in the -matter, but all had been in vain. The result was -that de Bouillé and his army had on landing seized -the guns and their ammunition, all lying there -ready to hand. The French, in fact, had formed -out of them the very siege train by means of which -they were now able to batter down the weak fortifications -on the hill above. The garrison, on the other -hand, had only the few light 3-pounder and 6-pounder -field pieces belonging to the Royal Artillery, with -which to reply.</p> - -<p>With the heavy guns provided from England -in position, Brimstone Hill might well have held -out till Rodney and his reinforcements had arrived -and joined Hood, when the enemy must have paid -dearly for their attempt. And, at the same time, -without the English garrison guns at his disposal, -de Bouillé would have been harmless. By an -extraordinary coincidence the ship carrying the -French siege train for St. Kitts had been wrecked -on its way, and the second ship, carrying the -French siege ammunition, had been captured by -Hood. The French had actually no other siege<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> -artillery or ammunition nearer than in the gun park -on shore at Martinique.</p> - -<p>Rodney, indeed, on learning the facts of the case -at St. Kitts after his arrival, did not hesitate to -write to England and to make other serious imputations -on the loyalty of the colonials all through -the whole business. “The inhabitants of Basseterre -in St. Christopher’s,” he wrote, “suffered the enemy -to land without firing a single gun, though they had -three good batteries which might have done good -service and destroyed many of the enemy, and -certainly prevented their landing at Basseterre.” -“Nor during all the time that Hood was lying off -the capital, in Frigate Bay,” added Rodney, “did -a single inhabitant come on board or afford the -least intelligence.”</p> - -<p>The disaffection at St. Kitts, unfortunately, was -no isolated case, as Rodney reported in the same -dispatch. Actual treason, indeed, was rife among -the white populations throughout the British West -Indies, except in loyal Jamaica and at Antigua. -The planter-militia forces in the various islands were -worse than useless. “Barbados,” wrote Rodney, -“is in no state of defence, and their legislature will -not raise a penny to repair the fortifications.... -They wish to be taken, but the rogues shall be disappointed -while I remain here!” Dominica fell -into the enemy’s hands through the vilest treachery. -There the garrison of the principal fort defending -the island, near Roseau, the capital, were made -drunk by the colonials, who at the same time plugged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> -up the touch-holes of their cannon and rendered the -soldiers’ muskets useless by putting sand into the -gun locks; after which they signalled to a French -expeditionary column, which had secretly been assisted -ashore that same night, to advance and take -possession.</p> - -<p class="tb">At sea, meanwhile, off Frigate Bay, de Grasse -watched and waited, contenting himself with “observing” -Hood from just outside gunshot range of -the British fleet. During the three weeks between -the 26th of January and the 13th of February, Hood’s -men were, as the Admiral described, “under arms -night and day,” but doing their duty all the time, as -Hood put it, “with a cheerfulness and good humour -which charmed me.” This was in spite of much -privation. They were deficient in provisions and -stores, having had but little time to take in anything -at Antigua—short of water and “practically without -bread, living on yams and country flour to eke out -their own.” Powder and shot, too, were short in -some of the ships. None of the fleet, indeed, had -had an opportunity of replenishing magazines since -they arrived in the West Indies after the fighting in -the Chesapeake in the previous September.</p> - -<p>“The enemy’s fleet made frequent demonstrations -of attacking us, but never came near enough to -engage. On the 12th February their fleet amounted -to thirty-two ships of the line, a strong reinforcement -from France having joined, which not only<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> -supplied the place of their disabled ships, but contributed -to swell their numbers. On the 13th the -Comte de Grasse despaired of being able to assail -with any prospect of success our little fleet of twenty-two -ships, and prudently anchored off Nevis.”</p> - -<p>The end came for the Brimstone Hill garrison on -the 13th of February. Further resistance was hopeless, -and there seemed no prospect of relief reaching -them. The ramparts had been beaten down; their -ammunition was exhausted, most of their guns were -disabled. De Bouillé summoned the place, announcing -his intention of storming the works. Unable to -offer more resistance the garrison surrendered, on -terms that were complimentary to the very gallant -resistance that they had made.</p> - -<p>Hood, at his anchorage in Frigate Bay, learned -the unwelcome news by a flag of truce from the -French camp near Basseterre next morning, Wednesday, -the 14th of February. It meant that he must -now look out for himself. The situation had changed -to one of very serious danger for him. Not only was -there de Grasse outside, with a fleet that was being -reinforced almost daily with fresh ships from Martinique, -but there was also the French army on shore. -They had already begun throwing up batteries in -which they were mounting the same heavy long -range English guns by means of which they had -reduced Brimstone Hill. The shot and shell from -these would speedily render further continuance at -the anchorage impossible. The enemy, moreover, -had found an excellent position for their purpose on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span> -a lofty bluff whence they could sweep the anchorage -from end to end.</p> - -<p>De Grasse’s fleet numbered ten ships more than -Hood had; and most of the recent arrivals were -80-gun ships.</p> - -<p>De Grasse’s withdrawal to Nevis for a few hours -in order to refit his fleet out of some storeships that -had just arrived from France gave Hood his chance. -The French Admiral made sure that in the circumstances -there was no possibility of the British fleet -escaping complete destruction. Off Nevis he could -keep the English fleet in sight, and only a couple of -hours sail from him. Hood seemed, as it were, between -the upper and nether millstones: between the -French fleet in overpowering force on one side, and -the batteries on shore on the other, which also, as -de Grasse knew, were to be ready to open fire next -day.</p> - -<p class="tb">Once more, though, it was to be the old story of -the slip between the cup and the lip. Hood essayed -one desperate chance, and won it. He proved himself -a good deal more than a match for de Grasse -and de Bouillé on shore combined.</p> - -<p>The British Admiral lost no time over his preparations. -He had made up his mind what to do within -an hour of receiving the news of the fall of Brimstone -Hill. And then he acted forthwith.</p> - -<p>At noon on the 14th Hood signalled for a lieutenant -from every ship to come on board the flagship<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> -<i>Barfleur</i>. Certain special instructions were given -out, and the officers were directed to come on board -for further orders after dark—at nine o’clock that -night. In accordance with the admiral’s instructions, -at four in the afternoon every ship ostentatiously -lowered top-gallant yards, making things snug -for the night to all appearances, to spectators at a -distance. Immediately it was dark, as quickly as -possible stream-anchors were got in, and every -preparation was rapidly made for putting to sea. -These left every ship riding with only one anchor -down, the small bower. At nine o’clock, as had been -ordered also, top-gallant yards were quietly rehoisted -and crossed on board every ship. Then the officers -told to return for further orders, pulled silently off to -the <i>Barfleur</i> again and reported everything ready.</p> - -<p>Each officer on arriving was requested to go down -to the <i>Barfleur’s</i> cabin. Hood was there, and he -saw each one set his watch exactly by the flagship’s -clock. Then all were ordered to return on board -their respective ships. As the hands of the officers’ -watches pointed to eleven, every ship was to cut her -cable, come to sail at once, and get under way in -line of battle ahead, every ship moving out to sea -independently, steering to the westward, keeping on -a given line of bearing. On no account must there -be any noise—no hailing, no signalling whatever. -Not a match must be struck on board, and all lights -must be screened.</p> - -<p>Not a single mishap, not one mistake, from all accounts, -marred the execution of the bold manœuvre.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span></p> - -<p>It was a black and moonless night. As six bells—eleven -o’clock—clanged out on board the <i>Barfleur</i>, -the other ships each struck six bells. The next -moment a couple of heavy blows with an axe chopped -the bower cable through on board every ship. Then, -simultaneously, sails were let fall silently from the -yards everywhere, and were swiftly and silently -sheeted home. At once now, in unison, the whole -fleet began to forge ahead, moving all together -through the water. To aid in deceiving the enemy -as to what was happening, lighted ship’s lanterns -were left behind, lashed to poles set up on the casks -that had served as cable buoys, making it appear -from a very short distance off as though the fleet -were still there, riding at anchor in the roads.</p> - -<p>The masterly <i>ruse</i> succeeded to the full. The -watch on board the English fleet could see the lights -of some of de Grasse’s ships away to seaward. -They themselves, one and all, entirely unobserved, -passed out in the darkness. Not a trace of Hood’s -twenty-two ships was visible when de Grasse came -on deck on board his flagship, the <i>Ville de Paris</i>, -next morning.</p> - -<p>They met Rodney at sea a few days later;—and -then, in due course Rodney and Hood together -smote the French once for all for that war, in the -great battle of “The Glorious Twelfth of April,” -1782.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII">VIII<br /> -<span class="smaller">THE PAGEANT OF THE <i>DONEGAL</i>:—<br /> -A MEMORY OF ’98</span></h2> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Joy! joy! the day is come at last, the day of hope and pride—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And see! our crackling bonfires light old Bann’s rejoicing tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gladsome bell and bugle-horn from Newry’s captured towers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hark! how they tell the Saxon swine this land is ours—is OURS!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Come, trample down their robber rule, and smite its venal spawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their foreign laws, their foreign Church, their ermine and their lawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all the specious fry of fraud that robbed us of our own;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And plant our ancient laws again beneath our lineal throne!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The name Donegal has a significance to -the Royal Navy that is all its own. It -was designated by the Admiralty as a -county cruiser name, for one of the ships -of the <i>Kent</i> and <i>Monmouth</i> group; but there is more -than that behind the name. <i>Donegal</i> lettered on the -stern of a man-of-war has its own traditions—associations -of a yet wider interest to the British fleet. -The name, as a fact, owes its appearance on the -Navy List to a very special occasion. H.M.S. -<i>Donegal</i>, in its origin, is only incidentally connected -with County Donegal. The cruiser through her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span> -name stands, in fact, to remind the world that the -Royal Navy does not “fear to speak of ’98.”</p> - -<p>It is quite a little drama how this particular man-of-war -name first came to make its appearance on the -roll of the British fleet; and in that form, perhaps, -one may most effectively tell the story—as a sort of -pageant, bringing the details forward in, as it were, -a series of tableaux.</p> - -<p class="tb">First we have the opening scene, in bustling Paris, -in the month of August, 1798, something after this -fashion:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Marseillaise is pealing! the crowds are mad with joy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With flags and failtë fêting the gallant Paris Boy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who leads the bright procession of Frenchmen gay and bold?,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Students of the Quarter, the Latin Quarter Old;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They’re girt with dainty rapiers, they’re gloved with gloves of white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The knightly Gallic Swordsmen who love the People’s Right!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They bear in bright procession a pledge from France’s shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The busts of Hoche and Humbert beneath the Tricolour!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Then we have a September scene far away. We -are now among the wild, unkempt kerns and peasants -of County Donegal, in their villages and rude -moorland huts of turf and boulders, dotted among -the lonely valleys far away amid the bare, desolate, -wind-swept uplands and bleak, gaunt, long-backed -ridges, shrouded for half the year in rolling grey -mists from off the ocean, that range along the -coasts of North-Western Ireland. Everywhere the -men are hard at work, seated in groups round their -peat fires, all actively engaged in pointing pikes and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> -grinding axes, lashing scythe-blades to short poles, -and putting a fresh edge to ugly crooked knives; -crooning to themselves the while over their toil:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the Frinch are on the say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Says the Shan Van Voght—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, the Frinch are on the say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Says the Shan Van Voght—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Frinch are in the Bay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They’ll be here without delay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the Orange will decay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Says the Shan Van Voght.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Again we are on the coast; by Donegal Bay. It is -the morning of Friday, the 12th of October, ’98, -between seven and eight o’clock. Eager-faced, excited -watchers line the crags of Bloody Foreland. -From the wide, flat expanse of sea below comes up -on the wind the dull, heavy, throbbing sound of a -distant cannonade. It has been getting nearer since -daybreak. It now comes nearer and nearer still; and -by degrees, from the direction of Tory Island, on the -horizon over yonder, where a grey rolling cloud of -powder-smoke lies heavy over the sea, two squadrons -of men-of-war, two straggling lines of ships, -most of them firing fiercely, come dimly into view. -One is assuredly the long-looked-for French—Commodore -Bompart’s squadron from Brest, bringing -three thousand French soldiers and Wolfe and -Matthew Tone. They were to have landed at Lough -Swilly yesterday and raised the country-side. The -other is the English fleet—a British squadron that -has followed round from Cawsand Bay under press -of sail to look after M. Bompart. They picked up<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> -news of him off the Fastnet and Achill Island, and -pushed on here. On the previous day at noon—as -we learn later on—off Malin Head in a -stiff north-westerly gale, the British look-outs -sighted the French squadron; and they have been -working to bring Monsieur Bompart to battle ever -since.</p> - -<p>It looks likely to go hard with the French. At -the last moment a mishap checked their attempt to -give the British the go-by. Their best ship, the -<i>Hoche</i>, a fine 80-gun two-decker, and M. Bompart’s -own flagship, got disabled in a squall last -night. Her maintopmast carried away, bringing -down with it the main and mizen top-gallant masts -and tearing a gaping rent in the mainsail. So -Sir John Borlase Warren, the British Commodore, -has been able to get level with his enemy, -on whom he is now tacking to bring the fight to -close quarters, in conditions where his superior -force—three line-of-battle ships and five frigates -to one line-of-battle ship, eight frigates, and a -schooner—ought to decide M. Bompart’s fate before -dinner-time.</p> - -<p>Eleven o’clock. The inevitable has happened. -The Frenchmen have been overpowered at all points -and broken up. The French Commodore is now -only holding out as long as possible <i>pour l’honneur -du pavillon</i>. In the centre of the battle, a dismantled -wreck, with the scuppers running blood at every -heave of the vessel on the swell, lies M. Bompart’s -flagship, the hapless <i>Hoche</i>. Three British ships<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> -together—a sixty-four and two frigates—are pouring -broadside after broadside into her without ceasing -for a moment.</p> - -<p>Wolfe Tone, the story goes, was on board the -<i>Hoche</i>, and refused at the outset a chance that was -offered him to get away by a boat to the <i>Biche</i>, a -fast-sailing schooner then about to make off, or to -one of the French frigates, by which means alone it -was possible for him to escape. “The action is -hopeless,” said the French officers to him on the -quarter-deck; “with the odds against us it can only -have one end. We shall be prisoners of war; -but what will become of you?” “No!” replied -Tone. “Shall it be said that I fled when the -French were fighting the battle of my country? -No; I shall stand by the ship.” He went below -and took charge of a division of guns in one of -the batteries.</p> - -<p>The end, as the watchers on land soon see, comes -swiftly. Further resistance would be murder. Beaten -to a standstill, riddled like a sieve, with twenty-five -guns disabled, more than half her men put <i>hors de -combat</i>, her lower masts shot through and every -moment threatening to go over the side, her rudder -smashed to splinters, with five feet of water in the -hold—down perforce has to come the <i>Hoche’s</i> tricolor. -So the battle ends.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus21"> - -<p class="caption">OUR FIRST <i>DONEGAL</i></p> - -<img src="images/illus21.jpg" width="700" height="440" alt="" /> - -<p class="caption"><i>The captured French line of battle ship “Hoche,” being towed by the -“Doris,” 36, Lord Ranelagh, into Lough Swilly. Drawn by N. Pocock, from -a sketch made from the “Robust” by Captain R. Williams of the Marines.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>It is just twenty minutes past eleven. Three other -French ships, overtaken at their first attempt at -flight, have already surrendered. The rest are making -off, scattering over the horizon with British<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> -frigates in pursuit, to be run down and taken in the -end—all of them except two.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>The fourth tableau rings down on the piece. The -last scene closes some weeks later in the quiet waters -of the Hamoaze off Devonport Dockyard, whither -the <i>Hoche</i> was taken round, with the arrival of an -Admiralty messenger at the Port Admiral’s office. -He brings in his dispatch wallet an official memorandum -that “My Lords have been pleased to direct -Sir J. B. Warren’s prize to be registered in the List -of the Navy by the name of the <i>Donegal</i>.”</p> - -<p>In this way it was that the name Donegal came -originally into the Royal Navy for a man-of-war, -and the battle of October, ’98, off the coast of -Donegal is our present cruiser’s principal bond of -connection with the county.</p> - -<p class="tb">The luckless Wolfe Tone passed from the quarter-deck -of the <i>Hoche</i> to the condemned cell and a -suicide’s grave. It came about in this way. The -<i>Hoche</i> was towed into Lough Swilly and the prisoners -were landed and marched to Letterkenny. The Earl -of Cavan invited the French officers to breakfast. -Tone was amongst the guests. He was in a French -military uniform. An old college companion at -T.C.D., Sir George Hill, recognized him. “How<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> -do you do, Mr. Tone?” said Hill pointedly. “I am -very happy to see you.” Tone greeted Hill cordially, -and said, “How are you, Sir George? How are -Lady Hill and your family?” The police, who had -had information that Tone would be among the -prisoners, lay in waiting in an adjoining room. Hill -went to them, pointed to Tone, and said, “There is -your man.” Tone was called from the table. He -knew what it meant—that his hour had come, but -he went cheerfully to his doom. Entering the next -apartment, he was surrounded by police and soldiers, -arrested, loaded with irons, and hurried off to Dublin -Castle. There he was tried by court-martial and -sentenced to be hanged within forty-eight hours. -His request for a firing party was curtly refused. -Curran got a writ of habeas corpus from Lord -Chief Justice Kilwarden. But he was too late. Tone -anticipated the execution of the law, and died by his -own hand—with a penknife.</p> - -<p class="tb">The <i>Donegal</i> man-of-war served Great Britain for -forty-seven years, keeping up to the last her reputation -of being one of the swiftest two-deckers -afloat.</p> - -<p>Trafalgar should have been one of her battle -honours. One of the very smartest captains that -ever trod a British quarter-deck, “a dear Nelsonian” -of exceptional ability and merit, the gallant and -chivalrous Sir Pulteney Malcolm, commanded the -<i>Donegal</i> at that time. The <i>Donegal</i> had been sent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span> -by Nelson to Gibraltar to shift the low tier of water-casks -just four days before the battle. While there, -at two o’clock on the morning of Trafalgar day, -Monday, the 21st of October, the <i>Weazle</i> sloop-of-war -came bustling into Gibraltar Bay, and firing -alarm guns. She brought the fateful news that the -enemy had left Cadiz and were at sea. Captain -Blackwood, of the <i>Euryalus</i>, in command of Nelson’s -inshore frigate squadron, had packed the <i>Weazle</i> -off to Gibraltar to call up the six ships of the line, -recently detached from Nelson’s fleet, that had gone -in there to fill up water-casks and refit.</p> - -<p>The <i>Donegal</i> was lying with her sails unbent from -the yards, her bowsprit out, and her fore-topmast -and foreyard struck. All her powder had been -landed, and the ship was fast alongside the Mole. -The crew had not turned in, as Captain Malcolm -was keen to rejoin Nelson off Cadiz at the earliest -moment. When the <i>Weazle’s</i> guns were first heard, -they were hard at work shifting the lower tier of -casks in the hold.</p> - -<p>Instantly the order was given to prepare for sea. -With extraordinary celerity the casks were got back -into their tiers, and the powder was hurried into the -magazines. The foremast was set up and the bowsprit -replaced, the running rigging rove, and the -sails were bent to the yards. Every man of the seven -hundred on board the <i>Donegal</i> was working his -hardest in one way or another. It proved, though, -a twenty-two hours’ job; it would have been a four -days’ business in ordinary times. Before one o’clock<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> -on the morning of the 22nd they were hauling out -from the Mole into the bay. Then sea-stores and -provisions were taken on board. Before noon the -<i>Donegal</i> was ready for battle; a performance on -which all concerned might justly pride themselves.</p> - -<p>Not one of the other five ships was nearly so well -advanced, although they also had been striving their -hardest. Gibraltar is distant from the scene of the -battle off Cape Trafalgar, as the crow flies, just fifty -miles; but no sound of the firing reached there as it -would appear, although at places further off, both in -Spain and on the African coast, they heard the -cannonading plainly. All on board the ships at -Gibraltar still hoped to be in time for the expected -battle, as it was to them.</p> - -<p>A new spar had been ordered from the dockyard -for the foreyard. It had not arrived by noon on the -23rd. It was forthcoming only at the last moment, -just indeed as the <i>Donegal</i> was in the act of weighing -anchor. Sail was made at once, and they went -out of Gibraltar Bay with the foreyard towing in -the water alongside the ship, not yet hoisted on -board.</p> - -<p>They had to beat out in the teeth of the wild -storm, blowing a hard gale from the south-west, -that, up the coast beyond Tarifa, was wrecking our -Trafalgar prizes. Clawing out against the head -wind, the <i>Donegal</i> won her way foot by foot, and by -nightfall had gained the mouth of the Straits. Then -they had to let go anchor, so as not to be swept -back in spite of themselves. Next morning they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> -weighed anchor, and once more went forward, -forcing their way ahead against wind and storm -and swamping seas.</p> - -<p>Damaged British ships began, one by one, to -come in sight during the forenoon. The <i>Belleisle</i> -was made out, totally dismasted, in tow of a frigate. -Then the <i>Victory</i> was seen, partially dismasted and -also in tow. The <i>Donegal</i> made her number to the -flagship as she passed. A little time afterwards a -third British man-of-war, with her three topmasts -gone, came into view. It was the <i>Téméraire</i>. The -<i>Donegal</i> passed quite near, and hailed across: -“What news?” The answer was shouted back -from the <i>Téméraire</i> through a speaking trumpet: -“Nineteen sail of the line taken and Lord Nelson -killed!”</p> - -<p>On board the <i>Donegal</i> all were listening with -straining ears. As the trumpet bawled the direful -intelligence across, a shudder, we are told, seemed -to run through the whole ship, followed by a deep, -long drawn-out groan, plainly heard on board the -<i>Téméraire</i> as that ship swept past on her way.</p> - -<p>They reached Collingwood and the rest of the fleet -off San Lucar a few hours later. At once the <i>Donegal</i> -found work to do in finishing off and taking possession -of the stricken and dismasted Spanish three-decker -<i>El Rayo</i>, one of the forlorn-hope squadron -that had made the sortie from Cadiz on the 23rd, -hoping to find the British fleet in serious distress -after the battle and the storm, and to be able to -recapture some of the prizes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span></p> - -<p>Most of <i>El Rayo’s</i> men were taken on board the -<i>Donegal</i>. In connection with one of them, Captain -Brenton tells this story. “A man fell overboard -from the <i>Donegal</i> in a gale of wind on this occasion; -the usual cry was raised, when some one thoughtlessly -called out, ”He is only a Spaniard.” “Supposing -he is only a Spaniard?” said a gallant English seaman, -seizing the end of a rope, and darting into the -sea at the same time; “no reason the poor ⸺ should -be drowned!” Happy am I to say, from -the information of Sir P. Malcolm, both men were -picked up.</p> - -<p>Besides that, the <i>Donegal</i> rendered invaluable assistance -to several of the badly-damaged British ships -during the second gale between the 25th and the -28th; and in rescuing men from some of the prizes -that had been driven ashore, or were in peril among -the reefs here and there along the rock-bound -coast.</p> - -<p>Wrote Collingwood a day or two afterwards: -“Everybody was sorry that Malcolm was not there, -because everybody knows his spirit and skill would -have acquired him honour. He got out of Gibraltar -when nobody else could, and was of infinite service -to us after the action.”</p> - -<p>By way also of appreciation and acknowledgment -of the magnificent services rendered by the <i>Donegal</i> -after the battle, the officers and men of the Trafalgar -fleet, without one dissentient voice, agreed that the -<i>Donegal</i> should be specially permitted to have a -share, equally with themselves, in the Nelson Monument,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span> -which the ship’s companies that fought at -Trafalgar immediately after the battle jointly subscribed -for, as their own personal tribute to their -dead chief—the tall obelisk on Portsdown Hill at -the back of Portsmouth Harbour.</p> - -<p class="tb">The <i>Donegal</i>, three months later, was in the thick -of the fighting in the brilliantly successful battle in -the West Indies, when Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth, -with a squadron detached by Collingwood -off Cadiz, on special service, captured or destroyed -an entire French squadron of five ships of the line -from Brest, including the finest three-decker in the -world, the great 110-gun ship <i>L’Impérial</i>, so named -in honour of Napoleon himself. It was in this battle -that the British flagship <i>Superb</i> led down into the -fight with a portrait of Nelson lashed to the mizen -stay, and her band playing “Nelson of the Nile.”</p> - -<p>Three of the five French ships lowered their -colours to Captain Malcolm and the <i>Donegal</i>. First -she led off with a rattling exchange of broadsides -with the mighty French flagship <i>L’Impérial</i>. Then -she fastened on a second French ship, and after a -sharp set to at close quarters made her give in. -Passing on, the <i>Donegal</i> engaged another French -ship till her colours in turn came down. Then she -ran on board one more Frenchman, the <i>Jupiter</i>, a -ship that had already been hotly engaged. The -<i>Jupiter</i> surrendered to the <i>Donegal</i> after next to no -defence. Such was the <i>Donegal’s</i> work that day, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> -a battle that is really unique in the completeness of -its results, but which, owing to its having taken place -within three months of Trafalgar, the world paid -little heed to at the time, and we have since quite -forgotten—lost sight of in the dazzling lustre of the -greater event near home.</p> - -<p>Until after Waterloo had been won, the <i>Donegal</i> -helped to keep the seas for England, and on more -than one occasion with shotted guns in the face of -the enemy.</p> - -<p>Our second <i>Donegal</i>, a wooden 91-gun two-decker, -built in the Fifties of the last century, was one of the -very last sent afloat of our old “wooden walls.” She -still exists, under the name of the <i>Vernon</i>, torpedo -school ship at Portsmouth.</p> - -<p class="tb">The direct association between the <i>Donegal</i> of the -Royal Navy and County Donegal came into existence -first of all in the case of the present armour-clad -cruiser, the <i>Donegal</i> of King Edward’s fleet. -She is a sister ship of the <i>Kent</i>, and was launched -and named by the Duchess of Abercorn, as wife of -the Lord Lieutenant of Donegal, and at express -desire of the King. The <i>Donegal</i> of to-day was the -second ship of our county cruisers to receive the -honour of a special county presentation in commemoration -of the name she bore. The presentation -was made before the assembled officers and men -of the ship by the Marquess of Hamilton, as M.P. -for Derry City, and comprised a service of silver<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> -plate, inscribed as the gift of “the King’s subjects -in the County of Donegal and the City of Derry.”<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IX">IX<br /> -<span class="smaller">ON BOARD OUR FLAGSHIPS AT TRAFALGAR</span></h2> - -</div> - -<h3>CAPTAIN HARDY AND THOSE WHO MANNED THE <i>VICTORY</i></h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Heard ye the thunder of battle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Low in the South and afar?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saw ye the flush of the death-cloud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crimson o’er Trafalgar?</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Such another day, never,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">England shall look on again,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">When the battle fought was the hottest,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">And the hero of heroes was slain!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is a glance at Captain Hardy, the -captain of the <i>Victory</i> at Trafalgar, his -lieutenants and other quarter-deck officers -of Nelson’s flagship, and also something -of the men who manned the <i>Victory</i> and where they -came from.</p> - -<p>Incidentally this should be said of Nelson’s own -personal connection with the <i>Victory</i>. Nelson’s first -association with the <i>Victory</i> dated back to many -years before Trafalgar—ever since, indeed, the year -in which he entered the Navy as a boy of twelve. -At that time the <i>Victory</i>, in her seventh year afloat, -was lying up in reserve at Chatham, the pride of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span> -Medway, as the finest and biggest first-rate man-of-war -in the British Navy. The boy Nelson while at -Chatham saw her day after day for months, and must -have gone on board her. Later on, during the four -years that Nelson served in the Mediterranean under -Hood and Jervis, between 1793 and 1797, the <i>Victory</i> -was flagship of the fleet, and Nelson, as we know, -was constantly on board her on business with the -Admiral. It was on the <i>Victory’s</i> quarter-deck also -that Sir John Jervis, after the battle of Cape St. -Vincent, publicly embraced Nelson and congratulated -him on the magnificent display of heroic daring -that he had made that day. In October, 1805, -Nelson had flown his flag on board the <i>Victory</i> for -two and a quarter years, ever since the war began, -having at the outset gladly accepted the offer of her -for his flagship from what he knew of her as the -fastest three-decker afloat.</p> - -<p>At Trafalgar “Nelson’s Hardy,” Captain Thomas -Masterman Hardy, was captain of the <i>Victory</i>. He -was not the “Captain of the Fleet,” that post being -officially vacant during Captain George Murray’s -absence on leave in England owing to urgent private -affairs. Hardy’s charming manner and tact, however, -and his pleasant way of “getting on” with -everybody he had to do with in all circumstances, -enabled Nelson to manage for the time being without -so invaluable an aid as “Friend Murray” had -ever proved himself. Hardy and Nelson had served -together for nearly nine years on and off, ever since -they first met, when Hardy was a lieutenant in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> -<i>Meleager</i>, a frigate in Nelson’s flying squadron off -the Eastern Riviera. When Nelson hoisted his -broad pennant on board the <i>Minerve</i>, towards the -end of 1796, Hardy went with him, and he owed -something to Nelson during the cruise. Just before -the battle off Cape St. Vincent, when the <i>Minerve</i> -was passing the Straits off Gibraltar, with the -Spanish fleet in pursuit of her, Hardy, then first -lieutenant, put off in a boat to rescue a man who had -fallen overboard. The man was picked up, but the -boat was swept by the current right across the bows -of the fast approaching enemy. On board the <i>Minerve</i> -they gave the boat up for lost, when Nelson, risking -the capture of the ship and all on board, brought-to. -“By God,” he called out, “I’ll not lose Hardy!” -“Back the mizen topsail!” They picked the boat -up almost under the bowsprits of the enemy, and got -off scot-free. After that, the brilliant way in which -Hardy led the <i>Minerve’s</i> boats at the cutting out -of the French brig-of-war <i>Mutine</i> won him his post-captaincy -and the command of his prize, in which he -served until after the battle of the Nile when Nelson -moved him into the <i>Vanguard</i> in place of Flag-Captain -Berry, sent home with the dispatches.</p> - -<p>Ever since the battle of the Nile Hardy had followed -Nelson’s fortunes as his flag-captain in the -various ships on board which Nelson had his flag—in -the <i>Vanguard</i> first of all, then in the <i>Foudroyant</i>, -the <i>San Josef</i>, and the <i>St. George</i>. It was Hardy also -who, on the night before the attack on Copenhagen, -with cool daring, pulled with muffled oars close<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> -alongside the ships of the Danish line and took the -soundings which practically enabled Nelson to win -the battle.</p> - -<p>“A bachelor of 35, rather stout in build, with -light eyes, bushy eyebrows, square broad face, -plenty of chin, and a mouth whose corners played -between humour and grimness,” is the portrait that -a contemporary gives of Captain Hardy in 1805.</p> - -<p>Hardy—he lived to be Sir Thomas and K.C.B.—now -lies in the mausoleum of the old pensioners’ -burial ground at Greenwich Hospital—a veteran laid -to his rest among veterans. No more fitting last -abode surely could have been found for “Hardy of -the <i>Victory</i>” than amongst those with whom he had -lived and fought and had his being.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And this be the verse that you grave for me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here he lies where he wished to be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Home is the sailor, home from the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And the hunter home from the hill.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He has his monument elsewhere: in his native -Dorset, where there stands a massive column of -stone, which the men and women of his county in -their pride and affection subscribed for, and set up -on a spur of Blackdown (or Blagdon) Hill, overlooking -the little village of Portisham where Hardy -lived as a boy, whence also he set out to accompany -Nelson to Trafalgar. It stands in sight of the house -where the Captain of the <i>Victory</i> was born, on -the one hand; while on the other it looks out -across the vales towards the sea, not many miles -away: a lonesome, wind-swept spot; a place to visit<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span> -by oneself, say on some calm December afternoon, -a little before the shortening winter twilight closes -round, and look out from, seaward for choice—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">... where afar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The grey sky pales to the dim horizon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the murm’ring Channel with its wand’ring sails,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drifts down through the winter’s day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Looking seaward from the top of the monument, -standing there over nine hundred feet above the sea—twice -and a quarter the height of St. Paul’s Cathedral—“the -eye rests on an unbroken panorama -of coast-line, extending from the Isle of Wight and -St. Katherine’s Point on the east, to Start Point -and the Tors of Dartmoor on the west.... Far -down below lie, clearly spread out as if on a map, -Weymouth and the Backwater, as well as Portland -and the Chesil Beach, whilst St. Aldhelm’s Head -and the Purbeck Hills to the left, and Thorncombe -Beacon with Golden Cap beyond it to the right, stand -out in prominent grandeur.”</p> - -<p class="tb">These were Captain Hardy’s officers on board -Nelson’s flagship, a complete list of the lieutenants -and other quarter-deck officers serving in the <i>Victory</i> -on the 21st of October, 1805:—</p> - -<p>Lieutenants—John Pasco [Flag-Lieutenant] -(wounded); John Quilliam; John Yule; Edward -Williams; Andrew King; George Miller Bligh -(wounded); George L. Brown; Alexander Hills; -William Ram (killed).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span></p> - -<p>Master—Thomas Atkinson.</p> - -<p>Surgeon—William Beatty.</p> - -<p>Purser—Walter Burke.</p> - -<p>Chaplain—Rev. John A. Scott.</p> - -<p>Secretary—John Scott (killed).</p> - -<p>Gunner—William Rivers.</p> - -<p>Boatswain—William Wilmet.</p> - -<p>Carpenter—Wm. Bunce.</p> - -<p>Marine Officers—Captain—Charles W. Adair -(killed); Lieutenants—Lewis Buckle Reeves -(wounded); James G. Peake (wounded); Lewis -Roteley.</p> - -<p>Master’s Mates and Midshipmen—William Chaseman; -J. R. Walker; Thomas L. Robins; Samuel -Spencer; Wm. H. Symons; Robt. C. Barton; -James Green; Richard Bulkeley (wounded); John -Carslake; Henry Carey; John Felton; Festing -Grindall; Daniel Harrington; John Lyons; David -Ogilvie; Alexander Palmer (killed); John Pollard; -James Poad; Oliver Picken; William Rivers -(wounded); James Robertson; Richard F. Roberts: -Robert Smith (killed); Philip Thovez; Thomas -Thresher; James Sibbald; Daniel Salter; Francis -E. Collingwood; George A. Westphal (wounded).</p> - -<p>Surgeon’s Mates—Neil Smith; William Westenburgh.</p> - -<p>Clerk—Thomas Whipple (killed).</p> - -<p>First Class Volunteers—Henry Lancaster; Charles -Chapell; J. R. Walker.</p> - -<p>Midshipman William Ward Perceval Johnson of -the <i>Childers</i> sloop-of-war, a former first-class Volunteer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span> -in the <i>Victory</i>, was on board the flagship at -Trafalgar as the guest of his former messmates. -He died in December, 1880, at the age of ninety, -one of the five last survivors of Trafalgar, and the -last surviving officer of those on board the <i>Victory</i>.</p> - -<p class="tb">At Trafalgar the <i>Victory’s</i> nominal complement as -a first-rate, comprising the “ship’s company,” numbered -837 officers and men, including in the total as -well, 40 boys, 145 marines, and 8 “widows’ men.” -She had actually on board on the 21st of October -804 of all ranks and ratings, with, in addition, 26 -“supernumeraries for victuals”—under which category -Nelson himself and his secretary and personal -suite and certain others were returned. There -were 24 officers, including Captain Hardy and 9 -lieutenants, and the various warrant officers; and -31 mates, midshipmen, and clerks. In action 50 -men were at the quarter-deck guns; 20 were -stationed on the forecastle; 150 on the main-deck; -180 on the middle-deck; and 225 on the lower-deck, -where the heaviest guns were. These, it may be -observed, had 15 men told off to each, as compared -with 12 men each to the middle-deck guns, and 10 -men each to the guns on the main-deck, quarter-deck, -and forecastle. The signal-staff, comprising a -lieutenant, with a mate, 3 midshipmen and 9 men, -were on the poop, where the marines had also their -post. Forty-eight men and boys were employed in -and about the ship’s three magazines in handing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> -and passing cartridges, besides 19 more at the -hatchways. All these were in addition to the -powder-men—one man to each gun—employed on -the battery decks in supplying the guns’ crews in -action. Six men were told off to attend to the -wounded in the cockpit under the orders of the -surgeon and his mates—not a very large number in -the circumstances; and there were also the small-arm -men, the carpenter’s gangs to stop shot-holes -and attend to leaks, men told off to see to the state -of the rigging, and others in the various storerooms, -at the helm, and so on. This brief <i>résumé</i> -will give an idea of the distribution of the <i>Victory’s</i> -ship’s company at quarters.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus22"> - -<p class="caption">REPRODUCTION OF THE OFFICIAL DRAWING OF THE -<i>VICTORY’S</i> FORETOPSAIL AFTER TRAFALGAR AS RETURNED INTO -STORE AT CHATHAM DOCKYARD IN MARCH, 1806</p> - -<img src="images/illus22.jpg" width="700" height="600" alt="" /> - -</div> - -<p class="tb">The ship’s books account for the nationality, or -place of birth, of 633 of the officers and men on -board the <i>Victory</i>, as mustered on the 17th of -October, the last muster day before the battle (the -Thursday before Trafalgar), not taking into reckoning -the marines or the boys and supernumeraries. -Of the total, 411 were of English birth, 64 were -Scotsmen, 63 Irishmen, and 18 Welshmen. Three -men were from Orkney and Shetland, 2 from the -Channel Islands and 1 (Lieutenant Quilliam) from -the Isle of Man. The remainder—71 men, were -foreigners, from all quarters of the known world -almost, got together, for the most part, out of -merchant ships under impress warrants: 7 Dutchmen, -22 Americans, 2 Danes, 3 Frenchmen, 1<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> -Russian, 3 Norwegians, 6 Swedes, 2 North Germans -from Hamburg and 1 Prussian, 9 from -various islands in the West Indies, 2 Swiss, 2 -Portuguese, 1 African, 1 from Bengal and 1 from -Madras, 4 Italians, and 4 Maltese.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>Of the Englishmen on board: Kent, the old maritime -county of England in the day of the Cinque Ports, -and the county of Admiral Rooke, who won Gibraltar -for the British Empire, contributed twenty-seven; -Devonshire, the county of Drake and Raleigh, -twenty-four; Hampshire, twenty; Somerset, the -county of Blake and Rodney and the Hoods, four;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> -Hardy’s county, Dorset, sent fourteen, one of them -from Captain Hardy’s own native village of Portisham; -Nelson’s county, Norfolk, contributed fifteen; -Suffolk, whence came Admiral Vernon and Broke of -the <i>Shannon</i>, twelve; Essex, nine; Sussex, five; -Cornwall, the county of Grenville of the <i>Revenge</i>, -and “the great twin brethren” of the Seven Years’ -War, Hawke and Boscawen, seven; Northumberland, -Yorkshire (the county of Martin Frobisher -and Captain Cook), and Lancashire, eighteen each; -Durham, seventeen; Lincolnshire, seven; Herefordshire -and Oxford, six each. Wiltshire and Gloucester, -five each. Old Benbow’s county of Shropshire had -one representative on board the <i>Victory</i> at Trafalgar. -The other counties, men from which were in Nelson’s -flagship that day, represented by four men each, or -fewer, were Berkshire and Bedford, Worcestershire, -Hereford and Cheshire, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, -Notts, Middlesex, Leicester, Staffordshire (the county -of Anson and St. Vincent), Derby, Northampton, -Cumberland, and Westmoreland. London was represented -on the <i>Victory’s</i> books by a hundred and -fifteen men, Liverpool and Shields by ten each, -Newcastle by fourteen, Bristol by five, Sunderland -by four, Manchester by three. Birmingham, Leeds, -Bury, Winchester, Canterbury were among other -places represented on board; and nearly every coast -town from Tweedmouth, Hull and Grimsby, and -round to Falmouth and St. Ives, had two or three -men with Nelson. There were Scotsmen there from -nearly every Scottish county, from Caithness and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span> -Banff, Ross, and Cromarty, Aberdeen and Inverness, -Fife and Forfar, Berwick, Renfrew, Galloway, -Lanark, the county of that <i>preux chevalier</i> among -British naval officers, Cochrane, Lord Dundonald, -“the daring in war,” Ayr and Argyll. Eleven men -from Edinburgh were on board; five from Glasgow; -seven from Dundee, the birthplace of Duncan of -Camperdown; with men from Leith, and Peterhead, -Dumbarton, and Greenock. From Ireland, in like -manner, men from Donegal fought the <i>Victory’s</i> guns -side by side with men from County Down and -Roscommon, Meath and Carlow, Galway and Sligo, -Cavan, Wexford and Waterford, Tipperary and -County Cork. Fourteen men from Dublin were in -the British flagship at Trafalgar; eleven from Cork; -ten from Waterford City and Belfast; Carrickfergus -and Kinsale were also represented on board.</p> - -<p>There were men of all ages between twenty and -fifty in the crew of the <i>Victory</i> at Trafalgar, and boys -from ten years old—the age of little Johnnie Doag, -an Edinburgh boy, rated as a “First Class Boy,” -and probably the youngest person present on either -side at Trafalgar—to lads of eighteen or nineteen. -Four others of the thirty-one in the flagship (nine -short of the complement) were just twelve years old, -and six others, thirteen. The great majority of the -men on board were from twenty to thirty years -of age. About 10 per cent were over forty, the -majority of these being between forty-seven and -fifty. One of the “powder-monkeys” on board the -<i>Victory</i>, it was discovered later, was a woman. Her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> -husband was also on board the ship. She was a -native of Port Mahon, and an officer who saw her -there in 1841 described her as being then “a sturdy -woman of 70.” The last survivor of the seamen -and marines on board the <i>Victory</i> at Trafalgar died -at Dundee in November, 1876.</p> - -<p>This interesting detail in regard to the <i>Victory’s</i> -crew should be mentioned in addition. Practically -30 per cent of the seamen were volunteers, so -the ship’s muster-book states. It records in the -column headed “<i>Whence and whether Prest or not</i>,” -the word “Vol” against 181 of the names, out of a -total of 628 able and ordinary seamen and landsmen.</p> - -<p class="tb">There were, of course, men of all callings in civil -life among the crew—as swept on board by the press-gang -for the most part. According to inquiries -made by officers on their own account, almost every -trade and calling of every-day life contributed its -quota in those times to the assortment on board our -men-of-war. Collingwood, it is on record, had -among the impressed men sent to one of his ships, a -black San Domingo general, who had somehow -found his way across the Atlantic; and also a Sussex -market gardener, and a milkman, these last sent to -him for top-gallant-yard men—poor fellows!</p> - -<p>On board the <i>Elizabeth</i>, a seventy-four, for instance, -out of a ship’s company 395 in number, only -177, it is on record, were seamen or of callings connected -with the sea: merchantman-sailors, fishermen,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> -watermen, and dockyard hands. The other -218 were stated thus: 108 labourers, 5 joiners, 6 -tailors, 14 weavers, 5 coopers, 6 blacksmiths, 3 -whitesmiths, 1 slater, 1 umbrella-maker, 1 butcher, -10 shoemakers, 1 poulterer, 2 stocking-makers, 1 -dry-salter, 7 farmers, 1 coppersmith, 4 servants, 3 -gardeners, 2 curriers, 1 mattress-maker, 1 tobacco -manufacturer, 1 fustian-cutter, 1 cotton manufacturer, -1 clockmaker, 1 watchmaker, 2 waiters, 1 -brickmaker, 2 bricklayers, 1 soldier, 1 stonecutter, -2 sawyers, 7 painters, 1 corn-factor, 1 staymaker, -1 glassmaker, 2 hatters, 1 wiremaker, 1 potter, 1 -miller, 1 mason, 1 miner, 1 chimney sweep. The -same kind of mixture was found on board another -seventy-four, with these additional items: 1 linen -draper, 1 artificial flower-maker, 1 milliner, 1 hinge-maker, -6 more hatters, 5 more barbers, and another -umbrella-maker, 1 button-maker and 1 thimble-maker, -2 flax and hemp dressers, 3 coach and harness -makers, 4 dyers, 1 tanner, 1 maltster, 1 calendarman, -2 wool-combers, 1 pipe-borer, 1 warehouseman, -1 tallow-chandler, 1 sadler, 3 pedlars, 1 violin-maker, -1 schoolmaster, and 1 optician. All was fish that -came to the press-gang’s net.</p> - -<p>Again, too, to take another case. Captain T. Byam -Martin (afterwards Sir Thomas and Admiral of the -Fleet), of the <i>Implacable</i>, in May, 1808, checked the -composition of his ship’s company man by man, -and sent the results of his investigation to his -brother. “I have just now,” he wrote, “been -amusing myself in ascertaining the diversity of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> -human beings which compose the crew of a British -ship of war, and as I think you will be entertained -with a statement of the ridiculous medley, it shall -follow precisely as their place of nativity is inserted -in the ship’s books: English 285, Irish 130, Welsh -25, Isle of Man 6, Scots 29, Shetland 3, Orkneys 2, -Guernsey 2, Canada 1, Jamaica 1, Trinidad 1, St. -Domingo 2, St. Kitts 1, Martinique 1, Santa Cruz -1, Bermuda 1, Swedes 8, Danes 7, Prussians 8, -Dutch 1, Germans 3, Corsica 1, Portuguese 5, Sicily -1, Minorca 1, Ragusa 1, Brazils 1, Spanish 2, -Madeira 1, Americans 28, West Indies 2, Bengal 2. -This statement does not include officers of any description, -and may be considered applicable to every -British ship, with the exception that <i>very few of them -have so many native subjects</i>.”</p> - -<p>Of those who fought on board the <i>Victory’s</i> -special companion-in-arms at Trafalgar, the “Fighting” -<i>Téméraire</i>, Ireland contributed just two-fifths of -the total ship’s company—220 men out of 550.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> They -came from all parts, according to the ship’s books, -mostly from Waterford, Belfast, Limerick, and -Wexford; and about a third from Dublin, Newry, -Kildare, Galway, Kilkenny, and Cork. Scotland -supplied the <i>Téméraire</i> with 58 men; hailing, the -greater number of them, from Aberdeen, Inverness, -Dundee, Greenock and Glasgow, Leith and Edinburgh. -Wales contributed 38 men all told; from -Swansea, Cardiff, Pembroke, and Milford, for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span> -most part. Of all the Englishmen on board the -“Fighting” <i>Téméraire</i> at Trafalgar, one county by -itself contributed practically a third of the number—Devonshire. -They counted 52 men, drawn from all -over the county: Bideford and Barnstaple, Exeter, -Tavistock, Dorlish [<i>sic</i>], Ilfracoome [<i>sic</i>], Tiverton, -and Dartmouth and Paignton. From London came -30 men in all. Lancashire had as many representatives -in the ship as all Wales, 38—all except three -hailing from Liverpool or Manchester. Somerset -had 24, Cornwall 20, Yorkshire 13, Northumberland -and Durham 10 each. These are the numbers from -the other English counties: Norfolk 8 men, Hampshire -7, Kent 6, Cumberland and Gloucestershire -each 5; Essex, Dorset, Chester each 4; Middlesex 3; -Derbyshire, Warwick, Sussex, Cambridge, Worcester, -and Suffolk each 2; Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, -Shropshire, Leicester, Surrey, Hereford, and -The Isle of White [<i>sic</i>] 1 man each. There were -8 Manxmen at Trafalgar on board the “Fighting” -<i>Téméraire</i>; 2 Jerseymen, and 1 man from Guernsey. -Jamaica had 1 man on board, and Newfoundland -2 men. As usual, a number of foreigners figure on -the books—66 altogether. They included: 28 -Americans, 9 Germans (mostly from Hamburg and -Emden), 6 Swedes, 5 Portuguese, 3 Frenchmen, -3 Spaniards, 1 Dutchman, 1 Cape-Dutchman, 1 from -“Sclavonia” (Peter Valentine by name), 1 Viennese -(Emil Joaquim), 1 from Old Calabar (a negro named -Ephraim) and the remainder from Santa Cruz and -other non-British islands in the West Indies.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span></p> - -<p>The log of the <i>Victory</i> for the day after the battle -accounts for all who fell on board Nelson’s flagship, -whether killed or wounded. It sets out the full list -in this form:—</p> - -<p>“A return of men killed and wounded on board -his Majesty’s ship <i>Victory</i>, bearing the flag of the -Right Honourable Lord Viscount Nelson, <span class="allsmcap">K.B.</span>, -Duke of Bronté, Vice-Admiral of the White and -Commander-in-Chief, on the 21st day of October, -1805, in an engagement with the combined fleets of -France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar. Thomas -Masterman Hardy, Esq., Captain.</p> - -<table summary="A list of men killed and wounded on board the Victory, by rank"> - <tr> - <th colspan="2">KILLED</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <th><i>Names</i></th> - <th><i>Quality</i></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Right Hon. Lord Viscount Nelson,<br /> - <span class="allsmcap">K.B.</span>, Duke of Bronté</td> - <td>Commander-in-Chief</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Scott, Esq.</td> - <td>Secretary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>C. W. Adair</td> - <td>Captain, Royal Marines</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Ram</td> - <td>9th lieutenant, <span class="allsmcap">R.N.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Robert Smith</td> - <td>Midshipman</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Whipple</td> - <td>Captain’s clerk.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Mansel</td> - <td>Ab.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Daniels</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Thomas (1st)</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James North</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Alfred Taylor</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Parke</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Shaw</td> - <td>L.M.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Richard Jewell</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Charles Davis (1st)</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Bowlin</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Brown (1st)</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Mark</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Smith (1st)</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Wharton</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John King</td> - <td>Quarter-gunner</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Robert Davison</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Edward Waters</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Cowarden</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Thompson (3rd)</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Johnson</td> - <td>Quartermaster</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Andrew Sack</td> - <td>Yeoman of signals</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Alexander Walker</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Arthur Hervin</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Welch (2nd)</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Skinner</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Joseph Ward</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Skinner</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Stephen Sabine</td> - <td>3rd class (boy)</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Welch</td> - <td>2nd class (boy)</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Collin Turner</td> - <td>3rd class (boy)</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><i>Royal Marines</i></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Cochran</td> - <td>Corporal</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Berry</td> - <td>Drummer</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Green</td> - <td>Private</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Brown (1st)</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Lambert Myers</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Samuel Wilks</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Kennedy</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Daniel Hillier</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Brannon</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Norgrove</td> - <td>Do.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Jeremiah G. Lewis</td> - <td>Private</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Wilmott</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Bernard McNamara</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Ebbsworth</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Coburne</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Jones</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Perry</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Palmer</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2">WOUNDED DANGEROUSLY</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Pasco</td> - <td>Signal-lieutenant, <span class="allsmcap">R.N.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Rivers (2nd)</td> - <td>Midshipman</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Alexander Palmer<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Bush</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Daniel McPherson</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Bergen</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Henry Cramwell<a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Jones (3rd)</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Hans Andersen</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>David Buchan</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Joseph Gordon<a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Smith (2nd)<a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Smith (2nd)</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Saunders</td> - <td>3rd class (boy)</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><i>Marines</i></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Taft</td> - <td>Corporal</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Raynor</td> - <td>Private</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Gregory</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Knight</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Bengass</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Wells</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Benjamin Cook</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Hines</td> - <td>Do.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Benjamin Matthews</td> - <td>Private</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Wilson</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Nicholas Dear</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2">BADLY WOUNDED</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George M. Bligh</td> - <td>6th lieutenant, <span class="allsmcap">R.N.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Lewis B. Reeves</td> - <td>2nd lieutenant, <span class="allsmcap">R.M.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Honnor</td> - <td>Quarter-gunner</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Jeremiah Sullivan</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Peter Hale</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Green (1st)</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Francois</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Castle</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Burton</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Parker</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Edward Dunn</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Edward Padden</td> - <td>Private, <span class="allsmcap">R.M.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2">SLIGHTLY WOUNDED</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>J. G. Peake</td> - <td>1st lieutenant, <span class="allsmcap">R.M.</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George A. Westphal</td> - <td>Midshipman</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Richard Bulkeley</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Geoghegan</td> - <td>Clerk to agent victualler</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Josiah McPherson</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Graham</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Collard</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Robert Phillips</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Kinsale</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Charles Legge</td> - <td>L.M.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>David Conn</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Daniel Leary</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Taylor</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Simm</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Samuel Cooper</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Gillett</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Bornkworth</td> - <td>Do.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Robert Gibson</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Angus McDonald</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Quinton</td> - <td>Quarter-gunner</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Edward Grey</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Samuel Brown</td> - <td>Yeoman of powder-room</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Butler</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Samuel Lovett</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Daniel Munro</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Curry</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Michael McDonald</td> - <td>Ordinary</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>William Fall</td> - <td>Ab.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Michael Pennill</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Pain</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Knight</td> - <td>Boatswain’s mate</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><i>Marines</i></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Giovanni Giunti</td> - <td>Private</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Charles Chappele</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Samuel Green</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Fagen</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Isaac Harris</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>John Dutton</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Graves</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>James Rogers</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>George Coulston</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Nicholas le Contre</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Thomas Crofton</td> - <td>Do.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<table summary="Totals of those killed and wounded"> - <tr> - <td>Killed</td> - <td>54</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Dangerously wounded</td> - <td>25</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Badly wounded</td> - <td>12</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Slightly wounded</td> - <td>42”</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>One or two eye-witnesses’ accounts from on board -the <i>Victory</i>, at and immediately after Trafalgar, give<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> -interesting glimpses of what went on in the ship -during the fight. First of all, there is the formal, -matter-of-fact tale as set out in the log:—</p> - -<p>“At 11.30 the enemy opened upon the <i>Royal -Sovereign</i>. At 11.40 the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> commenced -firing on the enemy. At 11.50, the enemy began -firing on us and the <i>Téméraire</i>.</p> - -<p>“At noon, standing for the enemy’s tenth ship, -with all possible (sail) set. Light airs and cloudy. -Standing towards the enemy’s van with all sail set. -At 4 minutes past 12, opened our fire on the enemy’s -van in keeping down their line. At 20 minutes -past 12, in attempting to pass through the enemy’s -line, we fell on board of the 10th and 11th ships, -when the action became general. About 1.15, the -Right Honourable Lord Viscount Nelson, <span class="allsmcap">K.B.</span>, -and Commander-in-Chief was wounded in the -shoulder.</p> - -<p>“At 1.30 the <i>Redoutable</i> having struck her -colours we ceased firing our starboard guns, but -continued engaging the <i>Santisima Trinidad</i> and -some of the enemy’s ships on the larboard side. -Observed the <i>Téméraire</i> between the <i>Redoutable</i> and -another French ship of the Line, both of which had -struck. Observed the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> with the loss -of her main and mizen-masts, and some of the -enemy’s ships around her dismasted. At 3.10 -observed four sail of the enemy’s van tack and stand -along our line to windward. Fired our larboard -guns at those which could reach them. At 3.40 -made the signal for our ships to keep their wind and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> -engage the enemy’s van coming along our weather -line. At 4.15 the Spanish Rear-Admiral to windward -struck to some of our ships which had tacked -after them. Observed one of the enemy’s ships -blow up, and 14 sail of the enemy standing towards -Cadiz, and 3 sail of the enemy standing to the southward. -Partial firing continued until 4.30, when a -victory having been reported to the Right Honourable -Lord Viscount Nelson, <span class="allsmcap">K.B.</span>, and Commander-in-Chief, -he then died of his wound.”</p> - -<p>Then we have this personal narrative from one of -the men on deck, as told in a quaint letter which -James Bagley, a marine of the <i>Victory</i>, wrote home -to his sister, while the ship was lying at Spithead -with Nelson’s body on board, awaiting orders to -proceed round to the Nore:—</p> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="right">“<i>Victory</i>, <span class="smcap">Spithead</span>, <i>Dec. 5, 1805</i>.</p> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Dear Sister</span>,</p> - -<p>“Comes with my kind love to you are in good -health so thank God I am; for I am very certain -that it is by his mercy that me and my country is, -and you and your religion is kept up; for it has -pleased the Almighty God for to give us a complete -victory of the combined fleets of France and Spain; -for there was a signal for them being out of Cadiz -the 19th of October, but we did not see them till the -21st, in the morning, and about 12 o’clock we gave -three cheers, and then the engagement began very -hot on both sides, but about five o’clock the victory -was ours, and twenty sail-of-the-line struck to us. They<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> -had 34 sail-of-the-line and we had 27 of the line, -but the worst of it was, the flower of the country, -Lord Nelson, got wounded at twelve minutes past -one o’clock, and closed his eyes in the midst of -victory. Dear sister, it pleased the Lord to spare -my life, and my brother Thomas his, for he was with -the same gentleman. It was very sharp for us, I -assure you, for we had not a moment’s time till it -was over, and the 23rd of the same instant we got a -most shocking gale of wind, and we expected to go to -the bottom, but, thanks be to God, He had mercy on -us, for every ship of ours got safe into harbour, and -all the French but four got knocked to pieces on the -rocks. So that is the most I can tell you of it, for -the English is in a right cause you may depend on -it, or else the Lord would not have had the mercy on -us as He has had, for we made five ships strike to -the ship has I am in. We had 125 killed and -wounded, and 1500 in the English fleet killed and -wounded, and the enemy 12,000; so I shall leave -you to judge how your country fight for the religion -you enjoy, the laws you possess, and on the other -hand how Bounaparte has trampt them causes down -in the places he has had concern with, for nothing -but torment is going forward. So never think it is -disgrace to having brothers in service; but I have -had pretty well on it, and when you write to our -mother, give my love to my sister Betty and my -poor mother, and send me word about her and you -shall have your loving brother’s thanks. So must -conclude with hoping this will bring you peace and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> -love and unity. Then you and me and our dear -mother will meet together to enjoy the fruits of the -island as I have been fighting for. My dear, I shall -just give you a description of Lord Nelson. He is a -man about five feet seven, very slender, of an affable -temper; but a rare man for his country, and has -been in 123 actions and skrimmages, and got -wounded with a small ball, but it was mortal. It -was his last words, that it was his lot for me to go, -but I am going to heaven, but never haul down -your colours to France, for your men will stick to -you. These words was to Captain Hardy, and so -we did, for we came off victorious, and they have -behaved well to us, for they wanted to take Lord -Nelson from us, but we told Captain as we brought -him out we would bring him home; so it was so, -and he was put into a cask of spirits. So I must -conclude. Your loving brother,</p> - -<p class="right">“<span class="smcap">James Bagley</span>.”<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -</div> - -<p>After her arrival in English waters with Nelson’s -body on board, the <i>Victory</i>, while on her way round -to the Nore, was delayed for some days by head -winds in the Downs. A very interesting letter from -a visitor to her, dated from Dover, the 16th of -December, 1805, is in existence.</p> - -<p>“I am just come from on board the <i>Victory</i>,” says -the writer. “She is very much mauled, both in her -hull and rigging, has upwards of 80 shot between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span> -wind and water: the foremast is very badly wounded -indeed, and though strongly fished, has sunk -about six inches: the mainmast also is badly -wounded, and very full of musket shots: she has a -jury-mizen mast, and fore and main top masts, and -has a great many shot in her bowsprit and bows; -one of the figures which support the Arms has both -the legs shot off. I clearly ascertained that Lord -Nelson was killed by a shot from the main top of the -<i>Redoutable</i>: he was standing on the starboard side -of the quarter-deck with his face to the stern when -the shot struck him, and was carried down into -one of the wings: he lived about one hour, and was -perfectly sensible until within five minutes of his -death. When carrying down below, although in -great pain, he observed the tiller ropes were not -sufficiently tight, and ordered tackles to be got on -them, which now remain. The ship he engaged was -so close that they did not fire their great guns on -board the enemy, but only musketry; and manned -the rigging on board; but nearly the whole that left -the deck were killed. The ship had 25 guns dismounted -by the <i>Victory’s</i> fire. A shot carried away -four spokes from the wheel of the <i>Victory</i>, and never -killed or wounded any of the men steering. Temporary -places have been fitted up between the decks -for the wounded men, which are warmed by stoves.”</p> - -<p>We will take our leave of the <i>Victory</i> for the -present with a second letter, dated “Sheerness, the -24th of December,” on the <i>Victory’s</i> arrival in the -Medway, bound for her home port, Chatham, to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span> -repair there after the battle. It was just two days -after Nelson’s remains had been removed to Greenwich -Hospital on the way to St. Paul’s.</p> - -<p>“The inhabitants of this place had yesterday the -satisfaction of welcoming the old <i>Victory</i> and her -gallant crew to the River Medway: the noble ship -passed close to the Garrison Point, and was received -with an enthusiastic cheering from the shore, which -was returned by her crew. The civilities of the -officers of the <i>Victory</i> have been beyond belief in -satisfying the anxious curiosity of numbers who -have been on board to see the ship and the spot -where our gallant Nelson fell and died. The fatal -bullet that deprived him of his valuable life is in the -possession of the surgeon of the <i>Victory</i>, just as he -extracted it from the body, with part of the epaulet -and coat adhering to it. Many of the poor wounded -fellows are on board, nearly well and in good spirits. -The bullets in the lower part of the mainmast are so -thick that it is surprising how anyone on the quarter-deck -could have escaped, especially the brave Captain -Hardy, whose amiable character seems to be the -greatest alleviation the officers and crew of the -<i>Victory</i> have for the loss of their Nelson.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">UNDER FIRE WITH COLLINGWOOD</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And when the loving cup’s in hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Honour leads the cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They know not old Northumberland</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who’ll pass his memory by.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When Nelson sailed from Trafalgàr</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With all his country’s best,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He held them dear as brothers are,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But one beyond the rest!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The splendid service that the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> rendered -on the 21st of October, 1805, should appeal -to every British man and boy. In the words of -Captain Blackwood—“Nelson’s Blackwood”—who -watched the fight, written immediately after the -battle, “of the <i>Victory</i> and the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> it is -impossible to say which achieved the most.” The -<i>Royal Sovereign</i> had been with Nelson off Toulon in -1804. She had gone home to refit when Nelson went -across the Atlantic in pursuit of Admiral Villeneuve. -She rejoined the British fleet off Cadiz just ten days -before Trafalgar, when Collingwood, who had -hitherto had his flag in the <i>Dreadnought</i>, moved into -her.</p> - -<p>Two interesting preliminary glimpses of Admiral -Collingwood on board the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, on the -morning of Trafalgar Day, are given us by his biographer, -Mr. G. L. Newnham Collingwood, who -had access to the Admiral’s papers and letters after -his death, and took all possible pains to get together<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span> -everything that could be gathered about him from -those who served with Collingwood in the great battle.</p> - -<p>Admiral Collingwood’s “personal conduct on that -memorable day well deserves to be recorded. It has -been said that no man is a hero in the eyes of his -valet de chambre, but that this is not universally -true is proved by the account which was given ... by -Mr. Smith, Admiral Collingwood’s valued servant. -‘I entered the Admiral’s cabin,’ he observed, ‘about -daylight, and found him already up and dressing. -He asked if I had seen the French fleet, and on my -replying that I had not, he told me to look out at -them, adding that in a very short time we should see -a great deal more of them. I then observed a crowd -of ships to leeward, but I could not help looking with -still greater interest at the Admiral, who, during all -this time, was shaving himself with a composure -that quite astonished me.’”</p> - -<p>This is what Collingwood said to his flag-lieutenant -and the other officers, on the Admiral’s first coming -up on deck: “Admiral Collingwood dressed himself -that morning with peculiar care, and soon after, -meeting Lieutenant Clavell, advised him to pull off -his boots. ‘You had better,’ he said, ‘put on silk -stockings, as I have done; for if one should get a -shot in the legs, they would be so much more -manageable for the surgeon.’ He then proceeded to -visit the decks, encouraged the men to the discharge -of their duty, and, addressing the officers, said to -them, ‘Now, gentlemen, let us do something to-day -which the world may talk of hereafter.’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span></p> - -<p>Then we have this incident, which occurred in the -forenoon, as the British fleet was closing on the -enemy:—</p> - -<p>“Lord Nelson had been requested by Captain -Blackwood (who was anxious for the preservation of -so invaluable a life) to allow some other vessel to -take the lead, and at last gave permission that the -<i>Téméraire</i> should go ahead of him, but resolving to -defeat the order which he had given, he crowded -more sail on the <i>Victory</i> and maintained his place. -The <i>Royal Sovereign</i> was far in advance when Lieutenant -Clavell observed that the <i>Victory</i> was setting -her studding-sails, and with that spirit of honourable -emulation which prevailed between the squadrons, and -particularly between these two ships, he pointed it out -to Admiral Collingwood, and requested his permission -to do the same. ‘The ships of our line,’ replied -the Admiral, ‘are not yet sufficiently up for us to -do so now, but you may be getting ready.’ The -studding-sail and royal halliards were accordingly -manned, and in about ten minutes the Admiral, -observing Lieutenant Clavell’s eyes fixed upon him -with a look of expectation, gave him a nod, on which -that officer went to Captain Rotherham and told him -that the Admiral desired him to make all sail. The -order was then given to rig out and hoist away, and -in one instant the ship was under a crowd of sail, -and went rapidly ahead. The Admiral then directed -the officers to see that all the men lay down on the -decks and were kept quiet.”</p> - -<p>The <i>Royal Sovereign’s</i> captain at Trafalgar, Collingwood’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span> -flag-captain, was, like his Admiral, a -gallant Northumbrian, Edward Rotherham, the son -of a Hexham doctor. Of him that day the following -story is told. As the battle was about to open, it -was pointed out to Captain Rotherham that the unusually -big cocked hat that he wore would probably -render him a special target for the marksmen in the -enemy’s tops. “Let me alone,” was all Rotherham’s -reply, “Let me alone. I’ve always fought in a -cocked hat and I always will!”</p> - -<p class="tb">As pre-arranged by Nelson, the British lee column -at Trafalgar, fifteen ships strong, began the action -before the weather column, by leading down and -breaking the enemy’s line near its centre. The -manœuvre was begun a few minutes before noon, -when, at Collingwood’s order, the <i>Sovereign</i>, with -every sail set and every reef shaken out, dashed -forward by herself, sailing “like a frigate,” ahead of -the whole British fleet. Taking on herself the fire -of the enemy’s line, centre and rear, as she advanced, -she swept resistlessly under the stern of the Spanish -flagship <i>Santa Anna</i>, a gigantic 112-gun three-decker, -nearly a mile in front of Collingwood’s -second astern, the <i>Belleisle</i>—“the most remarkable -incident of the battle, a feat unparalleled in naval -history,” as it has been called. “See,” exclaimed -Nelson with delight to Captain Hardy, as he -watched the <i>Sovereign’s</i> advance; “see how that -noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> -action!” Just at the moment, as it happened, on -the <i>Royal Sovereign’s</i> quarter-deck, Collingwood -himself was saying to his captain, “Rotherham, -what would not Nelson give to be here!”</p> - -<p>We know from what a French officer at Trafalgar -wrote, that the confident daring of the <i>Sovereign’s</i> -single-handed advance “positively appalled -Villeneuve!”<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">King George the Third, in effigy, led his own -fleet that day. The <i>Royal Sovereign’s</i> figure-head -was an immense full-length carving of the King, -represented in the battle-day panoply of a Roman -Emperor, his sword at his side and a sceptre in hand, -his red war cloak (<i>paludamentum</i>) on his shoulders, -with two attendant winged figures, Fortune and -Fame, blowing trumpets on either side.</p> - -<p class="tb">As the <i>Sovereign</i> closed on the enemy, a French -ship, the <i>Fougueux</i>, ranged up close under the stern -of the <i>Santa Anna</i>, as though to bar the passage -through the line to Collingwood. Captain Rotherham -noted this, and pointed it out to the Admiral. -Collingwood’s reply was: “Steer straight for the -Frenchman and take his bowsprit!” So they closed, -and then, driving through the line just under the -towering Spanish’s ship’s stern, the <i>Sovereign</i> opened<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> -the fight with her full broadside treble-shotted. The -terrific discharge, at one blow, it has been related, -disabled fourteen guns, and put a large part of the -crew <i>hors de combat</i>. “El rompio todos” were the -words of an officer of the <i>Santa Anna</i>. After that the -Sovereign ranged alongside the big Spaniard to leeward -to fight the battle out gun-muzzle to gun-muzzle.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;" id="illus23"> - -<p class="caption">TRAFALGAR—12 NOON: AS SKETCHED ON THE SPOT BY A FRENCH OFFICER</p> - -<img src="images/illus23.jpg" width="700" height="400" alt="" /> - -<table class="caption" summary="Ships" style="width: 650px;"> - <tr> - <td><i>French flagship,<br />“Bucentaure,”<br />80 guns.</i></td> - <td><i>“Redoutable,”<br />74 guns,<br />from which<br />Nelson was shot.</i></td> - <td><i>Collingwood in the “Royal Sovereign” opening the attack.</i></td> - <td><i>The “Victory” (Nelson’s flag should be at the fore, not as here.)</i></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="caption"><i>From a photograph of the original sepia drawing now in the possession -of a descendant of Captain Lucas of the “Redoutable.”</i></p> - -</div> - -<p>“In passing the <i>Santa Anna</i>” relates Mr. Newnham -Collingwood, “the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> gave her a -broadside and a half into her stern, tearing it down, -and killing and wounding 400 of her men. Then, -with her helm hard a-starboard, she ranged up -alongside so closely that the lower yards of the two -vessels were locked together. The Spanish Admiral, -having seen that it was the intention of the <i>Royal -Sovereign</i> to engage to leeward, had collected all his -strength on the starboard, and such was the weight -of the <i>Santa Anna’s</i> metal, that her broadside made -the <i>Sovereign</i> heel two strakes out of the water.”</p> - -<p>Even a moment like that, though, did not in the -least perturb Collingwood. “Her studding-sails -and halliards were now shot away, and as well as a -top-gallant studding-sail were hanging over the -gangway hammocks. Admiral Collingwood called -out to Lieutenant Clavell to come and help him to -take it in, observing that they should want it again -some other day. These two officers accordingly -rolled it carefully up and placed it in a boat.”</p> - -<p>No sooner was the <i>Sovereign</i> alongside the <i>Santa -Anna</i> than four other enemies—two French ships,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> -the <i>Fougueux</i> and the <i>Indomptable</i>, and two Spanish, -the <i>San Leandro</i> and the <i>San Justo</i>—closed round and -joined in to help the <i>Santa Anna</i>.</p> - -<p>So hot a cross fire did these four ships keep up on -the single British ship during her, at first, unsupported -fight, that, in the words of those on board the -<i>Sovereign</i>, “We could see their shots meeting and -smashing together in mid-air round us.” The <i>Fougueux</i>, -we are also told, “at one time got so much on -the quarter of the <i>Sovereign</i> that she almost touched.” -It was indeed a battle of the giants—a heroic defiance -of heroic odds.</p> - -<p>So magnificent, indeed, did the situation of the -<i>Royal Sovereign</i> appear, fighting single-handed in -the thick of the enemy, that it drew remarks from -some of our captains, for the time being lookers-on, -on board the nearest ships that were then coming up -astern. “The English ships,” to quote Admiral -Collingwood’s biographer again, “were pressing forward -with their utmost speed in support of their leader, -but doubtful at times of his fate, and rejoicing when, -on the slackening of the <i>Santa Anna’s</i> fire, they discerned -his flag still flying above the smoke. One of -his most gallant followers and friend, the captain of -the <i>Tonnant</i>, has often expressed the astonishment -with which he regarded the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> as she -opened her fire, which, as he declared, ‘so arrested his -attention, that he felt for a few moments as if he himself -had nothing to do but to look on and admire!’”</p> - -<p>How Collingwood bore himself in the battle we -hear from two sources. Both accounts speak of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> -Collingwood’s unmoved demeanour and cool courage -under fire.</p> - -<p>“The Admiral,” says one, “directed Captain -Vallack, of the Marines, an officer of the greatest gallantry, -to take his men from off the poop, that they -might not be unnecessarily exposed; but he remained -there himself much longer. At length, descending to -the quarter-deck, he visited the men, enjoining them -not to fire a shot in waste; looking himself along the -guns to see that they were properly pointed, and commending -the sailors, particularly a black man, who -was afterwards killed, but who, while he stood beside -him, fired ten times directly into the portholes of the -<i>Santa Anna</i>.”</p> - -<p>“The Admiral spoke to me,” related Smith, -Collingwood’s servant, “about the middle of the -action and again for five minutes immediately after -its close; and on neither occasion could I observe -the slightest change from his ordinary manner. This, -at the moment, made an impression on me which will -never be effaced, for I wondered how a person whose -mind was occupied by such a variety of most important -concerns could, with the utmost ease and -equanimity, inquire kindly after my welfare, and talk -of common matters as if nothing of any consequence -were taking place.”</p> - -<p>Twenty minutes after the <i>Sovereign</i> had by herself -beaten off the <i>Fougueux</i>, the leading British ships -following astern of the <i>Sovereign</i> began to reach the -spot, and to take off her enemies one by one, except -the <i>Santa Anna</i>. With Admiral Alava’s flagship the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> -<i>Royal Sovereign</i> continued in close encounter, until -the <i>Santa Anna’s</i> colours came down. It was just -at that moment that Collingwood received, by an -officer of the <i>Victory</i>, Captain Hardy’s first message -that Lord Nelson had been “dangerously wounded.”</p> - -<p>The stubborn stand that the <i>Santa Anna</i> made was -a disappointment, it would appear, to the <i>Sovereign’s</i> -men. Their terrible raking broadside at the outset -had plainly “sickened” the Spaniards—as our men -expressively put it—and many on board believed -that the enemy must surrender forthwith. Captain -Rotheram, indeed, “came up to the Admiral, and, -shaking him by the hand, said: ‘I congratulate -you, sir; she is slackening her fire, and must soon -strike!’” The gallant fellows who were fighting at -the <i>Royal Sovereign’s</i> guns actually thought, it is on -record, that their ship would have the proud distinction -of capturing an enemy’s flagship in the -midst of her own fleet before another British ship -had got into action. In the end, though, they had -this consolation: when at length the <i>Santa Anna</i> did -surrender; “No ship besides ourselves fired a shot -at her,” wrote one of the <i>Sovereign’s</i> officers, “and -you can have no conception how completely she was -ruined.” “Her side,” wrote Collingwood himself, -“was almost entirely beat in.”</p> - -<p>“The <i>Santa Anna</i>,” to quote Mr. Newnham -Collingwood, “struck at half-past two o’clock, about -the time when the news of Lord Nelson’s wound -was communicated to Admiral Collingwood, but the -<i>Royal Sovereign</i> had been so much injured in her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> -masts and yards by the ships that lay on her bow -and quarter that she was unable to alter her position. -Admiral Collingwood accordingly called the -<i>Euryalus</i> to take her in tow, and make the necessary -signals. He dispatched Captain Blackwood to convey -the Spanish Admiral on board the <i>Euryalus</i>, -but he was stated to be at the point of death, and -Captain Blackwood returned with the Spanish captain. -That officer had already been to the <i>Royal -Sovereign</i> to deliver his sword, and on entering had -asked one of the English sailors the name of the -ship. When he was told that it was the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, -he replied, in broken English, while patting -one of the guns with his hand, ‘I think she should -be called the <i>Royal Devil</i>!’”</p> - -<p>The <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, on the <i>Santa Anna</i> surrendering, -pushed off from her giant prize—so big a ship, indeed, -that, in Collingwood’s own words, she “towered -over the <i>Sovereign</i> like a castle.” She moved away -to seek another enemy. But the fall of her main -and mizen-masts, cut through and through by shot, -prevented her from taking a further part in the -battle until after being taken in tow by the <i>Euryalus</i> -frigate, Captain Blackwood’s ship. The <i>Sovereign</i> -was able after that, during the rest of the action, to -employ her broadsides here and there. Her last -piece of work was at the very close of the battle, -when she formed one of the group of ships that -Captain Hardy summoned round the <i>Victory</i> to support -the dying chief’s flagship against a threatened -attack on the <i>Victory</i> from the fresh ships of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span> -French van squadron as they passed down the -line.</p> - -<p>The <i>Royal Sovereign’s</i> list of casualties, as officially -reported on the morning after Trafalgar, amounted -to forty-seven men killed and ninety-four wounded.</p> - -<p class="tb">How Collingwood first heard of Nelson’s fate he -himself has told us:</p> - -<p>“When my dear friend received his wound,” -wrote the Admiral, “he immediately sent an officer -to tell me of it, and give his love to me. Though -the officer was directed to say the wound was not -dangerous, I read in his countenance what I had -to fear, and before the action was over Captain -Hardy came to inform me of his death. I cannot -tell you how deeply I was affected; my friendship -for him was unlike any thing that I have left in -the Navy—a brotherhood of more than thirty years.”</p> - -<p>Writing to the Duke of Clarence, an old service -friend of Collingwood’s and of Nelson’s as well, he -said this:</p> - -<p>“He (Nelson) sent an officer to inform me that -he was wounded. I asked the officer if his wound -was dangerous. He hesitated, then said he hoped -it was not; but I saw the fate of my friend in his -eye, for his look told what his tongue could not -utter. About an hour after, when the action was -over, Captain Hardy brought me the melancholy -account of his death.”</p> - -<p>Another detail of Trafalgar that may be news to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> -some of us is the fact that Collingwood was wounded -in the battle. He said nothing about himself to any -one in any of his letters at the time, nor did he -include himself in the return of wounded sent to the -Admiralty. It was only in response to an anxious -inquiry from his wife, who, some months afterwards, -heard a rumour about it and wrote to inquire, that -Collingwood, five months after the battle, first made -mention of the matter. His letter to Lady Collingwood -is dated March 29, 1806, and in it the Admiral -says:</p> - -<p>“Did I not tell you how my leg was hurt? It was -by a splinter—a pretty severe blow. I had a good -many thumps, one way or the other: one on the -back, which I think was the wind of a great shot, -for I never saw anything that did it. You know -nearly all were killed or wounded on the quarter-deck -or poop but myself, my Captain, and Secretary, -Mr. Cosway, who was of more use to me than any -officer after Clavell.</p> - -<p>“The first inquiry of the Spaniards was about -my wound, and exceedingly surprised they were -when I made light of it, for when the captain -of the <i>Santa Anna</i> was brought on board, it was -bleeding and swelled, and tied up with a handkerchief.”</p> - -<p>What was really troubling the frugal north-country -mind of Admiral Collingwood at that moment, as -far as he was individually concerned, far more than -his wound, was his out-of-pocket expenses owing to -the damage that the enemy’s shot had done in his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> -steward’s store-room. Writing to Lady Collingwood, -he tells her this:—</p> - -<p>“I have had a great destruction of my furniture -and stock. I have hardly a chair that has not a shot -in it, and many have lost both legs and arms, without -hope of pension. My wine was broke in moving, -and my pigs were slain in battle, and these are heavy -losses where they cannot be replaced.”</p> - -<p>One gets an idea of the kind of man Collingwood -was also from the characteristically sympathetic way -in which he wrote in a private letter about one of his -officers (Mr. William Chalmers, the master of the -<i>Royal Sovereign</i>) who was killed near the Admiral, -on the quarter-deck, at his post by the wheel.</p> - -<p>“I have written to Lloyd’s about Mr. Chalmers’ -family. He left a mother and several sisters, whose -chief dependence was on what this worthy man and -valuable officer saved for them from his pay. He -stood close to me when he received his death. A -great shot almost divided his body; he laid his head -upon my shoulder, and told me he was slain. I -supported him till two men carried him off. He -could say nothing to me, but to bless me; but as -they carried him down, he wished he could but live -to read the account of the action in a newspaper. -He lay in the cockpit, among the wounded, until the -<i>Santa Anna</i> struck, and joining in the cheer which -they gave her, expired with it on his lips.”</p> - -<p class="tb">The only personal description of Collingwood’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span> -appearance in existence is from the pen of a young -officer (Midshipman Crawford, of the <i>Royal George</i>) -who had an audience of him, to present a letter of -introduction, in October, 1806, just a year after -Trafalgar:</p> - -<p>“Being provided with a letter of recommendation -to Lord Collingwood, the Commander-in-Chief, I -took an early opportunity to wait upon his Lordship.... -Lord Collingwood was between fifty and -sixty, thin and spare in person, which was then -slightly bent, and in height about five feet ten inches. -His head was small, with a pale, smooth, round face, -the features of which would pass without notice, -were it not for the eyes, which were blue, clear, -penetrating; and the mouth, the lips of which were -thin and compressed, indicating firmness and decision -of character. He wore his hair powdered, and tied -in a <i>queue</i>, in the style of officers of his age at that -time; and his clothes were squared and fashioned -after the strictest rules of the good old sea school. -To his very ample coat, which had a stiff, stand-up -collar, were appended broad and very long skirts—the -deep flaps of his single-breasted white waistcoat, descending -far below his middle, covered a portion of his -thighs; and blue knee-breeches, with white stockings, -and buckles to his shoes, completed his attire....</p> - -<p>“On entering his presence, he took a rapid searching -survey of me from head to foot; then ... in a -quiet tone, amounting almost to gentleness, he put -a few questions to me in nautics, which I believe I -answered to his satisfaction.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span></p> - -<p>Of Collingwood in lighter vein we also get a -glimpse. How, a short time after Trafalgar, he got -one of his officers to write up his biography for a -pertinacious newspaper editor is a story that the -Admiral himself tells in a letter to his wife.</p> - -<p>“The editors of the <i>Naval Chronicle</i> have written -to me for the history of my life and progress, for which -they are pleased to say the world is very impatient. -Now this rather embarrasses me, for I never could -bear the trumpeter of his own praise. So, to get -rid of it as well as I can, I have employed ⸺ to -write a history for me. For my birth and parentage -he has selected two or three chapters of Bamfylde -Moore Carew; for my service in the West Indies -and on the Spanish Main he has had good assistance -in the <i>History of the Buccaneers</i>; and for my shipwreck -he has copied a great deal out of <i>Robinson -Crusoe</i>; all which, with a few anecdotes from the -<i>Lives of the Admirals</i>, a little distorted, will make, -I am inclined to think, a very respectable piece of -biography.”</p> - -<p>Collingwood’s dog, Bounce, was on board the -<i>Royal Sovereign</i> at Trafalgar, tied up out of the way -below, in comparative safety, on the orlop deck. -According to Collingwood himself, Bounce did not -like cannon firing. Wrote Collingwood about him, -before the battle: “Bounce is my only pet now, and -he is indeed a good fellow; he sleeps by the side of -my cot, whenever I lie in one, until near the time of -tacking, and then marches off, to be out of the hearing -of the guns, for he is not reconciled to them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> -yet.” After the battle, on his master being raised to -the peerage, Bounce—as Collingwood whimsically -describes in one of his home-letters—seemed to -grasp the new situation and took to giving himself -airs. “I am out of all patience with Bounce. The -consequential airs he gives himself since he became -a right honourable dog are insufferable. He considers -it beneath his dignity to play with commoners’ -dogs, and truly thinks that he does them grace when -he condescends to lift up his leg against them. -This, I think, is carrying the insolence of rank to -the extreme, but he is a dog that does it!”<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">As all the world knows, Collingwood never set -foot in England after Trafalgar, doomed, poor homesick -fellow, never more to see—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The pleasant strand of Northumberland</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the lordly towers thereby.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>He wore out his life on duty, waiting and watching -at sea for nearly five long and weary years, for an -enemy who did not dare to face him. The Admiralty -could not spare him to come home.</p> - -<p>“He stepped into his boat from Plymouth Dock,” -says the writer of a biographical sketch of Collingwood -published shortly after the Admiral’s death,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span> -“on the last day of April, 1805, and returned, five -years after, a peer and a corpse.” Immediately -before he embarked, Collingwood had been conversing -with a brother officer, who records an affecting -incident. “The last time I ever saw Lord Collingwood,” -wrote Sir T. Byam Martin, “he was on the -point of stepping into his boat, never again to touch -the British shore. We walked together for half an -hour, and as long as I live I shall remember the -words with which, in his accustomed mildness of -expression, he alluded to the sacrifices our professional -duties exact of us. He told me the number of -years he had been married, and the number of days -he had been with his family since the war commenced -(then of many years duration). ‘My family -are <i>actually strangers to me</i>.’ He was greatly overcome -by the feelings thus excited, and, taking me -by the hand, he said, ‘What a life of privation is -ours—what an abandonment of everything to our -professional duty, <i>and how little do the people of England -know the sacrifices we make for them</i>!’ With -this he turned from me to hide the tear which ran -down his manly cheek, and saying ‘Farewell!’ -walked to his boat.”</p> - -<p>Slowly killed, if ever man was, by downright -hard work, Collingwood died on the 7th of March, -1810, on board his flagship in the Mediterranean. -On the day before he died his old spirit flickered up -once more, and he murmured to his captain, who -bent down over the brave old face, “I may live to -fight the French once more.” The end drew on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span> -apace after that, and the soul of one of the grandest -veterans of England at her best, passed calmly away -to the presence of the God in Whom throughout -every hour of his blameless life his trust had been -as that of a little child for its earthly father. “He -met death,” said the surgeon who attended Collingwood, -“as became him, with composure and a fortitude -which have seldom been equalled and never -surpassed.”</p> - -<p>We know something of how his sailors loved -“Old Cuddy,” as the whole fleet called Collingwood, -from what happened at Collingwood’s funeral -on that May day of 1810, when Nelson’s brother-in-arms -was laid to his rest beside his old messmate, -friend, and companion in the crypt of St. Paul’s -Cathedral. Lord Chancellor Eldon, beside whom, -as a little boy of nine, the Admiral had sat in class at -school, was a mourner at the funeral. “It was very -affecting,” he describes, “his sailors crowded so -around, all anxious to see the last of their commander. -One sailor seized me by the arm, and entreated -that I would take him in with me that he -might be there to the end. I told him to stick fast -to me, and I did take him in; but when it came -to throwing some earth on the coffin (you know the -part of the service ‘dust to dust’), he burst past me -and threw himself into the vault!”</p> - -<p>No truer description of the man as a fact was ever -penned than the words that Thackeray years afterwards -used of Collingwood: “Another true knight -of those days was Cuthbert Collingwood, and I think<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span> -since heaven made gentlemen, there is not record of -a better one than that.”</p> - -<p class="tb">Collingwood’s officers at Trafalgar, those who -served with him on board the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, were -these. According to the muster book the ship was -two lieutenants short on the 21st of October.</p> - -<p>Captain—Edward Rotherham.</p> - -<p>Lieutenants—John Clavell, Joseph Simmons, -James Bashford (wounded), Edward Barker, Brice -Gilliland (killed), Francis Blower Gibbes.</p> - -<p>Master—William Chalmers (killed).</p> - -<p>Surgeon—Richard Lloyd.</p> - -<p>Purser—Brinsley S. Oliver.</p> - -<p>Chaplain—Rev. John Rudall.</p> - -<p>Secretary—W. R. Cosway.</p> - -<p>Gunner—Nicholas Brown.</p> - -<p>Boatswain—Isaac Wilkinson (wounded).</p> - -<p>Carpenter—George Clines.</p> - -<p>Marine officers:—</p> - -<p>Captain—Joseph Vallack.</p> - -<p>Lieutenants—Robert Green (killed), Armiger W. -Hubbard, James Le Vescomte (wounded).</p> - -<p>Assistant Surgeons—Primrose Lyon, Henry Towsey.</p> - -<p>Master’s Mates and Midshipmen—Thomas Altoft, -Charles A. Antram, Richard Davison Pritchard, -William Sharp, William Watson (wounded), John -Aikenhead (killed), John Doling Morey, Sam -Weddle, Thomas P. Robinson, Charles Coucher,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span> -Joseph Del Carrotto, John Chaldecott, Henry -Davis, William Budd Boreham, Gilbert Kennicott -(wounded), Thomas Currell, Granville Thompson -(wounded), George Castle, John Parr, Thomas -Dickinson (wounded), John Campbell (wounded), -Thomas Braund (mortally wounded), John Farrant -(wounded), John Redwood, John Dobson, William -Stock, James Rudall.</p> - -<p>First Class Volunteers—Meredith Milnekoff, -Robert Julian, Archibald Nagle, Robert Duke -Hamilton, John Hill, Claudius Charles, William -Lloyd, Charles Lambert, Charles Chiswick.</p> - -<p class="tb">From the officers we proceed in natural sequence -to the men, and with regard to these, at the outset, -there hangs a tale.</p> - -<p>A very curious story is related of Collingwood on -the morning of Trafalgar Day which most of those -who have written about him have repeated. Collingwood, -we are told, as the British fleet was approaching -the enemy, went round the decks of the <i>Royal -Sovereign</i> and bade the men at the guns “show -those fellows what the tars of the Tyne can do!” -More than that, there is an old print in existence -(a copy of which is in the possession of Earl Nelson) -artistically depicting the story, and labelled with the -legend, “Tars of the Tyne.” The ship’s books unfortunately -give quite another version. There were -fewer North countrymen on board the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> -at Trafalgar, perhaps, than in any other ship<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span> -of the British fleet. Altogether, according to the -muster book, there were in the ship hardly thirty -all told, including Collingwood himself and Captain -Rotherham and the youngsters, “the northern -boys,” as Collingwood called them. Of the seamen—A.B.’s, -ordinary, and landmen—the <i>Sovereign’s</i> -books name only four as coming from Newcastle, -two as coming from Shields, and one as coming -from “Northumberland” at large. Sunderland -sent four men, and the rest were from Durham, three -men, with from Berwick-on-Tweed two, Whitehaven -six, Westmorland one. That exhausts the North-country -contingent in the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>.</p> - -<p>More than a third of the entire ship’s company on -board were Irishmen—240 men and boys. Scotland, -including Shetland and the Hebrides, contributed -forty men, and Wales twenty-one. The London -contingent with Collingwood at Trafalgar was the -next largest after the Irishmen—seventy-five men -and boys altogether. Lancashire was represented -by forty-six men, Devon by thirty-four, Hampshire -with thirty, Cornwall with twenty-four, Gloucester -(Bristol) and Somerset each by eighteen, Yorkshire -and Kent by ten men each; Lincolnshire, Cheshire, -and Dorset each by eight; Norfolk and Suffolk by -seven men each; and so on down to Cambridge, -Bedford, Leicester, Hertfordshire, and Worcester -with one man each.</p> - -<p>Yet another interesting point is brought out by -the muster book of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>. We have -been told how Collingwood, in the middle of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span> -fighting, commended a “black man” for his straight -shooting. Apparently the man was a West Indian. -There were no fewer than seventy foreigners and -aliens on board Collingwood’s flagship at Trafalgar, -according to the ship’s books, the list being thus -made up: Twenty-four Americans (hailing for the -most part from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, -Baltimore, and New Jersey); seven Dutchmen—Dirks -and Franz’s and Hendriks and Rutters—from -Friesland, Delft, Maestricht, Amsterdam, and -Rotterdam; one Belgian, from Brussels; three -Portuguese from the Azores and Lisbon; four -Prussians and one Pole from Dantzic; two Danes, two -Frenchmen, one Norwegian, one Venetian, one -Neapolitan, one Maltese, seven Lascars—two of -them entered as “Jonan” and “Lowannah”—from -the East Indies; two Malays from Batavia, entered -as “Soloman” and “Ballee”; one from Bengal, -one from Madras, a third Malay entered as “George”; -fifteen West Indians, from St. Kitts, Barbados, -Jamaica, and from Berbice, in British Guiana.</p> - -<p class="tb">Two interesting letters from the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> -may serve to conclude our narrative. One was from -a Hampshire lad, one of those fighting below at the -guns. It runs thus:—</p> - -<p>“Honoured Father,—This comes to tell you I am -alive and hearty except three fingers; but that’s not -much, it might have been my head. I told brother -Tom I should like to see a greadly [<i>sic</i>] battle, and I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span> -have seen one, and we have peppered the Combined -rarely; and for the matter of that, they fought us pretty -tightish for French and Spanish. Three of our mess -are killed, and four more of us winged. But to tell you -the truth of it, when the game began, I wished myself -at Warnborough with my plough again; but when -they had given us one duster, and I found myself -snug and tight, I ... set to in good earnest, and -thought no more about being killed than if I were at -Murrell Green Fair, and I was presently as busy and -as black as a collier. How my fingers got knocked -overboard I don’t know, but off they are, and I never -missed them till I wanted them. You see, by my -writing, it was my left hand, so I can write to you and -fight for my King yet. We have taken a rare parcel -of ships, but the wind is so rough we cannot bring -them home, else I should roll in money, so we are -busy smashing ’em, and blowing ’em up wholesale.</p> - -<p>“Our dear Admiral Nelson is killed! so we have -paid pretty sharply for licking ’em. I never sat eyes -on him, for which I am both sorry and glad; for, to -be sure, I should like to have seen him—but then, all -the men in our ship who have seen him are such -soft toads, they have done nothing but blast their -eyes, and cry, ever since he was killed. God bless -you! chaps that fought like the devil, sit down and -cry like a wench. I am still in the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, -but the Admiral has left her, for she is like a horse -without a bridle, so he is in a frigate that he may be -here and there and everywhere, for he’s as <i>cute</i> as -here and there one, and as bold as a lion, for all he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span> -can cry!—I saw his tears with my own eyes, when -the boat hailed and said my lord was dead. So no -more at present from your dutiful son,—<span class="smcap">Sam</span>.”</p> - -<p>A pathetic interest attaches to the other letter. It -was written on the morning of the battle by a midshipman -of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, Mr. John Aikenhead, -who was killed in the action. It was apparently -meant for his parents and family in general:—</p> - -<p>“We have just piped to breakfast; thirty-five sail, -besides smaller vessels, are now on our beam, about -three miles off. Should I, my dear parents, fall in -defence of my King, let that thought console you. -I feel not the least dread on my spirits. Oh my -parents, sisters, brothers, dear grandfather, grandmother, -and aunt, believe me ever yours!</p> - -<p>“Accept, perhaps for the last time, your brother’s -love; be assured I feel for my friends, should I die -in this glorious action—glorious, no doubt, it will -be. Every British heart pants for glory. Our old -Admiral (Admiral Collingwood) is quite young with -the thoughts of it. If I survive, nothing will give -me greater pleasure than embracing my dearest -relations. Do not, in case I fall, grieve—it will -be to no purpose. Many brave fellows will no doubt -fall with me on both sides.”</p> - -<p>The letter added that the writer had made his will -and put it in his desk. It gave also a statement -of the property deposited in his chest, with £10 -savings, added since the will was made. “Do not -be surprised,” says the lad in his letter, “to find £10 -more—it is mine.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span></p> - -<h3>“OLD IRONSIDES” AND THE THIRD IN COMMAND</h3> - -<div class="blockquote"> - -<p class="center">“Britannia Victrix”</p> - -</div> - -<p>The 100-gun three-decker <i>Britannia</i>, was the flagship -of the third in command at Trafalgar, Rear-Admiral -the Earl of Northesk. In honour of the -part that the <i>Britannia</i> took in the battle Lord -Northesk was created a Knight of the Bath, and was -granted by George the Third the right to place the -name “Trafalgar” on his coat-of-arms, with special -heraldic augmentations. Ever since 1805 the supporters -of the heraldic shield of the earls of -Northesk have each borne a staff with a Rear-Admiral -of the White’s flag on it bearing the -inscription, “Britannia Victrix.”</p> - -<p>“Old Ironsides” was the <i>Britannia’s</i> every-day -name in Nelson’s fleet, due to the fact, it is said, that -the <i>Britannia</i> was the oldest man-of-war in the -fighting line of the Navy. The veteran three-decker -on the 21st of October, 1805, had been -afloat just forty-three years and two days. She -was our second <i>Britannia</i>, and the first three-decker -launched in George the Third’s reign, the -launch taking place at Portsmouth Dockyard on the -19th of October, 1762, in the presence of twenty -thousand spectators, “who all had the pleasure of -seeing as fine a launch as ever was seen.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span></p> - -<p>Trafalgar was the <i>Britannia’s</i> fifth battle. She had -had her first meeting with the enemy as flagship of -the Second in Command in the “Grand Fleet” under -Lord Howe, which achieved the relief of Gibraltar in -1782—a feat that nowadays perhaps we think little of, -but which was thought enough of at the time for such -a personage as Frederick the Great to write an autograph -letter of congratulation on it to the British -Admiral. After that she had taken part at Lord -Hood’s occupation of Toulon, in Admiral Hotham’s -two actions off Genoa and off Hyères, as commander-in-chief’s -flagship, and on the 14th of February, 1797, -“Glorious Valentine’s Day,” as flagship of the second -in command in the battle off Cape St. Vincent.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span></p> - -<p>At Trafalgar the <i>Britannia</i> went into action as the -fifth or sixth ship astern of the <i>Victory</i>. She had -three of the enemy’s ships firing on her as she -ranged forward into the battle under full sail. She -broke the enemy’s line, firing both broadsides as -she drove through, after which she engaged an -80-gun ship and promptly dismasted her opponent. -A little later, we are told, a French officer “was -seen to wave a white handkerchief from the quarter-deck -in token of surrender.” Leaving another of -our ships to take possession, the <i>Britannia</i> passed -on forthwith to deal with others of the enemy, and -was constantly engaged, we are told, sometimes with -two or three ships of the enemy at once and fighting -on both broadsides.</p> - -<p>This is how the <i>Britannia’s</i> log records her part -at Trafalgar, in the dry, matter-of-fact style usual -with such documents:—</p> - -<p>“12.50. We began to engage three of the enemy’s -ships, having opened their fire upon us while running -down. 1.10. Observed the ship we were engaging -on our larboard quarter totally dismasted, -continued our course in order to break through the -centre of the enemy’s line, engaging on both sides -in passing between their ships. At 3 passed -through the line. 4.30. Hauled to the wind on -the larboard tack per signal. 5.30. Ceased firing. -Observed the <i>Achille</i>, a French line-of-battle ship, -on fire, which soon after blew up.”</p> - -<p>Fortunately the log is not all that we have to -rely upon for the story of the <i>Britannia’s</i> doings<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span> -at Trafalgar. Some of the officers wrote down their -experiences and impressions, from which we get a -remarkably interesting idea of how things fared on -board during the battle. Says, to begin with, -Lieutenant John Barclay in his journal:—</p> - -<p>“½ past 12. Vice-Admiral Collingwood, in the -<i>Royal Sovereign</i>, commenced the action, by an attack -upon the whole of the enemy’s rear, in the most -gallant manner, and without any immediate prospect -of support, from being so far ahead of the lee division. -Took in our studding sails. About ¼ before 1, Lord -Nelson, after having sustained a most galling fire -in running down, opened both sides of the <i>Victory</i> -on the headmost ships of their centre division. He -was close followed up by the <i>Téméraire</i>, <i>Neptune</i>, -<i>Conqueror</i>, <i>Leviathan</i>, and this ship, and pushed -through their line about the 14th from the van. -Several raking shot called forth exertions about 10 -minutes after our noble chief. Here began the din -of war. It became impossible to trace farther except -at intervals, when the smoke cleared away <i>a little</i>. -At ¼ past 1 the masts of the ship we were most -particularly engaging (larboard side) fell by the -board: supposed to be the <i>Bucentaure</i>, but without -any flag observed flying. Continued edging on -slowly, for there was very little wind, and our main -topsail in particular was shot almost entirely from -the yard. At 3, got to leeward of their line and -hauled up a little on the larboard tack. Until ¼ -past 4 kept up a heavy fire occasionally on both -sides on every French or Spanish ensign flying near<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span> -us, when we hauled to the wind on the larboard -tack per signal. ½ past 5, all firing ceased except -from the <i>Achille</i>, a very fine French ship—wrapt in -flames. The cutters instantly repaired to her assistance, -and saved the crew, soon after which she blew -up with a tremendous explosion.”</p> - -<p>Signal-Midshipman John Wells, in a letter -home, written during the week following the -battle, has this to say of what he went through -and witnessed:</p> - -<p>“I am very happy to say that the <i>Britannia</i> was -certainly a very fortunate Ship during the whole -time, as we had not above 10 killed and 41 wounded -although we were the fourth Ship in Action and the -last out of it, and I doubt not that it will be found -that she does honour to all who belong to her, as -our fire was not directed to One particular Ship, but -as soon as one had struck to us we immediately -made to others and at one time had five ships blazing -away upon us, but we soon tired them out. As I -told you before, I was stationed at the Signals and -Colours in the time of Action and being on the -Quarter Deck I had an opportunity of seeing the -whole of the Sport, which I must own rather daunted -me before the first or second broadside; but after -then I think I never should have been tired of -drubing [<i>sic</i>] the Jokers, particulary [<i>sic</i>] when my -ship mates began to fall arround [<i>sic</i>] me, which in -the room of disheartening an Englishman only encourages -him, as the sight of his Country Man’s -blood makes his heart burn for revenge.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span></p> - -<p>“I am very sorry to inform you that my worthy -friend our signal Lieutenant was knocked down by -a double-headed shot close by my side and immediately -expired, much lamented by his brother Officers -and every one in the Ship; I had several very narrow -escapes from the Enemy’s Shot, but thanks be -to the Lord he [<i>sic</i>] has still spared me thro’ his great -goodness.</p> - -<p>“Too much credit cannot be given to Lord Northesk -and Captain Bullen for their gallant Conduct -during the Engagement, indeed it was the case with -every Officer and Man in the Ship. Immediately -the Enemy had struck I went on board one of the -French prizes to take possession of her, and when -I got there I may well say I was shocked to see the -sight as I believe there was not less than 3 or 400 -Bodies lying about the Decks, cut and mangled all -to pieces, some dying and others Dead. We took -the remainder of the men that were alive on board -of our own Ships, at which they seemed very glad. -And from the Information that we can get from them -they really came out of Cadiz with an intention of -fighting, not thinking us to be above 17 sail of the -line and them under the command of Sir Robt. -Calder (but he was not with us at all), and that Lord -Nelson was in England sick. So they thought they -were an equal match for our 17 with there [<i>sic</i>] 37—and -in fact made themselves so sure of taking us -into Cadiz that several Private Gentlemen came out -of Cadiz as passengers on purpose to see the Action -and have the pleasure of towing us in, but they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> -were once more deceived in our Wooden Walls. -Amongst the prisoners in our Ship there are 5 or 6 -of these Gentlemen of pleasure, and I think they are -in a fair way for seeing an English prison before -they return to Cadiz again.”</p> - -<p>Another of the <i>Britannia’s</i> officers, who made use -of his opportunities for seeing what was going on -round him, was 2nd Lieutenant L.B. Halloran of -the Royal Marines. He noted this down in his -private diary from his own personal experiences and -observations:</p> - -<p>“We piped to breakfast at eight o’clock, and the -ship being clear and ready about nine o’clock, we -went to quarters. The Fleet then formed in two -lines, standing slowly and steadily, with every sail -set, before the light breeze, with ensigns and -colours flying. Our ship, the <i>Britannia</i>, was the -third from the <i>Victory</i>, which led the Larboard or -Lee line; we were next the <i>Neptune</i>, 98 guns. -For some time after the men were at quarters, before -the firing began we heard many of them amusing -themselves with nautical jokes, or reciting scraps -from a Prologue which I had spoken at one -of our last Dramatic performances. Among the -lines repeatedly quoted the following seemed the -favourite:—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We have great guns of Tragedy loaded so well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If they do but go off, they will certainly tell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“About 11.30, the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, Admiral -Collingwood, which led the Starboard or Weather -line, after sustaining for nearly half an hour severe<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span> -firing from the enemy as she approached without -returning a shot, opened her tremendous Broadsides -close alongside the <i>Sta. Anna</i>, a Spanish Admiral’s -ship. Our people were highly amused, and passed -many jokes on seeing the <i>Sta. Anna</i>, almost -immediately dismasted and falling out of line with -her colours down. We had not much time to -admire the gallantry of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> and the -ships succeeding her, for it was our turn to commence, -and in passing we poured a most destructive -fire (the guns being double-shotted) into the -<i>Bucentaur</i>, which ship had already received the -first fire of the <i>Victory</i> and <i>Neptune</i>. Her masts -were at once swept away, and her galleries and stern -broken to pieces; her Colours being shot away, -some-one waved a white handkerchief from the -remains of the Larboard Gallery in token of Surrender.</p> - -<p>“We then encountered the <i>Santisima Trinidada</i>, -240 guns [<i>sic</i>] on four decks (the largest ship then -known). We passed under stern of this magnificent -Ship, and gave her a Broadside which shattered the -rich display of sculpture, figures, ornaments, and -inscriptions with which she was adorned. I never -saw so beautiful a ship. Luffing up alongside her -four-decked side, of a rich lake colour, she had an -imposing effect.</p> - -<p>“We proceeded, and now got into the middle -of the Action, where the denseness of the smoke, the -noise and din of Battle, were so great as to leave little -time for observation. Nearly about this time, between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> -one and two o’clock, a shot struck the muzzle -of the gun at which I was stationed (the aftermost -gun on the larboard side of the lower deck), and -killed or wounded every one there stationed, myself -and Midshipman Tompkins only excepted. The -shot was a very large one, and split into a number -of pieces, each of which took its victim. We threw -the mangled body of John Jolley, a marine, out -of the stern port, his stomach being shot away; the -other sufferers we left to be examined. The gun -itself was split, and our second lieutenant, Roskruge, -who came down at that moment with some orders, -advised me to leave the Gun as useless. He had -scarcely left us, when he was brought down senseless -with a severe wound in his head: he breathed, but -continued senseless until nine o’clock, when he -died.</p> - -<p>“The Battle continued until five o’clock. Seeing -no signal from the <i>Victory</i>, and also missing Admiral -Collingwood’s flag, we were in much uneasiness on -Board. The scene presented a strange contrast -to the morning; twenty-one or twenty-two sail of -the Enemy’s Line, Prizes and dismasted, one -(<i>L’Achille</i>) burning furiously, which soon after -blew up, the sky lowering in the distance, a heavy -sea rising, and an awful kind of pause succeeding -the crash of falling yards and masts and the roar -of the guns.</p> - -<p>“Having sent a boat to the <i>Victory</i>, we ascertained -the death of Lord Nelson, our Commander-in-Chief.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span></p> - -<p>“With hearts fraught with blended feelings of -sorrow and of triumph, we set about putting the -ship to rights. The evening was fine, though a -storm seemed to be coming up, and around us -as the darkness closed in the scattered and forlorn -wrecks lay floating in disorder, while the conqueror’s -ships were repairing damages, shifting prisoners, or -making sail. It was a scene of desolation, helpless -prizes and dismantled victors rolling heavily, as the -sea began to roughen with the breeze....</p> - -<p>“The whole night was occupied in receiving -prisoners, and preparing for stormy weather, which -was coming on.”</p> - -<p>This is from the letter that a seaman on board the -<i>Britannia</i>, James West, an A.B., wrote to his parents -at Newhaven in Sussex:—</p> - -<p>“I am sorry to inform you that I am wounded in -the left shoulder, and that William Hillman was -killed at the same time: the shot that killed him and -three others wounded me and five more. Another of -my messmates, Thomas Crosby, was also killed; -they both went to their guns like men, and died close -to me. Crosby was shot in three places. Pray inform -their poor friends of their death, and remind -them that they died at the same time as Nelson, and -in the moment of glorious victory. Remember me -to all my relations and friends; tell them I am -wounded at last, but that I do not much mind it, for -I had my satisfaction of my enemies, as I never fired<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span> -my gun in pain I was sure to hit them; I killed and -wounded them in plenty. Should have written you -sooner, but the pain in my shoulder would not let -me.”</p> - -<p>During the week following Trafalgar the <i>Britannia</i> -received 381 French prisoners on board: 48 from -<i>L’Aigle</i>, a captured seventy-four; 140 from the -recaptured <i>Berwick</i>, a former British seventy-four; -the rest from the captured <i>Intrépide</i>, another -seventy-four. The names of all the prisoners are -carefully entered in the <i>Britannia’s</i> books, and -among them appears the name of a Turk, mentioned -also by Lieutenant Halloran as being received -on board—Abdalla Fadalla, a prisoner from -the <i>Intrépide</i>.</p> - -<p class="tb">According to the ship’s books these were the -officers, in addition to Lord Northesk, serving on -board the <i>Britannia</i> at Trafalgar:—</p> - -<p>Captain—Charles Bullen.</p> - -<p>Lieutenants—Arthur Atchison; Francis Roskruge -(killed); John Houlton Marshall; Charles Anthony; -Richard Lasham; William Blight; John Barclay; -James Lindsay.</p> - -<p>Marine Officers.—Captain—Alexander Watson. -Lieutenants—William Jackson; L. B. J. Halloran; -John Cooke.</p> - -<p>Master—Stephen Trounce (wounded).</p> - -<p>Surgeon—Allen Cornfoot.</p> - -<p>Purser—James Hiatt.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span></p> - -<p>Chaplain—Rev. Lawrence H. Halloran.</p> - -<p>Gunner—Michael Aylward.</p> - -<p>Boatswain—(not joined).</p> - -<p>Carpenter—John Simpson.</p> - -<p>Master’s Mates and Midshipmen—John Adamson; -Thos. Goble; James Sudbury; Silvester Austin; -James Rattray; Henry Canham; Em. Blight; John -Lang; William Snell; John W. Pritchard; William -Grant (wounded); Francis D. Lauzun; William -Geikie; Josh. Thorndyke; John Coulthred; Andrew -Parry; Charles Thornbury; James L. Peyton; -John Brumfield; George Hurst; George Morey; -Charles Pitt; James Robinson; Radford G. Meech; -Richard Molesworth; Charles Wilson; John Bidgood; -John Lawrence; William Pinet; Richard B. -Bowden; Benjamin Sheppard; William Pyne.</p> - -<p>Surgeon’s Mates—John Evans; John Owen -Martin.</p> - -<p>Clerk—Richard Whichelo.</p> - -<p>First-class Volunteers—James R. Sulivan; Bowkum -Tomkyns; Josh. Bailey.</p> - -<p>A glance at the composition of the ship’s company -of the <i>Britannia</i>, according to the muster book, -shows that the foreigners among the seamen on -board numbered 53 in all. Of that total 18 were -Americans, 11 Germans, 6 Danes, 4 Frenchmen, -1 Swede, 4 Dutchmen, 1 East Indian, 2 Africans, -2 Italians, and 4 from the West Indies. Ireland -contributed 189 seamen ratings (the total number of -seamen on board the <i>Britannia</i>, as mustered by the -ship’s books on Sunday morning, the day before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> -the battle, was 599); Scotland, 42; Wales, 25; the -Isle of Man, 6; the Channel Islands, 5; and the -Scilly Isles, Shetland, and Skye, 1 each. The full -total of all ranks and ratings on board the <i>Britannia</i> -at Trafalgar, as mustered on the 20th of October, -numbered 31 officers, 599 seamen ratings (petty -officers, able seamen, ordinary seamen, and landmen), -28 boys, 126 marines, 5 supernumeraries, and -8 “widows’ men,” making 797 in all. The ship’s -official complement as a first rate was 837, so that -the <i>Britannia</i> was really 40 men short in the -action.</p> - -<p class="tb">One incidental fact that we learn from the <i>Britannia</i> -may be added. It throws a useful sidelight on -life and ways at sea in the navy of Nelson’s day, -dealing as it does with the relations that existed -between officers and men on board while waiting -off Cadiz for the expected battle. It proves for -one thing also that Lord Northesk’s flagship quite -deserved the designation of a “happy ship.” -This was their favourite way of passing the time -off duty, according to Lieutenant Halloran’s -journal.</p> - -<p>“August 22nd. Heard that enemy had gone into -Cadiz. We steered direct for that port. Here we -remained blockading the place until the arrival of -Lord Nelson in the <i>Victory</i>. During this time the -officers and ship’s company amused themselves with -dramatic performances. Our first drama, acted in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span> -the Admiral’s cabin, was as appears in the following -playbill:—</p> - -<div class="playbill"> - -<p class="center">This evening, September 4th, 1805, will be performed -a drama called</p> - -<p class="center">‘LORD HASTINGS.’</p> - -<ul> -<li><span class="smcap">Duke of Gloucester</span>, Mr. Hurst.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Earl of Derby</span>, Mr. Martin, assistant surgeon.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Ratcliffe</span>, Mr. Rattray.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Catesby</span>, Mr. Thorndyke, midshipman.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Hastings</span>, Lieut. Halloran.</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center">After which will be performed a drama called</p> - -<p class="center">‘THE TRIUMPH OF FRIENDSHIP;<br /> -<span class="smcap">or</span>,<br /> -DAMON AND PYTHIAS.’</p> - -<ul> -<li><span class="smcap">Dionysius</span>, Mr. Hurst.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Gelon</span>, Lieut. Halloran.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Palnurius</span>, Mr. Austen.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Argus</span>, Mr. Rattray.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Damon</span>, Mr. Martin.</li> -<li><span class="smcap">Pythias</span>, Mr. Thorndyke.</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center">Doors to be opened at 6.30. To begin at 7.</p> - -</div> - -<p>“Wednesday, September 4th. Off Cadiz. The -ship’s company also performed two or three plays on -the main deck, one of them called ‘Miss in her -Teens’: very well done.</p> - -<p>“Thursday, September 12th. We acted another -play, called <i>The Siege of Colchester</i>, in which Rattray, -Wilson, Bowden, and I took part. Between the acts -I recited the romance of <i>Alonzo and Imogene</i>. On -this occasion, the Admiral’s fore-cabin being found<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> -too small to hold stage and audience both, the fore -bulk-head of the cabin was taken down, and the -cabin itself turned into a stage, leaving the two side -doors for the stage exits, and the cabin open to the -main deck. The stage being decorated with colours, -festoons, wings, etc., with front lights, had a very -pretty effect. The main deck, fitted up with seats, -made a capacious theatre, and all the officers and -ship’s company attended. All the future performances -will be represented in the same manner.</p> - -<p>“September 27th. Another party of the officers, -under Lieut. Blight’s direction, performed (with the -addition of some good scenery, painted by Mr. -Adams, master’s mate) <i>The Mock Doctor</i>. Characters -taken by Messrs. Pitt, Laurence, Johnstone, Geikie, -Martin, and Peyton, with Masters Lauzun and Snell -as Dorcas and Charlotte. The ship’s company, -whose theatre was amidships, near the main mast -on the main deck, also performed <i>The Tragedy of -Pizarro</i> and at the end of the first act was recited -<i>The Soliloquy of Dick the Apprentice</i>.</p> - -<p>“Wednesday, October 9th. We had the play of -<i>Columbus; or, A World Discovered</i>, and Rattray, -Thorndyke, Wilson, Hurst, Pitt, Austin, Bidgood, -and myself acted, the character of the High Priest of -the Sun being taken by Wichelo, and ladies by Midshipmen -Pinett and Pyne, Priestessess by Masters -Shepherd, Bowden, Lever, Jones, etc. On the playbill -it was announced, ‘In the course of the Performance -will be two splendid Processions—a view of the Interior -of the Temple of the Sun, with a Grand Altar<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span> -burning Incense, etc. Grand Hymn of the Priestesses, -etc. Towards the close of the Play the Destruction -of the Temple by an Earthquake accompanied -by Thunder, Lightning, and Hail-Storm! with the -rescue of Cora from the Ruins by Alonzo!!</p> - -<p>“<i>Catherine and Petruchio</i> was the last performance, -a few days before the action of Trafalgar, -together with a Play called <i>The Village</i>, which I -wrote.</p> - -<p>“It was on the evening of the 19th of October—Saturday—while -I was with some officers in my -cabin in the Gunroom, where we were preparing for -another Play for the following Monday, and we were -rehearsing, when one of the Midshipmen came to inform -us that a Frigate was joining the Fleet, with -signals flying ‘That the Enemy were at sea.’ We -immediately broke up our theatrical conference. -That night was partly passed in the bustle of preparation, -while we stood under easy sail towards -Cadiz.”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> - -<p class="tb">We have in addition the text of a prologue to one -of the midshipmen’s plays, presented before Lord -Northesk and the officers. It gives one the best possible -idea of the magnificent self-confidence with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span> -which the British Fleet anticipated the issue of -Trafalgar.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse center"><span class="smcap">Address.</span></div> - <div class="verse center smaller">[<i>Spoken on board his Majesty’s ship “Britannia,” off Cadiz.</i>]</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My Lord and Gentlemen,—Alas! off Cadiz,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How hard it is we can’t address the ladies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For “if the brave alone deserve the fair,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Britannia’s sons should surely have their share!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, since their valour, tho’ upon record,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like other merits, is its own reward,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ female charms inspire us not—again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We welcome you—my Lord and Gentlemen!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You, too, brave fellows! who the background tread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alike we welcome—jackets blue or red;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And humbly hope that while we give our aid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To cheer the tedium of a dull blockade,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To banish <i>ennui</i> for a few short hours,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">However feeble our theatric powers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our well-meant efforts to amuse awhile,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will meet the wish’d reward—your fav’ring smile.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For tho’, while thro’ our parts we swell and pant,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We stun your ears with mock-heroic rant;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We trust “to pay their suff’rings through your eyes,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By the bright splendours of the gay disguise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In which our heroes (nor let critics grin),</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bedight in robes of “bunting laced with tin,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As kings or emperors, with mimic rage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strut their short hour upon this “floating stage.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In times of yore, as grave old authors write,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Poets possess’d a kind of “second sight,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And could (tho’, <i>entre nous</i>, ’twas all a hum)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inform you clearly of “events to come.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh! could the Bard, who, to amuse your time,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has manufactur’d all this “doggerel rhyme,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From mortal mists clear his desiring eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pry into your future destinies:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He would foretell (nor ask you, as a charm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like other soothsayers, “to cross his palm”)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What—yes, he sees!—must on your courage wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“An happy fortune, and a glorious fate!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289"></a>[289]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Yes!—he foresees—confirm his prospects, Heav’n,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yon coop’d up boasters,” to your wishes giv’n;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sees their proud ensigns from their standards torn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their vanquish’d navies in glad triumph borne;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sees added laurels grace our Nelson’s brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Victory hovering o’er his glowing prow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His conqu’ring banners o’er the waves unfurl’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Britain’s thunder rule the wat’ry world.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If aught of prescience to the Muse belong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon, soon, the scenes that animate her song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In glowing colours shall salute your eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Heav’n shall bid th’ auspicious morn arise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When France and Spain shall be again subdued,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And your “brave leader’s” victories renew’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, to reward your persevering toils,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With honours crown’d—enrich’d with hostile spoils—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(Her bravest sons—her guardian sailors’ friend)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your grateful country” shall her arms extend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To greet your glad return with conscious pride,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in her bosom bid your cares subside.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, while our fam’d “Britannia” shall resort,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In awful grandeur to her wished-for port,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her loveliest daughters shall with pleasure meet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bless “the heroes of the British fleet!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your wives, your children, and your friends shall come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With tears of joy to bid you “welcome home.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor storms nor battle more your bliss shall mar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But “Peace and Plenty crown the toils of war!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>At this point we may fitly end the story of “Old -Ironsides” at Trafalgar—and this book.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290"></a>[290]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">FOOTNOTES</h2> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> See <i>post</i>; <a href="#Page_65">p. 65</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Our West India possessions, except Jamaica, Barbados, and -St. Lucia, and Antigua were lost; and the four named were about -to be attacked when Rodney’s victory saved them. Demerara, our -West African settlements, Trincomalee and Ceylon, Minorca, and -the American Colonies went also—all because the Ministry of the -day refused to keep the Fleet up to the “Two Power standard” of -those times, “superior to the combined forces of the House of -Bourbon,” <i>i.e.</i> France and Spain, who had the two next powerful fleets -after Great Britain. In cash, the war cost England £200,000,000.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> I am indebted to the courtesy of the proprietors of the <i>Graphic</i> -for permission to reproduce the diagrams here given.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Kent Trophy Challenge Shield, of which an illustration is -given, is of silver. In the centre chief point appears a representation -of H.M.S. <i>Kent</i>, taken from a drawing supplied by the -Admiralty. This is embossed and oxydized. It is surmounted by -an enamelled shield, bearing the Arms of the Association of “Men -of Kent and Kentish Men.” Underneath the ship, entwined with -branches of laurel, are scrolls to take the names of the Officers -Commanding. The lower part of shield shows the arms and motto -of the County of Kent, while turrets with protruding guns form an -artistic background. Below is a large ornamental tablet displaying -the presentation inscription, and round the edge of the shield flows -a beautifully modelled pattern of Kentish Hops, Cherries, Oakleaves, -and Cob-nuts, each spray of which is separately modelled and bent -into position, forming an excellent contrast with the white and -burnished groundwork shield. The whole is mounted on a stout -polished-oak shield, size 2 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft., and surrounded by thirty -silver wreath-medallions, to be inscribed each year with the name of -the winning gun-crew’s captain. The total weight of silver used -is 146 ozs.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> A <i>Kent</i> should have been with the two Kentish admirals Rooke -and Byng at the taking of Gibraltar. She was with the fleet, but -during the bombardment was stationed to keep watch off Cape de -Gata, for the possible appearance on the scene of the French Toulon -Fleet, which Rooke fought at Malaga, a month later. From on -board the <i>Kent</i>, as the officers’ journals describe, they heard the -sound of Rooke’s guns attacking Gibraltar, and uncertain whether -the Toulon Fleet might not have got round by hugging the African -coast, and the firing be that of the fleet in action with them, the -<i>Kent</i> turned back to Gibraltar, arriving in time to witness the first -hoisting of the British flag on the fortress.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> The usual term with Europeans in the East at that time for the -“natives,” as we say nowadays.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Nelson was forty-seven when he fell; three years older than -Admiral Watson was at his death. They were both also Vice-Admirals -of the White.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> For a full account of the <i>Monmouth’s</i> midnight battle and Captain -Gardiner’s fate, see “Famous Fighters of the Fleet,” pp. 16-35.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Visitors to modern Southsea, going over what remains of the old -keep of Porchester Castle, will find scrawled all over the stonework -of the walls of the upper apartments many names of the French -prisoners of this time, with sometimes the names of their ships and -the dates of their capture added.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> A full narrative of the campaign and battle is given in “Famous -Fighters of the Fleet,” pp. 52-161.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> Mr. William Stuart, who died at Gortley, Letterkenny, in April, -1903, at the reputed age of one hundred and twenty, used often to -relate how he, as a boy, saw a British frigate arrive in Lough Swilly -towing the French captured flagship, and with Wolfe Tone among -the prisoners.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Incidentally, and to end the present story, it may be interesting -to recall to mind that the Marquess of Donegall is Hereditary Admiral -of Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the United Kingdom. The office -had a real significance formerly, for Lough Neagh in the past, well -within historic times, had a fleet of its own. Sir John Clotworthy, -the ancestor of Viscount Massereene, who lived at Antrim Castle, -had a patent for building as many vessels as might be needed for the -King’s service on Lough Neagh. His fleet set out from Antrim -Castle in 1642 to attack the Irish in their fort at Charlemont. The -battle between the fleet on the lake and the land forces resulted in the -defeat of the men on shore, with their fort, and important consequences. -The second Viscount Massereene was as strong a supporter -of William of Orange as his ancestor had been of the Stuarts. He -was made captain of Lough Neagh, and received 6s. 8d. a day, being -bound to build and maintain a gunboat on the lake. The Lough -Neagh Navy has disappeared, but the lake has still its admiral in the -Marquess of Donegall.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> Having regard to the number of foreigners on board the <i>Victory</i>, -these facts are in point. For more than fifty years previous to 1794, -foreigners were permitted by Act of Parliament to enter on board -British merchantmen trading overseas to the extent of three-quarters -of the crew. After 1794, “for the encouragement of British seamen,” -an Act was passed reducing the proportion of foreigners to one-quarter -of the ships’ companies, which, however, still left a large -number available at various places for the purposes of impressment -for the Navy. As to the “Impress Service”: in 1805, to keep up the -supplies of men, forty-three permanent stations or “rendezvous” -were maintained in Great Britain and Ireland, with an establishment -of twenty-seven captains and sixty-three lieutenants, permanently on -duty, established “in those parts of the United Kingdom where seamen -chiefly resort, at which stations volunteers and impressed men -are asked, and deserters from the Naval Service are apprehended.” -They were distributed as follows: London and Thames, two captains -and ten lieutenants; Deal and the Downs, Liverpool, and Dundee, a -captain and three lieutenants at each place; Falmouth, Hull, Cork, -Cowes, Poole, Waterford, Bristol, Londonderry, Leith, Shields, -Dublin, Portsmouth, and Gosport, a captain and two lieutenants at -each place; Newcastle, Sunderland, Yarmouth, Glasgow and -Greenock, Dunbar, Limerick, Southampton, Romsey, Exeter, Lynn, -Swansea, Folkestone, Ramsgate, Margate, Lerwick, and the Isle of -Man, a captain and one lieutenant, or a lieutenant independently, at -each place.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> How the <i>Téméraire</i> played her part at Trafalgar is fully related -in “Famous Fighters of the Fleet,” pp. 231-275.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> “Ab.” stands for Able Seaman; “Ordinary” for Ordinary -Seaman; “L.M.” for Landman or Landsmen, the lowest general -rating on board a man-of-war, comprising new and raw hands for -the most part not yet worked up into shape, though capable of deck -duties and at the guns.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Died of their wounds in the week following the battle.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> The letter was published in some of the newspapers in the last -week of December, 1805. According to the <i>Victory’s</i> muster book -there was a “James Bagley” among the Marines.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> See “The Enemy at Trafalgar” for what they witnessed from -the French and Spanish fleet; also for a Spanish picture of Collingwood’s -duel with the Spanish admiral.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> Bounce remained Collingwood’s faithful companion to the end; -all through those five long, weary years of continuous cruising -between Cadiz and the Dardanelles and off Toulon, until just before, -for the worn out, prematurely-aged warrior himself, death came at -length to close his sufferings, poor Bounce one dark night fell overboard -and was seen no more.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Trafalgar was also, as it happened, the <i>Victory’s</i> fifth fight. -Collingwood’s <i>Royal Sovereign</i> had been eighteen years launched, -and had been twice in battle. The <i>Sovereign</i> also was actually the -biggest ship in the British fleet that day, 2175 tons burthen, as compared -with the 2162 tons of the <i>Victory</i>, and the 2091 tons of the -<i>Britannia</i>. The <i>Téméraire</i>, again, was the hardest hitter in the -whole fleet, owing to the exceptionally heavy ordnance that she -carried on her upper deck. Of other ships, the <i>Agamemnon</i>, the third -oldest ship present at Trafalgar, had fought her first two battles -with Kempenfelt and Rodney—names that already had passed into -history. Other ships of Nelson’s fleet, contemporaries mostly of the -<i>Royal Sovereign</i>, had taken part in as many as four fleet battles. -Four of them had been in Lord Howe’s fleet on the “Glorious First -of June,” three at St. Vincent, five with Nelson at the Nile, three at -Copenhagen. Three of the <i>Britannia’s</i> consorts—the <i>Belleisle</i>, the -<i>Tonnant</i>, and the <i>Spartiate</i>—were French-built ships, prizes won in -battle. Two of them, indeed, had been captured by Nelson himself -at the Nile. The average age of the ships of Nelson’s Trafalgar -fleet was seventeen years, an age at which in the case of our modern-day -battleships they are reckoned as off the active list and in sight of -the sale list. Only six were less than five years old. One ship only -was, so to speak, a new ship, the <i>Revenge</i>, in October, 1805, serving -her first commission within seven months of leaving the stocks at -Chatham Dockyard.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Of the names mentioned, Mr. Johnstone may possible have been -John Johnson, an ex-midshipman, rated an A.B. in July, 1805. -Mr. Jones may have been Mr. Charles S. Jones, the captain’s coxswain. -There were sixteen Jones’s altogether on the <i>Britannia’s</i> -books, but none were among the officers, master’s mates, and midshipmen, -or the first-class volunteers. There was no Lever on board -the <i>Britannia</i> in any capacity.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291"></a>[291]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">INDEX</h2> - -</div> - -<ul> - -<li class="ifrst">“Able men,” <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Adlercron, Colonel, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Admiralty visit to Chatham 1764, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ages of the <i>Victory’s</i> crew at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ahmed Shah, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Aikenhead, J., midshipman, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Alarm at Chatham 1764, <a href="#Page_188">188-90</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Albemarle (Monk), Duke of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68-70</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Anson, Lord, Admiral, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Antigua, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Apodoca, Spanish Admiral, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Armada, Spanish, <a href="#Page_22">22-7</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Armed Associations,” <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Arrest of Wolfe Tone, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Baker, Matthew, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Baker, “Old Honest Jem,” <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Balasore Roads, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Banks of Flanders, Battles of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Barbados, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Barclay, J., Lieut., <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Barfleur, Battle off Cape, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Barham, Lord, Admiral, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bart, Jean, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bartholomew’s Day, Battle of, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Bases,” <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Basseterre Roads, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Battle Honours of H.M.S. <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Baxster, Boatswain, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Beatty, Dr., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Beauffremont, de, French Admiral, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Beeston, Sir George, Captain, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Belleisle, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Benbow, Admiral, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bengal Army, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bently, Captain, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Berryer, M., Minister of Marine, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Black Dick,” <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Blackwood, Captain, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Black Hole,” The, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Blake, Admiral, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Bloody Foreland,” <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bombay, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bomb-ketch, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bompart, Commodore, <a href="#Page_210">210-12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Borough, Captain Stephen, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Boscawen, Admiral, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Boscawen’s wig, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bouillé, de, Marquis, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Bounce,” Collingwood’s dog, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Boys, Commodore, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Braces, The, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Brereton, W., Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Brest, Attack on, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Brest Fleet, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Brett, Sir Piercey, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Brighton, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Brimstone Hill, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199-204</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292"></a>[292]</span>Bristol “runners,” <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Britannia Victrix,” <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Budge-Budge, Attack on, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bullen, Captain, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Bussy, M., <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Byng, George, Lord Torrington, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Byng, Hon. John, Admiral, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cadiz, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Calcutta, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Calcutta’s Council, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cannon-periers, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cape Finisterre, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cape St. Vincent, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cape François, Battle off, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cape Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Captain-General of the Ocean,” <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Career of the <i>Britannia</i>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Carlyle, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Casualty List of the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Celebration of Boscawen’s victory, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chacon, General, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chalmers, W., Master of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chandernagore, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112-120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Charles I, King, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Charles II, King, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Charlotte, Queen, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chastillon, de, Captain, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chatham Dockyard, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179-85</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187-90</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Chesterfield, Lord, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cinque Ports Fleet, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Clarke, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Clavell, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Clive, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Clue, de la, French Admiral, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Collingwood, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248-71</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">biography, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">G. L. Newnham, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">wounded, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Commodore Trunnion, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Comparison between the <i>Dreadnought</i> and <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Conflans, de, French Admiral, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Conn, Captain, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cook, Captain, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cooper, Commissioner, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Coote, Sir Eyre, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Copenhagen, Bombardment of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cornwall, Frederick, Captain, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cornwallis, Hon. W., Captain, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Corbett, Secretary, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Corunna Expedition, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cossimbazaar, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cotes, Admiral, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Counter-Armada,” <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Counties represented at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_229">229-32</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Counts of the Saxon shore,” <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Court-martial on Admiral Byng, <a href="#Page_163">163-5</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Crew of the <i>Victory</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Crew of the <i>Téméraire</i>, <a href="#Page_235">235-6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Crew of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, <a href="#Page_268">268-9</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Crew of the <i>Britannia</i>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Cromwell, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Crusaders at Lisbon, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Culverins, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">D’Aiguillon, Duc de, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Death of Admiral Watson, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Defence of the French <i>Centaure</i>, <a href="#Page_133">133-4</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Delamotte, Mr., master of the <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Demi-Culverins,” <a href="#Page_12">12-73</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Deptford Dockyard, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Designing the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="indx">De Spes, Spanish Ambassador, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Don John of Austria, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Donegal Bay, battle of, <a href="#Page_210">210-12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Donegal peasants, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dorset and Captain Hardy, <a href="#Page_225">225-6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dover, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dover Road Postmasters, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Drake, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22-7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Drake, Governor, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“<i>Dreadnought</i> Seamen’s Hospital,” <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293"></a>[293]</span>Duckworth, Sir J., Admiral, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dumb peal on Portsmouth bells, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dum-Dum, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Dutch raid in the Medway, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Eastern Parts,” <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Edward VI, King, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Edward VII, King, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span> ” and the <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48-50</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_1">1-5</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx">England’s darkest hour, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“English Lutheran days,” <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Espagnols-sur-Mer,” <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Essex, Earl of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Eton boat <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span> <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Eugene Aram, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Eustace, the Monk, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Evelyn, John, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ewens, Captain, of the <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Execution Deck, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Fawcons,” <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fenner, Thomas, Captain, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Figure head of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fireships, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fireships in the Hooghly, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fitz-Stephen, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fogg, Dick, Captain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fogg, Kit, Captain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Forrest, Captain, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Foreign men-of-war names translated, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Foreigners in the British fleet at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_229">229-30</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fort d’Orleans, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fortifications of Chandernagore, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fort St. George, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span> St. David, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span> William, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Four Days’ Fight,” <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67-70</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Fowlers,” <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Fraser, Brigadier, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Frederick the Great, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Fresh Men,” <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Friend Murray,” <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - -<li class="indx">French troops at Quiberon, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Frigate Bay, St. Kitts, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gardiner, Arthur, Captain, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Garrick, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Garrison of Chandernagore, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="indx">George I, King, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="indx">George III, King, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gibraltar, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gillingham (or Jillingham), Ordinary, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Golden Duke,” <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gonson, B., Treasurer, “Accompte of,” <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Goongee, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Goschen, Lord, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Grasse, de, French Admiral, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gravelines, Battle of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gravina, Spanish Admiral, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Green Point, St. Kitts, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Greenwich Hospital Mausoleum, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Greenwich Palace, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Gromets,” <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Gunlayer’s test,” H.M.S. <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Gunman, C., Captain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Guns of the <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_44">44-7</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Half Minute Council of War,” <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Halloran, L. B., Lieutenant, Royal Navy, <a href="#Page_278">278, etc.</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hamilton, W., Midshipman, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hardy, Sir T. M., Captain, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223-226</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Harvey, John, Captain, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Harvey, Henry, Captain, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hastings, Kentish flag at, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hawke, Lord, Admiral, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hawkins, Sir John, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hawley, General, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Henry VIII, King, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Herbert, Arthur (Lord Torrington), <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294"></a>[294]</span>Hervey, Lord, Captain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hey, Rawlins, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Highwaymen in 1760, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hill, Sir G., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hogge, Ralphe, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Holwell, Mr. T., <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Home Fleet Review, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hood, Sir Samuel, Admiral, <a href="#Page_192">192-207</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hooghly, City, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hooghly, River, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Horsham, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Howard, Lord, Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Howe, Lord, Admiral, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Huguenots, <a href="#Page_2">2-3</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hubert de Burgh, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Hyderabad, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Invasion of England, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Iron Marquis,” The, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Islands Voyage,” <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Isle of Wight, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ives, surgeon of the <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Jack the Painter,” <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Jamaica, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx">James I, King, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">James II, King, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">James, Duke of York, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Jervis, Sir John (Earl St. Vincent), Admiral, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Johnson’s <i>Dictionary</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175-6</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“K” Brand, Dantzic, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Kent claims the first blow,” <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kent County Shield, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Kentish Menne in Front,” <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Kentish Rising,” <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kentish ragstone cannon-balls, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kedgeree, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Keppel, Commodore, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kilpatrick, Major, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Kinnoull, Lord, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - -<li class="indx">King, Sir Richard, Captain, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lagos Bay, Battle of, <a href="#Page_136">136-9</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Langdon, Captain, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="indx">La Tour D’Auvergne, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Launch of the <i>Britannia</i>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Launch of the first <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14-18</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Launch of Collingwood’s <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_38">38-9</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Launch of H.M.S. <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Launches, royal, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lawson, M., <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Legge, George, Lord Dartmouth, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lepanto, Battle of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Letter from H.M.S. <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Letter from a <i>Victory</i> marine, <a href="#Page_245">245-6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Letter to Suraj-w-daulah, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Letters from Collingwood’s flagship, <a href="#Page_269">269-71</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Letters from the <i>Britannia</i>, <a href="#Page_275">275-81</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ligonier, Viscount, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lloyd’s Policies, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lock, Master-Shipwright, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Log of the <i>Britannia</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Log of the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_242">242-3</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span> <i>Warspite</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137-8</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Longsword, William, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lord High Admiral, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Louis XIV, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Louis XV and Quiberon, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Louisbourg, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">McCleverty, Captain, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Madras, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mahan, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Maidstone, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Maids of Kent, Flag from, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Malcolm, Sir John, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Malcolm, Sir Pulteney, Captain, <a href="#Page_214">214-219</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Malleson, Colonel, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Malmsey, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Manikchand, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Marlborough, Duke of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Marshals in the French Navy, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Marshmen, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mary Norwood’s Execution, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mary Stuart, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295"></a>[295]</span>“Maryners,” <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Marston Moor, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Martin, Sir T. B., Admiral of the Fleet, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mathews, Admiral, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mayapore, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Medina Sidonia, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Mediterranean” Byng, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Men and Manners in 1758, <a href="#Page_175">175-7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Men of Kent and Kentish Men,” <a href="#Page_52">52-5</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Militia Camps, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Minden, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Minorca, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Mir Jafier, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Monument to Admiral Watson, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Moors,” <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Moorshedabad, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Morbihan, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Mother of the Maids,” <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Musée de Marine, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Murray, Geo., Captain, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Naming of the <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14-18</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Naming of the <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span> ” <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_184">184-6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Naval Estimates of 1759, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nawab, Vizier of Bengal, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nelson, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222-4</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nelson and the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_222">222-3</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="ditto">”</span>Monument, Portsdown, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nelson’s “Dreadnought” sword, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nelson’s “happiest day,” <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nile, battle of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Newfoundland “disturbance,” <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Nevis, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> - -<li class="indx">North Cape, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">North Devon, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">North-East Monsoon, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - -<li class="indx">North Foreland, Battle off, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="indx">North Sea Packets, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Northesk, Earl of, Admiral, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Officers of the <i>Britannia</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_282">282-8</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Officers of the <i>Royal Sovereign</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Officers of the <i>Victory</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Old Dreadnought,” <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Old Ironsides,” <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Old London Bridge, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Old Pretender,” the, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Old Single Dock, Chatham, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Omichand, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Opdam, Dutch Admiral, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Order to build the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_181">181-2</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Order naming the <i>Donegal</i>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Orme, Indian historian, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Party Politics and the Navy, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Passaro, Cape, Battle of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Peasants of the Weald, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pepys, Samuel, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Perreau, S., Lieut., <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pett, Phineas, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pett, Peter, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Philip II, King of Spain, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pigott, Governor, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pitt, Lord Chatham, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Plan of attack at Chandernagore, <a href="#Page_112">112-13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Plassey, the sailors’ part at, <a href="#Page_121">121-2</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pocock, Sir G., Admiral, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Pompadour, Madame de, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Porchester Castle, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Portisham, Hardy’s birthplace, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Portland Bill, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Porto Bello, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Portsmouth in the Seven Years’ War, <a href="#Page_161">161-77</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Port-pieces,” <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Port Royal, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Prescott, General, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Presentation to H.M.S. <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52-5</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Presentation to H.M.S. <i>Donegal</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220-1</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Press-gang, working of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296"></a>[296]</span>“Prencipall Master,” <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Puritan method of naming the Navy, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71-3</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Quebec, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Quiberon Bay, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Recalde, J. M. de, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Refugees from Calcutta, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Regiments named—</li> -<li class="isub1">1st Royals, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> -<li class="isub1">13th Foot, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> -<li class="isub1">15th Foot, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> -<li class="isub1">28th Foot, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> -<li class="isub1">39th Foot, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> -<li class="isub1">69th Foot, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> -<li class="isub1">Royal Artillery, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Relics of the Trafalgar <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Renault de St. Germain (Governor of Chandernagore), <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rescue of Spaniards after Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rivalry between the <i>Victory</i> and <i>Royal Sovereign</i> at Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rochelle Expedition, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rochfort, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rodney, Sir G., Admiral, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rodney’s report on the disaffection in the West Indies, <a href="#Page_202">202-204</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rooke, Sir George, Admiral, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rotherham, E., Captain, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Rupert, Prince, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ruyter de, Dutch Admiral, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“St. James’s Day Fight,” <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="indx">St. Vincent—Nelson in action, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> - -<li class="indx">St. Lo, Commodore, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Sabran de, French Captain, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Sailor’s devotion at Collingwood’s funeral, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Saker,” <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Santa Cruz, Marquis de, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Saxton, Sir C., Commissioner, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ships of Kent, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Ships—</li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Achates</i>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Achille</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Aid</i> or <i>Ayde</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Aigle</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Alfred</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>America</i>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Arethusa</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Ark Royal</i>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Augusta</i>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Asia</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Barfleur</i>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Belleisle</i>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Berwick</i>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Blaze</i>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Bridgewater</i>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Britannia</i>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Brunswick</i>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Bucentaure</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Canada</i>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Canterbury</i>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Centaure</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Centurion</i>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Chatham</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Childers</i>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Commonwealth</i>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Conqueror</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Cumberland</i>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Deal Castle</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Defiance</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Deptford</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dieu Repulse</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Donegal</i>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214-20</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dorsetshire</i>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dover</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dragon</i>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4-9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11-51</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dunbar</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Dunkirk</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Edinburgh</i>, <a href="#Page_31">31-33</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>El Rayo</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Elizabeth</i>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Elizabeth Jonas</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Eltham</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Entreprenante</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Essex</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297"></a>[297]</span><i>Euryalus</i>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Faversham</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Fidelle</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Fier</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Folkestone</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Formidable</i>, <a href="#Page_141">141-3</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Foudroyant</i>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Fougueux</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Gibraltar</i>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Great Harry</i>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Greenwich</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Greenwich</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Guernsey</i>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Guerrière</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Hampshire</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Henry</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Hoche</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Impérial</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Implacable</i>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Indomptable</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Indus II</i>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Intrépide</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Invincible</i>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Jersey</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Joli</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Jupiter</i>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87-92</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113-18</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Kentish</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Kingfisher</i>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Leviathan</i>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Licorne</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Lion</i>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>London</i>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Luxborough</i> galley, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Magnanime</i>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Maidstone</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Margate</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Marston Moor</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Marlborough</i>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Mary Rose</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Medway</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Meleager</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Minerve</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Montagu</i>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Modeste</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Monarque</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Monmouth</i>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Mutine</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Namur</i>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Naseby</i>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Neptune</i>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Newbury</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Nymphe</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Ocean</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Opiniâtre</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Orphèe</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Outarde</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Prince of Wales</i>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Principe de Asturias</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Protector</i>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Prudent</i>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Pluton</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Queen Charlotte</i>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Queen</i>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Queenborough</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Ramillies</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Redoutable</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Renommée</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Resolution</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151-3</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Revenge</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Repulse</i>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Royal Anne</i>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Royal Charles</i>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Royal George</i>, <a href="#Page_152">152-4</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Royal Prince</i>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Royal Sovereign</i>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251-8</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267-71</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Royal William</i>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Rochester</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Romney</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>St. Albans</i>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>St. George</i>, <a href="#Page_163">163-5</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>St. Vincent</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Salisbury</i>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113-15</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Sandwich</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Josef</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Juan Nepomuceno</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Juan de Compostella</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Justo</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Leandro</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Nicolas</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>San Vincente</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298"></a>[298]</span><i>Sans Pareil</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Santa Anna</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251-7</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Santisima Trinidad</i> (Sp.), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Sauvage</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Sceptre</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Shannon</i>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Sheerness</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Soleil Royal</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Solebay</i>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Souverain</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Sovereign of the Seas</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Superb</i>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Sussex</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Swallow</i>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Swiftsure</i>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Téméraire</i>, <a href="#Page_126">126-9</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Thesèe</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Thunder</i>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Torrington</i>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Tredagh</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Triumph</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Turquoise</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Tyger</i>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95-7</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Vanguard</i>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Vengeur</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Vernon</i>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Ville de Paris</i> (Fr.), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Warspite</i>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Weazle</i>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Woolwich</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>Worcester</i>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> -<li class="isub1"><i>York</i>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Shirley, Governor, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Shoreditch, Midshipman, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Shot, Sussex iron, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Shovell, Sir Cloudesley, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Slade, Sir T., <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Sluys, Battle of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Smith, Sir Sidney, Admiral, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Smith, Collingwood’s valet, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Soldiers at Portsmouth, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Solebay, Battle of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Spert, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Speke, Flag-Captain, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Speke, Midshipman, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Spragge, Sir E., Admiral, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Standard at the Main, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Standing Cup, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Stanhope, Countess, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Stanton, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Strahan, of the <i>Kent</i>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Suckling, M., Captain, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Suraj-u-daulah, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tagus, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tanna, Fort at, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Tars of the Tyne!” <a href="#Page_267">267-8</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Teneriffe, St. Cruz, etc., <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Terraneau, de, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Theatricals on board the <i>Britannia</i>, <a href="#Page_284">284-9</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Thackeray on Collingwood, <a href="#Page_265">265-6</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“The Wonderful Year,” <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Thierri, Pilot, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Thompson, Sir T. B., Captain, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Three sailors on a raft, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Thunderbolt of War,” <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tilbury camp, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Timber for the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_180">180-1</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><i>Times</i>, origin of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tone, Wolfe, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213-14</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Torbay, fortifications at, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Toulon Fleet, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Toulon, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tourville, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Tower Wharf “Bynns,” <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Trafalgar, Battle of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215-19</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Treachery in the West Indies, <a href="#Page_200">200-3</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Trincomalee, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Trinidad, Capture of, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299"></a>[299]</span>Turner, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Verger, Cte. de, French Admiral, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Vernon, Admiral, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Victoria, Queen, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Vigo Street, London, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Villeneuve, Admiral, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Visits to the <i>Victory</i> after Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_245">245-7</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Visit to the first <i>Dreadnought</i>, <a href="#Page_9">9-14</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Vizagapatam, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Volunteers on board the <i>Victory</i>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wager, Sir Charles, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Walpole, Horace, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Walter, Mr. John, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Walton, Captain, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“War of Jenkins’ Ear,” <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Warren, Sir J. B., Admiral, <a href="#Page_211">211-13</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Watson, Charles, Admiral, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Weald of Kent, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Wells, John, Midshipman, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> - -<li class="indx">“Western Ports,” <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="indx">William III, King, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Wine Vaults of Corunna, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Wolfe, General, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="indx">Woodcot, T., “Prest-master,” <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - -</ul> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center larger">A HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION -OF THE ROYAL NAVY -AND OF MERCHANT SHIPPING -IN RELATION TO THE NAVY</p> - -<p class="center">From 1509 to 1660</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By M. OPPENHEIM</span></p> - -<p class="center">With an Introduction treating of the earlier period</p> - -<p class="center"><i>With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. <b>15s.</b> net</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p><b>Times.</b>—“Full of historic detail of great interest and novelty -derived from a variety of documentary sources hitherto unexplored.”</p> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“The first thing that will strike the reader of -the ‘History’ is the extreme amount of original research which -is embodied in it.”</p> - -<p><b>Daily News.</b>—“This admirable first volume of an exhaustive -work.... The subject has never been dealt with adequately -by any previous historian.... All students of English naval -history will look forward with eagerness to Mr. Oppenheim’s -subsequent volumes.”</p> - -<p><b>Pall Mall Gazette.</b>—“This is a wholly admirable book. It -is based upon patient and careful work done in this much-neglected -subject for the first time. The mass of information -he has gathered and digested is simply appalling.... Though -the subject sounds an astonishingly dry one, Mr. Oppenheim has -managed to make it interesting.... He is impartial and -exhaustive, and in his investigations sheds very considerable sidelight -upon various debatable points in English history.”</p> - -<p><b>Army and Navy Gazette.</b>—“One of the most important contributions -to naval history lately issued from the press.... -Hitherto naval histories have avowedly been devoted to executive -operations, and never before have we had a history concerned -with that organisation which renders executive operations possible.... -Mr. Oppenheim’s knowledge of his special subject is unrivalled, -and he is admirable in the careful and exhaustive manner -in which he deals with the details of it. These are marshalled -with consummate skill. We shall look with interest for the -appearance of his next volume.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center larger"><span class="smaller">THE</span><br /> -SPANISH CONQUEST IN AMERICA</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By SIR ARTHUR HELPS</span></p> - -<p class="center">Edited, with an Introduction, Maps, and Notes, by</p> - -<p class="center">M. OPPENHEIM</p> - -<p class="center"><i>In Four Volumes. Crown 8vo. <b>3s. 6d.</b> net each</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p><b>Athenæum.</b>—“A handsome reprint.... Mr. Oppenheim has -provided a sensible and suggestive introduction and additional -notes of a useful type. We are glad to see he does not join in the -wholesale condemnation of Spanish rule in America that is -common among ill-informed writers.”</p> - -<p><b>Literature.</b>—“A book, apart from its literary value, of great -interest in the history of the dealings of conquering civilised -nations with aborigines.”</p> - -<p><b>Spectator.</b>—“A very welcome new edition. The book has -a singular charm of its own. It catches that romance, that -strange mixture of brightness and melancholy, which belongs to -all early American history.... Sir Arthur Helps’s literary -enthusiasm and his charming touch were made to deal with such -a subject.... The introduction is very interesting, and the -maps, a new feature of this edition, are quite invaluable to a -student of early American history.”</p> - -<p><b>Saturday Review.</b>—“The publisher is wisely bringing out a -new edition of a standard work. Mr. Oppenheim has written a -judicious introduction.”</p> - -<p><b>Literary World.</b>—“The editor of the volume before us—we -await with pleasure the three that are to follow—has written an -illuminative introduction, but that is the least of his contributions. -Many notes, additional or corrective, greatly add to the value of -this edition, and, a most important concession to practical usefulness, -Helps’s notes, when consisting of quotations in foreign -tongues, have been translated.”</p> - -<p><b>Literary World</b> (<i>re</i> Vol. II.).—“In all that goes to make a -book pleasant to eye and hand it leaves nothing to be desired.... -Our renewal of long-time acquaintance warrants a hearty -recommendation of this best edition of the ‘Spanish Conquest.’ -In it intrinsic worth and literary excellence are supplemented -by the capable work and business enterprise of editor and -publisher.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p class="center larger">JANE AUSTEN’S<br /> -SAILOR BROTHERS</p> - -<p class="center">By J. H. and F. C. HUBBACK</p> - -<p class="center">Being the Life and Adventures of Sir Francis -Austen, <span class="allsmcap">G.C.B.</span>, Admiral of the Fleet, -and Rear-Admiral Charles Austen.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net.</i></p> - -<p class="center">PRESS OPINIONS.</p> - -<p><b>Daily Telegraph.</b>—“This pleasant book ... an unpretentious -but really interesting volume; a volume which, although its chief -attractions are literary, has also distinct value for its glimpses of -life abroad during the early years of the nineteenth century ... a -capital series of portraits and facsimiles.”</p> - -<p><b>Daily Chronicle.</b>—“It is a pleasant picture this book gives of -English life a hundred years ago ... clear-cut little pictures of -what it meant to serve the king at sea in the days when Napoleon -was pictured in the imagination of all British subjects as waiting to -spring like a tiger across the ‘ruffled strip of salt.’”</p> - -<p><b>Morning Post.</b>—“Contains many letters from Jane Austen and -the sailors, a number of interesting portraits, so that this volume -may be welcomed as an important addition to Austeniana; but it is -besides valuable for its glimpses of life in the Navy, its illustrations -of the feelings and sentiments of naval officers during the period -that preceded and that which followed the great battle of just one -century ago.”</p> - -<p><b>Westminster Gazette.</b>—“The worshipping company of dear -Jane’s friends will, without a doubt, hail this volume with -unmixed delight.”</p> - -<p><b>Pall Mall Gazette.</b>—“In this timely issued book we get a -tolerably clear idea of the home life of the Austens, and of life in -the Navy in the opening years of the nineteenth century.”</p> - -<p><b>Daily News.</b>—“A very interesting book ... much interesting -historical matter. The illustrations from portraits and original -drawings are excellent.... It deserves to be read for the fascinating -glimpses it gives of life at sea under our great admirals in eighteen -hundred, and war time.”</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center larger">NAPOLEONIC LITERATURE</p> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>NAPOLEON AND THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. -By <span class="smcap">H. F. B. Wheeler</span> and <span class="smcap">A. M. Broadley</span>, Author of -“The Three Dorset Captains at Trafalgar,” etc. With 108 -Illustrations (8 in colours). 2 vols. 32s. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. By <span class="smcap">Oscar Browning</span>, -Author of “The Boyhood and Youth of Napoleon.” With -numerous Illustrations. 10s. 6d. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>THE BOYHOOD AND YOUTH OF NAPOLEON. -Some Chapters on the Early Life of Buonaparte, 1769-1793. -By <span class="smcap">Oscar Browning</span>. With Portraits. Crown 8vo. 5s. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>THE DUKE OF REICHSTADT. A Biography -compiled from new sources of information. By <span class="smcap">Edward de -Wertheimer</span>. With numerous Illustrations, 2 Photogravure -Portraits, and a Facsimile Letter. Demy 8vo. 21s. net. -2nd Edition.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>WOMEN OF THE SECOND EMPIRE. Chronicles -of the Court of Napoleon III. By <span class="smcap">Frederic Loliée</span>. -Translated by <span class="smcap">Alice Ivimy</span>. With an Introduction by -<span class="smcap">Richard Whiteing</span>. 51 Portraits, 3 in Photogravure. -Demy 8vo. 21s. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>MEMOIRS OF THE COUNT DE CARTRIE. -A Record of the Extraordinary Events in the Life of a French -Royalist during the War in La Vendée, and of his Flight to -Southampton, where he followed the Humble Occupation of -Gardener. With an Introduction by <span class="smcap">Frédéric Masson</span>, -Appendices and Notes by <span class="smcap">Pierre Amédée Pichot</span> and -others, and numerous Illustrations, including a Photogravure -Portrait of the Author. Demy 8vo. 16s. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>NAPOLEON’S CONQUEST OF PRUSSIA, 1806. -By <span class="smcap">F. Loraine Petre</span>, Author of “Napoleon’s Campaign in -Poland, 1806-1807.” With an Introduction by <span class="smcap">Field-Marshal -Earl Roberts</span>, K.G., V.C., etc. With numerous Maps, Battle -Plans, Portraits, and other Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>NAPOLEON’S CAMPAIGN IN POLAND, 1806-1807. -By <span class="smcap">F. Loraine Petre</span>. A Military History of Napoleon’s -First War with Russia, verified from unpublished official -documents. With Maps and Plans. New Edition. Demy 8vo. -12s. 6d. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p>RALPH HEATHCOTE. Letters of a Young Diplomatist -and Soldier during the Time of Napoleon, giving an Account -of the Dispute between the Emperor and the Elector of Hesse. -By <span class="smcap">Countess Günther Gröben</span>. 20 Illustrations. Demy -8vo. 12s. 6d. net.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center">BY EDWARD FRASER</p> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p class="center larger">THE<br /> -ENEMY AT TRAFALGAR</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Illustrated. Price</i> <b>16s.</b></p> - -<p class="center">EXTRACTS FROM PRESS NOTICES</p> - -<p>“The idea of the book is ‘to render tribute to the gallant men -at whose expense Nelson achieved fame,’ and this idea is admirably -realized.”—<span class="smcap">Times.</span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Fraser has achieved the apparently impossible feat of -presenting the battle of Trafalgar to the British public from an -entirely new point of view.”—<span class="smcap">Morning Post.</span></p> - -<p>“Its dramatic pages cannot fail to be of absorbing interest.”—<span class="smcap">Daily -Telegraph.</span></p> - -<p>“It indirectly adds to the glory of the victory.”—<span class="smcap">Daily Graphic.</span></p> - -<p>“The tone and spirit of the book are worthy of the two nations -whose death-grip in 1805 has at last resulted in the embrace of -friendship.”—<span class="smcap">Daily Chronicle.</span></p> - -<p>“A notable and most fascinating addition to the literature of -the grand deliverance.”—<span class="smcap">Globe.</span></p> - -<p>“The book has a strong and lively interest for general readers -who like to find in true stories things more sensational and strange -than come within the invention of romance.”—<span class="smcap">Scotsman.</span></p> - -<p>“This fascinating and useful book.”—<span class="smcap">Saturday Review.</span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Fraser has discovered a gap in our knowledge, and filled -it in a very interesting manner.”—<span class="smcap">Athenæum.</span></p> - -<p>“English history would gain if there were more books like -Mr. Fraser’s.”—<span class="smcap">Manchester Guardian.</span></p> - -<p>“There is a manly ring about the honest enthusiasm that pervades -the pages of this bulky volume, and it is not possible to read them -without being carried away by it.”—<span class="smcap">Graphic.</span></p> - -<p>“A series of tableaux and portraits which are as vivid as they are -important.”—<span class="smcap">Royal Navy List.</span></p> - -<p>“To say that the work is interesting is to pay it a poor -compliment. It is interesting and instructive, and, above all, it -breaks new ground.”—<span class="smcap">Irish Times.</span></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center">BY EDWARD FRASER</p> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p class="center larger">FAMOUS FIGHTERS<br /> -OF THE FLEET</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Illustrated. Price</i> <b>6s.</b></p> - -<p class="center">EXTRACTS FROM PRESS NOTICES</p> - -<p>“A graphic and instructive book.”—<span class="smcap">Times.</span></p> - -<p>“We heartily commend the book.”—<span class="smcap">Standard.</span></p> - -<p>“Full of life and action.”—<span class="smcap">Daily Telegraph.</span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Fraser has told the story clearly and vividly. His book -is a good book.”—<span class="smcap">Morning Post.</span></p> - -<p>“It is just such history as this that goes to make patriotism.”—<span class="smcap">Daily Graphic.</span></p> - -<p>“It will help all who read it to realise upon what a foundation -of solid glory our present Navy is built up.”—<span class="smcap">Daily Chronicle.</span></p> - -<p>“Full of rich narrative quality and the stuff that moves the blood -to new patriotism and new hopes.”—<span class="smcap">Pall Mall Gazette.</span></p> - -<p>“A volume teeming with romance, adventure, excitement; the -picturesque detail of personal heroism.”—<span class="smcap">Globe.</span></p> - -<p>“Admirably forcible and clear.”—<span class="smcap">Spectator.</span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Fraser’s book is one to live.”—<span class="smcap">Athenæum.</span></p> - -<p>“These are noble stories and Mr. Fraser tells them admirably.”—<span class="smcap">Guardian.</span></p> - -<p>“More attractive than any imaginary narrative.”—<span class="smcap">British Weekly.</span></p> - -<p>“It stirs the blood to read.”—<span class="smcap">Literary World.</span></p> - -<p>“Brisk, strong, and spirited, full of the subtle flavour of the -past, and crammed from cover to cover with picturesque incident -brilliantly told.”—<span class="smcap">Navy League Journal.</span></p> - -<p>“It combines in admirable form matters of present-day interest -and historic renown.”—<span class="smcap">Leeds Mercury.</span></p> - -<p>“It will be read with a keen zest by everyone.”—<span class="smcap">Scotsman.</span></p> - -<p>“The reader is made to feel like an actual spectator.”—<span class="smcap">Dundee Advertiser.</span></p> - -<p>“Admirers of dashing bravery on the high seas will find delight -in Mr. Fraser’s volume.”—<span class="smcap">New York Daily Tribune.</span></p> - -<p>“All capital yarns, chock-full of salt, sulphur, and saltpetre.”—<span class="smcap">The Nation</span> (U.S.A.).</p> - -<p>“Fraser’s Buch lässt nicht zu wünschen.”—<span class="smcap">Allgemeine Sport-Zeitung.</span></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 190px;"> -<img src="images/ad.jpg" width="190" height="300" alt="GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM THE GOSPELS" /> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<div class="box"> - -<p class="center larger">THE LIBRARY OF<br /> -GOLDEN THOUGHTS</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Pott 8vo (6 × 3¾ in.)</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Bound in Cloth. Price 1s. net</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Bound in Leather. Price 2s. net</i></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">First Volumes</span></p> - -<ul> -<li>GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM THE GOSPELS</li> -<li>GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM THOREAU</li> -<li>GOLDEN THOUGHTS FROM SIR THOS. BROWNE</li> -</ul> - -<p>Printed upon a paper specially manufactured for the -series, with end papers and cover design by Charles -Ricketts, and border designs by Laurence Housman. Each -volume has a frontispiece, and is bound in a manner which -will recommend the series specially appropriate for presents.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">JOHN LANE, The Bodley Head, Vigo St., London, W.</span></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="ad-box"> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center larger">Flowers of Parnassus</p> - -<p class="center"><i>A Series of Famous Poems Illustrated</i></p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Under the General Editorship of Francis Coutts</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center"><i>Size 5½ × 4½ in., gilt top</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Bound in Cloth. Price 1s. net</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>Bound in Leather. Price 1s. 6d. net</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="box-bottom"> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">List of Volumes</span></p> - -<ul> -<li>GRAY’S ELEGY AND ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE</li> -<li>BROWNING’S THE STATUE AND THE BUST</li> -<li>STEPHEN PHILLIPS’ MARPESSA</li> -<li>ROSSETTI’S THE BLESSED DAMOZEL</li> -<li>THE NUT-BROWN MAID</li> -<li>TENNYSON’S DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN</li> -<li>TENNYSON’S DAY DREAM</li> -<li>SUCKLING’S A BALLADE UPON A WEDDING</li> -<li>FITZGERALD’S RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM</li> -<li>POPE’S THE RAPE OF THE LOCK</li> -<li>WATTS-DUNTON’S CHRISTMAS AT THE MERMAID</li> -<li>BLAKE’S SONGS OF INNOCENCE</li> -<li>SHELLEY’S THE SENSITIVE PLANT</li> -<li>KEATS’S ISABELLA: OR THE POT OF BASIL</li> -<li>WATSON’S WORDSWORTH’S GRAVE</li> -<li>RELIQUES OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON</li> -<li>MILTON’S LYCIDAS</li> -<li>WORDSWORTH’S TINTERN ABBEY</li> -<li>LONGFELLOW’S THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP</li> -<li>WATSON’S THE TOMB OF BURNS</li> -<li>A LITTLE CHILD’S WREATH</li> -<li>MORRIS’S THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE</li> -<li>HOGG’S KILMENY</li> -<li>TENNYSON’S MAUD</li> -<li>DAVIDSON’S THE BALLAD OF A NUN</li> -<li>WORDSWORTH’S RESOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE</li> -<li>THE SONG OF SONGS, WHICH IS SOLOMON’S</li> -</ul> - -</div> - -<div class="box"> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">JOHN LANE, The Bodley Head, Vigo St., London, W.</span></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/ad.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/ad.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3a8a705..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/ad.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4475235..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus1.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4149b67..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus10.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus10.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b87a2d9..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus10.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus11.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus11.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8b633d6..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus11.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus12.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus12.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 16805e0..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus12.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus13-full.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus13-full.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 15385e9..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus13-full.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus13.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus13.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2d92f93..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus13.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus14-full.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus14-full.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8e24541..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus14-full.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus14.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus14.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7240ebb..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus14.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus15.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus15.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 24a9d87..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus15.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus16-full.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus16-full.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1ce66e7..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus16-full.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus16.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus16.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 75121d1..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus16.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus17.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus17.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4747cc0..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus17.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus18.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus18.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f746742..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus18.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus19.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus19.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a2ca6f1..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus19.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus2.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cbed031..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus20.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus20.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 996ecb9..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus20.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus21.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus21.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 464451b..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus21.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus22.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus22.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b3d5d25..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus22.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus23.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus23.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d529b4d..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus23.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus3.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9b61730..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus3.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus4-full.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus4-full.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4210674..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus4-full.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus4.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus4.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1e97519..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus4.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus5.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus5.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a8e9b63..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus5.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus6.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus6.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b2d9d3e..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus6.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus7.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus7.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cae625f..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus7.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus8.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus8.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 166fd6b..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus8.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/65978-h/images/illus9.jpg b/old/65978-h/images/illus9.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 521f0a8..0000000 --- a/old/65978-h/images/illus9.jpg +++ /dev/null |
