SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

ALBEMARLE TO HAWKE

eALLENBIR

"T^LE-WIMIIYIEI^SflTrY"

Bought with the income
ofthe
Thomas Hooker Fund

SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

Vain, mightiest fleets of iron framed ;
Vain those all-shattering guns ;
Unless proud England keep, untamed,
The strong heart of her sons!
Sir Francis Hastings Doyle.

SEA KINGS OF
BRITAIN ALBEMARLE TO HAWKE

G. A. R. CALLENDER, B.A,
POYAL NAVAL COLLEGE, OKBORNE

WITH ,\J.4PS .IND PLANS

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1909
1-i ll rights reserved^

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
HAWKINS, DRAKE, HOWARD,
GRENVILLE, BLAKE.
WITH 14 MAPS AND PLANS.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.,
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA.

PREFACE
THE following pages contain short lives of the great
Admirals from the death of Blake to the birth of
Nelson. In writing them I have had before me a leaflet
on Naval History issued for the information of Midshipmen.
" Study is to be directed," it says, " to a clear understanding
of the events leading to . . . war ; the influence of foreign
policy on the operations of the several campaigns ; the articles
of peace ; the general plan on which the war was conducted ;
the operations of the Naval and Military forces in so far as
they are related ; the defence and attack of commerce,
and its influence on the main operations ; and any progress
in organization, tactics, or ship design which are features of
the period under review." The present work makes no
claim to be considered an exhaustive treatise. It is put
forward as a simple introduction to the History of the Navy,
which may pave the way to a closer investigation along
the lines of the scheme prescribed.
No volume dealing with the present subject would be
complete without a profession of homage to Sir J. Knox
Laughton. To Mr. Julian Corbett also I acknowledge
myself deeply indebted : without the guidance derived
from his works, this volume could hardly have been under
taken. To Mr. C. Godfrey^ Mr. L. B. Corbett, Mr. W. L.
Bunting and other friends I desire to return hearty thanks
for the benefit of their kind advice while my sheets were
passing through the press.
G. A. R. C.

CONTENTS

ALBEMARLEROOKE
BENBOWVERNONANSONHAWKE
INDEX

PAGE I
38

189
291

LIST OF MAPS AND FLANS

THE FOUR days' BATTLE: FIRST DAY, JUNE I, 1666 .
THE FOUR days' BATTLE : SECOND DAY, JUNE 2, 1666
CHANNELS LEADING FROM THE NORE TO THE OPEN SEA
THE BATTLE OF SOLEBAY. MAY 28, 1672
THE UNITED PROVINCES 
THE BATTLE OF THE TEXEL. AUGUST II, 1673 .
THE BATTLE OF BEACHY HEAD. JUNE 30, 169O
THE BATTLE OF BARFLEUR. MAY Ig, l6g2 .
LA HOGUE .........
VIGO BAY. OCTOBER 12, I7O2 
GIBRALTAR AND VICINITY ......
PORTO pELLO. NOVEMBER 21, 1739 ....
CARTHAGENA. I74I 
MAP TO ILLUSTRATE ANSON's VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
THE PHILIPPINES AND LADRONES 
THE BATTLE .OF TOULON. FEBRUARY II, I744
NORTH AMERICA, 1750 
THE BATTLE OF MINORCA. MAY 20, 1756 .
ROCHEFORT. 1757 
LOUISBURG. 1758 
QUEBEC. 1759 
QUIBERON BAY AND THE COAST OF BRITTANY

PAGE 19
2132 43
47 51 71
78 80
94
IOI 140
147 15H168 ig6
212 221 239
253 259281

When we read of the deeds that our fathers wrought.
Let us pray for their spirit, disdaining to brag;
That when called to fight as of old they fought.
We may know how to fight
For the Flag,
How to fight and die for the Flag.

SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

ALBEMARLE
BORN 1608  DIED 1670
An honest Man's the noblest work of God. — Pope.
The Duke of Albemarle demeaned himself in such a manner to the prince
he had obliged, as never to seem to overvalue the services of George Monk. —
Charles II.
WHEN George Monk took his stand on the beach at Dover
on 26th May, 1660, he did so not as a Dictator about to
abdicate his powers, not as a rival envious of fortune's favourite,
not as a privileged subordinate willing to allow to another the
shadow of authority while retaining for himself the substance : he
stood there to voice the desires of his country, to personate her
loyalty. England reposed implicit trust in him, and did so not in
vain, for even by the confession of his enemies the restorer of
monarchy never betrayed a trust, or broke his word.
In the desperate days of exile Charles had sent a warm appeal
to the Governor of Scotland. His punishment, if merited, he
could have borne in silence, but its injustice cried aloud to the
land that loved the Stuarts, and to the man who had fought and
suffered for their cause. Promptly and without comment Monk
sent the letter on to the Protector, whose estimate of his loyalty
needed no confirmation. Later, when the clouds lowered and
Cromwell himself liked not the atmosphere, men persuaded him
that the general was playing false. The humour of the suggestion
appealed irresistibly to the Protector, and before the jest lost its
savour he wrote as follows to his deputy : " There be that tell me
there is a certain cunning fellow in Scotland called George Monk,
B

2 • SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
who is said to be in wait there to introduce Charles Stuart ; I
pray use your diligence to apprehend him, and send him up to
me."* The death of Cromwell laid the way open for Monk. The
baton of the Lord Protector dropped at his feet, and was his
for the picking up. But behind the form of government was the
England that he served. Martial law was now distasteful to her,
and the faithful soldier proclaimed its dissolution. Monk set self
aside, if he ever thought of self, and on this happy May-Day waited
at Dover for the King.
Attended by Admiral Montagu, who had brought him over in
the Royal Charles, the King came ashore. " The general received
him with becoming duty, but His Majesty embraced him with an
affection so absolutely entire and vehement, as higher could not be
expressed by a Prince to a subject; he embraced and kissed him."
Monk took the kiss sedately, and introduced Mr. Mayor, who
offered a Bible for His Majesty's acceptance. His Majesty, winning
all hearts by a gracious reference to the Father who had called him
home, accepted the proifered gift which he described as that which
of all things on earth he loved the most. And so amid thronging
and adormg crowds the King came to his own again, and passed
to London, "the bells ringing and the people with the loudest
acclamations welcoming him and praying for him ; the young
virgins strowing the way with herbs and flowers and all the gaieties
that art, nature or cost could provide."
As he rested at Canterbury upon his way the King conferred
upon his greatest subject the Order of the Garter. Afterwards he
allotted Sir George the estate of Newhall in Essex with a yearly
revenue of seven thousand pounds, called him to be a member of
his Privy Council, appointed him a Gentleman of the Bedchamber
and Master of the Horse, created him Captain-General of the
Forces, and Lord-Lieutenant of the counties of Middlesex and
Devonshire, made him Lord of the Treasury, and Viceroy of Ire
land, and raised him to the peerage as Baron Monk of Potheridge,
Beauchamp and Tees, Earl of Torrington, and Duke of Albe
marle. * Monk had a horror of political letters. When he opened communications
with the exiled prince, he bade his couriers learn their messages by heart.
It is true that he could not trust himself to spell, but this was not his reason.

ALBEMARLE 3
If the coming of the King had ended Monk's career nothing
could have been more appropriate. The men of his day were
gone. The reign of the Puritan was over. New faces were about
the throne. Looser fashions replaced the old. The Duke him
self had served in many capacities. He had acquired fame alike
as Admiral, General and Administrator. His politic great deed set
men debating of his statesmanship as if all else were merely ac
cidental. He had done all things well and needed rest. But his
self-negation endeared him to people and to King ; and his deeds
proclaimed him guardian of the throne. Rest was impossible for
such a one.

The Restoration was accompanied by a political change upon
the continent, less striking perhaps but equally significant. The
intervention of England in the struggle, which the two leading
powers had maintained untiringly ever since the close of the Thirty
Years' War, had in 1659 brought a tardy cessation of hostilities at
the Peace of the Pyrenees.* This treaty marked a definite step
in the decadence of Spain. The defeat of the Armada had for
ever destroyed her claim to a world-wide empire ; the Peace of the
Pyrenees destroyed her claim to be regarded as the most important
power in the narrower limits of Europe. But if the treaty ruined
the fabric of the Spanish Hapsburgs, it established the edifice
which Richelieu and Mazarin had raised in France. Richelieu,
the architect, had planned the building which was to overtop
all others in Western Europe : Mazarin, the master-builder, had
reached the coping-stone. At home the monarchy had trampled
down the envious noblesse; abroad the armies of France had
triumphed gloriously. There was no power in continental Europe
that would dare to lead its armies against France ; there was no
power in France that would dare to lift a finger against the King.
The House was erected, very solid, very impressive, at unity with
itself One thing more was needful. The walls were up, the roof
was on, and . . . the funds were exhausted.
The Bourbons needed a business manager who combined with
large ideas and unconscious rectitude an unrivalled genius for
economy. Such a man was at hand.
* Cp. Ha-wkins to Blake, p. 197 n.

4 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Jean Baptiste Colbert went to the base and bedrock of finance.
He did everything in his power to foster trade at home, to create
new industries, and invigorate the old. He bettered the means of
transport by digging canals, mending the roads, and improving the
breed of horses. He sent forth Frenchmen to Canada, to the
Mississippi valley, to the West Indies, to Africa, to India ; and by
so doing he extended French markets and evoked new needs for
home consumers. Each day measured the growth of a mercan
tile marine which plied between the homeland and her colonies ;
and the protection of the merchant service called a war fleet into
being. When Colbert came into ofiice, the French Navy did not exist.
So excellent were his methods that ere twelve years had passed
France had a fighting fleet of 196 vessels, and had acquired a
faculty for shipbuilding which combined the sturdy workmanship
of the English with the prolific output of the Dutch. To ac
commodate his splendid force Colbert reconstituted Brest, created
Toulon and Rochefort, and set to work upon Cherbourg.
Had Colbert been king, the French might to-day be the proud
possessors of an oceanic Empire. He was but a servant. The
direction of the destiny of France lay in the hands of Louis
XIV. In one sense Louis was certainly the greatest King that France
or any other European country ever produced. He had not the
military genius of Csesar, or the wit of Charles II. He had not
the constructive ability of Peter I, or the destructive ability of
Napoleon. But in him Kingship and Majesty found for all time
their ideal exponent. As he strutted through the Salle des
Glaces at Versailles gorgeously habited in cloth of gold, fair
long periwig, and satin shoes, he really believed himself the visible
presence of God upon earth, the anointed of heaven with majesty
unassailable by all the water in the rough rude sea : and to the very
end he retained, even under the cruel lash of ruthless experience
at least some portion of a simple faith in his theoretical omni
potence. As a good actor will draw tears of pity for the im
aginary sorrows of King Lear, so Louis' grandeur imposed on his
contemporaries. Those who lived at Versailles had often enough
good cause to believe in the might of his sceptre, but the
European powers were similarly deceived. From 1660 to 171 r

ALBEMARLE 5
the Roi Soleil was the self-constituted centre of the European
system, around which the lesser courts described admiring circles.
Louis was deceived by the semblance of power, but he was
certainly not weak. He found himself the happy possessor of the
edifice that Richelieu had planned, and he determined from the
first to be master of it. When Mazarin died * he became his own
Prime Minister, and for fifty years he plodded at affairs of State
for eight hours every day. Every matter of public importance was
referred directly to him, and even Colbert himself became in a
new sense the literal servant of the King. With France supreme
in Europe, with the monarchy supreme in France, and with all
the departmental paraphernalia that constitutes monarchy em
bodied in Louis himself, little wonder that the Grand Monarque
occupied the centre of the stage. There may have been make-
believe in his greatness, but his acting carried conviction.
Had Louis been one of the world's great men, he might have
made Colbert's ambitions his own. But he lacked foresight and
imagination. For him, the Peace of the Pyrenees was no final
chapter to a threadbare theme, but a tiresome interruption in an
interesting tale. The boundary between France and Spain was
natural, but the boundary between France and the Spanish Nether
lands was entirely artificial. In the days of Clovis and Charle
magne, France had extended northwards to the Rhine. Now
she was shut off from her natural frontier by a power she had
recently chastised. The natural riches of the nether land, its
commercial prosperity, the excellences of its sea-board and the
advantages of its situation gave ample reason for Spain's anxiety to
keep it ; but Spain had been conquered, and what had been a
trespass in the past now became an exasperating anachronism.
In 1665, four years after Mazarin's death, Philip IV, the other
signatory of the Pyrenean treaty, followed the wily Cardinal to the
grave. He had been twice married. Maria Theresa, the only
surviving child of his first wife, had sealed the Franco-Spanish pact
by her union with Louis XIV. Charles, the son of a second wife,
inherited the vast Spanish patrimony. Any claim accruing to the
Princess was at her marriage voluntarily abandoned ; but Louis
discovered a quaint custom among the musty law-books of
* Louis was born in 1638, succeeded to the throne in his fifth year, and was
not quite twenty-three at the time ofthe Cardinal's death (i65i.)

6 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Brabant, whereby the daughter of a first wife must inherit private
property before the son of a second. A law about private property
in Brabant had nothing to do with the kingly succession in the
Netherlands. But those who censure Louis would find truer cause
for blame in his failure to discern that the proper destiny of France
lay on the sea.
Louis knew that his claim to the Low Countries would fall like
a bolt from the blue, and set himself to prepare the ground. For
Spain he cared little. England and the Dutch Republic were the
only powers likely to dispute his right. He was troubled by the
English possession of Dunkirk. He offered to buy it, induced
Charles to negotiate, won that impecunious monarch to his side by
an extravagant price and removed the probability of British in
terference. Holland of course he could not displace. But he
courted her, endeavoured to prove that her interests coincided with
his own, treated her as an equal, charmed her by his gracious con
descension, and carefully withdrew her sting by the clauses of a
formal alliance.
Fortune often comes to the assistance of him who knows his own
mind, even when his motives are not above suspicion. In the
midst of Louis' preparations the two powers, whom he had good
reason to believe would challenge the probity of the course upon
which he was bent, crossed swords and began to fight. Could
anything have suited him better I When the two antagonists
had trounced each other, and sat down to rest, then would come
his opportunity. In the First Dutch War the English had proved
the stronger. His avowal of friendship with the States did not
necessitate active participation in the struggle. His own ships
could very well keep out of danger. Yet by masking their intentions
he could create a diversion on behalf of the weaker side, and so
prolong the contest until both combatants, and not merely one
was exhausted. THE SECOND DUTCH WAR. 1665-67
Charles II had no love for the Dutch. He might with some
reason ascribe to them the wanderings which he was so determined
not to repeat. The government of the United Netherlands had
been founded upon the ruins of the House of Stuart-Nassau ; and

ALBEMARLE 7
the peace of 1654 had bound the Republic closely to the English
Regicides who had bargained for the exclusion of all his friends
from what should have proved a second home to them. Charles
himself had at first found refuge in France, but Cromwell's peace
with Mazarin had disturbed his repose, and after many journeys
he had accepted the hospitality of England's enemy Philip IV, and
settled in the Spanish Netherlands. At Albemarle's suggestion
he had in 1660 crossed the border into a land friendly to the
British Republic, and found lodging at Breda, where his sister Mary,
mother of William III, was still permitted to retain a residence.
The burghers received him kindly, but their overtures were natur
ally distasteful.
On his return to England Charles found that his antipathy for
the Dutch was most heartily shared by his subjects.
From the commercial point of view the First Dutch War had
proved eminently disappointing. The English had challenged the
claim of the Dutch to monopolize the world's trade, and had beaten
them in half a dozen battles. They had won the right to trade on
equal terms, but they had failed to make good what they had won.
At the conclusion of hostilities they had been involved almost at
once in a war with Spain, and were unable to reap the fruits of
victory. But the Dutch recovered the ground they had lost, made
the most of their ingrained business instincts, and snapped up the
whole of the Spanish trade. The English rather pardonably re
garded the Dutch ingenuity as an unscrupulous transgression, and
the Dutch recovery as a deliberate infringement of treaty obligations.
The Duke of Albemarle put the matter bluntly. "The Dutch
have too much trade, and the English are resolved to take it from
them." This issue was somewhat broad for a fighting theme ; but
a pretext for war was soon found.
Sir John Hawkins had floated a trading concern, which in his
own country found no imitators. The early slave-trade died at
San Juan de UUoa. The Portuguese, however, were swift in
the Englishman's footsteps. They introduced the sugar-cane into
Brazil, and finding it flourish they brought black labour from West
Africa to tend the industry. They built Elmina on the Gold Coast,
fortified it to withstand foes from land and sea, and there exchanged
for negro slaves the goods they had brought from Europe. The
Dutch, conquering the Portuguese, exploited West Africa more

8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
thoroughly than their predecessors. In addition to Elmina, they
founded Cape Coast Castle and the celebrated fort on the island
of Goree situated under the shadow of Cape Verde.
The English visited West Africa from time to time for the natural
products of the country, but the Dutch trade in niggers might have
passed unchallenged but for transatlantic developments. Bar
bados, annexed by private British enterprise in the reign of James I,
remained forlorn and poor until the settlers, learning from the
Brazilian colonists, introduced the sugar-cane. The sugar-cane
prospered and multiplied abundantly, and a few years after its in
troduction the island of Jamaica fell before the expedition of
Admiral Penn. The English now began at once to feel the need of
imported labour, and cargoes of slaves were sent in ever-increasing
numbers from the Gulf of Guinea. But this new demand, though
it originated at the conclusion of the First Dutch War, passed
wholly into the hands of those whom England had conquered.
No more striking illustration could be found of the business capa
city of the Dutch, and the nature of the grudge that the English
bore them.
One of Charles's first acts after his Restoration was to inaugurate
a new West African Company (1662). Fortified posts ofthe usual
pattern were established on the Gold Coast and Gambia River to
supply the British West Indian islands with the workers that they
required. The Dutch on their side were determined to oust the
intruders, and control a monopoly. The task was not an easy one,
but from the number of complaints laid at the foot of Charles's
throne, there can be litfle doubt that without interference from
home, the Dutch merchants would have swept away the English
by methods as vigorous as those they used when they cornered the
cloves in Amboyna.
Charles with his own reasons for disliking the Dutch was glad
of an excuse for lecturing them. Protests engendered counter
arguments, and the King growing impatient determined to smite
the phlegmatic burghers upon the cheek. The blow was a little
less dignified than that of the Council of State, but quite as well
calculated to hurt.
In the autumn of 1663 Captain Robert Holmes was sent to
raid the Dutch West African posts. Elmina held its own ; but
he captured Cape Coast Castle and the strong twin forts at

ALBEMARLE 9
Goree. In the summer of 1664 he crossed the Atlantic and de
scended like a wolf upon the Dutch settlements in America. He
seized Manhattan Island and New Amsterdam, and re-christened
them in honour of His Majesty's brother, James Duke of York.
The Dutch of course were up in arms at once, and despatched
their great Admiral to undo the mischief " I hear," wrote Pepys
at the end of December, 1664, "the news of our being beaten to
dirt at Guinny, by De Ruyter and his fleet." Cape Coast Castle
alone held out. De Ruyter not only recovered the Dutch posts
but swept away the English. He then crossed the Atlantic and
attacked Barbados.
At the beginning of 1665 Charles II declared war on the Dutch
in the interests of British trade.
THE BATTLE OF LOWESTOFT
June 3, 1665
Had Albemarle commanded in the first battle of the war, the
result might well have been different. There were good reasons
why he should not do so. The many marks of confidence bestowed
upon him by the King made his presence in the capital more than
ever necessary : the strain of the Restoration had preyed upon his
health, leaving him subject to severe attacks of asthma : and he
could hardly act in any capacity but the highest, a course which
circumstances rendered impossible. The King's brother, the Duke
of York, afterwards famous as James II, had received from the
throne appointment as Lord High Admiral. Entering upon his
duties with the keenest zest, he determined to command in chief
against the Dutch. He called to his assistance the great sea-
brethren of the previous war, now Sir William Penn and Sir John
Lawson. Penn served on board the flagship, the Royal Charles,
as Captain of the Fleet, and Lawson acted as second in command
of the ducal Squadron. Prince Rupert, whose sea services had
hitherto kept him apart from British naval officers, now brought
his sterling qualities to their assistance, and hoisted his flag as
commander of the White Squadron, while Admiral Montagu, who
had received from the King the Earldom of Sandwich in return for
his assistance at the home-coming, commanded the Blue.
Before leaving, the Lord High Admiral surrendered his shore

10 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
duties to the Duke of Albemarle, confident that all would be well
with the administration in the safe hands of so experienced a sailor.
When war was declared, De Ruyter was still away endeavouring
to exact restitution for Holmes's raid. The English not ignorant
of his value mobilized with precipitate haste to catch him at a
disadvantage as he returned, or scatter his countrymen to the four
winds prior to his arrival. The Dutch replaced De Ruyter by the
Lord of Opdam, a gallant cavalryman, who commanded loo good
ships, and the services of Evertzen, who had fought with distinction
in the First Dutch War.* Opdam was instructed to guard the
return of De Ruyter, and prey upon the Baltic fleet which was
bringing home to England the lumber and cordage necessary for
the refitting of her ships.
The English outnumbered the Dutch by one or two sail. The
greatest enthusiasm prevailed. Never since the days of Edward III
had the chief command been vested in so exalted a personage.
On the eve of battle the fleet was joined by numberless young
cavaliers anxious to prove their devoted loyalty to the throne by
putting their precious lives in jeopardy. One of them, afterwards
Charles's boon companion, the Earl of Dorset, composed on board
the following verses, which in lovelorn mood he dedicated to the
ladies left behind : —
Then if we write not by each post,
Think not we are unkind;
Nor yet conclude our ships are lost
By Dutchmen or by wind ;
Our tears we'll send a speedier way .
The tide shall bring them twice a day.
* The Evertzen family : —

I I
Jan, Cornelius the Old,
served in First War ; retired fought at Lowestoft, and
from service after Lowestoft ; died on the first day of the
returned on his brother's death Four Days' Battle.
and died at the battle of St.
James's Day.
I
Cornelius the Younger, Cornelius the Youngest,
served under De Ruyter in led the allied van at Beachy
the Thames and throughout Head.
the Third Dutch War.

ALBEMARLK 1 1
Should foggy Opdam chance to know
Our sad and dismal story,
The Dutch would scorn so weak a foe
And quit their fort at Goree ;
For what resistance can they find
Frora men who've left their hearts behind.
The presence of Penn on board the flagship was of the utmost
importance. Sir William inherited the traditions of the Amphi
bians, whose military organisation had done so much to secure the
defeat of the Dutch in the previous war. It is quite possible that
at first he felt some dislike for an innovation proceeding from a
landsman like the old general who now presided at the Admiralty :
but his love of method and order, born of the sea, triumphed over
his exclusiveness, and in 1665 there was no more enthusiastic ad
mirer of the Line than the Duke of York's Naval Adviser. It
is this which gives the battle of Lowestoft its chiefest interest, for
there is little doubt that it was Sir William who inspired the
INSTRUCTIONS issued by the Duke before the battle. These
momentous by-laws were based upon the teaching of Blake and
Monk, and instructed the commanders of His Majesty's ships "to
keep the fleet in one Line ". Thus while the order of array in the
battles of the First Dutch War must remain a matter of conjecture ;
at Lowestoft, the close-hauled line ahead, approved by experience,
met with the recognition it deserved, and henceforward became
the order par excellence for the fighting fleet in action.
The ships were drawn up one behind another thereby to give
free play to every broadside : their distance one from another,
wide enough to prevent accidents, was limited to half a cable
[100 yards] to strengthen defence : and the line thus formed was
clapped upon a wind. The consequent movement was insufficient
to interfere with the anvil strokes of war, and sufficient to make
manoeuvres possible, and facilitate co-operation between ship and
ship. When battles at sea came to be fought by two fleets parallel to
one another lying close to the wind on similar or opposite
tacks, the battle was (as a rule) preceded by a skirmish to secure
the windward position. This had undoubted advantages. The
smoke was blown away from the "Windwards" to obscure the
vision of the "Leewards". Under a canopy of smoke the

12 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
"Windwards " could unleash their fireships and send them down
upon the breeze. The "Windwards" could determine when the
battle should begin, holding their wind till ready, and bearing
down at will upon their adversaries.* Theoretically there was
yet another advantage for the " Windwards," more valuable than
all. They could mass their strength in one part of the Line, and
overpower the corresponding portion of the enemy, whose posi
tion did not allow the same freedom of movement. Happily
for the " Leewards " the Line Ahead was the best safeguard in
such an emergency ; and unless the " Windwards " had a marked
preponderance of force, a massed attack was dangerous in that it
weakened another part of the line before the ordered array of the
foe. Unevennesses of the ground render such manoeuvres possible
on shore ; but the task of winning a decisive battle with a fleet in
line ahead was far from easy even with the assistance of the wind ;
and there were certain definite advantages in the leeward position
which the battle that follows will reveal.
The hostile fleets met off Lowestoft on 3rd June. There was
a fine display of seamanship at the outset, as the wary wrestlers
skirmished for the wind. The English were successful in this pre
paratory bout, and joined issue all along the line. Furious duels
resulted. The Oranje engaged the Mo?itag^u, and pressed home
ber attack so vigorously that the English ship would have suc
cumbed had it not been for the Royal James, commanded by the
Earl of Marlborough and his friend the Earl of Portland. The
Montagu was rescued : but both the Earls were slain. The
Royal Charles engaged Opdam's flagship the Eendracht [The
Union], and found a sturdy foe. James showed a royal courage
and repelled his assailants with spirit. While the contest pro
ceeded his life was in momentary peril. At one time he was-
standing with Lord Falmouth, Lord Muskerry and Mr. Boyle,
* The order for the Line must not be interpreted as excluding the Line
Abreast, which remained an integral part of the fighting scheme, both offen
sive and defensive. In the overture preliminary to a battle the Leeward fleet
would put themselves upon a wind and wait : the Windward would change
from Line Ahead to Line Abreast and back to Line Ahead again before they
found themselves broadside to broadside with their enemies. Without this
movement the two parallel lines would never have met.
In the Galley epoch the Line Abreast was a distinctive battle formation : in
the age of sails it was a subordinate and transient condition of the " Line ".

ALBEMARLE 13
a son of Lord Burlington. At that moment a chain-shot from
the enemy brought swift death to the three nobles. The Duke
was drenched with their blood, and received a wound in the
hand from a fragment of one poor victim's skull. Pepys says
he was thrown to the deck by the severed head of Mr. Boyle.
After this no one could dispute that His Grace knew the meaning of
battle at sea. In the midst of the duel the Eendracht was blown
into a thousand pieces. How it happened cannot be determined,
but the destruction was so terribly complete that only five survivors
were rescued from a ship that carried five hundred.
The loss of the Dutch flagship was not unnaturally ruinous to
the Dutch cause. The unheroic put before the wind, and those
of sterner mould were fain to follow. It is worthy of remark that
Cornelius Tromp, worthy son of a great father, marked himself out
for promotion by the skill with which he covered the retreat.
His ability contributed nobly to avert an overwhelming catas
trophe, but not so much perhaps as events on board the English
flagship. Here at the conclusion of the day a council of war was
held at which it was unanimously agreed that the fight must be re
newed upon the morrow. A decision being reached, and disposi
tions made so that the fleet should with all sail follow the light of
the Royal Charles, the Duke sought the rest he had well deserved.
During his interval of repose his Groom of the Bedchamber came
on deck with an order to slacken sail. Had the message been de
livered to Penn, he would no doubt have raised his gentle voice
in protest ; but Sir William was suffering from twinges of gout,
and had turned in the first moment his services could be spared.
The message was accordingly carried to John Harman, who had
commanded the Welcome at Portland, and been with Blake at
Santa Cruz. With grudging loyalty James's Flag Captain obeyed,
and it was only when His Highness himself came on deck re
freshed that his amazement revealed the truth. The order had
come from an irresponsible person who had of course received
instructions from the Duchess to bring her lord safe home again.
Regrettable as the incident was, there is good reason to believe
that the Dutch were in any case able to escape. The leeward
position was not only favourable to their departure, but if
properly utilized would enable them to depart alone. If the
" Windwards " had the power of attacking, they had in the

14 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
moment of attack as they ran down upon the foe to endure the
full offensive of the enemy without the power of reply. The
whole area of their motive power was exposed to a raking fire
which might render them incapable of rapid movement when
the moment for pursuit presented itself The "Windwards" had
their remedy in so battering the enemy as to render them equally
powerless to depart : but this was not easy if the enemy stood not
upon the order of their going.
But if Lowestoft was not an epoch-making battle, if it failed to
bring the war to an immediate close, it was at least a great and
decisive victory. Eighteen ships were taken, fourteen more per
haps destroyed, 2,000 prisoners captured, and 4,000 Hollanders
killed or wounded ; this, at a cost to the victors of 250 killed and
less than 500 wounded. The Dutch let their indignation run riot.
Four captains were shot. Four had their swords broken over
their heads, and were cashiered. Even the gallant Evertzen was
mobbed when he went ashore. Flung into the water he escaped
with difficulty, and for the time at least left his country's service
till those for whom he had fought learned to discriminate between
the cravens and the brave.
Meanwhile brave Admiral Lawson was carried home to Green
wich suffering from a musket wound in the knee, which brought
his fighting days to an end ere the month was out.
If the English failed to follow up their advantage on the field
of battle they had little opportunity during the remainder of the
year. In the early days of autumn the horrors of the Plague
desolated the city of London. All who were lucky enough to
escape before the rigorous prohibitions which confined men
to the town, fled to the country. Death danced through the
streets smiting whom he would, and the wretched fled before him
shrieking. The markets were as void of human faces as the desert
sands ; and the cheery prentice cries and the rumble of the chariot
were replaced by the dirge-like chant " Bring forth your dead ! "
of those who brought the dead-cart to the red-cross doors.
The King and the silken cavaliers were of course among
the earliest to move, establishing a new Court in the salubrious
air of Oxford. They were brave men indeed who had the power
to get away, and of their free will stayed behind. Such, however
there were : Gilbert Sheldon, the Archbishop of Canterbury and

ALBEMARLE 15
by his side the Duke of Albemarle. The old warrior confessed
that nothing in his recollection could compare with the sights he
saw. The Dutch Wars, he said, were nothing to the Plague. But
with the old unflinching courage he looked death boldly in the
face. With means utterly inadequate he did his best to keep order
and allay the distemper, daily ministering of his own substance to
the needs of sick and dying.
THE FOUR DAYS' BATTLE
June i, 2, 3 and 4, i665
With the return of spring, and the departure of the Plague, the
mind of the Government reverted to the war. The first matter to
be settled was the command. The peril which the Duke of York
had encountered at Lowestoft made the King anxious for his
safety, and the people profoundly disappointed with His High-
ness's achievement approved the monarch's show of tenderness.*
Lord Sandwich was the natural successor of the Duke of York,
but after short employment he was relieved of his command, and
appointed ambassador to Spain. Rumour set herself to suggest
more than one motive for this unexpected turn, and the Earl's
enemies found it difficult to decide whether he had been " sent into
exile " for gross peculation or vulgar cowardice. The last insinua
tion was particularly unkind, as none fought better at Lowe
stoft. Mr. Pepys, whose panegyrics, even if inspired by gratitude,
were not unworthily bestowed, found in Montagu's retirement a
lasting grudge against fate. Unfortunately his partisanship invali-
* Sir William Penn, voluntarily sharing undeserved blame, retired with
his royal master, and never again served his country on the sea. Hence
forward his sphere of activity lay at the Admiralty where he did excellent
work. His labours brought him into close contact with Mr. Pepys, who often
dined with him, and heard him tell a good story or sing a good song. When,
however, the Admiral took a high hand, his "comely round visage and fair
hair " drove Mr. Secretary wild ; and rushing home he wrote his superior down
" a rogue," " a counterfeit rogue," " a cunning rogue," " a very cowardly
rogue," " a mean rogue," " a hypocritical rogue," " a coward," " a coxcomb,"
and " a very villain," abuse which throws rather more light on Mr. Pepys'
taste for vituperation than on the merits of his victim. Sir William died [1670]
at the age of fifty, and was buried in St. Mary Redcliife, Bristol. His son,
the famous quaker and founder of Pennsylvania, kept his name green for years
to come.

i6 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
dates his judgment of all sea-fights in which the Earl had no part,
and of all commanders who ventured to usurp his place.
With a certain sense of trepidation, Charles nerved himself to
approach the Duke of Albemarle. His name was on every man's
lips, and yet it was hardly fair to expect more from one who had
already done so much. It would be pleasant to think that the
old Duke welcomed the opportunity of returning to the sea ; but
he had a condition to impose. He begged that his appointment
might be kept a secret from his wife, for if she " should come to
know it, before he had by degrees prepared her for it, she would
break out into such passions as would be very uneasy for him."
Whether Mr. Pepys inadvertently let out the news cannot be said,
but the Duchess found a weak point in his armour when next
he dined with them, and " said these cursed words ; ' If my Lord
had been a coward he had gone to sea no more : it may be then
he might have been excused, and made an embassador.' " This
unkind hit at Lord Sandwich made the diarist " mad," and hence
forth he wrote the Duke down a " blockhead," and the Duchess
something worse.
With the Duke was associated the gallant Prince Rupert, and
surely no grander couple could have been found for the work that
lay before them. When it was known that Albemarle went forth
with the ships, sailors came forward in crowds, because they were
sure His Grace would see them properly fed and justly paid. With
the lesson of Lowestoft before his eyes, the old Admiral had hardly
taken command when he issued an order of the highest importance.
" If any flagship shall by any accident stay behind, all ships be
longing to such flag are to make all the way possible to keep up
and endeavour the utmost that may be the destruction of the enemy,
which is al-ways to be made the chiefest care. And if any flagship
shall be disabled the flag officer shall remove himself into another
ship and shall there command and wear his flag." Albemarle must
for all time personify the application of militarism to naval science.
In the previous war he had done his best to secure the adoption
of the Line. His object had been to give a law of order to those
who would appreciate it. The Line once adopted became a for
midable weapon in the hand of an expert, but was never regarded
by those who fashioned it as other than an engine of destruction.
A man girt with a sword is in a better position for fighting than a

ALBEMARLE 17
man without : but to one ignorant of its use a sword avails little,
and may even serve at times to make its wearer look ridiculous.
Monk had forged the weapon : Albemarle came forth to show his
fellow-seamen how to wield it.
Not less enthusiastic than his enemies, John De Witt, President
of the United Netherlands, and the ablest minister the Dutch ever
had, determined to do his utmost to reverse the verdict of Lowe
stoft. The safe home return of De Ruyter augured well, but the
Grand Pensionary resolved to go aboard himself It was not that
he thought to augment De Ruyter's chance of victory, though he
knew all parts of a ship, and is credited with the invention of the
chain-shot, but he imputed the late miscarriage to errors in con
duct, and intended that the fighting line should have the eye
of the Government upon it. Furthermore he endeavoured to
stir Louis XIV to a proper sense of the responsibilities of his
alliance. Louis of course was quite prepared for this, and instantly
put on the busiest air of eager co-operation. With a cunning
which deceived everybody he let it be known that he was hurrying
to the assistance of his friends a powerful fleet of thirty-six
ships. Agitation seized the Court of St. James's. England was
threatened from two sides, from the Channel and from the North
Sea. Charles's advisers were insistent. There was of course but
one thing possible. Rupert must be detached to deal with the
French, while Albemarle looked after the Dutch. Had the English
possessed two fleets each able to hold its own against the Dutch, the
division of the forces might have been justified ; but with Rupert's
squadron Albemarle could only muster about eighty ships to De
Ruyter's hundred, and the departure of the Prince left him out
numbered by two to one. Those who know how Napoleon loved
to cajole his opponents into dividing their strength, will appreciate
the haste with which De Ruyter put to sea, and will understand
why Louis rubbed his hands, especially when it is added that the
news of his fleet was false, and that all his ships were safely bestowed
far from the scene of action.
Nominally the Red and Blue Squadrons remained with Albe
marle, who hoisted his flag in the Royal Charles. As his coadjutors
in the Red he chose Sir Christopher Myngs [1625-1666], an East

i8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Anglian of humble birth * who had snatched a reputation in the
Jamaica campaign, and Sir Robert Holmes, of West African fame,
who, like Myngs, had won a knighthood by the handling of his ship
at Lowestoft. The Blue Squadron was commanded by a veteran
of the First Dutch War, Sir George Ayscue, who had his flag in
the Royal Prince. Serving under him were Sir William Berkeley
and Sir John Harman. Prince Rupert in the Royal James prevailed
with the Duke to part with Sir Christopher Myngs, whom he
carried off as his second in command against the French.
THE FIRST DAY. June i
As De Ruyter in the Seven Provinces stood towards the Straits
to effect a junction with his allies, the S.W. breeze stayed his
course, and he anchored not far from Dunkirk. Albemarle
utilizing the wind that had checked his adversary found the centre
and van of the Dutch to leeward of the rear, or left wing. His
manifest inferiority might have justified a refusal of battle. Indeed
many blamed him for engaging. But apart from his own spirit,
which could hardly be expected to brook retreat, the wind was
carrying him on the top of his foes.
In a moment he realized an advantage offered him, and with
something of delight he flung the whole of his force on the Dutch
left wing. [Map. Phase i.] These, under the younger Tromp,
cut their cables and the opposing fleets made shorewards on the
starboard tack.
Albemarle doubtless hoped to annihilate one division of his
enemy before the others could get into battle, f This excellent
conception was frustrated by the choppy, lumpy state of the sea,
which prevented the ships in the windward station from using
their lower tier of guns. Albemarle had not done nearly all he
desired when the sight of the coast reminded him that it was time
to put about. The English therefore turned towards their own
coast. This movement gave De Ruyter his opening, and having
worked his way to windward he threw himself with his fresh ships
on the latter half of the returning English line. [Map. Phase 2.]
* Pepys says his father was a cobbler.
f " The merit of Monk's attack as a piece of grand tactics is evident, and
bears a strong resemblance to that of Nelson at the Nile." — Mahan.

ALBEMARLE

19

The hottest of the first day's fight lay here. The Swiftsiire was
surrounded and her deck converted to a shambles. With hardly
a soul alive but himself Sir William Berkeley roared out a refusal
to constant demands for surrender, until a bullet in the throat

THE FOUR days' BATTLE
First Day, June i, 1666
[The figures represent groups of ships, not single vessels *]
choked him, and rushing to his cabin he flung himself on the table
and died in agonies. The Henry, with the flag of Sir John
* No apology is thought necessary for the rectilineal appearance of this and
subsequent battle-plans. They are put forward as aids to the imagination,
not as epitomes of topographical exactitude.

20 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Harman, who had been the Duke of York's Flag Captain at
Lowestoft, was grievously beset by fireships. The first approached,
grappled the Henry with her hooks, and burst into flame. Lieut.
Lamming got aboard the flaming vessel, liberated his own ship
from the vicious claws of her devilish antagonist, and regained her
deck uninjured just as a second brander appeared on the opposite
quarter. This was too much for the sorely tried company, and
they made for the bulwarks to leap overboard. Harman drew his
sword, rushed among them, and threatened to kill the first man
who dared to desert his ship. Then by personal example he freed
the Henry from her second enemy only to find himself engaged
by a third. Again he rallied his crew, again delivered his ship ;
but a flaming topsail-yard broke his leg as he actively assisted
in the work. By this time the persecuted ship was in the clutches
of Cornelius Evertzen, and the Dutch Admiral raising his trumpet
offered quarter to so gallant a foe. But Harman struggled with
help to an erect attitude and balancing himself on his one leg,
returned answer that he had only just begun to fight, and with
the next broadside killed Evertzen himself In the confusion that
followed, he slipped into safety ; and reaching Harwich little
better than a wreck, refitted in haste in order to return to the
fight. On a land battlefield a broken leg is, of course, an obvious dis
advantage ; on a quarter-deck things are different I
SECOND DAY. June 2
Before the second day dawned the Dutch received a reinforce
ment of sixteen ships. Albemarle was now in a position of still
more marked inferiority, but without the slightest hesitation he re
turned to the fight, and by skilful handling retained the weather-
gauge. If De Ruyter had felt distressed at his inability to seize
the fruits of victory promised by overwhelming numbers on the
first day, the second must have proved even more mortifying. As
the two fleets passed on opposite tacks cannonading one another
[Map. Phase i], the van and rear instead of acting in perfect
accord with the centre, played each its own game. The van
having lost the services of Evertzen, were huddled together sheep
like, and sheeplike, were the more confused when Albermarle in
excellent order poured his broadsides into them. Being hard-

ALBEMARLE 21
pressed they put before the wind and exposed themselves to a
raking fire.
In the rear Tromp, ever anxious to distinguish himself, utilized
Albemarle's pre-occupation and endeavoured to steal from him the
weather-gauge.* [Map. Phase 2]. He had received no orders
from De Ruyter, and the manoeuvre, though excellent in itself,
isolated him owing to the misadventure in the van.

PHASE I.

^:^<' Avs'

.r*^^

^¦^<»

Alb

emarle

.v>S

xe'*' ^<-<

,«^^

ty/nd

&®

N

PHASE 2.

the four DAYS BATTLE
Second Day, June 2, 1666
Had Albemarle again accepted battie, with good fortune he
might have accomplished Tromp's destruction ; but instead of
engaging the Dutchman from to leeward, he fenced with him for
* Albemarle was quick to see the merit of Tromp's attack, and on his re
commendation it was afterwards enacted that, when a British fleet [with the
weather in hand] met a hostile force on the opposite tack, it should before en
gaging pass on until the van was alongside the enemy's rear, that is to say,
until the opposing fleets were in length equal, and in position opposite. This
accomplished the British ships could go about and fight according to custom.

22 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the wind and won it. Those who blame his headlong impetuosity
on the first day, can hardly blame his caution on this occasion.
He managed to do considerable damage to Tromp, and the
correctness of his judgment was attested by the skill of De Ruyter
who ran to leeward, retrieved the fugitives, and returning with
every stitch of canvas set, rescued the fire-eating Tromp from an
unpleasant predicament.
Outnumbered by two to one the Duke had held his own for
two whole days ; but his masts and spars were wounded, and he
lacked the stimulus of any great success. His fleet could do no
more. He recognized the hopelessness of the struggle and stood
reluctantly towards his own coast.
THIRD DAY. June 3
On the third day Albemarle continued his retreat. Dividing his
fleet into two forces, he sent the more severely wounded vessels on
ahead, and drew up the remainder line abreast to protect them
from the enemy. At the extremities of his line he set powerful
ships to debar the enemy from attempting a turning movement.
So excellent was this disposition, so masterly this grim bull-dog
retreat that De Ruyter was unable to harass the departing ships
as they made their way north-westwards to the Gunfleet, and the
Black Deep entrance to the Thames [see map, p. 32].
To the Duke all seemed to be going well ; when, as the day wore
on, a disaster happened. Sir George Ayscue's flagship, the Royal
Prince, the finest ship in the fleet, and for the moment acting as
sentinel at the northern end ofthe line, ran aground on the Galloper
shoal. Tromp swooped upon her ; and before a rescue could be
effected, the flag came down. Overwhelmed by his enemies a
British Admiral surrendered. Albemarle was furious. He ex
pected the spirit of Harman to swell the breasts of all.
And now the cup'of De Ruyter's joy seemed filled to overflow
ing, for out of the south arose the sails of a new squadron of hardly
less than twenty-five. Was it at last the dilatory fleet of France ?
Against any foe in the world but Albemarle he would have
achieved a triumph long before. Surely fate would relent, and
enable him with reinforcements to put the finishing touch to his
work. He strained his eyes to survey the newcomer : when sud
denly from the English line arose cheer after cheer, wild huzzas

ALBEMARLE 23
from throats dry-parched with the heat of protracted battle. The
approaching fleet was Rupert's ! Albemarle hauled to the wind,
and De Ruyter realizing the change in the situation ordered the
Royal Prince to be burnt.

THE LAST DAY
The English had now every reasonable hope of arriving home
in safety. They had fought a good fight against terrible odds.
It was not to be expected that more could be done. So far,
however, from dreaming of retirement the Commander-in-Chief
rated Rupert soundly for his unwillingness to join in on the night
of his arrival, and ordered a renewal of the fight at dawn. The
Dutch had still nearly seventy ships : Rupert had twenty-five, he
himself had twenty-five wrecks. To his mind the balance was
redressed. In his Memoirs the gay Duke of Buckingham, boon companion
of the Merry Monarch, tells a story which lifts the curtain and re
veals the stern old warrior on this the last day of the battle. He
and another in the flagship discovered Albemarle loading a small
pistol. Wondering what use such a firearm could possibly serve
in such an affray, they enquired its purpose and found the Duke
steadfast not on any account to be taken, " and therefore Savile
and I in a laughing way, most mutinously resolved to throw him
overboard in case we should ever find him going down to the
powder-room ".
It was as well to be prepared for the worst, but there is no reason
to suppose that Albemarle was doing more than guarding against
a misadventure similar to that which had visited Ayscue on the
previous day. True, he no longer had the wind, but that to him
was no insuperable difficulty. He had fought the great Martin
Tromp from to leeward and brought the previous war to a close.
On that occasion some of his ships had weathered the enemy's
line and some had not. As a result the Dutch had been put
between two fires' with consequences disastrous to themselves.
On the present occasion he doubtless hoped to repeat the per
formance. With admirable skill and fortitude the English fought
their way through the Dutch line as one may interlace the fingers
of one hand with those of the other. Rupert's division, led by Sir

24 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Christopher Myngs in the Victory, were the first in action, and
the rest of the fleet followed as they could. Unfortunately the
manoeuvre was not attended with the success that had previously
distinguished it. The Dutch were not in single line ahead, but
ranged parallel to their foes in a reduplicated order. The ships
may have been symmetrically stationed by De Ruyter as a
gardener arranges his fruit-trees —

* * -<¦ * * *
*****

or they may have been huddled together in disorder as the van
had been on the second day. In any case, the event was the
same. De Ruyter with the secondary line beat up into the wind
as the English broke through the first ; and Rupert and Albemarle
found themselves in the very position in which they had hoped to
put their adversaries, Dutch to larboard and Dutch to starboard.
It is little short of miraculous that any ships survived to tell the
tale. Albemarle, however, instead of repining seems to have
welcomed a unique opportunity of using both broadsides of the
entire fleet at the selfsame moment — this on the fourth day of
a raging battle.
One commander whom England could ill afford to spare swelled
the list of lost Flag Officers. Hotly engaged Sir Christopher
Myngs received a musket bullet in his throat. Refusing to leave
the deck, he compressed the wound with his fingers, and for
more than half an hour ordered the fight until a second bullet
put an end to his agony.*
* Mr. Pepys attended his funeral, and was furious to find that no one of
note graced the obsequies of so brave a man. " And as I drove away, about
a dozen able, lusty, proper men come to the coach side with tears in their eyes,
and one of them spoke for the rest, ' We are here a dozen of us, that have
long known and loved, and served our dead commander Sir Christopher Myngs,
and have now done the last office of laying him in the ground. All we have is
our lives; if you will be pleased to get H.R.H. to give us a fireship among us
all, here are a dozen of us, out of all which choose you one to be commander
and the rest will serve him" ; and if possible, do that which shall show our
memory of our dead commander and our revenge.' "

ALBEMARLE 25
The English were not annihilated. On the contrary, they began
to make some impression upon the ships to leeward of them.
Their position enabled them to bring these latter to close action.
But De Ruyter was master of the situation, and when he realized
the danger that threatened a part of his force he put before the
wind, cut through the wounded English line, linked up his wind
ward with his leeward ships, and sped away homewards well
satisfied with the damage he had done.
Thus ended what must always be reckoned among the most
famous sea-fights of all time, famous for the number of ships em
ployed, famous for the reputation of the two commanders, famous
above all for its duration and endurance.
There is no need at all to contend that the battle was drawn in
order to save the credit of Albemarle. It should not be necessary
to-day any more than it was in the times of Charles II. During
the four days Albemarle accounted for seven ships of the enemy,
and killed or wounded more than 2,500 of his foes. But his own
casualty list was twice as long. More than 2,000 were prisoners in
the States, and twenty good ships had passed to the enemy. Albe
marle was defeated. But will England readily forget this fight,
this splendid illustration of the gallantry of her sons I Utterly
out-matched from first to last, England's great Soldier-Sailor
achieved nothing greater than the glory of this defeat. Even if all
else of him were forgotten, this battle alone would offer incense to
his name. Each day bore testimony to his bravery and resource,
to his ready insight, his invulnerable gameness, and his power of
inspiring men to die. When at the close of the fight the English
sailors saw the great De Ruyter take his leave, halting perhaps
upon his thigh, but erect of head and conscious of power ; did they
love their own commander less because he cursed the luck which
prevented some of his ships from floating and all from making sail
now that at last the enemy were on the run and himself was left
the master paramount! There is such an admixture of humour
and pathos in this attitude that it may be well to consult the
Dutch interpretation of the scene. Did they exult ? commiserate ?
or smile contemptuously ? The Grand Pensionary, who witnessed
the battle with his own eyes, did not attempt to conceal his
astonishment. " If the English were beaten," he said, " their
defeat did them more honour than all their former victories.

26 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Englishmen may be killed, and English ships burned, but English
courage is invincible." *
The great battle is full of valuable lessons, but the fourth day
has an importance all its own. The lesson taught did not escape
attention. It was probably at the close of the campaign that
Albemarle laid before the AdmiraUy the sum of his experience,
and it was perhaps in conjunction with Penn that he formulated
a definite rule for the conduct of a fleet desiring to attack from
the leeward position. The new manoeuvre, christened for short
Dividing the Enemy, was intended to carry a portion of the fleet to
windward of the foe with all the advantages of the Line Ahead,
and without the confusion that had ruined the attack of 4th June.
The van were exhorted to find a weak spot in their opponents'
array, and finding it to tack through and bear down upon the
ships cut off : the centre and rear, keeping their wind, to second
the attack upon the part cut off or engage the ships that still held
their position to windward. Faultless theoretically the stratagem
was in practice exceedingly difficult. The possibility of confusion
was not wholly removed from the aggressors ; and the defenders,
if their order was good, could always frustrate the artifice by
beating to windward with an equal number of ships. " Dividing
the Enemy " was, however, a notable contribution to naval science.
At the least it revealed a perfect grasp of a difficult problem, and
an attempt to solve it in a workmanlike way.
THE BATTLE OF ST. JAMES'S DAY
July 25, 1666
De Ruyter rode the sea in triumph after the Four Days' Battle
and blockaded the Thames, where the shattered remnants of
*The Four Days' Battle is commemorated by Dryden in his poem Annus
Mirabilis (The Wonderful Year 1666), and by the pictures of the younger Van
de Velde, 1633-1707. The artist was the son of a sailor with a wonderful talent
for drawing ships. After learning all his father could teach him, he obtained
permission from the Grand Pensionary to accompany the fleet, and in many
of his battle-pieces the legend Miju Gallijodt proves his presence at the fight,
and attests the value of the impression. The Van de Veldes were the first to
render shipping with absolute fidelity. Full reliance must not be placed on
pictures before their time. Both painters were eventually induced by Charles
II to accept the position of Marine Painters to the Court of St. James's.

ALBEMARLE 27
Albemarle's fleet had taken refuge. Mounting guard at the Gun-
fleet, he hoped that Louis XIV would come and render an invasion
of England possible ; but such action formed no part of Louis'
plan. He did not desire to see the English overwhelmed any more
than the Dutch. Without assistance De Ruyter could do little
more than blockade ; for Albemarle had still the nucleus of a fleet,
and it was impossible to say how soon he would be ready. Perhaps
no one was more surprised than De Ruyter when the old Duke put
to sea again within fifty days of his defeat. But to say truth every
one from the King downwards made unparalleled exertions in the
great emergency. Vague fears of Louis XIV added to the general
anxiety, and even at midnight the dockyards were as busy as a hive
of bees.
Albemarle had now a fleet of ninety ships ; but he could not
replace the brave hearts that were gone. Men with the skill of
Lawson, and the courage of Harman and Myngs were not so easily
found in Charles II's reign as in the strenuous days of the New
Model. There were many new names among those who accom
panied Prince Rupert and the Duke, this time together in the
Royal Charles. But there was still Sir Robert Holmes ; and Sir
Edward Spragge must also be remembered. Knighted by the Duke
of York after Lowestoft, he had in May gone shadow-chasing
with Rupert. Returning he was raised to flagrank in the room
of Sir William Berkeley, and by his fearless handling of the
Dreadnought upon the last day of the four had won for himself the
favourable regard of Albemarle.
The Battle of St. James's Day bears the same relation to the
Second Dutch War as the Battle of Scheveningen to the First.
It was decisive and might have been final. Both sides were bent
on battle. Among the Dutch Cornelius Tromp thirsted to prove
to all the world that the father's genius had descended on the son.
He found himself in command of a splendid rear-division, and
aspired to put even De Ruyter in the shade. But his valour, like
that of Rupert's at Edgehill, outran his discretion. The English
Blue Squadron which opposed him was the weakest of the three ;
and while stubbornly resisting, inch by inch gave way. Tromp
pursued, and in so doing lost touch with De Ruyter and Jan
Evertzen, who had forgotten his ill-treatment after Lowestoft in his
desire to avenge his brother. These heroes fought as only they

28 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
could fight, but the English had equality of numbers, and every
man in the fleet knew that the eyes of the country were upon him.
It is not to be supposed that all ships could boast the furious
onslaught of the Royal Charles. In a short time she was too
mauled to continue the action, and the Commanders had to shift
their flag on board the Royal James. In the interval Holmes in
the Henry threw himself into the gap ; and the force of example
and the thought of what was expected of them made the English
irresistible. De Ruyter and Evertzen exposed themselves in vain.
Evertzen died gloriously. But De Ruyter bore a charmed life.
As the English redoubled their efforts, and he saw that some of
his ships were flinching, he cried aloud in anguish, "Among so
many thousands of bullets, is there not one for me I " Recognizing
the hand of providence, he fought on until the English attack had
discriminated between those that would fight to the death and
those that would not ; and then making sail he drew up his heroes
so as to protect the runaways and brought the survivors off in good
order of retreat. He had lost upon a fair estimate twenty ships,
and 7,000 men : but he had lost them to Albemarle, and surely
that were no shame.*
The English might have achieved a more perfect measure of
success had they been opposed by a commander of less striking
fortitude and less real skill. By his gallant resistance to the main
attack De Ruyter left his foes in no position to cut off Tromp on
his return. Thus he returned good for evil, as Tromp by his wild
impetuosity had not only given a grand tactical advantage to his
enemies, but had imperilled his very existence as a fleet. He paid
dearly, for the States dismissed him from their service without
compunction.-|- Albemarle was now in complete command of the sea, and he
patrolled the Dutch coast seeking for an opportunity of further
inclining the mind of the enemy towards peace. In August the
opportunity presented itself He heard of a big fleet of Holland
merchantmen, 160 strong. Attended for their protection by three
battleships they had on their return home taken refuge in the
* The English lost one ship and some 300 men.
t Details of this battle are far to seek, but there is good reason to suppose
that Albemarle again massed his strength on the hostile van. If he did so
Tromp's temerity would of course contribute materially to. his success.

ALBEMARLE 29
Vlie, the waterway that connects the North Sea and the Zuyder
Zee between the Isles of Terschelling and Vlieland. * Albemarle
was quickly off the \^ie ; and stationing the main body outside the
anchorage to prevent possible interruption, he chose a select little
band under the leadership of Sir Robert Holmes, whom he in
structed to overpower the battleships at his extreme leisure and
then let loose his fireships on the rest. When the turn of the
merchantmen came, they were to be burned, not captured.
Holmes acted up to the very letter of his instructions, and infiicted
on the enemies of England a loss of goods and specie which a
million pounds and more could not replace.
When the news of this exploit reached London, the citizens were
still celebrating with fireworks the victory of St. James's Day.
One hilarious versifier wrote: —
Our streets were thick with bonefires large and tall.
But Holmes' one bonefire made was worth them all.
The demon of fire was certainly abroad in 1666. Bishop
Burnet avers that the sparks travelled from the Vlie to Pudding
Lane, that the destruction of London was directly traceable to
Dutchmen eager to avenge the outrages committed on their
coasts. Certain it is that early in September London burst into
flames, and men forgot the pestilence in the terrors of the Fire.
Albemarle was still at sea when he received from the King an
insistent summons to return at once, for that none else could ex
tinguish the flames, or pacify the turbulence of the people.
The minds of both nations now inclined to peace. Apart
from the misery arising from Plague and Fire, Charles found the
actual experience of warfare strangely different from expectation.
He had looked for a speedy triumph and a rapid increase of
wealth. He found the reality long protracted and expensive. He
had but one ambition in life, to enjoy his own now that he had
won it. Unfortunately the ministers of enjoyment drew Charles
into a thousand extravagances, and sucked his blood like leeches.
For his comfort it was necessary that the war should cease because
there were so many bills requiring payment ; and if he postponed
settling-day too long he might have to go on his travels again.
* See map, p. 47.

30 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
The Dutch heartily reciprocated his desire for peace ; negotiations
were opened, and a conference went into session at Breda (May,
1667). Charles made exorbitant demands which were in part
warranted by his recent victories, but until terms could be arranged
warlike operations continued.
Charles had drawn his own deduction from recent events, and
though his reasoning was false, the need of economy blinded him.
He attributed the destruction of the Dutchmen in the Vlie to the
wrong person. His mistake was natural, for every one up-cried
the name of Holmes. But the honour of the occasion belonged
in chief to Albemarle. " Holmes's Bonfire " was a pendant to the
Battle of St. James's Day. Such exploits are only practicable
when there is a fleet in being to deal with would-be deliverers.
The King missed this aspect of the question. He resolved to
harass the enemy with unsupported raids : and laid up his ships,
seventeen of them, including all the larger, at Chatham. Albe
marle protested, Rupert expostulated ; but to no purpose. The
King was obstinate and overruled his counsellors. At least he
learned a lesson that no English ruler is likely to forget. As if
England could ever afford to do without her fleet !
Thousands of seamen, thrown out of employment, applied in
vain for the pay they had earned, and, vowing revenge, entered the
services of the national enemy. From their intelligence the Dutch
President soon learned of Charles's wrongheadedness, and through
their instrumentality he obtained valuable information regarding
the navigation of English waters. Silently he laid his plans, and
when all was ready he invited the co-operation of Louis XIV's
soldiers.
ENGLAND'S HUMILIATION
June 10, 11, 12, 13, reS;
In the first week of June, 1667, De Ruyter arrived off the
Gunfleet with more than sixty sail of the line and thirty fireships.
Dropping anchor in the King's Deep, he detached a smaller
squadron with a few battleships, and nearly all the fire-vessels.
This arrived at Gravesend on Monday, loth June, but found the
navigation of the Thames too intricate to make it possible to take
London by surprise. De Ruyter therefore determined to content

ALBEMARLE 31
himself with Chatham. Dropping down stream, the smaller force
rejoined the main fleet at the Nore, and an immediate attack was
made upon Sheerness. Meanwhile the news had reached London,
and thrown the capital into a panic. The beacons were fired as
in Armada days. Every one was in dismay. Reason took flight ;
and though no one knew what to do, every one knew that there
were 100 Dutch ships in the river, and thousands of French troops
waiting till some landing-place had been secured. " Help ! help !
for God, and the King, and kingdom's sake I . . . There is hardly
anybody in the court but do look as if he cried. " The courtiers fled,
like children at the approach of a peril which has been foretold
to incredulous ears.
The King, who had refused to listen to the views of Albemarle
while there was time, now cast himself upon the old Duke's mercy.
It was almost too late for anything to be done, but the Captain-
General looked not at things in that light, and flung himself into the
saddle without even feeling the temptation to reproach. It was well
for England in that hour of need that she had at least one man.
Issuing orders for the concentration of artillery at Chatham,
Albemarle collected all he could raise at the moment, and with the
practised instinct of the born soldier rushed to Gravesend in order
to stop the progress of De Ruyter up the Thames. In his
capacity as Captain-General he had already arranged for the
mobilization of the land forces, and had ordered a bridge of boats
between Tilbury and Gravesend to facilitate concentration at the
point of danger. He arrived at Gravesend on the evening of
Monday, loth June, shortly after the enemy's departure, and from
the sound of firing in the distance guessed that the foe were
forcing an entry into the Medway. The noise was the bombard
ment of Sheerness, and Albemarle knew that the fort could not
hold out, as its bastions were unfinished and its ordnance un
mounted. It held a brave heart, however. Sir Edward Spragge,
turned soldier for the once, had found a warm corner such as he
loved, and like Horatius of old held his own against tremendous
odds in the firm trust that those behind him were strengthening the
means of defence. Sheerness was bound to fall, but with fifteen
guns Spragge resisted for three hours against thirty ships of the
line. Three hours delay was invaluable. Minutes were priceless
with everything to be done.

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Galloper

sh
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irTCT-

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CHANNELS LEADING FROM THE NORE TO THE OPEN SEA
[During the period of the Dutch Wars the King's channel was often used in preference to the Black
Deep, the ,main entrance to the Thames]

ALBEMARLE 33
On Tuesday morning Albemarle galloped into Chatham. He
found the dockyard wholly disorganised, and practically deserted.
Cool even at such a crisis he did all that could be done. The
pride of England's battle-fleet, peacefully lying in the river, ex
tended from Rochester to below Upnor Castie. Below Gillingham
Albemarle mounted a great boom across the river, and below the
boom he sank five vessels in the channel to block the waterway.
In this work he was assisted by Sir Edward Spragge who had
pressed onwards from Sheerness. The Lord General next turned
his attention to Upnor Castle ; and with feverish haste threw up
batteries at either end of the boom to enfilade those who attempted
to pass through. As the Dutch approached he learned to his
sorrow that the channel was incompletely blocked. Without a
moment's hesitation he resolved in person to stand in the path
of the invader. Between the boom and the Royal Charles he
had drawn up three of the smaller battieships broadside on. In
these he embarked his force to defy once more De Ruyter on the
flood, and die in defence of the ship he loved. The youthful and
chivalrous gallantry of the grand old Duke moved deeply the
hearts of all beholders, and inspired anew the spirit of patriotism
which had of late so sadly waned.
Happily England was spared the sacrifice. The sunken ships
below the boom delayed De Ruyter, and the Duke hastened
ashore to complete his preparations. He had done what man
could do with means inadequate, when on the following day De
Ruyter found a waterway, and moved to the assault. He de
stroyed the batteries that flanked the boom, and sent a ship to
break the barrier. The ship struck on the boom, and a second
joined her. The weight of the two broke it down. The Dutch
shrieked applause, and moved against the devoted battleships.
Each in turn was taken and fired. Wilder and fiercer howls of
triumph swelled ; but when the roar of battle lulled, and the boom
of guns subsided, the voices of Englishmen were heard from foreign
decks chanting in derisive unison, " We have come to get our pay I "
To such an accompaniment the Dutchmen moved against the
Royal Charles. This splendid ship, in which flew the flag of
Blake in the war with Spain, in which Montagu had hoisted his
flag when he brought the King home again, in which His Royal
Highness had won his laurels at Lowestoft, in which the Duke
D

34 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
had done such wonders on those four successive days, the emblem
of all that England honoured and all that she revered, submitted
helplessly while alien hands hoisted aloft the flag that she had
humbled, and carried her away to adorn a victor's triumph.
If a few tears forced themselves into the stern eyes of that
hard old chieftain, and glistened there before he blinked them
away, will men honour him the less I
On the last day of the agony De Ruyter picked his way higher
up stream, and forced his way past Upnor Castle. Three first-rates
were near at hand, Royal Oak, Loyal London, Royal James.
De Ruyter meant to have them. Though the shallow waters could
not hide their shame, Albemarle sank them at their moorings,
and the Dutchmen were forced to burn what they could not move.
Now at last the artillery reinforcements began to arrive, and
Albemarle to live again. Cane in hand he superintended the dis
position of his pieces amid a perfect storm of shot. The immin
ence of his peril brought remonstrances from those about him.
" If I had been afraid of bullets, I should have quitted this trade
long ago," was all the notice he took. From Gillingham opposite
Sir Edward Spragge returned an answering fire, and De Ruyter
found that he could do little more in a confined space where
nothing but the shallow draught of his ships made operations
possible. He had done a world of damage, and his fireships
were exhausted. As soon as the tide allowed, he dropped down
stream : but for weeks he blockaded the river, prohibiting ingress
to all British ships.
Chatham was saved and half the fleet. But where was England's
honour, where was her prestige !
We all have sinned, and Thou hast laid us low
As humble earth from whence at first we came ;
Like flying shades before the clouds we show.
And shrink like parchment in consuming flame.
O pass not. Lord, an absolute decree
Or bind Thy sentence unconditional,
But in Thyisentence our remorse foresee
And in that foresight this Thy doom recall.
Thy threatenings. Lord, as Thine Thou mayest revoke :
But if immutable and fixed they stand.
Continue still Thyself to give the stroke.
And let not foreign foes oppress Thy land.
John Dryden (1631-1700).

ALBEMARLE 35
Nothing is more strange in the Second Dutch War than the
startling suddenness of its close. In June De Ruyter was in the
Medway, in July the delegates at Breda affixed their signatures to
a treaty of peace. The Navigation Act was amended in favour of
the Dutch, and their preponderating influence in the East Indies
acknowledged; but the West Indies were set down as a British
sphere of influence, and the British occupation of Cape Coast Castle
and New York was verbally confirmed.* The achievement of
terms so satisfactory by a power degraded in the dust requires some
explanation. While the sea-powers fought, they had neglected the self-ap
pointed umpire. So engrossed were they in the struggle that they
stopped not to consider seriously the puzzling behaviour of the new
sea-power that missed no movement in the game they played.
When De Witt had planned his paralysing coup, he invited Louis
XIV to take part in a scheme which promised the overthrow of
their common enemy. The Grand Monarque yawned and expressed
himself delighted with the prospect. There is no reason to dis
believe his profession. The Dutch had craved terms of peace,
and from sheer exhaustion the English had laid up their fleet. This
was the hour for which he had watched and waited. The time was
ripe, and Louis went a-harvesting. For long he had feigned a total
lack of interest. He had been ignored as he had wished, at times
forgotten. Now he threw his hand upon the table, certain of his cards.
Poor distracted De Witt I As he received news that the Royal
Charles was being ignominiously trailed across the North Sea, he
was already face to face with a new and more deadly peril. The
army of France which he had hoped to plant on England's shore
was reducing the strongholds of the Spanish Netherlands. What
opposition could the Spaniards offer to the soldiers of Martinet, the
siege-works of Vauban, and the leadership of Turenne ! If Louis
carried his boundary to the Rhine, if France extended in unbroken
range from the Pyrenees to Antwerp, what hope was left for the
Dutch Republic, which had hardly endured with English help
against the divided power of Spain !
* The British East India Co. hardly survived this war on the terms of
its foundation. The Dutch monopoly drove the company to turn to the
Peninsula, and the Indian Empire of to-day need not feel ashamed even if the
Dutch are still in possession of the islands or Indies proper.

36 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
If the English were glad of peace in 1667, so also were the
Dutch. Albemarle did not long survive the disgrace that his country
had suffered. His health had been already undermined by the
strenuous exertions of a life which few are called upon to live,
and the sad close of the campaign had a most detrimental effect
upon his spirit. In retirement at Newhall, his country seat near
Chelmsford, the change and rest did wonders. For a while he
returned to the burden of his duties. But ere long he was once
more prostrated by a return of his malady, and small hopes were
entertained of his ultimate recovery.
He endured his sufferings with exemplary patience, and never
failed to smile cheerily on all who visited him. The Archbishop,
who had learned to love him in the days of pestilence, was
frequently at his side, and the King tore himself away from his
pleasures to visit his greatest subject. The poor old warrior was
prevented by the nature of his sickness from lying down in bed,
and to the last sat propped up with cushions in his chair. The
winter of his illness was very severe, and the cold augmented his
sufferings. If it would but yield, men said he still might rally.
The end came very peacefully. Death stole on tiptoe into the
room, and Albemarle welcomed him " like a Roman general and
soldier, standing almost up in his chair, his chamber like a tent
open and all his officers about him." The tears of his old
retainers testified that with all his martial renown he combined
other lovable qualities.
The great man was buried with pomp in the Abbey of West-,
minster, and all were anxious to erect to his memory a monument
worthy of the loyal lion heart who had served so manfully his
country and his King. Charles, however, claimed a son's right
in the matter. He would at his own expense erect a memorial
to the best father that ever man respected. Perhaps it is hardly
necessary to add that he forgot to do so.
There is a story told of the old Duke in his latter days which
brings his figure forcibly to view. His stringent temperance was
a source of endless amusement to the cavaliers, who cared not
whether it was white wine or red, so long as the night was merry.
At times the Duke would lament the decay of raanners, and then

ALBEMARLE 37
his abstinence proved annoying. The lighter spirits vowed his
piety affected, and lured him at last to an orgy. Everj one drank
heartily, nor did the old Duke flinch. He drank his wine like a
man. They plied his cup and he drank again. The night wore
on, and every chair was empty save one. Noting with relief the
general subsidence the old man rose, shook himself, and with a
snort of disgust, stalked off to a Privy Council meeting as sober
as Rhadamanthus.
Never so happy as when working, Albemarle allowed himself
" conference with a trustie friend in a spacious room " by way of
relaxation. " He was of a very comly personage ; his countenance
very manly and majestick ; the whole fabrick of his body very
strong ; his constitution very healthfull and fitted for business. He
never was known to desire meat or drink till called to it, which
was but once a day, and seldom drank but at his meal. He was
of a great natural force : his eyes were a little deficient at a
distance, but near hand were excellently usefull, being able to
the last to read the worst hand-writing without spectacles. His
ears were so quick that it was dangerous to whisper in the room
without you would have him privy to your discourse. His judg
ment was slow but sure. He was very cogitative, and of a great
natural prudence, and cunning in his own affairs. He was a
person of great vertues, so wholly resolved to worthy actions, that
he did not lye open to the ordinary temptations of mankind."
Thus his biographer and friend. Even Pepys, who had good
reason to dislike the Duke, confesses to his Diary : " The Block
head Albemarle hath strange luck to be loved, though he be the
heaviest man in the world, but stout and honest to his country."

ROOKE
BORN 1650  DIED 1709
I ask nae. Be ye Whig or Tory ?
For Commonwealth or Right Divine ?
Say, Dear to you is England's glory ?
Then gie's a hand o' thine. — Old Song
GEORGE ROOKE was born at Canterbury in the year after
Charles I's execution, and was therefore still an infant
when Cromwell brought the First Dutch War to a close in 1654.
When he reached the age of fifteen the Second War broke out,
and he resolved, like so many others, to serve as a volunteer.
True he was still a boy ; but to his serious sober nature the school
of Albemarle must have made an extraordinary appeal. There is
much that is common to both characters, the same honesty of
purpose, the same faculty to do great deeds, the same forgetfulness
to claim the smallest credit for them. But there is one conspicu
ous quality in Albemarle which remains latent in the soul of his
successor. With all the makings of a hero Rooke eschewed the
role. Had he been in Grenville's place at Flores he would un
doubtedly have joined Lord Thomas Howard, not from any desire
to avoid action but as a first step in the definite organization of
success. There were occasions in his career when fate, too strong,
forced him to play the more attractive part ; but his delight lay in
mastering a situation, and watching its development along the lines
of his own ordaining. Does anyone suppose that Edward III
preferred a station by the Cr^cy windmill because he feared to
venture into the fray ! As brave as the Plantagenet Rooke would
make all essential dispositions down to the minutest detail ; and
then single out an aspirant to glory confident that the youth would
win his spurs. 38

ROOKE 39
His preference for direction was fostered by a deep-rooted dis
like for personal advertisement. There is no doubt, however,
that it gave his rivals and political opponents occasion to slander
his character and minimize his worth. If all that has been said in
his dispraise were true, it would be a littie difficult to understand
how he drew attention to himself at Solebay and the Texel ; how
he distinguished himself at Bantry Bay and Beachy Head ; how
he brought relief to Londonderry ; how he taught men to call
the Battle of Barfleur, La Hogue ; how he singed the King of
Spain's beard at Vigo ; how he captured Gibraltar for the Queen
of the Sea ; and stood at bay like a wounded deer in the fight off
Malaga. THE THIRD DUTCH WAR. 1672-74
In the hour of England's humiliation the Grand Pensionary
had abandoned hostilities in order to give his whole attention to
the new menace which threatened the very existence of his
country. By his winning persuasiveness of speech he gained the
good offices of Sweden, and at the beginning of 1668 set the
crown on his career by inducing his late enemy to forget the
bitterness of strife and join him in repelling the unscrupulous
aggressions of France. The three powers compelled Louis to
abandon his project and evacuate the territory of Spain. Louis
was intensely mortified, but he recognized the futility of expostu
lation. He therefore struck a medal to celebrate his magnanimity
in giving back what he ought never to have taken.
As a diplomatic achievement the Triple Alliance was dexterous
and brilliant. But its benefits were fore-ordained to be transitory,
not from any error in the passionless calculations of De Witt, but
from the waywardness and frailty of human nature.
The Triple Alliance did nothing to convince Louis that his
conduct had been wantonly aggressive. It served merely to trans
fer his mischievous activities into a new channel. With a con
suming desire for revenge in his heart, he nurtured henceforward
so malignant a hatred of the Dutch that plans for their destruc
tion monopolized his thoughts. This would have mattered little if
De Witt had felt secure in the sanctuary of his newly pledged
friendship. There was excellent reason for England's co-operation. The

40 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
conquest of the Netherlands would put France in possession
of a wider sea-board and priceless havens. It would enable her
to bestride the English Channel, carry her fleets by proprietary
right through the Straits of Calais and knock insistently at Lon
don's water-gate. Here were motives that would have influenced
Charles had he been guided solely by his country's interests : here
were motives that should have ratified a lasting association with
De Witt. But Charles was much wrought upon by " humours and
opinions." He was too shrewd to allow Louis to make a cat's paw
of him, but he had not forgotten or forgiven the Medway incident.
Thus it came to pass that before the Triple Alliance was two
years old, Charles consented to perpetrate in conjunction with Louis
what he had refused to allow Louis to perpetrate alone. By the
Secret Treaty of Dover (1670) he agreed to take the side of Louis
against the Dutch on condition that a British naval officer should
command the allied fleets, and that on the conclusion of the war
England should receive fortresses and islands that would give her
the command of the Scheldt.
Englishmen may well be ashamed of this infamous contract.
It is true that both the signatories had ground for annoyance : but
without further provocation from the Provinces no self-respecting
power could ventilate its grievance openly. Furthermore, neither
contracting party was able to seek a quarrel and retaliate alone.
Charles was in ill-odour with his Parliament. They were already
enquiring with some heat into the misappropriation of funds during
the late war, and were unlikely to make a more generous allowance
in the event of renewal. The French King was kept in sober
mood by the very existence of the confraternity. Charles was
hampered by want of money, and Louis by England's plighted
word. In the Secret Treaty of Dover Charles sold England's
plighted word, and hired out the British Navy as a bravado sells
his blade. To this day Englishmen may share Charles's desire
for a final fling at the Dutch, but they cannot forgive the sale
of England's honour for some paltry pieces of gold.
THE BATTLE OF SOLEBAY
May 28, 1672
The years 1572 and 1672 set side by side afford rather a striking
contrast. On both occasions the Dutch were matched with a

ROOKE 41
formidable power : but in the days of Philip II they relied on the
passive co-operation of England, in the days of Louis they were
faced by her active hostility. The prospect was gloomy, but at
least the " Beggars of the Sea " were nobly represented. Louis
might bribe the princelings of the Rhine for temporary land-access
to the enemy, but permanent possession of the Provinces turned
on the control of the natural approach through the waters De
Ruyter commanded.
It was the task of the great Dutch admiral to frustrate all
attempts of his enemies to use the sea as a waterway to Holland.
At the outset he hoped to prevent the union of their fleets, but
the unpreparedness of his own Government rendered this im
possible, and he reached the Straits only to find that the junction
had already taken place. He therefore simulated flight ; and the
allies anchored at their extreme leisure in Solebay * roadstead, and
proceeded to mature their plans.
The recent death of Albemarle had removed the one man in
England who was really a match for De Ruyter. In his place the
Duke of York reassumed the command which he had abandoned
after Lowestoft. He was assisted in the command of the Red
Squadron by Sir John Harman, who had fought so well in the
Four Days' Battle, and by Sir Edward Spragge, who never missed
a fight through fault of his own. At the conclusion of the Medway
business he had conducted a smart campaign against the Barbary
pirates, which for the completeness of its success challenges com
parison with the work of Blake and Exmouth. On the present
occasion he hoisted his flag in the London,^ and numbered among
his staff no more admiring disciple than Lieutenant George Rooke.
The Blue Squadron was commanded by Montagu, Earl of
Sandwich, who like his chief had not met the Dutch since Lowe
stoft. He was now to prove that not in vain had he served an
apprenticeship to Blake.
The White Squadron comprised the French ships, about thirty
* Now known as Southwold Bay.
f As the Loyal London this ship had been sunk in the Medway and partially
destroyed by De Ruyter. She had been a gift from the Metropolis, and Charles
hoped the citizens would subscribe to salvage and reconstruction. Disap
pointed in this, he paid the bill himself and knocked off the Loyal from the
vessel's pride of name.

42 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
in number, and more than one-third of the entire force. Their
commander was Jean d'Estrees [1624-1707]. Brought up as a
soldier, he had distinguished himself in battle, and risen to the
rank of General in Mazarin's war with Spain. Serving under him
was the celebrated Abraham Duquesne [1610-88], an impetuous,
hot-headed Huguenot, who had been bred to the sea from earliest
youth, had learned the art of war in combat with Spaniards and
Algerines, and according to his more enthusiastic biographers
should be credited with the inspiration which made Colbert what
he was. That Duquesne was the greatest French sailor of the
age is indisputable : that he was dissatisfied with his position in
the fleet falls very far short of the truth. He was boiling with
rage. Secure in the conviction that De Ruyter had run away from
him James made no immediate effort to follow. Perhaps he
plumed himself as he thought that the great seaman hardly dared
to face the combined naval power of England and France. On
27th May Lord Sandwich approached him and pointed out that
the wind was blowing from the wrong side of north, and that
though there was no danger of their running aground, there was a
strong presumption that De Ruyter would approach before the
wind and catch them off their guard with none too much room
to ply to sea. James replied very tactlessly, but evidently, in his
own opinion, very wittily, that the Earl's susceptibilities were prob
ably occasioned not by the demands of seamanship, but by the
promptings of nervousness. The Earl returned to his ship con
cealing with difficulty a rankling annoyance and a strange dis
quietude. On the next day De Ruyter, flying his flag in his beloved Seven
Provi?ices, bore down before an easterly wind while the allies
slumbered and slept.
The three divisions of the Anglo-French array were lying in
shore ; and looking seawards the Duke in the centre had the Blue
Squadron on his left, and the Frenchmen on his right. When
battle was ordered at sea, the White had the honour of leading
the van; the Commander-in-Chief with the Red occupied the
best post for observation in the centre, and the Blue brought
up the rear. This custom did not prohibit the Blue from engag
ing before the White if a sudden emergency, like the present, de-

ROOKE

43

manded it. Lord Sandwich saw the menace first, and in the general
haste to get to sea was earliest away. With his flag in the Royal
James he stood to sea northwards on the starboard tack, and
found himself immediately engaged with the right wing of De
Ruyter's force. The Red Squadron followed him.

van Ghent

de Ruyter

Bankart

Wind

i'tstree^m^

THE BATTLE OF SOLEBAY
May 28, 1672
Unfortunately the White division did not act in concert with its
partners. Perhaps D'Estrees was intent on his technical claim to
lead the line ; perhaps he acted from sheer ignorance which he
regretted afterwards ; perhaps, as Duquesne believed, he was actu
ally running away. Whatever his reason he worked to sea on the

44 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
port tack ; and every inch of water he covered, separated him ever
more widely from the divisions of James and Montagu.
De Ruyter, who by reason of his vigilance alone deserved to win
the battle, now gave a display of skill in itself sufficient to secure
his fame. His fleet was inferior to that of the allies by ten ships
at the least. But instead of allowing his left wing to engage the
French, he detached a mere fragment to hold them ; and reserved
the remainder at his side. Then he delivered a furious onslaught
upon the English centre whom he now equalled and perhaps out
numbered. Young Rooke in the London was witness to a fight
of unparalleled importance, celebrated, and deservedly so, for the
skill of the enemy and the dogged unflinching courage with which
it was met.
The Blue squadron under Montagu was doing wonders. The
Earl himself was bound for honour's sake to prove to all the world
that the Duke of York's reckless gibe was as undeserved as it
certainly was cruel. He had a splendid ship, and from earliest
morning to midday he fought like a lion. His first antagonist,
the Groot Hollandia, ran right under the James's bowsprit, and
from her coign of vantage inflicted frightful carnage with a raking fire.
Do what he could Sandwich could not get clear. Nothing but
the turn of the tide or the loss of his bowsprit could deliver him.
In this position he was attacked by Van Ghent, the leader ofthe
Dutchmen's right, who brought another great ship to second his
endeavours. From behind a veil of smoke they launched two
fireships at him. Sandwich slew Van Ghent, fended off one fireship,
sank the other with his broadsides, and carried the Groot Hollandia
by boarding. He still had two antagonists. Grieved for the loss
of Van Ghent they fought well, and sent another fireship down
upon him. Sandwich disposed of her too, but the Royal James
was exhausted. Her deck was blood-soaked, and the debris hung
about her shrouds. Up aloft the tattered flag~ still flew. If no
salvation came the Royal James knew how to die. Pitilessly her
foes sent down another fireship, and then the end came quickly.
Before anything could be done the vessel was in flames. Those
about the Earl besought him to save himself, but he refused to
abandon his ship while a shadow of hope remained. He stood
there to the end, and when the ship blazed red from stem to
stern, he dropped overboard and perished in the waters.

ROOKE 45
Those in rear of Montagu did their best to help him : but were
themselves hard-pressed. The Earl would still have been rescued
if his vanward had come to his relief They, however, were other
wise engaged. The smallness of De Ruyter's force and his
grand attack on the English centre left his right wing weaker than
the opposing Blues. The foremost ships of Montagu's division
under Sir Joseph Jordan, seeking antagonists and finding none,
tacked, and gaining the wind doubled at first upon their adver
saries' right. Continuing upon the new course they were in time
enabled to bring assistance to the Red division, although by doing
so they sacrificed unwittingly the Commander of their own.
The centre needed them. Here De Ruyter was surpassing the
brilliance of his dispositions by the vigour of his personal prowess.
Singhng out the Duke of York's ship, the Prince, he subjected her
to a cannonade which no vessel afloat could stand. James, fated
to meet a right royal welcome whenever he fought at sea, endured
with exemplary fortitude, but the Prince was put out of action and
he abandoned her for the St. Michael and the stalwart arm of Sir
Robert Holmes.*
The fight grew fast and furious all along the line. The English
played a losing game as they alone can play it. Eight captains fell
at their post ; and the soldiers on board, here for the first time re
ferred to as "Marines," received a tribute of universal commenda
tion. Ere long the Duke had again to shift his flag, and this time
came aboard the London where it is certain young Rooke eyed him
with eager interest.
At last the terrible grip relaxed and the English realized that
the trial of strength was over. The honour of the Navy was
vindicated. The union flag still fluttered in the breeze.
De Ruyter had not done all that he desired. But though no
captive ships were carried in triumph to Holland, the battle had been
a costly one for the English. If their ships had not been as stout
as their hearts, the defection of their ally must have ruined them.
* Sir Robert had been selected to inaugurate the Third Dutch War as
he had the Second. In flagrant violation of international raorality he at
tacked the home-returning merchantmen of Holland in a time of profound
peace. The insult was sufficient ; but Charles was bitterly disappointed at
Holmes's failure to capture those he had attacked. Sir Robert was conse-
quentiy under a cloud, and did not hold flag-rank in this battle.

46 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Although the allies were not annihilated at Solebay, they were at
the least crippled, and their attempt to command the water-road to
Holland was for a time baffled and upset.
A few days after Solebay Louis XIV's army achieved an astonish
ing success. Between Paris and Amsterdam there are impediments
enough for three campaigns, but in a few short weeks Turenne had
swept them aside, and for one brief hour it seemed that the war
would end, ere it had well begun. Fortunately for the States, Louis
accompanied his arms in person ; and his hesitation upon their
threshold gave his enemies a momentary breathing-space in which
to improvise defence.
This was the crisis in the life of De Witt. For twenty years he had
ruled the States through good report and ill. Circumstances had
forced him to develop naval power ; and although in so doing he had
starved the military strength, it is difficult to blame him. Even if
the English wars had not absorbed his revenues, the revival of the
army would only have served to remind the dissatisfied of the old
regime and the Stadtholders. But now with Turenne at the gate
Holland required the soldiers of Maurice as well as the ships of De
Ruyter. De Witt was almost at the end of his resources. He
looked around for allies, fenced with Louis regarding terms, and
prepared to cut the dykes. For himself it was too late. The cruel
hate of the unthinking mob hounded him to his doom. He
was barbarously murdered in the streets of The Hague together
with his brother Cornelius. The third ^\'illiam of the House
of Nassau was set in his room at the head of the State, and
brought to his task a genius equal to De Witt's and an individu
ality that bred a devotion never offered to the late Grand
Pensionary. Among his first actions he recalled Cornelius Tromp,
composed the difference which had kept him from the fleet since
the fatal action of St. James's Day, and tactfully extorted from the
headstrong leader a promise to act in strict accord with the direc
tion of De Ruyter. Meanwhile the inundations ordered by De
Witt left the towns standing like islands in the flood ; and the
success of this defensive measure was attributed to William and
increased his popularity. Only when he found himself compelled
to apply to the Admiral for sufficient powder to continue the struggle

ROOKE

47

ashore did the Stadtholder realise the extremity to which his country
was reduced.
A\'hile Holland was in the throes of dissolution, England, torn
asunder by religious strife, was so little ready to continue the'struggle

THE UNITED PROVINCES

that De Ruyter might have paid a second visit to Chatham, had he
not been acting in concert with the military forces. Instructed by

48 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
William to prevent the English from landing reinforcements for
Louis, and otherwise to maintain a defensive attitude, he chose as
his base the Schoonveldt, a sand-protected roadstead at the mouth
of the Scheldt.
Among other enormities in the Secret Treaty, Charles had
engaged to avow himself a Romanist. The actual declaration
was postponed I But his religious tendencies had already set the
Commons in a ferment, and now gave rise to a Test Act which
debarred from service under the Crown all who were unwilling to
dissociate themselves from the rites of the Church of Rome.* This
deprived the fleet of Sir Robert Holmes, and the Duke of York
who had already forsworn the religion of his father. The com
mand of the fleet w^as accordingly transferred to Prince Rupert,
whose exalted rank enabled the French gracefully to accept their
subordinate position.
Harman the dauntless followed the Prince, and Sir Edward
Spragge found his deserts in the command of the Blue division.
So long as the allies attempted to draw him from "his hole," De
Ruyter was for the most part content to disappoint them. But
when the wind put a chance in his way he was ready to leap at
it, and provide his visitors with just sufficient reason for seeking
friendlier waters. Then making judicious use of the shallows he
would end the encounter. Twice in the early summer of 1673 f
he sallied forth and twice declined to push things to extremity.
Methods so dilatory puzzled and irritated Rupert. He thirsted to
inflict a crushing and final defeat upon the Hollanders. Lest the
French should befool their friends as they had done in the great
encounter of Solebay, he insisted that D'Estrees' division should
be sandwiched between the English Red and Blue. This arrange
ment proved entirely acceptable to the Dutch, who made a dead
set at the imprisoned objects of their special hate. It is only fair
to the French to add that they fought well in a position where
escape was impossible.
For another reason these skirmishes are memorable. Spragge
and Cornelius Tromp found in each other the adversary that each
* March, 1673.
f First battle of the Schoonveldt, May 28 [anniversary of Solebay].
Second battle ofthe Schoonveldt, June 4.

ROOKE 49
had been seeking all his life. On 28th May Tromp opened the
battle in the Golden Lion. After fighting Sir Edward for seven
hours he shifted his flag to the Prince on Horseback. Later he
left the Pri-nce on Horseback for the Amsterdam, and ended up
the day in the Comet Star.
After a night's rest he wrote the following : —
Dear Sister,
Yesterday we went into the dance and God be praised, we are sound,
and have enjoyed ourselves like kings. I am in my fourth ship, the Comet
Star, and mean to have a fine dance to-day. We make the French run, so
that they have to set sky-scrapers and everything else ; and if things go on
to-day as before, I trust that our prayer and that of all our friends will be
heard, and that we shall be freed from tyranny. Adieu. Courage. Things
are bound to go well. Cornelius.
There was of necessity nothing decisive in these bouts ; and
after the second, the allies [as De Ruyter had anticipated] were
obliged to put back to England for repairs. King Charles came
down to visit the fleet and Kstened with interest to all the news.
He congratulated Spragge whose name was in everybody's mouth,
and that doughty hero gave him a promise that in the next en
counter he would take Tromp or perish in the attempt. Much of
course was said about the difficulty of inducing De Ruyter to issue
out of his hole, and the King himself suggested a lure. There
were 15,000 men in the eastern counties awaiting De Ruyter's
defeat. The Dutch intelligence department was good. Let trans
ports be collected ; and let it be noised abroad that, as the Dutch
were too nervous to put to sea, the army of invasion would at
once be carried over to Holland.
THE BATTLE OF THE TEXEL
August ii, 1673
In accordance with this plot Rupert and his fleet set out again,
and disdainfully ignoring the Schoonveldt, made along the coast
as if to find a landing-place. William tirelessly followed them
along the shore. The royal device was working well.
During the second week in August Rupert, who had met rough
weather, was as far north as Terschelling, and De Ruyter with his
E

so SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
flag in the Seven Provinces, and a fleet infected with new en
thusiasm by a recent visit from the Stadtholder, panted up behind,
and slipped into the Texel for repairs.
Off the anchorage on nth August, 1673, the last battie of the
long Dutch wars was fought. With the wind at S.E., Rupert
sailing southward on the port tack, accepted battle to leeward.
He himself commanded the Red Squadron and Spragge the Blue,
while in recognition of their recent services the French reassumed
their place in the van. De Ruyter repeated in a more dehberate
way the ruse which he had employed in the previous year. He
had but sixty ships to thirty of the French and fifty of the English,
but he detached a mere fragment to hold the French in check, and
massed his strength on the allied centre and rear. D'Estrees
did apparently make some effort to deal with the puny force
opposed to him. He had the leeward position, but he endeavoured
to push ahead his leading ships under pressure of sail and double
to windward as Jordan had done at Solebay. He endeavoured
also to divide the enemies' fleet after the English fashion by tack
ing through the gap between the Dutch van and De Ruyter's
division behind. But the French efforts were similar to those of
two clumsy greyhounds pursuing a swift little hare. Bankart, the
Dutch commander, eluded his pursuers as long as it was possible
to do so, and at the last went about and joined his force to De
Ruyter's thereby swelling the opposition that Rupert had to face.
The two greyhounds, much distressed at this occurrence, lay gasp
ing with tongues extended. If their instinct suggested a return to
the fight, their instinct went unheeded.
In the rear Spragge, mindful of his promise to the King, hove
to in order to await attack instead of standing to the south with
the rest of the line. Both he and Tromp surpassed themselves
and " enjoyed themselves like kings " ; but they drifted rapidly to
leeward and lost touch with the battle proper. Spragge was
nobly backed by Captain Arthur Herbert in the Cambridge and
Captain Edward Russell in the Phce?ti.x, but Tromp was also
partnered with paladins and neither side would yield. As before,
the principals used their ships as the fencer treats his foils, dis
carding the worn-out weapon for a better. As Tromp transferred
his flag from the Golden Lion to the Co?net Star, Spragge aban
doned the Royal Prince for the St. George. The Roval Prince

ROOKE

SI

was dangerously wounded, and Tromp made haste to take her in
the Comet Star. To save his deserted ship Spragge dashed forward
with St. George for Merry England. But the gunnery of the St.
George pleased him not, and he ordered his barge to be manned
and his flag conveyed to the Royal Charles. The barge had

Cornehus Tromp

N

de Ryyter

Bankarr

THE BATTLE OP THE TEXEL
August II, 1673

hardly started when a cannon-shot swamped it, and all the crew
were thrown into the water. Sir Edward could not swim ; but his
bos'n and another kept him afloat. Unfortunately his long fight
had exhausted him, and before a kindly boat qould reach him he

52 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
was drowned. The great Cornelius was still at liberty, but Spragge
had paid his vow.*
Tromp was still resolute to take the Royal Prince. Backed by
more than one helper he hurled himself at her. But though the
English ship was unmanageable she was still ready to fight. No
longer able to pick and choose her foes she nailed her colours to
the mast and double-shotted her guns. Tromp was persistent.
If he could not bring her flag down, he would burn her, and she
should die the death of Montagu's Royal James. He procured
two fireships. But the Royal Prince, helpless though she was,
fended them off and waited for more.
Spragge's name was very dear to Englishmen. It proved that
the motherland still bore brave hearts like Richard Grenville's. At
the same time it is possible to understand the annoyance that
Rupert was feeling. In his land campaigns he must have learned
how fatal it is for one in high command to allow his joy of battle
to master his generalship. Outnumbered himself Rupert found
himself isolated. Once again he fought as he had done under
the approving eye of Albemarle, but it was only to extricate
himself from the meshes of De Ruyter. This done, he took the
one course open to him : he ran to leeward to link his Red ships
with the Blue. De Ruyter followed and joined in the struggle
which still raged round Sir Edward's flagship.
The Royal Prince had not yet finished. She was only a
wreck now, but she saw that others were intent to save her ; and
so in death she lived, and living was rescued and carried into
safety. Little wonder if all men asked what man had defended the dis
abled ship with an arm so stout and a courage so tenacious :
little wonder if from this moment the name of Lieutenant Rooke
became a household word.
The rescue of the Royal Prince proved the turning-point in the
fray. By this time evening was falling, and the French began to
grow inquisitive. Accordingly they ran down before the wind as
they might have done at any moment before, and once more put
* " It was the ruin of Spragge . . . taking his flag in his boat, which gave
the enemy an opportunity to discover his motion, when at the same time we
saw flags flying on board the main topmast-head of three ships which Tromp
had quitted."

ROOKE 53
the much-vexed Prince in a position of numerical superiority. De
Ruyter accordingly withdrew, and the battle ended much as Sole-
bay had done. The English fighting under disadvantages which
might well have been avoided, poured out their blood like water
and lost not a single ship. But the glory of the day was De
Ruyter's. His watchfulness had once more saved his country
from invasion, and his skill in battle, brilliant and unsurpassed,
had enabled him to incapacitate the joint fleet of two first-class
powers with a force of marked inferiority.
The behaviour of the French in this last battle exasperated the
people of England to a degree that rendered a continuance of the
partnership impossible. It is reported that a certain Dutch sailor
on being questioned as to the conduct of the French at Solebay
and the Texel replied: "Oh, you see, the French have paid the
English to do this part of their work, and they are merely here to
see that they earn their wages." This was the view of patriots
in England. The British Navy was the hired menial of the tyrant
at Versailles I English sailors certainly would infinitely have pre
ferred to fight against the French in company with that tremendous
fellow Cornelius, and De Ruyter the perfect seaman.
Even without this revulsion of feeling it is doubtful whether
Charles could have continued longer in the war. If Louis' invasion
of Netherlandish Spain had in 1667 excited the indignation of De
Witt, his unprovoked aggression against long-suffering Holland
roused the fury of Europe to choking-point. The greedy rapacity
of such an unprincipled land-grabber brought into the field a
powerful alliance which by 1674 included the Emperor, the
" Great Elector " of Brandenburg, the King of Spain, the Duke of
Lorraine and the Count of the Palatinate. The political horizon
became quite overcast, and the King of England in his graceful
way bowed before the storm.
Louis XIV felt in no position to cope single-handed with the
naval power of Holland. His ships had passed very easily through
a strenuous campaign, but their shyness had one obvious disad
vantage. They had acquired no first-hand experience. They had
been initiated into the mysteries of naval warfare, but they had still
to make a name. Louis resolved lo give them the practice they
required in a field where defeat was not so certain as in the lowland

54 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
seas. He revived Mazarin's scheme of attacking Spain in her
Neapolitan possessions.
The French fleet was perfectiy found and excellentiy equipped.
The officers were burning with zeal, and anxious to reverse the
verdict which the world had passed on their futile exhibitions in
the North Sea. They quickly convinced the Spaniards that the
warfare was going to be one-sided, and the Spaniards invited the
Dutch to come and rescue them. The Stadtholder had already
reversed the policy of De Witt, and was spending on land defence
what had formerly been dowered on the fleet. He consented,
however, to operate against Louis in the Mediterranean, and sent
De Ruyter with a baby fleet of twenty ships.
In January, 1676, Abraham Duquesne* was bringing from
Toulon an expeditionary force to the relief of a French army in
occupation of Messina. De Ruyter, ignorant of Duquesne's
numbers, flung himself between Messina and relief, and in the
Battle of Stromboli enhanced his reputation by the skill with
which he prevented a superior force with the advantage of the
wind from getting past him. At the sarae time it was acknowledged
that Duquesne handled his fleet admirably. To have stood up to
the great De Ruyter without suffering annihilation almost entitles
him to victor's laurels.
A second battle at Agosta followed. De Ruyter, who had
fought through one deadly encounter after another without a
scratch now received a mortal wound. He was carried ashore
and died at Syracuse in the seventieth year of his age. The
world has been accustomed to regard William III as the saviour
of Holland. He would have been helpless without the victories
of De Ruyter, who should be honoured as one of the founders of
Dutch liberty as well as one of the greatest exponents of the
science of battle by sea. His death gave the efforts of the
French a keener incitement. With martial impulsiveness they
attacked the Dutch and Spaniards off Palermo, and inflicted upon
them a crushing irremediable defeat [May, 1676].
The advent of a British fleet upon the scene in the following
year robbed the French campaign of its material reward. But the
* After Solebay the cantankerous Abraham had accused his superior of
cowardice. D'Estrees was honourably acquitted and Duquesne temporarily
relieved of his command.

ROOKE 55
importance of these batties lay in their moral effect. They re
flected the same lustre on the French Navy as Lepanto had done
upon the Spanish. Henceforward England could not despise
those who had departed , from Solebay. They had put their
principles into practice. They had beaten the allied powers of
Spain and Holland. They had fought with distinction against the
greatest seaman of the age. Duquesne did not survive to match
himself with Rooke, but his task was done. He had founded a
school. "Votre exemple,'' said the Grand Monarque, as he con
ferred on him a marquisate, " continuera de guider vos successeurs,
et ainsi vous ne cesserez point de commander mes flottes."
Meanwhile the war upon the continent dragged its slow length
along. The coalition of the European powers made the ultimate
failure of Louis inevitable, but he did not abandon hope till
Turenne met his death and Conde grew weary of battles. The
new Stadtholder constituted himself the soul of resistance to
France. He left no stone unturned to win deliverance for his
country, and a growing party in England laid at his feet a tribute of
admiration. As long as he dared, Charles turned a deaf ear to
the anti-Gallicans, and an open hand to Louis' dividends. But in
the year after De Ruyter's death, the marriage of Princess Mary of
England with her cousin William of Orange apprised the Grand
Monarque that " his Pensioner * could no longer hold his subjects
in leash. This gentle hint turned the scale and in 1678 a general
treaty of peace was signed in the States at Nymwegen. Louis
obtained certain concessions chiefly at the expense of Spain, but
they were quite inadequate to compensate his country for all that
she had suffered in fighting the world companionless. Of Dutch
territory Louis obtained not an inch. The future depended on
the adolescent navy of France, for the two great powers of the sea
had neither slain each other nor yielded to his armies or his gold.
Following the Peace of Nymwegen came ten years of profound
peace during which England was occupied with an attempt on the
part of the Whigs to exclude the Romanist Duke of York from
succession to the throne. Charles championed his brother's
cause, and demolished the opposition when he brought Lord
Russell and Algernon Sidney to the block. The death of Russell
raised up against the House of Stuart a formidable antagonist in

56 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Edward (1653-1727), brother-in-law and cousin of the " Patriot," a
young naval officer who had served with distinction at the Texel.
To considerable skill and unquestioned bravery he added an un-
scrupulousness which repels sympathy and a self-seeking greed
which kills the hero in him. He plays an important part in the
story of the Navy and of Rooke.
In these years of peace Rooke fortunately found himself in a
corner of comparative activity. The Navy was still kept upon a
war footing in the Mediterranean. The Barbary Corsairs, forget
ful of their chastisement by Blake, continued to fill their coffers
from the piUage of Levantine merchantmen ; and if Charles over
looked the interest of others, he had a prize of his own to guard.
His marriage with Catherine of Portugal had brought Tangier to
the Crown. Expeditions defensive of Tangier, and punitive against
the Algerines were incessant throughout the reign, and waited not
on affairs more strictly European.* The Second Dutch War had
recalled Lawson home to receive his death-wound at Lowestoft ;
after Chatham Spragge had replaced him. When the Treaty of
Westminster closed the Third Dutch War a fresh expedition was
fitted out under Sir John Narbrough, who had acquired some
fame in a voyage of exploration to the Southern Sea, and as Flag
Captain to the Duke of York at the Battle of Solebay had won a
knighthood for his services. When Narbrough was recalled his
place was taken by one who under happier stars might have gained
for himself the meed of fame that the fates reserved for Rooke.
Arthur Herbert [1647-17 16] came of a celebrated family. The
illustrious author of The Temple was his cousin. The Admiral
himself was brave as a lion. He was, like Rooke, a disciple of
Spragge. He had fought at St. James's Day. He had carried
the Dreadnought into the thick of the fight on the day that
Sandwich fell. He had lost an eye against the Algerines. He
was a skilful seaman and a clever commander. But he was a true
son of a decadent age. He saw nothing in Charies II to dismay
a man of honour. He made it his business to emulate the prince
of luxury, and debased his more sterling virtues by a mercenary
spirit. * These expeditions were repeated throughout the eighteenth century.
Exmouth's bombardment of 1816 was but a chapter in a serial which did not
close till the French occupation of Algiers in 1880.

ROOKE 57
Rooke, who had won for himself the command of a ship by his
plucky defence of the Royal Prince at the Battle of the Texel,
served in the Mediterranean under Narbrough and Herbert. He
gained experience ; he won a lifelong friend ; and daily he ac
customed himself to the sight of Gibraltar Rock.
Apart from the Mediterranean contingent, the Navy fell into a
lamentable state of decay. The King made no secret of the fact
that he was spending the national revenues on illicit pleasures.
The ships that had once defied De Ruyter rotted at their anchors.
The limbs of the service became paralysed, its members atrophied.
In 1683 Tangier was abandoned, and in the last year of Charles
II's reign the British Navy had practically ceased to exist.
With the accession of James II everything was changed. As a
sailor the last Stuart King has undoubted claims to his country's
gratitude. No English monarch, not Edward III himself, acted
a nobler part upon the sea. In the carnage which deluged his
quarter-deck at Lowestoft, in the confusion consequent on the
French defection at Solebay, James showed himself a man and a
hero, and fought in a way that Englishmen have always loved.
Nor does the debt end here. From the Restoration to the passing
of the Test Act he filled with credit the office of Lord High
Admiral. He codified the laws of the fleet. He reorganized her
government. He re-edited her Fighting Instructions. Above all,
he gave her a regular staff of officers.
The peculiar circumstances of Elizabethan times created a body
of adventurers wiUing enough to put their swords at the service of
Her Majesty whenever she required them. In the age of Blake
the Council of State and Cromwell drafted well-seasoned warriors
from the New Model when occasion arose. The age of gold was
past, and the ironside ranks were thin when Charles came to his
own again. The King accepted the services of Sandwich, Penn and
Lawson, remarking with a laugh that those who had had the plague
were immune from infection. He was thinking of disloyalty.
That, however, was not the difficulty. It was James who recog
nized the need of properly trained officers. He busied himself
with the problem, found its solution, and evolved the Midshipman.
The term was no new one. The midshipman had been a boat
swain's subordinate for years past. James introduced a letter from

58 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the King to the captain of a ship requesting him to take a certam
young gentleman aboard with him in lieu of one of his midship
men. For long the young gentieman was known as a Kings
Letter Boy, but at length usurped the title of the petty officer
whose place he filled. The young gentieman was obliged to prove
himself a true seaman before he won a lieutenancy, or he might be
cut out by the Tarpaulins who rose from the ranks ; but seven
years' apprenticeship did wonders, and birth, breeding and in
fluence turned the scale when the time for selection arrived.
James's work was interrupted by the Test Act, but on his brother's
death (1685) he returned to a labour of love. In the first portrait
painted after his accession, the King stands proudly on the sea-shore
with some of his finest vessels floating in the middle distance. The
crown is thrust aside with unbecoming carelessness upon a side-
table. Sir Godfrey Kneller did not intend an allegory, but the
allegory is there.
James called to his side the invaluable Mr. Pepys,* and with his
help restored the service to the same efficiency which had char
acterized the epoch of the First Dutch War. He could not foresee
that the fleet revivified would enable England to deliver herself
from the monarch, whose fostering care had recreated it.
As a king, James was a sorry faUure. He was wholly wanting
in tact, the kingliest of qualities. His endeavours to obtain fair
play for Roman Catholics were so abominably clumsy that no one
could be blamed for interpreting them as an Ul-timed endeavour
to revive sixteenth-century fanaticism. He had an amazing faculty
for rubbing people up the wrong way and making implacable
enemies. He offended classes, he offended individuals. By a
tactless reproach, utterly unmerited, he sent poor Sandwich to his
doom. 'When Arthur Herbert returned from the Mediterranean,
James tried to enlist his sympathy in schemes for dispensing with
the laws of the country. Herbert replied that his scruples stood
in the way. " Scruples ? " sneered the King, " Didn't know you had
any." "In that case," concluded the Admiral, "I may as well
live up to my reputation ; " and he promptly offered his services
to William of Orange. Herbert held the highest position in the
Navy under the Crown. James chose as his successor Lord Dart-
* The diarist retired when his master was driven from the throne, and died
at Clapham in 1703.

ROOKE 59
moiith, not because he had fought well at Solebay and the Texel,
not because he was a worthy pupil of Spragge, but because he
was a Roman Catholic. He went further. He sent Romanist
priests to every ship in the fleet to celebrate the Mass. The
sailors crowded across the sea in Herbert's wake to look for a Pro
testant master.
The trial of the Seven Bishops alienated the last of James's
active supporters ; and on the birth of his son, afterwards the Old
Pretender, the certainty of a Papist dynasty made a Revolution in
evitable. Foremost among the movers was Edward Russell, whose
passion for revenge was unabated. The Prince of Orange was in
vited to depose his father-in-law, and after due consideration he
consented. He foresaw the certain renewal of war with France,
and dreaded lest religious affinity should induce James to engage
his Navy in the service of France, now that the Navy of Holland
(starved by the land war) was but a shadow of its former self
Hailed across the water as the saviour of English liberties he dis
creetly accepted the role, and nominated Herbert for the com
mand of his forces, thus giving his whole expedition the air of a
British crusade rather than that of a Dutch Armada.
There were still many captains well enough pleased with what
James had done for the service, and when Russell joined the anti-
Jacobites fresh measures were concerted to secure their adher
ence. The revolutionaries selected Lieutenant Byng (1663-1733),
a Kentishman like Rooke, to proselytize the well-contents. Byng
(Jid his work sagaciously. He did not stir his listeners to an
active part in the cause, but lulled them into quietude by pleading
for passive resistance.
In consequence no English fleet blockaded the Prince of Orange
in the Maas; and when in November, 1688, a Protestant wind
sprang up in the east and Admiral Herbert dropped down channel
with 15,000 men and fifty ships [one of them commanded by
Captain Rooke], no English fleet contested with him the passage
of the Straits. Why did Lord Dartmouth hug the Gunfleet? Did
he suppose the enemies of James would force an entrance to the
Thames ? Why did he foUow so leisurely in their train ? Why
did he put so safe an interval between himself and them ? Why
did he allow WiUiam to land unopposed when he reached the
friendly waters of Torbay ?

6o SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
James's fleet revivified struck no blow for the SaUor King, and
when he heard of its desertion the last of the Stuarts abandoned
his crown and fled. WUliam III, Stadtholder of those very Pro
vinces who had fought with England through three long wars,
mounted the throne as his successor. Had he been able to dis
pense with English aid he would not have come, for his coming
was a tacit acknowledgment that Holland would never again com
pete with England for the Admiralty of the Seas.
THE WAR OF THE ENGLISH SUCCESSION. 1689-97
Many a time no doubt in the not too good old days an un
scrupulous lord of the manor would endeavour to annex to his
already wide domain the fruitful plot of a thrifty cottager for no
better reason than that its walls adjoined his own. He would
employ force ; and would perhaps be forcibly restrained by the
united efforts of his less wealthy neighbours. He would nurse his
grievance silently at first, but after a while he would order this
hedge to be removed, that road widened, this common land re
claimed, and by the accumulation of petty injuries raise against
himself in the neighbourhood a measureless volume of hatred.
By the Peace of Nymwegen Louis had been restrained in the
same manner as the disturber of manorial trusts, and in the
years that followed he adopted similar methods of reprisal. By
the time that James II ascended the English throne, the powers
of Europe had ample reason to resent his conduct, and in 1686,
at the instigation of the Prince of Orange, they bound themselves
in the League of Augsburg to oppose all further aggressions of the
wilful King of France. With an English Princess reigning at the
Hague the allies hoped that James would lend his countenance
to their scheme. But the revival of his Navy and the reclama
tion of his people to the one true fold absorbed his interest. Of
James Louis also cherished great expectations. But James was
busy and regarded him not.
The European situation waited upon the crisis in England.
Both sides wanted the British Navy, and both sides were ready to
intervene in British politics sooner than fight the enemy without
it. The success of WiUiam does not mean that Louis was napping
or off his guard. By massing troops upon the Netherlands frontier

ROOKE 6i
he could have prevented WUliam from setting out at all ; by his
fleet, fresh from new triumphs in the Mediterranean, he might
have held WUliam up as he passed the Straits. He offered James
his services at the price of England's friendship. James refused.
He required no help. No power could turn him off his sea-girt
throne. Louis was disappointed, but he had always cards to play.
He would allow William to set out, for either he would fail or the
issue would hang in doubt. If he failed France was rid of her
chiefest enemy. If the issue hung in doubt, James would perhaps
learn to recognize his friends. At the worst, English and Dutch
would hammer each other as of old and leave him free to com
pass his ambition. Complete success on William's part would of
course prove exceedingly awkward ; but complete success was im
possible, for the Dutch fleet was defunct and the English newly
vitalized. Thus in his bloodless enterprise William not only ended a reign
of tyranny as James's son-in-law, but as president of the League of
Augsburg won his first success. When James arrived breathless
at Versailles, he found Louis ready to give him every assistance ;
nor is it necessary to believe Louis disinterested. The furtherance
of the Stuart cause was his obvious counter-check to the League.
If he could help James sufficientiy to occupy WiUiam's attention,
WiUiam himself would be unable to take upon the continent that
part which in the last war had proved so detrimental to the interests
of France.
THE RELIEF OF LONDONDERRY
July, i68g
The fortunes of the ex-King centred at first in Ireland where
the entire Roman Catholic population supported his cause.
Ferried across by the French, James received a boisterous wel
come in the spring of 1689, and proceeded to the reduction of
Londonderry which had declared for his enemies.
Exhorted by their naval advisers, William and Mary resolved to
attack the line of Franco-Jacobite communications between Brest
and the south-west of Ireland. Admiral Herbert was accordingly
dispatched, but with a force hardly adequate, in view of recent
French successes, for the work that he had in hand. Herbert's

62 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
flag was borne in the Elizabeth. The Deptford was commanded
by Captain Rooke and the Edgar by Captain Shovel.
The gallant officer, whose name is indissolubly connected with
that of Rooke, was born in the same year at a little Norfolk village
a mile or two only from Burnham Thorpe. Shovel found two
influential friends in his own native town. Sir Christopher
Myngs took young Clowdisley to sea, and the boy of fourteen
proved a worthy disciple, for he swam from one ship to another
under fire with despatches in his mouth. This was in the Second
Dutch War. At its conclusion Shovel served in a voyage of
exploration under Captain Narbrough and perfected his seaman
ship on the coast of Chile. Under Narbrough he fought at
Solebay, and attended Sir John to the Mediterranean where he
made the acquaintance of Rooke. Both Myngs and Narbrough,
as Cockthorpe men, were ready enough to help young Shovel ;
and as both of them were men of humble birth, who gloried in
their parentage and were never tired of relating their good fortune,
it is not altogether surprising that Shovel himself has for long
been described as a " tarpaulin." His family, however, were gentle,
and had been wealthy until devotion to the cause of Charles I
ruined them. Shovel's father married a Miss Clowdisley, and the
Admiral shares with Shakespeare and Wyclif the peculiar distinc
tion of a name which cannot offend against orthography.*
On the last day of April, Herbert discovered a French fleet in
Bantry Bay, whither it had brought 5,000 additional troops together
with supplies of food and ammunition. On the day following the
wind was against him, but he did his best to force an entrance to
the bay as the crisis demanded a special effort. His nineteen
ships were opposed by an excellently disciplined force of twenty-
six sail under the Comte de Chateaurenault [1637-1716], an
officer of sterling worth educated in the school of Duquesne.
Herbert stood out to sea in order to amend his line, and Chat
eaurenault followed him. A more or less general action ensued.
The French commander felt it his duty to drive the English away :
* There are at least twenty-five versions of the przenomen. The Admiral's
signature does not settle the matter, as he invariably subscribed himself
" Clowd." There is further contention over the surname. The correct version
is " Shovell " but the world has conspired to spell it otherwise.

ROOKE 63
the English considered it incumbent on him to prove that with
numbers and wind against him he could stUl hold his own. With
out any definite result, the objects aimed at by both were attained :
Herbert was not defeated but found it as well to withdraw. The
Jacobites celebrated the affair as a victory ; and as their allies had
established sea-communications in defiance of the power that ruled
the waterways, they were quite entitled to do so. James asserted that
Chateaurenault's victory was due to the dislike of the English to
fight against their lawful sovereign. Whatever truth there may
have been in the argument, it was not calculated to bind the
Frenchmen closer to his service. William was far more tactful.
He visited Herbert on his return, went aboard his flagship, took
dinner with him, thanked him for his timely intervention and
unhesitating attack, created him Baron Herbert of Torbay and
Earl of Torrington, and asked him to distribute ten shillings apiece
to all the seamen who had fought so bravely in his cause.*
Both Shovel and Rooke distinguished themselves in this battle,
and won immediate recompense. Shovel received a knighthood,
and Rooke was singled out by the Admiral to save the situation in
the north of Ireland. As James's fortunes turned upon the siege
of Derry, it was clear that Chateaurenault and his twenty-six
ships would sail immediately northward, throw themselves in front
of Lough Foyle, and complete the investment of the ill-fated
town. The fall of Londonderry would give James the mastery of
Ireland ; it would, while detracting from the Protestant prestige,
materially add to his own ; and enable him, while the French fleet
swept unchallenged up St. George's Channel, to concentrate all his
strength on the instant invasion of England.
So little was this peril understood that Rooke was allotted but
one ship in addition to his own. With all haste he sped on his
errand, and reaching the north-east corner of Ireland, mounted
guard to await the French, while a messenger set ashore on
English soil rode for his life to summon the expeditionary force
which was waiting to sail from the mouth of the Dee. A successful
junction was accomplished, and four more battleships put them
selves under his command, including the Bonavenlure [Captain
* This generosity was certainly well-timed, seeing that the Navy on which
he relied was the creation of the enemy whom he hoped to defeat through
its agency.

64 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Hopsonn] and the Dartmouth [Captain Leake]. With his little
fleet of six, Rooke escorted into Lough Foyle the convoy of store-
ships and the military under General Kirke ; and once more resumed
his task of awaiting Chateaurenault. General Kirke considered
the situation. The banks of the river were lined with troops, and
the river itself was blocked by a stalwart boom more than a quarter
of a mUe in length, firmly fastened to both shores by cables a foot
thick. He concluded that nothing could be done, and informing
the Commodore to that effect sent at once for reinforcements.
Meanwhile in Londonderry " a very small quantity of grain
remained, and was doled out in mouthfuls. The stock of salted
hides was considerable and by gnawing them the garrison appeased
the rage of hunger. Dogs fattened on the blood of the slain who
lay unburied round the town, were luxuries which few could afford
to purchase. The price of a whelp's paw was five shillings and
sixpence. . . . The people perished so fast, that it was impossible
for the survivors to perform the rites of sepulture. There was
scarcely a cellar in which some corpse was not decaying. Such
was the extremity of distress that the rats who came to feast in
these hideous dens were eagerly hunted and greedily devoured "
[Macaulay]. General Kirke of course did not know the appalling extent of
the famine, but after a long wait he received word from William
to make the attempt with the troops at his disposal. Volunteers
were called for from the convoy, and the Mountjoy and the Phcenix
nobly offered their services. Commodore Rooke was asked for
a warship, and selected the Dartmouth. Her commander, Captain
Leake, bore a name that Rooke loved well enough, for Richard
Leake, father of Captain John, had helped him to save the Royal
Prince at the Texel. This perhaps was the reason for his choice.
The responsibility of his position debarred the Commodore from
indulging a, desire for personal glory.
Under the wing of the Dartmouth the two merchantmen ad
vanced against the boom. The Mountjoy broke it, but by the
elasticity of the obstruction was hurled back upon the sands as
from a catapult. Finding herself unpleasantly near to the bank,
she fired all her guns together, and in so doing salved herself
She then made haste to follow her consort who had already passed
through the breach, and while the little Dartmouth engaged the

ROOKE 6s
besiegers in conversation the storeships unloaded their wares upon
the quay. " First were rolled on shore barrels containing six
thousand bushels of meal. Then came great cheeses, casks of
beef, flitches of bacon, kegs of butter, sacks of pease and biscuit,
ankers of brandy." Legs that could barely support their owners
raced to light bonfires on the ramparts, and tired arms felt the good
blood pulsate again as they grasped the bell-ropes to ring a glorious
peal. Londonderry was saved, and saved from the sea.
The part played by Rooke in the relief was undemonstrative,
but if he was not to hold the mouth of Lough Foyle with a force
almost as small as that of Horatius of old against the serried ranks
of Tuscany, the fault was not his but Monsieur Chateaurenault's.
The English Navy as represented by Rooke's diminutive force
enjoyed in 1689 all the advantages of the command of the sea,
which theoretically had passed to the victorious French.
This providential deliverance was an earnest of further success
on the part of those who could recognize the value of sea-power.
The Irish Protestants were jubilant, and William accepted their
cause as his own. Rooke's services were again requisitioned. With
the same perfected dispositions, and unremitting watchfulness he
conveyed to Ireland the English army, unimpeded and without
mishap. Having done all things well and noiselessly, he brought
his sea-worn vessels home at the end of the year when his talent
for the highest command was appropriately recognized, and the
saviour of Derry became Rear- Admiral of the Red.
THE BATTLE OF BEACHY HEAD*
June 30, i6go
It is perhaps fair to suppose that Louis' eagerness to lure
William away from the continental struggle blinded him to the
possibUities of naval warfare in the Irish campaign. When he had
satisfied himself that WUliam had really fallen into his trap, he
turned his thoughts to the conquest of the sea. Bantry Bay had
proved what his sailors could do, and the English Channel was
essential to him. Command of its waters could alone give him
the power to land forces at wUl in Ireland, England, Holland
* The French, with a proprietary right to stand sponsors, christen this battle
Beveziers. F

66 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
and the Netherlands. He determined to make a great endeavour,
and as a preliminary decided to unite his Mediterranean fleet with
the fleet operating from Brest.
This force, amounting to seventy ships, he committed to Anne
HUarion de Cotentin, Comte de Tourville [1642-1701], one ofthe
ablest seamen that his country has produced. The recent death of
Duquesne left him foremost in his profession. He had served under
the master. He had commanded the Sceptre in the battle in which
De Ruyter was killed. Even in those days he had drawn attention
to himself by the ingenuity of his dispositions. There was not a
man in the service from carpenter to admiral whose place he was
not competent to fill. Under an almost feminine appearance, well
set off by the gentle courtesy of his manners, he concealed a reck
less courage which would have marked him out among a host of
brave men. Tourville hoisted his flag in the Soleil Royal. As
his Vice- Admiral he appointed Chiteaurenault, the victor of Bantry
Bay, and as his Rear- Admiral Victor Marie d'Estrees [1660-1737],
a son of the inactive commander of Solebay fame. The younger
D'Estrees had been brought up in the school of Duquesne. He
was a good officer : he was also a man of literary tastes, and when
on shore was never so happy as when rearranging his books, his
pictures and his medals, or like Rupert dabbling in chemistry
and kindred sciences. The largest fleet that France had ever sent
to sea was not unworthy of the land of Colbert, and the officers
were not unworthy of the fleet.
Under normal circumstances WUliam should have been able to
meet the French Armada with forces adequate for its discomfiture.
He could draw upon the Navy not only of England but of Holland.
Events, however, conspired to put the aUies in a minority. A
squadron had been sent to intercept the Toulon contingent as it
sailed to join the Brest, which failing in its purpose lost time
in unavailing search and failed to return. Then again William
was so resolute to bring Irish affairs to a definite conclusion and
free the right of a battle-front which stretched from the Shannon
to the Rhine, that in June, 1690, he crossed in person to Carrick-
fergus and called on Shovel to provide an escort. By these de
tachments the fleet was put at a serious disadvantage.
Admiral the Earl of Torrington with his flag in the Royal
Sovereign had at his disposal fifty-five ships in all to TourvUle's

ROOKE ey
seventy. Admiral Rooke in the Duchess served immediately under
him. The White Squadron included the majority of the Dutch
ships and was commanded by Cornelius Evertzen " the youngest ".
The Blue squadron was nominally under Admiral Russell ; but
the leading part he had played in the Revolution, his intimate
acquaintance with politics, his taste for diplomacy and finesse
made him almost as valuable on shore as on the sea. Before his
departure for Ireland WiUiam had appointed a small committee.
To them he assigned the task of offering sage counsel to Queen
Mary who was to wield the sceptre in his absence. RusseU, who
had just returned from a diplomatic mission, was nominated to re
present the fleet on this committee, and his place at sea was tem
porarily filled by Sir Ralph Delavall, a brave sailor who had proved
his worth at Bantry Bay.
In the last week of June, 1690, the French were off the Isle of
Wight, and Torrington interposed himself between the enemy and
the Straits of Dover. He had now to consider what line he should
adopt. Tourville had come. Either he had an army on board
which he hoped to smuggle into England, or he intended to seek
the English fleet and sink it as a preliminary measure. The most
satisfactory method of dealing with him would be to administer
chastisement severe enough to cure him of a taste for swaggering
up the Channel. But here was the difficulty. Torrington was in
a manifest inferiority, and the chances of administering chastise
ment were, to say the least of it, remote. What then was to be
done ! Torrington was convinced that a prudent defence alone was
justifiable. The French would never dare to land troops so long
as there was a " fleet in being " to hover on their flank. Evidently
they meant to destroy him, and what better method of preventing
them than a refusal to be destroyed ? He would play a waiting
game, withdrawing as the French advanced, advancing as the French
withdrew. It has been argued, and will again be argued, that this
was not the hero's choice, that Albemarle would have unhesitat
ingly attacked regardless of odds. It is highly probable that
Albemarle would have done so, and it is certain that his efforts
would have left the enemy powerless to utilize whatever victory
they gained. But to prove Albemarle right is not to prove Tor
rington wrong. If the occasion had demanded immolation, he
would have awaited it as fearlessly as Rooke waited for Chateau-

68 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
renault in Lough Foyle. England, however, was not at her last
gasp. Judicious delay would give Sir Clowdisley and the rest an
opportunity to return and redress the balance. Torrington had won
his name for bravery ; he had therefore established a right to be
cautious when he considered caution essential. The victor of
Waterloo withdrew at Torres Vedras ; and the system of Torres
Vedras worked out in the Channel in 1690 would have saved the
Navy from a serious defeat.
Meanwhile in London excitement was running high. The
government of AVUliam and Mary was daUy becoming more un
popular. If it is an exaggeration to say that the country was full
of Jacobites, it is at least true to say that it was full of anti-Dutch.
In a state of nervous anxiety Mary summoned her CouncU, and re
quested their advice. It was generally recognized that a crisis had
arrived, a Government crisis. Any moment might see the Revolu
tionary Settlement rooted up and flung aside with contempt. The
slightest violation of English soil would certainly spell William's
ruin, and the presence of Tourville in the Channel was a more
dangerous menace to the last scion of the House of Orange than
all the legions of Louis on the Rhine frontier. Englishmen were
already calling their monarchs impious parent-hunters, shameless
Dutch folk who farmed the land of their adoption. What would
they say if the French landed? Not a moment must be lost
The fleet must throw itself upon the foe ; it must defeat him ; it
must drive him away altogether. Oh ! that William were back !
Thus Mary. The question then arose, Did Lord Torrington
realize the gravity of the situation ? Would he be certain to bring
the enemy to battle ?
For the resolution of these doubts the CouncU turned to the man
of all others who should know, if any man knew — Russell. There
was, however, one particular which unfitted Russell for the delivery
of an unbiassed opinion. He was brave and skilful, but he saw
in Torrington one who had usurped his place at the Revolution.
It was he that had brought AVUliam to the throne ; it was he who
should command in chief upon the sea. As the Council awaited
Russell's answer, he must have remembered that Herbert had
already met the French in battle, and found himself outnumbered;
that, though his country was not imperUled, yet he had done his
best with the means at his disposal. He must have known that a

ROOKE 69
man of Herbert's bravery would fight to the last drop of his blood
sooner than allow the French to land. But if such thoughts re
curred to him, he set them aside and informed the CouncU that
he did not consider Torrington a man who could be trusted to act
as the occasion demanded. He feared that he did not mean to
fight. Poor Queen Mary grew agitated. But Chatham I Would
not Count TourvUle sail up the Thames as De Ruyter had done.
Did Admiral Russell think it would be dangerous to fight against
such odds? Admiral RusseU hastened to inform Her Majesty
that so far from thinking so, he would have no hesitation, were
he there, in fighting against a thousand. Did Admiral RusseU
think there would be any harm in sending a message to the Earl
telling him to fight ? A womanly question. Mary was genuinely
anxious to avoid another Chatham catastrophe. What would
William say when he came home ! Russell must have had an
inward struggle before he returned answer that he saw no harm.
Did the state-artificer really suppose that the Earl would serve his
country with greater zeal, with more conspicuous usefulness if he
received an injunction pushing him into battle with the imputation
that nothing but necessity would make a patriot of him ? Or was
the schemer resolved to rule the Navy or to ruin it ?
Acting on the advice of Toirington's rival Mary wrote to her
Admiral as follows : —
We apprehend ye Consequences of your retiring to ye Gunfleet to be so
fatall, y t We choose rather y 'you should upon any advantage of ye Wind give
battle to ye enemy. . . . By no means ever lose sight of ye French fleet,
whereby they may have opportunities of making attempts in ye Rivers of Med
way or Thames.
Whatever Torrington may have thought of this letter, he never
dreamed of disobeying it. The missive in itself was a reflection
on his honour and left him no choice. Having the advantage of
the wind he matched his fifty-five ships with his adversary's seventy.
The Battle of Beachy Head derives much of its interest from
the fact that both admirals were commanders of genius. Both
appreciated to the full the enormous importance of massing their
strength upon a portion of the enemy's line. As contributors to
the art of manipulating a force at sea, they deserve comparison
with the greatest masters — with Albemarle, De Ruyter, Rodney
and Nelson. Tourville's ideas embodied a development of the

70 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
" Doubling " manoeuvre conducted with partial efficacy during
the Third Dutch War. Its operation made exacting demands
on the dockyard, for success could only be quite certain in
the event of numerical superiority. The longer line endeavoured
10 put a portion of the enemy between two fires by coUing its
head or tail round its adversary's van or rear. The process pre
sented no difficulty of course if the aggressor had the wind, and
from to leeward could also be practised at any rate in the van :
even in the rear it was not impossible, for the engaged part of
the coiling squadron could gradually lose sea-room to leeward,
luring its antagonists after it ; while the overlapping part hugged
the breeze and gained to windward of both.
Torrington's hopes were based upon an amplified system of
signalling. The old Instructions had perfected the line but left
it rigid. Torrington's improvements were intended to make it more
supple. Not only were the Red, White and Blue divisions to be
capable of independent movement, but van, centre and rear of
each colour to be capable of detachment and reunion. The Line
would thus become as pliant and pliable as a whip in the hand of a
cow-boy. Its wielder would be able to refuse his right while press
ing home his left, transfer one-third of his centre to his rear, and
with sinuous flexions play his lash on the writhing limbs of his
victim. In the present instance Torrington decided to attack the enemy's
rear with as brave a show as his inferiority would allow. This of
course left an insufficiency of ships for the enemy's centre, and van,
if the whole line were to engage. He had no intention, however,
of aUowing his centre and van to engage until the French were dis
organized by his onslaught on their rear. His own division and
the Dutch were, in football terminology, to "mark" the remainder
of the enemy, who would be permitted to continue on their way
with faculty for mischief seriously impaired by the absence of an
tagonists to injure.
The signal for battle was given, and at first all seemed to go well.
The attack on TourviUe's rear was opened and developed, and
Torrington extended the rearmost part of his own division to sup
port it. At the same time he refused the vanward ships of his
division to disappoint the enemy. But in the White Squadron all
things went wrong. What possessed the Dutch it is difficult to say.

To Beachy Head
/2miles

.Chateaurenault-

Evertzen

o

%
Torringt-onu

d'Estrees

TORRINGTON'SATTACK^^its

UNFORESEEN DEVELOPMENT.

THE BATTLE OF BEACHY HEAD
June 30, 1690

[N.B. — The separation into squadrons is in Fig. i unduly pronounced. If
his ships were equidistant, Torrington's Attack would leave the vanguard of
the enemy not only unopposed, but "unmarked ".]

72 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Perhaps one or two captains committed themselves and forced
the remainder to support them. Whatever the reason, the entire
van were soon engaged, hammering the enemy in grand style with
all the dogged fighting qualities of Jan Evertzen and Cornelius
Tromp. Nothing could have been more magnificent, but it was
not war. Inferior to the enemy in numbers they gave the wily
Tourville the opportunity to double, and the ships of the French
centre, hitherto incapable of mischief, now pushed forward under
press of sail to reinforce Chateaurenault. The Dutch were liter
ally encompassed ; and if they were not annihilated, they certainly
received punishment as severe as any administered by Blake or
Albemarle.* The completeness of the tragedy was prevented by the turn of
the tide. Observing it the Dutch cast anchor with all sails set
The English followed their example and the French were carried
out of range before they realized what was happening. Under
cover of night the allies weighed anchor and crept away east
wards. Tourville pursued, and Torrington, deeming it inexpedient
to indulge in fresh hostilities on behalf of disabled vessels, burnt
more than ten of them to avoid capture. Arriving at the Thames
he pulled up the buoys, withdrew his ships into a position of
comparative safety, and on his arrival in London was cast with
all ignominy into the Tower. A court-martial was summoned.
Rooke's evidence was all important, and proved invaluable to the
accused. The judges considered their verdict and found the
Admiral not-guilty. There was no reason to suspect him of dis
loyalty to the new regime ; still less was there reason to suspect
that cowardice in any form had infiuenced his proceedings before
or during the battle. William perhaps formed a judgment differ
ent from that of the court. He certainly never employed the
Admiral again. Stories were set on foot that the wicked Earl had
* It is much to be regretted that the " Doubling" movement triumphed at
Beachy Head. Endeavours to provide a counter-move had a deadening effect
on tactics. Henceforth the weight of expert opinion advocated a line con
terminous with that of the foe. The much abused Article xix., added to the
Instructions after this encounter, reads as follows ; " If the admiral and his
fleet have the wind of the enemy, and they have stretched themselves in a
line of battle, the van of the admiral's fleet is to steer with the van of the
enemy's and there to engage them." This doctrine, reasonable enough for
defensive purposes, strangled the growth of effective measures to ensure an
overwhelming victory.

ROOKE 73
purposely sent the Dutch to their red death ! Knowing the unpopu
larity of the Hollanders he had sacrificed them to gratify national
resentment ! It is indisputable that the Dutch were actively en
gaged and Torrington was not. Mischief-makers glorying in a wrong
interpretation found here incontestable proof of a ridiculous story.
How far William was deceived, how far vindictive, it is not possible
to say.
There have been few sadder days in British history than that on
which the news of Beachy Head arrived. The fleet, in which men
trusted, had failed in the hour of need. Those who had dashed
the great Armada in pieces, who had conquered the countrymen
of De Ruyter and the Tromps, were subjected to humiliation by a
new power that had hardly reached its manhood on the sea. What
use would the French make of their victory ? Would they con
tent themselves like De Ruyter with a raid? or was the flag itself
to be humbled in the dust ? At the thought a new spirit breathed
through the land. The Government was not overthrown as Mary
had feared. The patriots rallied round the throne ; the disaster
braced the constitution like a tonic, and a martial valour nerved
men for stirring times. The perU, momentarily at least, was suffi
cient to disturb the boldest. Had James in 1690 been as ready
as Parma in 1588, Englishmen might have fought in southern
shire with Tourville's countrymen.
But James was not ready. On the day following the defeat of
his forces in the Channel, William hurled destruction on his rival
at the Battle of the Boyne. The unfortunate James fled from a
stricken fleld, flung himself into a boat at Kinsale, and betook
himself to his magnificent protector at Versailles. He besought
Louis to invade England now that the opportunity offered, now
that her first line of defence had suffered inglorious repulse.
Louis shook his head. He was faced by the League of Augsburg.
He knew that any fresh attempt must be confided to the luckless
hand of James, who was hardly likely to succeed in the greater
enterprise after his ignominious failure in the less. He blamed
himself not at all, though he was as much at fault. He had
himself ruined the Irish campaign by aUowing Rooke to relieve
Londonderry, and Shovel to convey the Orange fiag across St.
George's Channel.

74 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
While James pleaded in vain, England, aU-mUitant, made good
use of her respite, and with her wonderful property of marine re
cuperation succeeded in equipping a fleet of over seventy sail by the
beginning of 1691. These were joined by a Dutch contingent;
and the command was given to the influential and not over
scrupulous RusseU, who sought his adversary but found him not.
With admirable art Tourville kept his fleet at the mouth of the
Channel, and took toll of the home-returning trade, but resolutely
refused to be drawn by the irate Englishmen into a risky general
engagement. His slippery tactics have won high commendation
from modern critics, but they failed to satisfy the Grand Monarque.
Louis had been bitterly disappointed with Beachy Head. The
English had turned tail and fled. Why was not their flight con
verted to a rout ? Because there was a poltroon at the head of
his fleet. Why did not TourvUle turn even now upon this RusseU,
scatter his vessels to the four winds of heaven, and prove himself
the Turenne of the seas? When Louis had command of the
Channel, he might have kept William out of Ireland altogether.
Even now Tourville's skill kept the embers glowing in the south
west. But Louis had no feeling for the interaction of land and sea
operations. He hoped that Tourville by sledge-hammer blows
would redress the balance against him on the land.
THE BATTLE OF BARFLEUR
May 19, 1692
The months went by, and England forgot her panic. Excite
ment gradually subsided, and once more gave place to dissatis
faction with the Government. William had of course good cause
for the confidence he reposed in his countrymen. Ginkell was
beating out the last sparks of Irish rebellion. Evertzen alone had
proved worthy of his steel at Beachy Head. Russell, on the other
hand, was proving himself, if anything, more incompetent than
Torrington ; for Torrington at least was willing to watch the
Dutchmen fight ! This attitude of William's is sufficiently intel
ligible, but it was exceedingly irritating and maddened Russell,
Marlborough, and many who under normal circumstances would
have been types of loyal Englishmen. They found William's dis
posal of State offices to Dutchmen perfectly intolerable. There

ROOKE 75
was but one remedy. They wrote to James, and assured him that
they were devoted to his cause, and that if he would only come
and deliver the country from the Dutch invaders half of the army
would join his standards and two-thirds of the fleet rehoist his
flag. This news was exceedingly gratifying to James's heart,
especially as it came from Russell, whose commanding position
removed the element of doubt. Russell did not omit to mention
that James's gallant leading at Lowestoft and Solebay was still
affectionately remembered by himself and others, notably by
Richard Carter, and John Ashby who had won a knighthood by
his work at Bantry Bay. But with all his professions Russell was
not a Jacobite; he was merely an anti-WiUiamite. He cared
nothing for James's cause, his beliefs, or his theory of kingship.
He conceived of himself as playing the part of Monk, gracefully
calling back his sovereign from exUe, setting him upon the
throne, and as gracefully receiving more rewards than he would
care to enumerate.
James may be pardoned if he faUed to understand the exact
signiflcance of Russell's position. The throne was no longer
vacant as in 1660, and in order to remove the hero of Boyne
Water, an army of some dimensions would be needed. He
hastened to Louis XIV and set before him the documentary evidence
of the English reaction. Louis professed genuine satisfaction, and
concerted with his cousin a bold campaign for 1692. The offen
sive should be resumed against the Netherlands in order to entice
William to defend them. A second army meantime should be
assembled in Normandy and at the crucial moment re-enact with
happier circumstance the Water Procession of 1688. One other
thing was clearly requisite. Tourville must be made to under
stand that there could be no more fooling about at the mouth of the
Channel. He must not avoid battle as he had done throughout
the previous year. He must make it his special object to prevent
the Dutch from joining the English, and fight rather than allow
the junction to take place. A fleet of transports was collected at
La Hogue, and behind it a great camp was crowded with troops,
French and Irish, ready for the second Norman Conquest. James
was there in person. Tourville would keep the Dutch from
joining the English. Russell and two-thirds of the fleet would
join their rightful king; the remainder would probably skulk

76 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
away as Dartmouth had done in i688; and a few hours later
James would disembark at Southampton amid the roars of en
thusiastic Englishmen.
It wUl be seen at once that much depended on Russell ; but
Russell's attitude was quite iUogical. Willing enough to play
Monk's part, for which a lack of honesty unfitted him, he was in
no mood to see England overrun with Frenchmen. James sur
rounded by French courtiers would be a degree worse than
William and his Dutchmen. " Do not think," he remarked to a
Jacobite envoy, " that I wiU let the French triumph over us in
our own seas. Understand this, that if I meet them, I fight
them ; ay, though His Majesty should be on board." Tourville
too had his word to say. He was hotly indignant at the unmerited
censures on his conduct. His honour and his leadership must be
justified. The fleet at his disposal was utterly inadequate, for
adverse weather kept the Toulon Squadron within the Straits and
left him only forty-four saU. But he was not a poltroon, and he
meant to vindicate his honour even at the peril of his ships.
The opening of the campaign agreed with anticipation.
WUliam rushed across the North Sea to grip the danger there, and
poor Queen Mary was left alone to face the possible arrival of an
angry father and thousands of Frenchmen. She proved herself as
worthy of the occasion as Philippa in the days of NevUle's Cross
or Katharine in the days of Flodden Field. The stories of
Jacobitism had reached her ears : she knew that the Navy was
honeycombed with disaffection to WUliam and herself: she had
heard of the vUlainous disposition of Admiral Carter : she had
listened with pain to detractors of Russell himself What was she
to do ? She acted on the impulse ; trusted to her womanly tact,
and wrote to Russell a letter. She told him that distressing news
had reached her that the fleet was disloyal, and she therefore felt it
her duty to send him word that she knew such reports must be
false. She put implicit trust in the fleet, knowing that, when all
else failed, the mother of ships could rely upon her sons.
Russell called together his captains, read to them Her Majesty's
letter, and with the consent of all sent back an appropriate answer
of effusive loyalty. He then visited every ship in the fleet and
enjoined upon their companies the need of patriotism. " If your
officers play you false," he said, " overboard with them ; yes, and

ROOKE 77
with me first of all 1 " And at this very moment James, from
whom Queen Mary certainly did not inherit her savoir faire, was
contemplating a recovery of the English Crown with French and
Irish soldiers ; resting on the comfortable assurance received from
Russell himself that the greater part of the British fleet was with
him heart and soul.
Russell's flag flew in the Britannia, first of her narae, built from
the designs of Sir Phineas Pett, and the latest word in naval con
struction. Delavall and Shovel commanded the Red Squadron
under hira ; Sir Clowdisley in the Royal William, and Sir Ralph
in that heart of oak, the Royal Sovereign, as eager for battle as
when she scorned the sands with Blake at the fight off the Kentish
Knock. The Dutch had the post of honour in the van ; the Blue
Squadron was committed to Sir John Ashby, with Rooke seconding
him in the Neptune. Carter, 'the firebrand, with his flag in the
Duke, brought up the rear of a splendid fleet which numbered all
but a hundred sail.
Tourville carae up Channel from the direction of Brest with a
S.W. breeze bearing him along. Some sea-leagues from Cape
Barfleur he discovered the allies stretching on the starboard tack
toward the place where James had made his camp. The delay
caused by D'Estrees' non-appearance had given ample time for their
junction, and to all intents and purposes TourviUe's task was
ended ere it had well begun. His position in the wind enabled
him to decline battle. Even now had he but known, couriers
were seeking hira. Louis' order was cancelled. There was no
longer need to fight. But the couriers came not. Tourville knew
that he had been called a coward, and proudly he flew the flag for
battle in the Soleil Royal, most glorious vessel afloat.
At Beachy Head he had shown how to fight against a fleet of
inferior proportions. The position was now reversed, but with
the same skill he approached it. Like Torrington he refused his
van or right wing, but to avoid being doubled, he increased the
interval between the ships so that the leading squadron was con
terminous with the Dutch line opposite. His main attack he de
veloped in centre and rear. The French ships worked in admir
able combination, but their very skill was a source of weakness,
for their intimate co-operation and deficient numbers left a line of
unmarked ships ahead oftheir central squadron, while behind their

78

SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

rearmost vessels the division of Carter, the suspect, found itself
unopposed. Sympathy is ever extended to a plucky minority, but it would
be vain to deny the skill of the British sailors. Sir Clowdisley at

PHASE I

Barfleur

hbV

> o

W/nd

N

\

,\ava\\

^Rosse^^

PHASE 2.

THE BATTLE OF BARFLEUR
May ig, 1692

the head of the allied centre was quick to see his opportunity, and
going about on the opposite tack divided the enemy's fleet in the
manner recommended by Albemarle for a fleet operating to leeward ;
while Admiral Carter, taking a leaf from TourviUe's book, doubled

ROOKE 79
upon the rear of the French and put them between two fires. The
intricacy of these manoeuvres involved an expenditure of time, but
their menacing aspect convinced the great French leader that a
prolongation of the struggle under such conditions could but end
in the annihilation of his fleet. Up to this point no single ship
had surrendered : but human endurance could go no further, and
honour was satisfied. The wind was still behind him, and now
the tide began to set up Channel. His thoughts recurred to
Beachy Head, and as he dropped anchor with all sails set, he had
the satisfaction of seeing the allies carried out of range as he had
been himself two years before.
Admiral Carter, on whose fair name foul infamy had breathed,
was still to windward of TourvUle's fleet, and now found himself
cut off from all his friends. Without hesitation he decided to
carve a way to glory through his enemies. A fierce encounter
ensued at closest quarters, and the Admiral was one of the first to
fall. The wound was grave, but he refused to go below. While
he lived, his place was the quarter-deck. They tried to make hira
easy, and his sword was now merely an encumbrance, but he
clung to it feverishly. " Surrender to the foreigner. . . . Yield his
sword. . . . Never I " Had those now seen him who had called
him traitor, their suspicions would have died unuttered. Carter's
Flag Captain bent over him to receive his last request. " Fight
her, lad," he gasped, in dying accents, " fight her as long ... as
long ... as she can . . . swim."
With this impetuous onslaught on the one side, and the ships of
Rooke on the other, nine of the French rear saw their hopes
destroyed, and with the wind behind them fled to the north and
east. The remainder under cover of night and a friendly fog made
the best of their way towards the west on the strength of the
ebbing tide.
EPILOGUE. LA HOGUE
May 23 AND 24, 1692
Such was the Battle of Barfleur. TourvUle had fought gallantly,
and Russell had worsted him with a force clearly preponderant :
a lame affair, not by any means the thunderbolt that decides the
fate of dynasties. But- the best was stUl to come. In the days

8o SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
immediately following the battle every effort was made by the
English to follow up their advantage ; and one man at least drew
upon hiraself the eyes of all, and converted an indecisive encounter
into a triumphant and exultant victory.
Of the thirty-five French ships that had drifted down Channel
on the ebb, twenty, under D'AmfrevUle, with a teraerity born of
despair, committed themselves to the Race of Alderney between
that island and the mainland, and running between Scylla and
Charybdis arrived in safety at St. Malo [see page 119]. The
Soleil Royal, whose wounds severe had forced Tourville at last to
shift his flag, maimed and companioned by two consorts only,

aALDERNEY

.JERSEY

staggered into Cherbourg. Here Sir Ralph DelavaU found her
and burnt her to the water-line with her sisters by her side.
Twenty in St. Malo ! Three devoured by flames ! What of the
rest ! Guided by a happier star twelve doubled Cape Barfleur and
reached the appointed haven of La Hogue. As an anchorage the
harbour left something to be desired ; but in raUitary preparedness,
nothing. Twin forts, St. Vaast and Lisset, guarded the approach,
and between thera the great Franco-Irish army awaited transit on
the self-same spot where Norman William had mustered his army
six centuries before. James was there in person. Louis' marshals
stood round him, and gave him the best of their advice. The

ROOKE 8 I
French were of opinion that there was nothing to fear. James,
tactless as ever [but forgiveness comes easUy], reminded his
counsellors that English sailors were different from aU others. He
suggested that the troops should be taken aboard. This roused
the wrath of TourvUle, who refused to hear of such a thing.
Accordingly the ships were warped as near as possible to the
shore, and carefully bestowed, six under the guns of Fort Lisset,
six under the guns of St. Vaast.
On the 23rd the English arrived, and a resolution was at once
adopted. The twelve battleships must be destroyed. The
operation did not admit of a general action, for the water was too
shallow. The perilous bloody task was confided to Admiral
George Rooke, who shifted his flag to the Eagle and commenced
operations with avidity. Collecting all the boats of the fleet,
some 200 in number, he manned them and covered their approach
by the fire of certain smaller ships, whose draught qualified them
as an escort. The presence as spectators of the army of invasion
appealed to the sailors, augmenting their zeal and tickling their
sense of humour. They bent to the oar with a will, and raced
to see who would reach the warships first. The ponderous army
took up its position on the beach prepared to do their worst ; but
the boats' crews were hardly in danger until they reached the
ships, and the ships being stranded found themselves, like GuUiver
at LiUiput, helpless and shackled, and tormented by swarms of
diminutive antagonists.
The dusk of evening descended as the English completed their
preparations, and as the situation of the French fieet decided what
form the attack should take, so its unexpected nature and its
suddenness robbed them of the leisure in which to find its
effective countercheck. Cheer after cheer arose from the boats
as they neared their destination, and though Fort Lisset and the
batteries on land did their best, and though the shallowness of the
water allowed the cavalry on shore to act as horse-marines, the
boats' crews suffered little on their way. Swarming and scrambling
they clambered up on board, and whUe some turned the guns
against fort and batteries, others, acting under Rooke's direc
tions, lashed the wretched vessels stem to stern. No time was
lost ; no undue haste displayed. When all was ready the battle
ships of France were given to the flames. Tourville groaned, the
G

82 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
soldiers cursed, and the incendiaries rowed back. In the mind
of James regret and admiration struggled for the mastery. " None
but my English tars," he said, " could have done so gallant a
deed." How night was spent in the French camp it is impossible to say.
If a tireless watch was kept, nothing less was needed, for in the
early morning back came Admiral Rooke and his boatraen, lustier
than ever, to judge by the way they shouted. There were still
six ships, and they lay under the formidable guns of St. Vaast.
But now panic seized the French, and the second part of Rooke's
task was speedUy accomplished. It remained to dispose of the
numberless transports, and this was also done with comfortable
ease. All was now over ; and with a cruel but delicious appreciation
of irony the Englishmen returned from the second conflagration
making the welkin re-echo with the strains of " God save the
King ! " As he listened, James's feelings were those of a van
quished gladiator who, choking under his rival's foot, hears the
amphitheatre ring with peals of joy for that rival's victory.
Few exploits in the annals of the Navy have been more com
plete than this. Little wonder if men forgot their debt to Russell
as they lavished their praise on Rooke. Little wonder if they re
ferred to 1692 as the year of La Hogue in preference to Barfleur.
There is poetic justice in their waywardness.* Russell, who had
juggled with the destinies of two kings, had done little to enhance
his reputation as a seaman by his advantage over Tourville's little
force. That advantage had been changed into a triumph by
Rooke's destruction of twelve splendid battleships.
No one realized this better than WUliam. On his return from
the Low Countries he visited Portsmouth, dined with the Admiral,
and conferred upon him the well-earned honour of knighthood.
He had good reason to be pleased. The flag had corae back ;
the command of the sea was once more in English keeping. He
was now free to pursue his plans unhindered. He could cross the
North Sea at his own convenience, and land English troops in the
Netherlands without fear of interruption. In his medal to com-
* To this day the good ship Barfleur commemorates the more correct but
less popular name.

ROOKE 83
memorate Barfleur, men-of-war are seen gallantly pounding one
another ; but in that to commemorate La Hogue the lion and
unicorn dash forward to remove the impudent Gallic cock who
has been crowing from his perch upon the trident of the seas.
Lmperium pelagi nobis !
Queen Mary was no less pleased ; and to give outward expression
of her gratitude to the brave saUors who had fought and died for her,
she determined to convert the Palace of Greenwich into a hospital
for seamen incapacitated in the service, of their country. The
birthplace of Elizabeth had given place to a roomier dwelling
designed by Sir Christopher Wren for* Charles II. Incomplete
at that monarch's death the new structure lacked a motive and
an occupant. Mary's scheme was deservedly popular, and the
Queen's list included a donation of .;^ioo from the new knight
of La Hogue.
If the events of 1692 were a source of constant satisfaction to
William and Mary, for James they spelled the ruin of his hopes.
His cause was dead, and though others might lift hereafter the
banner of Jacobitism, the victor of Lowestoft had fought his latest
fight. Of all the tactiess things he ever did, his attempt to recover
the Crown of England with the help of alien troops certainly lacked
most of politic perception. It dispersed for ever the party that
was learning to forget his tyranny in his true-born Enghsh ex
traction and sailor-like qualities. His career ended not when he
threw the great seal of England into the Thames, but when he
heard Rooke's sailors sing their lullaby.
For Louis the case was different. Barfleur and La Hogue can
never stand beside Gravelines and Trafalgar. Every one knew what
to expect if Parma crossed the sea in 1588: every one knew what to
expect if Napoleon crossed in 1805. But Louis had not risked
his aU in the adventure. William, not England, was the object of
his hate. With Europe in arms against him, the blow in the
Channel drove in his extreme left : not without reason he affected
to regard it only in this light. But if he had not risked his all,
he had at least risked his fleet. The sea-power which had sprung
ready-armed from the head of Colbert, which had begotten a
Tourville and Duquesne, which had overthrown the navy of Hol
land under the shadow of Mount Etna, which had humbled the
countrymen of Blake at Beachy Head, was vanquished, scattered to

84 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the four winds or charred and rotting on the coast of Normandy.
The fauk was none of TourvUle's, and to Louis' credit he was not
slow to recognize this. He soothed the aggrieved leader by his
condescension, and presented hira with the baton of a Marechal of
France. The victor of Barfleur had reason to envy the vanquished.
Russell had been boastful and self-assertive, domineering and
unfaithful. He had done littie enough in the battle with the
ships at his command. But the harshest critic will scarcely ap
plaud his dismissal for failure to complete the destruction of his
enemies. Such treatment was wholly undeserved. It was also
little and impolitic. Whether Russell indulged in further corre
spondence with James cannot be decided ; but at least it is certain
that in the very next year the sea plans of England were discovered
to her enemies.

THE SMYRNA CONVOY. 1693
The trade of England with the Levant had for years been grow
ing steadily, but the outbreak of war with France had paralysed
the commercial activities of William's subjects alike in London
and Amsterdam. The merchant fleet awaiting convoy to Stamboul
and Aleppo numbered 400, and when Barfleur gave the allies con
trol of the sea, it was resolved to send Sir George Rooke with
a squadron to safeguard its passage. With the Mediterranean
to traverse, it was necessary to give Rooke a force capable of
overcoming any resistance that might be offered by D'Estrees and
the Toulon ships who were anxious to make amends for their
faUure to join Tourville in '92. To this end a small fleet, partiy
Enghsh, partly Dutch, was put at his disposal. The presence of
TourviUe and his veterans at Brest invited further caution, and the
entire Channel fleet escorted Sir George through the danger zone.
Sir George thought it would be well to look into Brest to make
sure that the Marechal was really there. He was overruled by
his teraporary superiors but ventured in their despite to record a
protest. Fussiness some wUl caU it ; strategy others. Rooke was
never seen to better advantage than when making those arrange
ments that pave the way to success. When the steps that he con-

ROOKE 85
sidered necessary were neglected by superiors, he cannot be
blamed for subsequent mishaps.
When Brest was passed the Channel fleet turned back, and
Rooke proceeded alone. All went well as far as Cape St. Vincent.
Here were seen certain French ships which fled at the English
approach. Rooke proposed to heave to until a reconnaissance
was made of the force in front ; but the Dutch assured hira that
the vessels in question had been caught napping and were racing
for safety. Rooke thought otherwise. To satisfy himself he gave
chase and snapped up a victim. Closely questioned the captive
exactly corroborated, the Dutch contention. Rooke shrugged his
shoulders. Time thus spent was never lost.
The fleet advanced and plunged head-foremost into the very
arms of an ambuscade.
Tourville was not in Brest at all. He had united his fleet with
the Mediterranean, and had not only laid a trap on the coast of
Portugal, but baited it with flying and lying couriers.
Had Rooke been a perfectly free agent, this misadventure
could never have happened. Thrust into it, he did what he could
to get out. The odds were four to one. His first thought was to
sacrifice the entire war-fleet on behalf of the merchantmen. He
ordered the line of battle, and his resolute demeanour and calm
assurance persuaded Tourville that it would be necessary to act
with discretion. He therefore drew up his forces, and while he
did so Rooke dispersed the convoy in every direction. Then
having caused the maximum of delay, he also turned before the
wind and carried off his force from the clutches of his disappointed
enemy. Not a dissentient voice questioned his exemplary skUl.
He saved three-quarters of the merchant-fleet and rightly decided
that there was no crisis to justify sacrifice. As well blame Horatius
for leaping into the Tiber when the bridge was down, as blame
Sir George for carrying his fleet into safety after he had done
everything possible to save the helpless.
The war of the English Succession to all intents was ended at the
Battie of Barfleur ; but Louis had still to oppose upon the con
tinent the Augsburg League with the King of England as its
President. For five weary years [1692-97] thewar dragged on, but
he would not again chaUenge the English fleet. He flung aside

86 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the trident as unbecoming to His Majesty, and contented himself
with the glamour of shield and sword. But if he refused to fight
again at sea on equal terms, the Smyrna convoy had shown him
a weakness of his adversary. Henceforward he harried the trade
of England in the hope of crippling her wealth.*
When Charles II exploited privateering, England had suffered
deep disgrace at De Ruyter's hands. Louis was more fortunate.
He avoided the mistake of Charles. He kept his fleets " in being "
instead of laying them up. The capital ships of the English were
in consequence busUy employed in " doing nothing " ; and the
difficulty of " doing nothing " really well receives ample testimony
from the journal of Sir George. During the latter years of the
war he was obliged to watch Toulon with feline perseverance
resting on Plymouth as his nearest base I
The subjects of WUliam obtained little satisfaction by counter-
raids on the shipping of France. They helped theraselves freely,
but there was so littie to take. Colbert's system had never had
time to fructify, and Louis had not the mines of ChUe and Peru,
or the products of Amboyna and the Indies. He was living,
had he but known it, on his capital ; and the very impotence
of the English to revive the days of Drake promised their
ultimate victory. The trident is the sceptre of all seas. When
the Roi Soleil flung it away as a fighting instrument, he lost the
strength that it lent to his arm, and found himself each year less
competent to wield the sword. In 1697 he was exhausted. The
splendid resources of France had enabled her to hold out against
the whole of Europe for an incredible time, but now she needed
time to recuperate. In September a treaty was signed at Ryswick.
Louis abandoned all that he had grasped since Nymwegen, and
acknowledged William as England's lawful king.-f-
In the year that followed the Peace, Rooke was elected M.P. for
Portsmouth, a seat he retained tUl he retired from active life. His
parliamentary career is to be regretted : for party strife was un
usually bitter in days when the crown itself was so uncertain a
possession. It would have mattered little if Rooke had supported
* Vide infra, p. 120.
J One wrong was righted at the Peace. Admiral Edward Russell, who
with all his faults had done many a good turn to the House of Orange, was
raised to the peerage as Earl of Orford and Viscount Barfleur.

ROOKE 87
the Whig majority ; but his steady devotion to Tory principles
brought hira many ill-natured and influential enemies.
THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 1702-17 13
Although the Peace of Ryswick seemed a genuine pacification,
its clauses promised no durabUity. The two antagonists, the
Kings of England and France, consented to a handshake, but
they scowled the while, as men must do who have fought round
after round without decisive result. Each felt that, save for a
single weak spot in his armour, he could not have failed to win.
A truce at least gave time to remedy defects.
William had gained a great advantage in his struggle for
the land of his birth by his succession to the English Crown.
The victory of La Hogue had enabled him to confine his atten
tion to the continent without feeling anxiety for the land of
his adoption. But England's great Mediterranean trade route
passed through waters where the French sea-board dominated it.
Her Navy could not blockade Toulon for ever, and during a
temporary absence the Toulon fleet might slip away, link itself
with the fleet of Brest, and reproduce the panic of the year of
Beachy Head.
On the other hand, Louis' juggling with the Brest and Toulon
fleets savoured of stale-mate. It might balk the English of the
well-earned fruits of victory, but it did not materially aid the
French, who were faced on shore by the old insoluble difficulty,
to wit, the whole of the European armies acting at the volition of
a single conning-tower, the mind of WUliam of Orange. With
England in front, Spain in the rear, and the Empire on his flank,
what could Louis do ! He still hoped to extend his kingdom to
the Rhine, but he was too evidently unable to do so without an
ally. In the quiet nights that followed Ryswick Louis must often
have dreamed that his affabUity had detached Austria or Spain
from WUliam's zone of friendship ; and Williara, that Tangier was
won again with a battle-fleet harboured beneath its guns.
Ruthlessly intruding itself on the consideration of princes came
the question of the succession to the throne of Spain.
When Charles II succeeded his father PhUip IV in the year of

88 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Lowestoft, he was a poor sickly chUd, weakly in body and not too
strong in mind. Men prophesied that he would never reach man
hood ; but when WiUiam ousted James II he had consoled him
self for the loss of his first wife by taking to himself a second.
In 1697 he had fallen into the last stages of invalidism, and his
death was looked for at any date. His heritage stUl included
Spain, the Netherlands [Belgium], the New World, the Balearic
Isles, Sicily and Sardinia, the duchy of MUan, and Italy south of
the Papal States ; but he had no child.
The failure of heirs male was a matter of vital importance to
England. If France, whose position at Toulon had already made
things so uncomfortable, were to win the Spanish inheritance, she
would enclose the western sea from Palermo to Genoa, from Genoa
to Toulon, from Toulon to Malaga. She would also gain all that
she had fought for in the Channel. She would obtain a sea-board
to the north of the Straits of Dover ; her boundary would be
carried to the Rhine ; and Antwerp would take the place of London
as the emporium of the world. This theme was not imaginary.
The wretched Charles had only two near relatives of consequence,
the Emperor and Louis himself
With all his ambition Louis did not in his wUdest moments
dream of annexing the whole Spanish Empire. He had been
thwarted in all his attempts to take that smaller part which he con
sidered rightfully his own ; any further attempts could but lead to
a renewal of universal opposition. He was determined to get as
much as he could, but he would act with circumspection, and
accept with gracious discretion whatever was allotted as his share.
So came about the famous Partition Treaties whereby in effect
WiUiam, with consent expressed or implied, carved up the Spanish
Empire among the several claimants. He safeguarded the interests
of his Dutch and English subjects by stipulating that under no
circumstances should the Netheriands fall to France ; and by in
sisting also that the same sceptre should not hold sway either over
Spam and France, or over Spain and her Italian possessions south
of the Papal States. In this way he hoped to maintain the existing
state of things in the Channel and establish an equipoise in the
Western Mediterranean.
The Partition Treaties were very subtle ; but they had the effect
of goading the Spaniards to madness. Their one anxiety, a very

ROOKE

89

natural one, was to maintain the Spanish Empire in its complete
ness indivisible. Their sentiments found no better representative
than Charles II, who resolved to leave his possessions whole and
intact to whomsoever he would. The Dauphin of France was his
sister's son, and a suitable king for Spain, but to leave the Spanish
Empire to the Dauphin would be to merge it in the title-deeds
of France. This suited him not at all. But the Dauphin had
two sons and the younger would serve his turn.
A claim no less cogent and insinuating could be preferred by the
Emperor who was himself the grandson of Philip III. His own
exalted position made him unsuitable as a candidate ; but he also
had two sons. The Duke of Anjou or the Archduke Charles?
Philip II,
1556-1598,
sent the Armada against
England. I
Philip III.
 \ 

First
wife.

Maria
Theresa, m.
Louis XIV.

I Philip IV, ^
' Cromwell's enemy ;
died 1665.

Second wife.

Charles II
began to reign 1665,
the year of the Battle
of Lowestoft; twice
married, but had no
children.

I
Daughter,
married Emperor Ferdi
nand III, great-grand
son of Ferdinand I.

Leopold I,
Emperor,
died the year after the
capture of Gibraltar.

The Dauphin.

Joseph.

Duke of
Burgundy.

I

Charles the
Archduke,
THE Austrian
CLAIMANT.

Duke of Anjou,
THE French
CLAIMANT.
When Maria Theresa married, the Spaniards engaged that the Princess
should renounce her claim to the Crown of her father. Crafty Mazarin agreed,
but arranged that the renunciation should only hold good when the indemnity
he demanded was paid. The indemnity was large and difficult to raise, and the
French wisely did not press the matter.

90 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
The dying King weighed their respective merits ; and with his
latest breath bequeathed everything to his nephew the Duke of
Anjou [Nov. 1700].
By all the unwritten laws of honour Louis had bound himself
to abide by the most recent Partition Treaty ; but the prospect
was too alluring. He decided to accept the will. Can he be
blamed ? He had sworn in the presence of his friends not to pick
the tempting fruit, to wait until the tirae was ripe and share the
harvest with his friends ; when, lo, the fruit itself had fallen to
his grandson. He had kept his vow ; had he not ? Suppose his
grandson were resolute to keep what providence bestowed, was it
any part of his duty to chastise his flesh and blood because they
were dear to Fortune ? Was this in the bond ? " Messieurs,
voici le roi d'Espagne ! "
The maritirae nations were bitterly disappointed, but they were
obliged to accept the situation with a good grace. It was other
wise with Austria. How could she accept so heavy a blow with
equanimity ! Louis did not even frame the question, still less
concern himself with an answer. He was a match for Austria
alone ; and now, now at last, he had the ally of his dreams. France
had been girt about with foes north, south and east ; now she
would entertain friends on either side. France had been exhausted
by her load of war ; now the Peruvian mines would pour into
her lap innumerable rubies. Louis was sixty-five years of age, but
he felt his youth come back. He was invulnerable now, and
capable of all. Of course it would have been more satisfactory if
all had been gathered under a single crown : but that would come.
He would announce that his grandson's acceptance of the Spanish
Crown would not debar him from succession to the French.
Would his enemies swallow that ! " Messieurs, il n'y a plus de
Pyrenees.'' Yes ; his enemies swallowed even that. But they
were becoming infuriated. Tired though they were of fighting
against him, the English now itched to be at him again. But
they had no cause of quarrel. The spirits of Louis leapt higher.
His presumption exceeded the bounds of license. He was ready
to fling discretion to the winds. At such a moment James II died
[Sept. 1 701], and Louis from warmth of heart and wanton gener
osity declared his son to be James III, the rightful King of Eng
land. This was a direct contravention of the terms of Ryswick ;

ROOKE 91
this was for England a deliberate insult. William III drew the
sword, and amid the cheers of England threw away the scabbard.*
Had England been in 1702 free from continental entangle
ments, the War of the Spanish Succession might have been not
only one of the most brUliant, but one of the most remunerative
of wars. The Spanish Indies, the Main and Panama, provided a
vista of conquest sufficiently attractive. But England could not
tear herself from her old friends to play a selfish part. The Low
Countries called for her protecting arm, and to secure the active
friendship of Austria she accepted the claims of the Austrian
candidate for the throne of Spain. The land campaigns produced
a Marlborough, but their expense starved the fleet, and the task of
propping up the throne of the soi-disant Charles III fettered its
action and liraited its field. VIGO BAY
October 12, 1702
On the outbreak of war Rooke, now the acknowledged head of
the British Navy, found himself in coraraand of a splendid Anglo-
Dutch fleet numbering no less than fifty battleships. He knew
who were the enemies of his country ; he knew how to meet them
if they offered him the chance ; but the position of affairs for all
that was distracting. If the fleet was to support the Austrian
candidate, it was necessary to establish friendly relations with
Spain. But the fleet could not operate off the coast of Spain
without a base ; and if it helped itself rudely to a base in Spain,
it could hardly establish friendly relations. Something had to be
done, a beginning made somewhere. The thoughts of all slipped
into an Elizabethan groove, and it was resolved that the victor
of La Hogue should repeat the achievement of Howard, and
exact as a forced loan the sea-girt walls of Cadiz.
Rooke hoisted his flag in the Royal Sovereign, not the historic
first three-decker, but a daughter. The mother-ship had been
accidentally destroyed by fire, but certain precious planks salved
from the conflagration had been woven into the new vessel,
recently launched by His Grace of Marlborough. Rooke chose as
* Although he had made all the preparations, William did not live to con-
. duct the war.

92 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
his second-in-command Admiral Hopsonn who had been with him
at Londonderry, had since commanded ships at Beachy Head and
Barfleur, and now flew his flag in the Prince George. The ex
pedition included a vast number of transports and supernumerary
vessels which carried an army of 14,000 under the Duke of
Ormonde, whose soldierly qualities had been tested at Sedgemoor,
Boyne Water and Steenkerke.
Cadiz was reached in August, 1702, but hardly had Cape Rota
been sighted before things began to go wrong. It was early made
evident that the Austrian claimant had no adherents in the
neighbourhood. Therefore if the town were taken at all, it would
have to be taken by force ; and force would not conciliate those
in whose interests the English were supposed to be acting. There
was no chance of re-winning the fame of Drake who had scattered
the shipping in the outer harbour and destroyed an armada in
the inner, because the amount of shipping in both was insignifi
cant. Again, the town itself was so strongly fortified, so stoutly
held, and so well prepared that the tactics of Essex did not com
mend themselves to the Duke of Ormonde. Accordingly a third
alternative was adopted, which in practice recalled some of the
least desirable features ofthe barren campaign of 1625.
The army was landed on the side of the harbour opposite to
Cadiz, and began working its way southward. Santa Catalina and
Santa Maria fell ; but an endeavour to dominate the Puntal
Passage from the eastern side was temporarily repulsed. The
Duke demanded Rooke's assistance, but it was not easy for the
Admiral to do anything but bombard the town from the sea ; and
what good could come of it with the Duke on the other side of
the bay ! Such violent wooing accorded Ul with the gentle nature
of his secret instructions ; and as the Austrian agent on board the
Royal Sovereign pointed out, the harm done to his master's cause
by the indignation of the citizens would outweigh any value the
place might afford as a base for the British fleet. The situation
was intolerable, and much to the Duke's chagrin, the Admiral in
sisted that the enterprise should be immediately abandoned.
Rather more than a month was spent at Cadiz, and the expedi
tion, a little out of conceit with itself turned northwards in the
third week of September. Moodily they sailed along the coast,
and when the majority had already weathered Cape St. Vincent,

ROOKE 93
certain of the transports were still watering at Lagos under the
charge of Captain Hardy of the Petnbroke. Here among others
there went ashore the chaplain, Master Beauvoir, who not only
could speak French fluently, but was himself of French descent.
This led to quite a friendship with the French Consul, who was
delighted to have some one with whom to converse. A certain
amount of banter and good-humoured chaff was indulged in. The
Consul probably said : " Well, you haven't defeated a French fleet
this time ; " and the Chaplain, " That's because you haven't got
a fleet for us to defeat.'' " Aha ! haven't we ! " replied the Consul,
" you little know ; one that you would have loved to catch, but
safe now, safe in Vigo Bay."
When the war broke out it had been Louis' first anxiety to
secure at all hazards the Spanish Plate-fleet then collecting in the
New World. Not only was the fleet in question the largest and
richest that had ever left the Main, but the war itself depended on
its safe arrival. It was essential that Louis should stock his coffers ;
for Colbert's foundation of gold had crumbled away, and the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes had exUed the industries of
France. It was essential to stock them at once, for the English
command of the sea made the future uncertain. Louis had ac
cordingly despatched Chateaurenault of Bantry across the Atlantic
witha fleet of twenty-four ships. The Admiral was not a brilliant
man but he knew his business, and there was every chance that
he would convey his riches to the feet of Louis because he could
put into any Atlantic port from Brest to Cadiz. In England an
opinion prevailed that one of these two was certain to be used,
and as Rooke was at Cadiz, Shovel was sent to blockade Brest.
Early in September Chateaurenault, who had probably received
word in the Azores as to the disposition of the English fleets, ran
into Vigo Bay skilfully eluding both.
Vigo Bay is an inlet on the north-west coast of Spain. It is
deeply cleft, and its eastern extremity is twenty miles removed from
the Atlantic. At its entrance the isles of Bayona shield it from
the violence of the ocean gales. The town itself is on the
southern shore of the bay facing the dawn. Eastward and be
yond the channel narrows to less than a raile in width, and
again reopens into Redondela harbour. Into the very farthest
recesses of the gulf, and under the protection of Redondela Fort,

94 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Chateaurenault withdrew his seventeen priceless galleons and
twenty-four fighting ships.
As Vigo was strongly garrisoned he could draw upon it for

VIGO BAY
October 12, 1702
soldiers to any extent, but he did not rest content with a fort and
battery on the south side of the narrows and a battery on the
north. Had Forts Lisset and St. Vaast saved the situation at La

ROOKE 95
Hogue ? He constructed a boom thirty feet in girth of masts,
yards, cables, top-chains, planks and casks. This he moored in
the waterway and anchored securely. At either end he stationed
a 70-gun ship, and within he drew up five others of simUar
armament in position broadside on. Behind this formidable
barrier the galleons began to unload with a feeling akin to security.
MeanwhUe Master Beauvoir had confided his news to Captain
Hardy who weighed immediately and sped after the Admiral.
Storm and fog alike retarded progress, and far too many pieces
of eight had been taken ashore ere Captain Hardy could give Sir
George his splendid piece of news. The Admiral was struggling
with a bout of sickness, but a harbour full of ships after the
barrenness of Cadiz was enough to restore him to health. The
season of the year was unpropitious, but the fog at least befriended
his approach, and he reached the harbour unobserved. Here his
dispositions were perfected. It was arranged that the Duke of
Ormonde should be landed on the south shore and work his way
against the formidable fort which frowned on Redondela Bay.
All the boats of the fleet were assembled, a landing effected, and
5,000 troops advanced. As a matter of fact there were double
the number of soldiers in Vigo : but they were unprepared, and
the English had to efface the memory of Cadiz, and were not to
be denied. So it came about that when the garrison interposed
itself between the invaders and Redondela, the Duke of Ormonde
brushed them from his path and swept ahead like a whirlwind.
Meanwhile Rooke, realizing that the narrow limits of the bay
precluded the employment of his total strength, chose from his
force twenty-five ships of lighter draught. He himself shifted his
flag from the Royal Sovereign to the Somerset, and Sir Thomas
Hopsonn from the Prince George to the Torbay. "^ To the Barfleur
and the Association he assigned the work of dealing with the
batteries on the north and south. The remainder of the ships
were to be drawn up in line abreast, five in a line, with Admiral
Hopsonn as their leader. On the night of the nth Rooke paid
a personal visit to each of the twenty-five, and to each company
he spoke words of explanation, encouragement and exhortation.
On the 12th when the British flag on Fort Redondela con-
* This ship commemorated of course the successful expedition of William III.

96 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
veyed the news that the Duke had been as good as his word, and
that the task before the fleet was merely tremendous and no
longer impossible. Sir George gave the word and the twenty-five
elect stood in. The boom on closer acquaintance proved a
horrible erection. Hopsonn was convinced that it would prove
impassable, but Rooke assured hira that though impervious to
all else, it would yield to Thomas Hopsonn. The bar was cleft
at the impact of the Torbay, and Admiral Hopsonn found himself
girt about with enemies ; but the severed fragments of the
boom resolved theraselves into lock-gates and proved a greater
encumbrance than ever. For long the brave Torbay drew upon
herself the fire of all. Stormed at starboard and larboard by
the lock-keepers, the Bourbon and the Esp^rance, raked by the
batteries on shore, her casualties were horrifying, and the damage
above board threatened to reduce the dauntless ship to a sheer
hulk. To complete her discomfiture Chateaurenault launched a fireship.
Not having the genuine article with him he had improvised one
out of a cargo-boat. The Torbay was hardly in a position to
deal with any further enemies. Her masts were shattered. Sails
and rigging lay by the board tempting the flames. The Torbay
caught fire and her dread antagonist burnt downwards to the
powder. A muffled explosion rent the air, and the fireship burst
asunder like a colossal puff-ball. Her cargo was a cargo of snuff.
Scattered in every direction, it reduced raany to such an agony
that they cast theraselves overboard ; but it proved itself also the
best of fire-extinguishers, and saved from destruction the very ship
whose doom it had threatened.
While the Torbay was selling her life dearly, stout hearts
behind were hacking a way through the boom with hatchet, axe
and crowbar. Rescue was coming slowly but surely ; the ships
assigned for that purpose were entertaining the shore batteries as
fully as they could ; and ever the flag on Redondela Fort urged
strong men to redouble their efforts. At last the gap appeared,
and as fresh ships pressed forward through the chink, the noble
protagonist withdrew her shattered timbers from the fray, while
her gallant commander with appetite unsated shifted his flag to
the Monmouth and returned.
Robbed of his defences, denuded of his boom, Chateaurenault

ROOKE 97
decided that there was nothing further to be done. The same
breeze that bore the eneray upon him frustrated his chance of
escape : his sure retreat was changed into a death-trap. Much of
his priceless cargo stUl remained in the ships, and must not be
allowed to fall into alien hands, nor must the warships grace an
English triumph. His mind was made up : he would burn his
ships. The notification was made with what rapidity circumstances
would allow. But Rooke was too quick. With nimble skiU he
took for England thirteen battleships, and many a galleon fell
into his hand. At break of day Chateaurenault had a fleet of
forty-one : by eventide they were gone ; prisoner or perished
every ship of them. The victory was decisive ; the enemy were
annihilated as completely as the Spaniards by the thunderstroke
of Blake at Santa Cruz.
When all was over Rooke called for Captain Hardy, the courier
of glad tidings, and with a grim humour that he loved, addressed
him. " You have done," he said, " a very important piece of ser
vice. You have added to the honour and riches of your country
by your diligence. But don't you know that you are Hable to be
shot for leaving your station ? " With modest heat the gallant
Captain : " He is unworthy to bear a commission under Her
Majesty who holds his life as anything when the glory and interest
of his country require him to hazard it." The Admiral's face
relaxed into that smile which so well became him. He handed
Captain Hardy a missive for Her Majesty. In due course the
letter was delivered. The good Queen read the news and the
kindly recommendation of the servant at her feet. " Rise, Sir
Thomas Hardy," she said, and gave hira the flag that he deserved.
Had Rooke's onslaught followed more swiftly upon Chateau
renault's appearance in the bay, wealth beyond the dreams of
avarice might have swelled the triumph. As it was, considerably
more than ^2,000,000 was taken, and all the gold coins minted
in 1703 were struck with the word Vigo to show the mine whence
they were dug. The Government ran counter to the good old
proverb that deprecates too close an exaraination of a gift-horse.
AVhen the Vigo galleons presented a peace-offering fragrant
enough to satisfy the most exacting, they insisted on an enquiry
into the failure at Cadiz. Rooke emerged from the enquiry with
reputation unspotted, and was by the Queen created a Privy
H

98 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
CouncUlor.* Ormonde was made Viceroy of Ireland. Hopsonn
received a knighthood. The officers and men were rewarded in
a pleasant and tangible fashion. One of the streets in London
Town was christened Vigo Street : and so all ended happily.
THE TAKING OF GIBRALTAR
July 23-24, 1704
England was still faced by the old difficulty. The Vigo cam
paign had contributed little to solve the outstanding problem of
the leading maritime power. True, the King of Portugal had
received an object-lesson ; and the haste he showed to abandon
Louis and join the Augsburg ring put Lisbon at the disposal of
the allies. As a temporary resting-place, a haven in which to
water and careen, it was not to be despised ; but the war was not
against a power whose ships plied from Mexico to Spain, or Spain
to the Azores. Unlike Cadiz, Lisbon was of little use as a base
for the Mediterranean.
Tangier would have exactly answered England's requirement :
and whatever may be thought of its abandonment, failure to ap
preciate its value must not be assigned as the cause. Its advantages
had instantly been recognized. Although it afforded little protec
tion against the weather, although it was very much at the mercy
of the Arabs behind it, although a mint of money was required for
its improvement, Charles II, acting under the trusty advice of Albe
marle, resolved at his accession to abandon Dunkirk, then a recent
acquisition, in order to lavish his all upon Tangier. ^^2, 000,000
were spent upon the mole alone : warfare with the Arabs caused an
incessant drain : but Charles stuck to the position with commend
able constancy, and for twenty-three years his possession proved an
excellent check to Louis and a splendid nursery for British seamen.
AVhen in his impecunious latter days he found himself obliged to
part with it, he did so with unfeigned regret ; and the evacuation
committee headed by Mr. Pepys met with vigorous opposition
not only from the Earl of Torrington, but from two other seamen,
little enough known in those days, Clowdisley Shovel and Rooke.
* The unbiassed reader may ask himself to what grade in the peerage Rooke
would have been raised had the politics of a Tory M.P. proved less detestable.

ROOKE 99
Their prescience had been amply Ulustrated in the war of the
English Succession. A squadron acting from Tangier might well
have prevented the concentration that led to Beachy Head, and
would certainly have prevented the accident to the Smyrna con
voy. But Tangier was irreclaimable. The shattered mole lay
broadcast at the bottom of the harbour ; and the bastions, look
ing southward, all were down.
And now the need of the place was more urgent than ever.
1704 was to be the critical year of the struggle. Louis was
determined to hurl his force upon the Emperor and in a single
campaign overwhelm him once for all. Marlborough, determined
that he should not do so, was planning the brUliant move, whereby
his Low Country army massed upon the Upper Danube was with
a crushing blow to fling back the armies of France as they marched
against Vienna. With genius unsurpassed for strategy " he taught
the doubtful battle where to rage." Paris, Brussels and Vienna
were for him but landmarks on a single battlefield. But the
grandeur of his conception did not blind him to its difficulty.
He needed help. He required the attention of the foe to be re
laxed, or drawn entirely apart by a feint in another direction. This
could best be done by the opportune appearance of an armament
at Toulon. The port was for the moment the very centre of the
theatre of war : it commanded the routes to all the Spanish pos
sessions in the Mediterranean. An occupation of Toulon would
cut off the French in Italy from the French in Spain. A per
manent occupation would rob France of her portcullis, her water-
gate, her chiefest entrance way. A fieet acting from Toulon
would menace Barcelona, Genoa and Naples. Its influence
would be dominant. Send but the victor of Vigo to the port of
Toulon, and the success of the Danube scheme was assured I
Rooke may be pardoned if he was a little disappointed. He
himself preferred the crushing blow, and cared little for the mis
leading feint. He was ready to admit that a strong fleet in the
Mediterranean would have a marked effect, but could a fleet be
strong which operated from a base 2,000 miles away ! He had
played the Toulon part before and knew its weaknesses.
Rooke left England on his memorable cruise at the beginning
of February, 1704. He was a little uneasy, for he had left the port
of Brest unguarded and within its recesses preparations were well

IOO SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
advanced for the equipment of a squadron under the Comte de
Toulouse [1678-1737], a son ofthe Grand Monarque. Sir Clow-
disley's fleet should have been there, but was still at home when
Rooke himself had started.
The Admiral's anxiety was only too well founded. Towards the
end of May he heard that Toulouse had escaped and was making
for the Straits. Not desiring to be caught between the upper and
nether millstones, Rooke stood away from Toulon to seek his new
adversary. The two fleets met, but Toulouse declined battle,
showed Rooke a clean pair of heels and slipped into port. His
combination with the fleet already blockaded made it inadvisable
for Rooke to risk an engagement in his enfeebled condition. He
therefore stood down towards the Straits, feeling sure he could
rely upon Sir Clowdisley to make all possible speed. The
brother Admirals met and their united fleets numbered some sixty
saU. Rooke had as his second in command Admiral John Leake,
whom he had selected to break the boom at Derry, into whose
ship he had shifted his flag in order to compass the destruction
of the French at La Hogue. Sir Clowdisley brought with him a
Dutch contingent, and as his second in command Kentish George
Byng, who had wooed the saUors of James from their allegiance,
and had worked his way to flag-rank by his handling of the Hope
at Beachy Head and the Royal Oak at Barfleur.
The Admirals met near Lagos ; and as they worked their
way back towards the Straits, the subject of their conference can
easUy be guessed. The theme was threadbare, but of matchless
interest. Were they never on these long-distance runs to find
rest for the soles of their feet ? Were the French always to tire
them out by dodging in and out of Brest and Toulon ? Were
they always to act at a disadvantage ? At any moment the fleets
in Toulon might return newly provisioned, freshly scraped. And
themselves? They must stay waddling about in the Straits daily
growing fouler ; or retiring to Lisbon for necessities, aUow Tou
louse to slip past, and force them home by a retaliatory feint upon
the Channel. As they passed Tangier they experienced a feeling
of acute irritation very natural under the circumstances.
And here beside them was the Rock of Gibraltar ; to the
ancients one of the PiUars of Hercules, twin gatepost with Ceuta
to the unknown beyond with its Fortunate Isles : to the modern

I02 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
a finger-post to the Orient, a mUestone on the way to the Levant.
No Cadiz this with harbour visited by Tyrians of old : just a rock,
a foothold from the sea. But what a rock I Three mUes in
length, three parts of a mUe in breadth, and 1,400 feet high :
sheer precipice on the eastern side, sloping to sea-level on the
west : not to be scaled on the east or north, with difficulty on the
south ; meet emblem of Britain, a lion couching in the waves.
Fortified at the beginning of the eighth century by the Saracen
Tarik, who led from Africa the Moslem conquerors of Spain,
Gibraltar had remained for seven hundred years a Moorish strong
hold with a breakwater for ships. Passing to the Spaniards on
the downfall of Granada its qualities were quickly recognized, and
the fortifications of Charles V were supposed to render the place
impregnable. Britain had already cast wistful eyes upon it.
Cromwell had hoped that Blake would capture it, and convert it
into an island by a canal dug through the sandy neck that joins
the Rock to Spain. Cromwell's enemy, PhUip IV, was resolute
to keep it. He had done much for the place, and had constructed
a New Mole to the southward of the town to augment the limited
accommodation of the old.
Fourteen mUes of sea separate Gibraltar from its twin column
in the south, and westward the channel narrows to nine before
the north coast curves away to Trafalgar. In so strait a path
a thousand might well be stopped by three, and the rock-shadowed
bay though exposed to the south-west allowed an anchorage by
no means despicable.
It is not certain who revived the idea of capture upon the
present occasion. Claimants for the honour are Admiral Leake
and the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, who was with the fleet as
mUitary adviser, and representative of the Austrian candidate.
The suggestion was warmly welcomed by Rooke, and icily re
ceived by others, whose sentiments were voiced by Admiral Byng.
Their hesitation confirmed Rooke in his resolve, and with a
twinkle in his eye he assigned the command of the attacking force
to the leader of the opposition. The hazard of the attempt was
undoubtedly immense. Even if successful, there was no means of
estimating how long the attack might last, and the combined fleet
of the French might appear upon the scene, brimful of ammunition
at a tirae when the English supply was running out. Rooke took

ROOKE 103
the responsibility, and as usual made faultless dispositions. He
detached a squadron of twenty-two ships to be drawn up within
firing distance of the town from the Old Mole to a point where
now the dockyard hums with its own peculiar music. Ten ships
under Admiral Byng formed the centre, whUe smaller divisions of
six formed van and rear. Rooke himself took command of the
rest. To the mouth of a diminutive river, which Gibraltar Bay
receives in its northern fold, he then escorted a band of 1,800
Marines under the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt.* This done he
assumed the role of general direction and paternal vigilance which
he understood so well. He had good reason to suppose that the
garrison was not invincible, but he might at any moment be
called upon not only to shield the inshore squadron frora the
onslaught of Toulouse, but also to rescue from the clutch of rein
forcements (even now hastening to the garrison's relief), the little
army which was marching over the neck of land to attack the
north-west quarter of the town.
Byng opened his attack at daylight on 23rd July, and shortly
afterwards a stream of fugitives was seen scurrying southwards : the
women, as it proved, making for sanctuary at the shrine of Our
Lady of Europa. The bombardment continued unceasingly till
midday when Rooke called for relaxation tin, order to take cogniz
ance of damage done. He sent a small ship all along the line
to gather reports of progress, and his messenger arriving at the
ships to southward learned that they had silenced the battery
opposed to them. Their captains suggested landing in boats, and
without awaiting permission at once set out.
On reaching the South Mole head some of the party rushed into
the battery with matches burning, and fired unwittingly the powder-
magazine. A hideous explosion followed, killing forty outright
and wounding sixty more. Everything suggested that a mine had
been sprung, and at the thought something like panic ensued.
But Rooke's leave by this time had been obtained, and all the boats
of the fleet rushed forward with the sarae impetuosity as at La
*A body of Marines had been raised during the later Dutch Wars, but
these were merely regiments raised for service in ships. The first true
' soldiers and sailors too ' were raised in 1702, and established a claim to the
grateful recollection of their countrymen by their exemplary service in the
present campaign.

I04 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Hogue. The South Mole was taken, and the fort commanding
it : so likewise a battery which commanded a road leading north
wards from the Mole to the town. The development of the attack
had isolated the women to the south, and the poor Governor,
who had loo guns facing the bay, but only the same number of
regulars at his command, could raise scarcely 500 troops to defend
the place. Attacked by the Marines from the north and by the
seamen from the south, and separated from the more fragile part
of the community, he agreed to a capitulation. He was invited to
surrender the Rock " to its lawful sovereign King Charles III," and
if at the end of the war the English had established their nominee
upon the throne of Spain, they would have been obliged to restore
Gibraltar to the Austrian, whose claims they had supported.
Meanwhile the plucky little garrison marched out with the honours
of war, and the Rock was lost and won.
Attempts have been made time and again to belittle this great
achievement. It has been urged that the task was so chUdishly
simple. Any one could have done it. The same plea was put
forward by the supercilious and hypercritical when Columbus re
turned from Araerica. But if it was so easy a task, then the same
opportunity offers again to-day. This may readily be granted with
one proviso. The intending captor should like Rooke take one
precaution. He should be careful to burn, sink or destroy all the
ships on whom the Rock must rely for its ultimate safety. It is
not strictly true to say that Rooke had done this, for there was stiU
a fleet in being to the eastward. But even so, the credit is still
more assuredly his, for he acted in the scorn of consequence. To
urge the smallness of the garrison is an unnecessary reflection on
the enemy. Did not the Chevalier Bayard hurl back hundreds
standing astride upon a bridge ! The rock was worthy of heroes
and has bred them since. If the numbers had been fifty times as
great Rooke would not for that have hesitated.
Happily no one attempts to belittie the magnitude of England's
gain. Gibraltar gave England that foothold in the Mediterranean
which was so vital to her interests. Henceforward England be
strode the greatest trade route in the world, and held the key of the
only gate to the Sea of History. Since 1704 she has been called
upon to defend her claim, and stoutly she has fought. If need
arose, she would do so again. Gibraltar is an integral part of the

ROOKE 105
Empire, and more to be desired than much gold. Let it not be for
gotten lastly that this slip of Spain was taken in war with France,
for the significance of this can scarcely be exaggerated. A fleet
based on Gibraltar interposes a sluice-gate between French naval
ports in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
If all else that Rooke did were forgotten, if all that his fiercest
enemy said were true, yet would the capture of Gibraltar entitle
him to a place among the stars.
THE BATTLE OF MALAGA
August 13, 1704
The chivalrous feelings of all true Frenchmen were stirred to
their depths by the news. Spain had suffered in the French cause
and France must restore her prestige. Louis also, whatever it
might cost, was determined to get Gibraltar back again. For him
Spanish prestige was as nothing compared with the new embarrass
ment to his arras. The fleet in Toulon must engage Rooke's
attention, while an army advancing over the neck of land accounted
for the miserable garrison which the linglishman had thrown upon
the Rock. Miserable garrison ! Louis had stUl to make the
acquaintance of the British Marines.
Cheerfully emerging from Toulon the Comte de Toulouse
stood down to the Straits as fully determined as his father to re
capture the Rock or learn the reason why. The composition of
his fleet was peculiar and calls for remark. In addition to fifty-
one ships of the line, he had no less than twenty great galleys.
These could of course act only as auxiliaries, but so long as the
combatants were equally matched their services might prove
invaluable, for they could supply motive-power to the lamed,
ammunition to the flagging, and reinforcements to the decimated.
If one ship or two were forced from the line, half a dozen of them
could throw themselves quickly into the gap from whatever direc
tion the wind might blow. In the event of a debacle such as
Scheveningen, St. James's Day or La Hogue, they would probably
prove as useful as the Genoese crossbowmen at Crecy.
Leaving his fleet of galleys at Malaga, Toulouse held on for the
Straits to reconnoitre the enemy's position. On sighting the
Englishmen he instantly feU back to pick up the remainder of his

io6 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
force. For the aUies his manoeuvres wore an intensely comic
air. Could it be that the Brest and Toulon fleets had united in
order that they might avoid battle ! It certainly seemed so, for
here was the Count taking a peep at them, and then scuttling away.
Rooke sent to Gibraltar for half the Marines, distributed them
among the fleet, and though anxious for Gibraltar, brightest jewel
in his crown, took fresh heart as the French appeared to despair.
Toulouse had begun well. Without the least intention to
deceive, he hdd misled his opponents in the same way that the
Conqueror lured Harold to his doom at Senlac. The English
had to defend Gibraltar to the death, and were actually being
enticed away from their post ! Rooke did his best to find his
elusive foe. Sweeping northwards and southwards he sought him,
but no glimpse of a saU rewarded his search. One thing was
certain. He could not go far in chase and leave Gibraltar to
fend for herself The fleet went about and returning with the
east wind discovered to their horror that Toulouse had slipped in
between thera and the coast, and now occupied the very position
which was by duty theirs. He lay between them and the Rock
that they had won. He meant to fight ; and to allow him to
remain where he was would be a tacit admission of defeat.
Rooke had been obliged to part with some of his ships after the
capture of Gibraltar, but in the matter of battleships he stiU out
numbered his adversary by a narrow margin of two. He had of
course no galleys ; and if it be argued that these were only a
supply train, it was exactly in respect of supplies that Rooke had
reason to mistrust his strength. The bombardment of the rock
had not exhausted his firing capacity, but had seriously impaired
it. More than six months had passed since the fleet left England,
and before undertaking any further action of importance, Rooke
needed a visit to a friendly dockyard. The gloomy outlook was
not improved by the presence in the French fleet of ten three-
deckers more than the English could muster.
Rooke in the Royal Catherine commanded the centre of his
line, and was seconded by Byng in the Ranelagh. Sir Clowdisley
led the van in the Barfleur with Leake as his second in the
Prince George. The Dutch brought up the rear.
The battle was to be a battle not to establish the reputation of
Rooke — that was not in doubt ; not a great trial of strength 

ROOKE 107
there was no need of such with La Hogue and Vigo fresh in the
remembrance. The battle was a battle for Gibraltar, and both
sides knew it well. The English had to smash their way through
to the west ; or so belabour their adversaries that they could no
longer maintain their position. Everything depended on their
power to smite, and they were short of ammunition.
The fortune of war had set the defenders in a posture of offence.
The position was false and unnatural, but the Comte de Toulouse
was not more comfortable. He had set his lance in rest. He
had dared his foes to fight. It was he who had issued the
challenge. To gain Gibraltar he must throw a winning hazard.
He must evolve some tactical advantage which would leave no
doubt as to who was the winner. He must in fact win a Beachy
Head : crush, nay pulverize, the allied van : and then as the
English slunk away to Lisbon, harass their rear ; and returning,
recapture the Rock and garrison it strongly. The Count recog
nized this, and discovered with dismay that the English had
stolen the wind from him. This was quite as unintentional on
tbeir part as his interposition between the Rock and its defenders.
The antagonists had accidentally usurped each other's place.
D'Estrees fils, the lover of books, was naval adviser on board the
French flagship. He had commanded the rear at Beachy Head,
was an experienced seaman, and well versed in the traditions of
the TourviUe school. He gave his commander-in-chief his best
advice, and recommended him to double on the English van as
Chateaurenault had done on that glorious day in 1690. Had the
galleys been battleships, had Toulouse possessed seventy-one of
the line to the English fifty-three, the glory of Beveziers might
have been renewed.
As the allied fleet bore down in line abreast, the French at
tempted to double on their van. Sir Clowdisley with his practised
eye immediately saw the danger, and spread out his line in a
lateral direction to counteract this show of skill. In doing so he
lost touch with Sir George, and there appeared a gap in the
English line between the centre and its wing. With such an
opportunity Albemarle and his disciples would have attempted to
divide the enemy's fleet by tacking through their line. D'Estrees
with all the science at his finger-tips was quick to point out the
opportunity, and Toulouse no slower to act upon it. Rooke was

io8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
not yet in position, but there was not a moment to be lost. He
clapped his squadron upon a wind, ran out his guns, and engaged
the advantage-seekers at the extremest limit of his range. HappUy
his broadsides reached their mark, and the French abandoned
their attempt. The first round was over, and fencing with it.
The English skUl had secured an equal grip. Van to van, centre
to centre, rear to rear the two sides clutched each other for a fall.
The Dutch in the rear had a good stock of ammunition and
fought well as they always did. Sir Clowdisley and Leake per
formed prodigies of valour in the van. The centre told a different
tale. Here were the very pick of the French, here was the Count
himself panting for glory, and here the English ships were for the
most part those that had spent their powder on the Rock. As
the day wore on more ships than one were obliged to leave the
line. Their departure left perilous intervals, and threw additional
labour on those remaining whose ammunition could not be ex
pected to stand the strain. Rooke fought as he had never fought
before, but the match was too uneven to last. And now that fine
seaman Sir Clowdisley gave a new exposition of his ready skill.
Just as Cromwell at Marston Moor drove from the field the
wing opposed to him, and then turned upon his enemies' victorious
centre, so Shovel breaking the back of the opposition to himself
backed astern to curb the hasty zeal of Toulouse and support Sir
George in the raoment of distress. The Dutch were loud in
praise of both the great twin brethren. Very pleasant and lovely
were they in their perfect combination.
The French fought with a splendid vigour, and ere night the
casualties numbered more than 6,000, something over 3,000 on
either side. Toulouse vowed he would win. He was wounded in
the arm ; what cared he ! A little longer. They must yield.
They didn't. The two fine old Admirals did not budge. Nor did
the Dutch ; they could not have fought better had a Tromp been
there. At last the French rear gave way before them, and
Toulouse, isolated by the defection of both his wings, was obliged to
fall to leeward to reform. Cursing the winds he went. If he had
had the weather gauge not a ship should have escaped.
Endeth the second round. Both sides had nobly fought ; but
alas! the English had failed to reach Gibraltar with the wind
behind thera. What would they do if it faUed ! Hastily they dis-

ROOKE 109
tributed the insignificant remains of their ammunition and did a
little patchwork, while their adversaries fell back exhausted into
the comforting arras of their attendant galleys.
On the raorrow the wind changed. Veering round to west it
gave Toulouse the advantage. Now what was to be done !
The enemy, it was true, did not show that coming-on disposition
which might have been expected ; but in what evU plight were the
English ! Lockers empty, not a spare topmast in the fleet I
A\'hy did the eneray withhold battle ? Did they raean to scorn
their foes and keep on to Gibraltar ? Something must be done.
Drake in default of powder had fought the Armada with a brag.
GrenviUe had stood through a thousand in contempt of thera.
Rooke was equal to the occasion. He would beat up to the
eneray, pretend he was fully armed, and sell dearly the lives of all
his ships. England demanded it. One or two might win through
the French, reach Gibraltar, and reinforce the garrison. " To the
death ! and when hope is gone, burn to the water-line ! " AU day
the English struggled on gamely but grimly, sick at heart, angry
at their impotence. But the God of Battles had accepted Rooke's
spirit of sacrifice. As night closed in, the eneray put before the
wind, and at daylight not a sail of them was seen. Gibraltar was
saved — saved !
It is strange to find Malaga spoken of as a drawn battle. The
stake was as indivisible as it was manifest. Louis struck a medal
to commemorate his success, but he struck so raany for reasons
so trivial that the evidence is misleading. The following in
structive document suggests a reason for his numismatic zeal : —
"... the battle commenced the 24th August [n.s.] and lasted all the 26th,
our fleet burning and sinking sixteen ofthe enemy's vessels, and taking thirty-
six — among them the four flagships of England and Holland — and making
prisoner the Admiral Rooch. We lost four ships. . . . The end of the re
mainder is momentarily expected, the Comte de Toulouse having sent a squadron
to the Straits that none of the enemy may escape."
If Louis XIV believed this, it is not strange that he ordered Te
Deums to be sung in all the churches, and holidays to be kept
throughout the land. If on the other hand, he presumed on a
prevalent ignorance of what actuaUy happens at sea, and brazenly
practised to deceive, he at least had ample reason ; for while the

IIO SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
great twin brethren were covering themselves with honour off the
Cape of Malaga, another Castor and Pollux had carried all before
them on the field of Blenheim. The victory of Mariborough and
Eugene as truly put an end to the terrors of Louis' age as Water
loo to that of Napoleon. The invincible legions were overthrown
at last. The great image of brass had feet of clay.
Rooke suffered much during his life from the malice of em
bittered enemies : but weU might he have sought deliverance from
his friends. Blenheim was a famous victory, it was resplendent,
and it was intelligible even to little Peterkin ; but there was no
procession of captive vessels after Malaga, no marshals of France
in chains. ' The merits of the fight did not force themselves upon
the popular perception. Unhappily the Admiral's political friends
endeavoured to exploit the battle for their selfish purposes. They
compared it favourably with the Whig success in Bavaria. Phey
cried it up as the finest thing that Rooke had ever done. In a
sense they were right ; but the Whigs in self-defence explained
that two opposing fleets had met, fired at each other for a time
and withdrawn by mutual consent. " A paltry affair, gentlemen,
but the Admiral was a Tory. Perhaps in future it will be better
to employ an officer of less pronounced views." Sure enough the
Admiral of pronounced views, or rather the Admiral with injudici
ous admirers of pronounced views, was never again employed. It
is not difficult to understand why he was shelved ; but it is a cruel
shame that the AVhig caricature of Malaga has for so long found
acceptance. Rooke might be shelved, but his task was almost complete.
The War of the Spanish Succession might continue for nine years
longer, but never again would Louis aUow his ships to meet
Rooke's, countrymen upon the sea. The English were masters of
the ocean-ways and might sail where they would ; might under
take a Peninsular War with the same security in which they
moved when Trafalgar was won.
In 1705 Shovel co-operated with Peterborough in the capture
of Barcelona, and in 1 707 appeared off Toulon to act in harness
with Eugene. Hearing that he was outside, the French incontinently
sunk their fleet to frustrate any promptings he might feel to come
within. This was excellent good if Gibraltar had been a little

ROOKE III
more hospitable ; but the Rock was flinty-hearted and offered
scanty protection frora the winter gales. It was therefore neces
sary to take the fleet into winter-quarters, and any delay that kept
it in the Mediterranean tUl the autumn exposed it to disaster on
the journey home. To complete Rooke's labour and the Navy's
comfort, England needed a first-class harbour in the Sea of Seas.
Unfortunately she required also a first-class catastrophe to teach
her this.
On 22nd October, 1707, at midday Sir Clowdisley Shovel in the
Association of ninety guns was returning from the Mediterranean
with a squadron of twelve ships of the line. The wind was blowing
briskly from the S.W. ; and as the weather was thick and soundings
revealed that they had passed the 100 fathom line and were in the
mouth of the Channel, Shovel gave the word to lie to until the
fog cleared. At six o'clock in the evening he ventured to proceed,
feeling certain that daylight would show their whereabouts, and that
before morning they were unlikely to run into danger. The Ad
miral was, however, fated never again to see horae. In the dark
ness of night the Association struck upon " The Bishop and Clerks "
off St. Mary, one of the Scilly Isles. The ship went down almost
at once, and with her went 900 good men and true.
It is exceedingly difficult to account for the disaster. It is
possible that the wreckers who at that time infested the islands
lured the squadron to its doom by a lantern which the mariners
mistook for the lighthouse of St. Agnes, the most southerly of the
group. Some there are who say that the proximity of horae be
trayed the seafarers into a drinking bout which proved their ruin.
Perhaps the most kind and at the same time the most probable ex
planation is that the " Rennell Current," whose waywardness was
not thoroughly understood till much later, carried the seamen on
its fatal waves.
The St. George came next to the Association. Her commander
was Lord Dursley [afterwards Earl of Berkeley]. He was a dear
bosom friend of the Admiral, to whom he had given, as a token of
affectionate regard, a gorgeous emerald ring, which Shovel was wear
ing at the time of the accident. The St. George struck on the same
reef as the Association, but the wave that dashed the first ship to
pieces proved the salvation of the second. A like happy fate
attended the Phxnix. The Eagle and the Romney went dowri

112 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
with all hands. The Fireband also went down, but her captain
and some twenty-five of her company escaped in the boats. Ad
miral Byng, second in command of the squadron, had a miraculous
escape. His presence of mind saved the situation even when the
rocks were under his ship's main chains. The disaster was an
overwhelming one for the country. Four ships, 2,000 sailors, and
one of England's greatest commanders ' all sunk beneath the wave.'
No one knows for certain what happened to Sir Clowdisley on
that awful night, but the most dramatic version of his end is also
the most probable. According to this. Shovel finding himself in
the water struck out with the same bold stroke that enabled him
to carry despatches in the Dutch War days. With the help of
a hatch, which he found on the surface, he struggled on, and despite
the angry ice-cold sea at last reached PortheUick Cove in St.
Mary's Isle. More dead than alive he dragged himself ashore,
and by some wonderful way reached a fisherman's hut, and dropped
exhausted on the threshold. The fisherman and his wife may
have felt the throb of pity, but they caught sight of the wonderful
emerald ring, and the fortune made brutes of them. They made
no effort to restore the Admiral to animation. They stripped him
of his fine clothes [if he had any remaining] and buried him in
the sand. When three days later a search was made for the body,
they may well have aided the searchers in their work. It was
another matter to change the gem into current coin of the realm.
Years afterwards the pastor of PortheUick learned from the lips
of a dying woman the story of her crime, and as confirmation
received from her hands the priceless emerald. The jewel was
forwarded to Lady Shovel, who converted it into a pendant set
with diamonds and wore it as an " In Memoriam." By her wUl
she bequeathed the jewel to Lord Berkeley, in whose family it is
still a treasured possession.
Whatever the truth of the story, there is at least no doubt that
Sir Clowdisley's body was recovered three days after the shipwreck,
and carried to Plymouth where it was embalmed. The remains
were then conveyed with much pomp to London, and buried with
great magnificence in Westminster Abbey. To show her Gratitude
Anne caused a handsome monument to be erected. Bird the de
signer, unfortunately displayed a lamentable want of taste : and
the unhappy erection has passed into a byword. Upon a wide

ROOKE 113
and roomy base or platform rise Corinthian columns, which sup
port a classic cornice. The cornice, partially swathed in a canopy,
accommodates two winged Cupids holding shields. On the base
and between the pillars is a sarcophagus on which the Admiral [in
effigy] reclines. His attitude is that of a Roman at his table, and
the illusion is heightened by the fact that Sir Clowdisley is clad
in the garments of Coriolanus ! Caius Marcius Coriolanus in a
Louis-Quatorze wig ! *
Appropriately enough it fell to Rooke's favourite disciple to
complete the master's work. After Malaga the sraall detachment
of ships left behind to safeguard the Rock was entrusted to Ad
miral Leake. Though obliged to make Lisbon his base he showed
ubiquitous vigilance. The armies which poured southward to
achieve on land what Toulouse had failed to do by sea, sorely pressed
the little band of marines. The strain was growing unendurable,
when into the bay sailed Leake, enfiladed the troops upon the
neck of land and fed the garrison. He was again compelled to
withdraw and during his absence some of the besiegers devoted
their lives after classic example and scaled the precipice. De
struction hung above the brave defenders by a single hair, when
into the bay sailed Leake and saved the situation for the second
time. When the Association went down Queen Anne advanced the
saviour of Gibraltar to fill the vacancy created by Shovel's death.
Well raight she say that she knew of no one better fitted to replace
the ablest seaman in her service. In the year that followed the
shipwreck Sir John added Minorca to the rich chaplet that now
adorned the Mistress of the Sea. Port Mahon is one of the finest
harbours in the world, and has behind it fruitful acres which give
it self-sufficiency. With its deep waters and its roomy, well-
sheltered haven the island supplemented Gibraltar in the way that
Malta supplements it now. Lying halfway between Cadiz and
Toulon it provided an outpost for a navy militant ; and put Eng
land, as a Mediterranean power, easily the first.
The possession of Gibraltar and Minorca was confirmed to
England by the Peace of Utrecht [17 13] which brought the War
of the Spanish Succession to a close. By the terms of the same
* Cp. Addison, Spectator, No. 139.

114 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
treaty she monopolized the slave-trade with the Americas which
continued under the Spanish Crown ; and ensconced herself in the
French domains of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson
Bay upon which her fleets had worked their own sweet will since
Malaga. The fortifications of Dunkirk, the home of privateers,
were demoUshed ; and though the French candidate was crowned
at Madrid as PhUip V, England exacted a promise that France
and Spain should never be politically united. Of the remainder
of the Spanish Empire, Austria received The Netherlands, MUan,
Naples and Sardinia ; while Sicily was given to the family of the
gallant Prince Eugene. The Peace transformed the face of Europe
and gave England the sea.
Rooke only survived his great twin brother by two years. He
had lived an eventful life, and seen the rise and decline of a
Titanic age. Tutored by Spragge, he had Rupert and Monk as
his godfathers, and on all occasions proved himself worthy of their
tutelage. He may not have had the genius of Nelson, or the fire
of Drake and Hawke ; but he was a great seaman and a true man.
When his country was in danger he gave her a La Hogue ; when
she was faced by a problem well-nigh insoluble, he won for her
Gibraltar and showed her how to keep it. When she had grace-
lessly taken all that she required and dismissed him unrewarded,
he retired from public life with a humility greater than his deeds.
In an age when patriotism had lost its true ring it was natural that
his fame should be decried : it was inevitable in the case of a
great man who could do anything but sing his own praises. The
indictment of his enemies is an unwitting testimonial. They
charge him not with venality or want of principle ; not with
asperity or want of faith. They level their accusation in a single
word, and write him down incompetent. Rooke lived through
corrupt times when men sold their reputation for money, betrayed
their home, and truckled with their honour : he comes out with
spotless hands unsoUed by greed, dishonesty or shame. When
he caUed for his solicitor and drafted his wUl, the worthy man of
law expressed amazement that he had so little to bequeath. " I
don't leave much," replied the Admiral, " but what I leave was
honestly gotten ; it never cost a sailor a tear, or the nation a
farthing."

ROOKE 115
Sir George was laid to rest in Canterbury Cathedral. There is
something touchingly appropriate in this. The most eminent
church in the kingdom, the historic home of the nation, the
lordliest edifice of the land fitly received his bones ; but Canter
bury is not the resting-place of the heroes whom England has
honoured. Blake, Monk, Sandwich and Shovel were aU buried
at Westminster ; but England can sometimes prove ungrateful,
and honour does not always fall where it is due.

Loyalty is still the same
Whether it win or lose the game :
True as the dial to the sun.
Although it be not shone upon.

BENBOW
BORN 1653  DIED 1702
What of the bow, what of the bow ?
The bow was made in England — in England
****** the land where the yew-tree grows.
Sir a. Conan Doyle
AN invariable note of sadness seems to haunt the memory of
all the great British admirals who opposed the schemes of
Louis XIV. Torrington ended an honourable career by the
gratuitous defeat at Beachy Head ; Russell was dismissed for his
victory at Barfleur ; Rooke, after a long career of brilliant service,
suffered a total eclipse ; and Shovel perished miserably in a
shipwreck. This enumeration does not exhaust the vein of
tragedy, for saddest of all is the story of Benbow, whose name
recalls one of the most painful and dishonourable occurrences in
the history of the Navy, though, like a single star in an inky sky,
the Admiral's own glory receives an added lustre from the murky
darkness that encircles it.
John Benbow was the son of a tanner, who lived at Shrewsbury.
According to a local tradition he was in his youth apprenticed to
a butcher, and liking his task so Uttle, cast away the blue apron
and ran away to sea. Little is known of his earlier career,
but it may be safely assumed that he displayed a remarkable
aptitude for seamanship, and worked his way up in his chosen
profession by sheer hard work, and an abUity that compelled the
attention of his commanders. At the age of twenty-five he was
serving in the MedUerranean as master's mate, when his skill as
a navigator won for him the recognition of Admiral Herbert and
the full-blown dignity of master. 116

BENBOW 117
A year or two later the unfortunate sequel to an interesting
episode brought down upon his head a weight of trouble that he
little expected.
In a terrific encounter with the Golden Horse of Algiers, the
gallantry of Captain Booth in the Adventure proved insufficient
to secure the surrender of a dauntless adversary. Though she
had lost a hundred kiUed and more than a hundred wounded ;
though all her masts had gone by the board ; though foot by
foot the water rose in her hold, the pirate barque continued the
struggle with unabated zeal. At the close of day a third ship ap
peared, — flying the Moorish flag ! The darkness that enveloped
her before she could join in the fray can hardly have induced
Captain Booth to seek repose ; and his frame of mind during the
night-watches must have been that of a prisoner on the eve of
execution. But in the raorning the stranger declared herself no
Algerine corsair ; contrariwise, an English ship, the N'onsuch. With
insolent calmness the new arrival ran out her guns, and enforced
the surrender of the water-logged Golden Horse.
On board the Nonsuch, where Benbow was serving as master,
all agreed in treating the affair as the butt for a hundred jests.
Some, Benbow perhaps among them, allowed their wit to outrun
their discretion, and described, to an accompaniment of hUarious
laughter, the misery of those who had failed to capture a paltry
Algerine, who had mistaken friends for enemies, who with trem
bling limbs and blenched faces had awaited throughout a feverish
night the inevitable doom of the morrow I * Captain Booth heard
of this frivolous levity with fury and indignation. His pride was
wounded. He demanded apologies, and for some reason the en
tire burden of guUt was fastened on the shoulders of Benbow.
Evidence is lacking. But there may have been something, besides
an unbridled tongue, that singled out the master as a scapegoat.
Benbow's character forms an interesting subject for conjecture.
He is often spoken of as a plain, blunt sailor, but there is little
* One example of Benbow's wit, ready if rough, is extant. A comrade
fighting beside him was gravely wounded, and asked the future admiral to
carry him below. Benbow shouldered the wounded man and staggered to the
cockpit, which he reached in complete ignorance that a second shot had killed
his burden outright. " What's the use of bringing that poor chap down
here ? " asked the surgeon. " Why, he hasn't got a head." " The liar ! "
exclaimed Benbow, " he told me it was his leg that was done for."

ii8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
evidence fo prove that he was unjust, cruel, overbearing, un con
ciliatory, truculent, unyielding. There were of course com
manders in the eighteenth century to whom these epithets might
be applied, and if Benbow were of their nuraber, certain events
in his career would be more intelligible, even if the admiral for
feited a portion of the regard which has been ungrudgingly
awarded him. His picture by Sir Godfrey KneUer certainly does
not suggest an ogre.
Sinned against or sinning, it was in consequence of the teacup
storm, which marred the capture of the Golden Horse, that
Benbow somehow or other drifted out of the service. For
several years nothing was heard of him, but fame had adopted
him as a favourite godson, and ere long his name was blazoned
forth abroad, although as skipper of a merchantman he had
adopted a rdle somewhat lacking in the spirit of romance. While
James II was dissipating by his Romanist tendencies the popu
larity he had gained at Lowestoft and Solebay, Benbow in his
merchant ship was attacked by a Moroccan corsair who hailed
from the port of Sallee. In a hotly contested engagement he
displayed all the qualities of a fighting seaman, and by his skill
and prowess achieved a smart little victory. Time and again the
impetuous Mohammedans attempted to board, but Benbow revel-
Ung in his work drove them back with fearful carnage. At the
conclusion of the struggle he issued orders for the decapitation
of the infidels who had fallen in battle, and steeped the Moorish
heads in a strong solution of salt. On arriving at a port of Spain
he stowed his gruesome cargo in sacks, and went ashore in con
fident expectation of head-money. The examining magistrates
forwarded the executioner to their King, who expressed his de
lighted approval of the exploit, and sent word to James, his
brother Catholic King, to apprise him of Benbow's evident ability
to deal with the unconverted, whether Moslem or otherwise.
To whatever extent the detaUs of the story have been recoloured
in the light of Benbow's subsequent career, it is at least true that
he rejoined the Navy towards the close of James II's reign, and
was fortunate in again coming under Admiral Herbert who had
already shown him favour. At the Revolution of 1688 Herbert's
immense influence secured him the command of a ship, and
during the War of the Enghsh Succession Captain Benbow was

BENBOW 119
ControUer of His Majesty's dockyard at Chatham or at Dept
ford. From time to time, however, he was called away for the
performance of duties which required that combination of technical
skill and dauntless intrepidity which nowhere found better ex
emplification than in himself Thus he was master of the fleet
at Beachy Head, again at Barfleur, and in the year that followed
Russell's victory he was entrusted with the management of a
novel coramission for which his genius was peculiarly suitable.
THE BOMBARDMENT OF ST. MALO
November i6-ig, 1693
It will be remembered that after the Battle of Barfleur twenty
of TourviUe's ships escaped through the dangers of the Race of
Alderney, and reached the inhospitable harbour of St. Malo. In
his poem of Herve Riel, Browning describes in spirited verse the
scene enacted there. The French were desperate. Their foes
were hot in pursuit, like sharks after a shoal of frightened por
poises, and the rock-bound coast opened no welcorae door to
mighty ships of the line. To disappoint at least an English
triumph, D'AmfrevUle advocated the destruction of the fleet ; but
as he instructed his captains to run ashore, Herve Riel, a pilot
of Croisic, demanded, and gained, an audience. " Give me," he
said, "your largest ship. I wUl undertake to guide her into
port, and the rest can follow in my wake." The task seemed im
possible, but the offer was accepted, and the last of the twenty
found salvation as the English panted up just too late.
The French were certainly handicapped in a contest with the
English by their want of a good naval base upon the Channel. St.
Malo of the rocks could not be named on the same day as
Plymouth, Portsmouth or Portland, any more than Dunkirk, her
sister of the sandhills ; but she had proved her value in an emer
gency, and deserved to be utilized as a secondary base for smaller
ships and minor operations.
This was the more important as the struggle with England had
entered on a new phase.* The capacity of the French for projects
of an ambitious nature was exhausted by the Battle of Barfleur,
* Vide supra, p. 86.

I20 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
and for the rest of the war they relied on waspish tactics which
could not indeed be expected to bring the war to a successful
termination, but which were at least calculated to irritate and
madden their opponents without imposing an undue strain upon
themselves. Louis XIV issued letters of marque to privateersmen
who made Dunkirk and St. Malo bases from which they saUied
forth to destroy the commerce of the enemy. The most famous
of the privateers were Jean Bart [b. 1650] and the inimitable
Duguay Trouin [b. 1673]. Bart was a commander of exceptional
abUity and herculean strength, who had learnt the principles of
seamanship in the school of De Ruyter. Trouin, who sacked an
Irish village under the nose of a garrison before he was twenty,
deserved to figure as a hero of romance. Both in their turn were
captured by the English : both effected their escape. Bart used
his strength and an iron file : Trouin found a Medea to release
hira. WhUe Benbow fulfilled his duties in the dockyard these
men were earning the hatred of the English and the gratitude of
the Roi Soleil.
Though the London merchants had perhaps a different tale to
tell, the Government were in reality eager enough to succour their
mercantile marine, if only they could discover an efficacious
remedy. Napoleon found the guerrilleros too rauch for him in
the Peninsula, and the Admiralty of 1693 may be forgiven if they
looked in vain for a trap to catch or a whip to flagellate the dar
ing malefactors of the Channel. To satisfy public opinion it was
at length resolved to punish the mother of privateers, the town of
St. Malo herself, and for this purpose to utUize two recent inven
tions which had earned the approval of naval experts.
The French were late in putting forward a claim to the lord
ship of the sea, but they early displayed an inventiveness and
faculty for construction which the English honoured with the
sincerest form of flattery. About the tirae of the English Revolu
tion one of Louis XIV's constructors produced the Galliot, or
Bomb-Ketch, which was designed especially to accommodate that
time-honoured engine of destruction, the mortar. The vertical
fire of the mortar made it before aU others the most effective
weapon for siege work, and enabled the aggressor to search out
places of apparent security behind the walls, instead of wasting
his battery upon impenetrable bulwarks. The mortar had, how-

BENBOW 121
ever, a tremendous downward recoil, which had delayed its recog
nition as a serviceable instrument at sea. For the sake of stabiUty,
the Ketch was given unusual breadth of beam. She carried two
masts only, a main and a mizen, and mounted in her unencum
bered bows the deadly armament. Further, to take the recoil,
that part of the vessel which lay below the mortars was filled with
a tangled raass of waste rope cut into lengths. The appalling
nature of a Galliot may be estimated from the fact that the mortar
or bomb was capable of hurling shells and carcasses, balls of
stone, bags of grape, and other missiles with a possible weight of
two hundred pounds, at a time when the most formidable shot
from the mouth of a ship's gun weighed no more than forty-two.
The terrors of a bombardment were of course by no means
diminished when such horrible projectiles, ugly enough already,
came hurtling downwards through the air like a shower of pro
digious meteorites.
The Bomb-vessel, Galliot or Mortar-boat had come to stay,
but there was adopted about the same time a more terrific,
more appalling craft, christened with engaging simplicity the
Machine, and by her famUiars alluded to as the Infernal. She
was a variant of the fire-ship, and an ancestress of the torpedo.
She bore a close resemblance to that famous ship which the
burghers of Antwerp had constructed to demolish the Duke of
Parma's bridge in the investment of 1585. The principle was
exactly simUar : but the sixteenth-century design had undergone
considerable modification at the hands of a Dutch engineer, and
the Admiralty thought so highly of the new pattern that more than
thirty vessels of the type were added to the Navy in a twelve
month. The possibUities of the Machine were those of a
monstrous shell. The hideous barque, crammed with everything
calculated to pierce and penetrate, to batter and destroy, could
at desire be blown to fragments, and carry in every direction the
death and destruction of a volcano.
Benbow appeared off St. Malo about the middle of November,
1693. In order to approach as near as possible he hoisted the
Danish flag, and on the evening of his arrival, and on two succes
sive evenings, he pumped bombs over the battlements from a fleet
of ketches acting under his direction. Having thus, as it were,
prepared the ground, on the fourth night he made ready to launch

122 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
against the luckless citizens the first Infernal ever used by the
English Navy. The vessel contained no less than a hundred
barrels of powder, roofed in by a ceiling of planks. These rafters
were perforated with holes for the admission of flames, and
supported an inflammable thatch of laths and faggots, shavings,
straw and tow, liberally anointed with pitch, resin and tar. On
the top of all came the missUes — -cannon-baUs of iron and stone,
grenades and bombs, shells and carcasses, and iron chains, in a
mantle of tarpaulin.
What foUowed is told in diverting fashion by the historian
SmoHett. The Machine was to have been moored under the very
walls, " but she struck upon a rock before she arrived at the place,
and the engineer was obliged to set her on fire and retreat. She
continued burning for some time, and at last blew up with such
an explosion as shook the whole town like an earthquake, unroofed
three hundred houses, and broke all the glass and earthenware for
three leagues around. A capstan that weighed two hundred pounds
was transported into the place, and falling upon a house, levelled
it to the ground ; the greatest part of the wall toward the sea
tumbled down, and the inhabitants were overwhelmed with con
sternation." It has been found in recent years that besieged and besiegers
have formed rather different impressions of the same bombard
ment ; that while the bombardiers have with some compunction
wondered whether a single soul remained alive within the town,
the objects of their pity have in their cellars discussed with
languid interest how long the enemy were likely to rest content
with a mere display of fireworks. This may, or raay not have
been the case at St. Malo. Certain it is that no Duguay Trouin
was surrendered to his foes ; no prominent burghers arrayed
themselves in the hair-shirts of penitence, and put off in boats
with halters round their necks. If under cover of the bombard
ment, if amid the consternation caused by the explosion of the
Machine, an army of occupation had been landed, the ruthless
work of desolation might have been completed. At least a more
accurate estimate of damage done would have been formed. As
it is the narrative halts to a lame conclusion.
A similar attempt was subsequently made under the superin
tendence of Benbow at Dunkirk : but as the Infernal proved

BENBOW 123
unable to fulfil a half of the expectations she had raised, the
popularity which acclairaed her invention began rapidly to wane,
and before the close of the war the dockyards had ceased altogether
to construct the vessel.
When the Peace of Ryswick (1697) brought to a termination
the war between WiUiam III and Louis XIV, the English monarch
determined to send an expedition to the West Indies to hunt
down pirates, and to vindicate the honour of Great Britain in
those seas. A similar venture in the previous year had been
attended by most untoward circumstances, and had served only
to aggravate the disease which it had been designed to cure.
WiUiam had engaged the services of a New York shipmaster
caUed William Kidd, who had won reputable distinction by wide
experience in every sea. The Government had put a ship of
thirty guns at his disposal ; the King and Lord ChanceUor made
liberal contributions to the cost of her outfit ; and Captain Kidd
set sail blessed by all to whom the buccaneer was odious. But
the goodwill and sympathy of honest men only served to darken
a taint of villainy in the captain's heart. No sooner had he
manned his ship and found a breeze than he tossed his obligations
contemptuously overboard, and ran the " Jolly Roger " to the
maintop. It was not quite evident where this monster would be found,
but the obvious man to deal with him was the pioneer whose
unprecedented exploits in the Channel had riveted upon him the
admiring gaze of all men. A duel between Benbow and Kidd
would have been worthy of the pen of Homer, but the " Wizard
of the Seas " had neglected western waters for newer hunting
grounds, and Benbow's ardent search was fore-ordained to failure.
Pirates, however, of meaner mould were as thick as rats in
Hamelin, and provided ample scope for a man of mettle.
Incidentally Benbow perforraed upon this cruise a service
which ministered better to his own sense of patriotism than to
his royal master's scheme of politics. His arrival in the West
Indies had been anticipated by a party of Scotchmen, who had
resolved to establish in the heart of Darien a vast commercial
exchange. The Darien scheme threatened to undermine the
South Sea Company, and throw the East India Company into the

124 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
shade. It promised to the seventeenth century all the benefits
which the Panama Canal scheme failed to achieve in the nineteenth ;
but it faUed to take into account the unhealthiness of the climate
and the proprietary rights of the Spaniard. The fury aroused in
the Escurial admitted of no bargaining, and an expedition was
equipped at Carthagena to dispossess the intruders and push them
into the sea. Benbow arriving off Carthagena discovered the
destination of the little Armada, and deemed himself obliged to
handle it rather roughly. He little dreamed that the miserable
Scotchmen whom he thus befriended were to be thwarted and
ruined less by the armies of Spain and the ravages of malaria than
by the jealousy of the English, and the refusal of Jamaica to supply
an ounce of bread.* On his return to England the King was
pleased to overlook Benbow's political indiscretion. He avowed
himself well satisfied with the results of the voyage, and in
recognition of the Admiral's zeal granted him an honourable
augmentation of his arms. His shield was already emblazoned
with three bows bent. Henceforth they were quartered on a
ground diapered with arrows.
SANTA MARTA
August 19-24, 1702
Soon after the Admiral's return, Europe was thrown into a state
of no ordinary excitement by the death [November i, 1700] of
that Spanish king whom Benbow had so delighted by his summary
treatment of the infidel. The evident intention of Louis XIV to
grasp on behalf of his grandson as large a portion of the Spanish
inheritance as the indulgence of Europe would permit, demanded
the immediate despatch of a second West Indian expedition to
watch the interests of England, and to frustrate any premature
attempt on Louis' part to occupy Carthagena, and other vital points
of Spanish America. Benbow's experience singled him out for the
task, but William considered that he had already borne his share
of service on a station which for more reasons than one was
reckoned highly undesirable. He therefore approached other
captains, but strange to say they felt theraselves unequal to so
high an honour. They smoothed their ruffles, shook their por-
* The mutually antagonistic Parliaments of Westminster and Edinburgh
were not united for nearly ten years after this visit of Eenbow to the West.

BENBOW 125
teutons wigs, and begged leave to be excused. " If we cannot per
suade our beaux, we must turn again to honest Benbow," said the
King, and approaching the Admiral with some diffidence, he asked
whether he also had objections to a station which had grown no
healthier since the days of Drake. With characteristic stoutness
Benbow replied that he knew no differences of climate : that, for
his part, he thought no officer had a right to choose his station ;
and that himself should be at all times ready to go to any part
of the world His Majesty thought proper to send hira.
Benbow arrived at Barbados before the end of 1701, and was
therefore in good tirae to make all necessary arrangements before
the official outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession. His op
portune appearance forestalled the French, who, under the leadership
of Du Casse, did not reach the Indies till the summer of 1702.
Learning from a trustworthy source that the French commander
contemplated an instant occupation of Carthagena, Benbow set
out to seek his foe ; and on 19th August to his great delight dis
covered the enemy off Santa Marta,* a port on the Spanish main
a hundred miles north-east of Du Casse's destination. Benbow had
good cause to congratulate himself Operating in hostile waters
where both France and Spain could draw upon wider resources
than the country which he represented, and where the united forces
of the two could make of his responsibilities a heavy burden, he
yet found himself in momentary possession of a force distinctly
superior to that of his antagonist. Du Casse, in the Heureux, had
certainly ten ships at his disposal, but half of them were quite
unfit to take their place in the line.
With regard to the English side, the pathetic tragedy that follows
demands an intimate acquaintance with the principal actors.
They are herewith introduced.
Defiance ........ Captain Kirkby
Pendetmis  . Captain Hudson
Windsor  . Captain Constable
Brerfaf (Flagship) . . . Captain Fogg
Green-wich ........ Captain Wade
Ruby . . ...... Captain Walton
Falmouth  . Captain Vincent
•See Map, p. 158.
+ It was at Breda that Charles II received the joyful news that the English
people were ready to restore him to the throne. There was a Royal Oak
flavour about the name which made it appropriate.

126 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
When Benbow discovered that the enemy were delivered into
his hand, he decided to engage immediately ; but some of his
ships were four miles astern, and this obhged him to lie to under
easy sail until his brothers-in-arms came up. Two of the laggards,
the Defiance and the Windsor, came along in so leisurely a fashion
that he sent them an order to make all possible speed. Towards
evening a line of battle was forraed, with Captain Kirkby leading,
but the Defiance and the Windsor so little liked the warmth of their
entertainment, that after receiving a couple of broadsides they turned
their noses into the wind and so departed. Benbow, as raay weU
be imagined, suffered extreme annoyance, and to prevent a
repetition of the mischance, resolved to put his own flagship at
the head of the line when morning light * enabled him to resume
the offensive. To ensure the success of his plan he clung to the
enemy all through the hours of darkness, and all through the
second day he continued the pursuit. So far, however, from
shaming the delinquents, his change of position served only to
make matters worse, and the whole force, with a single exception,
fell astern. The exception was the Ruby, who proved herself
precious indeed, and backed up the Admiral in a manner Benbow
had a right to expect, though the behaviour of the others made it
remarkable. The criminality of the flve recalcitrant captains evinced itself
unmistakably on the third day, when Du Casse, finding he had
outpaced some part of the pursuit turned about, and hurled his
force viciously upon the Breda and her plucky little comrade.
The Breda felt herself a match for any two of her foes, and might
be trusted to return any arguraent with interest ; but the Ruby,
less masculine than her sister, was sadly outraatched. Benbow,
forgetting his isolation in the joy of battle, was hotly engaged
throughout the day, but seeing the injury done to his companion
he threw protecting arms around her, lowered his boats, and towed
her out of action. The Defiance and the Windsor were now near
enough to discern how the fight was going ; but instead of bring
ing help to a friend in distress, they stood by in the sullen silence
* The duel with Du Casse, though it began on the igth August, did not
culminate in an agony till the 24th inst., the sixth day of the fight.

BENBOW 127
of stupidity. The other ships fired in a desultory way more as a
pretence to cover their own pusUlanimity than with any intention
of influencing the result.
On the fourth day the wind shifted, and brought relief to Du
Casse, who had been harried incessantly. On board the English
flagship it was computed that the dUatory Greenwich, sleepy
sluggard, had fallen at the least nine miles astern, while the re
mainder, with masterly inactivity and a fussy semblance of zeal,
were attempting little and achieving less. Benbow may have felt
less inclined to reproach his subordinates on this particular day
because the lightness of the wind made their task a difficult one ;
but he again did his best to show them the way, and beat up
into range, cheered on by the Ruby, who was once more ready
for the fray, though hardly equal to the exertions which the
weather demanded. On the fifth day the wind restored the ad
vantage to Benbow. Though his ship was beginning to suffer
from the prolonged strain to which she had been exposed, he
worked like a Titan, and won encouragement from the capture
of a tender that followed Du Casse. This trifling gain was, how
ever, counterbalanced by a serious loss. Further misadventures
made it impossible for the Ruby to hold her own any longer, and
at the Admiral's order she retired unwillingly to Jamaica. Even
now it was not too late for a victory. Benbow had fought flve
enemies for five days, and had still in reserve five ships that had
suffered no wounds at aU.
It is hardly credible that Englishmen should have been found will
ing to act spectators to the scene. The cowardice of cravens might
well have been dispelled by the magnificent leadership of such a
chief The peril of fellow-countrymen should have aroused a militant
consciousness, and a desire to retaliate in the sorriest soul alive.
The ignominious shame of his behaviour acted at length on Captain
Vincent, and the penitent Falmouth moved forward at last to take
the Ruby's place.
On the last day Benbow exceUed himself His running fight
had not been without effect. The Heureux was sorely hurt, and
Benbow was determined to take her, or to die. Time and again
he gave the order to board. He received a grievous wound in
the arm. What cared he ? Again lads ; steady I Once more

128 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
he was wounded — a ghastly wound in the face ; but the enemy
had lost her mainyard and her fore topsail, and her mizen had
gone by the board. If only those rascaUy captains would support
him ! The flag for battie stiU summoned them to their duty.
Would they not come even now? Now, when the enemy's flag
ship was all but won ? Ere they could come, he received another
wound. A hideous chain-shot shattered his leg ; and more dead
than alive he suffered himself to be borne below. The moment
the terrible wound had been dressed, indomitable still, he had
himself carried up on deck, and there propped up in a cot he
conquered the racking pain, and continued to direct the battle
with a sublime invincible courage that has won him immortality.
One of his lieutenants hurried up to him, and expressed his deep
sorrow at the accident to the Admiral's limb. " I am sorry too,"
replied Benbow ; " but I would rather have lost thera both than
seen this dishonour brought upon the British nation . . . but if
they try to board, and another shot should bear me off, behave
like brave men, and fight it out."
The four degenerates were now in a position to redeem their
fame, but one and all, Defiance, Windsor, Greenwich and
Pendennis, poured but a broadside into the disabled ship, and fled
before the wind. In striking contrast to such abject shamelessness
the French vessels, nobly seconding one another, managed at last
to work their way between the hapless Tci&l-Heureux and her
dogged antagonist. This admirable manoeuvre enabled them not
only to carry their own ship into safety, but also for a time at
least to put the unwearied Breda out of action by a teUing com
bination of their broadsides. Benbow gave instant orders to
refit, and nailed his flag for battle to the mast. This done, he
sent to remind his faithless underlings that they were by birthright
English, and by assumption — men. On receiving the mes
sage Captain Kikby had himself conveyed to the flagship, and
approaching a commander, in whose presence he was unfit to
maintain any attitude but that of prostration, shook at him the
finger of admonition, and gravely took him to task. He told his
superior plainly that " he had better desist ; that the French were
very strong, and that from what was past he might guess that he
could make nothing of it.'' Benbow was indisposed to argue the

BENBOW 129
case with such a creature. He sought relief in a council of war,
and summoned all captains to his side. When they arrived he
set his views before them, it may weU be with some force ; but
threats and remonstrances were levelled in vain, reproaches proved
stingless and arguments empty. There was complete unanimity
among the councillors, and even Captain Fogg, his own familiar
friend, followed the lead of Kirkby the poltroon. Realizing the
serious nature of the conspiracy, Benbow was reluctantly compelled
to abandon the enterprise. SorrowfuUy he turned away from
the scene of the encounter, terribly hurt in arm and face and
leg ; but in spirit more grievously affected, and in soul cast down.
Poor honest Benbow ! Even at this distance all true Britons can
feel something of the sympathy that welled up so generously in
the heart of a homeland that knew hira.
The terrible wound in his leg necessitated araputation, but
Benbow in all his pain was not unconscious of his duty. He
resolved to bring to justice the men who had betrayed their
country at her need. Captain Hudson died very shortly after his
arrival at Jamaica, and so avoided a more ignominious fate. Cap
tain Kirkby, together with Captains Wade and Constable, were
charged before court-martial with cowardice, disobedience and
neglect of duty. Captain Constable was acquitted on the score
of cowardice, but was dismissed the service, and ordered to be
imprisoned during Her Majesty's pleasure. It seems probable
that he died in prison. Captains Kirkby and Wade were convicted
on all counts, and straightway condemned to death. They were
sent home on board the Bristol, and were shot at Spithead by a
squad of Marines without being allowed to set their contaminated
feet on English soil. The captains of the Breda and the Falmouth
were also charged with conspiracy to frustrate the ends of victory ;
but they argued with some show of reason that their votes in
favour of discontinuing the action were occasioned by a conviction
that nothing but disaster could possibly ensue if the fight was to be
maintained under circumstances similar to those that had up to
that moment prevailed. They were suspended for a time, but
were treated leniently, and afterwards reinstated. The only man
who came out of the affair with credit to himself was Captain
Walton of the Ruby^ whose loy^l assistance had formed the one
K

I30 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
bright spot amid the sordid detaUs of a great catastrophe. He
must indeed have felt repaid for his devotion when he heard the
sentence passed on his unhappy friends. He lived to render
valuable service to his country, and died fuU of honours at a ripe
old age.
There is a story that when Du Casse arrived in safety at
Carthagena, the first thing he did was to sit down, and write the
following letter to his adversary : —
Sir, I had little hopes on Monday last but to have supped in your cabin ;
but it pleased God to order it otherwise. I am thankful for it. As for those
cowardly captains who deserted you, hang them up ; for, by God, they deserve
it! Du Casse.
Benbow never saw home again. The amputation of his limb
induced a high fever, and the fever was aggravated by a keen
sense of sorrow at the disgrace that had tarnished his shield, of
disappointment that victory had hovered round his helm only to
fly away. Early in November he breathed his last, and his poor
body, hacked in the service of his country, found in Jamaica
a resting-place unmarked, save by a dull plain slab of grey
severity. The story of the fight off Santa Marta will sometimes hint
at a motive for the conduct of the captains other than that of
sheer vulgar want of fortitude. It may be, as already suggested,
that Benbow was a man of trying temperament who in his deal
ings with his staff discarded the gentler diplomacy of courteous
tact for the rigours of coercion and brutality. Even supposing
that this were so, it is difficult to believe that many Englishmen
would wiUingly endorse a method of protest, so certain to recoU
upon the protestants, so likely to bespatter with infamy the flag
under which they served. Even if Benbow were the bully that
some are wUling to believe him, it is hard to resist the eloquent
pleading of that closing scene, which has blotted out the blemishes
that may have stained his character, and inscribed his name a
deathless memory, upon the battle-scroll of fame.

BENBOW 131

Then they look'd at him they hated,
Had what they desired :
Mute with folded arms they waited —
Not a gun was fired.
Those, in whom he had reliance
For his noble name,
With one smile of still defiance
Sold him unto shame.

Lord Tennyson.

VERNON
BORN 1684  DIED 1757
When Britain first at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main.
This was the charter of her land.
And guardian angels sang this strain :
Rule, Britannia, rule the waves :
Britons never will be slaves. James Thomson {1700-48)
Written in the heat of national anger at the outrages inflicted on British
seamen by the Guarda Costas of Spain.
THE death of Queen Anne in 17 14, followed a year later by
that of the Grand Monarque, brought to a close a well-
defined period of history. In England the thoughts of all were
forthe moment centred in the "Succession." The prospect of
a German dynasty was far from popular, but a foreign king
was more acceptable to the majority than a descendant of that
sailor prince who had revived the spectre of Catholic persecution.
The " Fifteen " fiasco offered poor prospect of an eventual re
storation of the Stuarts, but there were many Jacobites left. If
then the Hanoverians were to be firmly established on the throne,
it was essential that the country should enjoy an interval of un
disturbed repose. Years of unruffied calm and piping peace
would endear the new dynasty to Englishmen, and remove all
motives for interference on the part of continental statesmen,
who might feel inclined to welcome a Pretender as a pawn on the
chess-board of diplomacy.
No one realized this better than the famous minister. Sir
Robert Walpole, who, in the dislike of the first two Georges for
all things English, found excellent occasion to take upon his own
133

134 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
capable shoulders the whole burden of government, and into his
own greedy hands the sole exercise of power. The long period of
peace between the Jacobite Rising in 17 15 and the more formid
able RebeUion in 1745, constitutes the principal claim of Sir
Robert to the gratitude of his country. Difficulties involving
other nations arose to worry him from time to time ; but when
ever they admitted a peaceful solution, Walpole shrank from any
demonstration of the might of England's arm.
One question, however, carried the ineradicable seeds of war,
and threatened to overthrow a minister unversed in any but the
arts of peace.

THE WAR OF JENKINS' EAR. 1739—?*
The Peace of Utrecht aUowed the English to send a single
ship once a year to a port in Spanish America. The English
kept strictly within the limits of this ungenerous grant, but were
quick to discover between the lines possibUities of which the
.Spaniards had not dreamed. The ship in question sailed with a
bevy of consorts ; and, arriving within hail of port, left her con
sorts safely out of sight, and pursued her way alone. When day
light faded, and the process of unlading was complete, the skipper
declared his task unfinished, and proposed the resumption of work
on the following day. During the hours of darkness his cargo
was replenished from one of the attendant ships, and the Spaniards
found to their amazement that the magic argosy was, like the
widow's cruse, never empty. In this way the EngUsh secured an
obvious advantage, and the single ship assumed the properties of
an entire merchant fleet. There is no reason at all to suppose
that this device exhausted the genius of the English for the dis
covery of means to dispose of their goods in markets where the
door was shut and ordinary methods unavailable.
To cope with British smugglers the Spaniards had a police force
ready to their hand.
Robbery on the high seas is as ancient as brigandage on land,
and must always abound on unguarded waterways. But the
*The war never reached an independent conclusion, but was merged in
the wider issues of the Austrian Succession, r740-i748.

VERNON 135
period between the capture of Jamaica and the Peace of Utrecht
was the golden age of the Pirate King.*
Even after the work of Drake and Blake the Spaniards stUl
claimed to hold the New World "beyond the line," and stUl
regarded all visits as unwarrantable intrusions. f Many reckless
men, who found the ordinary vocations of mankind unworthy of
their regard, set out from England and France to explode this
fallacy. Because they preyed not on the World but on Spain
alone, they repudiated the name of Pirates and called themselves
Buccaneers, from boucan, a method of curing meat which they
learned from tbe Caribs, and found exceedingly useful. It was
chiefly owing to the exertions of these gentry that the English
retained Jamaica and the French acquired Hayti. The noise of
their farae filled the world. WhUe 'Robinson Crusoe underwent his
dreary exile in Juan Fernandez, Sir Henry Morgan was engaged
in exploits, which for brazen audacity claim comparison with the
wonder-deeds of Drake ; and men of meaner stature made their
names the terror of Spain from Dominica to the Bay of Cam-
peachy. So long as the Spaniards were unwilling to admit even Jamaica
lawfuUy acquired, the English were not likely to listen to their
grievances. The West Indies had to look after themselves, and
for the work of extermination they constructed special ships,
called Guarda Costas, or Coast Guard vessels. By the Peace of
Utrecht the English acquired a right of way into the forbidden
land. To show their gratitude they joined in the suppression of
the buccaneer ; but the Guarda Costas had justified their exist
ence, and found new scope for their activity among the smugglers.
As guardians of the Peace of Utrecht, and overseers of its
smallest letter, they were confronted with work requiring some
delicacy, and if a certain amount of clumsy cruelty besmirches
their name, it must be remembered that they were trained in a
rough school, and found themselves matched against an evasive
lawbreaker, whose slippery devices were highly provocative.
Few chapters in the history of the British Navy are capable of
interpretations so different as that which follows, for few are so
* No self-respecting Pirate in novel or play is complete without a Louis-
Quatorze wig of the blackest hue.
+ Cp. Ha-wkins to Blake, pp. 3, igi.

136 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
intimately bound up with the disputations of home politicians.
By the selfishness of his administration Walpole had raised against
himself hosts of enemies in ParUament, and outside. His op
ponents charged him with aU the abominations of corruption and
intrigue, but above all with the degrading spirit of the coward who
prefers to swaUow any insult rather than stand up in arms and be
bold. All those who honestiy thought that England's fair name
was being draggled in the dust of dishonour, were necessarily
opposed to his compromises and conventions ; but by the violence
of their invective they laid themselves open to the reproach that
their hostility was directed not so much at the foreign aggressor as
at the premier who had so long deprived them of the fruits of
office. Thus it came about that the adherents of Walpole were tempted
to minimize the extent of Spanish insults and British wrongs,
whUe the opponents of Walpole were tempted to exaggerate them.
Thus the celebrated Captain Jenkins figures alternately as a
suffering martyr and a melodramatic charlatan ; as a God-fearing
gaUant seaman and a wretched puppet, wire-puUed by self-styled
patriots who had rescued him from the pUlory. Admiral Vernon
stands on a higher plane than Captain Jenkins, but he too has
been subjected to treatment of a not dissimUar kind. He has
been lauded and decried, abused and glorified ; treated in fact as
a tool in the hands of partisans rather than as the brave admiral
and capable commander that he proved himself Since his death
adverse criticism has prevaUed, and the majority of chroniclers,
accepting the repulse at Carthagena as a certain indication of his
incompetence, have done their best to explain away his undeniable
success at Porto Bello. Further reasons for this will declare
themselves in the ensuing narrative. For the moraent it wUl
suffice to say that succeeding ages have acclairaed the political
judgment of Walpole, and Admiral Vernon actively opposed him.
In view of Sir Robert's taste for bribery this might in ilself be
put forward as a claim to honourable distinction. To whatever
extent politics may obscure the issue, it should be remembered
that Vernon is a name which the Navy stUl delights to honour.*
WhUe discussion was proceeding in Parliament on the subject
of commercial relations with Spain and the officiousness of in-
* H.M.S. Vernon is the torpedo school in Portsmouth harbour.

VERNON 137
discreet Guarda Costas, leave was obtained foi the introduction
of one whose experience of Spanish excisemen promised to throw
a new and lurid light on the subject under debate. Richard
Jenkins was the captain of the barque Rebecca hailing from
Glasgow. On a return voyage to England he was sailing from
Jamaica, which, it wiU be remembered, had been an English
possession since the days of Cromwell, when his ship was boarded
by Spanish officers, who proceeded to exercise their pretended
right of search for contraband goods destined for ports of Spain.
Nothing iUicit was found, but the Spaniards were, if anything,
rendered the more furious. They strung poor Jenkins up to the
yard-arm, and cut him down again before the breath of life de
parted. As he recovered consciousness one of them slashed at
his face with a cutlass, and all but severed one of his ears from his
head. Another, more brutal still, tore off the mutUated meraber,
and presenting it with mock solemnity to the agonized victim,
begged him to take it home and assure King George that he too
would be treated in similar fashion if ever he fell into the hands
of Spain. Eagerly questioned as to his feelings at such a moment,
Jenkins immortalized the occasion by replying : " I commended
my soul to God, and my cause to my country." The poor
captain was not examined on oath, but there was no doubt that
he had lost an ear, and the missing member he produced as evi
dence. It may be added that he subsequently took part in an
engagement at sea, and acquitted himself like a man.
Whatever may be the truth of the " pitiful tragedie," it served
to focus attention on the West Indian question. The story, or
fable, was passed from mouth to mouth through the length and
breadth of the land, and roused to fever-pitch the righteous anger
of true-born Britons. Was it for this that England had warred
with Spain, and driven her fieets from the sea I H'ad Drake and
Howard, Grenville and Blake so little accomplished that England's
premier must allow the enormities of Spain to pass unpunished !
Even if smuggling was indulged in by the English, on the Spaniards
lay the burden of proof on the Spaniards devolved the duty of
preventing it, or of agreeing to arrangements that would render
it unnecessary. If in the exercise of invigilation they caught
an offender red-handed, they might confiscate his cargo, or detain
his ship ; but to overhaul innocent vessels, wherever found, was

138 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
offensive : to exercise the right of search on the high seas was
lawless ; and to invade an innocent ship miles from port, and in
the childish wrath of disappointment to reduce the deck to a
shambles, was repugnant to civilization, and not for a moment to
be tolerated by any nation that valued its self-respect
Amid the fervid eloquence [Walpole and his sympathizers would
of course call it " frothy vapouring "] with which the " patriots "
assaUed in Parliament the policy of peace, the popular sentiments
found no more enthusiastic exponent than Edward Vernon.
Born towards the close of Charles II's reign, he came of a good
old family, which numbered araong its more celebrated members
the far-famed Dorothy of Haddon Hall. His father was a well-
known member of Parliament whose abUities won for him the
dignity of what to-day is called cabinet rank. Edward was edu
cated at AVestminster under the famous Dr. Busby, who kept
his hat on his head in the presence of his monarch lest his pupUs
should vainly imagine that there lived a man greater than himself
Entering the navy at the moment when Anne ascended the
throne Vernon took a part in all the great sea battles of the
Spanish Succession war. He was present at Vigo Bay, at the
capture of Gibraltar and at the action off Malaga, gaining for
hiinself a reputation not only for skill and gallantry, but for
devotion to his work and consideration for those who served in
his command. He won employment also in the West Indies
where he doubtless acquainted himself with the vulnerable points
in the Spanish position. He was serving under Sir Clowdisely
Shovel when that gallant officer was lost off the Scilly Isles.
Vernon was in the Phxnix. The Piixnix ran aground, but by
a miracle was carried off again. Under George I the gallant
Captain entered Parliament as member for Penryn, a Cornish
borough. His past experiences enabled him to speak with
authority on West Indian subjects, and his eager patriotism
["noisy partisanship" say his detractors] lent fire to his words.
He declared that the national honour demanded a display of
force ; he informed the House that the capture of Porto BeUo
would " distress the enemy in their very vitals ; '' and he offered
with half a dozen ships to take the place himself
To Walpole it was becoming more and more evident that for
once the powers of persuasion were inadequate to obtain for his

VERNON 139
country the satisfaction to which she was entitled. Loath as he
was to draw the sword he was forced to do so less by the clamour
of his countrymen than by the obstinacy of Spain. The ac
ceptance of Captain Vernon's offer would muffle the national
outcry, and very possibly prove a menace sufficient to awake in
the Spaniards a more generous disposition. Even if the expedi
tion failed, the discredit would rest on his opponents who were
Vernon's supporters, and the departure of the honourable and
gallant member from the House would rid him of a mercUess
tormentor. Inducements such as these were potent, but they
failed to bring him perfect contentment. In the days of Sheriff-
muir, France and Spain had been estranged by family rivalry, but
on the outbreak ofthe Polish Succession war (1733-173S) they
had made up their differences, buried the hatchet, and concluded
a treaty of alliance. They had many a grudge against England,
and the Stuarts only awaited a favourable moment for the renewal
of their schemes. Supposing that France and Spain united to
assist the Pretender. . . . His cogitations were interrupted by the
merry sound of bells. The country was wildly delighted at his
tardy declaration of war. Every church rang out a joyful peal.
"They may ring their beUs now," he muttered gloomUy ; "be
fore long they'll be wringing their hands."*
THE TAKING OF PORTO BELLO
November 21, 1739
To our good King, now loudly sing, may Providence attend him !
To Admiral Vernon, toss a glass, may Heaven aye defend him !
To Commodore Brown toss another down, and to each gallant fellow
Who did so bravely play his part at the taking of Porto Bello. Old Song
It will be remembered that when Drake set forth in 1572 to
execute vengeance upon the Spaniards for the wrongs he had suf
fered in Mexico, he planned an attack upon Nombre de Dios, the
point at which the wealth of Peru was garnered to awah tranship
ment for Spain. Since then the Spaniards had abandoned the
*Walpole's melancholy forecast met fulfilment on that "Black Friday"
in 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie reached the Midlands, and George the
King ordered his yacht to await him at the Tower stairs.

140

SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

site in favour of Porto Bello, a harbour in the same neighbour
hood, equally unhealthy, but with superior qualities as an anchor
age. The town itself lay at the south-east corner of the harbour. It
was approached from the west through a narrow channel rather
more than half a mile broad, guarded by the Iron Castie, a forti
fication mounting 100 guns. The citizens derived additional pro
tection from the Gloria Castle which mounted 120 guns, andfrom
the San Jeronimo bastion which enabled them to enfilade a force
that ventured to move inshore. As a depot for the produce of

Porto Bello
November 21, 1739
Peruvian mines Porto Bello held out the prospect of limitless
plunder, but the chance depended on the moment of attack ; and
as the town was but a resting-place for treasure, the moment of
attack might very well find it empty. The capture of a great trade
route terminus would of course interrupt for a time the whole
industry of the isthmus. If the place were occupied and a garrison
established, permanent dislocation of the traffic might ensue.
But as each of the fortresses demanded 300 defenders, no settle
ment was possible without the services of an army. In accepting

VERNON 141
his opponent's knightiy chaUenge Walpole had taken hira strictly
at his word, and when Vernon, now Vice-Admiral of the Blue,
arrived off Porto Bello, 20th November, 1739, he had with him
no more than the six ships which he had demanded in the heat of
debate. His urgent request for Marines had gone unheeded, and
on arrival at Jamaica he was compelled to beg the. services of
any force the Governor could spare. This Governor, enthusiastic
in the cause, placed at his disposal half the garrison of the de
pendency. This amounted, however, to no more than 200 men.
On the way out Vernon had drUled his crews in gunnery with
steady persistence. He was rewarded by a degree of excellence
that promised the happiest results. In his last orders he issued
stringent injunctions to his officers to discountenance random
shooting, and to satisfy themselves that the aim was good before
giving the word to fire. He also enjoined silence on all engaged.
His force if small was business-like and efficient.
On the morning of 2 rst November the wind was blowing from
the east in the teeth of the invaders. They had therefore to beat
up into the harbour, and found some difficulty in taking the posi
tions assigned to them. The first two ships had already engaged
the Iron Castle and shown the quality of their marksmanship,
when Vernon himself in the Burford came into the zone of fire.
He instantly ordered the boats to be lowered, and appointed
storming parties to effect a landing. The fortress was perched
high up, and he judged that his men would diminish their danger
the nearer they approached to the shore. His surmise proved
correct. Two men alone were wounded in the boats. Next he
took his own ship into the position best calculated to assist him
in working his wUl on the castle, a position which of course pre
sented the acme of hazard to himself The Burford sustained
some injury, and his own life was momently imperUled, but he
gained his way. The musketeers in his tops directed their fire
exclusively on the lower battery, and made such good practice
that its guns were all out of action by the time that the landing
party was ready for the assault. Clambering on one another's
shoulders they scrambled through the embrasures, overcame re
sistance, and carried the fort.
Of the defenders, some retreated to the upper works, but many
fled for their lives and stopped not till they reached the town

142 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
itself where their horror-stricken faces and mutinous behaviour
went far to create a panic, and unnerve the populace. Tbe more
valiant of the garrison proved unequal to a prolonged resistance.
Fresh ships were moving to the attack. They had suffered many
casualties ; their walls appeared to offer no obstacle to their
limpet-like assailants ; their hearts failed them and they sur
rendered. Vernon had now good hopes of a successful issue.
The wind continued to blow from the east, and made further in
gress quite impossible ; but the Spaniards had already learned the
nature of their antagonists and were ready to treat. They offered
to abandon San Jeronimo and Gloria if their ships were spared.
Vernon rejected their overtures. The crews might leave the ships,
the populace retire, the garrison march out with the honours of
war ; but ships, and town, and forts raust be surrendered, and un
less an immediate decision were arrived at, hostilities would be
instantly resumed. The Governor acquiesced. Porto Bello was
won. Having no force with which to occupy the town Vernon ordered
the work of demolition to begin at once. Unluckily the moment
proved a close time for treasure. The spoils of Peru had already
departed for Spain. Ten thousand dollars were taken, and Vernon
arranged for their distribution among his company. Of the hostile
armament he selected some fifty guns as worthy of removal and
destroyed 200. One hundred and twenty barrels of captured powder
he utUized in destroying the fortifications. The Iron Castle,
Jeronimo and Gloria were razed to the ground, but their sturdy
masonry withstood the battering of three laborious weeks.*
The news was received with rapture in England. The name of
Vernon was in everybody's mouth. He was a gallant scion of the
good old days : a seaman worthy to rank beside Drake himself:
a man in a thousand who taught the legislature to listen to his
counsel, and then translated it into action. The City of London
granted him their freedom in a gold box. The innkeepers took
down their signs, painted out St. George or the Anchor, and
substituted the Admiral's head with his piercing eyes and trim
little wig. The opposition, in seconding an address of congratula-
* Porto Bello is to-day an obscure little village, inhabited by a handful of
niggers. It is unvisited by passing vessels, and the undergrowth springs
thickly where once the bastion rose.

VERNON 143
tion to the King, insisted on inserting " with six ships only." To
this day there survives a curious reminder of the nine days'
wonder. Some of Vernon's mariners returning jubUant settled
down near Edinburgh town, and christened their new quarters
after the famous victory. Porto Bello is now one of the principal
suburbs of the Northern capital.*
CARTHAGENA
March to April, 1741
Walpole's earliest venture in the lists had not been unsuccessful
for a minister of peace, though his continuance in office as the
executor of a policy which he had always denounced, has been
condemned by his most eulogistic biographers. It served to in
furiate his opponents who had won a title to the helm of state by
their advocacy of a policy which had proved inevitable. Walpole
had taunted them with the shallowness of their sentiments, with
the affectation of their patriotism ; but in the game of jeers he had
played into their hands. They found-his devotion to the cause of
peace an empty subterfuge. They declared his acts admitted of
but one interpretation — love of place, love of power, love of
pocket. Small blame to them if they persecuted him remorse
lessly. His position henceforth depended on his abUity to
prove himself as capable in the management of warfare as in the
control of parties or the conduct of finance.f
There was plenty to be done in the Indies ; but before any
great project could be compassed reinforcements were necessary.
A flotilla equal to the occasion could not of course be equipped
at a moment's notice, and valuable time was lost before Sir
Chaloner Ogle 'I was ready to start. When he did set out he con-
* Though its origin is still involved in some controversy, there is good
reason to believe that the National Anthem in its present form was first heard
at a concert held to celebrate the " happy and glorious " capture of Porto
Bello. t Walpole's warlike schemes met with disaster in 1741, and the great
minister fell at the beginning of 1742.
t In 1722 Bartholomew Roberts, the original of Scott's Cleveland in The
Pirate, was the terror of the seas. Captain Ogle in the S-wallo-w came up
with him on the west coast of Africa. Roberts had three ships. Ogle lured
pne away, and returned with the Jolly Roger above the Union Jack, The

144 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
ducted a fleet far nobler than any that had yet sailed for the ^Vest.
Numberless transports and attendant vessels carrying an army of
12,000 men were escorted by a powerful fleet of twenty-seven
ships of the line. The soldiers were under the command of Lord
Cathcart, a gallant officer of approved worth, who had gained a
ripe experience in the French wars of Queen Anne's reign.
The most important person, however, in the entire fleet filled
the utterly insignificant post of Surgeon's Mate in one of the
warships. This was none other than Toby Smollett, at that time
a penniless nobody with an unprofitable knowledge of medicine,
but destined to become one of the leading lights in the literary
history of his country. In his entertaining story of Roderick
Random, which is largely autobiographical, and contains a vivid
picture of life aboard a man-o'-war in the early days of the
eighteenth century, SmoUett gives a detailed account of the affair
at Carthagena, and the substance of this he afterward incorpo
rated in his History of England. As his evidence is first-hand
evidence, it is of course very valuable, but should not be accepted
as unprejudiced without careful enquiry into the character and
antecedents of the witness.
In his History Smollett writes : " Had this armament been
ready to act in the proper season of the year, under the conduct
of wise experienced officers, united in councUs, and steadily at
tached to the interest and honour of their country, the Havannah
and the whole island of Cuba might have been easily reduced ;
the whole treasure of the Spanish West Indies would have been
intercepted ; and Spain must have been humbled into the most
abject submission."
This sounds a most terrible indictment of poor Vernon, who is
by allusion an incompetent Jacobite ; but it is only fair to re
member that friend Toby had, in addition to a remarkable faculty
for making the very most of a story, a tendency to exaggeration,
which must declare itself to all his readers, and a reputation for
malignancy which made him very odious to some of his con
temporaries who charge him further with a consuming thirst for
scandal of the lowest order.
two felons, unsuspicious, sailed out to meet him, and in the fight that followed
Roberts was killed, Ogle, returning to England with three prizes, received a
knighthood.

VERNON 145
His taste for sarcasm found ample scope at Carthagena. Speak
ing of what he considered to be strategically necessary, he adds :
" But this step our heroes disdained, as a barbarous insult over
the enemy's distress, and gave them all the respite they could
desire, in order to recollect theraselves." In another place he
reproves those who would like to have seen greater efforts on
behalf of the sick by the reminder that the authorities were in
fluenced by the comfortable knowledge that " those who died went
to a better place, and those who survived were the more easUy
maintained." His airy generalizations on points of strategy, and
his imputation of improbable motives foster the inference that his
knowledge was derived frora idle tittle-tattle, and that his outlook
was that of a man who loathed the task on which he was em
ployed. Of Porto BeUo Smollett says : " It was an exploit which
was magnified much above merit." When he adds that Vernon
afterwards " performed nothing worthy of the reputation he had
acquired, and the people began to perceive that they had mistaken
his character,'' it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the
malice of Toby has resulted in the permanent defamation of the
subject of his gibes.
It was not until the beginning of 1741 that Sir Chaloner Ogle
joined forces with Vernon at Jamaica. He brought the Admiral
sad news. The gaUant Cathcart had faUen sick at Dominica,
and died of dysentery. The loss was irreparable. Not only did
the expedition lose the invaluable services of a trusty soldier,
but the command of the army fell to General Wentworth whose
dilatoriness and indecision roused in the Admiral's breast a wrath
ful impatience that was justifiable, but hardly calculated to
improve matters. "The Admiral and General," writes Smollett,
" contracted a hearty contempt for each other, and took all op
portunities of expressing their mutual dislike ; and each proved
more eager for the disgrace of his rival than jealous for the
honour of the nation." [!]
After due consultation it was resolved to attack Carthagena,
the principal city of the Spanish Main, the scene of Drake's
exploit in 1585, and the finest and largest city in America.* It
* Carthagena, as a port, was the complement of the isthmian terminus. It
provided ample accommodation for the ships while they awaited the arrival of
the gold from Panama.
L

146 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
is situated on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Darien. Its west
front faces the sea, but is unapproachable by reason of a glacis
of rocks, and a counterscarp of surf To the south of the city
two islands cut off from the sea a splendid harbour more than
six mUes in length. The entrance is at the south-west corner,
and its straitness, which allows but a single ship to enter at a
time, has earned for it the name of the Boca Chica, or Little
Mouth. When Vernon arrived in the eariy days of March,
1 741, the Boca Chica was splendidly guarded. On the northern
side was a splendid fort of eighty guns " which might have been
maintained by resolute men tUl the day of judgment." This
tower of strength had ministering redoubts, christened after Saint
PhiUp and Saint James, with twenty-six guns more. On the
opposite side of the channel a fortress of twenty guns and another
less important were flanked by the batteries of Fort Saint Joseph,
which lay on an islet commanding the " mouth." P'rom the islet
a boom had been constructed to connect it with the northern
fortress, and behind the boom four warships mounted guard.
These formidable bulwarks barred the approach to an outer
harbour whose magnificent proportions found contrast with an
inner haven inaccessible to larger ships on account of its shoals.
The passage-way to the inner harbour was protected on the sea
side by the CastUlo Grande mounting sixty guns, by a companion
battery on the opposite shore, and by two warships. The town
itself was heavUy fortified, and at a little distance to the south
east the fort of San Lazar enabled the Spaniards to enfilade a
force attacking the town from the sea.
As the affair at Carthagena was " unworthy of Vernon's reputa
tion," and led people " to perceive that they had mistaken his
character," it will not be necessary to describe in detail what he
did. Suffice it to say that he pounded to pieces the redoubts of
Saint PhUip and Saint James ; in conjunction with the army as
saulted the great Boca Chica Castle, only to find himself exposed
to a fire from the opposite shore ; turned his attention to the
opposite shore, and demolished its batteries ; captured the islet
fort of Saint Joseph ; received the surrender of the Boca Chica ;
broke the boom ; captured or sank the warships ; pursued his way ;
captured the CastiUo Grande; crushed the opposition of its
attendant obstacles ; destroyed seven galleons ; annihilated fifty

VERNON

147

smaller vessels ; and covered the landing of the army at a point
which enabled it to open operations against the land force of
San Lazar. These unconsidered trifles give new meaning to the
truthful words which grace his monument in Westminster Abbey.

CARTHAGEN

Shallow^

\

f^ ^

N
A

Carthagena

1741

" At Carthagena he conquered as far as naval force could carry
victory." It is not necessary to heap disparagement on General Went
worth for the inglorious attack on San Lazar. He was not the

148 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
man for an emergency. The cantankerous Toby who levels his
indiscriminate shafts alike at just and unjust, remarks : " Whether
our renowned General had nobody in his army who knew how to
approach it in form, or . . trusted entirely to the fame of his
arms, I shaU not determine ; but, certain it is, a resolution was
taken in a council of war to attack the place with musketry only.
This was put in execution and succeeded accordingly ; the enemy
giving them such a hearty reception that the greatest part of the
detachment took up their everlasting residence on the spot." If
there was one point on which General Wentworth was vainly
obstinate, it was the employment of artillery against San Lazar.
Perhaps it would have been wiser if Vernon had humoured him ;
but in truth the stars in their courses fought against Wentworth.
Before the capture of Castillo Grande the climate and bad pro
visions had caused a " bilious fever which raged with such violence
that three-fourths of those it invaded died in a deplorable manner."
Operations on land added terrifying numbers to the sick list, and
the appalling mortality depressed the spirits of all.
At the request of the General the investment of San Lazar was
abandoned, and the troops returned to the ships. Doctor Toby
was " much less surprised that people should die on board, than
that any should recover " . . . " especially as our provision con
sisted of putrid salt beef to which the saUors gave the name of
Irish horse ; salt pork of New England, which, though neither fish
nor flesh, savoured of both ; bread from the same country,
every biscuit whereof like a piece of clockwork, moved by its own
internal impulse occasioned by the myriads of insects that dwelt
within it ; and butter served out by the gill, that tasted like train-oU
thickened with salt." The approach ofthe rainy season fiUed the
cup of misery to overflowing : the men died like flies, and " such
was the economy in some ships, that, rather than be at the trouble
of interring the dead, the commanders ordered their men to throw
their bodies overboard, many without either ballast or winding-
sheet ; so that numbers of huraan carcasses floated in the harbour
until they were devoured by sharks and carrion crows."
Vernon was not the man to abandon an enterprise even under
such distressing conditions. He thought it might stiff be possible
to take the city with the ships alone. As an experiment he deter
mined to send one of the vessels taken from the enemy into

VERNON 149
the inner harbour. He called for volunteers. The Galicia was
manned, and warped through the shallows. All, however, to no
purpose. The ship was soon aground, and her crew applied the
match, and retired in the boats. Lord Admiral Toby laughed
immoderately over this "absurd exploit,'' and seeking an explana
tion suggested as a possible cause " that which induced Don
Quixote to attack the windmUl." It is not perhaps surprising to
find him possessed of the very information which the Admiral
required, " for a little further to the left he might have stationed
four or five of the largest ships abreast within pistol-shot of the
walls." Nothing further was attempted, and when the captured works
had been destroyed, the fleet with drooping hearts turned north
again to seek the wholesome comforts of Jamaica.
One further episode during Vernon's West Indian command
deserves notice, because it provides an interesting comraentary on
the operations at Carthagena. Soon after the abandonment of
the great attempt a descent was made on Santiago in the south east
of Cuba. The army still under the command of Wentworth was
once more safely landed ; and the fleet stUl under Vernon guarded
the landing-place, blockaded Santiago, and while awaiting the
arrival of the army amused itself by capturing prizes. After a
while General Wentworth returned to the ships. He had done
nothing ; but he was thoroughly fatigued, unequal to further
hardships, and asked to be taken away.
In 1743, after four years' service, Vernon returned home. He
received the assurance of the Government that he retained their
undiminished regard, and in token thereof he was chosen two years
later to command in the Channel during the earlier days of the
Forty-five. He had, however, contracted a rather suicidal habit
of pamphleteering ; and though there was much sound counsel in
" Some Seasonable Advice from an Honest Sailor," and " A Speci
men of Naked Truth from a British Sailor,'' it was proffered in
a shape which could not fail to offend the administration. There
was much in the Navy that needed reform, especially the position
of the seamen. With his plain-spoken candour, his consuming
haste and sterling honesty, Vernon could not stand tamely by in

I50 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
silent inactivity. It is to be hoped that his criticism awoke the
official conscience, and accelerated amendment, for it ended his
service career.
Baffled by his coadjutor, ruined by those he had served, Edward
Vernon retired " without place or title " into an oblivion which
has shrouded the latter days of many another great raan. But if
human appreciation failed and the Admiral himself was forgotten
the nickname which symbolized the affection of his men had
already become part of the English language. The familiar word
has been unconsciously treasured ever since, and loses no portion
of its popularity.
It must be understood that the Admiral lived in days prior to
the adoption of a naval uniform. It was open to all officers to
give rein to their fancy in matters of garb, and Toby Smollett
gives an amusing account of the second captain under whom he
served. Captain Oakum, his first commander, was a terrible
martinet. Captain Whiffle " appeared in everything the reverse."
He was " a tall, thin, young man, dressed in this raanner : a white
hat, garnished with a red feather, adorned his head, from whence
his hair flowed upon his shoulders in ringlets, tied behind with a
ribbon. His coat, consisting of pink-coloured silk lined with
white, by the elegance of the cut retired backward, as it were, to
discover a white satin waistcoat embroidered with gold, unbuttoned
in the upper part to display a brooch set with garnets, that glittered
in the breast of his shirt, which was of the finest cambric, edged
with rich Mechlin. The knees of his crimson velvet breeches
scarcely descended so low as to meet his sUk stockings, which rose
without spot or wrinkle on his meagre legs, from shoes of blue
Meroquin, studded with diamond buckles . . An amber headed
cane hung dangling from his wrist. But the most remarkable
part of his furniture were, a mask on his face, and white gloves on
his hands." *
* That Smollett's highly coloured fashion-plate is not altogether imaginary
is borne out by an authoritative writer who declares that the beau in question,
on arriving at his station in the W. Indies, reported himself to the Commander-
in-Chief in an array which would have done credit to the most exquisite and
perfumed macaroni. Vernon received him in a costume which it would
be flattery to describe as neglige. Taken somewhat aback by the appearance
of his visitor he hastily slipped on his wig, and enquired to what he owed the

VERNON ISI
Each to his taste I Admiral Vernon preferred a plain attire.
He clad his small person in a serviceable material composed of
silk and mohair, and known by the name of grogram. Old
Grogram, suggesting ilself to the wits of the fo'c'sle, quickly gave
place to Old Grog, and this unceremonious appellation clung to the
Admiral as long as he paced the quarter-deck. Everything that
concerned the welfare of the sailors commanded his immediate
attention. He lamented their hard-drinking as much as he re
gretted the need of the Press Gang. In the interest of the service
he dosed the seamen's rum with a wholesome addition of water.
The beverage thus concocted received from the drinkers the
Admiral's own sobriquet, and Grog it has remained from that
day to this.
Edward Vernon, deemed in his life unworthy of reward, fully
deserves to be enshrined in the national remembrance as one of
the best and the bravest of heroes. He has long borne the burden
of another's fault ; he has long suffered from the spite of a
malicious genius who lived too near the events which he described
to arrive at an impartial verdict. If by the injudicious expression
of his own opinion Vernon himself contributed to the causes of
his own downfall, let it be remembered that he was prompted by
a desire to convince his country " that everything depends on our
superiority at sea, and this we stand in danger of losing when we
fail to retain the affection of our seamen."
pleasure of the call. On learning he exclaimed, " Gad so, I thought you were
for sure a dancing-master." The story, if true, speaks volumes for the way in
which Vernon added to the number of his enemies.

ANSON
BORN 1697  DIED 1762
GEORGE ANSON came of a Staffordshire family that
numbered among its connections a famous counsel who
won renown in the SachevereU trial and afterwards became Lord
Macclesfield and Chancellor of England. George entered the
service of his country in 1712. All the exciting events of the
Spanish Succession were over, and for the most part the early
career of the great Admiral was cast in the thirty years of peace
that separated the Jacobite risings. But when he was twenty-one,
fortune carried him into a battle of first-class celebrity, as welcome
as it was isolated.
In addition to the Netherlands the Peace of Utrecht gave the
Emperor Naples and the island of Sardinia. The Emperor had
a mind to exchange Sardinia for the island of Sicily which had
been handed to the Duke of Savoy : Sicily occupied a more
commanding position and would round off his Italian possessions.
MeanwhUe PhUip V, the French-born King of Spain, had found
a disinterested and highly capable minister who reformed the
whole government of the state, reorganized the finances, revived
the army, and daUy insisted that the land of the PhUips must re
create a navy or perish. Spain rose again from the ashes of
her dead past just as the Emperor's project came to a head.
The Emperor's device was a treaty violation, and Philip V
thought that if any one were to transgress in the matter, he had
priority of right, because the lands in dispute had all tiU recently
belonged to Spain. He therefore took possession of Sardinia, and
sent to Sicily an army of 30,000 men accompanied by a fleet of
eighteen large ships and as many small ones. A landing was made
152

ANSON 153
at Palermo, the capital, and when Palermo feU, the army marched
against Messina, on the straits of the same name.

THE BATTLE OF CAPE PASSARO
July 31, 1718
By the very promptitude of his action PhUip V focused the
iniquity upon himself, and brought into the field against himself
the other signatories to the terms of Utrecht. To the average
Englishman he appeared lawlessly intent on grasping back the
ancient possessions of Spain when Europe had her eyes averted.
England at once sent out a fleet under Sir George Byng, who had
received a knighthood for his share in the capture of Gibraltar,
and a baronetcy for his services upon the sea in the crisis of 17 15.
His orders were to see that the Spaniards did not make Ulegal
seizure of Sicily. The Admiral could not drive 30,000 soldiers
from the walls of Messina ; but the presence of the hostUe fleet
gave him power, and he demanded a two months' armistice. When
this was refused, he stood to the south and treated the Spaniards
as unceremoniously as Tromp had done in 1639.
With his flag in the Barfleur, Byng had under his orders
twenty-one ships of the line. These not only outnumbered their
opponents, but in the matter of armament and tonnage were in
every respect superior. He did not therefore put himself to the
trouble of forming the orthodox line, but ordered a general chase;
and when he saw that the smaller ships of the enemy were running
inshore, he detached Captain Walton with seven ships to pursue
and disappoint them. Of the Spanish vessels, great and small,
Sir George burnt one and captured no less than fourteen, includ
ing the flagship of Admiral Castaiieta. Anson, who was serving
as lieutenant in the Montagu, shared in the glory of the day and
in the capture of the Volante ; but it must be added that the
great result was achieved with the minimum of trouble and small
expenditure of blood.
The hero of the battle was the commander of the Canterbiay
whom Sir George sent to pounce upon the inshore refugees.
Captain Walton took one ship of 60 guns, one of 54, one of 40,
and one of 24 : he burnt one of 54, two of 40, one of 30 guns,

154 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
one fire-ship, and two bomb-vessels. Having done so he indited
the following : — To Admiral Sir George Byng.
Canterbury, Off Syracuse, Aug. 6, 1718.
Sir,— We have taken and destroyed all the Spanish ships and vessels
which were upon this coast, the number as per margin. I am, &c.,
George Walton.
This epistle has been cited time and again as a model of
laconic and pithy conciseness.*
Twenty-six vessels in all were accounted for. The SicUian
matter was finished at a single blow, and Sir George received an
ovation on his return. He was raised to the peerage as Viscount
Torrington, and was given by his sovereign a rich diamond ring
as a mark of his personal esteem. "[•
Five years after Passaro, Anson received command of his first
ship. It has been whispered that this preferment may be traced
to the good offices of Lord Macclesfield. If this be so, then
the country is indebted to the Chancellor for an unwitting boon
of highest usefulness. From 1724 to 1737 Captain Anson was
engaged almost continuously in watching the interests of the
southern colonies of British North America. This gave him an
unexampled opportunity of observing and studying the question
which brought to a close the long period of peace. This singled
him out for an independent command against the Spanish in
America when the War of Jenkins' Ear broke out.
It was at first proposed that he should attack Panama from
the sea with the idea of joining hands with Vernon across the
* It is a shame to spoil a good story, but Captain Walton really wrote quite
a long letter which suffered curtailment at the hands of an unscrupulous
editor. t Sicily and Sardinia were exchanged after all. The Emperor converted
his possessions south of the Papal States into the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies, and the one time Dukes of Savoy became Kings of Sardinia. When,
however, the War ofthe Polish Succession broke outfi733-35], ^nd the Bourbon
Kings of France and Spain buried their differences in a Family Compact, the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was wrested from the Emperor and given to
Charles, the third son of Philip V.

ANSON 155
isthmus. But the country was hardly prepared for such extensive
operations after her protracted slumber, and Anson's commission
was not handed to him till June, 1740, by which time the develop
ment of the situation had modified the original scheme. Vernon
was at the height of his success. Porto Bello had fallen. There
was a prospect that all Spanish America would in a short time
pass into the hands of the British, and the one thing necessary
seemed the proper reinforcement of invincible Vernon.
The raid on the Pacific was not for that reason wholly
abandoned. Drake had commenced operations at the Isthmus of
Darien, and followed them up by a voyage to the Pacific. Vernon
had repeated his isthmian exploits : Anson was instructed to
work the Spaniards all the raischief he was able by sacking the
towns of Western South America and capturing the vessels in the
southern sea.
For this purpose he had assigned to him a squadron of six
ships and some 1,500 men.
Centurion (Commodore) . . .60 guns 506 men

Gloucester . . . . .50
Severn ...... 50
Pearl ...... 40
'Wager . . . . . .28
Trial  8
Victuallers, Anna and Industry

374 300 250 160

THE VOYAGE OF CIRCUMNAVIGATION
September, 1740, to June, 1744
Yet over wind and wave he had his will
Blistered, and buffeted, unbaffled still.

Who hath so suffered, or so far hath sailed.
So much encountered, and so little quailed ?
Stephen Phillips
From the very outset misfortune marked the expedition for
her own, and pursued it relentlessly. When Anson received his
commission he found himself short of 300 sailors. He was in
structed to pick them up at Portsmouth ; but the Commander-in-
Chief was himself short-handed and produced no more than 170,
thirty of whom were but lately discharged from hospital. The

156 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
remainder were never provided. His commission also assigned
hira an army ; but in heu thereof there were told off 500 men who
had been invalided from the ranks, and were receiving outdoor
relief from Chelsea Hospital. Of this gaUant but unwUling band
no more than 260 came aboard, and they came only because
(unlike the happier minority) they were not in a position to use
their legs in order to escape. Most of these wretched invalids
were over sixty years of age, some had passed seventy, and one
poor decrepit old creature had been grievously wounded in the
Battie of the Boyne. To replace the fugUives, the distracted
Commodore received 210 Marine recruits, raw and inefficient,
scarcely able to handle a musket. He naturally entered a protest
against handicaps so grave, but in the matter of the military
even the First Lord was powerless to help.
It was on i8th September, 1740, that the little squadron rather
dismally set sail. Five weeks later they dropped anchor at
Madeira where the Governor proved hospitable and communica
tive. He told them the Spaniards had sent forth a fleet for their
destruction under Don Jose Pizarro. Welcome or not, this infor
mation cannot have surprised the Commodore, for the conspiracy
of events which had delayed his start gave his enemies ample op
portunity to discover his destination. In fact a week before his
departure he had listened to the details of his own expedition from
a home-returned traveller who had heard them all on the shores
of the Pacific.
Don Jos6, manfully intent upon his business, had indeed set out,
and in the opening days of 1741 turned into the River Plate to
re-provision. Long before this process was complete he heard to
his annoyance that the cursed English were nearer than he sup
posed. With commissariat neglected, he set out at once to reach
the Pacific before the invader. In attempting to weather Cape
Horn he was tossed about the barren acres of foam. His ships
were scattered ; two were cast away, and the battered remnant were
hurled back, and after enduring the agonizing pangs of famine,
picked up again their moorings in the Plate. Had the Englishmen
been able to guess the adventures of Don Jose, their minds would
have been relieved of a burden of anxiety ; but the menace of his
proximity was ever with them to aggravate their distress.
The Centurion and her consorts made their second stop on the

ANSON 157
coast of Brazil at the island of Santa Catharina. The shores of
this friendly little spot proved doubly attractive that Christmas of
1740, for already there had appeared in the fleet the grim spectre
of a fell disease which by its ravages alone would have made the
journey memorable. While the invalids were removed to seek
for health ashore, the ships were all subjected to a thorough
cleansing : the decks were scraped, the vessels smoked below, and
every part washed with vinegar. As nothing seemed more certain
than rough weather ahead, the sides were caulked, the masts
secured, and the rigging overhauled.
[1741.] It was the approach of the English that drove Don Jos6
from the Plate. As he left Buenos Ayres regretfully behind him,
Anson also turned his ships towards the south. He soon found
himself harried by storm-fiends ; and though the Centurion suffered
little discomfort, the Trial lost her mainmast, and the whole ex
pedition till the end of February was detained in the port of St.
Julian. On 6th March the threatening snowclad peaks of Tierra
del Fuego told the mariners that they were approaching the Straits
of Le Maire which separate Staten Island from the mainland.
Greater part of the night was employed in bending new sails to
the yards. The morning sky wore a pleasant face and induced a
feeling of cheerfulness in all. Some began to scorn the pioneers
who had brought home such woful tales of the wickedness of Cape
Horn, and attributed their terrors and misfortunes to a want of
skill rather than to any excessive inclemency of the elements.
These comfortable reflections were quickly dispersed. The
ships were not yet through the Straits when the heavens blackened
and blotted out the light. For a tirae it seemed that the Trial
and the victuallers must suffer wreck upon the rocks of Staten
Island ; but at length the open sea was reached and the squadron
were dancing as helplessly as the fallen leaves with autumn's blow
ing. At first it was only possible to scud to the eastward before the
shrieking fury of the blast. When the gale showed any abatement
the vessels struggled to the west ; but the subsidence of the wind
proved the harbinger of fog which threatened to separate the ships
still more effectually. Storm succeeded storm, and in each renewal
the tempest gathered strength. Hail, sleet and snow whipped the
mariners with merciless insistence, and the penetrating cold froze
the most willing hands. Every seam began to leak, and there was

'Suucp ^"-r' :-^-?\^'j CARIBBEAN 5^
\ " ' ~ v ^ ¦--'«¦'..-,. f SANTA '
P A C / F , ^-^ ^.. . ^>xy' CAftTHAGfc a/

PART OF
CENTRAL AMERICA

N

^

PART OF
SOUTH AMERICA.

RCA

(|,NTA CATHARINA r.

r

(

FERNANDEZ

KLPrtR SO

/

^ ,.-^

Cult oF Pena.

' ?

^

-iTEN I
*'• Cape Horn

Map to Illustrate Anson's Voyage Round the World

ANSON 159
little sleep at night even for those who sought it. Top-sails had
long been furled, and now the stout main-sail was ripped asunder
like a sheet of unresisting calico. There was nothing for it but to
drive under bare poles till the weather flattened to a calm. Though
sore beset the squadron stiff kept together, drifting like scraps of
flotsam on the waves.
When the storm dropped, and hands were busy bending new
saUs and repairing the rigging, a reckoning was taken, and to the
surprise of all it was discovered that the squadron was no less
than 10° west of the most westerly point of Tierra del Fuego.
The Straits of Le Maire had been passed on 7th March. It was
now 13th April. There had been intervals of calm, but hardly
sufficient [it was thought] to make such westing. With a joyful
heart the vessels turned to the north. The mist still obscured the
horizon, but what matter ! The goal was won. Thirty-six hours
later the weather cleared, and the uplifting veil revealed the horrify
ing sight of a green and greedy shore under their lee, less than
a league away. In the very nick of tirae the wind shifted to
north-west, and the disappointed searaen turned again to the south,
to the hurricane zone and the mountain waves.
In the second encounter the brave little band were scattered and
met with varying adventures. The Severn and the Pearl were
driven eastward round the Horn, and took no further part in the
quest. The Wager took the ground in the Gulf of Penas and
became a total wreck. The crew mutinied and found their way
in the long-boat to BrazU. The captain and a few loyal hearts,
after suffering incredible mishaps, at last reached the island of
Chiloe. An account of their adventures may be found in the pages
of John Byron, who at the time of the shipwreck was serving in
the Wager as a midshipman. He lived to attain celebrity as an
Admiral, and bequeathed his literary ability to the author of D071
Juan and Childe Harold.'''
The Centurion having weathered the Horn a second time,
struggled gamely northwards, ever pursued by westerly gales that
threatened to dash her on the coast. So persistent were her
efforts to gain an adequate margin of sea-room that when the
latitude of Juan Fernandez was reached on 28th May, 1741, the
* His hardships were comparative
To those related in my granddad's "Narrative". — Byron.

i6o SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
island was nowhere to be seen. The Commodore declared he
saw it glimmer in the western haze ; but the rest were incredulous
and persuaded him to run eastwards along the paraUel. Two
days' sailing brought them within view of the inhospitable coast
and the gaunt grey heights of the CordUleras. Sadly they retraced
their steps. The wind mocked them ; and the lost leagues were
reclaimed with difficulty in nine long days.
Under normal conditions this delay would hardly call for
mention, but the water was almost exhausted and the ship was
suffering from an attack of scurvy unparalleled in the record of the
sea. Scurvy is a disease which attacks the badly-fed army and the
siege-straitened garrison just as surely as the saUors on an old-
time cruise. 1 o-day, when the cure is well known, there are many
naval surgeons who have never met a case ; but it is still common
in the poorer quarters of large towns. The seamen of Anson's
day, ignorant of its cause, regarded the malady with superstition.
The symptoms excuse thera.
The sufferer from scurvy is overcome by lethargy and unwonted
depression. He has no spirit left in him. He daily becomes
more weak and daily more timorous. His blood declines at first
to act in the normal way, and if no change for the better super
venes, it then begins to act abnormally. The patient already faint
and dizzy is subjected to nose-bleeding ; other forms of hemor
rhage rob him of the last rehcs of his strength ; and his limbs,
no longer able to perform their functions, are discoloured as by
bruises though none have been infiicted. The remedies are
simple : fresh air, plenty of fresh water, fruit, the more acid the
better, flesh foods, and vegetables, above aU potatoes. These are
of course unobtainable in ships long from harbour on a rock-
bound coast in distant seas.*
On board the Centurion the ravages of the disease were at
tended by curious accompaniments. In some, who had been
wounded years before, the wound reappeared, reopened and bled
* There is another cure, effective, easily carried, and discovered a century
before the Centurion sailed. Unfortunately the efficacy of lime-juice or
lemon-juice as a potent antidote had not received universal recognition in
1740, and was not in general use among His Majesty's ships till the days of
Admiral Rodney.

ANSON i6i
afresh ; whUe broken bones, long healed, were newly fractured.
Many reclining in their hammocks would revive in spirit some
what ; but moved to another part of the ship, died immediately.
Some in the mere act of descending from their hammocks died
ere they reached the deck, and others would appear well enough
to resume their work, only to drop lifeless as they stood before
the mast. All the patients alike were afflicted with white-lipped
terror and the sick-child's plaintiveness.
The disease declared its presence directly after the passage of
Le Maire. Its victims, crying for quiet and craving for attention,
were pillowed in the hurricane, and perforce bereft of kindly
ministrations. Little wonder if the rate of mortality sickened
the boldest. Ofthe Centurion' s original 506, 292 had been com
mitted to the deep, and the remaining 200 were all more or less
affected. Had it not been for the officers, who suffered less and
lent a willing hand, Juan Fernandez would never have been
reached at all.
This small island, more than 400 railes from the coast of Chile,
was discovered by the Spaniard whose name it bears before the
time of Drake, but was not yet settled or inhabited. The Buc
caneers had welcomed the spot as a base of operations against
Spain, and here in the early days of the eighteenth century the
famous Alexander Selkirk was marooned and remained " monarch
of all he surveyed " until he was rescued in the year of Mal-
plaquet.* Juan Fernandez is of volcanic origin and very fertUe. Its high
hills are a refuge for innumerable wUd goats, and the lower
slopes clad with tree ferns are infested with pigs. All fruits and
vegetables grow well, and the waters abound in fish. It is easy to
imagine the delight of the poor mariners on first sighting such a
paradise. It is pathetic to learn that those who got ashore first
hurried back to the ship with a boat-load of grass which they knew
would prove welcome. To enhance the pleasure of her arrival the
Centurion was able to welcome the little Trial who made the island
the same day. To the Commodore's enquiry Captain Saunders
returned answer that of his 80 men the half had perished, and
himself and four others alone were able to stand. [June, 1741.]
* Defoe places Robinson Crusoe's isle on the other side of America near the
mouth ofthe Orinoco.
M

i62 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
The safe arrival of the Trial led the Commodore to hope that
ere long the remainder of his squadron might also find the island.
There were of course exceUent reasons why the Severn, the Pearl
and the Wager should not do so ; but Anson knew no more of
their movements than he did of Pizarro's. He was stiU by no
means free from anxiety about the Spaniards. It was well known
that the Pacific merchantmen avoided Juan P'ernandez as the
haunt of Buccaneers, yet the remains of camp-fires and other
relics pointed to a recent visitation. It would be unpleasant to
be caught at such a moraent, when it was irapossible to man the
guns or navigate the ships.
Pending further arrivals, all were fully occupied in moving the
sick ashore. Most of the patients were so ill that there was
nothing to be done but to lower them to the boats as they lay
in their hammocks. Even so many died from mere discomfort.
The task was difficult because strong arms were few : its accom
plishment gives an insight into that influence which it is weU
known that Anson exerted over his sailors. He not only com
manded his officers one and all to assist in the work, but himself
cheerfully took a part as sick attendant and lavished upon his
men a tenderness which they repaid with idolatry. The larderers
were disappointed at the number of goats brought in, but received
several of those which Robinson Crusoe had caught and released
with distinguishing ear-slits ; one of them, an animal of most
venerable aspect, with an exceeding majestic beard. Seals and
sea-lions proved plentiful, and added variety to the menu in which
they figured as mutton and beef
On 2 ist June the look-outs discovered a sail on the horizon ;
but the mist cut her off, and nothing more was seen of her tUl the
26th when she was recognized as the Gloucester. Anson, guess
ing the cause of her tardy approach, sent a boat laden with water
and provisions. The new-comer was in a far more desperate
plight than the Centurion had been. Two-thirds of her crew
were already dead, and of the survivors not a soul could stand
except the officers. Even when she had received help the
Gloucester could not reach the haven ; and the wind proving
contrary, instead of making headway drifted farther out to sea.
On 9th July, nineteen days after her first appearance, she dis
appeared altogether, and the anxious watchers on the beach gave

ANSON 163
her up as lost. A week later she appeared again, and making
signals of distress received from the sympathetic Commodore the
last of his precious boats with a freight of wUling but rather weak-
kneed helpers. Finally, on the 23rd July, more than a month
after her first appearance, the poor plague-stricken vessel reached
the anchorage. It is difficult to imagine any torture more
heart-wrenching than this vain effort to reach a coveted and
visible haven.
Every endeavour was now made for the general recovery of
health. Though there was much that wanted doing in the ships,
free permission to camp where they liked was given to the men ;
and just as the island flesh-pots began to pall, one of the
victuallers reached the anchorage with welcome stores of bread
and biscuit.
As soon as they recovered, the invalids came briskly back to
work, but they were a tragic little band. Ofthe 961 men who
had left England, no less than 626 had been called to their last
account. No one could censure Anson if he hastened to carry
home the sorry remnants of his fruitless expedition. But the
Commodore knew not what it was to flinch.
By September the last traces of disease had disappeared, and
under the genial smile and cheery encouragement of their leader
the men were ready for anything. Opportunely a sail appeared,
and the Centurion, feebly manned as she was, gave chase. The
quarry escaped, but the Centurion discovered a second and made
an easy capture. The Nuestra Senora del Monte Carmelo had a
cargo of cloth, some trunks of wrought plate, and twenty-three
chests of silver each weighing 200 pounds. Her people, aston
ished at the kindly entertainment of their captors, regaled the
Commodore with news of interest. They told him of Pizarro's
misadventure : they told him how a second squadron, equipped at
Lima, had stretched between Concepcion and Juan Fernandez
with intent to intercept him, and from the latter place had only
been recalled as recently as 6th June. As he listened Anson
realized the meaning of the camp-fires he had found, and as he
remembered how he had reached the latitude of the island on
28th May only to embark on an involuntary journey to the
mainland, he blessed heaven for a miraculous deliverance. When
he enquired the reason for the recall of the sentries, he learned

i64 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
that the Spaniards, convinced of his destruction, had laid up their
warships and removed their embargo on Pacific shipping. Once
more the gaUeons pUed from port to port with chUdlike faith in
their security.
AU this was like new blood to the Commodore, and he ordered
his little fleet to disperse in search of prey.
The Centurion hunted in company with her prize which Anson
put under the charge of Lieutenant PhUip Saumarez. After a
whUe they sighted two sails which on closer acquaintance proved
to be the Trial, proud as a bantam, with the Arranzazu in
shackles at her side. The Spaniards incredulous that such a
tiny craft could ever have weathered the Horn, had yet sur
rendered to her snappy little ordnance. But the Trial had
fought her last fight. She had sprung her mainmast and her
foremast ; and Anson ordered Captain Saunders to scuttle her,
and man the Arranzazu, re-named the Trial' s prize, out of which
he had obtained ;^5,ooo. The three ships now saUed in com
pany northwards to pick up the Gloucester. On the way the
Centurion swooped down on the Santa Teresa de Jesus which
was found to contain a valuable cargo but little plate. The
Gloucester had been ordered to take a position somewhere between
Lima and Panama, whUe the others cruised between Lima and
Valparaiso. As the augmented squadron approached the neigh
bourhood of Payta they sighted another prize which Lieutenant
Brett captured almost single-handed in the Centurion's barge.
She was deep-laden with steel, iron, wax, pepper, cedar-planks,
snuff, rosaries, European bale-goods, powder-blue, cinnamon and
Romish indulgences. From this universal provider Anson
learned that Payta was weU worth a visit, and he determined the
same evening to deliver an attack. [November, 1741.]
Payta was little more than an assemblage of leaf-thatched
bungalows in a barren and dry land where no rain ever fell. It
had, however, a useful anchorage ; and to the Spaniards engaged
in the long journey from Lima to Panama it seemed worth while
to establish there a base of supplies and a fort of eight guns to
protect them. By a promise to release his prisoners in the event
of success, Anson obtained two trusty guides. He then selected
a little band of sixty men with Lieutenant Brett to command
them, and sent them ashore under cover of darkness.

ANSON 165
The alarm was quickly raised, but as quickly the invaders
changed their manner of approach. With one accord they
shrieked and screamed at the top of their voices, and the hideous
hubbub was further intensified by the roll of drums which cer
tain thoughtful members of the party had brought with them.
The host of Midian was not more surprised than the sleepy in
habitants of Payta. As they turned out of bed and raced for the
open without waiting even to dress themselves, they assured each
other that the countrymen of Drake, thousands in number, were
coming to eat them up. At the Governor's house some brave
men made a show of resistance, but it was quickly overcome ;
and the holders of the fort early discovered discretion to be the
better part of valour. Moving at will in an abandoned town,
Brett transferred the entire treasure from the Customs House and
public buildings into the fort, while his men amused themselves
by raiding the houses for the neglected finery of the half-clad
citizens. When Anson arrived in the harbour at seven o'clock in the
morning, Brett rowed out to meet him in a boat ballasted with
dollars and decorated with church plate. For the next two days
the Englishmen were engaged in removing all that was valuable
and serviceable from Payta to the fleet ; while the enemy mustered
their forces on the hills snarling angrUy when they discovered the
ridiculously insigniflcant force that had turned them out of hearth
and home. Though many of his prisoners were unwilling to
leave him, Anson had them all conveyed to a place of safety ; and
then instructed Brett to anoint all but the churches with a devilish
mixture of resin and tar. When this was done, fire was set to
the windward houses ; and with ships replenished in every par
ticular the Commodore departed on further quests, while the
enemies of his country stood forlornly gazing at a smouldering
heap of ashes.
Shortly afterwards the Centurion came up with the Gloucester.
She also had spent her time wisely and captured two small prizes.
The first declared specie to the value of ;^7,ooo ; the second was
more modest and declared a cargo of cotton. As, however, the
crew were engaged in eating pigeon-pie out of silver dishes, their
remarks were not received in a spirit of trust, and a search among
the cotton resulted in the discovery of _;£ 12,000 more.

i66 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
The richest and most valuable prize the world afforded in 1741
was the Acapulco galleon.
The Spaniards in the PhiUppines collected in the town of
ManUa aU those commodities which were most acceptable to
Spain in the bazaiars of India and the seaports of China ; spices
of course, but sUk goods especially, sUk stockings [about 50,000
pairs per annum], calicoes and chintzes, porcelain, filigree, and
other choice productions of the metal-worker. The ship that
bore this priceless cargo was often as large and well-armed as an
English first-rate. She carried on board a general who wore the
standard of Spain at the main-topgallant masthead ; she carried
also a formidable company, sometimes as many as 1,200 men,
seldom less than half that number. She left Manila in July, and
worked her way northwards into the region of the Westerlies.
The voyage was a long one, but the galleon generally arrived at
Acapulco in the middle of January.* About middle-March, when
her cargo was landed and had undergone inspection, a twin
galleon laden with money set out on the return voyage and flew
back to Manila before- the end of June on the wings of the
easterly Trades. On the voyage from Acapulco the vessel
mounted all her guns : on the way to Mexico a bulky cargo
partially disarmed her. Westward bound the galleon was doubly
worth capturing and doubly difficult to capture.
[1742.] Anson leaving Payta in Noveraber watered at Quibo in
December and regaled his men with a diet of turtle, which proved
plentiful and easy to catch. On resuming the journey bad weather
was encountered, and the latitude of Acapulco was not reached
until the end of January. At first it was thought that the treasure-
seekers had arrived in the nick of time; but after chasing a
prairie fire for a whole night, they discovered that the ship was
out in her bearing ; and when in February the harbour was made,
it was of course discovered that the galleon was safely ensconced.
From nigger-boys they learned the ordered regularity of the Trans-
Pacific trade, hitherto unknown to them, and lay in ambush for
" Acapulco has a splendid harbour, qiiite the best on the Pacific coast of
Mexico, but the place is dreadfully unhealthy. It was practically deserted
save for the brief period when the galleon was unlading. Then the merchants
crowded in from every part of Spanish America to buy up the oriental im
ports.

ANSON 167
the vis-a-vis. But a tedious wait convinced them that their
presence was betrayed and an erabargo set upon the treasure-ship.
There was nothing to be gained by further delay, and as water
was running out Anson sailed to Chequetan. Here he laid in
fresh supplies, and fetched a resolve to cross the Pacific and way
lay the galleon on the farther side. Because the weather of the
China Seas demanded the services of every man, and because his
company was sufficiently reduced, Anson scuttled all the prizes,
and with the Centurion and Gloucester only set sail at once for the
Canton River, there to refurbish and plan his ambuscade. [May,
1742.] The accepted rule of the time instructed the seafarer to cross
the Pacific along the thirteenth or fourteenth parallel in order to
secure the full benefit of the Trades. Pinning his faith to this
misleading theory Anson fought his way into a region of calms,*
which kept him prisoner for seven weeks. This was a serious
mischance, for the ships were too crazy for a protracted voyage,
and once again the scurvy appeared and filled their cup of misery
to the brim. The Gloucester was the first to drag. Her mainmast
went by the board, and the Centurion stood by and helped her to
rig up a jury. More precious time was lost. At last so tired grew
the weary ship that the Centurion had to tow her. Then the storm
arose and parted them. When at length it flattened the Gloucester
was at her last gasp. Her masts were past repair ; there were
seven feet of water in her hold ; and her sickly company were not
in a position to man the pumps. Under the circumstances there
was no choice, and Anson gave orders to remove from the doomed
ship all that the Centurion could carry, and set the hulk afire.
Of the eight ships that had left England two years before there
now remained the Centurion alone ; and she was so leaky that
she had to be coaxed to float, so pestilence-haunted that those
who had health enough to think imagined themselves in the throes
of a hideous nightmare.
Towards the end of August the wished-for land rose green
through the haze, and the Centurion brought up within hail of
those thievish islands in which Magellan had died, and which his
* During the northern summer the Trade wind belt shifts to the north of
the fourteenth parallel.

i68

SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

mariners had christened the Ladrones. Off Tinian Ulysses and
his much-tried comrades found a Spanish barque. Her captain
declared that he was engaged in jerking meat for the garrison at
Guam, the largest island in the group, and that selected by the
Acapulco gaUeon as her first port of call. The barque was an
nexed, and her crew safely bestowed.
Tinian was found to be uninhabited ; to bear abundantly oranges,
lemons, limes and breadfruit ; and to be lavishly endowed with
fountains at which all manner of cattle quenched their thirst.
The scurvy patients numbered the horrifying total of 1 28. Twenty-
two died the moment they were moved ; but the rest were safely

BORNEO

THE PHILIPPINES AND LADRONES
carried to the isle of rest, and it was astonishing to see how
rapidly they mended. Anson insisted on bearing his full share
in the hospital work ; but when all his children were cared for,
quite overcome at last, the gaUant Commodore himself gave out
A tent was erected for him, and he was soon by loving attentions
nursed back to health.
MeanwhUe Saumarez took command of the handful who stiff re
tained sufficient strength to reef and furl. At the Commodore's
direction the anchor tackle was strengthened and the yards
lowered ; for the time of the equinoctial gales drew nigh, and the
good ship swung in an open roadstead.

ANSON 169
Unfortunately this admirable foresight was insufficient to save
the Centurion from pursuing furies. The hurricane rose on a
•pitchy night ; the sea boiled with rage, tossed the long-boat, which
was moored astern, against the Commodore's gallery, and dashed
it to splinters against the taffrail. No boat could live in such a
sea ; and when the bewUdered mariners fired guns to warn those
on shore of the peril, their bright flashes paled before the light
ning, and before the thunder their voices were mute. The bow
anchors parted ; and though the sheet anchor was shot out with
all speed, the ship glided swiftly over unfathomable depths.
When the party on shore were able in the light of morning to
survey the aspect of the sea, no Centurion was to be found. She
was gone ; " to the bottom," some said, but the Commodore said
no, she had parted her cables. Would she return ? they asked
him. Of course she would, he replied, though she would probably
make her way to China, and keep them waiting while she refitted.
In a moment of unbearable suspense, he rose as always to the
occasion, and never for a moment lost his outward composure.
He behaved to all his men like an elder brother ; calmed their
fears, kept them amused, and insisted that the Spanish barque
should be sawn in two and lengthened, so that they could get to
China on their own account if the Centurion loitered over long
upon her way. Inwardly he felt an unshakable conviction that
the last of his squadron was underneath the waves, and the little
band about hira incarcerated in a sea-girt prison where the English
never came. Even if the Centurion reached a friendly port, ob
tained what she required, and came again to them, she was
unlikely to return before the Spaniards on Guam arrived to look
for their furnisher of meat. After that — the galleys I
The weeks crept by ; one week, two, three, and still the Com
modore, axe in hand, worked like a Trojan at the barge, as if she
really could carry them all to China. He put his own spirit into
every worker, though as a concession he allowed one or two of
the belated invalids to keep watch for the ship upon the heights.
At last upon a red-letter day in mid-October, perhaps the happiest
day in all the cruise, one of the watchers broke through the fern
trees, and panting with excitement, exhausted with sheer eager
ness, gasped out, " The Ship 1 — the Ship ! " A frenzy seized the
party. They leapt and shrieked. They shouted in ecstasy.

170 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Even Anson for the first tirae on record lost his self-control, and
hurhng his axe at the nearest inanimate object, cried for very joy.
And when they got him on board, what cheers they gave ! cheers
for home, and cheers for England, and three times three for the
heart of gold who enslaved their wiUs and led them round the
world. About the middle of November [1742] the Centurion&mYtd.
at the Portuguese settiement of Macao at the mouth of the Canton
River. Here the weather-beaten travellers found themselves in
the midst of friends, and received among other items of news the
glad tidings that the Severn and the Pearl had won home at last,
and not gone down off the Horn. The Commodore sent Captain
Saunders in a Swedish .ship to carry despatches to England, and
other officers avaUed themselves of permission to accompany him.
The friendly Portuguese were not as helpful as they desired to be.
They purchased their own supplies from the Chinese, and could
only advise the Commodore to do the same. Fruitless interviews
with dilatory mandarins resulted, and though Anson bridled his
temper and did his best to spur the authorities, it was not tiU
April, 1743, that the Centurion was careened, overhauled, refitted
and reprovisioned.
[1743.] Delay and difficulty would have been indefinitely pro
longed had his hosts been aware that Anson intended to capture
the galleon before he left the Pacific. Their interest in her safety
was second only to that of Spain. But the Commodore announced
his intention of sailing for Batavia en route for England. The
dwellers in Canton and Macao never for a moment doubted that
so sorely tried a mariner would naturally desire to return home.
Anson saUed from China unsuspected. He had on board all
manner of communications for Europe, but he made at once for
the hunting ground, and announced his purpose to the wide-eyed
company, who in spite of sundry additions made at Macao,
numbered only 227, many of them boys. There were not wanting
those who felt convinced that the Acapulco galleon was far too
strong a ship to be approached in their present condition ; but
Anson was in his element combating a difficult situation. He
chaffed the discontented and rallied the downhearted. It was
true, he admitted, that according to the stories the galleon was

ANSON 171
so strongly built that a broadside rebounded from her side ;
but he would prove such stories false. He would reserve his fire
until he was within pistol-shot ; and then his cannonade would
crash through both the galleon's sides, instead of rolling harmlessly
off one. By these and similar arts he restored confidence, and so
thoroughly satisfied were all that, in the coming contest, victory
would immediately declare itself, that when Anson on one oc
casion enquired what had become of the sheep he had purchased
in Macao, his servant was obliged to remind him that the mutton
was being saved for the night the Spanish general dined on board.
The Acapulco galleon touched at no port of call after leaving
Mexico until she came to Guam in the Ladrones. Here she took
in supplies of wood, water and other provisions, and ran to Cape
Espiritu Santo in Saraar of the Philippines. Here by a system
of fire signals she was warned whether or no the coast was clear.
Anson resolved to take up his station off Cape Espiritu Santo,
sufficiently removed from land to disappoint the spies. Arriving
off the headland on the last day of May he at once took in his
topgallants, edged away frora shore and waited. Meantime he
paid special attention to an exercise which throughout the cruise
he had never neglected. Unceasingly he had his men at quarters
and worked the guns. He made a speciality too of small-arm
practice, hanging a target at the yard-arm and offering rewards
for the most successful marksmanship.
On the last day of June the Nuestra Senora de Cavadonga
appeared, and the Centurion cleared for action. As she had not
sufficient nurabers adequately to raan the guns, Anson allotted
two borabardiers to each for loading purposes, and subdivided
the remainder of the crew into gangs of ten, whose business it was
to go from gun to gun, and running them out, to fire them. The
use of broadsides was precluded ; but Anson did not regret this,
for the Spaniards had acquired a habit of throwing themselves
flat on the decks when exposed to periodic fire, putting in their
own mischief between-whiles ; the unceasing annoyance of an
intermittent cannonade promised to upset their dainty habits. Any
fear that the Senora might make a run for it was soon dispelled
when " she buttoned up her head-dress " and hove to awaiting
her antagonist. Seeing this Anson selected thirty of his prize
musketeers, put them in his tops, and issued his final orders.

172 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
When the battle began the Centurion, choosing the leeward
station to prevent her adversary's escape, shot past her, and lay
on the Cavadonga' s bow. This position proved singularly effective,
for the Spaniards could only bring a small number of their guns to
bear, while the width of the English ports enabled the gunners
to train their pieces at the requisite angle. The topmen were the
first to distinguish themselves, for their unerring aim soon emptied
the enemy's tops, and then made the Senora' s quarter-deck unin
habitable. Early in the fight a fire breaking out in the Spanish
hammock nets created some confusion in their ranks ; but the
flames were at last got under — much to Anson's relief !
The SeTwra mounted some 64 guns and counted on the help
of a company that outnumbered the Centurion s raen by more than
two to one ; but mortality was heavy among them, and the waverers
needed the example of Captain Montero and his gallant officers.
Every one, however, who set foot on the Spanish quarter-deck was
instantly killed or wounded from Anson's tops ; and when the
Centurion worked her way alongside and plied her foe with grape,
the carnage grew appalling, and the Spanish flag came down. The
Centurion, thanks to her perfect handling, lost but twenty men, of
whom but two were killed.
As Anson received the congratulations of his officers, one of his
lieutenants whispered in his ear that his own ship was ablaze, and
the fire was near to the powder magazine. The Commodore re
ceived the news with a placidity which suggested that the com
munication had reference to the mutton, or some topic even less
interesting. He picked out his coolest hands, gave them clear
and rapid instructions in a collected undertone, and the fire was
mastered. The gaUeon being taken, the next task was to secure the plunder
and the prisoners. Both were removed to the Centurion, where
the Commodore would have them under his own eye. Lieutenant
Saumarez was promoted to the command of the prize. The
treasure amounted to 1,313,843 doUars, and 35,682 ounces of
virgin silver. Anson himself reckoned that during the course of
his journey he had despoUed his enemies of no less than a million
pounds sterling, not counting the loss sustained in the tragic end
of Pizarro's squadron. Of this neariy half was safely in his
keeping.

ANSON 173
The prisoners as they came aboard and learned for the first
time the insignificant numbers of the enemy, showed a dangerous
spirit, and obliged Anson to adopt measures repugnant to his
humanity. With the exception of the officers all the Spaniards
were stowed away in the hold. To make security doubly sure, the
hatchways that led upwards to the lower deck were temporarily
elongated to the upper deck by a wooden funnel which conveyed
the fresh air downwards, but offered a peculiar difficulty to any
would-be climber. Lest any, however, should dream of an ascent,
at the raouth of each funnel four swivel guns were ready loaded ;
and a sentry mounted guard to fire thera at a moment's notice.
Every man went armed, and so great was the peril that none of the
officers undressed on turning in. The reader will not be surprised
to hear that Anson gave up his own cabin to the wounded Spanish
commander, nor perhaps that he stationed a sentry outside the
door. It wiU easily be understood that a residence in the hold was
something lacking in the niceties of hygiene. The raarvel is that
any of the unfortunate prisoners lived in its foetid atmosphere.
It was remarked when at last they were released that they had
certainly " suffered a sea-change," and looked more like skeletons
than men of flesh and blood.
The Centurion entered the Canton River for the second time
towards the end of July. Her reception was not cordial. The
Chinese were put in an awkward position. Here was a ship, mani
festly in good fighting trim, and her hold was full of Spaniards with
whom the Celestials did much trade. It was dangerous to offend
Anson by refusing his demands ; to satisfy them would alienate
the best of customers. Furthermore, there was much to arouse
their suspicions in this new variety of foreign devil. Why had he
not gone home according to declared intention? How had he
captured all these prisoners with his ridiculous handful of men ?
If he had really conquered them, why had he not put them all to
death ? Why had he omitted so obvious a detail ? As a pre
liminary to further negotiations, they demanded the release of their
commercial allies. Anson very gladly acceded to their wishes, and
thereby delivered himself of an intolerable burden ; but he made
demur, and feigned regret, making his acquiescence an argument
for the instant satisfaction of his claims, The mandarins nodded,
and departing forgot their promises,

174 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
At last the question of supplies became vital, and when eight
weeks had passed, and as many embassies had gone ashore in
vain, Anson handed the command of his ship to " Payta " Brett,* and
himself braved the perils of a journey to Canton. The Viceroy of
course was not at home ; but in a convenient moment Canton
burst into flames, and [in spite of the idols brought out to subdue
them] was in danger of total destruction. Anson called in the
handy raan, and by the ease with which he mastered the fire
proved his Celestial origin. The grateful Viceroy then emerging
assured the Commodore that even the fire brought a blessing in
its train, for it had acquainted him of the Centurion s arrival in
port, a fact of which tUl that very moment he had not the shadow
iest intimation [!]
The necessary orders were at length given. The prize was
sold for a meagre 6,000 dollars to the merchants of Macao. The
Centurion raised anchor at the end of the year, spent a pleasant
Easter at Cape Town, and dropped anchor at Spithead on 15th
June, 1744, after an absence of nearly four years.
Anson's voyage round the world lacks the originality that
distinguished Drake's. Though it added to British knowledge
of the Pacific, it produced no startling geographical discovery. In
martial glory it has been surpassed. In store of glittering prize
it must yield precedence to the pUlage of Elizabethan days. Yet
it remains, and will remain, without an equal in the annals of the
sea. Heroism, pluck, endurance, perseverance, seem but soiled
labels for the virtues that Anson carried. In the blackest depths
of adversity he never for one moment abandoned the hope of
accomplishing his purpose. So motherly was his compassion
that he felt the death of every man as a personal loss ; but he
turned to the survivors and infused new courage into them by
the intense reality of his faith. In all points he proved himself
a leader who never turned back except to rally the downhearted
* A melancholy interest attaches to this appointment. When Anson reached
home he asked the Admiralty to confirm his grant. The circumnavigator had
done much for national credit, and this was his only request. The Admiralty,
scenting an irregularity, returned an emphatic and blunt refusal ; but at the
same time they sent Anson himself his commission as Rear-Admiral of the
Blue. Without a moment's delay the great man sent it back.

ANSON 175
with kind encouragement, or console the dying with tender
ministrations. Through peril, storm and pestilence onward he
went, unbaffled, unruffled, undismayed.
The mischief done to the Spaniards was considerable ; but even
if Payta had not been sacked, even if the Cavadonga and her
sisters had never been taken, the expedition could not fail to
prove of incomparable worth. The length of the voyage, the
diversity of the accidents, the privations endured and the work
accomplished, provided a school of seamanship without example.
Never perhaps has similar venture produced such a shining
galaxy of stars. Saunders and Saumarez, Byron, Brett, Keppel,
Hyde Parker, Denis and Campbell all worked their way to the
very top of their profession. They wrought for England noble
deeds and won illustrious fame.
On his return home Anson found his country involved in new
difficulties. France had joined Spain in opposition to her old
enemy, and in the first great encounter on the sea England had
suffered an inglorious setback at the hands of the allies [below
pp. 195-202]. This unforeseen occurrence led to a change of
government, and the new ministry not only advanced Anson to be
Rear-Admiral of the White, but invited him to take a seat at the
Board of Admiralty.*
From this point onwards Anson becomes not so much one of
the principal actors in the piece, as stage, business and acting
manager. Occasionally he comes forward as in the First Battle
of Finisterre to show how things should be done ; but for the
most part his voice is seldom heard, though almost everything
depends on him, and though to him belongs so much of the
credit for loudly applauded performances.
The first year of Anson's tenure of office was one of universal
gloom and despondency — " Black Friday " year, the year of
Fontenoy and Prestonpans. From one quarter only carae a
gleam of light, which beckoned EngKshmen to their true destiny.
In 1745 the gate ofthe St. Lawrence was forced by the Araerican
colonists. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the drawbridge and
* Compare with this the blundering action of the discredited ministry,
p. 174 note.

176 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
barbican, had been ceded at the Peace of Utrecht; but Cape
Breton Isle stiU blocked the way like a portcuUis, and Louisburg
was its key. The New Englanders captured Louisburg, and the
door of Canada flew open. This success was largely due to
Captain Warren [1703-52], a close friend of Anson, with whom he
had served upon the American station in the years preceding the
outbreak of war. Horace Walpole says of AVarren that he " was
as rich as Anson, and as absurd as Vernon ; " the latter remark
meaning that Warren did not hesitate to attack that neglect of
the Navy for which the father of Horace must be held responsible.
THE FIRST BATTLE OF FINISTERRE
May 3, 1747
The capture of Louisburg was a serious disaster for France,
and the national determination to recapture the place is intelligible
enough when it is remembered that England had gained no
victory on the sea as she had done in previous wars. In 1747
accordingly a squadron was fitted out, and put under the command
of Admiral de la Jonquiere. Reinforcements for East Indian seas,
under Captain de St. George, were also in preparation, and it was
arranged that the two squadrons should bear one another company
as far as Cape St. Vincent. The armada, thirty-eight vessels in
all, comprised nine battleships, five Indiamen capable of standing
in the line, and a score of transport vessels.
News of these dispositions reaching England, a strong squadron
was coUected and put at the disposal of Anson who hoisted his
fiag in the Prince George, and very naturaUy designated Warren as
his second in command. Peircy Brett went with him, Saumarez
too and Peter Denis, circumnavigators all, and captains courageous
now. The good old ship herself was there ; nor is the list of
notables complete without the name of one who craved for battie
with consuming thirst.
Edward Bosca^Yen [born 17 11], third son of Lord Falmouth,
was destined to earn from the great Earl of Chatham the flattering
encomium : " When I apply to other officers respecting any ex
pedition I may chance to project, they always make difficulties :
you find expedients." Boscawen had been through Vernon's
campaign. He destroyed the fortifications at Porto Bello and

ANSON 177
at Carthagena was well to the front in the assault on the Boca
Chica batteries. On his return he was posted to the Dreadnought,
and though it was not in this ship that he achieved any of his
great exploits, it was from her that he derived the nickname which
clung to him all through life. " Old Dreadnought " was never
taken off his guard, and looked danger straight in the face with
an assurance that becarae proverbial. During his Dreadnought
command he was awakened in the dead of night by the officer
ofthe watch. "There are two large ships, sir, which look Hke
Frenchmen, bearing down upon us. What are we to do ? " " Do ? "
said the Captain, turning out and hurrying on deck in his night
shirt, " do ? damn 'em, fight 'em ! "
Anson had a fleet of fourteen fine ships, a force with which he
might very well hope to annihilate the enemy, if the enemy could
but be found. To lay an ambuscade in the Straits of Dover
would have been easy, for the narrowness of the pass rendered a
meeting almost inevitable. There was no sea-gap off Finisterre.
The man who haS arranged to meet another in a certain crowded
street and has omitted to state the exact particular spot, would
like to retain his self-respect by standing still, and yet is tempted
to rush about on a wild and fruitless search. Anson found him
self in a similar predicament. The enemy might sidle past if he
drew up his forces off the Cape : if he carved them into detach
ments and scattered them, there was little chance of the over
whelming victory which he craved. Happily the perfection of his
instinct led him to introduce a new fighting disposition which
solved the problem before hira, and placed him in the very front
rank of British fleet commanders.
Without interfering with the power of his ships to move in line
ahead or line abreast, he taught them " to regulate themselves
by bearing on some particular point of the compass from one
another." By this means the line at once assumed elastic pro
perties. The ships might be stationed at intervals of two miles
and proceed in skirmishing order without sacrifice of mutual co
operation ; they would still be ready on the moment to move up
into line of battle, those nearer the enemy marking time ; those
more removed making sail.*
*This simple expedient did not exhaust the possibilities of the Line of
Bear'mg. The Manoeuvre proved as fruitful as Sir Isaac Newton's apple.
N

178 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
If it be supposed that the French were advancing from Roche-
fort which bears E.N.E. from Finisterre, then Anson (with his
ships in line abreast at one mUe intervals and bearing from
each other N.N.W. and S.S.E.) had a line thirteen mUes in length
at right angles to La Jonquiere's advance, so that there could " not
remain the least probability for the enemy to pass by undiscovered."
The enemy did not pass by undiscovered. They were sighted,
chased and overtaken. Finding himself outmanoeuvred La Jon
quiere drew up his line of battle as if he meant to fight to the
death. Anson followed suit. But whUe he did so, he noticed
that the Frenchmen shook out their top-gallants. Such a needless
preliminary to a combat a I'outrance roused his suspicions. The
day was already far advanced. The enemy meant to waste the
rest of it in sparring and slip away in the darkness. Without
hesitation Anson hauled down the signal for the line, and ordered a
general chase. He meant to take the French battle-fleet home
with him as he had taken the Cavadonga.
The French fought nobly, putting themselves in front of their
transports who winged their way from the field. One or two of
the Indiamen, whom La Jonquiere had put into his fighting line
had little relish for the fray ; but as they turned to fly Anson des
patched Brett and Saumarez after them, and it need scarcely be
added that these worthies brought them back, and half a dozen
of the transports to boot. Meanwhile Warren in the Devonshire
engaged La Jonquiere's flagship the Serieux, and after a splendid
resistance from the old warrior at last brought down her flag ;
not, however, until La Jonquiere had been badly wounded at a
moment when he ran through the body one of his own men, who
was prematurely hauling down the colours.
The Centurion enjoyed herself immensely and was the first
British vessel in action. Not far behind her came Captain
Boscawen in the Namur. The relentless bull-dog pertinacity
with which he attacked the Lnvincible received universal com
mendation. Captain de St. George met him with a valour little
inferior, and capitulated only when Boscawen's endeavours were
seconded by the admirable exertions of Warren. Boscawen was
badly wounded in the shoulder, but recovered for greater things.
The value of his example may be gauged from a characteristic
utterance of Horace Walpole, who says that this " most obstinate

ANSON 179
member of a most obstinate family " never forgave Anson because
he usurped all the credit for a victory which by right belonged to
himself. The casualties were heavy. The French suffered 700 and the
English about a third of the number. La Jonquiere was too
severely hurt to make a surrender in person. In his place Mon
sieur de St. George came aboard the flagship, and charmed his
enemies by his cheerful bearing in adversity. Stepping forward to
the silent Englishman he bared his head, and delivering his sword
with a low bow he added with whimsical chivalry, " Monsieur,
vous avez vaincu I'invincible et la gloire vous suit ! " Anson had
not only taken the Lnvincible and the Gloire, but his dream had
come true. He had taken the entire French fleet and triumphantly
he carried it home.
With 4,000 prisoners to dispose of Anson found himself more
hardly pressed than on that happy day off Cape Espiritu Santo.
The convoy escaped under shadow of the night ; but the treasure
taken amounted to ,^^300, 000, and being landed at Portsmouth
required no less than twenty waggons to carry it to London. It
was trundled up with much ceremony through the southern
counties, and caused as rauch excitement as a similar scene in the
days of Blake.
The First Battle of Finisterre was very complete and very satis
factory. In Anson's own opinion it was the " best stroke that has
been made upon the French since La Hogue." The stroke was
desperately needed to rehabilitate the naval prowess ofthe country.
The victor received a warm welcome from the delighted King, who
thoroughly appreciated the importance of this victory after the
nightmare that was past. The gallant Admiral was created Baron
Anson of Soberton in the county of Southampton ; his second in
command became Sir Peter Warren, and Boscawen was made
Rear-Admiral of the Blue.
AT THE ADMIRALTY. 1744-1762
From his fight with Monsieur de La Jonquiere Anson returned
to his seat at the Admiralty. His unexampled experience and
transcendent ability marked him out as the very man for the post,
while the uniformity of his success and his immense wealth enabled

i8o SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
him to fill his chair with ease and dignity. In the year after
Finisterre his marriage with the daughter of Lord Chancellor
Hardwicke not only estabUshed a connection which daily ripened
into the most cordial and reciprocal friendship, but assured the
Admiral's position in the Council Chamber. So entirely did he
win the confidence of his superiors that they abandoned to him
the entire direction of the department while he occupied a sub
ordinate position; and in 1751 (three years after the conclusion
of peace) he became First Lord himself.
Coming to the board in 1744 and retaining office till 1762, Lord
Anson served his country for no less than seventeen years in a
way that no other man alive could have done. The occasion,
moreover, was opportune. England was on the verge of that war
[1756-63] which more than any other contributed to make the
British Empire what it is. When the Seven Years' War broke out
Anson had been busy for five years upon a task for which his
genius was peculiarly suited. The Byng catastrophe, for which he
can hardly be held responsible, drove him temporarily from office,
but when Pitt became Prime Minister, Anson was recalled to the
helm, and continued to preside there until the last year of the
war, when the unexampled preparations necessary for the Spanish
campaign sapped the vitality frora a system already undermined
by early hardships.
Anson's close connection with Pitt, and Pitt's dictatorial way
have given rise to a legend which makes the Admiral a mere tool
in the hands of the Great Comraoner. In the strictly literal sense
Anson was a tool, and Pitt knew how to make use of his abilities ;
but it is not necessary to beUeve that Anson was ever guilty of
abdicating his proper functions. Mr. Pitt, with his eagle eye and
fiery oratory, had a terrible way with him. By the vehement
energy of his invective he crushed those who thwarted him, and
on the lips of the most eloquent the retort died unuttered. Who
could venture to quibble with the truth when it was uttered with
the rock-rending thunder of a Danton, and the soul-inspired
patriotism of a Washington !
One day in the Council Chamber Pitt delivered one of his most
eloquent and convincing appeals on a matter relating to the Navy.
Every one was overcorae, convinced that the statements to which
he had listened were as accurate as the proposition that he sup-

ANSON iSi
ported was sagacious. But the captor of Cavadongas was of an
entirely different opinion. Rising therefore he said ; " My Lords,
Mister Secretary is very eloquent, and has stated his own opinion
very plausibly. I am no orator, and all I shaU say is that he knows
nothing at all of what he has been talking about." The quietly
deUvered anti-climax from one whom Pitt trusted implicitly in
naval matters proved as efficacious as the Line of Bearing.
There was indeed good reason why Pitt should extend to Anson
a confidence unusual with hira, for every day saw the inauguration
of some administrative reform based upon the teaching of experi
ence. Think of him in those days of June, 1740, when he
hungered to start and found himself encumbered by a handful of
invalids in place of the army he was expecting. Think of him
when the scurvy seized his expedition and he discovered to his
annoyance some ofthe devilish tricks ofthe victuaUing department.
Think of him again when he struggled across the Pacific striving
all he knew to drag the dying Gloucester along with him. It is
easy then to understand why he organized the Marines for the first
time on a proper and stable basis, bringing them directly under the
control of the Admiralty, and removing them for ever from the
jurisdiction of the military arm : why he instituted annual inspec
tions of the dockyards to check the maladministration which had
for so long rendered these places mere sinks of iniquity : why he
standardized the fittings of vessels so that the various parts of a
warship's mechanism might be similar in every detail as regards
ships of a similar class.
The master who had trained every officer in the Centurion to
such a pitch of excellence that one and all rose to the highest
command was the man of aU others to choose the right com
manders in the most fruitful of England's wars ; and those who
urge that Byng proves an exception to the rule will admit that as
senior officer upon the flag list, it would have been a gratuitous
insult to pass him by.
No part of Anson's organizing work was more important than
the boldness with which he delivered the science of naval warfare
from the stagnation into which it had fallen in the forty years which
intervened between the age of Rooke and the age of Vernon.
The formulation of laws and regulations for the guidance of

i82 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
those coraraanding the force of England on the sea dates back to
the First Dutch War, when the Amphibians wrote down the results
of their experience for the benefit of those who should come after.
Their teaching was codified by the Duke of York before the Battle
of Lowestoft, and reissued after the further experience which the
later Dutch wars provided. The new ideas of the Torrington-
TourvUle epoch were incorporated by Admiral Rooke, whose Per
manent Fighting Lnstructions were still based on what was thought
of enduring value in the lessons of the past.
Unfortunately the long era of peace that followed Rooke's war
gave the Permanent Instructions an endowment of semi-sanctity.
They came to be regarded as unalterable laws.* As a result com-
* If the game of maritime warfare with its intricate battle movements be
compared with the game of chess, to what do the Fighting Instructions cor
respond ? The XXIVth Article of the Permanent Instructions reads as
follows ; —
If any commander be wanting in doing his duty. Ills flag or
the next flag officer to him is immediately to send for the said
commander from his ship and appoint another in his room.
Place beside this the Chess rule which says : —
Should a player at the commencement of the game, omit to
place all his men on the board, he may correct the omission
before playing his fourth move, but not afterwards.
Both appear to have the force of unalterable laws ; but the resemblance is
misleading. Article XXIV should be translated into terms of Chess. Advice
to the player ; there is a positive advantage in sacrificing a useless pa-wn in
order to secure a checkmate.
The Fighting Instructions must not be compared to the Rules of the Game,
but to the Gambits or Openings, methods to secure a victory, obviate a dis
advantage, or frustrate a dangerous attack. They constitute the wisdom of
past players of the game ; wisdom that may be acquired with less incon
venience second-hand than in the painful school of experience ; difficult to
master, no doubt, liable to changes of fashion, but worthy always of respect
and the most assiduous study. The oldest and simplest is good enough to
catch a tyro; while the master-artist will foil the wisest endeavour of a
talented beginner. At Cape Passaro Byng resorted to a primal device of the
most artless nature to sweep the board ; and at Malaga Rooke easily thwarted
the attempt of the Comte de Toulouse to manipulate the subtlest gambit,
"Breaking the line from to leeward." A clever player, beaten by an un
expected opening, will be prepared for it in a second match ; and the re
sourceful commander must do his best to obscure his own movements and throw
his opponent's into confusion by a carefully planned surprise. Nelson's gambit
at the Nile checkmated his foe, but in no wise prepared him for the entirely
new opening at Trafalgar. It is not for every one to discover new moves but

ANSON 183
manders handicapped theraselves by undue deference to sugges
tions of a past age which might or might not be useful under
changed conditions.*
Admiral Vernon, who was brought up in the school of Rooke,
lived to act an important part at the other end of the sterile forty
years, and enjoyed up to the day of his death a reputation for
sea-skill unsurpassed, raust be credited with the first step in the
right direction. Divining as if by instinct the requirements of
the coming campaign, he supplemented the Permanent Lnstruc
tions with further clauses which enhanced their value. His
provident arrangement for bringing the whole fleet or any par
ticular ship into " closer engagement with the enemy than at the
distance we first began to engage," would have saved the situa
tion in the Mediterranean during the woful exhibition which
signalized the beginning of the Austrian Succession. The ill-luck
which dogged the footsteps of Vernon, and denied him the glory
of a great fleet action, narrowed the scope of his initiative.
Anson who had as a young man gone through the Passaro
campaign and witnessed Sir George Byng's disregard of the Line,
showed in the Battle of Finisterre that he had as true an insight
into the requirements of the age as Vernon had. Born under a
luckier star he was able to complete the work which the captor of
Porto BeUo had initiated. Retaining the Permanent Instructions
as of the highest value when properly used, he set by their side
it is always possible to revert suddenly to a gambit which has lain neglected
for nearly a century, as Rodney did at the Battle of the Saints.
If then the Fighting Instructions are accepted as the accumulated wisdom
of the past, and not as standards of morality, they cannot be expected to pro
vide positive answers to the ever-changing needs of the present. The underly
ing principles may be there, but they may require a new interpretation, a new
setting. Those who study Gideon's campaigns, and make a resolve to lay in
a stock of pitchers, torches and trumpets had better change their profession.
Gideon's root principle of surprise stands for all time, but Montrose used white
shirts and a rising moon and Dundonald a score of blackened faces. Albemarle's
plan, to throw his main strength on a part of the enemy's line is as permanent
an asset as "surprise," but the eighteenth century was certain to proffer new
situations which called for original methods of treatment.
* Even less enviable than the case of the commander who regarded the
Fighting Instructions as a fetish, was that of the unfortunate who in the
middle of a game resorted to a new movement which he had not explained
beforehand, and which his living pieces were unable or unwilling to under
stand. See case of Admiral Mathews, vide infra, pp. 195-9.

1 84

SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN

a kindred and coequal code oi Additional Lnstructions, which should
include Vernon's improvements and his own, and any others that
from time to time should estabUsh an equal claim to considera
tion. From this time forward it came to be understood that while
there was excellent reason to regard with respect the contrivances
which had been estabUshed by precedent and tested by experi
ence, there was no desire on the part of the authorities to thwart
initiative, which could always find expression in Additional Instruc
tions to supplement the old. Thus the evU effects of the Peace
period were abolished ; Anson's own victory was seconded by the
glorious deeds of Hawke ; and these in their turn led to those
Additional Instructions which embodied the mighty projects of
Rodney, Howe and Nelson.
The foUowing Ust shows the different classes of ships during
the Dutch wars. Save for a certain increase of tonnage in the
higher rates, they had hardly changed when Anson came to the
Admiralty in 1744 : —

Guns.

Approximate Tonnage.

First rate

100

Over 1,500

Second rate .

90

1,000-1,500

Third rate

80, 70

750-1,000

Fourth rate .

60, 50

350-750

Fifth rate

40

200-350

Sixth rate

20

200 and under

There is no true classification here any more than there is in a
staircase. The sixth step is higher than the first : the First rate is

ANSON

185

six degrees higher than the Sixth rate. It is true that only the
first four rates could stand in the line; that the first two only
were three-deckers and the last two acted as cruisers. But such
endeavours to group are upset by the discovery that after the Battle
of Toulon [1744] the 50 was discarded from the line while the 60
was retained ; and that while the Sixth rate followed the model
of the early frigate, the Fifth rate was a two-decker like the
Fourth. It was to Anson's brain that the warships owed an intelligible
classification. He re-organized and systematized the Rates and
improved the building. His law of order prevailed throughout
the classic days of the British Navy.

Guns.

Approximate Tonnage.

CO
1

First rate

IOO and over

2,500

Second rate .
90
1,800
Third rate ' .
74> 64
1,500-1,800
•0
tn13
0
Fourth rate
(60), 50
1,000
Fifth rate
36,32
750
bo ti
Sixth rate
28,24
500 and under
The appearance of the schedule is not so symmetrical, but it
is twice as instructive. There is an essential distinction drawn
between the battleship and the cruiser; the first three rates only
being accounted worthy to occupy a place in the Une. Of these
the Third rate forras the staple, while the superior rates act as
flagships, or serve to stiffen the line of less expensive ships.-]- The
* For the construction of a Third rate about 2000 oak-trees were required.
t In 1744 a First-rate would cost about £40,000 and a Third rate (70)
;^25,ooo. Compare with these prices the cost of the Dreadnought [igo6J,
£1.797.497-
i86 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Fifth rate supplies an entirely new type, the normal and perfect
development of the frigate, single-decked, built for speed, and in
every way superior to the cumbersome old ship of corresponding
rate. The Fourth rates (especially the so's) are retained as flag
ships for a squadron of frigates, and the Sixth class fall into line
below the 32's and serve them as the 64's the 74's. When the
great war broke out in 1793 there were 239 ships of all rates.
Of these there were five First rates and ninety-two Third rates,
twelve Fourth rates, seventy-nine Fifth rates, and thirty-five Sixth
rates.* It was whUe Anson laboured with his multifarious reforms that
the building of the present Admiralty was completed by the
erection of the Colonnade or Screen, whereon the Two-Power
Standard is pleasantly anticipated by bas-reliefs in which the
infant Hercules wrestles with a pair of dolphins. Even more
striking as a work of art was the first naval uniform which in
1748 was made compulsory for all officers from Admiral to
Midshipman. The manner in which it was called into being
has aroused some controversy, but the following version has
much to be said for it.
Anson, who was not himself a great authority on dress, appealed
to his old Centurion friends to rig themselves out in costumes
that they considered appropriate and submit themselves for in
spection. Philip Saumarez, who was all along a favourite in the
competition, contrived the successful design.
The task of popularizing the new uniform was then dexterously
performed by Diana, Duchess of Bedford, granddaughter of the
great John ChurchiU, Duke of Marlborough, and wife of the then
First Lord. She ordered a new riding habit in the Saumarez
mode and colour, and rode out in the Mall, where she entered
into conversation with King George. His Majesty was pleased to
admire Her Grace's taste, commended the colours, and probably
recalled that the Duke had already spoken to him about a naval
uniform. Thus the Navy went into blue and white, and has stayed there
ever since, howbeit with changes of cut.
* At the Battle of the Saints Rodney had thirty-seven ships of the line :
thirty-two were Third rates.

ANSON 187
The portrait of Lord Anson by Sir Joshua Reynolds shows him
clad in the uniform as finally adopted. Here he is seen resting
one hand delicately upon the fluke of an anchor. This property
and a ship (possibly the Centurion) in the distance lend a nautical
air which is falsified by the spreading tree under which the
Adrairal takes his stand. To avoid the disarrangement of his
nicely powdered wig he carries under his arm his three-cornered
chapeau bras garnished with gold lace round the brim. The
waistcoat, one of the all-sufficient vestments of the hour, descend
ing to the knee, is made of white cashmere set off by vast pockets
trimmed with blue. The sleeves, purposely made long, terminate
at the wrist in a " filmy froth " of mousquetaire lace. Of mousque-
taire also is the cravat, which methodical Anson has tucked into
his waistcoat to be out of the way. The outer coat is of thick
blue cloth, with sleeves cut short to show the waistcoat sleeves
below, and skirts outrageously flaunting. The cuff's are of generous
dimensions of white material to match the vest, and trimmed, as
also the frontage of the coat, with wondrous and manifold lapels.
If the portrait were but full-length, there would doubtless be seen
the white stockings pulled up into a roll above the knee, and shoes
with neat red heels.
There was no more grogram in the navy after 1 748, and (it
may be added) no more fancy rigs of Captain Whiflfle's designing.
Anson's mastery of detail amazed his contemporaries. On his
voyage round the world he noted in his book the names of all
his prisoners and the dispositions he made for their comfort.
With unwearied patience he accounted for every spar and every
rope. And while he made himself acquainted with the tiniest
minutise, the greatness of the catastrophes which warred against
him, kept his outlook broad and his energies all-embracing. No
other training could have equipped him so excellently for the
administrative work which followed. Famous alike as navigator,
explorer, admiral and statesman, Anson was the despair of the
spectator and the tatler. He hated dances and routs ; he
shunned society ; could not be lured into conversation ; never
made speeches, save in the Council Chamber ; never wrote letters,
except on business: in short "had been round the world, but
never in it." Living without repine laborious days, he preferred
in the evening of his life to listen to music which he passionately

i88 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
loved rather than exchange experiences with Horace Walpole.
Ever piling up against his country a debt which she could never
properly repay, he might well rest content to let his deeds speak
for him to posterity, and smile the old benevolent smile when he
heard himself dismissed with a sneer as "the sUent son-in-law of
the Chancellor."

HAWKE
BORN 1705 — DIED 1 781
England was England, and a gallant brood she bore
When Hawke came swooping from the west. Henry Newbolt
IN the War of the Spanish Succession England had engaged on
behalf of the Austrian candidate. The Archduke Charles
was then the younger son of the Emperor : before the war was over
he had himself assumed the purple as the Emperor Charles VI.
His family had enjoyed good fortune above the common measure.
Starting with a ducal nucleus they had through the centuries
collected one possession after another until their credit and afflu
ence marked them out as the only possible Germanic state capable
of presiding over the heterogeneous agglomeration which was " no
longer Holy, or Roman, or an Empire."
In addition to Austria, Bohemia, Silesia and other German
states the personal possessions of Charles VI included the vast
Kingdom of Hungary, the famous Duchy of Milan, and that apple
of discord, the Netherlands.* Unfortunately the Emperor had no
son to succeed him. At his death the Imperial sceptre must pass
into the hands of one who was not a Hapsburg. This was irre
mediable, and Charles was resigned to it ; but he was resolute
that all his own possessions should retain their individuality and
their indivisibility, and with this end in view he designed that they
should descend entire to his daughter Maria Theresa. Accord
ing to Salic Law the Elector of Bavaria had a better claim, but
the powers of Europe (upon receipt of reasonable concessions !)
voiced their adherence to the Pragmatic Sanction, a document
*For terms of Utrecht, see pp. 113-4 ; for Austrian genpalogy, see p. 8g.
i8g

IQO SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
which disposed of the Austrian heritage according to the Emperor's
desires. Charles's careful arrangements consumed a score of years, and
when their author died in 1740 they were hardly complete. It had
been impossible to persuade the Elector of Bavaria to waive his
claims : but the danger that threatened Maria Theresa was not
a danger that had been foreseen. It is the unexpected that
happens. The year 1 740 brought a new monarch also to the throne of
Prussia, Frederick II, the redoubtable Frederick the Great. As
siduous cultivation of the arts of peace when heir to the Crown
left Europe unprepared for the act which signalized this prince's
accession. His unhappy boyhood and youth, passed in conflict
with an eccentric and villainous-tempered father, had taught him
to practise insincerity, to wear duplicity as a mask, and above all
to rely on himself When his father died he inherited a magnifi
cent army, and when the Emperor died he determined to use it.
Under cover of courtly, almost affectionate messages to the young
Queen of Hungary, he poured an army of 30,000 men into her
rich province of SUesia ; and about the time that Vernon brought
his armada to Carthagena, and Anson dragged his stricken mariners
to Juan Fernandez, he rolled out before him an Austrian army
who dared to dispute his possession.
THE WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
1740-1748
Frederick's unprincipled action set Europe in a blaze. If
Prussia wanted SUesia ; was not Spain itching to recover Milan ?
was not France craving for the Netherlands ? ... or (in the
language of diplomacy) if Frederick were to assert his claims, could
France and Spain stand by and see Bavaria defrauded ? Poor
Maria Theresa ! The vultures gathered round on every side.
Her youth, her beauty, her fearlessness, her energy, her skiU won
applause from the most unruly of her subjects ; but where were
the guarantors of the Sanction ? One, and only one, stood at her
side, George, Elector of Hanover, true German and — ^King of
England. His subjects applauded him ; but England need not
plume herself too complacently upon her chivalry in the young

HAWKE 191
Queen's cause. England was already at war with Spain,* and
Spain had declared for Bavaria.
The Family Compact f had not brought France into direct
antagonism with England in the squabble over Jenkins' Ear ; but
the bond that tied her to Spain threatened a rupture of good
relations. When France took the side of Bavaria in the Austrian
entanglement, the ancient enemies began to scowl at one another.
The Elector of Hanover did his best to unite the states of Germany
against the foreigner, and found his electorate conveniently placed
upon the flank of the French advance towards Vienna. This did
not clear the way for a better understanding, and in 1743 the
French army caught the tiresome Elector in a trap at Dettingen.
George planted himself on his royal feet, mistrusting horses, and
mowed down his enemies with his own royal hands. The French
may be forgiven if they recognized in the victor of Dettingen no
less a person than the King of England. Fencing masks were
thrown away, and in 1 744 the champions of Bavaria and Austria
were definitely at war on their own account.
When England had equipped the expeditions of Vernon and
Anson, she had not forgotten the Mediterranean. She could not
afford to do so, for Spain had not yet forgiven the seizure of
Minorca and the Rock. Admiral Haddock was appointed to the
command. In 1742, as the European outlook grew blacker, rein
forcements were sent to him under Vice-Admiral Lestock. In the
same year Haddock was invalided home, and relegated the com
mand to Lestock until the arrival of his own successor, Admiral
Thomas Mathews.
Lestock was a well-tried warrior. Born in 1679, he had served
in the Barfleur, Shovel's flagship at Malaga, and had been Flag
Captain to Byng (again in the Barfleur) at the Battle of Passaro.
He had served with credit under Vernon in the West Indies, where
he led the attack upon the Boca Chica forts. There was no one
to question his courage ; but in spite of this, and in spite of his
wide experience, he was universally unpopular. He had held an
appointment in the Medway while Mathews was Commissioner at
Chatham, and a divergence of views upon a question of politics
* See p. 134. t See pp. 139 and 154 n.

192 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
had engendered an irreconcUable antagonism between thera.
There were faults of temper on both sides ; but Lestock appears
to have been narrow-minded, jealous and maUciously spiteful.
There was not a soul in the Navy who cared for him, and on being
approached by the Admiralty, Mathews made his own appoint
ment to the Mediterranean contingent on Lestock's recall. The
Admiralty did not take the condition seriously. The event proved
that they would have been wiser if they had done so ; for bitter
was the annoyance of Lestock on hearing that the post which he
hoped to fiU hiraself had devolved upon his own arch-eneray.
The situation that Mathews had to face was no easy one, and
made the estrangement with his second in command all the more
deplorable. He had not only to guard against the possible
junction of the Brest and Toulon fleets, but he had to prevent
the allies from sending soldiers to operate against poor harassed
Maria Theresa in Milan ; and in his character as envoy to the
Court of Sardinia it behoved him to hinder the King from abandon
ing the English cause when inducements to do so were daily
proffered by the Bourbon monarchs of France, Spain and Naples.
Mathews was a good officer. Three years older than Lestock he
had as a youngster taken part in Beachy Head and Barfleur.
Later he had as Captain of the Kent materially assisted in the
capture of the Admiral at Passaro. He would have made an
ideal country squire ; for apart frora his love of sport and his
understanding of crops, he was an enlightened magistrate and a
warm-hearted, open-handed host. He had, however, a most
exalted sense of his own dignity and importance. As Coramander-
in-Chief in the Mediterranean he assumed the port of Jove ; in
terpreted the least affront as mutiny red-handed ; saw offence
where none was intended ; and construed peccadUIoes as atrocities.
The Italians christened him disrespectfully " II Furibundo," and
his demeanour went far to justify the title. When a French ship
off Villafranca refused to do homage to the British flag, Mathews
sank her with a broadside though war was not yet declared. Deter
mining to detach the King of Naples from the Franco-Spanish
alliance, he sent his ships into the Bay with breathless terms.
The King suggested negotiations, whereupon, Mathews' mes
senger pulled out his watch and allowed twenty-four hours' grace
before bombardment. The King was detached and the Nea-

HAWKE 193
politans dreamed uneasily of Blake. When Mathews arrived on
his station in the summer of 1743, the failure of Lestock to send
a frigate of welcome brought from offended majesty a public
reprimand. The conjunction of Mathews and Lestock promised to produce
unusual developments !
It was not till the beginning of 1744 that the Mediterranean
squadron was complete. Among the latest arrivals was the
Berwick, whose captain was destined to win for himself in the
coming fight unfading laurels. Edward Hawke was in 1744
already thirty-nine years of age, and though an accomplished
seaman had up till now seen little fighting. Born in the West
Country, he had lost his father at an early age, and had been
brought up by his mother's brother, Martin Bladen, whose genial
nature awoke an intense affection in his nephew's heart. Bladen
was a Yorkshireman, who had learned the military art in the
school of Marlborough ; won a seat in Parliament as representa
tive of Portsmouth ; held various offices under the Crown ; and
made a translation of Csesar's Commentaries. He did his
utmost to further the interests of his adopted son ; but his in
fluence was not of course very far-reaching. However, he intro
duced his nephew to his Yorkshire friends ; and among them, in
due time, the young officer found the mistress of his heart, who
brought him a rich dowry of beauty, and broad acres of landed
property as well.
Hawke joined the Navy as a volunteer at the age of fifteen,
just as his country was entering the long period of peace. For
the first twenty years of his professional career it was difficult
enough to secure advancement : to achieve glory and distinction
was impossible. His work lay for the most part in West Indian
waters, whose violence taught him that "cautious intrepidity"
which was at a later day to prove so valuable. He served under
Hosier, of unhappy memory,* under Chaloner Ogle, and under
* In his efforts to secure the adherence of Spain to his Pragmatic Sanction,
Charles VI in 1725 agreed to demand from Great Britain the restitution of
Minorca and the Rock, and to threaten her with a Stuart Restoration if she
ventured to object. Walpole replied with a Quadruple Alliance, and sent
Admiral Hosier to the West Indies to threaten the Spanish Colonies. Hosier
was stringently forbidden even to dabble in hostilities ; and the tedious mono
tony of blockading Porto Bello was rendered terrible by an appalling epidemic.
O

194 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Warren, the captor of Louisburg. It was from Ogle that Hawke,
at the age of thirty, received Post rank. Four years later, in the
great year '39, he commissioned the Portland. This crazy vessel
detained her captain at Barbados when he would fain have been
at Porto Bello, but none the less she helped to perfect his sea
manship. The caUous neglect of the naval arm by Walpole
had reduced the dockyards to a state of demoralization which
the patient endeavours of Anson alone could cleanse. So
deplorable was the state of the Portland that her sick-list was
always overcrowded, and her own aUments demanded incessant
attention. There was no part of her anatomy but required com
plete renewal ; and when she was caught in a gale towards the
close of her commission, all three masts incontinently went by
the board. Their stumps, when removed, fell to powder, and
the mainmast offered as much resistance to the prod of a walking
stick as a full-grown pumpkin to a rapier.
In making ready the Berwick, Hawke was faced by similar
difficulties, and in the general decadence of the service found it
The men died in thousands : but still Hosier kept his watch. Walpole was
not oblivious to his claims, but the messenger who brought out the news of
his knighthood found that poor Hosier had died of a broken heart. His
memory is kept green by the celebrated poem called " Admiral Hosier's
Ghost." The scene is laid at Porto Bello, where Admiral Vernon is back on
board the Burford after his gallant capture of the place. To him rises amid
hideous yells and shrieks a troop of horrid ghosts from oozy tombs in dreary
hammocks shrouded. Hosier acts as spokesman.
See these mournful spectres sweeping
Ghastly o'er this hated wave,
Whose wan cheeks are stained with weeping;
They were English Captains brave !
Mark those numbers pale and horrid.
Those were once my sailors bold !
Lo, each hangs his drooping forehead.
While his dismal tale is told.
I by twenty sail attended,
Did this Spanish town affright ;
Nothing then its wealth defended
But my orders not to fight.
For resistance I could fear none,
But with twenty ships had done
What thou, brave and happy Vernon,
Hast achieved with six alone.

HAWKE 195
harder than ever to press a company. His, however, was a spirit
that almost welcomed difficulties as something to overcome ; and
when at last the Berwick joined Admiral Mathews, her company
was second to none in the temper that nerves for the fight.

THE BATTLE OF TOULON
February ii, 1744
AVhen Captain Hawke reached the Mediterranean, Admiral
Mathews was mounting guard off Toulon. A detachment of
Spanish ships, foiled in an endeavour to reach the Milanese, were
here recHning under the Eegis of France. French and Spanish
ships together numbered twenty-eight ; but Admiral Mathews had
an equal number at his disposal, and the commander of the aUies
saw little object in running the gauntlet. As he waited, however,
news carae to him that the Brest fleet had eluded the vigUance
of the British and was making for the Straits if he would meet it
there. Monsieur de Court was no dashing commander. He had
already passed the allotted span of life. He had little hope of
slipping away unnoticed ; but he thought he might well outpace
his opponents, who, long from port, were beginning to be foul
and slow.
Thus it came about that the Franco-Spanish ships put to sea,
and being sighted formed line of battle without feeUng any desire
or call to fight if a contest could be possibly avoided.
The emendation of the rules governing the conduct of a British
fleet in action were not of course by this time introduced. In
fact Anson had not yet returned from his voyage round the world.
There is evidence to prove that Mathews went very carefully
through the Fighting Instructions, but beyond a few verbal
alterations, he saw no reason for change. He elected to fight by
the obsolete code of 1703. This in the end proved insufficient
for his needs ; but he had not the genius that could beforehand
scheme for the overthrow of a fleet equal in strength and eager to
escape. Such a plan was not of course indispensable, if he had
established between himself and his subordinates a cordial bond of
brotherhood and mutual esteem. But he was still unacquainted
with the majority of his captains, and hurled down the gage of

The Battle of Toulon
February ii, 1744
[In the long interval of peace, which elapsed between this battle and
Malaga, the terms Red, White and Blue as applied to squadrons had been
forgotten]

HAWKE 197
battle knowing that he had won the rancorous hatred of his second
in command.On nth February, the day of battle, Monsieur de Court's line
was in excellent forraation, his own ships making up the van and
centre and the Spanish vessels bringing up the rear. Mathews
had had the trouble of finding his adversary ; and though he en
joyed the advantage of the wind, he had not completed his fighting
dispositions. Admiral Rowley in the Barfleur led the van, he
himself in the Namur occupied the centre of the line ; but the
rear squadron under Lestock was some miles to eastward of the
main formation. The Fighting Instructions left no doubt as to
the method of handling a fleet which had the advantage of the
wind. The Line Ahead formation was to be observed until the
ordered array was equal in length to that of the enemy, and
parallel ; the van steering with the enemy's van, the centre with
the enemy's centre, and the rear with his rear. Not till then
would the windward ships run down upon their foes.*
The delay or inability of Lestock to take his proper place
offered Monsieur de Court an honourable retreat. He continued
his progress in line ahead, and looked like getting away. Mathews
realized his country's need of a victory on the sea at the beginning
of a European war, and the more De Court shuffled, and Lestock
tarried, the more annoyed he became. Evidently if he waited
until his own rear came up with that of the enemy the chances of
a battle would be lost. Under circumstances so trying he de
termined to bear down without further delay, and hurl his own van
upon the enemy's centre, and his own centre upon the enemy's
rear. The idea was the inspiration of the moment, but it was not
by any means lacking in sound qualities. It had the undeniable
advantage of surprise. The enemy were evidently nervous, and a
sudden abandonment of ordinary methods would throw them into
confusion in the midst of which he could carry off the victory.
The neglect of the enemy's van gave the French a chance of
doubling a la TourviUe. Yet Mathews may well have thought
that the consternation caused by his novel method would paralyse
the enemy's offensive ; and that Lestock in the wind would act as
a reserve and bear down in support of that part of the battle
* Cp. note, p. 72.

198 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
which needed assistance, long before the hostile van could make
its power felt. Without hauling down the signal for the Line lest
he should mystify those who had adopted the formation, he bore
down to the attack with his centre and van.
A man of Lestock's sterling ability and thrice-tried valour
must have seen at a glance the share in the coming struggle
which Mathews had apportioned to him. But his passionate
hatred for his superior burnt out the good within him, and
tempted him to play the vUlain's part. The Admiral had digged
a pit ; with a little encourageraent he would fall into the midst
of it himself He had hoisted the signal for the Line Ahead.
He should be obeyed to the letter. Who was the Vice-Admiral
that he should venture to criticize ? The Vice-Admiral would do
his best to take up the position which the line assigned to hira.*
If he were successful, he would (it was true) have no one to fight :
but whose fault was that? If he were unsuccessful, the blame would
rest on the Admiral who had been fool-hardy enough to begin the
battle before he was ready to do so. It is a little unfortunate for
Lestock's reputation that he had recently received an intimation
from the Admiralty that in the event of anything happening to
Mathews the command would devolve on himself It is not
a little suspicious that owing to light airs and a most tiresome
inshore current he was unfortunately prevented from arriving in
the useless position, which it was never intended that he should
fill, until the battle was well-nigh over.
Meanwhile in the English centre Mathews in the Namur, nobly
backed up by the Norfolk and the Marlborough, delivered a spirited
attack upon the Spaniards. He fought his own ship as he had done
off Cape Passaro. Placing himself within pistol-shot of the great
* Viz., B->  B- to i'>  b'\

A- b"- IP

HAWKE 199
Spanish flagship he pounded away at her ; and as the action pro
ceeded handled his glass as nonchalantly as a beau at a play, not
a whit disconcerted when a cannon-ball carried away the rail
against which he was leaning. Unhappily, however, the four
ships that brought up the rear of his division proved as shy and
timid as fawns. This was in some raeasure due to the demoraliz
ing effect of the Walpole era which had closed the school of ex
perience for an interminable vacation ; but at least it is fair to
suppose that Lestock's failure to bring or even promise them sup
port converted the merely nervous into vulgar cravens. As a re
sult their chicken-hearted conduct robbed the gallant Marlborough
of her support, and she was sorely smitten by the foe and lost her
captain, Cornewall, a brave heart who might else have done great
things. Ivlathews also felt the lack of support, and began to fear
-that the Spanish flagship would escape him. Determined to
capture her, he resorted to a fire-ship, and detailed the captain
of the Essex to escort her to her place. But the Essex failed
in her duty for the second time. The fire-ship was sunk, and
the Real Felipe saved. In the van of the Spanish division the
Poder (Power), lusty and strong, engaged in combat with more
than one English ship, and held her own with a saucy confidence
that maddened her opponents, who (there is good reason to be
lieve) were not engaging her as hotly as the Admiral's example
demanded. In Admiral Rowley's division' the main interest lay in the
probable attempt on the part of the enemy's van to double. The
French were quite prepared to carry out this manoeuvre, but their
attempt was frustrated by the Stirling Castle, Warwick and
Nassau, who in the most approved style beat to windward with
extended intervals as Tourville's van had done at Cape Barfleur.
This movement may at least in part have been due to a care for
their own safety, but it was undoubtedly the right counter to the
French attack ; howbeit Admiral Rowley with a division of nine
all told was considerably weakened for the offensive. His own
ship, fifth in the line and the ship next astern, fought like Trojans,
but their prowess pales into insignificance beside the record of num
ber seven. Number seven was the Berwick, 70, which to those
who grope their way through the dismal shadows of this shameful
day, suddenly looms out like the sun shining in his strength.

200 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Captain Hawke first laid himself alongside of the Neptune. In
less than an hour he had driven her from the line with her captain
killed and 200 of her company. Here was a start. Next he
singled out the Poder, vainglorious still and boastful, putting
Englishmen to shame. He sought her out, left his station to do
so, and cared not. He laid the devoted Berwick alongside, and
with his first broadside slew twenty-seven raen, and dismounted
several lower-deck guns. In twenty minutes he had shorn away
her standing rigging, and mown down her masts. The Poder
contained brave men as she had already proved, and gamely they
fought, but the English captain was not to be denied. After two
hours' fruitless resistance the end came, and with casualties too
horrible to describe and too numerous to reckon the gallant Poder
struck. Not once nor twice in the combat her late antagonists
invited her to submit, but she waved thera aside ; to the captain
of the Beruiick, and to him alone, would she strike, for here was
a prince of men, not moulded from ordinary clay.
This is how Captain Edward Hawke captured the only prize on
that fateful nth February, and his casualties numbered five!
The battle had reached this point when De Court realizing that
the Spaniards in his rear were being hardly pressed, put his ships
about and returned on the opposite tack to their reUef When
complete his movement would of course bring into action the un-
tired vessels of the allied van. Admiral Mathews had seen his
hopes vanish while the battle was equally engaged ; he had nothing
to hope from its continuance. Deeply mortified by Lestock's
treachery, incensed by the conduct of individual captains, he beat
to windward declining further action : and the battle ended. This
defensive movement unfortunately prevented Hawke from securing
his prize. The approach of the enemy's van and the retreat of
his friends forced him to abandon her, together with the prize crew
whom he had sent on board.
On the following day the enemy, who saw the entire British
fleet outwardly at unity with itself determined to make o-ood the
distance they had gained in the night, and showed a clean pair of
heels. The Poder was too gravely wounded to run, and Mathews
quickly snapped her up. It is worthy of mention as a witness to
his want of tact, that instead of delivering her over to Hawke with
a message of approval, he ordered her to be burnt by the

HAWKE 201
captain of the Essex who had shown the whitest feather of them
all. It is not necessary to congratulate the aUies upon their victory ;
but it cannot be doubted that the honours of the day were theirs.
They had decided to make for the Straits in defiance of the British,
and had carried out their intention. No startling victory had been
gained, no soul-stirring heroism displayed, but it was the business
of Britain to win sea-battles, and the aUies had proved to her that
she could not always do so.
The story of the sea-fight off Toulon does not end with the de
parture of the French. On his arrival at Port Mahon, Admiral
Mathews instantly arrested his second in command for his gross
faUure to succour his country in her need, and this dramatic touch
served as a prelude to a congested series of court-martials, without
precedent in the history of the Navy. Among others the four
captains astern qf Mathews were tried for their failure to support
him. All the trials ended sadly as they were bound to do ; but the
case of the Essex was perhaps the saddest. Her captain was a
son of Sir John Norris, Commander-in-Chief in the Channel and a
splendid officer. Utterly unworthy of his blood, the craven de
serted in disguise on the way home, and was never heard of again.
The unfortunate efforts of Admiral Rowley to shield the son of his
oldest friend terminated his own career, and swelled the volume
of tragedy which this sordid sto'ry discloses. The three captains
ahead of Rowley, who had hugged the wind, were likewise tried,
but pleaded with show of reason that their movement was intende
to neutralize the attack of the French. They were reinstated with
honour unsullied.
At the instigation of Lestock's friends in Parliament, Mathews
himself was tried. No one could dispute the late miscarriage, and
he was responsible. What had he to say ? Had his deeds been
able to speak, they would have told of his zeal in his country's
cause, and of his bravery in the hour of battle. But his deeds
were speechless, and he was obliged to acknowledge that he had
flown in the face of those very Instructions which he had accepted
as a working basis. His rashness had perhaps thrown his own
forces into wUder confusion than those of the enemy. Unhappy
Mathews ! he was adjudged henceforward unfit for high command,
and rejected as unworthy of the service which has always regarded

202 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
leniently a well-judged rashness, and valued highly the quaUties
which Mathews had displayed.
But what of lago? what of the villain of the piece? If
Mathews was dismissed the service, was Lestock torn asunder by
wild horses ? Few can doubt what motives had actuated him
when he sacrificed his country's cause upon the altar of his self-
love and his pride ; but it is not to be expected that poetic justice
can be meted out by an ordinary tribunal, and lago's plot had
been cleverly contrived. He proved that when Mathews had
hoisted a signal for the Line, he had done his utmost to take up
his position ; but that, if conditions had been better calculated to
expedite his arrival, Mathews' extraordinary dispositions left his
division without a single ship to fight. It was a little unkind of
his superior to debar him from a share in the fight for which he
panted ; but to preclude him from the fight, and then complain
of his inaction was absurdly unreasonable.
This argument proved conclusive, and Lestock was acquitted.
The verdicts set side by side are calculated to heat the blood of
patriots to the boiling-point ; and in spite of their technical
correctness they must remain for ever a blot upon England's
honour and her highly prized sense of justice.
A great naval victory in 1 744 might have gone far to deliver
the country from the two years' nightmare that foUowed. The
main attack of the French upon Vienna had been foiled at Dettingen
as at Blenheim. They turned their attention to the Netherlands.
No RamUlies checkmated them here, but a Fontenoy cheered them
on, and the Jacobite cause at last had found a man. Though
robbed of his escort by Peircy Brett,* Bonnie Prince Charlie kept
¦' The determination of Charles Edward to wrest the Crown from George II
was cordially welcomed by the French, who were keenly anxious to debar
England from further interference on the continent. There was no intention
to revert to the policy of Louis XIV and identify the scheme with France.
The failure of James II and the hearty goodwill with which the Eno-lish
fought him as long as he brought French soldiers with him had taught a use
ful lesson. The Prince did not leave France at the head of roo ships but
contented himself with two. The Elizabeth (64) was well manned and
served as floating bank and arsenal : the enterprise in great measure turned
upon the invaluable cargo she carried. The Pretender concealed his royal
and cunning person in a little brig called the Doutelle. He hoped by creep
ing round the west coast of Ireland to avoid the cruisers in the Channel ¦ but

HAWKE 203
high holiday at Holyrood in 1745; and hurling the thunderbolt
upon his foes at Prestonpans, marched nearer and ever nearer to
London, while that august city was thrown into a panic such as
she had not known since the days when De Ruyter was led to
Chatham by unpaid British sailors. The Duke of Cumberland,
whose rashness had lost Fontenoy, was recalled from the Nether
lands, and if Marshal Saxe did not follow and join hands with the
Pretender, he at least showed a nice appreciation of Admiral
Vernon, who was keeping guard in the narrow seas with the
usual half-dozen ships. The crisis of 1745-46 paralysed the
English power of initiative, and it was not tUl the savage cruelty
of Culloden Moor had driven " the .lad that was born to be king
over the sea to Skye," that England ventured to raise her eyes
from home affairs and vindicate her right to rule the waves.
However evil the effects of Toulon, at least the action intro
duced to his country one who might otherwise have waited long
for the recognition he deserved. Not even Nelson at St. Vincent
acquired a more excellent narae than Hawke of the Berwick
in the fight off Toulon. King George upon his throne spoke of
him with pride, learned to call him " My Captain," and three
years after the battle found an opportunity of serving him.
Theoretically there were still only nine possible holders of flag
rank.* Necessity had increased these inadequate numbers, but
long before the expedition reached Cape Clear it was sighted by the hero of
Payta. It was five o'clock of a July day when the fight began. The little Doutelle
ran under the Lion's stern to worry her hindquarters, but receiving a warm
welcome withdrew in haste and assumed the pose of a nervous and interested
spectator. The Elizabeth made an excellent fight, and as the daylight faded
the two ships lay gasping on the waves. The Jacobite was gravely wounded ;
her hull was riddled ; and hers was a case for the nearest port if she could
stagger so far. Her opponent still growled savagely. In claws the Lion was
a lion still, but no longer a creature of wings I The little Doutelle took in
the situation. It was time for her to go.
Early in August the Pretender arrived in Inverness-shire with no outfit but
a brave heart and a winning way. His armoury and bank, keeping afloat
with the utmost difficulty, rolled back at length in direst misery to Brest.
* I. The Admiral of the Fleet.
2. Admiral of the White.
3. Admiral of the Blue.
4. Vice-Admiral of the Red.

204 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
not beyond twenty-one. Whenever an admiral was created, the
utmost care was shown in selection, and as a rule a long list of
deserving captains was passed over in the process. To remedy
this injustice a new scheme [attributable of course to Anson]
had recently caUed into being an imaginary " Yellow " squadron.
Yellow flags were henceforth to be presented to the captains
passed over, who thus reached a titular eminence which in part
consoled them for retirement.*
It wUl be remembered [see pp. 175-9] that the tide of misery
setting in from Toulon was first stemmed by Anson in his brilliant
fight off Finisterre. In the opinion of the best judge of naval
merit who ever lived, Edward Boscawen had by his services upon
that day established an incontestable claim to a flag. His in
clusion in the narrow limits of the list would, however, close for
ever the career of Hawke, who was his senior by several years.
The Admiralty reconciled itself to the inevitable ; but the King
interposed a veto. Invited to give Boscawen a blue flag and
Hawke a yellow, he exclaimed with some heat, " No, no ; I'U not
have Hawke yellowed ! "
Thus the two stout Cornishmen passed into the list together ;
and, like twin runners in the race for glory, commenced a life-long
rivalry.
THE SECOND BATTLE OF FINISTERRE
October 14, 1747
Then six of their squadron, that scarcely could creep.
We lugg'd and tugg'd home, in our harbours to sleep.
And so large were their hulks, tho' we ply'd 'em with rubbing,
To be sure their thick hides " took a great deal of drubbino."
Contemporary Ballad
Hawke suffered from the cruel pangs of disappointment when,
in the spring of 1747, he found himself watching the Channel
5. Vice-Admiral of the White.
6. Vice-Admiral of the Blue.
7. Rear-Admiral of the Red.
8. Rear-Admiral of the White.
9. Rear-Admiral of the Blue.
* During his tenure of office Anson also made the possibilities of promotion
more generously elastic.

HAWKE 205
Fleet drop behind the horizon en route for Finisterre. As captor
of the Poder, he was known to Anson only by repute, and Anson
had a legion of Centurions from whom to choose his captains.
When all was over but the shouting and the ennobled victor
had returned to the Admiralty, the Channel Fleet was put under
the command of Sir Peter Warren. Hawke was glad to be under
so old a friend ; and when he received the news of his flag, he
felt in some way compensated for the battle he had missed.
There was better to corae. Sir Peter fell sick, and requested
that Rear-Admiral Hawke might be associated in his command.
The indisposition increased, and the entire control of the fleet
devolved upon the second in command at the very moment
that Lord Anson formulated a fresh design for the discomfiture
of the enemy. News had come that a vast convoy in preparation
at La Rochelle was shortly to be escorted to the West Indies by
a fleet of fighting ships. The Channel Squadron must bestride
their route, and attempt to accomplish a second time the brilliant
success of the spring.
Plawke hoisted his flag in the Devonshire, and with fourteen
sail of the Une set forth upon his quest.
On 14th October, while raany a league still separated the fleet
from Finisterre, the French Armada was sighted. The wind was
blowing from the east, and Hawke was to leeward. He at once
signalled for a general chase ; but presently as the vast nurabers
of the enemy declared themselves, he made signal for the line
of battle ahead. The French comraander. Monsieur L'Etenduere
eyed his opponent's tactics narrowly. He had with him only
nine ships that he could put into the line, and he had a fleet of
250 merchantmen for whose safety he was responsible. With
instant decision he bade his non-combatants fly under press of
canvas, and himself prepared to hold his wind, throw himself
upon the enemy, and engage him in a battle to the death. When
two such combatants enter the lists, no herald need call for
sUence. At first sight the contest might be thought hardly fair. L'Eten
duere had sent one of his ships with the convoy, and now had but
eight to the EngUshman's fourteen. The numbers tell their own
story, but the story is a littie misleading. Since the disappearance
of the Stuart dynasty the royal interest had been withdrawn from

206 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the British dockyards with raost regrettable results. "The un
thinking populace," wrote a brother Admiral to Anson about this
time, "imagine it strange an EngUsh ship of 70 guns cannot
take a French ship of the same force, whereas it is pretty apparent
that our 70-gun ships are little superior to their ships of 50
guns." The superiority of his ships raay well account, at least in
part, for the way L'Etenduere defied the lightning.*
When Hawke saw the French warships shake themselves free
from the embraces of the helpless, and stand like men to meet
him, he discovered of course the inferiority of their numbers, and
hauled down the signal for the line. For all he knew the French
might have feigned their defiance for defensive reasons only,
intent on avoiding a battle. There was no time to be lost.
Once more he ordered a general chase. The French had, how
ever, no desire to avoid the challenge, and stood under easy sail
for the English to come up. This the English did with what
speed they might, and adopted a method of ranging that proved
as efficacious as it was novel. Each ship as she came up with
the foe passed under the lee of the ship or ships already engaged
and made for the next enemy ahead.f
The first ship to engage the enemy was the Princess Louisa.
Her captain was Charles Watson, a fine feUow, keen and capable,
and a grand fighter. Dispatched on lucrative business by
Admiral Mathews just before the Battle of Toulon, he had scented
powder in the air and returned in case he was wanted. In the
battle itself he had done well and earned the approval of his
chief In the First Battle of Finisterre he had won the praise
of Anson, and by his handling of the Princess Louisa on this
occasion he estabUshed a claim to high command. PhUip
Saumarez, designer of uniforms, was close behind and carried the
Nottingham within pistol-shot of the foe to make quite sure of
hitting him. As for the commander of the Yarmouth, it would
have warmed Anson's heart to see the way that Saunders com
ported himself: clinging with bull-dog tenacity to the Neptune,
*The much-needed improvement in British naval construction was brought
about by Anson himself, who based his reform upon the models which in
1747 were brought home from Finisterre.
f The merit of this stratagem was in due time recognized by its inclusion
araong the Additional Instructions. Nelson proved its solid worth at the
Battle of Copenhagen.

HAWKE 207
gripping her, shaking her as if he grudged her the name she bore,
till at last the flag came down. And beside the Centurion brothers
was the captain of the Eagle, little known as yet, but destined
for great things. George Brydges Rodney here makes his debut
fraternizing with the Ansonites ; plunging at once into the thick
of things, and recking little how many guns his opponent had so
long as she stayed to fire .them.
With such a band of brothers, Hawke was at liberty to survey
the field composedly. Did he do so ? Could the calculating
adroitness which served him so well at Toulon desert him
now? His eye seemed to range over the whole field. Nothing
escaped him. He signalled to Captain Fox to engage the Tonnant
because he seemed in the best position to do so with effect. He
refused to send his frigates after the convoy because he saw that
the convoy was so well protected with frigates that such an errand
would entail unjustifiable risk. In the flash of an eye he seems in
the moments of tensest excitement to have arrived at decisions
which hours of cool reflection could only confirm. He knew the
convoy would escape, he knew where it was going, he knew it
would reassemble at Martinique, and that it would arrive there
unaccompanied by guardships. He therefore detached the Weasel
sloop, and instructed her captain sleeplessly to plough his way
across the Atlantic, bespeak no one on the road, rest not until he
found the Commander-in-Chief of the West Indies, and make
him acquainted with the happy news.
From the coolness of Hawke's dispositions it might be guessed
that he denied himself a personal part in the stir and tumult of
the fray. He did not. He denied himself nothing. He fought
throughout as he, and only he, could fight. The first ship of the
enemy to surrender surrendered to him. True she was but a go-
gun ship, and for that reason he somewhat contemptuously left
her, and sought out Monsieur L'Etenduere in the Tonnant.
WhUe he did so, the Eagle, who had had her wings clipped, fell
aboard him ; and before he could disentangle himself the Devon
shire lost ground to leeward. Chagrined at the mishap he en
deavoured to fight at long range, but the elevation caused a strain
which snapped all the breechings of his lower-deck guns as if they
had been cotton and sent the ordnance flying fore and aft like
mad things. The moment was a perilous one as Hawke's adver-

2o8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
sary was free to reply. But Captain Harland in the Tilbury
slipped between the combatants and drew the fire upon himself
Hawke's Devonshire was a 66-gun ship. He tied up her
breechings and plunged once more into the fight. Time had been
lost, and with it the opportunity of fighting the Tonnant. But if
he could not fight an So, there were several 74's. Here mean
while was the Trident, a 64. At her, boys I There was a com
pulsion in Hawke's attack that seemed to paralyse his victims.
The Trident fought bravely ; proved worthy of her name. No
shame to yield to Hawke. Was this enough ? Not whUe there
was daylight. At last a 74, the Terrible I Hawke closed again.
The Terrible also carried heroes, and she fought till all her masts
went by the board. But as surely as the others she surrendered.
At the end of the day, of the eight French ships in the battle-line,
six had surrendered ; and three of the six to Hawke. As he
paused for breath between his captures, he remarked that every
one was not enjoying himself as well as he ought to be ; and so to
the fighters weary but glory-earning came the signal which the
Navy owed to Old Grog, "the whole Une will now engage the
enemy at closer quarters than that at which the enemy were first
engaged." There were some splendid feUows in that fleet, but
there was only one Hawke. Severn, Trident, Terrible, three ships
in one brief afternoon ! Could Orlando or Godfrey de Bouillon
have done more ?
It is hardly surprising that Hawke was dissatisfied with what
the others had done, when he had done by himself as much as
every one else put together. But in truth all, with a single excep
tion, did well ; and it is amusing to find Warren whispering to
Anson behind Hawke's back that he had made it aU right with
the officers who had been disappointed with Hawke's report.
Even Captain Fox — the exception — had signalized himself by the
capture of the Fouqueux, the Spitfire. This, however, was counter
balanced by his failure to take or detain the enemy's flagship.
After fighting till nightfall, the Tonnant, leaning heavily upon
the shoulder of the Intrepide, made the most of her position in the
van and set sail for the open sea. Saunders, Saumarez and
Rodney made chase ; but the two big fugitives were stiU danger
ous, and the confusion of nightfall was sadly augmented when the
gallant Saumarez was slain by a random shot. The loss was very

HAWKE 209
grievous, and robbed the survivors of any desire save to mourn
for the first "Centurion " to faU.
On the other side of the Atlantic the Weasel arrived in good
time, and enabled Commodore Pocock to capture thirty of the
convoy and ;^ 100, 000.
There was one phrase in Hawke's dispatch which puzzled
George II, who was never very strong at his EngUsh. He asked
the Earl of Chesterfield to read the sentence again. " As the
enemy's ships were large, they took a great deal of drubbing."
When he reaUzed that two of the captured vessels were accounted
lucky because they stiU had a mast apiece, while the other four
had none, he began to think " drubbing " a very expressive word.
There was always something to be learnt from "his Captain."
He was exceedingly pleased with the result, and not a little
flattered that this the greatest success since the war broke out,
had been achieved by the man whom he had delighted to
honour. Under the circumstances he extended the most warm
reception to the victorious hero, and thought the Cross of the
Bath would look well upon his breast.
And so Sir Edward passed from the presence of Majesty to
receive the quieter congratulations of the Government and the
deafening applause of the people, who were quick to see that the
glory of England had not departed, and that Heaven had sent
them one of that godUke race, whom the voice of duty rouses
like a trumpet-call.
In 1748 the War of the Austrian Succession was suddenly
terminated by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. There were no
extraordinary changes in the map of Europe as there had been
at the Peace of Utrecht. Maria Theresa was forced to submit
to the loss of Silesia. That was all. As in the Spanish Succes
sion War, France, with the resources of Spain behind her, had
been confronted by England, Holland and Austria ; but the one
great soldier. Marshal Saxe, had fought against the Grand AUies,
and the appearance of the strong new power in the north of
Germany had neutralized the possibilities of Austrian activity,
and set France free at last to push her boundary northward
to the Rhine. In 1748 it became manifest to the English that
unless they could exchange Cumberland for another Marl-

2IO SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
borough, or find an ally who could assist them better, they
would be obliged to consent to the annexation by France of the
deeply coveted Netherlands.
A\'hy at a height of success never honestly reached by Louis
XIV did France relax her grip? Because the twin Battles of
Finisterre had crowned Britain undoubted Queen once more of
her rightful domain, and left her free at last to strike wheresoever
she would. In the year of the Peace, Boscawen, the hero of
Finisterre the First, arrived with a fleet off the Coromandel coast.
Dupleix, Viceregent in India of the King of France, had captured
Madras, the English capital, and threatened to push the EngUsh
out of the Peninsula as the Dutch had pushed them out of the
Indies ; but his territorial schemes had blinded him to maritime
dangers. The arrival of Boscawen promised to spoil his destiny.*
At the other end of the world Louisburg, the gate of French
America, had opened miraculously at a touch from the sceptre of
the sea.
The Battles of Finisterre taught France that her position was
as perUous as England's. "Yield!" she cried, "or I take the
Netherlands!" "In which case India and Canada are mine,"
replied the Queen of the Floods. " Accept Madras in exchange
for Louisburg ; and my hand upon it," said France. " Mine also,"
echoed England, and the Peace was signed. f
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1756-1763
When the great powers made peace at Aix-la-Chapelle they
paid little heed to Maria Theresa weeping for the loss of Silesia,
or to Monsieur Dupleix gnashing his teeth for the retrocession of
Madras. ;J: In another quarter the Peace was odious. The English
* Boscawen's mere presence in Indian waters was really all that was
needed, but he did not succeed in retaking Madras before the war reached a
close. Thus his rival Hawke, whose capture of the Poder had been eclipsed
by Boscawen's share in Anson's victory, now in his turn forged ahead ; for
the Madras campaign could not hold a candle to Finisterre the Second.
+ The need of peace prevented England from staying to barter terms with
Spain concerning " Ears " and " Guarda Costas," which had in 1739 involved
her in the toils of war.
X No sooner were signatures affixed than Dupleix renewed his schemes to
make Louis XV Primus m Indis. The rapidity of his success and its menace
to British power raised up an antagonist in Robert Clive. Winning his spurs

HAWKE 211
colonists in Araerica were beside themselves at the callous heart-
lessness of the motherland in restoring Louisburg to the French.
Of what interest to them was it that France had been persuaded
to evacuate the Netherlands? Why were their interests so de-
Uberately sacrificed? The grievance was inteUigible; but the
home Government might plausibly argue that Louisburg could
never have been taken without the Navy : that Admiral Warren's
co-operation gave England a right to dispose of it, and that the
cession of the Netherlands would sacrifice aU that had been fought
for in the wars against Louis XIV. The American colonists were
dependent on the Navy, and the Navy would be seriously preju
diced if France were firmly planted on the North Sea coast.
In 1748 the EngUsh settlements in North America extended
along the Atlantic from Florida, an ill-defined province of Spain,
to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay, ceded to
Queen Anne by the Treaty of Utrecht. Westward the AUeghanies,
for the time at least, narrowed their limits most appreciably, but
north and south the settlements made a sturdy chain, unbroken
save for the French occupation of Cape Breton Isle. The colon
ists were numerous and independent. Their communities were
ever expanding, and the difficulties of their situation made them
quick to see what was wanted, and fearless in dealing with the
troubles that beset them, whether the horrors of starvation or the
tomahawks of the Iroquois and Choctaws.
While the English were gradually filling up the eastern sea
board (1600-1750), the French worked their way up the St.
Lawrence, planting little villages along its banks, and ever pro
ceeding semi-consciously farther and farther behind the English
homesteads. At Lake Erie they abandoned the Laurentian
basin, and found their way into the valley of the Ohio. They
pushed on southward down the Ohio untU they discovered the
Gulf of Mexico and the mouth of the Mississippi. They hemmed
in the English as completely as Rhodesia encircled the Dutch
South African Republics. But their numbers were insignificant,
and they lacked the self-reliance and self-help which distinguished
the Virginians and New Englanders.
at Arcot, Clive cut the ground from under his rival's feet, and laid the founda
tions of British supremacy in the Peninsula. Dupleix was recalled by an
ungrateful country in 1754.

NORTH AMERICA I750.
The Alleghany Mt^ [shaded black]
separate English From French America.
Three main routes marked with
^  > lead From one sphere
of InFluence to the other.
^3

HAWKE 213
It required no unusual foresight to see that the close proximity
of two growing powers must lead to trouble, so long as no definite
line of demarcation was drawn to show where American England
ended and American France began. In 1748 the question was
ripe for mischief and its urgency led to the appointment of a
delimitation committee to settle the intricate question of boundary
claims. UntU this tremendous task was complete it was tacitly
agreed to regard the intermediate Indian tribes as strictly neutral
ground. '
The French settlers were like a small brave force acting be
hind fortifications (the AUeghanies). Until Admiral Warren
showed them that their entire po-sition could be turned by a
water force acting on the St. Lawrence, they had hardly realized
the menace of the Englanders who crowded round their gates.
The fall of Louisburg alarmed them, and upon its recovery they
began with feverish haste to scrutinize their walls and strengthen
aU their defences.
Three land routes led through the hills from English America
to French. The first led northward from New York past Lake
Champlain, and the second, at right angles to the first, led due
westward to Niagara. The third would take the pioneer up one
of a series of valleys that furrow the eastern slopes and converge
on the head-waters of the Ohio. To safeguard their wide but
thinly populated possessions the French had three main causeways
to protect, and knew that when the invaders came westward they
would come by one ofthe three. With this object they constructed
Fort Ticonderoga to guard the first gate. Fort Niagara the second,
and the famous Fort Duquesne to hold the Ohio valley.* Un
fortunately this action was a deliberate trespass, because the forts
in question were constructed upon the debatable land unassigned
as yet by the Delimitation Committee.
The English colonists at once determined to eject the intruders,
and in 1754 marched against Fort Duquesne. Failing to take it
they appealed to England to help them right the wrong. England
expostulated with France, and in 1755 sent a small force under
General Braddock, who was piloted' over the sea by Keppel, a
* Marquis Duquesne, after whom the fort was called, was Governor of
French America, and a descendant of the celebrated admiral in battle with
whom De Ruyter lost his life.

214 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Centurion and one of the most famous. The French were not the
least contrite and hurried out reinforcements. The English might
have blockaded the French ports and prevented the reinforcements
from starting ; but action so effective was liable to misconstruction.
There was peace on the European side of "The Line" even if
there was none beyond it.* They preferred to station a fleet in
the St. Lawrence mouth, and adopt an uncompromising attitude
to the reinforcements when they reached their destination.
The death of Sir Peter Warren in 1752 had robbed the navy of
the admiral most conversant with American problems.f Bos
cawen and Hawke were the men of the moment. Hawke was re
tained at home in case of new developments, and Boscawen was
sent post-haste across the Atlantic. He was instructed not to
allow a single ship of the enemy to escape. The injunction ac
corded well with the inward promptings of " Old Dreadnought."
He reached his station and waited. On loth June his van under a
certain Captain Richard Howe, hereafter famous, signalled the
appearance of two French ships under his lee. The harbingers of
better things to come, thought Boscawen, and nodded to Howe
to snap them up. Howe obeyed. But no other ships were seen.
Somehow or other, perhaps by using the Straits of Belleisle
between Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador, the main
French squadron slipped past Boscawen's guard and brought their
critical errand to a satisfactory conclusion.
If Boscawen had annihilated the enemy, the overthrow of the
French-American schemes would have gone far to justify the
stroke ; but the capture of the Alcides and the Lily amounted to
a mere slap in the face. The Government of Louis XV who had
been dreading a heavy punishment, began with mock gravity to
ask what right a " pirate" had to put forward complaints of one
or two innocent forts which were incapable of movement and
therefore unable to perpetrate acts of atrocity such as the floating
castles of England had done in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. France
may well have smiled as she looked at her hand, and when the
*Vide supra, p. 135 and n.
+ His monument in Westminster Abbey is between that of Gladstone and
Disraeli. The realism ofthe age of Hogarth displays the hero's face pitted
with the small-pox.

HAWKE 215
news came that General Braddock's expedition had been hewn
in pieces, her smUe broadened, and she asked herself whether she
had not underestimated her American pretensions.
On their part the English were naturaUy crestfallen, and
lamenting their folly in ever allowing reinforcements to start,
dispatched Sir Edward Hawke to catch the culprit ships on their
return. The same good fortune, however, carried them past him
unobserved into safety. Unable any longer to contain their wrath
the Government now conjured Sir Edward not to stay his hand or
limit the sphere of his activities. Unhooded at last the Admiral
swept like a falcon through the Bay of Biscay, and sent home
three hundred prizes.*
The fencing of England and France in 1755 is at first sight not
a little puzzling. There seemed excellent reasons for either to
make a declaration of war : yet neither was willing to make it.
England desired to fight with France as she had fought with
PhUip II. She challenged her adversary to come forth upon the
watery element. This did not at all suit France. Before ventur
ing to fight she desired to implicate England in a European war ;
to bind her to the continent in order to fetter her extremities.
Nor was the hope Ulusory. The King of England was Elector
of Hanover, and his position in Germany made him vulnerable.
Hanover was the heel of the sea-born AchiUes.
The voice of diplomacy is drowned by the alarums at Fort
Duquesne, and the excursions of Boscawen and Hawke ; but
throughout 1755 England and France were devoting the half of
their thoughts to this absorbing question of Hanover. In the
recent war France had been aUied with Spain, and England with
Austria. Austria was a stalwart ally, but she had ceased to be
valuable since the Peace of Utrecht gave her the Netherlands.
England desired no more P"ontenoys. Spain was an excellent
friend for France; but she had fought against England long
enough. She desired no more descents on Porto BeUo or Cartha
gena ; no more Centurions in the Pacific. Where then were
England and France to look for their friend in need? Both
*"I know nothing of the war but that we catch little French ships like
crawfish."— Horace Walpole, 18/ g/ 1755.

2i6 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
turned in the same direction. Prussia and Hanover lay alongside
like two men-of-war with their broadsides touching.
In 1 755 P'rederick II was the deputy of fate. He had a choice
of invitations. He could not accept them both. \Vhich of his
hostesses could work him the greatest injury if he dared to send
her a refusal ? For a time France flattered herself that she had
secured him ; but about the time that Hawke sent home the craw
fish the King of Prussia suddenly arrived at a decision ; and for
good or evil threw in his lot with the mistress of the sea.
THE LOSS OF MINORCA
CHAPTER I. THE BATTLE
The alliance was a master-stroke for England. It set her free
from continental embarrassments. France saw the ground cut
from beneath her, a yawning chasm at her feet. \Vhat could she
do to save America? There was no time to be wasted. The
Government decided to collect as noisily as possible a vast army
on their northern shore and threaten invasion. To augment the
chances of success they prepared an expedition at Toulon to
threaten the safety of Minorca. Desperate remedies, depending
for their success upon the failure of the British fleet. But times
were desperate. The English might be deceived by the Minorca
feint and send their battleships off to the Mediterranean. In that
case it would be possible to repeat the performance of the Young
Pretender. They might on the other hand keep every ship in
the Channel. In that case Minorca raight actually be won and
serve as a sop to Spain whose assistance was more than ever neces
sary. In any case the plans in combination promised to keep the
British Navy busy, to postpone the American question to a more
convenient season, allow distracted France to collect her wits,
reshuffle the European pack and find some stronger cards.
If anything was needed to prove to the French the soundness
of their views, it was supplied by the wUd scare that ensued in
England. It was certainly disconcerting to hear that 60 000
troops were mustered on the other side of the Channel, and the
shadow of the '45 darkened every doorway in the land. The
more level-headed pointed out that there was nothing to fear
with Boscawen and Hawke to protect old England's shore. But

HAWKE 217
preparations at Toulon were active, and demanded some share of
attention. The English experts were of opinion that the pro
nouncement about Minorca was a blind ; and that an effort would
be made as in the past to unite the Mediterranean fleet with the
fleet of Brest. They saw the danger of halving the fleet at a
critical moment, and they resolved to send a small force which
would leave the Channel Squadron unimpaired.
For a commander their choice fell upon the unfortunate and
never-to-be-forgotten Byng, Admiral the Honourable John,
younger son of Lord Torrington of Passaro. He had himself
been present at his father's victory. He had served in the St.
George under Vernon during the '45, and sat on the court-
martial that tried Admirals Mathews and Lestock. His know
ledge of Minorca was of the most intimate character, and during
the last year of the Austrian Succession War, while Anson and
Hawke had been earning glory off Finisterre, he had held the
chief command in the Mediterranean.
It was doubtless with some enjoyment of their own acumen
that His Majesty's advisers saw through the P'rench design, and
reduced the Mediterranean fleet to inconsiderable dimensions.
Unfortunately, on this occasion they over-reached themselves.
The French were in deadly earnest, and when they realized that
the English were not sending out a commander of recognized
abUity and a reputation based upon past triumphs, when every
day convinced them how hazardous the invasion scheme was
likely to prove, and how magnificently England was prepared to
meet it on the sea, they determined to press home the attack •
upon Minorca, and deal the English a blow where they least
expected it.*
When Byng arrived at Gibraltar at the beginning of May, 1756,
he heard that the P"rench design was well in front of his defensive
scheme. No less than 16,000 troops under the popular Marechal
le Due de Richelieu had been conveyed frora Toulon in 200 trans
ports, protected by twelve ships of the line under the Marquis de
La Galissoniere, a humpbacked little man of fire-eating valour.
Landing at Ciudadela on the east of Minorca the duke had led his
men across the island, and laid siege to Mahon the capital. Within
'Technically the war began when the English learned that the French
had landed their troops in Minorca.

2i8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the town the defence was maintained by a mere handful of 2,000
under General Blakeney, a veteran of eighty-four, many of whose
officers were returning from leave in the ships that accompanied
Byng. At Gibraltar according to instructions Byng was to pick up a
quota of the garrison and take it with him to Mahon : but the
Governor was a man who was hardly worthy of the Rock. He
refused to part with the men, "because" (as Anson pithily put it)
" he would then have fewer at Gibraltar ". He had abandoned
hope as regards Minorca, and it is to be feared that his sentiments
infected the Adrairal. Byng came of good fighting stock. He
had had plenty of experience. That he was a fleet commander of
merit the battle of Minorca proves : that he was a brave man is
proved by the heroic demeanour with which he met the snarling
voices that without understanding accused him of crimes that his
soul contemned ; and by the calm fortitude of the closing scene.
But he was not cast in the heroic mould, and the occasion
demanded Plawke. As Byng saUed from Gibraltar a growing
conviction seized him that even if he met Galissoniere and de
feated him, he would be powerless to deliver a beleaguered garrison
from the clutch of the Due de Richelieu.
Ten days after leaving Gibraltar, Byng arrived at his destination.
He endeavoured to communicate with the garrison, but Monsieur
de La Galissoniere was not long in challenging his right to inter
fere, and on 20th May there was fought to the S.W. of Mahon the
battle which has given rise to so much controversy. The com
batants approached each other from opposite points, the French
admiral appearing from the south-east, and Byng standing to
meet him from the north-west. Both admirals skirmished cun
ningly for the wind ; but good fortune favoured the Englishman,
and wUh the wind at S.W. the two forces passed each other on
opposUe tacks ; Byng with the starboard tacks on board,
Galissoniere, in the glorious Foudroyajit, with the port.
According to the Fighting Instructions, when the opposing
fleets met on opposite tacks, the Admiral in command [having the
weather gauge] would proceed upon his wind untU such time as
he judged his van to be conterminous with the enemy's rear.*
* See above, p. 21 n.

HAWKE

219

At that point it behoved him to go about ; tacking, either ship by
ship beginning with the rearmost, or all ships together. Unless
the fleets, as at Beachy Head, were numerically unequal, the hostUe
lines would then be coextensive ; and with skUl and caution parallel.
[Below a. b. & c]
Byng was conversant with all forms and conditions of battle
array. He was familiar with the body of Instructions recently
amplified under Anson's directing care. He had the artist's
admiration for his art ; inherited his father's genius ; and was not
too modest to hazard some originality. He had divided his fleet
of thirteen ships, which outnumbered the enemy by a single vessel.

into two divisions only, instead of the customary three. To
Admiral West, who had commanded the Jfar-wick at Toulon, and
served as Flag Captain to Warren at Anson's Finisterre, he com
mitted the rear : the van he commanded himself in the Ramillies.*
As he led the line past the enemy on the starboard tack, he did
not stop when his leading ship came up level with the last ship of
the enemy's rear, but continued for a whUe on the same course.
When at last he gave the signal for the fleet to tack, Galissoniere
guessed that he was going to double. But Byng did not mean to
double. His notion was to obviate the manifest disadvantages of
running down straight before the wind by advancing his whole line
* When the whole line went about. West's division became the van and
Byng's the rear.

220 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
slantwise, in order that a ship might make the most of her broad
side fire as she worked her way into battle. [M.^p. Byng's
Battle-plan.] Imagine the Admiral's annoyance when he discovered that the
Defiance, who in the reversed line was leading the van, had failed
to grasp the significance of his manceuvre. Deeming that it was
only by some unforeseen accident that the battle was ordered dif
ferently from usual, she was doing her best to rectify matters by
pulling the line out lengthwise in order to make it coextensive
with the enemy's. Byng was profoundly disappointed ; and after
vain attempts to indicate by signal what he wanted, he hoisted
the flag for battle as the only method of engaging the enemy in
the manner he proposed. But it was already too late. The ships
of the van had already won their normal position. \\'hen they
saw the signal for battle they rejoiced to think that the period of
probation was over, and hurled themselves into battle line abreast ;
heading each one for her opposite in the enemy's line, and desiring
but to conquer or die. True they were rendered liable by their
formation to a raking fire, but as that was the ordinary encounter
of a fleet in the wind, they thought no more of it than they
thought of Byng's agony as he realized into how desperate a trap
his plan of action had led him.
It has been said that the opposing lines were generally coexten
sive and parallel. Of set purpose Byng had avoided symmetrical
extension. By accident his line was not parallel to the French.
In the process of fencing for the wind, his own division (then the
van) had gained to windward; so that, when the whole line tacked,
it formed an angle with that of the foe. [Map. The Crisis of
THE Battle.]
Owing to the action of the leaders, the want of parallelism in
the two lines now became a positive danger. It was well enough
for the Defiance who had but a short distance to advance under
fire. It was well enough for the ships of Byng's division whose
sidling advance enabled them to use their broadsides as they
moved. The acute point of danger lay in the middle of the Une,
in the extremity of the van division where the sea distance to be
covered by the Intrepid was considerably greater than that covered
by the Defiance, and the method of advance equally direct and ex
posed.

BYNG'S

1

The numbers show the

0 t

BATTLE -PLAN

starting-places ofthe

1

/ •

ships, when the signal
for battle was given
the line on which they
stand indicates the

1
2
/

y 1
Z <5/' / A

0«0 /

° ^ /' ,i

want of parallelism

3

between them & the
enemy.

/
4.

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/
> '' -•' .
1 0 / k
1
5
01
J_ J
i Wind /
rx /•
t
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10
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/ ''' .-"^
1.
THE CRISIS
OF THE BATTLE
THE BATTLE OF MINORCA
May 20, 1756
222 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
The first five ships of Admiral West's division did splendidly,
and forced each an opponent out of the fighting line ; but the
Intrepid came to grief before she could close with her foe. Her
fore topmast was shot away, and she swung round into the wind,
like an intractable horse defying management. The mischief did
not stop here for she caused as much confusion in the rear division
as a fractious horse wiU do when he curvets in the middle of a pro
cession which winds its way along the street. Had the whole Une
moved into battle at the same moment the accident would have
been sUght in its operation : but the departure of the Intrepid did
not merely leave a gap in the English line. Her wUd career threw
the whole of Byng's sidUng column into confusion, and left the
French commander wholly free to make the raost of a golden
opportunity. GaUssoniere did not fail to see his advantage. The impetuosity
of the English van had carried it to leeward ; and unless the rear
division was commanded by a leader perfectly self-possessed, he
would be able to pass through the yawning gap and cut the
EngUsh line. Once through the line he would be able to hug
the wind, and put the English van between two fires with a reason
able hope of crushing it.
The tables were turned with a vengeance. But at the crucial
moment Byng did not lose his head. He saw where lay the need
of help ; he disentangled the hideous knots that threatened to
strangle him ; he straightened his line ; made saU ; occupied the
treacherous rift and saved the situation. Foiled, Galissoniere
satisfied himself with engaging with his fresh ships the English
van, now weary with their exertions : and having thus rendered
pursuit improbable, he put before the wind and departed ; not in
headlong flight, but glad enough to get away. " We may justly
claim the victory," wrote Byng in his letter home.*
There is room for Byng's self-satisfaction ; and yet it is doubt
ful whether it would not have been really wiser to decline action
* Hawke's instant acceptance oi Byng's manceuvre attests its real value.
Sir Edward added to it the little that was needed to complete its efficacy.
He instructed the ships performing the movement to align themselves as they
advanced, those nearest the enemy marking time (so to speak) ; those farther
away crowding canvas so that the impact might be simultaneous as well as
slantwise.

HAWKE 223
altogether. The position of the Due de Richelieu was like that of
a diver. The vital cord that brought him the essence of life trailed
out all the way from Mahon to Toulon. For hira it was imperative
that the tube should be safeguarded. So long as Galissoniere was
there unchallenged, there was safety : but when Byng arrived and
took up his position, it was as if the diver's tube had been grasped
by an iron grip. Galissoniere was the challenger, not Byng. If
need were great, he must attack even from to leeward. If he failed to
do so Byng could exert all his force on the continual compression
of the Due de Richelieu's air-tube. Byng set aside the obvious
advantages of his position ; and as a goal-keeper wUl sometimes
do in a moment of excitement, dashed into the fray to meet the
menace which he saw approaching. What Englishman wUl blame
him? When the forces of Richelieu reahzed that the fight was over,
and that Galissoniere was gone, their spirits sank : that vast force
despaired. They conjured up a thousand new perils, they felt
that just below the horizon were the English troopships with
20,000 men attended perhaps by another fleet. They were
doomed ! They had failed to take the town by a coup de main.
If Mahon were to be carried by assault, the besiegers would need
reinforcements ; if worn out by starvation, then constant supplies
of food. Who would bring them ? This insignificant fleet of
thirteen English ships would snap up everything. It was merciless.
A day passed. The English, apparently quite at their leisure, re
paired their damages and mounted guard. A second day crawled
by, and there was Byng like the patient goal-keeper waiting for a
second rush. Doubtless now he was ready for any one, and lusty
with pride in his recent victory. And no Galissoniere. Messieurs,
the game is played I
CHAPTER II. ABANDONMENT
Even after aU these years Byng is unforgotten and unforgiven.
A very large proportion of his countrymen still think of him as
the one Englishman in a high position of trust who failed to play
the man. Are they wrong? Would they have thought Byng a
coward, if they had stood beside that grey-haired old hero
Blakeney and with him seen the English flag float in the waterway,
with him seen the enemy give way before the EngUsh sailors'

224 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
blows? Did the people of Lucknow think Colin CampbeU a
coward when he battered on the gates ?
But Mahon was still hard pressed, and the Admiral's work half
done. What more had he to do ? To wait, ^^'hat though his
ships needed repairs? So long as they could float — to wait.
What though his wounded were numerous ; and he had no place
to put them, no comforts to bestow ? To teach men the scorn
of death ; to console the dying and^ — to wait. What though a
pestilence smote the crews ? To fight the spectre and — to wait
What though the foe returned with force renewed and heavier
ships ? To meet his onslaught, fight while a stick would stand,
and a gun could answer; and if again victorious — to wail. To
wait tUl despair feU upon the army of Richelieu who outmatched
the garrison by eight to one, and yet was helpless : to wait till
British reinforcements, already on the sea, brought him the relief
he needed, and the besiegers were in turn besieged. To wait ;
only to wait.
But Byng did not wait. He abandoned his post. He turned
his back on Minorca, left gallant Blakeney to his fate and sailed
away !
There have been good men and true like Sir Kenneth in the
Talisman, who have been lured from their post of trust by some
stratagem, or some agonizing motive that robs them of the power
of thought. Such men may be forgiven if their cause be just and
their advocate eloquent. But what can be said for one who
abandons his position through failure to appreciate its im
portance ! The Council of War which Byng held before his
departure shows plainly what were the reasons for his abandon
ment. He argued within himself that he must either fight again
or not fight. If he fought and sank the entire French fleet, he
could not of himself relieve the town : and if he himself were
sunk, the French were at liberty to capture Gibraltar as they
would in a few days' time assuredly capture Mahon. On the
other hand, if he did not fight and stayed where he was, he would
bring no aid to the beleaguered garrison, and a second expedition
might slip past him and capture the Rock. He did not see that
while he stayed where he was, the command of the sea was his,
and the foe could do nothing till his flag came down. He did
not see that in the worst event, if the French returned and sank

HAWKE 225
him at his post, the dying struggles of twelve English ships would
rob his enemies oftheir power for further mischief He did not
see what all but him could see, that his departure amounted to
callous, traitorous desertion. He was only anxious to refit in
haste, and hurry back to fight the enemy again.
No sooner was he gone than back came Galissoniere. If he
had sunk Byng's entire squadron his task could not have been
more perfectly complete. They were gone : under the wave or
over, he little cared. Communications with Richelieu were re
opened ; reinforcements brought ; cargoes unshipped ; and supplies
thrown into the invaders' lines. Spirits rose high in the camp ofthe
French : but within the walls hearts beat slowly and good hope
died. For more than a month after Byng's departure the plucky
little force defied the well-fed army of the French : but furthei
than that human endurance could not go, and the Union Jack
came down.
Minorca was lost.

CHAPTER III. THE ADMIRAL'S EXPIATION
In England a howl of execration went up, and the unfortunate
commander was at once set down as a dastard of meanest villainy.
The whole affair was so inexplicable that many saw treachery
red-handed. Byng had sold his services to Charles Edward, the
Young Pretender ! This version accounted for some of the
circumstances, but did not satisfy the populace. To them Byng
was a rascaUy craven, meet to be classed with the Kirkbys and
Wades. Why he should wait to run tiU the French had shown him
the way, was in truth a little mystifying.
We have lately been told
Of two Admirals bold.
Who engaged in a terrible fight ;
They met after noon.
Which I think was too soon.
For they both ran away before night !
But as certain details arrived of Byng's ingenious manoeuvre, and
its ruination by the overzealous van, new light was thrown on the
puzzle. Q

226 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
I said unto brave West, " Take the van, take the van,"
I said unto brave West, " Take the van."
I said unto brave West,
" As you like fighting best,
I in the rear will rest ;
Take the van."
Evidently Byng had run away unconscious that West had beaten
the enemy without him ! This was the " most unkindest cut of
all," seeing that the behaviour of the van had robbed Byng's
victory of its decisiveness. But to no one on shore was the truth
apparent, nor would the truth have been believed if an angel from
heaven had pronounced it.
The growling of the thunder had not diminished when Byng,
in answer to instant orders, sailed for a homeland whose ports
positively bristled with warrants for his arrest. He returned in
sorry mood. He was distressed to find that his services were no
longer acceptable. Acceptable I If tradition may be trusted, the
Premier was at that very time assuring an influential deputation
who blatantly voiced the disgust of the City of London : " Yes,
yes, yes ! We'll hang him of course ; of course. Yes. Yes ! "
If Byng felt nothing but the qualms of uncertainty on his passage
horae, the devilish demeanour of the populace when he landed at
Portsmouth in mid-August must have gone far to disillusion him.
After his arrest he was at first confined at Greenwich, but when
at the end of December, the trial began, he was removed to
Portsmouth. His judges, four admirals and nine captains, met
on board the St. George. The President of the Court was
Admiral Smith, known to his familiars as " Tom of Ten Thousand "
in recoUection of the saucy impudence with which as a lieutenant
he had forced a French frigate at Plymouth to lower topsails in
the presence of his ship. The prisoner was tried in accordance
with the Twelfth Paragraph of the Articles of War.* No haste
* Like so much else in the administration of the Navy, the Articles of War
had but lately undergone revision at Anson's hands. Ever since the days of
James II the twelfth Article had read : " Every person in the fleet, who
through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall in time of action, with
draw or not come into fight, or engagement, or shall not do his utmost to
take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage ; and to assist
all and every of His Majesty's ships, or those of his allies, which it shall be
his duty to assist and relieve ; every such person, so offending, and being con
victed thereof by the sentence of a court-martial, shall suffer death or such

HAWKE 227
was shown. All due formalities were respected, and after a
month's deliberation the court arrived at a decision, and sum
moned the prisoner before it for the last time to hear sentence
delivered. As he passed to the Sl. George Byng began to have forebodings.
Had he failed to prove that he had borne himself in battle as he
would have done under the very eyes of King Dettingen ? Would
he after all be subjected to the ignominy of a public reprimand ?
As he came on deck he was met by a friend whose face told its
own story, and that a sad one. The Admiral was astonished.
"What! have they broke me?" he exclaimed, and when the con
soler looked for words and found none, the Admiral again spoke,
" Well, weU I if nothing but my blood wiU satisfy them, let them
take it." Before the court of doom his countenance changed not,
nor did his cheek blench.
The saUor judges acquitted him of cowardice, and they acquitted
him of treachery, but they were unable to find that he had done
aU humanly possible to bring to a happy conclusion the work with
which he had been entrusted. They convicted him of negligence
and the punishment was death. Byng heard the sentence with the
same resignation with which he would doubtless have received the
news that a wound in battle was likely to prove mortal. There
was not a soul on board who was not sorry for him. Some spoke
to him of the King's clemency, ofthe hope of pardon. " Pardon I "
he returned mournfully, " what satisfaction can I receive from the
liberty to crawl a few years longer with the infamous load of a
pardon on my back? I despise life on such terms." The distress
of the judges was as genuine as their honesty was transparent.
They knew that their finding was right, and the penalty wrong;
"For our consciences sake as well as in justice to the prisoner, we
pray your lordships in the most earnest manner to recommend him
to His Majesty's clemency." No stone was left unturned to
rescue the doomed Admiral. Even his enemies, even the French,
other punishment as the circumstances of the offence shall deserve, and the
court-martial shall judge fit." In view of certain miscarriages of justice in
the Austrian Succession War, and the tendency of lenient courts martial to
take too much upon themselves, the words in italics had been ruled out. But
the alteration was intended merely to reserve the prerogative of mercy for the
crown.

228 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
laid petitions before the throne, but all to no purpose. Byng was
but human, and he had greatly erred. It was George's place to
forgive him. But the King repudiated the divine attribute, and to
aU appeals returned the same reply. "Was the sentence of the
Court at fauh?" Even Lord Hardwicke could but admit that
the verdict was unimpeachable. "Then," said the King, "it shaU
stand." It was on a wUd blustering day in March 1757 that the last act
of the tragedy was consummated. In Portsmouth harbour every
ship had her yards manned. Of the citizens the more curious put
off in sraall craft to be as close as possible ; others contented
themselves with a more stable post of vantage on the jetty. Admiral
Boscawen on board the Royal Sovereign signed the death warrant,
and gave the necessary orders for the firing party. The scene of
the execution was the Monarque, a 74 captured frora the French.
On board marines lined the poop and quarterdeck, the gangways
and waist. All the ships in harbour were required to send their
officers to witness the execution, but the wildness of the day made
it difficult for them to approach. The St. George, where the trial
had been held, and where Byng had once hoisted his flag, broke
from her moorings, in an inanimate attempt to rescue her master
or from an infectious sense of impending doom. It had at one
time been suggested that the execution should take place on the
forecastle, but the poor victim was spared this cruel and unnecessary
outrage. On the quarterdeck a platoon of nine marines stood
ready ; three lines of them, three in a line ; the first two lines with
bayonets fixed. On the opposite side a cushion, a plentiful supply
of sawdust, and a wooden screen completed the grim and ominous
arrangements. At the hour of noon the dread horror of expectancy invaded the
breasts of all who were privileged to witness the end. A few
minutes later the door of the captain's cabin opened wide, and
Admiral Byng stepped out. He was dressed not in the blue and
white he wore when he carried the Ramillies into action, but in a
light -coloured coat that the Navy knew not, nor recognised. In
the outer cabin stood a group of functionaries from the Admiralty,
wishing themselves elsewhere doubtless ; subdued ; shifting from
foot to foot. The Admiral bowed low to aU, and singUng out the
Marshal he said almost cheerily, " Now, come along, my friend "

HAWKE 229
and with firm step went out upon the quarterdeck. Here a glance
round showed him that all was in order, and in a voice which his
dourest enemy could not mistake for anything but a command, he
again accosted the Marshal, "Remember, sir, what I have told
you relative to this paper ; " and he handed him a document with a
ceremonious bow. Then turning he walked to the cushion and
knelt upon it. One offered to tie the bandage round his eyes,* but
the Admiral put him aside without impatience. "Thank God,
I can do it myself," he said, and did it as easily as a beau would
set his ruffles. For the space of a minute he bent his head in
prayer, and then according to a preconcerted signal he dropped a
handkerchief The nine marines advanced a step forward and
fired. Of six buUets five pierced the body of the Admiral, who
yielded up his soul without a struggle and without a groan. f
It may well be said of Byng that " nothing in his Ufe became
him like the leaving of it." Not Sir Thoraas More, nor Sir
Walter Raleigh mounted the scaffold with a quieter demeanour, or
died a felon's death, gracing it more the while. But the contem
plation of such an end makes it harder to understand why such a
character could ever have failed to see where his duty lay, while
* Byng was anxious to look his enemies in the face as he died, and consented
to be blindfolded only when he heard that the hateful task of his executioners
would thereby be facilitated.
t No one made a more strenuous effort to rescue Byng than Voltaire, the
great literary genius of contemporary France. In his novel Candide, he de
scribes Byng's death in a passage which will never be forgotten. Candide has
been brought up to believe that everything is for the best in the best of all
possible worlds, and in the course of foreign travel is rapidly correcting the
impression. " En causant ainsi ils aborderent a Portsmouth. Une multitude de peuple
couvrait le rivage, et regardait attentivement un assez gros homme qui etait a
genoux, les yeux band^s, sur le tillac d'un des vaisseaux de la flotte ; quatre
soldats, post^s vis-a-vis de cet homme, lui tirerent chacun trois balles dans
le crine, le plus paisiblement du monde ; et toute I'assembl^e s'en retourna
extremement satisfaite. Qu'est-ce done que tout ceci ? dit Candide; et quel
d^mon exerce partout son empire ? II demandaqui dtait ce gros homme qu'on
venait de tuer en c^r^monie. C'est un amiral, lui r^pondit-on. Et pourquoi
tuer cet amiral ? C'est, lui dit-on, parce qu'il n'a pas fait tuer assez de
monde ; il a livr^ un combat a un amiral fran^ais, et on a trouv^ qu'il n'etait
pas assez pres de lui. Mais, dit Candide, I'amiral franfais ^tait aussi loin
de I'amiral anglais que celui-ci I'^tait de I'autre ! Cela est incontestable, lui
r^pliqua-t-on ; mais dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un
amiral pour encourager les autres."

230 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Minorca claimed his aid. Perhaps no aspect of the tragedy is
more pitiful than the misconception under which Byng laboured
to the end. Loyally he had served his King, fearlessly met the
foe, confidently went to his death like a brave true gentleman.
Had he realised that his return to Gibraltar constituted desertion,
he never of course would have left : but he never knew in what
he had offended, and died in the conviction of innocence.*
It was of course to Hawke that all men turned when there
came bad news from the sea. Without loss of tirae he set out to
right the wrong ; to send home Byng, degrade the Governor of
Gibraltar, and castigate the fleet of GaUssoniere. He escorted a
new Governor, who raight be trusted not to retain at the Rock
men whose departure would lessen the garrison (!), and he took as
his second " Centurion " Saunders, a kindred soul of approved
worth. " A Cargo of Courage " set sail, said the wits.
The unpleasant part of the business was quickly over, but
Minorca was already past help, and Galissoniere safely bestowed.
There was work to be done, however. The fall of Minorca had
detracted gravely from British prestige. The Mediterranean
states began after the manner of small animals to bark at the lion
in his anguish and harry the noble beast with petty irritations.
At such a moment the presence of Hawke was invaluable. A
storeship en route for the Rock was snapped up by the French in
the Straits. There was no French port at hand, but the captors
dragged their prize into Algeciras. The neutrality of Spain
rendered the proceeding iUicit, and Hawke demanded the instant
release of the ship. The French returned a contemptuous refusal.
That the countrymen of Galissoniere the Great would chaffer with
pygmies who ran away in the middle of a battle was surely a
preposterous supposition !
Without a moment's hesitation Hawke lowered his boats,
swooped into the harbour, and cut out the prize from under the
Spanish guns.
After this the situation became easier.
*The inscription on his monument at Southill, Beds., runs as follows:
" To the Perpetual Disgrace of Public Justice, the Hon. John Byng, Esq.,
Admiral ofthe Blue, fell a martyr to Political Persecution, March 14th in the
year MDCCLII ; when Bravery & Loyalty were insufficient Securities for
the Life and Honour of a Naval Officer."

HAWKE 231
At home the cup of raisery rapidly filled, and filling overflowed.
In the selfsame month that saw the flag of Blakeney descend,
Suraj-ud-Dowlah perpetrated at Calcutta one of the vUest devil
doms recorded in history or myth.* Fortress lost and glory
departed ; battle and murder, massacre and atrocity. Could
national honour lower go !
Ever since Aix-la-Chapelle, the Queen of Hungary, patient as
Penelope, had been weaving a web. Hatred for the robber of
Silesia was its warp, crossed and recrossed by the woof of diplo
macy. With it she hoped at last to enmesh the King of Prussia.
Frederick's conduct during the late war had kindled in other than
Austrian breasts the sparks of jealousy and dislike ; and these he
carelessly fanned into flame by his caustic unbridled wit. He
made very rude remarks about La Pompadour and the Czarina
Elizabeth, and the ladies in question did not relish his jests any
the more because they were seasoned with truth. In the fatal
autumn of 1756 he found himself faced by a coalition, which in
cluded Sweden, Saxony, Poland, Russia, France and Austria. f
Where now to England was the benefit of the Prussian alliance ?
* When the news of the Black Hole reached Madras, consternation fell on
all. Charles Watson, now an Admiral, was there. His health was bad, and
his request for leave had been granted : more, he had been commanded home
with all his ships to meet the peril in Europe. But he set his maladies aside,
and declared himself ready to disobey orders. He would carry his squadron
up the Hooghly to retake Calcutta if the soldiers of Madras would second his
efforts on shore. The troops were embarked under the hero of Arcot whose
activities were thus transferred to a region where the laurels grew thickly.
Calcutta is eighty miles and more from the sea and its mouth is barred by
shoals called the Braces. The pilots declared it impossible to carry Watson's
flagship, the Kent, over the shallows. The Admiral declared that it no one
else would guide her in, he would guide her in himself. When Calcutta was
near. Colonel Clive went ashore ; and as his troops advanced against the
enemies' front, Watson turned their flank from the river. Thus the flag came
back to Fort William. Plassey followed, and Watson's seamen and guns
proved invaluable. It has been said that Watson was sick. The Bengalese
climate proved too much for him. He died soon after Plassey, and his tired
body was laid to rest in the graveyard at Calcutta. It is to be feared that his
monument in the Abbey with its palm trees and oriental chiefs has not
sufficed to keep his memory green. It is not that the star failed to shine : it
grew dim and vanished in the solar radiance of Clive.
t The unnatural alliance of France and Austria relieved England of one
anxiety. Whatever the result of the war, France could not possibly distrain
upon the Netherlands.

232 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Where was her boasted detachment from continental concerns ?
She had hoped that the American question might be settled with
out reference to Europe. Now she found herself too busy by far
to attend to the only matter which justified an appeal to the
sword. Meanwhile across the Atlantic the Marquis Montcalm was
repeating elsewhere the aggression of Fort Duquesne.
The storm of 1756 bore aU the distinguishing features of the
deadliest typhoon. Its destructive tendencies called for willing
hands, and willing hands were ready : Watson and Clive, Saunders
and Wolfe, Boscawen and Anson and Hawke. But still more
urgent was the call for a great directing brain that should find for
each his allotted task. Now was the moment for the inspiration
of an Elizabeth, the clarion voice of a Cromwell, the sober sense
of a WUliam III.
It may be conceded at once that Thomas Pelham, Duke of
Newcastle, England's Prime Minister, did not possess the qualities
requisite in his position*- The storm that had arisen was not of
his brewing, but this is all that can be said for him. No man of
eminence has ever found himself so completely out of his element
as Newcastle confronted by a war of world-wide dimensions. No
statesman has ever been so mercilessly pelted with flouts and jeers,
taunts and derision. He was fussy and incompetent. He lent
himself to the caricaturist and satirist. " He lost half an hour at
the beginning of the day and ran about till evening looking for
it." He was expected to recapture Minorca, flagellate Suraj-ud-
* Walpole (i72r-42) had been overthrown by the Carthagena fiasco : Car
teret (1742-44) by the disastrous battle of Toulon. Henry Pelham who
followed (1744-54), saw the horrors of the '45 dissipated by the battles of
Finisterre. These glories entitled him to the six quiet years of office that
followed Aix-la-Chapelle. Without the endowment of genius, he had learned
from Walpole the principles that govern finance, and the finance that over
rules principle. He had learned also from his master's mistakes, and so far
from driving all talented men into opposition, found places in his administra
tion for one man after another till the wits went to the dockyards for a simile
and nick-named his Cabinet the Broad-bottom'd Ministry. Pelham enjoyed
with infinite relish the exercise of power ; and all his actions were regulated
by a limpet-like desire to stay where he was, whatever the restless tide of
events might bring. Just as the New Englanders made their excusable but
unfortunate attempt in the valley of the Ohio, he died ; and Thomas, his
elder brother, slipped into his vacant seat.

HAWKE 233
Dowlah, turn the French out of America, and unravel one of the
most complicated tangles in the maze of European diplomacy — •
and he did not even know that Cape Breton was an island !
In the panic of '45 he had with craven fear offered his services
to the Young Pretender. The crisis of '56 was more terrible.
It threatened the overthrow not of the Hanoverians but of Eng
land. Newcastle raay be forgiven if he winced before it. But
there was one who did not wince. It was at this moment that
there passed into currency a golden phrase which caught the
impression of the nation's fancy and remains in circulation to
this day : "I know that I can save the country and that no one
else can."
The vibrant thrill of Pitt's voice had for long marked him out
in the Commons' House. In the autumn of '56 the moulder of
England's destiny was already nearly fifty years of age. Three
years younger than Hawke he had entered Parliament just at the
time that Hawke became a captain. At the outset of his career
he had joined his voice with Vernon's in denouncing Walpole's
policy of peace, in fulminating against the indignities which Eng
land was obliged to suffer at the hands of Spain. He bore down
resistance in debate as Hawke pinioned his prey. It was not
only that he was gifted with a melodious flow of perfectly chosen
words and perfectly harmonized ideas, but behind them pealed
the swelling diapason of invincible confidence, idealization of
duty, and a love of England that put to shame the greed of sects
and the plausible utterances of the trimming place-hunter. As
they listened to him men felt conviction in spite of themselves,
and those who were put up to answer found sudden truth in the
story that the Emperor Augustus could avert the assassin's thrust
by the lightning glance of his eye. Though the irreverent wit
might vow that the statesman acted with a talent equal to
Garrick's, the grandeur of Pitt's deportraent and the stateliness
of his demeanour supplied the fitting complement to his majestic
periods and commanding tone.
When the consuming fire of his zeal had driven Sir Robert
Walpole into the quiet seclusion of the Upper House, Pitt found
his country menaced by a more insidious danger. George II's
attempt to unite the German states in support of Maria Theresa
seemed to him chUdishly meddlesome and senselessly anti-national.

234 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
He assailed it with a vigour that defied correction ; and his un
compromising attitude made him a very odious image in the
Hanoverian eyes of the King. So bitter became the antipathy of
the court, so enduring the royal disfavour that the crisis of '56
found Pitt in a position no more exalted than that which he had
occupied when he first entered Parliament twenty-one years before.
The very attributes which estranged the brilliant orator from
the court, endeared him to the people, and enshrined him in their
hearts. They applauded alike his patriotism and his rectitude.
To them he was the " Great Commoner " ; and however menacing
the aspect of affairs, to them the remedy was obvious. " Away
with the Pelharas ! Put PUt at the helra : a pUot to weather the
storm ! "
So loud, so insistent was the cry, that court and minister bowed
before it. Newcastle retired like one who throws away a peach,
not because he has lost his taste for the luxury, but because there
is a wasp sitting on it. His withdrawal made way for a war
minister greater far than any England has produced before or
since. To the arts of the statesman Pitt united the subtle gift of
ripest generalship. With penetrating gaze he took in every part
of the theatre of war and his theatre was coextensive with the
world. Proudly conscious of England's strength upon the sea,
he recognized the power of his enemies upon the continent. He
did not boast of his own advantages, or thrust thera before the
notice of his rivals. He encouraged the belief that his own
schemes were also continental, in order the more successfully to
screen his plans of oversea dominion. "I will conquer America,"
he said, "upon the plains of Germany."
It was not only that like Marlborough, he " taught the doubtful
battle where to rage." As on the field Marlborough would
mask his movements till the last moment ; and when all was
ready, reveal a disposition of infantry and cavalry that the enemy
had little suspected : so the great war minister with the threads
of diplomacy entirely in his keeping, revealed his projects only
when it was too late to counteract them ; and manipulated his
striking forces. Navy and Army, with a perfect and unprecedented
appreciation of their possibilities.
More than all he was an innovator, and handled the Navy and
Army in combination as they had never been handled before.

HAWKE 235
In the development of services so different there had been a
natural tendency for the military advisers of the crown to draw up
the military programme, and the naval advisers to draw up the
naval. In the result a want of harmony often went far to vitiate
the general scheme of offence. Under Pitt's system the year's
campaign was arranged in consultation with the rulers of Navy
and Army. The needs were then made known to the subordinate
departments, but the plan itself kept secret. An army would be
mobilized, and a fleet equipped and commissioned without a soul
outside the cabinet knowing for what purpose the armament had
been prepared.
To those who had served under the old regime this was a
revolution, and the strangeness of the change is attested by the
usual series of apocryphal stories. According to these Pitt would
draw up instructions for the fleet, rush at Lord Anson, put his hand
over the instructions, and force the trembling Admiral [Anson
trembling I] to affix his signature without the faintest notion what
the fleet was expected to do : or he would threaten the First Lord
with impeachment if all preparations were not ready within an
absurdly short time-limit, producing such an effect by his spirited
menace that the men-of-war were all equipped according to the
time and manner appointed. It is a shame to scatter such ex
cellent myths ; but all are falsified by the one obvious fact that
Anson himself was in the cabinet. They serve however to show
the natural annoyance of a department hustled into raaking
arrangeraents without being shown the cause.
It was in November 1756 that the Duke of Newcastle retired.
But the dispensation of favours by his famUy for more than a
decade had won him a control over the Commons that frustrated
the schemes of Pitt. The great minister had hardly entered office
before he was compelled, "amid a shower of gold boxes," to
leave. As the country refused to have the Duke, and the Duke's
supporters refused to have Pitt, there ensued a deadlock which
could only be removed by the union of contraries. In June 1757
a joint-stock company was floated under the management of Pitt
and Newcastle.* But in the meantime priceless time had been
lost and England's enemies continued their insolent career un
checked. On one side of the Atlantic the French made fast
* " Mr. Pitt does everything, and the Duke of Newcastle gives everything."

236 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
their hold on all the three great Alleghany gaps, and massed their
forces at Louisburg the Gibraltar of the West. On the other side
of the Atlantic, Frederick of Prussia was defeated with the loss
of 13,000 men, and contemplated suicide : whUe the Duke of
Cumberland, Butcher of Culloden, by a shameless compact made
a virtual surrender of Hanover to the French.
Early in 1757 at Pitt's request Hawke returned from the
Mediterranean. He had already done much to re-establish
British prestige, and he left his fleet in the strong safe hands of
Saunders. Pitt was of course anxious to hear the Admiral's
opinion on the late miscarriage, after viewing the situation at
close quarters. In his own opinion Byng had been innocent.
Hazarding his popularity he had spoken boldly when Byng was
condemned. He had even remonstrated with the King. He
regarded the unfortunate Adrairal as atoning by his death not for
his own sins, but for the sins of Newcastle, who had allowed him to
sail with a paltry force, insufficient and ill -equipped.* Hawke
bluntly combated his arguments. Supposing that the prepara
tions had been inadequate, he had no doubt in his own mind
that if he had been in Byng's place he would either have defeated
Galissoniere, or died in the attempt. But he would not even
admit that the preparations had been inadequate. Why ? Be
cause they had been set on foot by Lord Anson than whom the
Admiralty never had and never could have a better head. Now
one of Pitt's most valuable qualities was his ability to estimate
quickly the raeasure of the fulness of a man's stature. He re
cognized in the sailor before him not only the brUliant com
mander that his deeds proclaimed him ; but a man of stubborn
views, whose loyalty, love of country, and sterling honesty held
up the glass to his own ideal of what a patriot should be. Was
Hawke's estimate of Anson correct ? Was Anson after all some
thing better than a Ducal hireling ? Hawke's words went far to
remove the mischief which the Minorca scandal had wrought.
The silent father of the Navy had been driven into retirement.
But now at Pitt's own invitation he returned to the Admiralty ;
* Newcastle's attitude towards Byng (cp. p. 226) was probably occasioned
by a belief that his own precious neck was in danger.

HAWKE 237
and in his quiet unaffected way contributed as fully as any one
to the lustre of the great administration.
ROCHEFORT
September 20-30, 1757
Despite the fiery impetuosity of Pitt, the energy of Hawke, and
— Anson's fear of impeachment, the first enterprise of the new
ministry was not in readiness till the autumn was far advanced.
No detaUs leaked out, and in profoundest sUence an expedition
set forth leaving friends and enemies equally mystified. Every
one knew that Hawke commanded the ships, and that there
would soon be news of a great success. There were sixteen
battleships, and Hawke in the Ramillies had the support of
Admirals Knowles and Brodrick. Knowles had served under
Vernon in the West Indies, and during the Forty-Five. Later in
the war he had himself commanded in the Indies, and in action
with a Spanish squadron captured one ship and put the rest to
flight. Court -martialled on his return for the insufficiency of his
efforts he left the court with a reputation for gallantry well adver
tised. He was a clever man, highly strung, overbearing and very
garrulous, putting his friends to flight almost as quickly as his
enemies. Brodrick was another disciple of Vernon and had
taken out the reinforcements for which Byng declined to wait.
Hawke's sixteen captains included Keppel, Byron, Rodney, Bar
rington, Denis and Howe.
This redoubtable band had under their all-puissant wings a
convoy of fifty -five vessels, an army nearly 10,000 strong, a
flotilla of bombships and light craft, and even a squadron of
horse. The soldiers were under Sir John Mordaunt, a nephew
of the famous Earl of Peterborough ; but an old man now, and
inclined to be critical of the civilian eccentricities of William Pitt.
Mordaunt had several eminent lieutenants, but none destined to
draw upon himself so much attention as his chief of staff, a young
man of thirty with red hair, who " was in a quite unheroic state
of corporal prostration a few hours after saUing ". Born in 1727,
James Wolfe had already lived through many venturous days, and
given ample evidence of his valour, enthusiasm, and ability, ^^'hen
his father accompanied Ogle to the Main as Adjutant-General to

238 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the forces, sickness alone prevented him from going also. Four
years later, stUl little more than a boy, he had been through the
crimson day at Dettingen. He fought at Falkirk, and at Culloden ;
and is said to have protested against the brutal butchery which
foUowed the JacobUe overthrow. In the latter years of the
Austrian Succession War he had won fresh laurels in the Nether
lands, and the peace had found him a lieutenant-colonel though
but recently out of his teens.
The point aimed at by the expedition was Rochefort. Situated
on the river Charente, the town is set back from the sea as far as
Southampton from the Solent, and is eighteen miles from La
Rochelle. The Charente empties its waters into the Aix Roads,
which lose themselves in the ten broad mUes of the Basque Roads
between the isles of Oleron and Rhe. The site had been chosen
by Colbert and approved by Vauban, who had erected Fort
Fouras and attendant batteries on the northern bank of the
estuary ; a bastion on the He Madame opposite, and a frowning
tower bristling with guns on the He d'Aix in the waterway.
In 1757 the English knew very little about the place, and
laboured under very natural misconceptions concerning its geo
graphy. The map that Hawke possessed was a positive handicap.
Thereon the Basque Roads appeared a passage perilous, beset with
shoals, in the midst of which the island fort sat like a siren inviting
victims. If these dangers were overcome the rest appeared easy.
The whole force would advance ; and while the town was bom
barded by the fleet, the army would be landed and race forward
with scaling-ladders and capture the place out of hand. The
town could then be burnt, the ships in the river destroyed, and the
fortifications blown into the air. To minimize the chances of
mishap the expedition included a Huguenot refugee, who was how
ever not more trustworthy than the map. He may have valued
his religion more highly than his blood. He probably valued
his stipend more than either. He certainly was not false, but he
knew no more of Rochefort than the English did.
The fleet reached its destination on 20th September full late
for operations in the Bay of Biscay. The weather proved unpro
pitious, and it was not untU three days had passed that Sir
Edward was able to order the grand assault upon the terrors of
the island of Aix. For this task he commissioned the van under

HAWKE

239

Admiral Knowles. But the opening of the attack proved the first
of the many surprises which this expedition had in store. The
Basque Roads were utterly void of offence, and the island fort
proved no impregnable fortress. The roadstead of Aix was so
wide that there was ample room for the fleet to lie under the
shelter of Oleron quite out of range of the bristling guns, had they
desired to do so. They did not desire to do so ; and the leader

^tut

No . ;-

?-'",«#^

I?.*.

1*^

^^'.

«vCl

t

/

Estuary of "N
Gironn/e ^^

ROCHEFORT 1757
ofthe van. Captain Howe, drew upon himself the admiration of all
as at midday on 23rd September he took the Magnanime within
forty yards of the fort and opened fire. It is said that the sight
of his 74 moving along in stately solemn silence was too much
for the gunners in the fort ; and that they threw themselves down
upon their faces and refused to rise. Some such legend is almost

240 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
necessary. After a cannonade of less than two hours, the island
of Aix was won, and offered the happiest augury for the success
of the whole adventure.
Before the day was over Wolfe who ceaselessly endeavoured to
bring matters to an issue, clambered up to the topmost bastion,
and from that post of vantage surveyed the scene eastwards to the
goal. Immediately in the front of him lay the fortifications
on the north side of the river mouth. If Rochefort was to be
taken these must first be mastered ; and he descended from his
perch firm in the conviction that the more speedUy the task was
undertaken, the more certainly would it meet with success.
According to his own estimate three ships and 500 men would
be sufficient. This opinion was endorsed by Hawke, who felt his
share in the business incomplete until the soldiers were ashore.
Therefore he detailed Admiral Brodrick to look for a suitable
landing-place, and prepared to move forward certain of the ships
for a direct attack riverwards upon Fort Fouras. The mock-pUot
undertook to guide the ships appointed to their destination if he
were allowed to lead the way in the Magnanime. The only
objection to the Magnanime was that she drew too much water.
StiU he persisted. Asked his reason he repUed : " Parceque le
capitaine 'Owe est jeune et brave." This was a good reason,
but once more it became evident that the expedition was sadly
lacking in local knowledge.
The Isle of Aix served as an outport for Rochefort town. The
river itself did not admit of the entrance of ships fully equipped.
Experience quickly proved that it would not be possible to repeat
against Fort Fouras the success achieved at Fort Aix, for not even
a bomb-vessel could approach within range. Howe's admirer
vehemently asserted that it was quite impossible to approach any
nearer than the ships were at the moraent, and this disappointing
intelligence went far to damp the ardour induced by the initial
success. So the first day ended.
On the foUowing day, 24th September, spirits rose again.
Admiral Brodrick's search party returned with the news that they
had found the very place where a landing could be effected with
out wetting one's shoes. It lay to the north side of the Isle of
Aix within a couple of miles of the forts that seemed so inaccess
ible. To Hawke, who expected an immediate landing, Mordaunt's

HAWKE 241
announcement of a CouncU of War to sit (all being well) on the
following day came like a palsy numbing limbs and thought.
This celebrated synod met early in the morning, and sat the
day out, talking, arguing, proving and disproving. The same old
arguments were flung from side to side, picked up and flung again
Uke so many tennis-balls. Sir Edward registered a mental vow
that never again would he willingly take part in such barren dis
putation. He was disappointed that the muddy shallows pre
vented his ships frora taking a more active part in the final
assault ; but at least he had brought the army to its destination
and was ready to plant them on the shore. All he asked was
that something might be undertaken and that quickly. Had
\Volfe been sufficiently senior to make his voice heard, there can
be no doubt that the Admiral would have had an enthusiastic
supporter. But Mordaunt had quite a different way of looking at
the problem. With much show of reason he argued that the
declared object of the expedition was the capture of Rochefort by
escalade. That operation was only possible if the town were un
prepared for the assault ; if for example, the fleet had entered
the Roads on 20th September, landed the troops at once, and en
abled them to deliver an attack a few hours after they were
sighted. What were the facts? The day following would be the
26th. Almost a week had passed since the enemy had received
news of their approach. During that week troops had probably
poured into Rochefort from every side ; guns had been refurbished ;
defences stoutened; everything put in readiness. There was
only one way now to capture Rochefort — by regular siege opera
tions. But no siege-train had been provided. Obviously
Rochefort would not yield to a handful of men with scaling-
ladders. What then? For what object should they land? For
a raid ? And supposing the raiders were repulsed (as they were
certain to be if the French had utilized the past days as they
should have done), could the fleet guarantee to carry them off
with the same ease with which they landed them? Even Sir
Edward Hawke would be fain to admit that his ability to do so
would depend upon the state of the weather. Was it then worth
their whUe to risk the safety of the whole army for the doubtful
advantage of a reconnaissance in force ? As they hadn't got a
siege-train, and Rochefort couldn't be taken without one, U was a
R

242 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
little difificuU to see what object there was in going ashore at all.
What did Sir Edward Hawke think ?
Sir Edward Hawke thought that the summing-up to which he
had listened would be more becoming to the judicial bench than a
cabin in a man-of-war ; but he gripped himself and did not say so.
He would doubtless have liked to say what should be done, but
he felt that the water part of the expedition was over, and that any
expression of opinion would trespass upon a province purely miU-
tary. He therefore ended where he began by a further delivery
of his conviction that something should most certainly be done.
Mordaunt misconstrued his tone, and adduced simUar arguments
to those already uttered. After an all-night sitting it was unani
mously agreed, in the early hours of 26th September, that Roche
fort could not be taken with a bundle of ladders. Anxious to
obliterate the impression of superiority which he had by accident
conveyed, Hawke agreed in a resolution which as a sailor he was
powerless to combat; and in the words of Wolfe, "the result of
the debates was unanimously not to attack the place they were
ordered to attack, and for reasons which no soldier will allow to
be sufficient."
The persistency of Hawke's declaration was not without its
effect, and for the next two days every one did his best to discover
some plan of action which should enable the services to pull
together. Keppel, and Rodney, and Howe, acting under Hawke's
directions, were untiring in their efforts, and Wolfe redoubled his
activities. The need of action was accentuated by the temper
of the rank and file, who quite faded to understand the niceties of
a situation which so completely baffled the military Commander-
in-Chief The devoted efforts of the naval men to push their ships
nearer inshore, and the growing disaffection of the soldiers at
last induced Mordaunt to descend to the obvious, and land his
troops for an attack in force on Fort Fouras. The night of the
28th was chosen, and the force was embarked, but the weather
proved viUainous, the boats were quite unable to proceed, and
the enterprise was pronounced impracticable even by the most
intrepid. While time had passed in daUiance, October had come
round and the weather offered no promise of improvement.

HAWKE 243
On 7th October, 1757, Pitt's armada dropped anchor in Spit
head, and so ended Hawke's only failure.
The home-returning warriors were received in a manner suffici
ently frigid. The feelings of the people found vent in muffled
peals of beUs and kindred exhibitions of irony. Dissatisfaction
was universal and loud-mouthed. Pitt, bitterest of all, solemnly
declared "that there was a determined resolution, both in the
naval and military coraraanders, against any vigorous exercise
of the national power." His anger was natural but hardly justi
fiable. He knew that his scheme was good. Because it had
failed, he began to fear that England could no longer breed the
glorious men that had done great deeds in the past. He had
set great store by his scheme : he had hoped by an exhibition of
England's might to cut into shreds the devices of the French ;
to disconcert them by the panic of invasion, and induce them to
squander all their efforts on defence ; to upset their projects and
plans ; to distract their attention from Araerica to the vulnerable
points on the Biscay coast ; to recall their troops from the
Hanoverian frontier ; to stay the current of their uniform success.
In these particulars the expedition to Rochefort was not un
fruitful. It did show the ease with which England could convey
a great fighting force over sea; it did raake the French very
anxious for the safety of their coasts ; and it did undoubtedly
relieve the pressure on the German side. Yet there was something
wanting. If Rochefort had been burnt to the ground, as Cadiz
had been in 1596, the blunt perceptions of the English mob would
have apprehended a national triumph. The same blood and
fury, instead of merely inclining the French to listen to Mr. Pitt's
arguments might have convinced them of his eloquence.
The popular voice singled out two names for encomium, Howe
who had in the Magnanime so fearlessly engaged the batteries of
the He d'Aix, and Wolfe whose declaration that he would take
the place with three ships and 500 men, found much honour,
especially among those least able to appreciate its significance.
Horace Walpole says that Howe and " Wolfe contracted a friend
ship Uke the union of a cannon and gunpowder."* These were
* Barrow, the biographer of Howe, garnishes the phrase with becoming
embroidery : " Howe, strong in mind, solid in judgment, firm of purpose is
the cannon : the gunpowder is Wolfe, quick in perception, prompt in execu
tion, impetuous in action."

244 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
men after Pitt's own heart, and the expedition which brought
them so prominently before his notice cannot be dismissed as
unfertile. The apparent failure of the venture, and the wholesale execra
tion heaped upon it wounded Hawke most deeply. He was con
scious that he had done all in his power, but he knew that it was
impossible to dissociate himself from what had happened. Men said
how strange it was the event miscarried when Sir Edward Hawke
was there. This hurt him more than all, and the recollection of
his own impotence aggravated his misery. In time, however, the
details of the story came out ; and all, from highest to lowest,
hastened to exonerate him. It is said that the King was first :
that he summoned " his Captain " to Court, and greeted him
effusively while he scowled at poor Sir John. Like enough he did,
even if the story were an invention. The country took Sir Edward
to its heart again, and even Pitt must have felt some compunction
for the scathing way in which he had consigned admiral and
general alike to the same degradation of criminal negligence.
Within a month of Rochefort there was presented in the West
Indies a very striking contrast to Mordaunt's barren, tedious
CouncU of War. The scene was Cap Frangois, on the northern
side of Hispaniola. Wrested from Spain by French buccaneers,
the place derived real importance when the growth of New
Orleans demanded safe transit through the windward passage.
[Map, p. 2 12.] Cap Frangois, being to windward of Jamaica,
commanded the home-returning British trade, and in time of war
invited reprisals.
Hearing that the French convoys for the year were assembUng,
the Admiral at Jamaica sent Captain Forrest to lay an ambuscade
eastward of Cap Frangois. Captain Forrest with three ships
took up his station ; and Monsieur de Kersaint, in the conscious
superiority of seven saU, determined to remove him. Forrest
summoned a Council of War ! As soon as Captains Suckling and
Langdon, his colleagues, appeared in the gangway, he haUed them :
"WeU, gentlemen, you see they are come out to engage us.
What think you ? " "I think," said Captain Suckhng, "that it
would be a pity to disappoint them."
This expression of Captain Suckling's sentiments won the entire
approval of Captain Langdon, and the shortest Council of War

HAWKE 245
ever held concluded with a brief summing up frora Captain Forrest.
" Very weU then ; go on board your ships again, and prepare for
action." The junior captains had not even set foot on their
superior's quarterdeck.
The fight lasted three hours. Suckling led the wee line in
Boscawen's Dreadnought ; Forrest followed, and Langdon brought
up the rear. Few actions have been conducted in more spirited
fashion. With the wind in their favour the dauntless three at
tacked the van of the enemy ; and the efforts of the rear to bring
assistance (being without method) produced a confusion by which
the EngUsh did not fail to profit. The battle was bloody, and
the triumvirs were at its conclusion quite unable to move. But they
were left undisputed masters of the field, and the sight of Monsieur
Kersaint and his friends being towed into safety brought its own
peculiar consolation.
As the first victory on the waves since Minorca the battle was
in 1757 most heartUy welcome. It proved that the spirit of
Grenville still survived, and bore promise of better things. To
day the action is still remembered because the captain of the
Dreadnought, with his slight, spare frame and quizzical face, lived to
be Controller of the Navy, and offered to provide for one of his
sister's sons. When he heard which nephew had elected for the
sea, he wrote : " What has poor Horatio done, who is so weak that
he, above all the rest, should be sent to rough it ... ? But let
him come ; and the first time we go into action a cannon-ball
may knock off his head and provide for him at once." Captain
Suckling, like his ancestor Sir John, the Cavalier Poet, had a
knack of saying a few quaint things which will never be forgotten.
As for Horatio, he did not have his head knocked off by a cannon-
ball, but was kUled by a musketeer's bullet from the fighting top
of the Redoubtable on another glorious 21st October when he
crushed the united fleets of France and Spain in the Battle of
Trafalgar. 1758.
Notwithstanding Rochefort and Cumberland's mishap, 1757 may
be regarded as a year of happy memory. In June, the chiUing
horrors of the Black Hole were avenged on the battlefield

246 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
of Plassey. In November, Frederick of Prussia crushed the
French at Rossbach, and ere Europe had recovered her breath
meted out the same chastisement at Leuthen to the forces of Maria
Theresa. Frederick became the most popular man of the moment
in England; and deservedly. In fighting his own battles, he
fought for England, seeing that Hanover was now defenceless. " I
beUeve," wrote Horace Walpole, " the Pretender himself could get
his attainder reversed if he would apply to the King of Prussia."
Thus there was a certain balance to carry forward to the next
year's account, and it was with something like a cheerful heart
that PUt took in hand his plan of campaign for 1758. Cumber
land's treaty was thrown into the waste-paper basket ; the Hano
verian army taken into English pay ; and the services of Prince
Ferdinand of Brunswick, one of Frederick's most talented lieu
tenants, secured for its command. It was hoped that Frederick
and Ferdinand, back to back, would be able to keep Europe at
bay. But it was not of course on Europe that Pitt's thoughts
were bent. Nothing less than the conquest of America would
please him, and his first anxiety in the new year was to open his
transatlantic attack. The principal armada, amphibious in its
nature, was to be hurled against Louisburg, while land expeditions
against Fort Duquesne and Fort Ticonderoga would distract the
enemy's attention. P'or the command of the land forces at Louis
burg Pitt selected General Geoffrey Amherst who had shown some
skill in Germany, and General ^Volfe who had made his fortune
at Rochefort. A fleet of twenty, equal to all emergencies, was put
under Boscawen, whose adventures in the St. Lawrence before the
war marked him out for this service.
Boscawen set out very early in the year in order to be first on
the scene. The French, alive to their responsibilities, instituted
everywhere preparations for the relief of the town and the rein
forcement of the garrison. In the Mediterranean and Biscayan
ports work ceased not.
No place was busier than Rochefort, the scene of the recent
fiasco. Five ships of the line, seven frigates and forty transports
for the convoy of 3,000 troops awaited the finishing touches.
Every hand was eraployed, and the stroke of hammer, the creak
of cordage, and the shouts of overseers recalled the scene at Cadiz
in 1587. There was need of haste. Time was getting on, and

HAWKE 247
the first week of April was already gone. But there was little
more to be done : a few raore spars to be slung ; a regiment or
two to be embarked.
Then without a word, without a note of warning fell the blow.
On Sth AprU Hawke sighted the He d'Oleron. His previous ex
pedition was to bear its fruit after all. He knew the way. He
knew the anchorage, and head down he plunged straight in with
seven of the line, himself leading. He had a free hand this time,
and there was to be no mistake. The five battleships, the seven
frigates, and the forty transports did not need to be told who it was.
They guessed, or knew by instinct. There was nothing to be done.
They cut their cables, and helter-skelter they fled for their lives.
Compared with the terror behind them, the shallows before them
wore a kindly aspect, and with wUd precipitancy they hurled them
selves where no ship that desired to remain afloat could possibly
venture to follow them. The luckiest ran aground, the less fortun
ate fell sprawling on their beam-ends, and wallowed in the mud.
They did not dream of fighting. Their one idea was how to
escape. They began to cast everything portable overboard. Not
guns only, but everything that would lighten their load. When
at last the tide came in, each unfurnished hulk, once a luxurious
argosy, left a buoy to mark the immersion point of her jettisoned
armament, and squirmed or crawled into the navigable channel
of the Charente.
This edifying spectacle did not bring Hawke much pleasure.
Nothing short of completeness satisfied him, and the Rochefort
ships had escaped destruction. He had with him nothing smaller
than frigates. Of sloops, bomb-vessels and fire-ships he had none.
He had foreseen the need, and had vehemently protested when
his request had been ignored. He could but think that a splen
did opportunity was lost. After destroying for the second time
the sprouting battlements , on the Isle of Aix, he collected the
buoys that the enemy had so carefully laid down to mark their
buried treasure ; and left the anchorage, secure in the conviction
that Boscawen would not be molested in his work by ever a ship
that haUed from Rochefort.
The Mediterranean reinforcements were no more successful.
Monsieur de La Clue, who had seconded Galissoniere in the
Battle of Minorca, hoped to run through the Straits on a dark

248 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
February night. With a squadron of nine he left Toulon, but
the vigilant guardians of the Straits forced him back. In defiance
of custom he found a temporary haven in neutral Carthagena, but
as he closed the door behind him Admiral Saunders locked it
from without. The Governraent anxious for his relief sent six
more ships under the Marquis Duquesne who hoisted his flag in
the Foudroyant, the pride of the navy of France. Duquesne
hoped to unlock the door in the dead of night and release his
admiral ; but miscalculated his position, and as twilight was falling
carae within sight of the blockading squadron.
Three English ships chaUenged the Marquis, and compeUed
the Foudroyant to turn' before the wind. One was the Monmouth.
She had but 64 guns. Theoretically she was unfit to sail the
same sea as her quarry. But she had two great advantages. She
was as clean-heeled as a sleuth-hound, and she was captained
by a man with a story. Arthur Gardiner had been Byng's Flag
Captain in the Ramillies. He had a debt to pay to honour.
He had panted to meet, in a ship of his own, the vessel that had
carried Galissoniere's flag in the fateful Battle of Minorca.
Could he recognize the lines of the Foudroyant through the
curtain of gathering dusk ?
As the Monmouth slipped through the water leaving her con
sorts behind, he piped aU hands and addressed them. "That ship
has to be taken, my lads. I shall fight her until the Monmouth
sinks." One broadside from the Foudroyant would have sent his
ship to the bottom ; but he laid her under the great ship's stern
and gave her his larboard and starboard guns alternately. Even
so the contest was unequal. As the hours passed the casualties
in the Monmouth grew redder. Gardiner hiraself received a wound,
but his grip on the foe was a bull-dog's and he did not move from
his place.
Two hours before midnight he received his death, and with his
last whisper confided his honour to Lieutenant Carkett. Carkett
nailed his flag to the mast to prevent accidents. But the spirit of
Gardiner animated the whole company, and when the Swiftsure
came up at midnight, the Foudroyant, with mizen gone by the
board, was still vainly struggling to shake the little Monmouth off.
The Swiftsure flung herself into the fight. Her angry broadsides
thundered out, and Monsieur Duquesne bowed to fate, and 

HAWKE 249
superior numbers. It was to Lieutenant Carkett that he sur
rendered his sword.
The capture of the flagship that had driven Byng home, the
capture of the Marquis who had driven the Araerican colonists
like sheep from the Ohio valley, almost choked the English
people with a sob of satisfaction, and as the tears of joy glistened
in their eyes, they hailed the little Monmouth up and down, while
King George patched up the Foudroyant, added her to his fight
ing line, and gave Lieutenant Carkett the post rank he had
earned. As for Monsieur de La Clue and his battle squadron they re
mained at Carthagena, not more to be envied than sundry vessels
of war uncomfortably disposed in the Charente.
On his return to England Hawke ruffled his feathers, and
meditated broodingly upon the ill-fortune that attended his flights
to the Bay of Biscay. The name of Rochefort was hateful to
him. His first visit had been ruined by Councils of War, his
second by a want of barest necessaries. Was he held responsible?
Greatly he feared it. If not, why had he received no word of
acknowledgment, no single line since his home-coming ?
At the beginning of May his worst suspicions were confirmed.
As he awaited further commands at Portsmouth, he received
a visit from Richard Howe. The young man was a prime
favourite of his, alraost [it may be said] his chosen disciple.
Hawke had a high opinion of his perfect fearlessness, and had
given him at Rochefort a great opportunity. But he came com
missioned by the ministry to make a descent upon the coast of
France, and the Admiral commanding at Portsmouth was in
structed to supply him with all that he required. So this was
the end. Hawke read between the lines of his instructions and
saw it all. Pitt's unjust taunts and puzzling sUence were clear as
daylight now. If the captor of Aix had commanded in chief
Rochefort would have yielded to his blows ! The young man
without desiring it had supplanted him ; and for what he had
faded to do through no fault of his own he himself now stood
condemned. Without a moment's delay Hawke seized a pen and delivered
himself as follows : —

250 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Portsmouth, 7 o'clock p.m.. May 10, 1758.
Sir, — About four o'clock arrived here Captain Howe, and delivered me
their Lordships' order of the gth. In last September I was sent out to
command an expedition under all the disadvantages one could possibly labour
under, arising chiefly from my being under the influence of land officers in
Councils of War at sea. Last cruise I went out on a particular service,
almost without the least means of performing it. Now every means to
ensure success is provided ; another is to reap the credit. ... I have therefore
directed my flag immediately to be struck ... for no consequence that can
attend my striking it without orders shall ever outbalance with me the
wearing it one moment with discredit. I am, &c.,
E. Hawke.
Here with a vengeance was a shaking of dust from one's feet.
But whatever may be thought of the letter's tone, the world would
hardly expect Sir Edward Hawke to answer otherwise.
What was the truth ? Was Howe's mission an intentional
insult ? Was Pitt rejecting the finest instrument he had ? Was
this an example of his courage in lifting a junior over the head
of less-talented seniors? Happily there is no need to detract
from his renown. He had a larger scheme in view.
It was well known that the raid on Rochefort had attracted
thither some 20,000 men. If Pitt had underestimated its im
portance, Ferdinand of Brunswick's applause corrected the im
pression. The Hanoverian difficulty would be much simplified,
he wrote, if such a diversion could be repeated. With 20,000 men
idle at Rochefort, the obvious course was to change the point of
impact. Constant attacks Avidely distributed would either con
gregate on the sea-board the whole military arm of France, or force
her fleet to come forth and police the coasts. Either result was
a consummation devoutly to be wished. According to the war
minister's latest idea Howe, by attacking some point in the Channel,
was to lure the fleet of Brest from its haven, whUe Hawke awaited
the happy exodus, and darting upon his prey would strike it dead.
This was- the scheme unfolded to Hawke when in response to
an urgent summons he visited the Admiralty. Howe's operations
in the Channel formed part of a larger scheme to be committed
to himself It would have been more usual to communicate
everything to the Commander-in-Chief and leave him to deal
with detaUs ; but on the other hand, his own departure had been

HAWKE 251
unnecessarUy precipitate. The situation was one of extremest
embarrassment. It was Anson of course who set things right.
In his capacity as First Lord he nominated hiraself Admiral in
command of the leaderless Channel Fleet, and as Commander in
the Channel he invited Sir Edward Hawke to serve as his second
in command. Sir Edward, eager to make amends, accepted with
avidity, and the two great victors of Finisterre set forth in company.
Under the circumstances it is not perhaps surprising that the
French decided against the employment of their fighting fleet.
Howe was therefore enabled to carry out his part of the per
formance without interruption from the side of the sea.
The first expedition which he conducted was under the military
command of the Duke of Marlborough, whose name augured well
for the success of the venture. St. Malo was selected for attack,
and in June a landing was safely raade at a point well removed
from the town. From here a raid was planned on the shipping
in the harbour. Four warships and more than sixty merchant
men, stores, sheds and shipyards were delivered to the flames.
The French sustained damage amounting to ^750,000. But
the Duke liked not the prospect of besieging the town, which he
reckoned was well able to hold its own until sufficient troops
raUied in its defence. He therefore quitted the place, leaving
his sUver tea-spoons behind. The French with ironical courtesy
sent them after him. They were not to be crushed by every Duke
of Marlborough. The Duke himself declared that he had had
enough of buccaneering, and transferred his activity to the camp
of Prince Ferdinand.
In August, Howe escorted a new venture under General Bligh,
whose age unsuited him for such work. A landing was made at
Cherbourg, which was not at that time the place of importance it
became under the Napoleons. For a week the English occupied
the harbour. They destroyed the fortifications, pulled the town
down, fired the thirty ships in the basin, demolished the piers
and ruined the anchorage by sinking ships fuU of stones. Then
under the careful dispositions of the Commodore, the whole force
re-embarked in perfect safety, and transferred itself elsewhere.
In September a second descent was made on St. Malo. The
troops were landed to the west of the town ; but unpropitious
weather impeded the co-operation of the fleet. The previous

252 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
visit had put the French on their guard, and as their armies closed
round him, poor General Bligh ordered the retreat. Had Com
modore Richard been at his side as at Cherbourg, aU might have
been well. But no precautions were taken to cover the embarka
tion. Howe brought the fleet into the sheltered bay of St. Cas,
but before two-thirds of the soldiery had been taken off, the enemy
appeared. The unfortunate rear-guard stood at bay on the sand;
but so horrible was the carnage in the approaching and departing
boats that human endurance could bear no more, and the exertions
of the rescue parties were relaxed. On seeing this, Howe himself
got into a boat, and standing erect in the bows had himself rowed
where the bullets were thickest. His example put new courage
into every one ; but in spite of all his efforts, a thousand men
were left behind, and most of them were kUled.
The cost in blood and money that these ventures involved was
more than counterbalanced by the utter confusion into which
they threw the whole French plan of campaign. Ferdinand
felt the pressure upon him relax and won his first important
victory ; and Ferdinand's success relieved the pressure upon
Frederick, who in August defeated the Russians decisively at
Zorndorf But the coastal descents were unintelligible to the
British public, and were consequently raost unpopular. "The
Massacre of St. Cas" passed into a byword, and strategy so
baffling was by admission more easily criticized than defended.
" Breaking windows with guineas," Lord Holland called it, and
though Horace Walpole besought his countrymen to " sail up the
Rhone and burn Lyons," the second attempt on St. Malo was the
last of an unusual series !
It was not until a week after the departure from Spithead of
Anson and Hawke that active operations began at Louisburg. The
passage across the Atlantic was unduly prolonged, and with better
saUing luck the French might easily have arrived first, — if they
had been allowed to start !
Nowadays it is a little difficult to realize the importance attached
to Louisburg in the time of the Seven Years' War. Situated on
the east coast of Cape Breton Isle it is now an obscure little
fishing village, which has lost its importance almost as completely
as Nombre de Dios and Porto BeUo. This decay has been due

HAWKE

?53

to the gradual rise of Halifax, whose princely waters can accommo
date the entire British fleet. If the French could have retained
Nova Scotia at the Peace of Utrecht, they would not have cared
so much about Louisburg. In the absence of better, Louisburg
was essential to them if they were to retain their hold on the
Laurentian waterway. The town itself handsomely fortified, was
unassailable by ships from the side of the sea, though vulnerable
by a naval force in possession of the harbour. This was only
approachable by a narrow entrance little more than half a mile in
breadth, and comraanded by an island battery. The weak point
in the French defence was the naval arm. The defenders of

ft . '?eS?^"'eNs

louisburg, 1758
Louisburg had but five ships of the line, and were consequently
in no position to sally forth and drive the foe away. Their one
hope lay in holding out tiU help should come from France. For
this reason the siege of Louisburg was being conducted by Hawke
in the Aix Roads and Saunders in the Mediterranean.
Boscawen in the Namur brought with him from Halifax a fine
force of more than twenty sail of the line, and a fleet of frigates,
bomb-vessels and fire-ships. General Amherst had an army of
12,000 men and the invaluable services of Wolfe. On Sth June
the army was landed under cover of the naval guns. To confuse

254 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the enemy the troops were told off for different landing-places in
three detachments, the more important, under Brigadier Wolfe,
being farthest removed from the town. These last, pushing
home their attack, encountered all the difficulties which Sir John
Mordaunt had anticipated at Rochefort. The enemy were ready
for them, the surf played with the boats as a child with a shuttle
cock, and the weather promised to cut them off from the fleet.
But Wolfe rose superior to all difficulties, and though the boats
were stove in, and the men flung into the sea, he fished them out,
and gathered them on shore at the only point masked from oppos
ing batteries. As he did so Amherst pushed home the other
parties, and by threatening the French communications with the
town successfully completed the most hazardous part of the
undertaking. The British now invested the place in form, but as they did so,
the French sank their frigates to block the harbour mouth, and
securing thus their warships from the ocean way utilized the
heavier vessels with the utmost skill to enfilade their enemies on
land. But the EngUsh were equaUy amphibious. Wolfe worked
his way round the whole circuit of the harbour, and got into touch
with Boscawen's blockading squadron. Then while Amherst
engaged the town, these two great men played into each other's
hands with a skill and harmony quite unprecedented. Wolfe's
thoughts were devoted to the discovery of means for bringing the
fleet into action : to prove his ships as productive of sappers and
miners as the most perfectly equipped army corps was Boscawen's
sole desire. Between them they erected a battery on the point
of land opposite to Louisburg. By its aid the island guns were
sUenced. Mortars were then landed from the ships, and snugly
ensconced round the harbour. Before the enemy realized what
was happening, three of their flve battleships were set on fire, and
burnt right down to the water-line. This enabled Amherst to
press home his attack, and Boscawen not to be outdone launched
aU his boats, and under cover of night sent thera into the harbour
to cut out the last two ships. The strictest sUence was enjoined,
for the enterprise was over-bold and hazardous. But as the ships
were reached three ringing British cheers broke the silence and
the Prudent and Bienfaisant were carried.
This last exploit rendered the harbour an innocuous pond, and

HAWKE 255
on the following day [26th July], when Boscawen moved forward his
ships with intent to attack the town from the harbour, Louisburg
surrendered without conditions ; Cape Breton passed into the
hands of England, and the gate of America was won.
Every church tower in England sent forth a joyful peal when
the news carae home ; for the capture of Louisburg was an earnest
of complete success for Britain's cause. Old men dreamed
dreams and young raen saw visions of a future when the whole
vast continent of North America should be held in perpetuity by
the Anglo-Saxon race.
There was further cause for rejoicing, if men but knew, in this
autumn of '58. In a little East-Anglian parsonage the vicar's
wife presented her husband with a baby boy. The child was not
nearly so plump as he should have been ; and fearing he was not
destined to live long they made haste to christen him, and chose
the name Horatio. His arrival caused no stir in the land, and it
is not certain that his parents were as grateful as they should have
been, for they were already blessed with a family of five, and four
of the five were boys. They certainly had no reason to suppose
that this little morsel of humanity was destined to become by the
admission of aU the "greatest saUor since the world began."
The good news from Cape Breton went far to compensate the
country for a disappointment elsewhere. Against the Marquis
Montcalm in the Richelieu vaUey Pitt had sent the man whom
Wolfe regarded as the finest creature in the whole British army,
the "complete model of mUitary virtue in aU its branches."
Lord Howe, the elder brother of the imperturbable Commodore
Richard, understood the colonial troops as few of his contempor
aries, and won from them a whole-hearted loyalty. With him
were the splendid Highland regiments which Pitt had raised
from the ranks of England's enemies. Hearts rose high ; but
unfortunately the gallant leader was the first to faU, and his death
paralysed the brain power of the force. The repulse at Ticon
deroga was a temporary set-back : the death of Lord Howe was a
national calamity.
A year of crowded incident was brought to an auspicious con
clusion by the happiest event. General Forbes, triumphing over
a thousand difficulties, of which his own mortal sickness was not
the least, carried back the flag to the Ohio valley, and re-christened

256 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the fort of humUiation Pittsburg ; because, as he wrote to the
Great Commoner, " it was in some measure the being actuated
'by your spirit that now makes us masters ofthe place."
THE WONDERFUL YEAR. 1759
" We have taken more places and ships in a week than would have set up
such pedant nations as Greece and Rome to all futurity. If we but call Sir
William Johnson, Gulielmus Johnsonus Niagaricus ; and Amherst, Galfrida
Amhersta Ticonderogicus, we should be quoted a thousand years hence as the
patterns of valour, virtue and disinterestedness.

" P.S. — You shall hear from me again if we take Mexico or China before
Christmas. Horace Walpole."
The first two years of the war not unnaturally led the French
to underestimate England's power upon the sea : the events of '58
led them to reconsider their estimate. The Rochefort fiasco had
not prepared them for the loss of Louisburg ; but the loss of
Louisburg recalled the conditions which had forced them to agree
to the terms of Aix-la-Chapelle. So far from wasting energy in
wrestling with continental chimeras, the English were deliberately
aiming at the monopoly of America and the Indies. Unless
France sent forth stronger fleets, she would be cut off from that
empire which she had been at such pains to possess. She had
done her best to entice England from an element on which she
felt herself inferior ; but she was not impotent. She might not
be able to match herself with England on every sea, but she could
launch a single mighty fleet capable of dealing effectively with
one at least of England's squadrons. How then were such a
fleet most usefully employed ? America cried for help, but no
longer provided a base of operations. The English now were the
better circumstanced, and could close the St. Lawrence to rein
forcements from France, however well-timed. Moreover, it was not
yet certain that the English would push up the St. Lawrence. If
they did, Quebec was exceUently placed, and might certainly be
trusted to hold 5ut for one campaign at least.
Louis XV, King of France, resolved upon a bolder scheme :
nothing less than the invasion of England. If advertised early
in the year, this plan would throw his enemies into a state of
panic, and paralyse their designs. They would cease to contem-

HAWKE 257
plate further aggression in America, or further operations against
the coast of France. In all probability they would behave as they
had done in '56, though they would probably send Boscawen to
the Mediterranean to secure the safety of Gibraltar.
Such reasoning was sound enough if WUliam Pitt had been an
ordinary mortal. But the Great Commoner was determined to
foUow up the Louisburg stroke, cost him what it might. Even
when he received news of the threatened invasion, he decided to
accept the risk. America must be conquered, and conquered in
'59-
QUEBEC
JUNE TO SEPTEMBER, 1759
Pitt's plan of campaign was cleverly constructed. One army
was to advance against Ticonderoga, avenge the death of Lord
Howe, and open the road to French America by land : a second
was to proceed by water up the St. Lawrence, complete the work
of the preceding year, and cut the defenders of Ticonderoga from
their base. Operations in the Hudson valley were confided to
the trusty hands of Amherst. Quebec was a ruler of waters and
required a composite force as amphibious as that which had taken
Louisburg. Wolfe of course was chosen to command the military, but with
an invasion in prospect England required all her great naval men
nearer home — Anson at the Admiralty, Hawke in the Channel
and Boscawen in the Mediterranean. As a coadjutor for Wolfe,
Anson's choice fell upon one of his favourite sons, the sometime
captain of the Trial. Charles Saunders had gone out with
Hawke in the " Cargo of Courage " that replaced the unfortunate
Byng : recently he had returned in triumph with the Foudroyant.
Though not tiU now in supreme command his sterling worth and
valour had frequently been tried ; and it may safely be said that
a better choice could not well have been made.
Saunders and Wolfe set forth in February and concentrated at
their new base in Cape Breton Isle at the beginning of June.
Wolfe had under his charge a siege-train and a small but efficient
army of 8,000 men. Saunders with his flag in the Neptu?ie had
twenty sail of the line ; and if transports be included, the vessels
under his care numbered no less than 170.
s

2s8 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
There were interesting personalities in the fleet. Hugh
Palliser, hereafter famous, commanded a 74, and Edward Hughes,
the stout opponent of the great De Suffren. Then there was a
short lieutenant with a shrewd face and twinkling eyes, called
Jervis, christened John, destined to do great things, and for the
moment a warra favourUe of Saunders. Not by any means least
was James Cook. Born in Yorkshire of humble parents, he had
felt the call of the sea in the establishment of a haberdasher near
Whitby. For a time he served in the coasting trade or in com
mercial ventures to the Baltic. At the outbreak of war in '55 he
had volunteered his services in order to secure the bounty offered
to seamen, feeling certain that otherwise he could hardly hope
to escape the " press." His four years in the service had been
well spent, and 1759 found him exalted to the rating of Master.
Aboard the Pembroke his ability and beautiful handwriting were
well known, but none in the fleet could have prophesied that
Cook was destined as a circumnavigator to make the name of
the Resolution as famous as the Centurion or the Golden Hind.
Quebec, the hope and aim of the expedition, was at this time
the principal city of French America. It was as unlike any of the
growing communities of the New England states, as the govern
raent of French Araerica was unlike that of English. Quebec
was the Paris of the New World, the be-aU and end-all of French
American citizens. To England the capture of Boston, or
Philadelphia, would of course be a serious matter ; but if Quebec
were to fall, there was an end to the dream of French domination
as surely as death must ensue if the heart be pierced.
Quebec is situated far up the river, 400 mUes from the western
end of Anticosti ; as far removed from the Gulf of St. Lawrence
as Paris from the Gulf of Lions. For this reason the share of the
fleet was from the first transcendently important. It was Saunders'
duty to maintain communications with the open sea, and to escort
the army as far as possible up stream in order to protect it from
molestation by the way. Even when the fleet was prohibited from
further advance, the army would be obliged to proceed for the
rest of the way in boats ; and to add to the Admiral's difficulties
the navigation of the stream was known to be exceedingly difficult
and intricate.
Whether Saunders coaxed the local pUots aboard by hoisting

HAWKE

!S9

the flag of France ; whether he made use of charts procured from
the prizes captured by Boscawen in '55 ; or whether he simply
relied on the skUl of Cook and other warrant ofiicers cannot with
certainty be affirmed : but a week before the end of June, 330 miles
of the journey had been accomplished wUh a facility passing ex -
pectadon. Farther than this the Neptune and larger ships could
not proceed. Saunders accordingly left thera to guard and patrol
the lower reaches ; and shifting his flag into the Stirling Castle

QUEBEC, 1759
[64] pushed his way onward with every ship that could bear him
company. A few days later the array landed on the western end of the
He d'Orleans, a narrow island sprawling its length for more than
twenty mUes, and cleaving the river into channels, north and south.
From this coign of vantage Wolfe surveyed the city long and
anxiously. But his reconnaissance brought him no satisfaction.

26o SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Approached from the sea Quebec is set in the waters like an
inverted triangle. The sides are washed respectively by the river
St. Charles, and the river St. Lawrence, which unite at its apex to
form a basin of considerable width. With certain vague topo
graphical detaUs in his mind Wolfe had pictured himself engaging
the base of the triangle whUe Saunders shut off all hope of relief by
a stubborn occupation ofthe basin. But Quebec was no common
place replica of Louisburg. As Wolfe brought his inspection to
an end, it seemed to him exceedingly doubtful whether he would
ever be able to attack Quebec from the land at all.
Some eight mUes below the city the North Channel receives
the waters of the Montmorenci. Between this river and the St.
Charles the ground is high, and provides a roomy platform domin
ating the waterway beneath. Montcalm, a master of his art, had
not shut himself up within walls to undergo a siege. His forces
were half as large again as the English, and he had drawn them
up on this rising ground with his right resting on Quebec and his
left on the Montmorenci. If his opponent made a frontal attack,
the shallows below him would prevent the ships from any effectual
participation in the encounter.
Reluctantly Wolfe confessed to himself [and to himself alone]
that Quebec was practically impregnable. Nothing but a flank
attack could possibly succeed : but where could a flank attack be
delivered with the shadowiest prospect of success ? It must at
once be admitted that Louis XV's counseUors were not afflicted
with overweening conceit when they informed their royal master
that Quebec could be trusted not to yield to the pressure of a
single campaign.
Every day that passed served to convince Wolfe that his salva
tion resided in the Navy. The very evening after their arrival
Saunders' force gave proof of their steadiness and self-reliance.
Hoping to drive his foes away before they had time to feel at
home, Montcalm sent down upon them a bevy of fireships. The
position of the invader favoured the attempt. Confined in waters
that were as narrow as they were strange, but a little thing seemed
necessary to throw them into panic and confusion. But the
sailors, after duly admiring the fireworks, quietly grappled their
ardent wooers, and towed them out of harm's way.
As soon as the fleet had comfortably ensconced itself between

HAWKE 261
Point Levi and the island, Wolfe set himself to investigate the
extreme right of the enemy's position. To a water-borne force
the city gap of the St. Lawrence offered an available passage. If
successful in getting through, the invaders raight turn the whole
position ; or at the least find a weak spot in the defence. But
at the outset a difficulty arose. The water-gap was strait and
circumscribed, and was comraanded by the guns of the town
itself Saunders endorsed Wolfe's opinion that the Upper River
should be explored, but pointed out that every ship sunk in the
effort to get through would contribute not a little to block the
channel which was probably none too deep for fighting ships.
Wolfe, quick to see where co-operation between Navy and Army
was possible, resolved to erect batteries on the right bank of the
river, and contest with the city batteries for the supremacy of the
strait, just as he had done at Louisburg. Accordingly a new
camp was made under Point Levi, and soldier and sailor essayed
the construction of works that should silence the batteries on the
opposite side. The task was necessarily of long duration, but
was entered into with zest and good-nature.
While a part of his forces were hammering at the water-gate
Wolfe did what he could against the hostile left. But here
again a watery difficulty intervened. The approach to the
Montmorenci lay through the shallows of the North Channel
which forbade the use of anything heavier in draught than a boat.
Wolfe would have liked to disbelieve in the shallows ; but then
(as he told Saunders) he of course was only a landsman. Saunders,
whose admiration for his military colleague increased from day
to day, desired nothing so much as to find cause for Wolfe's
disbeUef For the matter in hand he singled out his favourite
John Jervis, whom he had just promoted by a convenient vacancy
to the command of the Porcupine sloop. To the great surprise
of the French onlookers, the Porcupine nosed her way into the
North Channel, and under her covering fire, Wolfe was enabled
to land a force on the bank of the turbulent Montmorenci oppo
site to that occupied by the French. The position was not rich
in promise. In front lay a splashing foaming river, and beyond
it eight miles of intrenchments, and 12,000 armed men. But at
least a force had been landed on the enemy's ground and Montcalm
might be tempted to remove it.

262 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
Montcalm was too cunning to be tempted, and the July days
wasted away.
MeanwhUe activity at Point Levi had brought its reward. The
battery was erected, the range found, and the bombardment of
Quebec begun. The upper town was safe from the English
gunners but considerable execution was wrought in the lower,
and under cover of this the ships selected by Saunders ran the
gauntlet about the middle of July, and reached the waters of
the Upper River. One poor vessel was crippled in transit, but
at last there was a possibility of properly investigating the right
of the enemy's position. First acquaintance with the higher
reaches afforded little comfort, for on the left bank the cliffs
shot up like unscalable walls to twice the altitude of a high
church tower : men called their roof the Heights of Abraham.*
Persevering exploration might reveal something more hopeful :
and Saunders accordingly sent up every ship that could squeeze
her bulk through the gap. After all there were French ships,
that had taken refuge above the town, to be routed out : and if
Amherst proved successful at Ticonderoga his route would carry
him up the Richelieu valley, and the Richelieu joins the St.
Lawrence a hundred miles above Quebec. The departure of the
up-river squadron left a sufficiency of ships for any occasion that
might arise below the town.
The most troublesome feature in the British calculations was
the time-limit. The seasons fought for Montcalm. Summer was
on the wane, and winter would close the river in its grip of ice.
The barren passage of time goaded Wolfe to madness, and on the
last day of July he ordered an assault on the enemy's left. He
thought to lead fresh troops ashore under cover of Saunders' guns
while those already ashore below the Montmorenci pushed across
the stream to their assistance by a ford which he had newly dis
covered. Ere the forders were in motion the wild impetuosity of
the landing-party ruined a scheme which was in any case probably
hopeless. Seeing no good could come of this attempt, Wolfe hastily
withdrew his troops. And now the weight of responsibility, the
fatigue of incessant endeavour, and the total want of success threw
him into a dangerous fever. Grave fears were entertained for his
*To commemorate Abraham Martin, a pilot.

HAWKE 263
life ; sadness fell on all ; and August wore itself away proving as
barren as July.
At last frora the ships in the Upper River came something
resembling good news. Quebec, it seemed, was not all-sufficing
but drew her supplies from a depot further west. The chance of
cutting this communication was infinitesimal ; but the mere menace
was enough to alarm the French who had evidently detached a
considerable quota of their force to shadow the ships as they
worked their way up stream.
Now also came news that the colonial General Johnson had
captured Fort Niagara, and that General Amherst had taken
Ticonderoga itself
AU this brought new life to the stricken commander, and did
more for hira than all the doctor's stuff. He insisted on being
patched up ; and finding his legs again hastened to prepare for
that glorious stroke which has exalted his name to the skies.
Montcalm had played his part with skiU and patience. He
had done nothing rashly, and had interpreted his opponent's moves
almost before they were made. His own position was formidable
and easily defended, but this did not blind him to his adversary's
strength. The amphibious nature of the English enabled them to
shift their point of attack with a mobility unattainable on land.
Montcalm eyed them narrowly. Early in September he saw
Wolfe remove his army from the bank of the Montmorenci.
What did this portend? His spirits rose as he observed active
preparations for a frontal attack. The general was clearly con
centrating his force at some convenient spot : the admiral was
busy with soundings and buoys. Could it be that the English,
mad with disappointment, were about to assail his main position
after aU ? Then there were those ships in the Upper River.
What were they after ? He had his own interpretation. He be
lieved that Wolfe was threatening his communications to induce
him to divide his force. Either he meant to make good this
threat ; or he meant to deliver another frontal attack when he
heard that sufficient reinforcements had been detached for the
extreme right wing. In order to deliver the correct counter
Montcalm required to know how many of the English troops had
been removed to the Upper River. Here his information faded

264 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
him, for the silent mysterious wooden walls might conceal merely
the usual complement of mariners, or be crammed as full of war
riors as the deceitful horse of Troy.
It went to his heart to weaken his central force, but the menace
to his lines could not be ignored, and he bowed to necessity. In
doing so he knew that he was playing Wolfe's game. He felt sure
that when his army had been divided Wolfe would hurry back his
up-river troops ; join them with those at Point Levi and the Island ;
and under cover of the naval guns hurl his entire force on
the enfeebled legions of France. 'Whensoever delivered a frontal
attack would not take him unawares. He had not been out of
his uniform since June.
But there was something rather ghastly in the hours of waiting.
Sometimes he feared that \\'olfe might really endeavour to press
home the feint on his right ; again, he comforted himself with the
thought that his lieutenant Bougainville was worthy of his trust ;
and the difficulty of the ground would surely discourage the most
courageous. What he expected was a surprise attack on his front, an advance
under cover of darkness ; and on the 1 2th September his anticipa
tions seemed about to be realized. The night was pitchy black,
but the sentries could discern movement in the British fleet.
The Admiral was pushing in as near as possible to the main
position. Now the evening stUlness was broken by the crash of
the cannonades. The ships were doubtless preparing the way for
the approach of the boats, those boat-loads of the dauntless who had
¦ wrought such woe for France in the bay of La Hogue, who only last
year had cut out the last two ships in the harbour of Louisburg. "
Every eye peered forth into the blackness, but the night was
impenetrable. " Courage, countrymen ! ShaU we drive back the
invaders of our hearths as we did in the bay of St. Cas ! " Why
came the perU no nearer? Had the boats crept in unobserved?
Were they delaying their attack till morning light revealed the lie
of the land ? Mischief was afoot : and terror was vested in more
awful forms by the power of imagination.
At last came the dawn streaky and grey. And then in those
pale and uncourageous hours came the awful news. The entire
British army was drawn up in ordered array on the Plains of
Abraham, at the very gate of the city !

HAWKE 265
Montcalm could not credit the news. The report was ex
aggerated. The force on the heights was an isolated fraction.
But fresh reports came in and showed only too plainly that his
interpretation of Wolfe's last move had been entirely at fault ; that
the genius opposed to him had outplayed him, outwitted him and
had the game in his hands. The gallant defender of Quebec
hastened to transfer his troops from one side of the Charles to the
other ; but in the hurry and confusion which he strove so nobly
to suppress, he recognized the shadow of a great calamity.
Wolfe had staked his all on the chance of a single throw. He
had discovered above Quebec a little path, a mere goat-track
which led from the river-bank to the heights above. Only one
man could ascend at a time, and Montcalm, whose keen eye had
examined every nook and cranny, had established a picquet to
guard it. Therefore the place might well have been consigned to
oblivion. But Wolfe saw in it a staircase up which he would ascend
and claim for his country the dominion of America. Most people
can walk up a staircase. Many could clamber up the Anse du
Foulon. But how could Wolfe dare to carry up an army under
the very nose of a commander so sleepless as Montcalm ?
The ships in the Upper River were intended to keep Bougain-
vUle in his detached position. They would have done so with
their normal complement. Wolfe had utiUzed them as sUent
receptacles for at least the half of an army, which he did not mean
to use in the way that Bougainville expected. According to the
plan worked out in coUusion with the Admiral these ships were to
play a double part.
In the faUing light of the appointed afternoon they would push
their way up stream as if to menace a new found landing-place.
The ever watchful Bougainville might be trusted to follow
anxiously along the bank. Thus the entire right wing of the
enemy's force would be set in motion in a direction diametrically
opposite to the point of danger. Then as the night wrapped a
curtain round the floadng. force, the ships would drop their boats
upon the water ; half of the up-river army, about 2000 strong,
would embark therein ; and the swift current would carry them
down with noiseless rapidity to the foot of the chosen staircase.
The ships themselves less wieldy would foUow with the second

266 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
half of the up-river force, and arrive at the landing stage about the
time that the last of the first detachment had worked its way aloft.
Simultaneously the remainder of the land force stationed in
camp at Point Levi would march up stream upon the southern
bank and assemble in readiness to be carried across as soon as
the ferry boats were empty. Meanwhile the heavier sail of the
line stUl located in the basin opposite the town would move
inshore with a noisy energy that bespoke a frontal attack in force.
If things went well the entire French army, right, centre and
left would be debarred from taking the smallest part in the night's
proceedings. To engage the enemy's attention Wolfe relied wholly on the
ships : but his reliance on the naval arm did not stop here.
Having decided upon his stroke and accepted the risk, he left
every arrangement in Saunders' hands. The task of conveying
the soldiers and landing them under stress of no ordinary excite
ment on a night as black as pitch at a point difficult to discover
in daylight was by the sailor cheerfully accepted and faithfully
fulfilled. Before the first step of this momentous scheme was taken
Wolfe demanded and was of course accorded a final word with
the commander of the Porcupine. Jervis and he, though separated
by a certain gulf of years, had been educated together at Greenwich
in their boyhood, and it was to his old schoolmate that Wolfe
chose to entrust a particular service. He realized the extra
ordinary risk of the resolve that he had taken ; he realized that it
might be his privilege to make Old England richer by his death ;
and as he thought of those at home whom he might never see
again, with a husky voice and a tell-tale tear he confided to his
friend a tender raessage and parting token for her who looked to
see him " come again with joy and bring his sheaves with him ".
The boats moved forward in a silence unbroken save by the
dip of the oars and the cry of a whippoorwUl among the trees.
The men had orders not to speak a word. But in the leading
boat Wolfe recited to the little group with him, verses from Gray's
Elegy, a poem then not ten years old, but ripe already in the
promise of immortality. What little noise he made was heard by
the watchful sentries of the French who rapped out their challenge

HAWKE 267
through the darkness. Wolfe was prepared for this and back
came the answer in irreproachable French, " Ce sont des bateaux
charges de provisions pour la ville. Pas de bruit si vous ne
voulez pas que les Anglais nous entendent."
At last the chosen staircase was found, and all night long the
saUors laboured bringing boat-load after boat-load to the landing-
place. In the distance the crash of Saunders' guns told them
that the Admiral was keeping the Frenchmen engaged and that
aU would yet be weU. The ship-loads followed the boat-loads,
and then the Point Levi army was ferried across. And stUl those
stout arms tired not : and when the last soldier was up, with that
perfect combination of ingenuity, good-nature, strength and dis
interestedness which distinguishes the British sailor over every
other fighting machine since the world began, they managed to haul
up the guns as well, one after another, while the dawn approached,
to that cheerful accompaniment of cannon in the distance.
When broad daylight succeeded dawn Saunders knew that
there was no longer any use in continuing the bombardment. In
activity was impossible, and his fertUe brain devised fresh ways of
helping Wolfe. He unshipped his 24-pounders, and sent them
in boats to the Anse du Foulon with orders that they too should
be carried to the summit.
Even as he did so Montcalm hurled his force against the best-
disciplined army that ever trod. Wolfe, after a fashion that only
a ship's captain could properly appreciate, reserved the fire of his
whole long line tUl the foe were within point-blank range. Then
came three withering volleys in sonorous unison, and the army of
France was mown down quicker far than grass beneath the
mower's scythe. Nothing could stand before that deadly haU.
They turned ; and Wolfe allowing Montcalm no time to raUy, put
himself at the head of his troops to sweep his adversaries from
the field. His first wound he noticed not, and when the second
bore him to the ground, his mighty soul paused upon the threshold
of life untU he received the happy assurance that the French were
routed, and America was won.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power.
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave.
Await alike the inevitable hour :
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

268 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
It is not every day that there is a continent for the winning,
but it is not every day that sees Army and Navy working together
in harmony so perfect as they showed before Quebec.
No one mourned the loss of Wolfe more sincerely than the
Admiral who had loved him and given him of his best. In more
senses than one Saunders was the poorer. Had Wolfe descended
from the Heights of Abraham alive he would most certainly have
attributed to the Admiral the credit which he would never claim
for himself
Had Saunders been fashioned differently the siege of Quebec
could never have been brought to a conclusion so triumphant.
"He was," says Horace Walpole, "a pattern of the most sturdy
bravery, united with the most unaffected modesty. No man said
less or deserved more." A vacant seat awaits Saunders among
the immortals ; but though his admirers have often claimed it for
him, the Admiral himself seems loath to sit in it.*
Though the French did not expect the fall of Quebec, the
possibility of its capture had not entirely escaped their calcula
tions. Quebec was the bait in the ingenious trap of their Inva
sion Scheme. If the English were frightened by the look of the
trap, the bait would be saved. If they sniffed at the fragrance of
the bait, they would betray their indifference to the trap : if they
ran greedily towards it, they were in a fair way to be caught.
Strange as it may appear, Saunders' expedition gave ground for
satisfaction at Versailles. The bait, it was true, might be swal
lowed. But would England have allowed a force of such magni
tude to leave her shores if she had imagined herself in peril ?
* Saunders was knighted in 1761, and during the latter part of the war com
manded in the Mediterranean. On a lucky day his greyhounds brought in the
Hermione, most remarkable of prizes ever taken. When all expenses were
paid there was still half a million to be divided. Saunders received ;^65,ooo
and the bluejackets ;£"5oo a piece. These reckless creatures " bought up all
tlie watches at Portsmouth and fried them o/er the galley-fire ; they passed a
formal resolution making a gold-laced hat a necessary part of every sailor's
equipment, and were only restrained from inflicting summary punishment on
one unhappy wight, who appeared in one ornamented only with silver, by his
assurance that he did not go to the hatter's till the more costly articles were
all gone, but that he had made the man take the money for a gold " [Yonge].
Sir Charles succeeded his master as First Lord in 1766, and died in 1775.

HAWKE 269
Twenty of her batdeships, the pick of her troops, and the most
talented of her generals on the other side of the Atlantic, and
her infatuated Premier blissfully incredulous of danger !
England was walking blindfold to her doom !
Even the most supercilious will acknowledge that the details
of the Invasion Scheme showed commendable originality. Fifty
thousand men, widely distributed, were to be concentrated only
at the very last moment. In order to conceal the point of em
barkation, flat-bottomed boats were to be constructed at every
port. The Mediterranean squadron, when ready, would run
through the Straits of Gibraltar, and unite itself to the Brest con
tingent. This grand fleet would serve merely as a covering force
to convey half the military across the sea. Its itinerary would
not be that of the Spanish Armada in 1588; but of the little
Doutelle in 1745. It would be discovered of course upon its way,
but would brush spasmodic resistance aside by its overwhelming
strength. The army being landed on the Ayrshire coast would
march on Edinburgh and hold it against all comers. This of
course would stir English blood to fever heat and while the main
fleet which had been uselessly guarding the Channel, sailed furi
ously up to Glasgow, the army [if Pitt had an army ready] would
be hastened up to Edinburgh. Meanwhile the French ships, in
stead of tamely turning back into the arms of the English com
manders, or awaiting an encounter in the mouth of the Clyde,
would reverse the Armada route, continue round the north of
Scotland and instead of attempting to force a way through the
Straits, would make for a fixed point on the coast of Flanders,
pick up the other half of the army which would have concen
trated there, and carry it across to the east coast within a few
hours' march of London.
Much sagacity is discernible in these details. There was wis
dom in the avoidance of the carefully patrolled English Channel,
and in the formulation of a plan which did not presuppose the
defeat of the English fleet. It may further be admitted that with
25,000 men in Edinburgh, and 25,000 at Colchester, not even Pitt
could have saved the situation. Yet the whole plan was based
on fallacious reasoning.
England is a fortress. The silver sea " serves it in the office
of a wall, or as a moat defensive to a house ". The French not

270 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
only proposed to cross the moat and scale the waU ; but with un
conscious arrogance made sure of doing so. The general who
invests a city knows that, other things being equal, he can starve
the garrison into terms. But he cannot rely with absolute con
fidence on the result of direct assault. The French failed to see
how exactly England answers to all the conditions of a fortress.
The defender of a citadel, they would have argued, knows the
weak points of his defence. He places his sentinels along the
waU, and the best of his troops in the outworks ; he doubles the
guard at every gate ; and from his watch-tower, ever vigilant,
surveys the movements of the enemy. But how could England
know that her invaders meant to land a force in Ayrshire ? How
could she possibly foretell where the assault would be delivered ?
She had far too many gates to guard. She could not watch them
all. Here lay the fallacy. The water-gates of England are the
ports of the enemy. Pitt knew that no force capable of con
quering England would dare to cross the sea without an escort :
he knew that the French bases capable of accommodating the
needful fleet might be numbered on the fingers of a single hand.
His sleep at nights was not disturbed by fears for Edinburgh or
Colchester. He did not intend to set palpitating armies in a
continuous circle round the coast. He would simply double the
guard at every gate . . . send Hawke to Brest and Boscawen to
Toulon. Of course the French Atlantic fleet might escape from
Hawke, the Mediterranean might elude Boscawen. But no wise
man would count on such uncertainties. Louis XV raight sneer
at England's army of defence, but it was upon the Navy under
the good providence of God that the safety of the kingdom de
pended.

THE BATTLE OF LAGOS
August i8, r75g
The Mediterranean fleet with a journey to go was the first to
approach completion. Admiral Brodrick with an insignificant
force was watching British interests in those waters and sent
home word of unwonted activity, Boscawen in the Namur hurried

HAWKE 271
out to take over the command, and at the beginning of May was
off Toulon with reinforcements which brought his total strength to
fifteen saU of the line.
From the moment of his arrival he made tireless efforts to
entice the French out to sea, but Monsieur de La Clue was a
man of experience, and did not mean to be drawn. For a time
matters remained at a standstill. But at length two frigates, cut
off from harbour by the English, sought refuge in an adjacent bay.
Boscawen determined to fetch them out. Unfortunately the
temporary haven was defended by forts and sheltered from the
wind. Three of Boscawen's ships were becalmed under the
batteries, and halted out with maimed limbs and purpose un
fulfilled. There was no Port Mahon now for resort at such a juncture.
AVhat was the Admiral to do ? The dispatch of three helpless
cripples to Gibraltar unattended was not to be contemplated : the
division of the fleet at such a moment would but court disaster.
To increase the difficulties which beset him provisions began to
run out. There was no help for it. In July the whole fleet
turned its back on the blockaded city ; and early in August
appeared at the Rock. Had it been possible to remain outside
Toulon, Boscawen would have preferred to do so. In departing
he set reliance on two points. The French would probably
interpret his departure as a trick, and refuse for some time to
venture out of port. When they did venture, they would be
forced to run through the Straits, and here Rooke's conquest
would enable him to let down the portcullis and deny De La Clue
the right to depart.
On his arrival at the Rock, Boscawen instructed the Gibraltar
frigate to ply incessantly across the Straits ; and with her he
arranged a code of signals in case the enemy appeared with un
expected suddenness.
De La Clue was not very long in making up his mind that
Boscawen's departure was no subtle lure to tempt him to destruc
tion. He interpreted the move at its right value, and made all
haste to reach the Straits, hoping doubdess to find Boscawen un
prepared. His progress was attended with all due caution. He
determined to run through the Straits under cover of darkness,
and to creep along the African side. At first glance the role

272 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
does not seem to be particularly dignified ; but the success of
the French campaign depended principally upon the union of
the squadrons in Toulon and Brest. Till that was accoraplished
nothing was to be ventured or essayed.
The light was just beginning to fade, and a haze to setde over
the water on 1 7th August, when the Gibraltar, faithful watchdog, ran
in and shrilly barked out the warning note arranged. The enemy
were within the Straits and creeping through on the opposite side.
News, which at any other time would have been hailed with deUght,
struck something like consternation into the hearts of oak in the
bay. It was not as if the warning had been brought by frigates
from Malaga who had given cumbrous battleships the slip.* Forty-
eight hours or even thirty-six would have given the ambuscading
force araple time to sally forth and hold the water-way. Had the
whole fleet been in readiness anxiety must still have prevailed tUl
the ships were out of harbour. But the fleet was very far indeed
from being ready. The celerity of the French had taken them
completely by surprise. The Admiral himself was ashore and even
at the moment of the alarm in the act of sitting down to dinner.
The Namur had not a single saU bent. Many of her sisters were
in similar plight. Some were even worse off, with topmasts
struck. It certainly seemed as if the French object was no longer pre
ventable. The Toulon fleet was free to join the fleet at Brest
as in the days of Tourville and D'Estrees. The English were in a
state of complete unreadiness ; daylight was already gone ; and the
great French vessels swung through the Straits.
But Boscawen was there ! He was on board again almost before
they had told him the news. And his spirit infused itself into every
man who served him. The work of days was crowded into
minutes. Thousands of hands and a single wiU accomplished the
impossible. In three hours the British fleet was out of port, and nose down
upon the traU I
De La Clue had laid his plans carefuUy. If he found the luck
against him and an English fleet ready for pursuit, he had resolved
* The unprecedented demands made upon the English dockyards in this
wonderful year left Boscawen practically unprovided with frigates.

HAWKE 273
to double round Cape Trafalgar to the safe recesses of Cadiz. If
however, fortune befriended him, he would crowd on saU and win
through to Brest. Fortune had favoured him, and his good ship
Ocean spread her wings and carried him northward through the
darkness. He had no more reason to suppose that the English
were behind him than to doubt that his consorts were in front.
When morning came he counted his brood, and discovered to his
surprise that of his twelve ships only seven were wUh him. For a
moraent his heart raisgave him. Another minute, and he dis
cerned the laggards coming up behind. Backing his mainsail he
signaUed to them to make all saU. They conducted themselves
strangely, coming on apace, but to his secret signals scorning reply.
As they loomed larger he counted them ; not five there were, but
eight. AVas it possible ? He was holding witless conference with
the eneray. It was now his turn to make sail, and he set every
inch of canvas to woo a fickle wind.
The five missing ships had played the truant. Wilfully or
stupidly misunderstanding the Admiral's instructions, they had
not waited for daylight to resolve their doubt, but under the
shadow of night crept into Cadiz. They were, it is true, the
smaller ships of the fleet, but their action was none the less re
prehensible, and left the Commander-in-Chief with but half his
force to add to that at Brest, and with but seven ships if needful to
fight against fifteen.
Not fifteen : amid the excitement of pursuit Boscawen had fared
little better. The A^aotm/- with seven consorts, had got away well
before the rest, and when morning revealed the Frenchmen with
their wild signals flying, the remaining English ships under Admiral
Brodrick were far enough astern. If the foe were overhauled and
brought to battle, the engagement would be fought on something
like equal terms, for two of Boscawen's ships were only " fifties,"
while De La Clue's were all third-rates, save the Ocian, and she was
an " eighty " and one of the finest ships afloat. On board of her,
serving in a subordinate capacity, was De Suffren, soon to win for
himself one of the finest reputations as an admiral in the history
of France and of the world. Of Boscawen's captains Bentiey of
the Warspite had been Flag Captain to Anson at the First Battle
of Finisterre, and at the Second had commanded the Defiance under
Hawke. Captain Tom Stanhope of the Swiftsure had in the
T

274 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
previous year followed the Uttle Monmouth in her chase, and with
timely aid completed the subjugation of the Foudroya?tt.
It was seven o'clock in the morning when Boscawen reaUzed
that the foe had not as yet escaped him. He at once gave orders
for a general chase, and as the hours passed the Englishmen
realized that they were gradually overhauling the fugitives. One
of De La Clue's ships, the Souverain, was a bad sailer, and the
Admiral stood by her like a man. In doing so, of course, he
lost ground, and about midday the leading British vessels were
in a position to open fire on their opponents.
The Centaure in the rear of the French fought with glorious
intrepidity. Her captain, De Sabran, must have been one of the
godlike race of heroes who can breathe into his company the con
viction that to die with him is better than to live. One English
ship after another crowded round, but still the Centaure kept her
colours flying. The end was inevitable, for none of her com
patriots stood by to lend a hand. The sacrifice was not, how
ever, useless, for if the Centaure immolated herself the rest of the
force might escape.
Boscawen looked about vainly for the means of rectifying the
misconstrued zeal of his subordinates. The signal to make more
saU, or engage the enemy more closely conveyed nothing in par
ticular to those who had sailed their swiftest to engage within
pistol-shot. What Boscawen wanted was a signal embodying
Hawke's manoeuvre at Finisterre the Second. " Each ship as she
comes up to pass by the disengaged side of the ship or ships
already fighting, and make for those immediately ahead."
The Warspite and the Stviftsure were quicker to appre
hend, and towards the middle of the afternoon the Namur was
able herself to give the lead which the quicker vessels had been
so slow to appreciate. Forging ahead, making all the sail he
could, Boscawen singled out the Ocian, and a conflict of giants
began. Boscawen was thirsting for battle and fought to slay.
He carried his ship under the Frenchman's bows and poured in a
terrific broadside. De La Clue, knowing the reputation of the
man with whom he had to deal, made a dead set at his adversary's
masts and sails. After a brief contest the Ocean shot away Bos
cawen's mizen and both his topsaU-yards, and sidled' away from
the grip of her opponent crowing with delight. Furious with his

HAWKE 275
ill-luck the Admiral instantly ordered his launch to be lowered,
and his flag to be shifted to another ship. Such methods of flght-
ing were not to be tolerated. He would take the whole French
squadron yet.
As he wended his way in his barge, a shot from the enemy
bored its way through the side of the boat, and the water came
pouring in threatening to submerge them. Ever ready, with that
power of instantaneous action that always marked him, Boscawen
snatched his wig off his head, rolled it into a plug, and stopped
the leak before the boat had shipped two bucketfuls.
The ship to which Boscawen shifted his flag was the leader of
Admiral Brodrick's division now appealing on the scene. The
proximity of this reserve force may account for the determination
of De La Clue to continue his headlong flight, rather than turn to
bay. Certainly it was of the most material advantage to Boscawen
who had reckoned on its support. By this time the heroic
Ceiitaure had yielded. The dauntless De Sabran had endured
eleven wounds, and had fainted not. The twelfth kUled him.
His decks were like a charnel-house : 200 gallant fellows had
fallen. Boscawen detached one of Brodrick's ships to guard the
gallant vessel, and with the rest he pressed on like a tireless
hunter who sees the sun go down upon the chase while the
wounded quarry still outpaces him.
AU night long the chase continued. Boscawen's ships had
suffered more than his men, but the reserve division gave him all
he required. De La Clue had already lost heavily in men, but
some of his ships had hardly been in action at all. Two of them,
dastards, hidden by the darkness deserted their leader, and ran
for safety whither the wind would bear them with its breath.
When the sun looked down in amazement on the long protracted
chase, De La Clue found that of his original twelve, four ships alone
remained. Seven had left him in the hour of need, and the
gaUant Centaure lay bleeding among the foe. The cursed
English StiU panted up behind, but before him glimmered the
coast of Portugal some fifteen mUes away. He may weU have
uttered a sigh of relief; if that were possible with one leg broken
and the other wounded. But a few miles farther and neutral
waters would be reached, neutral waters where the ships of Britain

276 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
would not dare to continue the action. There was sorae consola
tion in leading them such a dance only to balk them in the end.
De La Clue may have formed a sound appreciation of Bos
cawen's fighting quality ; he was not so well acquainted with his
obstinacy. Balked of his prey ? Not a whit ! Neutral waters ?
Then why did the foe run into them instead of turning to fight
like men ? Rights of nations ? Who infringed them first ? If
the French could go no farther, so be it. The end should be
here. " Old Dreadnought " took no longer to contemplate the
intricacies of the Jus Gentium than he did to get out of Gibraltar.
The last scene of the battle was enacted in the waters of Lagos
Bay. The four French ships with varying fortunes had essayed
an entrance. The Ocian, the pride of the fleet, had run aground,
and run aground with such an impetus that the shock had sent
all her masts by the board. The other three, the Redoubtable,
the Temhaire and the Modeste lay snugly under the forts of
Portugal — the Redoubtable less comfortably than her sisters.
Boscawen lost not a moment. For the stranded Ocian he selected
the America and bade her go and compass the end. His
triumph was not to be graced by a captive Commander-in-Chief
In spite of his melancholy condition De La Clue had already gone
ashore. But the Ocean had fought her last fight. Her back
was broken. Boscawen gave his orders and the smoke ascended
voluminously skywards.
When Admiral Brodrick moved forward to deal with the Modeste
and Redoubtable the Portuguese guns protested, but the English
men heeded them not. The Redoubtable, like the Ocian, had
done herself a mortal injury, and was consigned to the flames.
But the Modeste was carried out amid cheers. The highest
honour of all was assigned to one who richly deserved it. The
Tiniiraire had been foremost in the fight against Byng. Cap
tain Bentiey of the Warspite carried her out, and added to the
British Navy a noble vessel, and what was to prove under the
Union Jack a famous fighting name.
There were great rejoicings in the fleet, and well there might
be, for there had seemed Uttle chance of such a result when the
Gibraltar fired her warning guns off Europa point. The Admiral
accepted congratulations in a manner entirely his own. " It is
weU," he said, " it is weU ; " and then digging his hands into his

HAWKE 277
pockets, and putting his head on one side in the posture Sir
Joshua Reynolds has caught so well in his portrait,* he added
wilfully, " but it might have been a great deal better." He had
destroyed all but half of the enemy's fleet and scattered the rest
to the four winds. The victory was complete. The force of De
La Clue had for all practical purposes ceased to exist. And
Boscawen was disappointed. But this is characteristic of great
masters. They never see any merit in their own masterpieces.
The victory was not only complete, but it was of extraordinary
value to England. Coming at such a moment, it went far to
dispel the gloom that was settling over the country as people
realized that the French menace of invasion was no empty one.
The Duke of Newcastle purred with delight. " Admiral Bos
cawen," wrote Horace Walpole, " has in a very Roman style made
free with the coast of Portugal, and used it to make a bonfire of
the French fleet. When Mr. Pitt was told of this infraction of
neutral territory, he replied, ' It is very true, but they are burned.' "
The great minister instructed England's representative at the
Court of Lisbon to apologize for the violation of neutrality, and
at the same time to make it perfectly clear that the captured
ships would not be surrendered or the over-bold admiral censured.
"Others make difficulties, you find expedients," he had said in
other days to Boscawen. He saw no reason now to change his
opinion. He had indeed good reason to be jubilant, for the month of
Lagos brought home also the glorious news of Minden. So far
from success in the direction of Hanover, France had been van
quished ; the arms of Prince Ferdinand had overthrown horse
and rider ; the household cavalry of the Bourbons had flung Uself
in vain against the English infantry ; and a crowning mercy had
saved the Electorate and established for Frederick an impregnable
waU against which he could set his back at a time of sorest need.f
It would have been gratifying to the motheriand if she could have
called Prince Ferdinand her son, but he had fought with English
troops, and every one knew that the Marquis of Granby was
* It is said that in his youth Boscawen adopted a perverse habit of holding
his head awry in mockery of an old family servant. The habit clung to the
imitator and won for him a secondary sobriquet, "Wry-necked Dick,"
f Kiinersdorf, 12th August,

278 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
a paladin whom Roland and Bayard would have clasped in
brotherly embrace.
Leaving Admiral Brodrick to blockade the ships in Cadiz,
Boscawen sailed for home. The news of the victory had been
brought by his Flag Captain Buckle, to whom the King presented
a little gift of ;^5oo. To the Adrairal his Majesty tendered his
warmest thanks, called him to be a member of his Privy Council,
and appointed him a General of Marines with a sturdy salary.
Captains Bentiey and Stanhope were made happy with knight
hoods, and thus amid congratulations the curtain descends to the
vibrant accompaniment of pealing beds.*
"We are forced to ask every morning what victory there is for
fear of missing one. . . . Our bells are worn threadbare with
ringing for victories. . . . One thing is very fatiguing — all the
world is made knights or generals."
HEARTS OF OAK.
Come, cheer up, my lads ! 'tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year ;
To honour we call you, not press you like slaves ;
For who are so free as the sons of the waves ?
Hearts of oak are our ships.
Jolly tars are our men ;
We always are ready ;
Steady, boys, steady !
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.
David Garrick [i7i7-i779].t
THE BATTLE OF QUIBERON BAY
November 20, 1759
¦' And truly he did then strike his claws into him in a thunderously fervid
manner, he and all his hands, in spite of the roaring weather : — a man of
falcon, or accipitral, nature as well as name." — Carlyle.
About the time that Boscawen arrived at Toulon, Hawke set
sail for Brest to undertake a difficult task. He raight keep the
* Boscawen did not long survive his victory. His pale face, steely grey eyes,
and thin compressed lips suggest determination and endurance rather than
redundant health. He died of tj^phoid (1761) at the age of fifty, and was laid
to rest in Cornwall. His youngest son, inheriting the family title, became
third Viscount Falmouth.
t In 1759 the inimitable Davy was playing nightly at old Drury to crowded
and appreciative audiences,

HAWKE 279
enemy in port for a time : but the more successful he was, the
harder his task would prove. As the weeks went by his ships
would grow foul, his men would faU sick, and the fighting capacUy
of both would sensibly diminish.
The weather in this summer of '59 was quUe unusually bad.
Yet, SIX raonths after setting out from home, Hawke was not only
StiU at his post, but in exceUent fighting trim !
He had sent his ships home two at a time to be re-watered, re-
victuaUed, and in part at least purified and renovated. He had
insisted that his companies should on these flying visits enjoy a
rest and be Hberated for a rime from monotonous confinement
between decks. He had established a line of transports to bring
him fresh supplies of beef and beer. When he received inferior
beer he poured it into the sea and sent for more : when he re
ceived inferior meat he demanded periodic consignments of Uve
cattle. His tone was peremptory, but the Admiralty knew him
by this time ; and when he required that the victuaUing depart
ment at Plymouth should be instantly remodeUed, his request met
the meekest acquiescence.
The fleet was not only weU-groomed and fairly weU-fed. It
was happy in the service of a commander who could communicate
to others his own indefatigable enthusiasm. But then Sir Edward
never forgot to commend a deed weU-done. Whatever his pre-
occupadon no useful service escaped his notice or failed to win
his thanks.
In his cheery messages home Hawke endeavoured to dispel the
gloom that was settling down upon his country. Brest, he found,
was not wholly unregenerate : for when the east wind brought
the Frenchmen to their windows, he could snuggle under the
eaves ; and the west wind which swept him headlong from the
door, denied the blockaded fleet an exodus.
During the month of August the weary hours were beguiled by
feux dejoie and salvos of applause in honour of Lagos and Minden.
These were delivered where the sailors in Brest could hear them :
but still the French commander gave no sign.
The year had been a disastrous one for France, but Louis XV
and his ministers were more determined than ever. Boscawen's
victory had brought no swift conclusion to the invasion scheme,
which was indeed more than ever necessary for the salvation of

28o SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
France. There were stiU warships in the West Indies. When
these had been added to those in Brest there would be a fleet of
more than twenty ships. Admiral Conflans would command them.
He was a personal friend of the King and La Pompadour, a man
of well-tried courage and known repute as a saUor. He would
escort an army of 20,000 men, more than half of whom were
already cantoned at Vannes, a cathedral city on the southern
shore of Brittany. Here the Due d'AiguiUon, Commander-in-
Chief had his quarters in the Jesuits' CoUege : here in the
Morbihan, a deep ocean-cleft on which the city stands, he daUy
surveyed the transports destined to carry his fighting force over
sea. The preparations in the Morbihan did not escape the pene
trating glance of Hawke. He detached from his fleet a little
force of frigates under Commodore Duff to keep an eye on
them. The approach of winter made his own task increasingly
difficult. An October storm forced him to carry the whole fleet
to shelter in Torbay. He was back again before the enemy had
noticed his absence. But the strain could not last. There was
uglier weather brewing in the west. In November the agitation
of his countrymen knew no bounds. They began to understand
more clearly the determined resolution of the French. They
began at last to suspect that Admiral Conflans was waiting ex
pectantly for the season of gales and tempest. They began to
apprehend the whole position almost as clearly as Hawke had
seen it for six long weary months. Fervently they prayed for
fair weather ; but on loth November they heard with dismay that
the fleet was home again. On the 12th Hawke did his best to
depart. On the 13th the winds brushed him back. On the 14th
he was gone.
His flag flew proudly in a noble ship, the famous Royal George,
the very last word in naval construction, the pride of Anson's
heart. Laid down in 1746 she was but lately launched, and re
moved from British dockyards the reproach of shipbuUding talents
inferior to those of the French. Round Hawke there gathered
a goodly company. There were the Lagos knights, Sir John
Bentiey of the Warspite, and Sir Thomas Stanhope of the Swift
sure, There were Denis and Keppel to represent the Centurion,

HAWKE

281

and Hawke's Flag Captain too, John Campbell. There was
Richard Howe, Viscount Howe since his brother's death iXSHS. jeune

aet-LE

'""Xjt

N^

» t

\-~

... \

QOIB

Belle 'WmL,..
ISLE

> —

QuiEERON Bay, and the Coast of Brittany
et brave, and once again in his favourite ship the Magnanime.
Rodney and Brett alone were needed to make up a fleet of all the

282 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
talents ; but at a time so stirring their services were elsewhere
requisitioned. Meanwhile the boisterous westerly wind which had driven
Hawke from his station brought home to Brest the fleet of
France from the Indies. Good fortune saw it safely into port,
bringing mariners well-seasoned for the work in hand, and —
the thrice welcome intelligence that the blockade was raised.
Conflans lost no time, and on the very day that Hawke left Eng
lish waters, he sallied forth from Brest in the Soleil Royal with a
handful of frigates and twenty-one sail of the line. He made all
possible speed in the direction of Vannes, but as he neared Belle
Isle the wind shifted to the east and drove hira in the contrary
direction. A day or two later the weather mended somewhat ;
but now the wind blew from the north and carried him far to
southward of the haven he desired. It was not till the i gth that
a westerly breeze enabled him to beat northward to the mouth of
Quiberon Bay.
The escape of Conflans was discovered by English vessels on
the Breton coast ; and one brought tidings to Commodore Duff
maintaining his watch on the Morbihan. At daylight on the
2oth he struggled to be gone, but the wind blew in his teeth, and
off Belle Isle he encountered the fleet of Conflans advancing from
the south. For the success of Conflans' project it was essential
that Duff's tell-tale little squadron should not escape. The signal
for a chase was hoisted and the Frenchmen one and all strained
forward. Duff's ships were long from port. There was little
chance of escape. The lesser fry scuttled onward, but the levia
than came on apace and opened its mighty jaws. Suddenly a
strange thing happened. In Duffs own ship the entire company
raised a ringing cheer, and then every man with one accord flung
his cap to the winds.
There were saUs in the west ! They were Hawke's !
The news that set Duff in motion had travelled near and far.
It had reached England and thrown the country into an unseemly
trepidation. This was what came, men said, of Admirals' leaving
their post without orders. The enemy were at sea ! The country
was doomed ! And Hawke had daUied idly in harbour ! The mob
made a figure of him : and burned it to their own condemnation.

HAWKE 283
Elsewhere the news was differently received. It greeted gallant
Saunders home returning. He had conquered a continent, and
brought a weary fleet across the wide Atlantic. But he stayed
not for orders. He turned his fleet towards the Breton coast
hoping to be in time.
The faithful sailor who had perished in effigy heard the news off
Ushant. Conflans was three days in front of him ; and no one
knew where he had gone. But Hawke by instinct knew.
He found a virtue in every wind that had puzzled his adversary.
The east wind carried him round the Breton promontories. The
north wind bore him to the latitude of Belle Isle. And when the
breeze rose blustering in the west he spread his wings and
swooped towards Quiberon in time enough to save his frigate
squadron, and hurl a breathless challenge at the foe. Such are
the merits of tireless wings, and an eye which nothing can escape.
It was early morning when Conflans discovered Hawke's sail
on the horizon. He was uncertain what to do. The suddenness
of the crisis seemed at first to leave him no alternative, and he
gave orders to form the line of battle. But as his signals were
obeyed he changed his mind. To fight with Hawke was none of
his business. His fleet was designed for a deflnite object and that
object was unattained till the Due d'AiguUlon was landed in
Scotland. The coast was near, and might well be reached before
even the van of the enemy overhauled him.
The nature of the coast confirmed his resolution. Quiberon
Bay is sheltered on the west by a " sickle-shaped " peninsula, whose
curve is continued by islands and shoals south-eastwards to the
Cardinals. Opposite to these upon the mainland lies the village
of Croisic, and in front of Croisic the great Four sandbank waits
hungrily for prey. Within these limUs receiving the waters of the
VUaine and Morbihan lies an irregular basin, inhospitable,
treacherous, and cruel, a labyrinth of hidden shoals, fringed with
relentless rocks and sobbing crags. When all the waters of the
suramer sea are smoothed to a plain of heavenly blue, the
breakers stUl lash themselves with noisy persistence in Quiberon ;
and when the nipping breeze of winter curdles the wave-tops, in
Quiberon the angry waters fret themselves into madness with
crashing thunder.
Conflans had no doubt that his own fleet could enter. Every

284 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
ship had a Breton pilot. But he was not solely bent on forward
ing the interests of D'AiguUlon's mission. He was deliberately
laying a snare. He devoutly hoped that Hawke would foUow
him. Then as the trusty Croisicese guided his vessels into
channels that none else knew, he would turn his broadsides on the
hated foe as they foundered in the quicksands and split themselves
on the shoals.
The weather too favoured those who knew the coast. The
morn had opened dull and grey with a west wind blowing in
squalls. But every moment the weather grew worse. The wind
increased in violence, the rain descended in torrents and the
gathering storm-clouds sunk thickly on the sea. The shortness
of a winter afternoon would further confound confusion by the
horror of thick darkness. If the English could be but lured into
Quiberon Bay, France was assured a crushing victory.
Hawke had no mind to disappoint his foe. He knew the
hideous chances that confronted him ; but he knew also that
England was in peril. He had no pilots in his fleet ; but if he
overtook the French, he would not need them. If the French
ships avoided Scylla and Charybdis, his ships would do so too,
for they would cling like limpets to their adversaries, and make
of them involuntary guides. The risk was appaUing, but Hawke
accepted it without a moment's hesitation. So also would Blake
have done, and so also would Nelson.
When Conflans made a show of battle array, Hawke hoisted
signal for the line abreast spreading out his arms widthways in
order to corner his foe and give all his ships the chance of coming
up. But when the Frenchmen ran Hawke instantly changed his
attack, executing a new manoeuvre which his foresight had con
ceived. It was a delicate combination of the " Chase " and the
"Line Ahead". It enabled the swiftest sailers in the fleet to
run for the enemy, and as they ran to form one behind another
in order of celerity. There were seven or eight ships immediately
ahead of the Royal George, and Hawke felt sure that they could
overtake the P'rench and learn from their guidance the passage
into the bay.
The waves were far too high for fighting work, and in each ship
there were eight men at the wheel. But topsail reefs were shaken
out, and every stitch of canvas set. So violent was the motion as

HAWKE 285
they struggled through the plunging cross-seas that men were
hurled about the decks with risk of broken limbs. And ever the
rain descended without pity, and the fury of men's hearts was
matched by the inky blackness of the sky.
It was not yet two o'clock. Conflans leading the way in the
Soleil Royal had carried his van and centre round the Cardinals.
But his rear under St. Andre du Verger was still outside : and
the leading ships of the English were panting up behind — Howe in
the Magnanime, Centurion Denis in the Dorsetshire, and Bentiey
in his celebrated Warspite. About two o'clock they fired at
extremest range and half an hour later Hawke hoisted the signal
to close. Between the sandbank Four and the Cardinals the
battle was engaged and Du Verger in the Formidable felt the Eng
lish impact first. He was a hero worthy of the finest traditions of
French chivalry. Nobly he fought, but the attack was more than
human courage or stoutest oak could bear : for the brood of the
Hawke clanged out a broadside as they passed, and themselves
plunged forward to overtake the van. One after another they
came, the Dorsetshire, and the Defiance, and the Swiftsure.
Howe, always impetuous, with his ship poised on a rolling wave
hurled himself at Du Verger's flag and scraped his portlids off.
Then came Keppel in the Torbay, and for a while the Formidable
was dumb. Du Verger had been carried below faint from loss of
blood. But when his wounds were dressed he sat on deck in a
chair, and directed the fight tUl he died. It was to the Resolution
that the Formidable surrendered. She was a brave ship, and she
brought the BrUish Navy a gaUant name which has lost nothing of
honour in the service of her captors.
MeanwhUe Lord Howe in the Magnanime was enjoying himself
like a king. His next adversary was the Thisie commanded by
De Kersaint, accounted by many the finest sailor in France. De
Kersaint had met Englishmen before off Cap Frangois in the
Indies. He made a gallant defence, and was not to be conquered
in passing. As other Britons came to his assistance Howe pressed
onward again to deal with those in front. The Hiros was not so
game an antagonist as the Thisie, and before long her flag came
down. But now the tempest was madder than ever. All the
winds had come to see these Titans fight ; and as on Trojan
plain of old, the powers of heaven took their part in an earthly

286 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
struggle. It was quite impossible for the boats of the Magnanime
to live in such a sea, and the Hiros unable to care for herself
drifted away towards the breakers.
Following in Howe's wake came Keppel. Finding the Thisie in
pugnacious mood, he poured his broadsides into her. De Ker
saint recked little of the weather. He ran out his lowest tier of
guns. They were heavy and could hurt. But the water poured
in at his open ports and the Thisie with more than 600 on board
sank to the bottom like a stone. Keppel was in little better case.
His ship " was full of water, and he thought she was sinking ; a
sudden squall emptied his ship, but he was informed that all his
powder was wet : 'Then,' said he, ' I am sorry I am safe.' They
came and told him a smaU quantity was undamaged — ' Very weU,'
said he, ' then attack again.' "
"This thunderous miscellany of cannon and tempest " did not
go unobserved. The army of the Due d'AiguiUon swarmed
along the coast, and strained their eyes through the driving rain
to see how the battle went.
A short time before the Thisie sank at Keppel's side, the
Royal George swung past bent on bringing Conflans himself to
battle. But the Soleil Royal was inside the bay, and no man
could foretell what would happen if Hawke's mighty ship went
hunting among the shoals. It was different for a 74. Hawke
slacked not his speed for a minute. The master therefore
approached, and entered a respectful but urgent protest. "You
have done your duty," said the Admiral, "in pointing out the
danger ; you are now to obey my commands and lay me along
side of the Soleil Royal."
More than one French ship endeavoured to interpose, and
save her Commander-in-Chief Hawke found himself confronted
by the Superbe. In one terrific burst of sonorous sound came
his broadside. There was no need of a second ! As the gunners
prepared to load again, they were amazed to see three topmasts
disappear. Mortally wounded by a single blow the gallant 74
went down with all her hands. The like had not been seen, but
no cheer arose from the Royal Geoj-ge. The tragedy was too
sudden, too complete. Rescue was impossible araong such
surging waves.
The sinking of the Superbe put a period to the defence. It

HAWKE 287
was now past four o'clock, and darkness lent new terror to the
scene. Hawke found the Soleil Royal and engaged her at close
quarters, but she sidled away unwiUing to fight with him. Who
could cope with such a combatant, sending good ships to their
doom with a nod, in league like enough with the powers of the
deep ? Panic and craven terror seized the French. They thought
no more of fighring, but groped for outlets from a fatal trap, and
huddled away in the darkness like impotent pale ghosts. Nothing
raore could be done that night and Hawke gave the signal to
anchor. Not one half of his force had entered the bay, but less than half
had suflEiced !
When raorning revealed the steeples of Croisic in the south-east,
Hawke found himself some two miles to the south of He Dumet.
Conflans with involuntary unwisdom had selected a similar berth.
Hauling up his anchor the Marshal of France fled precipitately
eastward, and running his ship upon the rocks forfeited a hard-
earned reputation for competence and valour. Howe's victim, the
Hiros, was already aground on the Four, where the waves had been
mercilessly chafing her all through the night. Hawke despatched
the Essex and the Resolution to give the finishing stroke to these
victims ; but the wUdness of the weather and their own ignorance
of the locality drove both executors aground upon the Four ; and
Hawke postponed further operations till the weather abated. On
the 22nd he sent frigates to burn the Hiros, and when the Soleil
saw her fate approach she fired herself and for ever set.*
When Hawke called a reckoning of injury inflicted on the foe,
he was disappointed. Five ships only had been accounted for ;
two had been sunk, and two destroyed, and the Formidable taken.
But he based his first estimate upon the damage done by broad
side, fire and storm. He had omitted from his calculations the
moral effect produced, when in the gathering dusk he had plunged
among his enemies spreading terror through their ranks. They
knew well enough who it was, when the Superbe had drunk her
death I
Seven ships most miserable, together with the frigates, found
* After saving their crews Hawke gave orders also for the burning of the
Resolution and the Essex.

288 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the mouth of the river VUaine. There was little enough water
on the bar ; but by dint of hurling everything overboard they
scrambled in when the tide rose, and found a berth where even
Hawke could not pursue them. The VUaine proved unpatriotic
to the point of depravity. It heaved these good vessels on its
bosom, and then emptying its waters into the sea, bumped them
down ingloriously on its bed. This heartless process it repeated
at every tide until the fighting ships of France broke their backs
from sheer vexation of spirit.
Other nine, the last of the fleet, found an end something more
comfortable but no less ignominious. Navigating successfully the
channel between Croisic and the Four, they raced helter-skelter
for safety. Southward they fled, southward and stopped not.
AH save the Juste''' reached the friendly waters of Rochefort.
But still in imagination they felt Hawke swooping up behind, and
dispensing with all that was dispensable they floundered into the
Charente, resolute never again to sail the sea while that deadly,
pitiless bird terrorized the waters.
The victory was decisive. The last fleet of France had ceased
to exist ; and this tremendous result had been achieved by ten or
eleven ships, by the calculating temerity of matchless seamanship,
and by the magic of a wonderful name. France lost between
four and five thousand of her seamen. Hawke's casualties
numbered less than 300 with only one officer kUled. The invasion
scare was over : the all-conquering expedition " found its terminus
— not on the shores of Britain, but of Brittany to its surprise.''
England was mistress of the sea again, as she had never been since
the days of Rooke. She was free at last to forget the bitter shame
of Minorca. Hawke restored to Britannia's hand the trident that
Byng had lost.
'Twas long past noon on 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. Henry Nevv'bolt.
* The fuste went down off the mouth of the Loire.

HAWKE 289
The glorious news was carried home by Hawke's Flag Captain,
Campbell. He had begun life in a Scottish coaster, which upon
occasion was visUed by the " press." CampbeU's apprenticeship
rendered him immune, but he volunteered in place of a tearful
mate, and served as a petty officer to Anson on his voyage round
the world. It was Anson who escorted him to the royal presence
with the news, and on the way the First Lord made it clear that
the King was ready to confer on him a knighthood. " I doot it
wadna mak muckle odds to me,'' said the bearer of good tidings.
" But your lady might like it," coaxed Anson. " Weel, weel than,"
came the answer, " His Majesty can mak her a knicht gin he be
sae mindet."
When Hawke himself came horae enthusiasm knew no bounds.
Parliament tendered the Admiral effusive thanks and a yearly
grant of ^2,000. The King protested that no one but " his
Captain " could have done such a thing, and gripped Sir Edward's
hand with a father's cordiality. The medal which he caused to
be struck is ornately appropriate. On the reverse England armed
with the thunderbolt routs the allied forces of Tempest, Night
and France. On the obverse Britannia mounted on a sea-horse
shoulders her trident like a warrior well pleased.
Quiberon saved the new-born British Empire. It confirmed
England in the transatlantic conquest which Wolfe had won for
her. But England ill-rewarded those who had wrought salvation I
An earldom had been little enough for Hawke : as for his
captains, they had [in his own phrase] " behaved like angels."
The commanders of the Essex and Resolution were indeed tried
by court-martial for the loss of their ships, and honourably ac
quitted. But this indulgence concluded the outward manifesta
tion of the national gratitude. It mattered little enough then.
Hawke was too modest to notice anything omitted. To have saved
his country brought its own reward. But neglect so caUous has
deceived posterity, and bUnded succeeding generations to the im
portance of the victory, and the peerless worth of the victor.*
The Earl of Chatham is in part to blame. He has monopo
lized the glory of a golden epoch. "The ardour of his soul,"
says Lord Macaulay, " inflamed every soldier who dragged the
cannon up the heights of Quebec, and every sailor who boarded
* There is no monument to Hawke either in the Abbey or at St. Paul's.
U

290 SEA KINGS OF BRITAIN
the P'rench ships among the rocks of Brittany.'' Nobody can
doubt that he " imparted to his commanders his own impetuous,
adventurous and defying spirit ; " but Hawke needed no such
attribution. Pitt did not enter office tUl 1757 ; his great sea-
captain had ten years before acquired off Finisterre an imperish
able fame. "Pitt had no need," writes Captain Mahan, "to
discover Hawke. . . . He might as well be thought to have dis
covered the sun."
Hawke's private life was as blameless as his public life was
brilliant. He hated parade as much as Anson did ; was as just
and righteous as Blake ; and scorned self-profit and aggrandize
ment. He long survived his brother-in-arms Boscawen, and more
than twenty times he quietly celebrated a certain feast in No
vember. For a period he served as First Lord of the Admiralty ;
but for the most part his latter years were blessed with quiet,
" sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas, ease after warre." His
task was finished. For twenty years his victory kept the French
innocuous ; and when fresh troubles carae, Keppel, Rodney and
Howe, his chosen sons, were there to deal with them. In 1776
King George II's grandson persuaded the " Father of the Navy "
to accept a barony. Five years afterwards at the ripe old age of
seventy-six the victor of Quiberon died, and was buried at North
Stoneham in the County of Yorkshire.
The generation that lived through the "Wonderful Year"
honoured one toast more frequently than others. With a clink
ing of glasses they drank to a pledge which to-day might serve as
a prayer. " May all our officers have the heart of a Wolfe and the
¦eye of a Hawke." Britannia triumphant, her ships sweep the sea;
Her standard is justice, her watchword *' Be free ! "
Then cheer up, my lads ! with one heart let us sing,
" Our soldiers, our sailors, our statesmen and King."
Hearts of oak are our ships.
Jolly tars are our men ;
We always are ready :
Steady, boys, steady !
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again.

INDEX

Abraham, Heights of, 262-8.
Acapulco, 166 n.
Acapulco galleon, 166-7, i70-3'
Aix, Isle of, 238-43, 249.
Aix Roads, 238-43.
Albemarle, George Monk, Duke of
(1608-70), his place in naval history,
16 ; as Cromwell's deputy in Scotland
receives overtures frora Charles II,
I ; decides to restore the Monarchy,
2 ; advises Chai'les to move into
Holland, 7 ; receives the King, 1660,
1-2 : is munificently rewarded, 2 ;
advises Charles to abandon Dunkirk
in favour of Tangier, 98 ; on the
causes of the Second Dutch War, 7 ;
reasons why he did not command at
Lowestoft, 1665, 9 ; at the Admiralty,
10 ; keeps order in London during
the Plague, 15 ; his declaration to the
fleet on taking over the command
after Lowestoft, 16 ; is robbed of half
his force before the " Four Days'
Battle," 1666, 17 ; his skill on the First
Day, 18 and 11. ; on the Second, 20,
21 and n. ; on the Third, 22 ; on
the Fourth, 23-4 ; the glory of his
defeat, 25 ; formulates a plan for at
tacking from to leeward, 26, 107 ;
defeats de Ruyter decisively on St.
James's Day, 1666, 27-8 ; destroys
Dutch merchant fleet in the Vlie, 29-
30 ; called home to extinguish Fire
of London, 29 ; protests against dis-

bandment of the fleet, 30 ; his mea
sures to deliver the country from in
vasion, 1667, 31 ; his measures for
the defence of Chatham, 33 ; prepares
to die for the Royal Charles, 33 ;
weeps for her loss, 34 ; compels the
Dutch to leave the Medway, 34 ;
health gives way, 36 ; dies, and is
buried in the Abbey, 36 ; characteris
tics, 2 li., 3, 23, 36-7, 38, 67.
Algeciras, 230.
America, North, 88, 113-4, 134-5, 212-5,
232, 243, 246, 255, 256, 257. See also
West Indies.
Amherst, General Geoffrey, 246, 252-5,
256, 257, 262-3.
Anjou, Duke of, see Philip V.
Anne, Queen, 97, 113, 133.
Annus Mirabilis [Dryden's], 26 n., 34.
Anse du Foulon , 265-7.
Anson, George, Lord (1697-1762), early
life, 152 ; serves in the Montagu at
Cape Passaro, 1718, 153-4 ; captain
on North American station, 154 ; at
outbreak of Jenkins' Ear War, 1739,
selected to raid the South Sea, 154-5 j
his difficulties at starting, 1740, r55-
6 ; caught in a gale off Cape Horn,
158-9 ; reaches Juan Fernandez, 161 ;
sufferings of his company from scurvy,
162-3 ; takes his first prize, 163 ; cap
tures Payta, 164-5 ! crosses the Pacific,
167 ; reaches Tinian of the Ladrones,
168 ; cheers his men during absence
of the Centurion, 169-70 ; captures
the Acapulco galleon, 171-3 ; com-

291

292

INDEX

pletes the circumnavigation of the
globe, 1744, 174 ; refuses promotion,
174 n. ; inflicts a crushing defeat upon
the French at Finisterre (I), 1747,
176-9 ; raised to the peerage, 179 ;
nominates himself commander of the
Channel Fleet, 1758, 251 ; in 1759,
257, 289 ; at the Admiralty — .iccepts
a seat at the board, 1744, 175 ; First
Lord, 1751. 180; retires, 1756, 180;
recalled, 1757, 236 ; importance of
his administration, 180-1 ; reconsti
tutes the 7*'j^A/z?z^/ra52'/'M£:^z(7;zj, 181-4 ;
readjusts the Flag-list, 203 and n., 204
and n. ; reorganizes the Marines, 181 ;
revises the Articles of War, 226 n. ;
introduces a naval uniform, 186-7 I
inaugurates annual inspection of the
dockyards, 181 ; his improvements in
shipbuilding, 184-6, 205, 206 and n.,
280 ; standardizes the fittings of ships,
181 ; his unrivalled judgment of men,
175, 180, 181, 204, 257; responsible
for the appointment of Byng, 180 ;
relations with Pitt, 180-1, 235, 237;
his portrait by Reynolds, 187 ; char
acteristics, r62, 163, 165, 169, 170,
171, 172, 173, 174-5, i79-8r, r87-8,
218.
Archduke Charles, see Charles VI.
Arcot, 212 n.
Ashby, Sir John, 75, 77.
Augsburg, League of, see League.
Austria, opposes Louis XIV, 53, 60, 90,
91 ; position of, in 1740, 189-90 ; at
war with Frederick the Great, 190,
215, 231. See also Charles VI and
Pragmatic Sanction.
Ayscue, Sir George, 18, 22.
B
Bankart, 50, 51.
Barbados, 8, 125, 194.
Barbary corsairs, 41, 42, 56 and n.
Barrington, Samuel, 237.
Bart, Jean, 120.

Basque Roads, 238-43.
Battles— Agosta, 1676, 54.
Bantry Bay, 1689, 61-3.
Barfleur, 1692, 74-9.
Beachy Head, or Beveziers, 1690,
65-73-
Cap Franfois, 1757, 244-5.
Finisterre (Anson's), 1747, 176-9.
Finisterre (Hawke's), 1747, 204-9.
Four Days' Battle, 1666, 15-26.
Lagos, 1759, 270-7.
La Hogue, 1692, 79-84.
Lion V. Elizabeth, 1745, 202 n.
Lowestoft, 1665, 9-14.
Malaga, 1704, 105-9.
Minorca, 1756, 216-23.
Monmouth v. Foudroyant, 1758, 248-9.
Passaro, 1718, 153-4.
Quiberon Bay, 1759, 278-88.
St. James's Day, 1666, 26-8.
Santa Marta, 1702, 124-31,
Schoonveldt (I and IL, 1673, 48-9.
Solebay, 1672, 40-6.
Stromboli, 1676, 54.
Syracuse, 1676, 54.
Texel, 1673, 49-53.
Toulon, 1744, 195-202.
Vigo Bay, 1702, 91-8.
Bearing, Line of, 177 n. , 178.
Belle Isle, 282, 283.
Belle Isle, Straits of, 214.
Benbow, John (1653-1702), his early
life, 116 ; master's mate, and master,
116 ; his wit, ii7n. ; untimely use of
it, 117; leaves the Navy and enters
the merchant service, 118 ; his fight
with a pirate of Sallee, 118 ; recom
raended to Jaraes II by the King of
Spain, 118 ; befriended by Lord Tor
rington, 116, 118 ; Controller of
Dockyards, 119 ; at Beachy Head,
1690, and Barfleur, 1692, 119 ; his
bombardraent of St. Malo, 119 22 ;
and Dunkirk, 122 ; sent to W. Indies
in search of Captain Kidd, 123 ; as
sists Scotch settlement at Darien

INDEX

293

123-4 ; receives honourable augmenta
tion of his arms, 124 ; Commander-
in-Chief in West Indies at the begin
ning of the Spanish Succession War,
1702, 125 ; his battle with Du Casse
off Santa Marta, 125-31 ; has his leg
amputated and dies, 130 ; buried in
Jamaica, 130 ; his portrait by Kneller,
118 ; characteristics, 117, 124-5, 130.
Bentiey, Sir John, 273-7, 278, 280-8.
Berkeley, Sir William, 18, 19, 27.
Beveziers, 65 n. , 107.
Black Deep, 22.
" Black Friday," 139, 175.
Black Hole of Calcutta, 231 and n. , 245.
Blakeney, General, 217-25.
Blenheim, 99, 110, 202.
Boca Chica, 146.
Bomb-ketch, 120-2.
" Bonfire, Holmes's," 29, 30.
Boscawen, Edward (1711-61), with Ver
non at Porto Bello, 176 ; and Cartha
gena, 177 ; distinguishes himself at
the First Battle of Finisterre, 1747,
176-g ; Rear-Admiral, 179, 204 ; his
Madras campaign, 1748, 210 and n. ;
opens the Seven Years' War with his
expedition to the St. Lawrence, 1755,
214 ; signs Admiral Byng's death-
warrant, 1757, 228 ; in command of
the expedition for the reduction of
Louisburg, 1758, 246 ; his skill in
co-operating with the land-forces, 254 ;
captures the harbour and reduces the
town, 252-4 ; commands in chief in
the Mediterranean, 1759, 257, 270 ;
annihilates the Toulon fleet at the
battle of Lagos, 1759, 270-7 ; effect
of his victory, 279; created a Privy
Councillor, and General of Marines,
278 ; dies, 278 n. ; friendly rivalry with
Hawke, 204, 2to n. ; Pitt's opinion of
him, 176, 277 ; nicknames, 177, 277 ;
characteristics, 177, 232, 272, 275,
276, 277 and n., 278 n.
Bougainville, 264-8.
Boyne Water, 73, 156.

Braddock, General, 213, 215.
Breda, 125 n.
Brest, 4, 66, 77, 84, 85, 87, 93, 99, 100,
195, 200, 269, 270, 273.
Brett, Sir Peircy (1709-81), with Anson
round the world, 175 ; captures the
Santa Teresa, 164 ; leads attack on
Payta, 164-5 i l^ft in command of the
Centurion when Anson visits Canton,
174 and n. ; as captain of the Lion in
tercepts the Young Pretender on his
way to Scotland, 1745, 202 and n. ; at
the First Battle of Finisterre, 1747,
176-9 ; receives independent command
in 1759, 281.
" Broad-bottom'd Ministry," 232 n.
Brodrick, Admiral, takes out reinforce
ments for Byng, 1756, 237 ; third in
command under Hawke at Rochefort,
1757. 237-243 ; second in command
under Boscawen at Lagos, 1759, 270-
7 ; blockades Cadiz, 278.
Buccaneers, 135, 162, 244.
Buckle, Capt., 278.
Byng, Sir George (1663-1733), as lieu
tenant canvasses the British fleet for
the Prince of Orange, 1688, 59 ; at
Beachy Head, 1690, and Barfleur,
1692, 100; protests against Rooke's
projected attack on Gibraltar, and
leads the van, 1704, roo-5 ; knighted,
153 ; avoids Shovel's fate, 1707, 112 ;
cuts off Jacobite supplies, 1715, and
receives baronetcy, 153 ; at Cape
Passaro, 1718, disregards the " Line,"
153, 182 n. , 183 ; and annihilates the
Spanish fleet, 153-4 ! created Viscount
Torrington, 154.
Byng, Hon. John (1704-57), at C. Pas
saro, 1718, 217 ; under Vernon, 1745,
217 ; commands in chief in the Med
iterranean, 1747-8 and 1756, 217 ;
his battle off Minorca, 218-23 ; his
reasons for withdrawing to Gibraltar,
224-5 j bis trial, 226 ; hears sentence,
227 ; why death was the penalty,
226 n. ; Newcastle's attitude towards,

294

INDEX

226, 236 ; Pitt's, 236 ; George II's,
228; Hawke's opinion of, 236; Vol
taire's, 229 n. ; his execution, 228-9 i
his sea-skill, 219, 222 and n. ; his
loyalty, 225, 227 ; and bravery, 218,
222, 225, 227, 229 and n.
Byron, John (b. 1723), with Anson
round C. Horn, 155-9 ! writes an ac
count of his adventures in the Wager,
159 ; advancement, 175 ; at Rochefort,
1757. 237-43-

Campbell, John (b. 1720), early life,
289 ; round the world with Anson,
175 ; Flag Captain to Hawke at
Quiberon, 281-8; brings the news
home, 289.
Canton, 170, 173.
Cape Breton Isle, 176, 212, 252, 257.
Cape Coast Castle, 8, 9.
Cap Fran9ois, 244-5, 285.
" Cargo of Courage," 230, 257.
Carkett, Robert, 248-9.
Carter, Richard, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79.
Carteret, 232 n.
Carthagena (in Spain), 248.
Carthagena (on the Main), 124, 125,
136, 143-4, 14s and n., 146-9, 215.
Castaiieta, 153-4.
Chain-shot, 13, 17, 128.
Charles Edward, the Young Pretender
(1720-88), 139 n., 202 and n., 203, 225,
233-
Charles II (1660-85), bis wanderings,
6, 7 ; appeals to Monk, i ; moves
into Holland, 7 ; lands at Dover, 1-2 ;
sells Dunkirk, 1662, 6, 98 ; founds the
West African Co., 8 ; declares war
on the Dutch, 1665, 9 ; flies from the
Plague, 14 ; tires of the war, 1667,
29 ; and lays up his fleet during peace
negotiations, 30, 86 ; joins the Triple
Alliance against Louis XIV, 1668, 39 ;
sells himself to Louis XIV in the secret
Treaty of Dover, 1670, 40, 48 ; his

naval strategy during the Third Dutch
War, 1673, 49 ; forced to withdraw
from active co-operation with Louis
XIV, 1674, S3 ; still dependent on
him, 55 ; defeats Whig attempt to
keep James II from the throne, 55 ;
abandons Tangier, 1683, and neglects
Navy, 57 ; his wit, 1 , 4, 57 ; other
characteristics, 29, 36, 41 n.
Charles II of Spain (1665-1700), 5, 87,
88, 89, 90, 118, 124.
Charles VI, Emperor (1711-40), 8g, 91,
104, 152, 154 n. , 189, 190, 193 n.
" Chase, General," 153, 178, 206, 284.
Chateaurenault, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72,
93-7, 107.
Chatham, Earl of, see Pitt, William.
Cherbourg, 4, 251.
Clive, Robert (1725-74), 210 n. , 231 n.,
232.
Clue, De La, 247, 271-7.
Colbert (1619-83), 4, 5, 42, 83, 86, 93,
238.
Cond^, 55.
Conflans, 280-8.
Cook, James (1728-79), rises from com
raon searaan to master, 258 ; guides
Saunders up the St. Lawrence, 259.
Councils of War, 241-2, 244-5, 250.
Court, De, 195-202.
Courts Martial, on Byng, 226-8 ; on
Mathews and Lestock, 201-2 ; on
Torrington, 72-3.
Croisic, 119, 283, 287.
Crorawell, 1, 2, 7, 102, 137.
Culloden, 203, 236, 238.
Cumberland, Duke of (1721-65), 203,
209, 236, 245, 246.

D'AiguiUon, Due, 280, 283, 284, 286.
D'AmfrevUle, 80, 119.
Darien Scheme, 123, 124 and n.
Dartmouth, Lord, 58, 59.
Delavall, Sir Ralph, 67, 77, 80.
Denis, Sir Peter, 175, 176, 237-43, 280-8.

INDEX

29S

De Ruyter (1607-76), conducts a cam
paign in British West Africa, 1664,
9 ; and so misses Lowestoft, 10 ; re
turns home, 17 ; his skill on the first
day of the Four Days' Battle, 1666,
18 ; his difficulties on the second, 20-
2 ; his victory on the fourth, 24 ;
blockades the Thames, 26 ; severely
defeated by Alberaarle on St. James's
Day, 1666, 27 ; his skilful retreat, 28 ;
his raid on Chatham and the Med
way, 1667, 30-5 ; his problem at the
outbreak of the Third Dutch War,
41 ; his brilliant attack on the allies
at Solebay, 1672, 42-6 ; acts in con
cert with William III, 47 ; fights two
actions with Prince Rupert off the
Schoonveldt, 48 ; his skilful leadership
at the Texel, 1673, 50-3 ; defeats
Duquesne at the battle of Stromboli,
54 ; but is killed at the battle of
Agosta, 1676, 54.
D'Estrfes, Jean, 42, 43, 48, 50, 54 n.
D'Estrees, Victor Marie, 66, 76 7, 84,
107-9.
Dettingen, 191, 202, 238.
De Witt, John, 17, 25, 30, 35, 39, 40,
46.
" Dividing the Enemy," the manoeuvre
described, 26 ; attempted by D'Estrfes,
1673, 50 ; Shovel, 1692, 78 ; Toulouse,
1704, 107-8 ; and Galissoniere, 222.
" Doubling on the Enemy," the manos-
uvre described, 70 ; and criticized, 72
n. ; attempted at Solebay, 45 ; the
Texel, 50 ; Be.ichy Head, 72 ; Bar
fleur, 78-9 ; Malaga, 107 ; Toulon,
197.
Dryden, 26, 34.
Du Casse, 125-31
Duff, Capt., 280, 282.
Duguay Trouin, 120, 121.
Dunkirk, 6, 98, 114, 119, 120, 122.
Dupleix, 210 and n.
Duquesne, Abraham, 42, 43, 54 and n.,
SS, 66-
Duquesne, Ange, 213 n.. 248-9.

Duquesne, Fort, see Fort Duquesne.
Dutch, trade recovery after First Dutch
War, 7-8 ; involves them in a Second,
9-34 : their alliance with Louis XIV,
6 ; avails nothing, 17, 22, 30 ; their
struggle with France, 1667-1713, 35,
And ,^o- IIO passim ; with France and
England, 1672-4, 39-40, and 40-53
passim ; they restore the Stadtholder,
46-7 ; who in 1688 becomes King of
England, 59-61.
Du Verger, 285.

East India Co. . see India.
Eugene, Prince, 99, no, 114.
Evertzen, Cornelius (I), 10 n., 20,
Evertzen, Cornelius (II), 10 n.
Evertzen, Cornelius (III), 10 n., 67, 74^
Evertzen, Jan, lo and n., 14, 27, 28, 72,

" Family Compact," 139, 154 n., 191.
Ferdinand, Prince, of Brunswick, 246,
250, 252, 277.
" Fifteen, the," 133, 139, 153.
"Fighting Instructions," 11, 21 n., 26,
70, 181, 182 and n., 183 .nnd n., 184,
195, 197, 201, 206, 218-9.
Fire of London, 1666, 29.
Fireships, 18, 20, 44, 52, 96, 199, 260.
Flag-rank, 203 and n., 204.
" Fleet in being," 30, 67, 86.
Florida, 212.
Fontenoy, 175, 202, 215.
Forbes, General, 255-6.
Forrest, Capt., 244-5.
Fort Duquesne, 213, 215, 232, 235-6,
246, 255-6.
"Forty-five, the,'' 134, 175, 202-3, 233.
France, progress under Richelieu, Maza
rin, 3 ; and Colbert, 4 ; under Louis
XIV, see Louis XIV ; opposes Eng
land in the Austrian Succession, 190-
I ; an1 Seven Years' War, 209-16;

296

INDEX

see also, Family Compact, and Polish
Succession War.
Frederick the Great (1740-86), accession
of, 190 ; seizes Silesia and causes
European war, 190-1 ; position of,
1755-6, 215-6 ; enters an alliance with
England, 216 ; arouses the hostility of
France and Russia, 231 ; faced by a
European coalition, 231 ; defeated,
1757, 236 ; defeats French at Ross-
bach, 1757, 246 ; Austrians at Leu
then, 1757, 246 ; and Russians at
Zorndorf, 1758, 252 ; defeated at
Kiinersdorf, 1759, 277 and n. ; char
acteristics, 190.

Galissoniere, De La, 217-25, 230, 236,
247, 248.
Galleys, 105-9.
Galliot, 120-2.
Galloper shoal, 22.
Gardiner, Capt., 248-9.
Garrick, 233, 278 andn., 290.
George I (1714-27), 133, 138.
George II (1727-60), 133, 139 u. , 190,
191, 203, 209, 227, 228, 233, 234,
249, 278, 289.
Gibraltar, 98-105, 107-11, 193 n., 218,
23°. 257, 271.
" God Save the King," 143 n.
Goree, 8, 11.
Granby, Marquis of, 277-8.
Gray's " Elegy," 266-7.
Grog, 151.
Guam, 168, 171.
Guarda Costas, 135, 137, 210 n,
Gunfleet, 22, 30, 69. H
Halifax, 253.
Hanover, 215, 216, 234, 236, 246, 277.
Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, 180, 188,
228.
Hardy, Capt., 93-7.
Harland, Capt., 208.
Harraan, Sir John, 13, 18, 20, 41, 48.

Hawke, Edward, Lord (1705-81), early
life, 193; misses Vernon's campaign,
but perfects his searaanship in West
Indies, 1739, 194 ; greatly dis
tinguishes hiraself at the Battle of
Toulon, 1744, 195-202 ; disregards
the Line, 200 ; praised by George II,
203 ; disappointed at missing Anson's
battle, 1747, 204-s ; raised to flag-
rank, 204 ; greatly distinguishes him
self by his victory off Finisterre, 1747,
204-9 i bis clever manceuvre at that
battle, 206 and n. , 274; knighted,
209 ; hisrecord catch of prizes, 1755,
215 ; improves on Byng's manoeuvre,
222 n. ; replaces Byng in the Mediter
ranean and restores British credit,
230 ; secures Anson's recall, 1757,
236 : conducts an expedition against
Rochefort, 1757, 237-43 ; makes a
second descent on Rochefort, 1758,
246-7 : influence thereof, 247, 253 ;
considers hiraself slighted by Howe's
appointment, 249: and strikes his
flag, 250 ; second in command under
Anson, 250 ; resuraes the Channel
coraraand, 257, 270 ; his skilful
blockade of Brest, 278-80 ; burnt in
effigy, 282 ; annihilates the French at
Quiberon Bay, 1759, 280-8 ; his
clever manceuvre at that battle, 284 ;
and fearless handling of the Royal
George, 286 ; his reception on return
ing home, 289 ; effects of Quiberon,
289, 290 ; created a peer, and dies,
290 ; characteristics, 249-51, 279,
290.
Hayti, 135.
Herbert, Arthur (1647-1716), parentage
of, 56 : coramands the Dreadnought
at Solebay, 56 ; under Spragge at the
Battleof the Texel, 50; commands
in the Mediterranean, 56 ; and pro
tests against the abandonment of
Tangier, 98 ; refuses to support James
II's dispensing power, and is cash
iered, 58 ; conveys William III to

INDEX

297

England, 1688, 59 ; fights indecisive
engagement with the French at Ban-
try Bay, 1689, 61-3 ; created Earl of
Torrington, 63 ; obliged by Mary's
orders to fight the French at Beachy
Head, 1690, 66-73 ! tried by court
martial for his defeat, and acquitted,
but never again employed, 72 ; char
acteristics, 56.
Hervi Riel, 119.
Holmes, Sir Robert, 9, 18, 28, 29, 45
and n., 48.
Hopsonn, Sir Thomas, 64, 92-8.
Hosier, Admiral, 193 and n.
Howe, Lord (third viscount), 255 , 257.
Howe, Richard, Lord (4th viscount,
afterwards Earl Howe, born, 1726),
opens the Seven Years' War, 1755,
214 ; as commander of the Mag
nanime distinguishes himself at
Rochefort, 1757, 237-43 '> gives offence
to Hawke by accepting appointment
in the Channel, 1758, 249-50 ; con
ducts campaigns against St. Malo,
251 ; and Cherbourg, 251 ; displays
great gallantry in the bay of St. Cas,
251-2 ; succeeds to the family peerage,
3758, 281; plays a brilliant part at
the Battle of Quiberon, 1759, 280-8 ;
favourite disciple of Hawke, 249,
290 ; characteristics, 243 and n. , 252.
Hudson Bay, 114, 212,

I
India, 35 u., 210 n. , 231 and n., 232,
24s-
" Infernal," 121-3.
Invasion of England, projected by
France, in 1692, 74-84 ; in 1756, 216-
7 ; in 1759, 268-70.

J

Jacobites, 63, 75, 76, 83, 133, 134, 139,
202.

Jamaica, 8, 124, 127, 129, 130, 135,
137, 141. 14s, 149. 244.
Jaraes Edward, the Old Pretender
(1688-1766), 59, 90.
James II (born 1633), created Lord
High Adrairal, 1660, 9 ; his work at
the Admiralty, 57 ; constitutes a new
body of naval officers, 57 ; lends his
title to New York, 9 ; as Commander-
in-Chief against the Dutch, 1665, issues
"Fighting Instructions," ir, 182;
his victory at Lowestoft, 9-12 ; spoiled
by interference, 13 ; retires from
active service, 15 ; but returns on
Albemarle's death, 41 ; his drawn
battle with De Ruyter in Solebay,
1672, 40-6 ; deprived of office by the
Test Act, 1673, 48 ; becomes King,
1685, 58 ; reorganises the Navy, and
refuses to join William of Orange or
Louis XIV, 58-60 ; abandoned by
his fleet, seeks refuge at Versailles,
6o-r ; lands in Ireland and besieges
Londonderry, 61-3 ; after the Boyne
again repairs to France, 73 ; corre
sponds with Russell, 74-5 ; witnesses
destruction of his fleet at La Hogue,
1692, 80-3; dies, 1701, 90; portrait
of, by K neller, 58 ; his bravery at
Lowestoft, 12 : and Solebay, 45, 57 ;
his religious bigotry, 58-9 ; his want
of tact, 42, 58, 63, 81, 83.
Jenkins, Capt., 136-7.
Johnson, General, 256, 263.
Jonquiere, De La, 176-9.
Jordan, Sir Joseph, 45, 50.
Juan Fernandez, 161-3. K
Keppel, Hon. Augustus (born 1725),
round the world with Anson, 175 ;
with Braddock to North America,
17SS, 213 ; at Rochefort, 1757, 237-
43 ; plays a brilliant part at Quiberon,
1759, 280-8.
Kersaint, De, 244-5, 285-6.

298

INDEX

Kidd, Capt., 123.
King's Letter Boy, 57-8.
Kirkby, Capt., 125-9, 225.
Kirke, General, 64.
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 58, 118.
Knowles, Admiral, 237, 239.

Ladrones, 168-70, 171.
Lawson, Sir John, 9, 14, 56, 57.
League of Augsburg, 60, 61, 73, 85.
Leake, Sir John (1656-1720), chosen
by Rooke to relieve Londonderry, 64 ;
at La Hogue, 100 ; at the capture of
Gibraltar, 100-5 ; fights well at Mal
aga, 105-9; twice relieves Gibraltar,
113; personally honoured by Queen
Anne, 113; captures Minorca, 1708,
"3-
Leeward Position, 11, 12 and n. , 13, 14,
25, 26 and passim.
Lestock, Admiral, 191-3, 195-202.
L'Etenduere, 205-9.
Line, The, 11, 12 andn., 16, 17, 24, 26,
42, 70, 198 A-ad. passim.
" Line of Bearing," 177 and n. , 178.
Line, Pope Alexander's, 135, 214 andn.
Londonderry, siege of, 61-5.
Louisburg, 176, 210, 212, 213, 236, 246,
252-5, 256, 257, 261.
Louis XIV (1643-1715), takes upon
himself the government of France,
1661, 5 ; marries M. Theresa of
Spain, 5; buys Dunkirk, 6; allies
himself with the Dutch, 6; and ma
terially aids them after Lowestoft,
17 ; but refuses to humble England
further after the Four Days' Battle,
27 ; invited to join in the Medway
raid, 30 ; but puts forward a claim to
the Spanish Netherlands, 5-6 ; and
invades that country, 1667, 35 ; com
pelled to retire, 1668, 39 ; and deter
mines to punish the Dutch, 39 ; forms
the Secret Treaty of Dover with
Charles II, 1670, 40 ; invades Holland,

1672, 46-7 ; and unites Europe against
himself, 53 ; exercises his fieet in the
Mediterranean , 54 ; and makes peace
at Nymwegen, 1678, 55 ; opposed by
the League of Augsburg, 60 ; in at
tempting to secure the help of Jaraes
II, allows William III to dethrone
him, 60-1 ; adopts the cause of James,
61 ; wins Bantry Bay, 62 ; and
Beachy Head, 65 ; but loses his fleet
at Barfleur and La Hogue, 74, 79 ; and
takes to privateering. 86, 120 ; ac
knowledges William III at Ryswick,
1697, 86 ; has hopes of the Spanish
Inheritance, 88, 124; proclaims his
grandson King of Spain, 90 ; plans
an attack on Vienna, 99 ; endeavours
to recover Gibraltar, 105 ; is de
feated at Blenheim and Malaga,
1704, 105-10; death of, 133; charac
teristics, 4, 5.
Louis XV (1715-74), 214, 216, 256, 260,
270, 279, 280. M
Macao, 170, 171, 174.
" Machine, The," 121-3.
Madras, 210.
Mahon, 113, 217-25, 271.
Manila, see Philippines.
Maria Theresa (dau. of Charles VI),
189, 190, 192, 209, 210, 231, 233,
246.
Maria Theresa (dau. of Philip IV), 5,
89 n.
Marines, 45, 103 and n. , 104, 105, 106,
141, 181.
Marlborough, 1st Duke, 74, 91 and n.,
99, 234.
Marlborough, 3rd Duke, 251.
Martinet, 35.
Mary II, 55, 60, 61, 67, 68, 69, 76, 77,
83-
Mathews, Admiral, 18311., 191-3, 195-
202.
Mazarin, Cardinal (ruler of France,
1642-61), 3, 5 and n., 7, 89 n.

INDEX

299

Mediterranean, see Gibraltar, Minorca,
Tangier and Toulon.
Midshipman, 57-8.
Milan, 88, 114, 189, 195.
Minden, 277, 279.
Minorca, 113, 193 n. , 216-25, 230.
Montagu, Edward (1625-72), conveys
Charles II horae, 1660, 2 ; created
Earl of Sandwich, 9 ; commands the
Blue at Lowestoft, 9 ; with brilliancy,
15 ; ambassador to Spain, 15-6 ; his
heroic fight and death at Solebay, 41-
5 ; buried in Westminster Abbey,
IIS-
Montcalm, 232, 255, 260-7.
Morbihan, 280, 283.
Mordaunt, Sir John, 237-43, 244, 254.
Morgan, Sir Henry, 135.
Mortar-boat, see Bomb-ketch.
Mortars, 120-1, 254.
Myngs, Sir Christopher, 17, 18, 24 and
n., 62.

Naples, 88, 114, 152.
Narbrough, Sir John, 56, 62.
Nelson, Horatio (b. 1758), 245, 255.
Netherlands (Spanish till 1713, Aus
trian afterwards), 5, 35, 39, 40, 88,
91, 114, 152, 189, 190, 202, 210, 212,
213, 231 n., 269.
Newcastle, Duke of (1693-1768), 226,
232 and n., 233, 234, 235 and n., 236
and n., 277.
New Englanders, 176, 212-5.
Newfoundland, 114, 175, 212.
New Orleans, 244.
New Y'ork, 9.
Niagara, Fort, 213, 235-6, 263.
Nicknames —
Great Commoner, 234.
Old Dreadnought, 177.
Old Grog, 150-1.
Silent Son-in-la-w of the Chancellor,
188.
To-m of Ten Thousand, 226.

Nicknaraes (continued) —
Wizard of the Seas, 123.
Wry-nec/ted Dick, 277 n.
Nova Scotia, 114, 175, 212.
O
Ogle, Sir Chaloner, 143 and n. , 145.
193, 194, 237.
Opdara, 10-13.
Ormonde, Duke of, 92-8,

Palliser, Sir Hugh, 258.
Parker, Sir Hyde (I), 175.
Partition Treaties, 88.
Payta, 164-5.
Peace of —
Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, 209-10, 232 n. ,
256.
Breda, 1667, 35.
Nymwegen, 1678, 55, 60.
Pyrenees, 1659, 3 and n., 5.
Ryswick, 1697, 86-7, 90-1, 123.
Utrecht, 1713, 113-4, 134, 135, 152,
153. 176, 209, 212, 215, 253.
Westminster, 1674, 53, 56.
Pelham, Henry, 232 n. , 234.
Pelham, Thomas, see Newcastle, Duke
of
Penn, Sir Williara (1621-70), 8, 9, 11,
13, 15 n., 26, 57.
Pepys, Sarauel (1633-1703), 13, 15 and
II., 16, 18 n. , 24 n., 31, 37, 58 and n. ,
98.
Pett, Sir Phineas, 77.
Philip IV (1621-65), S. 7i 87, 102.
Philip V (1700-46), 89, 114, 152, 153.
Philippines, 166, 168, 171.
"Pirate, The," 143 n.
Pirates, 123, 135 and n.
Pitt, Williara (1708-78), as an orator,
180, 233 ; opposes Walpole, 233 ; and
his successors, 232 n, , 234 ; excluded
from office, but idolized by people,
234 ; called to the helm in 1756, 235 ;
in 1757 enters partnership with New
castle, 235-6 ; his genius as a war

300

INDEX

minister, 234-5, 270 ; recalls Anson,
236 ; sends an expedition to Rochefort,
1757. 237 ; furious at its failure, 243 ;
his plans for 1758, 248 ; and initial
successes, 247-56 ; determines to con
quer America, 257; his '* Wonderful
Year," 257-88; characteristics, 180,
233> 234, 249, 256, 277, 289.
Pittsburg, 256.
Pizarro, 156, 158, 162, 263, 172.
Plague, the, 14-5.
Plassey, 231.
Pocock, Sir George, 209.
Pompadour, La, 231, 280.
Porto Bello, 136, 138-41, 142 n., 145,
15s. 193 n-. 194. 215, 252.
Pragmatic Sanction, 189, 193 n.
Pressgang, 258.
Prestonpans, 175, 203.
Pretender, Old, see Jaraes Edward.
Pretender, Young, see Charles Edward.

Quebec, 256-68,

Ratings of ships, 184-6.
Redondela, see Battles, Vigo Bay.
'* Red, White, and Blue," 42, 70, 196 n,
Rennell Current, in.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, his portrait of
Anson, 187 ; of Boscawen, ?77.
Richelieu, Cardinal (ruler of France,
1624-42), 3.
Richelieu, Due de, 217-25.
Robinson Crusoe, 135, 161 n. , 162.
Rochefort, 4, 237-43, 245, 246-7, 250,
256.
Roderick Random, 144.
Rodney, George, Lord (b. 1719), at the
Second Battle of Finisterre, 1747,
207-8 ; with Hawke at Rochefort, 1757,
237-43 ; receives independent com
mand, 1759, 281.

Rooke, George (1650-1709), early years,
38 ; serves under Spragge at Solebay,
41, 44, 45 ; conducts a brilliant de
fence of Spragge's flag-ship at the
Texel, 1673, 50-2 ; rewarded, 57 ;
serves in the Mediterranean under
Narbrough and Herbert, 56-7 ; op
poses abandonment of Tangier, 98 ;
commands a ship in William Ill's
armada, 1688, 59 ; at Bantry Bay,
1689, 62 ; relieves Londonderry, 63-5 ;
conveys English army to Ireland,
65 ; Rear-Admiral, 65 ; commands a
division of the Red at Beachy Head,
1690, 67 ; supports Torrington at his
court-martial, 72 ; comraands a divi
sion of the Blue at Barfleur, 77-9 ;
destroys the French fleet at La
Hogue, 1692, 79-84 ; knighted by
Williara III, 82 ; contributes to cost
of Greenwich Hospital, 83 ; convoys
the Srayrna fleet, and outwits Tour
ville, 1693, 84-5 ; blockades Toulon,
86; M.P. for Portstnouth, 86, 98 u.,
no ; conducts a fruitless campaign to
Cadiz, 91-2 ; annihilates Chateaure
nault at Vigo Bay, 1702, 93-8 ; sent
to operate with Marlborough in Blen
heim campaign, 99 ; captures Gib
raltar, 1704, 100-5 ; defeats the French
at Malaga, 105-10 ; his skill in the
battle, 182 n. ; ruined by the partisans
of Marlborough, no; his death and
will, 114; buried at Canterbury, 116 ;
decay of sea-science after his death,
181 ; edits the Fighting Instructions,
182 ; characteristics, 38, 39, 114.
Rowley, Admiral, T97-201.
" Rule Britannia," 133.
Rupert, Prince (1619-82), at Lowestoft,
9 ; retains his command, 16 ; sent in
pursuit of French, 17, 18 ; but joins
Albemarle in the midst of Four Days'
Battle, 23, 27, 28 ; protests against
disbandraent of the fleet, 1667, 30 ;
takes command of fleet after Solebay,
48 ; and fights an indecisive action

INDEX

301

with De Ruyter off the Texel, 1673,
So-3-
Russell, Edward, Lord Orford (1653-
1727), at the Texel, 50 ; joins William
III, 56-7 ; receives command of the
Blue under Torrington, 1690, but
reraains ashore, 67 ; and under
mines Torrington's influence, 68-9 ;
succeeds Torrington, 74 ; corresponds
with James II, 74-5 ; defeats the
French at Barfleur, 1692, 76-9; dis
missed for not completing their de
struction, 84 ; created Earl of Orford,
1697, 86 n. ; characteristics, 56.

Sabran, De, 274-5.
St. Cas, 252.
St. George, De, 176-9.
St. Lawrence, R., 175, 212, 213, 214,
246, 253, 256-68.
St. Malo, 80, 119-22, 251-2.
Sandwich, Earl of, see Montagu.
Santa Marta, 124-31.
Sardinia, 88, 114, 152, 154 n.
Saumarez, Philip (1710-47), round the
world with Anson, 164, 175 ; cora
mands Centurion off Tinian, 168-70 ;
takes charge of the Cavadonga, 172 ;
at First Battle of Finisterre, 176-9 ;
designs first naval uniform, 186-7 i
fights bravely and dies at Second
Battle of Finisterre, 206-9.
Saunders, Sir Charles (1713-7S). <=°'"-
raands the Trial on Anson's voyage
of circumnavigation, 161 ; captures
the Arranzazu, 164 ; leaves the Cen
turion at Macao, 170 ; distinguishes
himself at the Second Battle of Finis
terre, 1747, 2o5-8 ; second in command
under Hawke in the Mediterranean,
1756, 230, 232 ; replaces Hawke,
236 ; and prevents Louisburg rein
forcements from setting out, 1758,
248 ; influence of this, 253 ; comraands
in chief against Quebec, 1759, 257-68 ;

endeavours to participate in Quiberon,
283 ; knighted, 268 n. ; commands in
chief in the Mediterranean, and
makes a fortune out of the Hermione,
268 n. ; First Lord of the Admiralty,
268 n.
Savoy, 114, 152, 154 n.
Saxe, Marshal, 203, 209.
Scurvy, 158, 160 and n., 161, 162, 163,
167, 168.
Secret Treaty of Dover, 40.
Selkirk, Alexander, 161.
Ships —
Association, 95, in.
Barfleur, 82 n., 95, 106-9, 153, 197.
Berwick, 193-202.
Breda, 125 and n. , 126-9.
Britannia, 77.
Burford, 141, 194 n.
Centurion, 155-74, 215, 258.
Doutelle, 202 n.
Dreadnought, 27, 177, 185 n., 245.
Eagle, 81, III, 207.
Eendracht, 12-3.
Formidable, 285-7.
Foudroyant, 218, 248-9, 257.
Gibraltar, 271-2, 276.
Gloucester, 155-67.
Golden Horse, 117.
Hermione, 268 n.
[Loyal] London, 34, 41 and n. , 45.
Magnanime, 239, 240, 243, 281-8.
Monarque, 228-9.
Monmouth, 248-9.
Namur, 178, 197, 198, 253-5, 270-7.
Poder, 199-201.
Porcupine, 261.
Ramillies, 219, 228, 237, 248.
Royal Charles, >:, 9, 12, 13, 17, 27.
28, 33, 34. 35, SI-
Royal George, 280-8.
Royal James, 12, 18, 28, 34, 43, 44.
Royal Prince, 18, 22, 23, 50, 51, 52,
64.
Royal Sovereign, 66, 77, 91.
Ruby, 125-9.
Seven Provinces, 18, 42, 50.

302

INDEX

Ships [continued) —
Soleil Royal, 66, 77, 80, 282-8.
Swiftsure, ig, 248, '2j-^-'j, 280-8.
Timiraire, 276.
Torbay^ 95 and n., 96, 285-8.
Trial, 155-64, 257.
Vernon, 136 n.
Victory, 24.
Wager, 155, 159.
Warspite, 273-7, 280-8.
Shovel, Sir Clowdisley (1650-1707), as
a boy befriended by Narbrough and
Myngs, 62 ; in Second Dutch War
swims under fire with dispatches, 62 ;
in a South Sea voyage, and Third
Dutch War, 62 ; with Herbert in the
Mediterranean, and protests against
the abandonment of Tangier, 1683,
57, 98 ; commands the Edgar at
Bantry Bay, 1689, 62 ; distinguishes
himself in the battle and is knighted,
63 ; conveys William III to Ireland,
1690, and so misses Beachy Head,
66 ; breaks the French line at Bar
fleur, 1692, 77-8 ; takes part in the
capture of Gibraltar, 1704, 100-5 ! ^^"^
at Malaga fights brilliantly, 105-9 •
after Rooke's supersession, commands
in chief in the Mediterranean, no;
co-operates with Peterborough at
Barcelona, 1705, no ; causes the de
struction of the Toulon fleet, 1707,
no ; wrecked in the Association off
the Scilly Isles, 111-2 ; his monument
in the Abbey, 112-3; spelling of his
name, 62 and n.
Sicily, 88, 114, 152, 154 n.
Silesia, 189, 209, 210.
Smollett, Tobias, 143-9 J qiioted, 122,
144, 145, 146, 148, 150.
Srayrna convoy, 84-5, 99.
Spain, decadence of, 1648-59, 3; war
of succession in 1702-13, 87-91 ; dis
persal of her provinces at Peace of
Utrecht, 113-4 ; opposed by England
in Sicilian War of 1718, 153-4 ; War
of Jenkins' Ear, 1739, 133-9; ^"^^

Austrian Succession, 190-1 ; refuses
to join in Seven Years' War, 215 ;
see also Charles II, Philips IV and
V, Admiral Hosier, Family Compact,
and Polish Succession.
Spragge, Sir Edward, distinguishes
himself at Four Days' Battle, 1666,
27 ; and at St. James's Day, 7 ; de
fends Sheerness against De Ruyter,
1667, 31 ; and aids Albemarle in the
defence of Chatham, 33-4; conducts
successful campaign against the
Algerines, 41, 53 ; present at Solebay,
1672, 41; hiS' struggles with Tromp
off the Schoonveldt, 48 ; vows to take
Tromp or perish, 49 ; his last great
duel at the Texel, 1673, S^ : meets
his death by drowning, 51, 52 u. ;
characteristics, 52.
Stanhope, Sir Thomas, 273-7, 278, 280-
8.
Suckhng, Capt. Maurice, 244-5.
Suffren, De, 258.
Suraj-ud-Dowlah, 231. T
Tangier, 56, 57, 87, 98, 99, loo-i.
Tarpaulins (common seamen), 58.
Test Act, 48, 58.
Ticonderoga, 213, 235-6, 246, 255, 257,
262-3.
Tinian, 168, 170.
Torrington, Earl of, see Herbert,
Arthur.
Torrington, Viscount, see Byng,
George.
Toulon, 4, 66, 87, 99, 113, 195, 216-7,
248, 270-2.
Toulouse, Comte de, 100, 105-9.
Tourville, De, serves under Duquesne
in the Mediterranean, 66 ; defeats
Torrington at Beachy Head, 67-72 ;
misunderstood and unappreciated by
Louis XIV, 73 ; his clever campaign
against Russell, 1691, 74; fights at
Barfleur to vindicate his honour, 75-

INDEX

303

9; witnesses the destruction of his
fleet at La Hogue, 79-82 ; rewarded
by Louis, 84 ; ambushes the Smyrna
convoy, 84-5; his sea-science, 69, 70,
74, 77-8 ; characteristics, 67, 76.
Triple Alliance, 1668, 39.
Tromp, Cornelius, 13, 18, 21, 22, 27,
28, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 72.
Turenne, 35, 46, 55. U
Uniform, naval, 150 and n. , 151, 186-7.
V
Van de Velde, 26 n.
Vannes, 280, 282.
Vauban, 35, 238.
Vernon, Edward (1684-1757), at Vigo
Bay, capture of Gibraltar and Mala
ga, 138 ; serves in West Indies, 138 ;
avoids Shovel's fate, 1707, 138 ; enters
Parliament and opposes Walpole,
136, 138, 233 ; offers to take Porto
Bello, 139 ; and does so, 1739, 139-
43 ; his insistence on gunnery, 141 ;
avenges Admiral Hosier, 194 n. ;
his success greeted with extravagant
jubilation, 142-3 ; his attack on Car
thagena, 1741, 143-9 • failure not at
tributable to him, 146 ; his attack on
Santiago de Cuba, 149 ; commands
in the Channel, 1745, 149, 203 ; pub
lishes political pamphlets, and is
cashiered, 149-50 ; his grogram
clothes and nickname, 150; his
monument in the Abbey, 147 ; im
proves the "Fighting Instructions,"
183; characteristics, 136, 150 andn.,
ISI-
Vilaine, R., 283, 288.
Vlie, the, 29, 30, 47.
Voltaire, 229 n. W
Wade, Capt., 125-9, 225.
Walpole, Horace, 176, 178, 188, 215,
243, 246, 252, 256, 268, 277, 278.

Walpole, Sir Robert (Premier, 1721-42),
133. 136. 138, 139 and n., 143 and
u., 193 n., 232 n., 233.
Walton, Capt., 153, 154 and n.
Warren, Sir Peter (1703-52), 176-9,
194, 205, 208, 212, 213, 214 and n.
Wars- Austrian Succession, 190-209.
Dutch, First, 6, 7, 8, 58.
— Second, 6-36.
— Third, 39-53, 45 n.
English Succession, 60-85.
Jenkins' Ear, 134 and n., 135-9, 210 n.
Polish Succession, 139, 154 n.
Seven Years', 217-90.
Spanish Succession, 87-114.
Thirty Years', 3.
Watson, Charles (1714-57), 206-9, 231
n. , 232.
Wentworth, General, 145-9.
West, Admiral, 219-25, 226.
West Indies, see Barbados, Benbow,
Guarda Costas, Hosier, Jamaica,
Suckling, Vernon, etc.
Whiffle, Captain, 150 and n., 186.
William III (1688-1702), 7, 46, 49, 50,
S4, SS> S9, 60j 61. 63 and n., 66, 67,
68, 69, 72-3, 74, 75, 76, 82, 87, 88,
91 and n., 123, 124, 125.
Windward Position, 11, 12 and n., 13,
14, 21, 25.
Wolfe, James (1727-59), youth of, 237 ;
at Dettingen, Falkirk and Culloden,
238 ; distinguishes himself at Roche
fort, 1757, 240-2 ; recognized by
Pitt, 246 ; establishes his reputation
at Louisburg, 1758, 252-5 ; besieges
Quebec, 1759, 260-5 ! 'i-"d takes it,
265-8 ; his unexampled faculty for
co-operating with the Navy, 254, 265-
6; other characteristics, 238, 243 n.,
260, 267.
" Wonderful Year, The " (1759), 256-90.

' Yellow Squadron,'' 204.

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