him, and the House of Commons, believing what he stated, absurdly
passed a vote of thanks to him. We may well conceive the rage of heart
and scorn of his admiral that consumed Shovel at the feeble attack and
cowardly retreat. At the time he was commander of the _Edgar_, and was
soon after knighted by King William.
[Illustration: SIR CLOUDESLEY SHOVELL]
Next year he was employed in transporting an army into Ireland, a
service which he performed with such diligence and dexterity that the
King raised him to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the Blue, and delivered
to him his commission with his own hands. Soon after he was made
Rear-Admiral of the Red, and shared in the glory of the victory of La
Hogue. In 1694 he bombarded Dunkirk.
In 1702 he was sent with a squadron of about twenty men-of-war to join
the Grand Fleet, and bring home the galleons and other rich boats
taken by the Duke of Ormond and Sir George Rooke at Vigo.
The next year he was promoted to a higher post, being appointed as
Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Fleet in the Mediterranean,
consisting of thirty-five English and fourteen Dutch men-of-war. On
entering the Leghorn roads, the Governor refused to accord a royal
salute. Sir Cloudesley peremptorily ordered the salute to be given, or
to expect all the guns of the fleet to ask the question why it had not
been at once accorded. The threat sufficed. In this expedition Sir
Cloudesley sent two men-of-war to endeavour to supply the Camisards of
the Cevennes with money, arms, and ammunition, but failed to obtain
communication with them.
Soon after the battle off Malaga he was presented by Prince George of
Denmark to Queen Anne; she received him graciously, and the next year
employed him as Commander-in-Chief.
In the month of June, 1704, he had his share in the honour of taking
Gibraltar; and by his admirable conduct, bravery, and success in the
sea-fight that happened soon after, between the Confederate and French
fleets, obliged the enemy's van to bear away out of the reach of his
cannon, and the Count of Toulouse to follow the example of his van,
and escape out of danger. Although in this action Sir Cloudesley was
second in command, yet he won the principal credit for its success,
and some months after was appointed Rear-Admiral of England.
In 1705 he commanded the fleet, together with the Earl of Portsmouth,
which was sent into the Mediterranean, and it was mainly owing to him
that Barcelona was taken.
After an unsuccessful attempt upon Toulon he sailed for Gibraltar, and
from thence on Michaelmas Day homeward with a part of his fleet,
consisting of fifteen men-of-war, five of a lesser rank, and one
yacht. He was on the _Association_, Sir George Byng was commander on
the _Royal Arms_, Lord Dursley on the _S. George_.
On the 22nd of October Sir Cloudesley Shovel being enveloped in fog, and
taking soundings in ninety fathoms, he brought to and lay by from noon
till six o'clock in the evening, when, as the wind freshened and blew
from the S.S.W., he made signal for sailing. The fleet steered E. by N.
and supposing that they had the Channel open some of the ships ran upon
the rocks of Scilly, before they were aware, about eight o'clock at
night, and at once made signals of distress. The _Association_, in which
was Sir Cloudesley Shovel, struck upon the rocks near the Bishop and his
Clerks, and went down with all hands on board.
The same fate befell the _Eagle_ and the _Romney_. The _Firebrand_ was
likewise dashed upon the rocks and foundered; but the captain and
four-and-twenty of his men saved themselves in a boat. And Captain
Sansom, who commanded the _Phœnix_, being driven towards the shore,
was forced to abandon his ship to save his men. The _Royal Arms_ was
saved by great presence of mind in both Sir George Byng and his
officers and men, who in a minute, on perceiving the rocks not a
ship's length to leeward, as well as those on which Sir Cloudesley
Shovel was lost, set her topsails and sheered off. Nor had Lord
Dursley, commanding the _S. George_, a less fortunate escape; for his
ship was dashed upon the same reef as that on which the _Association_
had been wrecked; but the same wave that beat out the lights of Sir
Cloudesley's vessel lifted the _S. George_ and floated it away.
A story has remained deeply engraved in the minds of the men of Scilly
to the present day. It is to this effect:--
On the 22nd October, that same fatal day, a sailor, a native of Scilly,
ventured to approach the admiral and tell him that he was steering too
far to the northward, and that unless the course of the fleet was
changed they could not fail to run her upon the rocks. For this act of
insubordination Sir Cloudesley ordered the presumptuous adviser to be
hanged at the yard-arm of his ship, the _Association_; and the only
favour granted him, in mitigation of his punishment, was a compliance
with the poor fellow's request that, before execution of the sentence,
he should be allowed to read a portion of Scripture. The prayer granted,
he read the 109th Psalm in which occur the imprecations: "Let his days
be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.... Let his posterity be destroyed, and in the next
generation let his name be clean put out. Because his mind was not to do
good, but persecuted the poor, helpless man, that he might slay him that
was vexed at the heart."
The report of this atrocious act could have been communicated by only
one man who was said to have escaped alive out of the crew of the
_Association_. Now happily we know that no man was saved out of that
vessel. The one man who was saved was George Laurence, quartermaster of
the _Romney_, a North-countryman from near Hull, and a butcher by trade.
Of him we learn something from the account of Mr. Edmund Herbert, Deputy
Paymaster-General of the Marine Regiments, who was in Scilly in 1709,
sent there with the object of trying to recover some of the property
lost in the wreck, which had taken place two years before.
This fellow, says Herbert, was "a lusty fat man, but much battered
with the rocks. Most of the captains, lieutenants, doctors, etc., of
the squadron came on shore and asked him many questions in relation to
the wreck, but not one man took pity on him, either to dress or order
to be dressed his bruises, etc., whereof he had perished had not Mr.
Ekins, a gentleman of the island, charitably taken him in; and a
doctor of a merchant ship then in the road under convoy of Southampton
searched his wounds and applied proper remedies."
Now it is obvious that this man could say nothing relative to what had
happened on the _Association_. But we arrive at the origin of the story
from what Herbert relates, and he alone. He says: "About one or two
after noon on the 23rd (22nd) October Sir Cloudesley called a council
and examined the masters what latitude they were in; all agreed to be in
that of Ushant, on the coast of France, except Sir W. Jumper's master of
the _Lenox_, who believed them to be nearer Scilly, and that in three
hours (they) should be up in sight thereof. But Sir Cloudesley listened
not to a single person whose opinion was contrary to the whole fleet.
(They then altered their opinion and thought themselves on the coast of
France, but a lad on board the ---- said the light they made was Scilly
light, though all the ship's crew swore at and gave him ill language for
it; howbeit he continued in his assertion, and that which they made (to
be) a sail and a ship's lanthorn proved to be a rock and the light afore
mentioned, which rock the lad called the Great Smith, of the truth of
which at daybreak they were all convinced.)"
This is the small egg out of which so large a fable has hatched forth.
The boy was probably drowned, and his parents or relations on Scilly,
angry that his advice had not been taken and so the wreck avoided,
felt resentment against Sir Cloudesley on this account, and little by
little magnified the incident, and transmuted it from an error of
judgment into a crime.
Beside Sir Cloudesley on board the _Association_ were Lady Shovell's
two sons by her first husband, Admiral Sir John Narborough. These were
Sir John Narborough, Bart., and his brother James; Edmund Loader, the
captain; also a nephew, the son of her first husband's sister; Henry
Trelawny, second son of the Bishop of Winchester; and several other
young gentlemen of good family.
After that Sir Cloudesley had adopted the prevailing opinion that the
squadron was off Ushant; he detached the _Lenox_, _La Valeur_, and the
_Phœnix_ for Falmouth, with orders to take under convoy the merchant
vessels waiting there bound eastward. These ships, following a
north-easterly course, as had been determined on, soon found themselves
among the myriad rocks and islets that lie to the south-west of the
Scilly group, where the _Phœnix_ sustained so much damage that her
captain and crew only saved the ship and themselves by running her
ashore on the sands between Tresco and S. Martin's Islands. The _Lenox_
and _La Valeur_ were fortunately able to beat through to Broad Sound,
an anchorage to the west of the principal islands, where they remained
till break of day on the ensuing morning. Then they discovered where
they were, and sailed for Falmouth, in the direction in which they now
knew that it lay, and arrived there on the 25th, bringing news of the
wreck of the _Phœnix_, but knowing nothing of the mishap to the vessels
of the squadron from which they had been detached.
J. Addison, in a letter dated October 31st, 1707, wrote: "Yesterday we
had the news that the body of Sir Cloudesley Shovel was found on the
coast of Cornwall. The fishermen, who were searching among the rocks,
took a tin-box out of the pocket of one of the carcasses that was
floating, and found in it the commission of an Admiral, upon which,
examining the body more closely, they found it was poor Sir Cloudesley.
You may guess the conditions of his unhappy wife, who lost, in the same
ship with her husband, her two only sons by Sir John Narborough."
In an article on Sir Cloudesley by Mr. S. R. Pattison, in the _Journal
of the R. Inst. of Cornwall_, October, 1864, he says: "On a recent
visit to the site of Sir Cloudesley's first burial place, on the inner
shore of Porthellic Cove, we were informed by our guides--fishermen
and pilots--that the body of the unfortunate Admiral when washed
ashore was on a grating, on which was also the dead body of his
faithful Newfoundland dog. They are said to have been found, early in
the morning after the wreck, by a woman named Thomas, then living at
Sallakey farm--a short distance from the Cove. Mrs. Thomas immediately
gave information and procured assistance from Sallakey, and the body
of the unfortunate hero was buried at the inmost part of the Cove,
near the junction of the shingle and the herbage, but within and at
right angles with the latter. And here it remains, conspicuous from no
inconsiderable distance, without a particle of verdure to obscure the
brilliancy of the white shingle which occupies its space, in marked
contrast with the dense herbage by which it is surrounded on three of
its sides. Our guides asserted that this strange appearance of the
grave is due to an imprecation uttered upon Sir Cloudesley a few hours
previous to the wreck, and (as they, with other Scillonians,
superstitiously believe) with more than human power of prophecy. The
islanders assert that ever since the body of a cruel tyrant, as they
deem the hero, rested in this grave, grass has never grown upon its
surface, and they are confident it never will grow there."
"Sir Cloudesley Shovel's body being the next day after this misfortune
taken up by some country fellows, was stripped and buried in the sand.
But on inquiry made by the boats of the _Salisbury_ and _Antelope_, it
was discovered where he was hid; from whence being taken out, and the
earth wash'd off, he appeared as fresh as if alive, tho' he had lain
interr'd from the 23rd to the 26th, on which day he was brought on board
the _Salisbury_, embowell'd, and the 28th of that month brought into
Plymouth, from whence he was afterwards carried to London. This was the
fatal end of one of the greatest sea-commanders of our age, or, indeed,
that ever this island produced. Of undaunted courage and resolution, of
wonderful presence of mind in the hottest engagements, and of consummate
skill and experience. But more than all this, he was a just, frank,
generous, honest, good man. He was the artificer of his own fortune, and
by his personal merit alone, from the lowest, rais'd himself almost to
the highest station in the navy of Great Britain."[37]
But we have a much more detailed and accurate account of the finding
of the body in the narrative of Mr. Edmund Herbert: I do not give the
contractions as in the original. "Sir Cloudesley Shovell [was] cast
away October 23rd [actually on the evening of the 22nd], being
Wednesday, between six and seven at night, off Guilstone, [and] was
found on shoar [at Porthellick Cove] in S. Marie's Island, stript of
his shirt, which by confession was known to have been done by two
women, which shirt had his name at the gusset at his waist; where by
order of Mr. Harry Pennick, [it] was buried four yards off the sands;
which place I myself viewed, and as [I] was by his grave, came the
said woman that first saw him after he was stript. His ring was also
lost from off his hand, which last, however, left the impression on
his finger, as also of a second. The Lady Shovell offered a
considerable reward to any one [who] should recover it for her, and in
order thereto wrote Captain Benedick Dennis, Governor and
Commander-in-Chief of the Islands of Scilly, giving him a particular
description thereof, who used his utmost diligence, both by fair and
foul means, though could not hear of it. Sir Cloudesley had on him a
pair of thread stockings and a thread waistcoat. Mr. Child [Paxton] of
the _Arundell_ caused him to be taken up, and knew him to be Sir
Cloudesley by a certain black mole under his left ear, as also by the
first joint of one of his forefingers being broken inwards formerly by
playing at tables; the said joint of his finger was also small and
taper, as well as standing somewhat inwards; he had likewise a shot in
his right arm, another in his left thigh. Moreover, he was well
satisfied that it was he, for he was as fresh when his face was washed
as if only asleep; his nose likewise bled as though alive.... Many
that saw him said his head was the largest that ever they had seen,
and not at all swelled with the water, neither had he any bruise or
scar about him, save only a small scratch above one of his eyes like
that of a pin. He was a very lusty, comely man, and very fat."
Nearly 1800 lives were lost in this disastrous shipwreck. The
_Association_, the _Eagle_, and the _Romney_ were totally lost with
every soul on board save the one we have already heard of. The
_Firebrand_ had struck and foundered, but her captain and seventeen
men were saved in a boat, and two more of her crew got on shore on
pieces of the wreck.
Sir Cloudesley's was the first body that came on shore, and there was a
woman who at once stripped it and robbed it of its rings. One of these
was a fine emerald set with diamonds, which is said to have been given
to the Admiral by his intimate friend and comrade, James Lord Dursley,
who so nearly shared his fate in the _S. George_. Although strict
inquiries were made for this ring, no tidings could be heard of it. Lady
Shovel then granted a pension for life to the woman and her husband who
had found the body. Many years after a terrible confession was made by a
dying woman to a clergyman of S. Mary's Island. She said that the
Admiral had been cast ashore exhausted and faint, but still living, and
that she had squeezed the life out of him for the sake of his clothes
and his rings. She produced the long-missing emerald hoop, and gave it
to the clergyman, saying that she had been afraid to sell it lest it
should lead to a discovery of her guilt, and she added that she could
not die in peace until she had made this full confession. This
disclosure was made between the years 1732 and 1736, after the death of
Lady Shovel. The ring was sent to Lord Dursley, who became Earl of
Berkeley in 1701, and from him it descended to his grandson, Sir George
Cranfield Berkeley, and in the possession of one of his descendants it
still remains, but has unfortunately been converted into a locket.[38]
The _History of the Reign of Queen Anne_, 1708, says that on "December
23rd was performed the interment of Sir Cloudesley Shovell, whose body,
after having lain in state for many days, at the Queen's expense, was
conveyed from his late dwelling-house in Soho Square, to the Abbey of
Westminster, where it was buried with all pomp and magnificence suitable
to her Majesty's high regard to the remains of so brave and faithful a
commander. There were at the ceremony the Queen's trumpets,
kettle-drums, and household drums, with other music; the Queen's and the
Prince's watermen in their liveries, most of the nobility's coaches with
six horses, and flag-officers that were in town, and the Prince's
Council, the Heralds-at-Arms, and the Knights' Marshal men."
Sir Cloudesley, by his wife, the widow of Sir John Narborough, left
two daughters, of whom the elder, Elizabeth, married first, 1708, Sir
Robert Marsham, Bart., who was created Baron Romney in 1716; and,
secondly, Lord Carmichael, afterwards Earl of Hyndford. The second
daughter, Anne, married in 1718 the Hon. Robert Mansel; and, secondly,
John Blackwood, Esq., by whom she had Shovell Blackwood, of Pitreavie,
Fife, N.B., and of Crayford, Kent, and a daughter.
Elizabeth, who married Sir Robert Marsham, had issue Robert, second
Baron Romney, and the Hon. Elizabeth Marsham, who married Sir Jacob
Bouverie, third Baronet, created Viscount Folkestone in 1747, as his
second wife, and by him had the Hon. Philip Bouverie, who assumed the
name of Pusey, and so became the ancestress of Dr. Pusey.
Among those lost as well as Sir Cloudesley Shovel was, as already
stated, Henry, son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bart., Bishop of
Winchester.
A letter from John Ben, of S. Hilary, dated November 16th, 1707,
describing the finding of his body, has been printed in the second
volume of the Penzance Natural History Society. I give it in modern
spelling.
It was addressed to the father of the young man who perished.
"MY LORD,
"Your Lordship's commands having been signified to my brother at
Scilly, he immediately made the strictest inquiry that was possible,
all the bodies that had been thrown ashore and buried, and being
told of one buried at Agnes about Mr. Trelawny's age, was resolved
to have him taken up in order to view him, whether it was he or no.
He had seen the young gentleman at Torbay, but not willing to depend
on his own judgment, desired the Captain of the _Phœnix_ fire-ship
that was stranded there, who knew Mr. Trelawny intimately well all
the voyage, to go with him. As soon as they had the body up, they
found it actually to be the same, though somewhat altered, having
been buried eleven days, and in the water four; however, the captain
presently knew him, and my brother took care to have the body
brought over to S. Mary's, and interred it in the chancel of the
church there the 8th instant, with all the marks of respect and
honour the island could show on such an occasion, some captains and
the best of the inhabitants being present at the funeral. My brother
took of his hair, being cut and that so close that the left lock was
not left to send over, and there is no room to doubt but 'twas the
body of poor Mr. Henry Trelawny. It has not been his good luck as
yet to meet with anything belonging to him, but whatever of the
nature happens to come to his hand or knowledge your lordship will
be sure to have a faithful account of it. They can say nothing in
particular touching Sir Cloudesley's loss, only the man saved out of
the _Romney_ tells that Sir Cloud was to the windward of all the
ships, and fired three guns when he struck, and immediately went
down, as the _Romney_ a little after did. Upon hearing the guns, the
rest of the fleet that were directly bearing on the same rocks
changed their course, and stood more to the southward, or else, in
all probability, they had run the same fate, which is never enough
to be admired; and 'twas possible men of so much experience could be
mistaken in their reckoning, after they had the advantage of a great
deal of fair weather beforehand, and no bad weather when they were
lost. There is a great quantity of timber all round the islands and
abundance of sails and rigging just about the place where the ships
sunk, and a mast, one end a little above water, which makes them
conclude an entire ship to be foundered there, because all the force
they can procure is not able to move the mast. The _Eagle_ most
certainly is lost too, and I wish no other of the squadron may be
wanting; besides those, though I am heartily sorry for the loss poor
England has sustained of so many men and in a most particular manner
for the share your lordship has."
In a postscript Mr. Ben adds:--
"The _Hound_ came from Scilly yesterday, and was very near being
taken, having three privateers behind and two before her, but she
escaped by creeping along the shore, where they would not adventure."
* * * * *
The authorities for the loss of the _Association_ and the finding of
the body of Sir Cloudesley are many:--
_The Shipwreck of Sir Cloudesley Shovell_, by Jas. Herbert Cooke,
F.S.A., Gloucester, 1883, with portrait and map; _The History of the
Reign of Queen Anne_, 1708; _Secret Memoirs of the Life of Sir
Cloudesley Shovell_, London, 1708; _The Life and Glorious Actions of Sir
Cloudesley Shovell, Knt._, London, 1709; "Sir Cloudesley Shovell," by S.
R. Pattison, in the _Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall_, 1864;
"Sir Cloudesley Shovel," by T. Quiller-Couch, _ibid._, 1866.
FOOTNOTES:
[37] _The History of the Reign of Queen Anne_, 1708, p. 242.
[38] Cooke (J. H.), _The Shipwreck of Sir Cloudesley Shovell_,
Gloucester, 1883. For the account of the confession of the woman he
refers to an original letter of the second Lord Romney to Captain
Locker, now in the possession of the Earl of Romney.
FRANCIS TREGIAN
The Tregion or Tregian family was one of great antiquity and large
landed estates in Cornwall. Indeed, in the reign of Elizabeth it was
estimated that the landed property brought in £3000 per annum, which
represents a very much larger sum now. Their principal seat was
Wolvedon, or Golden, in the parish of Probus, and this, when Leland
wrote in the reign of Henry VIII, was in process of being built with
great magnificence. But bad days were in store for some of the Cornish
families that would not accept the changes in religion.
Carew, in his _Survey of Cornwall_, 1602, speaking of Tregarrick, then
the residence of Mr. Buller, the sheriff, says: "It was sometime the
Wideslade's inheritance, until the father's rebellion forfeited it,"
and the "son then led a walking life with his harp to gentlemen's
houses, where-through, and by his other active qualities, he was
entitled Sir Tristram; neither wanted he (as some say) a _belle
Isounde_, the more aptly to resemble his pattern."
The rebellion referred to was the rising in the West against the
religious innovations, that was put down so ruthlessly.
During the first years of Elizabeth there had been no persecution of
the Papists. Such as would not conform to the Church of England as
reformed were allowed to have priests to say Mass in their own private
chapels. But after Pius V, on April 27th, 1570, had issued a Bull of
excommunication against the Queen, depriving her of her title to the
crown, and absolving her subjects from their oaths of allegiance; and
when it became evident that insurrections were being provoked by
secret agents from Rome in all directions, Elizabeth's patience was at
an end, and stringent laws were passed against those who should enter
England as missionary priests armed with this Bull and with
dispensations, as also against all such as should harbour them.