It may be of interest to have some account of the successor of
the ill-fated Admiral Byng, in the command of the fleet in the
Mediterranean.
Sir Edward Hawke, who was born in 1705, and died in 1781, was the
son of a barrister. He entered the Navy early, and in 1733 had risen
to the command of a ship. In an engagement with the French, off
Toulon, in 1744, he broke from the line of battle to engage a vessel
of the enemy; and, although he caused her to strike her colors, he
was dismissed from the service for the breach of discipline. He was,
however, restored almost immediately, by the King’s command, and in
1747 made a Rear-Admiral. In October of that year he was sent with a
squadron to intercept a large fleet of French merchant vessels bound to
the West Indies, under convoy of nine men-of-war, and many transports
filled with troops. Coming up with them off Isle d’Aix, he succeeded,
after a severe struggle, in capturing six of the men-of-war, but
darkness coming on most of the convoy escaped. The delay of the French
expedition, caused by this action, contributed very materially to the
capture of Cape Breton. In consequence of his success, Hawke was
made a Knight Commander of the Bath; and soon after became Member of
Parliament for Bristol.
In 1748 he was made a Vice-Admiral, and in 1755 an Admiral; and the
following year succeeded Admiral Byng--but much too late to succor
Minorca.
Hawke had no opportunity of again distinguishing himself until 1759,
when he was in command of the squadron blockading Brest. Having been
driven by stress of weather into Torbay, he sailed from thence to
resume his station off Brest, on the 14th of November, and on the same
day Admiral Conflans put to sea with a strong fleet-though not equal to
that of Hawke.
The latter conjectured that the French had gone to Quiberon Bay, to
attack an English squadron cruising there, and he pressed sail in that
direction. Owing to strong head winds it was the 20th before he arrived
off Belleisle. When that island bore about east, the French fleet was
discovered. The weather was thick, and it was blowing a very fresh gale
of wind from the northwest, with a heavy sea.
Hawke made all haste to get his ships together, and then sent one of
them in to make the land, and ascertain the exact position. Soon after
the weather cleared, and the French fleet was seen, crowding sail to
get away; and Hawke ordered a part of his fleet in chase, and followed
with the rest. The fresh gale rendered it impossible for either fleet
to carry much sail. Early in the afternoon the leading English ships
caught up with the French rear, and a very animated action ensued. The
French Rear-Admiral, Verger, in the Formidable, 80, was set upon by
five or six ships at once, and was obliged to surrender, after having
had two hundred men killed. The English Magnanime, 74, Captain Lord
Howe, soon became closely engaged with the Thesée, 74; but the latter
being disabled, dropped astern, and was engaged by the Torbay, while
Howe pushed on in search of a fresh opponent, which he found in the
Héros, 74. Captain de Kersaint, of the Thesée, imagining from a slight
lull in the wind that he could fight his lower deck guns, unfortunately
tried the hazardous experiment, and commenced firing at the Torbay.
Captain Keppel, of the latter ship, followed de Kersaint’s example, and
narrowly escaped the same fate. A heavy squall struck the Thesée, and
she filled and went down; and out of her crew of 800 men only twenty
were saved by the British boats. The Torbay shipped a great deal of
water, but, by great exertions, was preserved. The Superbe, a French
70-gun ship, also capsized and sank, from the same cause. At 5 P.M.
the Héros surrendered to Howe, and anchored, but the sea ran so high
that they could not lower a boat to take possession of her. The night
came on very dark, and exceedingly tempestuous, and, being among the
rocks and shoals of a treacherous coast, and without pilots, it was
considered prudent to discontinue the chase, and anchor. During the
night the Resolution, 74, drove on shore, and was totally wrecked, with
the loss of most of her crew.
At daybreak of the next day the Héros was discovered aground, and the
flag-ship of Conflans, the Soleil Royal, dismasted. Shortly after being
discovered she cut her cables, and also went on shore. The Essex, a 64,
was ordered to stand in and destroy her, but that ship got on a sand
bank and was wrecked; her crew, however, being saved. The two French
vessels which were on shore were finally set on fire, and destroyed.
Seven or eight others, by their knowledge of the coast, had got to the
mouth of the river Vilaine, and by means of taking out their guns,
crossed the bar, and reached a place of security.
In effecting all this damage and loss upon the enemy’s fleet, the loss
in killed and wounded among the English must have been severe. But in
those days they were not very particular in reporting such things. For
his success, under exceptional difficulties and dangers, Sir Edward
Hawke received the thanks of Parliament, and a pension of two thousand
pounds per annum.
In 1765 he was appointed Vice-Admiral of Great Britain, and First Lord
of the Admiralty; and in 1776 was raised to the peerage, under the
title of Baron Hawke of Towton.
[Illustration: BUCENTORO
(Barge of the Doges, used annually, on Ascension Day, in the Ceremony
of “Venice Wedding the Adriatic.”)]