HIS SERVICES FROM 1778 TO 1791.
There are circumstances which in a few weeks or months may give the
experience of years; and when these occur in early life, they make a
permanent impression on the character. In the honours and misfortunes of
the late campaign, its toils, and its anxieties, Mr. Pellew had very
largely shared; and if rashness would have been the natural fault of a
mind like his, a more effectual corrective could not have been desired.
The quick conception, and the forethought, which enabled him in after
life so well to combine caution with daring, must have greatly depended
upon natural character, but he certainly owed much of it to the severe
discipline of his early service.
He had now completed his twenty-first year. Tall, and with a frame of
strength and symmetry, nerved by the hardships of two severe campaigns,
his personal activity and power were almost unrivalled. The spot was
shown for many years at Truro, where he sprang over the high gate of an
inn-yard at the back of one of the hotels, when, hastening across the
court to assist on the sudden alarm of a fire, he found the gate fast.
The consciousness of superior strength, while it made him slow to
offend, enabled him to inflict suitable punishment on offenders, and
some incidents of a ludicrous character are still remembered.
The water was as a natural element to him, and he often amused himself
in a manner which, to one less expert, would have been attended with the
utmost danger. He would sometimes go out in a boat, and overset her by
carrying a press of sail. Acts of daring like these must find their
excuse in the spirit of a fearless youth. But he often found the
advantage of that power and self-possession in the water which he
derived from his early habits, in saving men who had fallen overboard,
and especially in the happiest of all his services, his conduct at the
Dutton. More than once, however, he nearly perished. In Portsmouth
harbour, where he had upset himself in a boat, he was saved with
difficulty, after remaining for a considerable time in the water. On
another occasion, he was going by himself from Falmouth to Plymouth in a
small punt, fourteen feet long, when his hat was blown overboard, and he
immediately threw off his clothes and swam after it, having first
secured the tiller a-lee. As he was returning with his hat, the boat got
way on her, and sailed some distance before she came up in the wind. He
had almost reached her when she filled again, and he was thus baffled
three or four times. At length, by a desperate effort, he caught the
rudder, but he was so much exhausted that it was a considerable time
before he had strength to get into the boat.
The gratification felt at receiving his commission was soon forgotten,
when he found himself appointed to a guard-ship. He repeatedly solicited
more active employment, and at length took an opportunity to accost Lord
Sandwich in the street at Portsmouth. The First Lord asked him if he
were the young man who had been writing him so many letters; and after a
reproof for accosting him in the street, appointed an audience at the
hotel. He there told him that he could not be employed as he wished,
because he was included in the convention of Saratoga; and when Mr.
Pellew pleaded that the enemy had broken the convention, Lord Sandwich
replied, that was no reason why England should do so too. At length,
after every other plea had been urged in vain. Mr. Pellew took out his
commission, and begged that he might be allowed to return it, declaring
that he would rather command a privateer, than remain inactive while the
war was going on. Lord Sandwich, smiling at his ardour, desired him to
put up his commission, and promised that he should not be forgotten.
Soon after, he was appointed to the _Licorne_.
In the spring of 1779, the _Licorne_ sailed for the Newfoundland
station, under the orders of Captain Cadogan, who had lately superseded
Captain Bellew, her former commander. On her passage out, she engaged
two of the enemy's cruisers, and Lieutenant Pellew's conduct in the
action received the praise of his captain. She returned to England in
December, when he left her to join the _Apollo_, commanded by his
excellent friend and patron Captain Pownoll, who was so delighted to
obtain once more the services of a follower whom he regarded with equal
pride and affection, that he removed for his sake an officer of high
connexions, whose seniority would have prevented Mr. Pellew from being
the first lieutenant.
Mr. Pellew was too soon deprived of this inestimable friend. On the
morning of the 15th of June 1780, the _Apollo_, cruising in the North
Sea, in company with some other ships, was ordered away by the senior
captain in pursuit of a cutter. She had almost come up with the chase,
when the _Stanislaus_ French frigate hove in sight, and the _Apollo_
left the cutter for a more equal opponent. She overtook and brought her
to action at half-past twelve, engaging under a press of sail, for the
enemy made every effort to escape to the neutral port of Ostend, which
was not far distant. In an hour after the action commenced, Captain
Pownoll was shot through the body. He said to his young friend, "Pellew,
I know you won't give his Majesty's ship away;" and immediately died in
his arms. Mr. Pellew continued the action for more than an hour longer,
and drove the enemy, beaten and dismasted, on shore; but he was
disappointed of his prize, which claimed protection from the neutral
port. The _Apollo_ had five killed, besides the captain, and twenty
wounded. A musket ball, which had struck Captain Pownoll in a former
action, was found after his death, lodged among the muscles of the
chest. The _Stanislaus_ was got off, and carried into Ostend, where,
being brought to sale, she was purchased by the British government, and
added to the navy.
None despond so readily as talented and sanguine young men, who are too
apt to regard as irreparable the loss of anything they had relied on for
the attainment of a favourite object. Only time can show that a strong
mind is not dependent upon accidental circumstances, but creates
facilities for itself, as a river will make if it do not find a channel
for its waters. But Lieutenant Pellew was too young to have learned this
lesson; and depressed as he was with grief for his patron, and
disappointment at the escape of the French frigate, his prospects seemed
altogether clouded. A letter which he wrote to the Earl of Sandwich on
this occasion, displays all the struggle of his feelings. Circumstantial
proof that everything was done to prevent the enemy from escaping; a
modest allusion to his former services; expressions of the keenest
sorrow for his loss; a bitter sense of his desolate condition; with
earnest appeals to every feeling of justice and sympathy, which might
induce the First Lord to extend to him the patronage not always given to
an unfriended claimant; yet still with anxiety to do full justice to his
officers and men, are blended in this very characteristic letter. It is
not certain that it was ever sent; for the copy preserved is too
carefully written for a rough draft, yet contains many corrections and
erasures. He was, perhaps, dissatisfied with it, and before he had
determined what to send, his promotion spared him the necessity of an
application. Still it is an interesting document, affording, as it does,
a detailed account of the action, a sketch of his former services, and
a transcript of his feelings at the time.
"MY LORD,--Your Lordship will receive herewith, from Admiral Drake,
an account of an action fought by H.M.S. _Apollo_, at sea, June 15,
which lasted for two hours and twenty minutes. I trust your
Lordship will excuse my troubling you with a private account of the
engagement, to inform you of many occurrences during the action
which my public letter would not admit of. When the action began,
both ships had all their sails set upon a wind, with as much wind
as we could bear. The ever-to-be-lamented Captain Pownoll received
a wound through his body about an hour after the action commenced,
when standing at the gangway. The enemy had then suffered much,
having lost the yard-arms of both his lower yards, and had no sails
drawing but his foresail, main-top-gallant-sail, and mizen-topsail,
the others flying about. We had engaged her to leeward, which, from
the heel his ship had, prevented him from making our rigging and
sails the objects of his fire; though I am well convinced he had
laid his guns down as much as possible. When I assumed the command,
we had shot upon his bow. I endeavoured to get the courses hauled
up, and the top-gallant-sails clewed up, neither of which we could
do, as we had neither clue-garnets, bunt-lines, or leach-lines
left. However, we got the top-gallant-sails down, with most of the
stay-sails, and the mizen-topsail aback; but finding we still
outsailed him, I had no other method left but that of sheering
across his hawse, first on one bow, then on the other, raking him
as we crossed, always having in view the retarding his way, by
obliging him either to receive us athwart his bowsprit, in which
case we should have turned his head off shore, or to sheer as we
did. He, foreseeing our intention, did so; but never lost sight of
gaining the shore. In this situation we had continued for a
considerable time. His bowsprit had been at two different times
over our quarter-deck, but never so far forward as to enable us to
secure him. All this time we were approaching the shore, and we
were then, I am certain, within two miles of it. I had been
cautioned by the master, whose abilities and great assistance I
must ever gratefully remember, more than once, of the shoal water,
and I had repeatedly called for and sent after the pilot; and I am
sorry to inform your Lordship he did not appear. Thus situated, in
three and a half fathoms water, and steering towards danger, there
was no time to hesitate; and, with the advice of the master, I
wore, and brought to under the mizen, with her head off shore,
until we could get the courses and other sails taken in, not having
then a brace or bowline left, and being fully determined to renew
the action in a few minutes. We had scarcely wore, when his
foremast, main-top-mast, main-yard, and main-top fell, leaving his
mainmast without rigging; and the ship at the same time took a
large heel, which made us all conclude she had struck the ground.
It was then half-ebb, and I firmly believe, had we pursued him, in
less than ten minutes we must have run aground. She had fired a gun
to leeward, seemingly to claim the protection of the port, which
was answered by three from the garrison. I was at this time
preparing to wear again, to anchor alongside him; but Mr. Unwin,
the purser, bringing me some orders found in Captain Pownoll's
pocket, among which was one relative to the observance of
neutrality, I did not think myself justified in renewing the
attack. I therefore continued lying to, to repair our damages. Our
masts are much wounded, the rigging very much torn, and several
shot under water, by which we made two feet water an hour.
"Your Lordship will, I hope, pardon me, for troubling you with the
relation of private feelings. The loss of Captain Pownoll will be
severely felt. The ship's company have lost a father. I have lost
much more, a father and a friend united; and that friend my only
one on earth. Never, my Lord, was grief more poignant than that we
all feel for our adored commander. Mine is inexpressible. The
friend who brought me up, and pushed me through the service, is now
no more! It was ever my study, and will always be so, to pursue his
glorious footsteps. How far I may succeed I know not; but while he
lived, I enjoyed the greatest blessing, that of being patronized by
him. That happiness I am now deprived of, and unassisted by
friends, unconnected with the great, and unsupported by the world,
I must throw myself totally on your Lordship's generosity. If I
have erred, it was not from the heart; for I will be bold to say,
the love and honour of his country makes no heart more warm than
mine.
"And if, after a constant service, never unemployed for thirteen
years,[1] and the character I bear with every officer with whom I
have had the honour to serve; having been three years in America,
and in every action on Lake Champlain, for one of which, in the
_Carleton_, Lieutenant Dacres, our commander, received promotion;
afterwards in a continued series of hard service, in that
unfortunate expedition under General Burgoyne, whose thanks for my
conduct I received in the course of the campaign, and whose
misfortunes I shared at Saratoga, not in common with others, but
increased by the melancholy sight of a dead brother, fallen in the
service of his king; having then returned to England in a transport
to fulfil the convention, with Generals Carleton's and Burgoyne's
despatches, as well as General Carleton's letter, recommending me
to your Lordship; and permit me to mention, my Lord, without being
thought partial to my own story, my having received the thanks of
Sir Charles Douglas, by letter, for my behaviour in the different
actions in Canada; and having acquitted myself much to Captain
Cadogan's satisfaction in action with two ships, when on our voyage
to Newfoundland; and if on the present occasion, conscious of the
rectitude of my conduct, I can be entitled to your Lordship's
approbation, permit me to hope from your Lordship's well-known
generosity, which I have already experienced, that you will extend
to me that protection which I have lost in my dear departed
benefactor. I have now no friend to solicit your Lordship in my
favour. I stand alone to sue for your protection, in some
confidence that you will not suffer the dejected and unsupported to
fall. I presume to hope forgiveness for thus intruding on your
time, particularly by a memorial that comes unbacked by any other
name; but believe me, my Lord, there never was an officer with whom
I have sailed, who would not do much more than back this, were his
ability equal to his good wishes for my promotion.
"I cannot, in justice to the officers, close this without assuring
your Lordship of the great and unremitting assistance I received
from Mr. Milburn, the master, on every occasion; and from Mr.
Mansfield, the marine officer, who was particularly active to
assist on the quarter-deck. To Mr. Bunce, second lieutenant, I am
much indebted for his exertions on the main-deck, and his diligence
was unremitting in distributing men where most wanted. Mr. Ritchie,
master's mate, was particularly distinguished for his gallantry
and activity; and the behaviour of the whole, my Lord, was such as
entitles them to my warmest gratitude, and general commendation.
Most of the wounded are dangerously so, being all by cannon balls.
We had three guns dismounted.
"EDWARD PELLEW."
Lord Sandwich's communication to him was equally kind and prompt. On the
18th of June, only three days after the action, he wrote to him:--"After
most sincerely condoling with you on the loss of your much-lamented
patron and friend, Captain Pownoll, whose bravery and services have done
so much honour to himself and his Country, I will not delay informing
you that I mean to give you immediate promotion, as a reward for your
gallant and officer-like conduct."
He was made commander into an old and worn-out sloop, the _Hazard_, in
which he was stationed on the eastern coast of Scotland. Having nothing
but the emoluments of his profession, he found it difficult to meet the
expenses required by his promotion and appointment. A tradesman in
London, Mr. Vigurs, equally known and respected by the young men from
Cornwall, who were generally referred to him for the advice and
assistance they required on their first coming to town, not only
supplied him with uniforms, though candidly told that it was uncertain
when he would be able to pay for them, but offered a pecuniary loan; and
Captain Pellew accepted a small sum which made the debt 70£. In a few
weeks he received 160£. prize-money, and immediately sent 100£. to his
creditor, desiring that the balance might be given in presents to the
children, or, as he expressed it, "to buy ribbons for the girls." He
never afterwards employed another tradesman. When he had become a
commander-in-chief, it was his practice to prevent a deserving, but
necessitous young officer from suffering similar embarrassments, by
advancing him a sum equal to his immediate wants when he gave him a
commission.
He took command of the _Hazard_ on the 25th of July, 1780, and paid her
off in the following January, having been employed between Shields and
Leith. He held his next ship for a still shorter time. On the 12th of
March, 1782, he commissioned the _Pelican_, a French prize, and a mere
shell of a vessel; so low, that he would say his servant could dress his
hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin. He sailed from Plymouth,
on his first cruise, April 20th; and next day took a French privateer,
with which he returned to port. On the 24th he sailed again, and stood
over to the French coast. On the 28th, observing several vessels at
anchor in Bass Roads, he made sail towards them; upon which a brig and a
lugger, of ten or twelve guns each, laid their broadsides to the
entrance of the harbour. He attacked them immediately, and compelled
them to run themselves on shore under a battery, which opened on the
sloop. The _Pelican_ tacked, and stood out of the harbour, returning the
fire, and the same night arrived at Plymouth. Her loss was only two men
wounded. A heavy shot which struck her was begged by a friend, who, in a
recent letter, makes a jocular allusion to it, and says that it is still
doing service in the kitchen as a jack-weight. The action was most
important in its results, for it obtained for him that rank in which he
would rise by seniority to a flag. Had he remained a commander through
the peace, which, but for this action, in all probability he would have
done, he could not have become a flag-officer till near the close of the
revolutionary war. The country would then have lost his most valuable
services; and he would have been remembered only as a distinguished
captain. His promotion was announced to him by the First Lord in the
following terms:--
Admiralty Office. May 25, 1782.
"SIR,--I am so well pleased with the account I have received of
your gallant and seaman-like conduct in the sloop you command, in
your spirited attack on three privateers inside the Isle of Bass,
and your success in driving them all on shore, that I am induced to
bestow on you the rank of a post-captain, in the service to which
your universal good character and conduct do credit: and for this
purpose, I have named you to the _Suffolk_, and hope soon to find a
frigate for you, as she is promised to a captain of long standing.
"KEPPEL."
Captain Pellew thus obtained every step of rank expressly as a reward of
a brilliant action in which he personally commanded; and in this
respect, and in the number and extent of his services while he remained
in the lower grades of his profession, he was singular, not only among
his contemporaries, but perhaps in the annals of the navy.
On the 4th of June, in the absence of Captain Macbride, of the forty-gun
frigate _Artois_, Captain Pellew assumed the temporary command of that
ship, and sailed two days after to cruize on the coast of Ireland. Her
master was Mr. James Bowen, so highly distinguished in the battle of the
1st of June, when he was master of the fleet, and who afterwards became
a retired commissioner, and rear admiral. On the 1st of July, the
_Artois_ fell in with a French frigate-built ship, the _Prince of
Robego_, of twenty-two guns, and 180 men; and after a four hours'
pursuit, and a running fight of half an hour with the chase guns, ran
alongside, and took her. Captain Pellew gladly availed himself of this
opportunity to show his grateful respect to the memory of his
benefactor, Captain Pownoll, by giving the agency to his brother-in-law,
Mr. Justice, one of the officers of Plymouth-yard: and the plea of
gratitude which he offered to his own brother, was felt to be quite
conclusive. Captain Macbride wished to appoint an agent of his own; but
Captain Pellew asserted his right, as the actual captor, with so much
temper and firmness, that the other at length gave way. He had known
Captain Pellew from early childhood, having been his father's intimate
friend, and quite understood his character, of which he now expressed an
opinion in language less refined than emphatic. "Confound the fellow,"
said he, "if he had been bred a cobbler, he would have been first in the
village."
Peace left him without employment for the next four years. In 1783, he
married Susan, daughter of J. Frowd, Esq., of Wiltshire; who survived
him nearly four years. For a short time after his marriage, he lived at
Truro; but when his elder brother became collector of the customs at
Falmouth, he removed to the village of Flushing, which is separated from
Falmouth only by a narrow creek, and which had peculiar attractions for
him from family associations.
During this period he went out in command of his brother's armed lugger,
the _Hawk_, in search of a notorious outlaw, Wellard, who commanded an
armed smuggler in the Channel, and who was at length killed in action
with the _Hawk_, and her consort, which captured his vessel. Active
occupation, indeed, was essential to his comfort, and he found a life on
shore most irksome. At length, in 1786, he commissioned the
_Winchelsea_, for the Newfoundland station. Among her midshipmen was the
late gallant Sir Christopher Cole,[2] to whose pen the reader is
indebted for the following animated sketch of his service in that
frigate:--
"I joined the _Winchelsea_ under Captain Edward Pellew's command in
1786, recommended to him by my brother. Captain Frank Cole, who
told me, 'You are going to serve under a gallant and active
officer, and one of the best seamen in the navy, who, if he live,
must one day be at the head of his profession. Make a friend of
him by your good conduct, and you will do well.' The _Winchelsea_
was manned with good seamen, with scarcely a landsman on board; and
the first lieutenant, senior master's mate, and boatswain, were all
excellent practical seamen; so that the midshipmen and youngsters,
to the number of nearly thirty, could not be in a better situation
for obtaining a knowledge of practical seamanship. We soon found
that the activity of our captain would not allow us an idle hour,
and there was so much kindness of heart, and cheerfulness of
manner, blended with daring exertion in the performance of his
duties, that we were all happy to imitate his example to the best
of our abilities. In the course of our passage to Newfoundland we
encountered much blowing weather, and at all hours of the day or
night, whenever there was exertion required aloft, to preserve a
sail, or a mast, the captain was foremost at the work, apparently
as a mere matter of amusement; and there was not a man in the ship
who could equal him in personal activity. He appeared to play
amongst the elements in the hardest storms, and the confidence this
gave to those under his command, on many occasions, is not to be
described.
"The reduced peace complement of the crew made it necessary that
they should work watch-and-watch, and one part of his system was,
that the watch on deck, assisted by the idlers, should be in the
habit of making themselves equal to every call of duty, without
trespassing on the rest of those whose turn it was to be below. I
remember relieving the deck one night after eight o'clock, when the
captain was carrying on the duty, and shortening sail upon the
quick approach of a severe gale, and being an old sailor for my
age, being then sixteen, he ordered me to the mizentop, to close
reef and furl the mizen-topsail; and this being done, from the
increase of the gale, we had before twelve o'clock to take in
successively every reef, furl most of the sails, and strike the
topgallant-masts and other spars, to make the ship snug; the
midshipmen being on the yards as well as the men, and the captain,
when the gale became severe, at their elbow. In close reefing the
main-topsail, there was much difficulty in clewing up the sail for
the purpose of making it quiet, and the captain issued his orders
accordingly from the quarter-deck, and sent us aloft. On gaining
the topsail-yard, the most active and daring of our party hesitated
to go upon it, as the sail was flapping about violently, making it
a service of great danger. A voice was heard amidst the roaring of
the gale from the extreme end of the yard-arm, calling upon us to
exert ourselves to save the sail, which would otherwise beat to
pieces. A man said, 'Why, that's the captain--how the ---- did he
get there!' The fact was, that the instant he had given us orders
to go aloft, he laid down his speaking trumpet, and clambered like
a cat by the rigging over the backs of the seamen, and before they
reached the maintop, he was at the topmast-head, and from thence by
the topsail-lift, a single rope, he reached the situation he was
in. I could mention numberless instances of this kind, but will
proceed to relate a few others fresh in my recollection. On our
arrival at St. John's Newfoundland, we anchored in the narrow
entrance in the evening; and many officers would have been
satisfied to have remained there until the morning, as we could
reach our anchorage only by the tedious and laborious operation of
laying out anchors, and warping; but we saw that the captain was
bent upon exertion, and we went heartily to work. In the course of
our progress against a strong wind, the ship had been warped up to
the chain rock, and it became necessary to cast off the hawser
attached to it, but all the boats were employed in laying out an
anchor and warps elsewhere. The captain called to the men on the
forecastle, and desired 'some active fellow to go down by the
hawser, and cast it off,' at the same time saying that a boat would
soon be there to bring him on board again. The smartest seaman in
the ship declined the attempt. In an instant the captain was seen
clinging to the hawser, and proceeding to the rock; the hawser was
cast off, and to the astonishment of every one, he swang himself
to the side of the ship by the same means, mounted the ship's side,
and was again directing the duty going on. After nine hours
laborious and incessant exertion, the ship was anchored near the
_Commodore_ in St. John's harbour, before daylight; and as a salute
had been prepared in the hope of seeing the _Commodore's_ pennant
before sunset on the evening before, the captain remained on deck
with the gunner only to assist him. The rest of the officers and
men, being excessively fatigued, had been sent below to rest; and I
was not singular in being unconscious of the firing, although my
hammock hung close to the open hatchway, and immediately under the
deck that the guns were fired from.
"The strong mind and fertile genius of our commander kept the young
mids., in particular, in constant employment. Besides that some of
the number were stationed on every yard in the ship, the mizen-mast
from the deck to the truck was entirely managed in the sails and
rigging by the midshipmen, who were not such dandies as to despise
the tar-bucket, or even volunteering the laborious task of working
the oars of one of the boats in harbour. They were all emulous to
leave nothing undone to make themselves practical seamen, and they
all found the advantage of such examples as they had then before
them, many years afterwards, at the breaking out of the
revolutionary war.
"In the course of this year we visited every harbour, nook, and
corner, on the east coast of Newfoundland, that the ship could be
squeezed into; and the seamanship displayed by the captain, in
working the ship in some most difficult cases, was not lost upon
the officers and crew. With respect to his personal activity, I
have often heard the most active seamen, when doubting the
possibility of doing what he ordered to be done, finish by saying,
'Well, he never orders us to do what he won't do himself;' and they
often remarked, 'Blow high, blow low, he knows to an inch what the
ship can do, and he can almost make her speak. On our return from
Newfoundland, he applied to cruise after smugglers in the winter
months, instead of being kept idle in harbour until the season
opened for visiting Newfoundland again; but this did not come
within the scope of the management of that day. In 1787, we
returned to our station at Newfoundland. The summers there are very
hot, and on the birthday of the good old king, George III., the 4th
of June, the ship's company obtained permission to bathe. The ship
was at anchor in St. John's harbour, and the captain prepared
himself for the public dinner at the Governor's by dressing in his
full uniform, and mounted the deck to step into his barge, which
was ready to take him ashore. The gambols and antics of the men in
the water caught his attention, and he stepped on one of the guns
to look at them; when a lad, a servant to one of the officers, who
was standing on the ship's side near to him, said, 'I'll have a
good swim by-and-by, too.' 'The sooner the better,' said the
captain, and tipped him into the water. He saw in an instant that
the lad could not swim, and quick as thought he dashed overboard in
his full dress uniform, with a rope in one hand, which he made fast
to the lad, who was soon on board again, without injury, though a
little frightened, but which did not prevent his soon enjoying the
ludicrous finish of the captain's frolic. The lad's boasting
expression gave an idea that he was a good swimmer, and I believe
if ever the captain was frightened, it was when he saw the
struggles in the water: but his self-possession and activity did
not forsake him, and no one enjoyed the laugh against himself more
than he did when the danger was over.
"This season at Newfoundland was passed in the same course of
active exertion as the former one. We sailed for Cadiz and Lisbon
in October, for the purpose of receiving any remittances in bullion
to England, which the British merchants might have ready on our
arrival. We had light winds and fine weather after making the coast
of Portugal. On one remarkably fine day, when the ship was
stealing through the water under the influence of a gentle breeze,
the people were all below at their dinners, and scarcely a person
left on deck but officers, of whom the captain was one. Two little
ship-boys had been induced, by the fineness of the weather, to run
up from below the moment they had dined, and were at play on the
spare anchor to leeward, which overhangs the side of the ship. One
of them fell overboard, which was seen from the quarter-deck, and
the order was given to luff the ship into the wind. In an instant
the officers were over the side; but it was the captain who,
grasping a rope firmly with one hand, let himself down to the
water's edge, and catching hold of the poor boy's jacket as he
floated past, he saved his life in as little time as I have taken
to mention it. There was not a rope touched, or a sail altered in
doing this, and the people below knew not of the accident until
they came on deck when their dinner was over.
"In every instance when a life was in danger, he was instant to
peril his own for its preservation; and I could fill pages, if it
were necessary to notice any but those which I was so fortunate as
to witness."
After the _Winchelsea_ had been paid off in 1789, Captain Pellew was
appointed to the _Salisbury_, 50, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral
Milbanke, on the Newfoundland station; in which he served till 1791. His
brother Israel became the first lieutenant, and was promoted from her.
While in this ship, he was one day required to decide on the case of a
seaman belonging to a merchant vessel in the harbour, who came on board
to complain that his captain had punished him for a theft. Finding that
the captain had acted illegally, though the man had really deserved a
far more severe punishment, he said to the complainant, "You have done
quite right in coming here: your captain had no business to punish you
as he has done, and that he may learn to be more cautious in future, we
order him to be fined--a shilling!" The man turned to leave the cabin,
much disappointed at the award; but how was his surprise increased, when
Captain Pellew said, "Stop, sir; we must now try you for the theft." The
fact, which had been already admitted, allowed of no defence; and before
the man left the ship, he was deservedly brought to the gangway.
The admiral's secretary, Mr. Graham, afterwards the well-known police
magistrate, related this circumstance to Lord Thurlow. The chancellor
relaxed his iron features, and throwing himself back in his chair in a
burst of laughter, exclaimed, "Well, if that is not law, it is at least
justice. Captain Pellew ought to have been a judge."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This seems to require explanation, for Mr. Pellew entered the navy
in 1770, only ten years before. It was the allowed practice at that
time, and for many years after, for young men intended for the navy to
serve by proxy. A ship's boy would be borne on the books in the name of
the future midshipman, who was allowed the credit of his substitute's
service, and whose time in the navy was thus running on while he was
still at school. Not only so, but, by permission of the Admiralty, the
time served by one boy, personally, or even thus by proxy, might, if he
left the service, be transferred to the account of another! It has been
stated that Mr. Pellew's eldest brother was borne on the books of the
_Seaford_, till he gave up the profession of the sea for that of
medicine; and while Mr. Pellew was serving in America, he wrote to his
brother a letter which still exists, requesting him to procure the
transfer to himself, of his nominal Service. It would therefore appear
that Lord Exmouth, when a midshipman, had the three years of his elder
brother's nominal service added to his own time, though his brother was
never at sea.
[2] The Coles were through life intimately connected with the Pellews,
to whom they were neighbours in childhood, when both families lived on
the shores of the Mount's Bay; and their fortunes were very similar.
Left when very young, to the care of a widowed mother, and in narrow
circumstances, they all rose high by their own deserts. Two entered the
church, and became, one Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the
other Chaplain to Greenwich Hospital, and Chaplain-General of the Navy.
Two entered the Navy, of whom Frank, the eldest, was selected to take
charge of the late King William IV., when he was sent to sea as Prince
William Henry. Christopher went to sea at ten years old, and became one
of the first officers in the service, and not less distinguished for
business habits and talents, in every post of duty. His capture of the
strongly fortified island of Banda Neira, garrisoned with 1,200
soldiers, with a mere boat party of 180 men, was an exploit, perhaps,
unequalled. He was in charge of two frigates and a sloop of war, and
having obtained the Admiral's permission to attempt the capture, nor
without a strong caution, he proposed to come upon the place
unexpectedly at day-break, and, like Sir Charles Brisbane at Curaçoa,
lay the ships as close as possible, and storm the works under their
fire. This plan was baffled by the premature discovery of the ships by
the enemy. He then resolved upon a night attack with the boats, and left
the ships soon after midnight with 400 men: but the wind rose and
dispersed the party, and at day-break he found himself with only 180 at
hand. Undismayed, he pushed ashore with his little handful of heroes,
rushed up the hill to Fort Belgica, which crowned and commanded the
island, mounted the walls, swept the ramparts like a whirlwind, followed
with the panic stricken enemy through the gate of an inner
fortification, and carried the fortress, and with it the island, without
the loss of a man, and even without a wound. He was second in command of
the naval force at the capture of Java, and directed the landing of the
troops, which, by his promptitude, and wise arrangements, was effected
without loss. He twice received the thanks of the Supreme Government of
India for important, political services. From his sovereign he received
the rank of K.C.B.; from the Admiralty, a naval medal; from Oxford, the
honorary degree of D.C.L., and from the East India Company, a service of
plate. He represented Glamorganshire in Parliament for twelve years; was
captain of the _Royal Sovereign_ yacht, and colonel of marines. He died
suddenly, August 24th, 1836. It may encourage young officers whose
promotion is slow, to learn that the brilliant successes of Sir
Christopher Cole were preceded by thirteen years active service as
midshipman and mate, and seven years as lieutenant.