THE MUTINY.
In less than four years Sir Edward had fought as many severe actions,
and the number of his successes is even less remarkable than the very
small loss with which he generally obtained them. Against the
_Cleopatra_, indeed, where he engaged a superior and skilful opponent
with an inexperienced crew, he suffered much; but he lost only three men
in taking the _Pomone_, and none in his actions with the _Virginie_ and
the _Droits de l'Homme_. The same impunity continued to attend him; for
not a dozen were killed on board his own ships through all the rest of
his life.[8] Results so uniform, and applying to so long a service,
cannot be ascribed to accidental causes.
By his seamanship, his example, a strictness which suffered no duty to
be neglected, and a kindness which allowed every safe indulgence, he
would quickly bring a ship's company to a high state of discipline. In
the language of an officer who served with him for almost thirty
years--"No man ever knew better how to manage seamen. He was very
attentive to their wants and habits. When he was a captain he
personally directed them, and when the duty was over, he was a great
promoter of dancing and other sports, such as running aloft, heaving the
lead, &c., in which he was himself a great proficient. He was steady in
his discipline, and knew well the proper time to tighten or relax. He
studied much the character of his men, and could soon ascertain whether
a man was likely to appreciate forgiveness, or whether he could not be
reclaimed without punishment. During the whole time he commanded
frigates, his men had leave in port, one-third at a time, and very
rarely a desertion took place."
His quick and correct judgment, which at once saw how an object could be
attained, was seconded in the hour of trial by a decision which secured
every advantage. Nothing like hesitation was seen in him. "His first
order," said an officer who long served with him, "was always his last;"
and he has often declared of himself that he never had a second thought
worth sixpence. This would be an absurd boast from a common character,
but it is an important declaration from one whose life was a career of
enterprise without a failure. Always equal to the occasion, his power
displayed itself the more, as danger and difficulty increased; when,
rising with the emergency, his calmness, the animation of his voice and
look, and the precision of his orders, would impart to the men that cool
and determined energy which disarms danger, and commands success.
Not less striking was his influence in those more appalling dangers
which try the firmness of a sailor more severely than the battle. The
wreck of the _Dutton_ is a memorable example. At a later period, during
his command in India, the ship twice caught fire, and was saved chiefly
by his conduct. On one of these occasions, the _Culloden_ was under easy
sail off the coast of Coromandel, and preparations had been made for
partially caulking the ship, when a pitch-kettle, which had been heated,
contrary to orders, on the fore part of the main deck, caught fire, and
the people, instead of damping it out, most imprudently attempted to
extinguish it with buckets of water. The steam blew the flaming pitch
all around; the oakum caught fire, and the ship was immediately in a
blaze. Many of the crew jumped overboard, and others were preparing to
hurry out of her, when the presence and authority of the Admiral allayed
the panic. He ordered to beat to quarters; the marines to fire upon any
one who should attempt to leave the ship; the yard-tackles to be cut, to
prevent the boats from being hoisted out; and the firemen only to take
the necessary measures for extinguishing the fire. The captain, who was
undressed in his cabin at the time of the disaster, received an
immediate report of it from an officer, and hastened to the
quarter-deck. The flames were rising in volumes from the main hatchway,
but the Admiral was calmly giving his orders from the gangway, the
firemen exerting themselves, and the rest of the crew at their quarters,
all as quiet and orderly as if nothing had been going on but the common
ship's duty.
His patronage was exerted to the utmost. The manner in which the navy
was chiefly manned through the war made this one of the most delicate
and responsible parts of a captain's care. The impress brought into it
many whom nothing but the strictest discipline of a man-of-war would
control; but many also who had entered the merchant service with the
view and the prospect of rising in it, some of whom were not inferior in
connections and education to the young gentlemen on the quarter-deck.
Nothing could be more gratifying to a commander than to promote these,
as opportunity offered, to higher stations. Some thousands of them
became petty and warrant officers in the course of the war, and not a
few were placed on the quarter-deck, and are found among the best
officers in the service. Sir Edward brought forward many of them, and
his favour has been more than justified by their conduct.
He was particularly attentive to the junior part of his crew. A steady
person was employed to teach the ship's boys, and he always had the
best schoolmaster who could be obtained for the young gentlemen. It was
an object much desired to be placed with him, and could he have stooped
to make his reputation subservient to his interest in this respect, he
might have secured many useful political connections; but this
consideration never seems to have influenced him. Many of his midshipmen
had no friend but himself, and rank obtained no immunities, but rather a
more strict control. He once removed from his ship a young nobleman of
high connections, and who afterwards became a very distinguished
officer, for indulging in what many would consider the excusable frolics
of youth; but to which he attached importance, because the rank of the
party increased the influence of the example; nor could he be induced by
the young man's friends to reconsider his determination. The Duke of
Northumberland, who had himself known all the duties and hardships of
service, could appreciate the impartial strictness of Sir Edward; and
when he determined to send into the navy, first a young man whom he
patronized, and afterwards his own son, the present Duke, he was happy
to avail himself of the services of Captain Schanck, to place them with
such an officer. Acting upon the same principle, he would allow neither
of them more than the usual expenses of the other midshipmen. All who
entered a public service, he said, whatever their rank, should have no
indulgences beyond their companions. His sense of Sir Edward's conduct
was shown by a warm friendship, which terminated only with his life.
In a few weeks after the action with the _Droits de l'Homme_, the mutiny
broke out at Spithead, which deprived the country for a short time of
the services of the Channel Fleet. The western squadrons were now of
peculiar importance, for they became, in fact, the protectors of the
Channel. The _Cleopatra_, commanded by the late excellent Sir Charles V.
Penrose, was at Spithead when the mutiny took place; but the good
disposition of his crew enabled him with admirable address to escape,
and she joined Sir Edward's squadron at Falmouth. Thence she sailed with
the _Indefatigable_ and _Revolutionaire_ on a cruise, in which all
displayed extraordinary exertion, as, under such circumstances, all felt
the necessity for it. One incident will mark their zeal and activity.
The _Cleopatra_ carried away her fore-topmast in chase, but replaced it
so quickly, that she never lost sight of the privateer, which she
overtook and captured. Several armed vessels were taken; and Sir Edward
was careful often to run in with the squadron upon different parts of
the French coast, that he might impress the belief that a considerable
British force was at sea.
Undismayed by the failure of their attempt on Ireland, the enemy were
now preparing for a more formidable descent. They equipped a larger
fleet than before, with a far more numerous army, over which they
appointed the same able commander: and by an agreement with Holland, the
Dutch fleet in the Texel, under Admiral de Winter, was to carry over a
second army. This was to be commanded by General Daendels, an officer of
great ability and decision. Napoleon thought very highly of him, and it
was a material part of his own plan of invasion to send him with thirty
thousand chosen troops to Ireland. He afterwards became Governor of
Java, where he acted with an independence which awakened the jealousy of
his master. Discovering this, he wrote to declare that he could hold the
island against any force which France, or even England, could bring
against him; but that to mark his devotedness to his emperor, he was
ready to resign his command, and serve in the French army as a corporal.
He was Governor of Mons during the invasion of France by the Allied
armies; and he boasted to Mr. Pellew, who spent a few days with him
after the peace, that an advancing army made a considerable circuit to
avoid him, and that he held the fortress unmolested until Napoleon had
abdicated; when he wrote to the Allied Sovereigns, asking to whom he
should resign it. An invasion of Ireland, directed by generals such as
Hoche and Daendels, and at a time when the British navy was in a state
of mutiny, was an event justly to be dreaded; but all these mighty
preparations were overturned more easily and quietly than the former.
Everything was ready; and General Hoche had gone to Holland to make the
final arrangements with his brother commanders, when the Legislative
Assembly of France quarrelled with the Directory, and gained a temporary
ascendancy. On the 16th of July, the new government displaced
Vice-Admiral Truguet, the able Minister of Marine, and appointed M.
Pléville le Peley his successor. With the usual madness of party, the
new minister and his employer hastened to overturn all that had been
done by their predecessors. They discharged the sailors, dismantled the
fleet, and even sold some of the frigates and corvettes by public
auction. When the Directory regained their power, September 4th, after
an interval of only six weeks, they found that the preparations which
had cost them so much time and treasure to complete, were utterly
destroyed. In the following month, Admiral Duncan annihilated the Dutch
fleet, and thus the proposed expedition was baffled at every point. Were
a history of England written, with due regard to the operations of
Divine Providence, in deliverances and successes effected not by human
wisdom, or human strength, what cause would it afford for unbounded
gratitude, and for unbounded confidence!
While the enemy were fitting out this armament, Sir Edward was again
employed to watch the harbour of Brest; a service which he performed so
much to the annoyance of the French commander, that he sent a squadron
to ride at single anchor in Bertheaume Bay, to prevent the frigates from
reconnoitring the port. This squadron chased the _Indefatigable_ and her
consorts repeatedly, but without being able to bring them to action, or
to drive them from their station. Once, however, a frigate narrowly
escaped capture. The _Cleopatra_ was becalmed close inshore, with the
_Indefatigable_ about two miles to seaward, and another frigate between
them, when a light air rose, and freshened off the land. The French
ships slipped, and bringing the breeze with them, neared the
_Cleopatra_; and a frigate actually succeeded in cutting off her
retreat, while a seventy-four was fast coming up. Just then, when the
capture of the _Cleopatra_ seemed inevitable, the _Indefatigable_ made
the well-known signal for a fleet, by letting fly the sheets, and firing
two guns in quick succession. Ushant being on her weather-bow, the enemy
naturally supposed, as was intended, that the British fleet was coming
up from behind the island; and putting about immediately, hastened back
to their anchorage. A similar deception is understood to have been
practised successfully by _the Phaëton_, during the celebrated retreat
of Cornwallis; nor is it in either case an imputation upon the enemy,
that they should readily take alarm, when they knew that a British fleet
was cruising near them.
Early in August, the _Indefatigable_, after a short stay in England, was
again at her station off Brest; and Sir Edward, having carefully
observed the port, and fully satisfied himself of the state of the
French fleet, returned to Falmouth on the 14th, and, on the 26th, joined
Lord Bridport at Torbay. At this time he offered to conduct an attack,
which, had it been made, and with success, would have transcended the
most brilliant results of naval enterprise. The weakness of the French
Government, arising out of the struggle of parties for the ascendancy,
seemed to offer a favourable opportunity to the royalists, with whose
chiefs Sir Edward was on terms of confidential intercourse; and to
assist them in their objects by an exploit which should strike terror
into the republicans, he proposed to go into Brest with his frigates,
and destroy the dismantled fleet. He thought it probable that he should
succeed, and urged that the greatness of the object might warrant an
attempt in which nothing was to be risked but a few frigates. The
conception was in the highest degree daring, but there is a faith in
naval affairs which works impossibilities, and it has been generally
found, that the officer who can plan a bold action, has shown himself
equal to accomplish it. Relative strength is almost thrown out of
calculation by a well concerted and unexpected attack, conducted with
that impetuosity which effects its object before the enemy can avail
himself of his superior force. Thus, Sir Charles Brisbane, with four
frigates, at Curaçoa, and Sir Christopher Cole, with a few boats' crews
at Banda, achieved, with little or no loss, what would have been justly
deemed proud triumphs for a fleet of line-of-battle ships. Sir E. Pellew
was never a man to commit himself rashly to what he had not well
considered. "There is always uncertainty," he would say, "in naval
actions, for a chance shot may place the best managed ship in the power
of an inferior opponent." Hence he would leave nothing to chance, which
foresight could possibly provide for. With such a character, and with
his intimate knowledge of Brest and its defences, which were almost as
familiar to him as Falmouth harbour, his own confidence affords strong
presumption that he would have succeeded.
The First Lord took an opportunity to submit this proposal to Lord
Bridport at Torbay, and Sir Edward was in consequence called on board
the flag-ship by signal. The Admiral received him on the quarter-deck
with a very low and formal bow, and referred him to Earl Spencer, in the
cabin, whom he soon found not to be influenced by any arguments he could
employ.
Lord Bridport was never pleased that independent frigate squadrons were
appointed to cruise within his station. It was, indeed, an irregularity
which nothing but the emergency could have justified, when it was
desirable to relieve the commander-in-chief from lesser
responsibilities, and enable him to devote all his attention to the
fleet which threatened the safety of the country. Their successes had
made the squadrons so popular, that the system was continued when they
might, perhaps, have been placed, with equal advantage, under the
orders of the Admiral; and it would naturally give pain to that officer
to find himself denied the privilege of recognizing and rewarding the
most brilliant services performed within his own command. Lord Bridport
would occasionally evince such a feeling when speaking of the "Western
Commodores," and it may have influenced his manner upon this occasion;
but his approval of Sir Edward's plan was not to be expected, for he
would scarcely sanction the proposal to effect with a few frigates what
it would not be thought prudent to attempt with a fleet.
The _Indefatigable_ sailed from Torbay with a convoy, from which she
parted company on the 13th of October, off the Isle of Palma. On the
25th, near Teneriffe, a large corvette chased her, supposing her to be
an Indiaman, and approached very near before she discovered the mistake.
She had formerly been the frigate-built sloop _Hyæna_, which the enemy
had taken very early in the war, and cut down to a flush ship; a change
which improved her sailing qualities so much, that she might perhaps
have escaped from the _Indefatigable_, if she had not lost her
fore-topmast in carrying a press of sail. It is remarkable, that in this
war Sir Edward took the first ship from the enemy, and after nearly five
years, recaptured the first they had taken from the British.
It was a part of Sir Edward's system, while he commanded cruising ships,
to have the reefs shaken out, the studding sail-booms rigged out, and
everything ready, before daylight; that if an enemy should be near there
might be no delay in making sail. In the course of 1798 his squadron
took fifteen cruisers. The circumstances connected with one of these,
_La Vaillante_ national corvette, taken on the 8th of August by the
_Indefatigable_, after a chase of twenty-four hours, were of much
interest. She was bound to Cayenne, with prisoners; among whom were
twenty-five priests, who had been condemned for their principles to
perish in that unhealthy colony. It may well be supposed that they were
at once restored to liberty and comfort; nor would Sir Edward show to
the commander of his prize the attentions which an officer in his
situation expects, until he had first satisfied himself that the severe
and unnecessary restraint to which they had been subjected, for he found
them chained together, was the consequence of express orders from the
French Government. His officers and men vied with him in attentions to
the unfortunate exiles, and when he set them on shore in England he gave
them a supply for their immediate wants. Among the passengers on board
_La Vaillante_ were the wife and family of a banished deputy. M. Rovère,
who had obtained permission to join him, and were going out with all
they possessed, amounting to 3,000_l_. Sir Edward restored to her the
whole of it, and paid from his own purse the proportion which was the
prize of his crew.
Early in the following year the Admiralty determined to limit the period
of command in frigates. In obedience to this regulation, on the 1st of
March, Sir Edward, with much regret, left the ship and crew he had so
long commanded, and exchanged the activity of a cruising frigate for a
service which offered little prospect of distinction. He was
complimented with the _Impétueux_, formerly _L'Amérique_, one of the
prizes taken by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, a most beautiful ship, and
so much superior to the largest 74, that she was made a class by
herself, and rated as a 78. He was allowed to select twenty men to
follow him from the _Indefatigable_.
Going on board the _Impétueux_ for the first time, he was accosted at
the gangway by the boatswain: "I am very glad, sir, that you are come to
us, for you are just the captain we want. You have the finest ship in
the navy, and a crew of smart sailors, but a set of the greatest
scoundrels that ever went to sea." He checked him on the spot, and
afterwards, sending for him to the cabin, demanded what he meant by
addressing him in that manner. The boatswain, who had served with him in
the _Carleton_ on Lake Champlain, pleaded former recollections in
excuse; and after submitting to the reproof with which Sir Edward
thought it necessary to mark his breach of discipline, informed him that
the crew were all but in a state of mutiny, and that for months past he
had slept with pistols under his head.
Mutinies were the natural fruit of the system which had prevailed in the
navy, and it is only wonderful that obedience had been preserved so
long. All the stores were supplied by contract, and the check upon the
contractor being generally inadequate, gross abuses prevailed. Officers
who recollect the state of the navy during the first American war can
furnish a history which may now appear incredible. The provisions were
sometimes unfit for human food. Casks of meat, after having been long on
board, would be found actually offensive. The biscuit, from inferior
quality and a bad system of stowage, was devoured by insects,[9] until
it would fall to pieces at the slightest blow; and the provisions of a
more perishable nature, the cheese, butter, raisins, &c., would be in a
still worse condition. Among crews thus fed, the scurvy made dreadful
ravages. The _Princessa_, when she formed part of Rodney's fleet in the
West Indies, sent two hundred men to the hospital at one time. The
purser received certain authorized perquisites instead of pay, and
one-eighth of the seamen's allowance was his right, so that their pound
was only fourteen ounces. Prize-money melted away as it passed through
the courts and offices. Not even public charities could escape; and the
noble establishment of Greenwich was defrauded by placing in it
superannuated servants, and other landsmen, as worn-out sailors, and
conferring the superior appointments, intended for deserving naval
officers, upon political friends. The well-known case of Captain
Baillie,[10] who was removed and prosecuted for resisting some of these
abuses, is a memorable, illustration.
A gradual improvement in all the departments of the public service
commenced from the time of Mr. Pitt's accession to power; and the worst
of these abuses had been corrected long before 1797. Still so much
remained, that the demands of the seamen, when they mutinied at
Spithead, were not less due to themselves than desirable for the general
interests of the service. A moderate increase in their pay, and
Greenwich pensions; provisions of a better quality; the substitution of
trader's for purser's weight and measure; and an allowance of
vegetables, instead of flour, with their fresh meat, when in port, were
their chief claims. They did not resort to violent measures till
petitions, irregular ones it is true, had been tried in vain. They urged
their demands firmly, but most respectfully; and they declared their
intention to suspend the prosecution of them if their country should
require their services to meet the enemy at sea. But though their claims
were most just, and their conduct in many respects was worthy to be much
commended, _that_ was a mistaken conclusion, and most deeply to be
regretted, which made any concession to violence. Hard as the principle
may appear, no grievance can be held to justify a breach of discipline;
and when the sailors at Spithead had placed themselves in the position
of offenders, the question of redress ought to have been preceded by
unconditional, and, if necessary, enforced submission. It was humbling
the majesty of the law to negotiate with criminals, and destroying its
authority to submit to them. If the sailors had first been compelled to
return to their duty, and their grievances had afterwards been properly
investigated and redressed, the whole fleet would have respected the
authority which enforced obedience, and received every favour with
gratitude. Nor is there reason to believe that it would have been
difficult to bring men to their duty, whose hearts were still sound. It
is most honourable to the character of the country, that respect for the
law, and obedience to the constituted authorities, are so much the habit
and the principle of Englishmen, that invincible as they are in a good
cause, they have always shown themselves cowards in crime. A few
soldiers are sufficient to disperse the largest mob. The timely decision
of an officer has seldom failed to quell the most formidable mutiny.
Timorous as the men are from conscious guilt, uncertain in their plans,
and doubtful of the firmness of their companions, the respect
involuntarily felt for the noble bearing of a man whom they have always
been accustomed to obey, and who in a good cause is standing as it were
alone against a multitude, gives a commander all the power he could
desire. But if he would take advantage of this feeling, he must be
prompt to assert his authority. If he waver--if he allow the men once to
feel their strength, and to stand committed to one another--his
influence is gone. And if Government should stoop to parley with them,
it sanctions their proceedings, strengthens their hands by the
confession of its own weakness, and raises them from being offenders
against the law, to the dignity of injured men, honourably asserting
their rights. Thus, when the Lords of the Admiralty, and the first
Admiral of the British navy, received on terms of courtesy criminals
whose lives were forfeited, and negotiated with them as with
equals--when the Government submitted to demands which it evidently
feared to resist--and the Parliament hastened to legislate at the
bidding of triumphant mutineers, the navy was taught a fatal lesson. The
fleet at the Nore mutinied almost immediately after, without the shadow
of a pretext; and the idea of mutiny once become familiar, the crews of
the best ordered ships thought little of seeking redress for any real or
fancied grievance by resisting the authority of their officers. Almost
every ship on the home station mutinied in the course of the year; and
considering bow naturally the first fault leads to more guilty excesses,
and how many worthless characters were swept into the navy, disgracing
the service by making it the avowed punishment of crime, and corrupting
it by their example, nothing can appear more natural than that mutiny
should at length display itself in a darker character, and proceed in
some unhappy instances to murder and treason.
Sir Edward Pellew deeply lamented the submission of the Government. He
was satisfied that a proper firmness would have quelled the present, and
prevented the future evil; and he was strengthened in his opinion by the
circumstances of the mutiny on board one of the ships at Spithead, in
which one of his own officers was a principal actor. Captain Williams,
of the marines, formerly lieutenant in the _Arethusa_, applied to his
captain for authority to act, assuring him of the good disposition of
his own men, and pledging himself by their means to save the ship. But
his captain, though one of the bravest and best men in the service,
shrank from committing the marines to a possible conflict with the
sailors, and recommended a little delay. In a few minutes the marine
officer returned: it was not yet too late, but not another moment could
be spared. The humane feelings of the commander impelled him still to
temporize, and when the marine officer returned, it was to say that his
men must now save themselves, and the ship was lost. The more desperate
mutiny at the Nore was not quelled by submission.
Afterwards, when mutinies were continually occurring among the ships at
Plymouth. Sir Edward proposed a very decisive measure to stop the
mischief. He recommended that a ship, manned with officers, and with
volunteers who could be fully trusted, should attack the next that
mutinied, and, if necessary, sink her in the face of the fleet. The
officer who takes the first step in any measure must feel himself
committed decisively to all possible consequences; but the mere display
of such a resolution, with the knowledge that an officer of unflinching
determination commanded the attacking ship, would most probably spare
the necessity of firing a shot. Lives are commonly sacrificed only when
a mistaken humanity shrinks from duty till the proper time for action
has gone by. The disposition of the crews was not generally bad, but
they were misled by example, and encouraged by impunity. When the
_Greyhound_ mutinied, and Captain Israel Pellew demanded if he had ever
given them cause for dissatisfaction, if he had not always been their
friend, they admitted that they had nothing to complain of, but said
they must do like their friends around them. They would have landed him
with every mark of respect; but he declared that, after such conduct,
not one of them should ever row him again, and he hailed a waterman to
put him on shore. Still, though he had reproached them in no measured
terms, they manned the side, and gave him three cheers when he left the
ship.
Even Sir Edward Pellew, popular as he was, and though he might well
expect that a crew which had fought with him two successful actions
within the past year would be too proud of their ship and commander ever
to fail in their duty, yet felt it necessary to take precautions, when
mutinies were occurring around him without the smallest reasonable
cause. Determined to maintain his authority at all hazards, he prepared
for the worst, and provided himself with weapons such as he deemed would
be the most effectual, if he should be compelled to the dreadful
necessity of a personal conflict with his crew. A pointed and two-edged
blade, four inches long, was fixed in a rough buckhorn handle, with a
groove for the thumb across the top. A pair of these were carried in
sheaths, secured in each waistcoat-pocket. With these, a strong and
active person, in the midst of a crowd where he could not use a sword,
could strike right and left with terrible effect.
Once a mutiny was planned in the _Indefatigable_, but he checked it
before it broke out. She was lying with the _Phoebe_ in Falmouth
harbour, and the frigates were to sail next morning, when the crews were
determined not to proceed to their station until they had received their
pay. A sailor who had overstayed his leave came in the dead of the night
to inform his commander of the plot; and assured him, that though all
the crew were privy to it, more than half of them would support their
officers. Sir Edward professed to discredit the information, and,
apparently, took no steps in consequence. But when the ship was to be
got under weigh, the lieutenant complained to him that the men were
sulky, and would not go round with the capstan. He then came forward,
and declaring his knowledge of their intentions, drew his sword, and
ordered the officers to follow his example. "You can never die so well,"
he said, "as on your own deck quelling a mutiny; and now, if a man
hesitate to obey you, cut him down without a word." The crew, accustomed
to prompt obedience, and attached to their officers, at once returned to
their duty, and the _Indefatigable_ was soon under sail. The _Phoebe_
was earned by her crew to Cawsand Bay, and in justice to them it should
be added, that although she anchored in the midst of several ships which
had lately mutinied, no further irregularity took place: and after
having been paid, she hastened to join the _Indefatigable_ off Brest.
The crew of the _Impétueux_ supposed, and probably with truth, that Sir
Edward was selected to command them in consequence of their known
disaffected state, his frigate having been almost the only ship on the
home station which had not actually mutinied. Under this impression, a
mistaken pride would not allow them to be controlled, and their secret
spirit of revolt became more determined. The feeling might have worn
itself out in a short time if the ship had remained at sea, for the men
soon learned to respect their new commander. But when, on the 25th of
April, the French fleet escaped from Brest, and sailed for the
Mediterranean, the British Admiral, Lord Bridport, supposing it to have
gone to Ireland, cruised for a few days off Cape Clear, and then
anchored with twenty-six sail of the line in Bantry Bay. Here the bad
spirits of the fleet had leisure for mischief, and facilities to
communicate with one another. A general mutiny was planned, and the
disgraceful distinction of setting the example was assigned to the
_Impetueux_.
On Thursday, the 30th of May, at noon, Sir Edward, being engaged to dine
with Sir Alan Gardner, had gone to dress in his cabin, leaving orders
with the officer of the watch to call all hands at the usual time, one
watch to clear hawse, and the other two to wash decks. When the order
was given, it was obeyed by all the marines, but by scarce any of the
sailors. Very shortly after, signal was made to unmoor, upon which a
noise of "No--no--no!" was heard from the main hatchway, and the seamen
came pressing forward in great numbers; those in the rear crying, "Go
on--go on!" The first lieutenant, Ross, and Lieutenant Stokes, the
officer of the watch, demanded what was the matter; and after some
murmuring, were told that there was a letter. The officers asked for it,
that it might be given to the captain, but the cry of "No--no--no!" was
immediately renewed. Lieutenant Ross then desired Lieutenant Stokes to
inform the captain, upon which the mutineers shouted, "One and all--one
and all!" Sir Edward instantly ran out in his dressing-gown, and found
between two and three hundred on the quarter-deck. On his appearance,
the clamour was increased, mingled with cries of "A boat--a boat!" He
asked what was the matter, and was told they had a letter to send to
Lord Bridport, complaining of tyranny, and hard usage. He demanded the
letter, declaring that he would immediately carry it himself, or send an
officer with it, to the Admiral; but all cried out, "No, no,--a boat of
our own!" He persisted in his endeavours to pacify them as long as a
hope remained of bringing them to reason, intreating them not to forfeit
their character by such shameful conduct. But when some of the
ringleaders declared with oaths that they _would_ have a boat, and would
take one, he quietly said, "You will, will you?"--gave a brief order to
Captain Boys, of the marines, and sprang to the cabin for his sword. The
marines, who had previously withstood every attempt of the conspirators
to seduce them from their duty, now displayed that unwavering loyalty,
and prompt obedience, for which, in the most trying circumstances, this
valuable force has always been distinguished. Sir Edward returned
instantly, determined to put to death one or more of the ringleaders on
the spot, but the evident irresolution of the mutineers spared him the
necessity. He immediately ordered the quarter-deck to be cleared, the
marines to be posted on the after-part of the fore-castle, and the
fore-part of the quarter-deck and poop, and the sentries to be doubled.
The carpenter in the mean time ran to Sir Edwards cabin, and brought
swords for the officers, who, at the first alarm, had hastened to place
themselves by their captain's side. The mutineers, after a moment's
hesitation, ran off the quarter-deck, and threw themselves down the
hatchways, exclaiming to put out all lights, and remove the ladders. The
officers followed them closely, and soon secured the ringleaders. Sir
Edward himself seized one of the most violent, and threatening him with
instant death if he resisted, dragged him up from below to the
quarter-deck. The letter, an unsigned one, was now given up, and the
ship's company returned quietly to their duty.
The plot was thus entirely disconcerted; for the crews of the other
ships, who knew nothing of the attempt and its failure, but waited for
the example of the _Impetueux_, followed her when she obeyed the
Admiral's signal. On the 1st of June, Lord Bridport, who had now learned
the course taken by the French fleet, sent off Sir Alan Gardner with
sixteen sail, of which the _Impetueux_ was one, as a reinforcement for
Earl St. Vincent in the Mediterranean. His orders on this occasion were
promptly attended to; and no other attempt was made by any of the crews
to resist the authority of their officers.
The _Impetueux_ being now for a short time under Earl St. Vincent's
command, Sir Edward took the earliest opportunity to enforce the
application for a court-martial, which he had previously made to Sir
Charles Cotton. The Earl, upon inquiry, was so startled at the magnitude
of the plot, that he thought it better, as the mutiny had been so
promptly suppressed, to conceal it altogether. Sir Edward differed from
him entirely. He considered that the worst effects would follow, if the
men were allowed to think that their officers feared to punish the
ringleaders in such a conspiracy; and as the Earl, who was on the point
of resigning the command from ill-health, appeared still reluctant, he
decided the question by declaring that if the court-martial were not
granted, he should immediately go on shore. Accordingly, it was held on
board the _Prince_, in Port Mahon, on the 19th and 20th of June, when
three of the ringleaders received sentence of death. One of them, after
his condemnation, disclosed all the history and circumstances of the
plot; and this, added to the consideration of his previous good
character, to which Sir Edward had borne a strong testimony on the
court-martial, made his captain think him a proper subject for mercy.
But upon this point, Earl St. Vincent was inflexible. "I am glad of it,"
he said, when Sir Edward spoke favourably of the prisoner's former
conduct; "those who have hitherto suffered had been so worthless before,
that their fate was of little use as an example. I shall now convince
the fleet that no character will save the man who is guilty of mutiny."
May there never be a recurrance of such unhappy times as shall make it
the duty of an officer to act upon this stern principle!
The circumstances were concealed from the country, and the rest of the
fleet, as effectually as if the court-martial had never been held. The
distant and retired harbour where the mutiny occurred; the quietness
with which it was suppressed; the holding of the court-martial abroad;
the frequency of aggravated mutinies within the preceding two years; the
magnitude of the political occurrences at that period; and the anxiety
felt at the movements of the enemy's fleet, probably the largest they
ever had at sea, for it numbered, with the Spaniards, forty sail of the
line, all concurred to prevent it from becoming an object of public
attention. But Earl St. Vincent appreciated Sir Edward's conduct very
highly. "Your brother," he once said to Mr. Pellew, "is an excellent and
valuable officer, but the most important service he ever rendered to his
country was saving the British fleet in Bantry Bay. We know that it was
the intention to burn the ships, and join the rebels on shore."
When the time arrived for executing the mutineers, it was found that
preparations had been made to give to their fate the appearance of a
triumph. For it strongly marks the general feeling in the navy during
this unhappy period, that the individuals who thus suffered were
regarded rather as martyrs than criminals. Encouraged to hardihood by
his mistaken shipmates, generally excited by spirits, and some times
even decorated with knots of ribbon, the mutineer went boldly to
execution, leaving the spectators less appalled at his fate, than
admiring his fearless bearing. Sir Edward quickly changed this feeling
when the prisoners came up to the forecastle. Addressing a few words,
first to the men who had followed him from the _Indefatigable_, and
afterwards to the rest of the crew, "_Indefatigables_" he said, "stand
aside! not one of you shall touch the rope. But _you_, who have
encouraged your shipmates to the crime by which they have forfeited
their lives, it shall be your punishment to hang them!" Quailing before
their commander, their false feeling was destroyed in a moment; and as
there is no medium between the hardihood and the cowardice of guilt,
they felt as he intended, and many of them wept aloud. Afterwards, there
was not in the service a more orderly ship than the _Impetueux_, or a
crew more pleasant to command.
Considerate as he was upon all occasions where human life was concerned,
and unwilling to resort to punishment, he was always anxious to make it
as impressive as possible, whenever it became necessary to inflict it.
He assisted to try one of the mutineers of the _Hermione_, whose crew
had murdered their officers, and carried the ship into a Spanish port.
This man's crime was attended with circumstances of peculiar
aggravation. He was coxswain to Captain Pigott, who, savage tyrant as he
was in general, and richly deserving of the fate he provoked, had
brought him up from a boy, and treated him with much kindness and
confidence. Yet he headed the murderers; and when they broke into the
captain's cabin, and that officer, perceiving their intention, called
for his coxswain to protect him, he replied with an opprobrious epithet,
"Here I am to despatch you!" He had been entrusted with the captain's
keys; and when the work of blood was over, the officers, even to
unoffending midshipmen, being slaughtered, and the murderers were
regaling themselves with wine, he told them that he knew where to get
them better than what they were drinking. His crime was fully proved;
and the court being cleared, Sir Edward proposed that sentence should be
executed immediately. The circumstances of the case demanded, in his
opinion, unusual severity, which might be expected to have a good effect
upon the fleet; while there was every reason to conclude, from the
prisoner's demeanour before them, that if delay were allowed, he would
meet his fate with a hardihood which would destroy the value of the
example. The court at first questioned their power to execute without
the warrant of the Admiralty; but this was quickly settled by reference
to the Act of Parliament. The President then declared that he could not
make the order. "Look here!" said he, giving to Sir Edward his hand,
trembling violently, and bathed in a cold perspiration. "I see it, and I
respect your feelings," replied Sir Edward, "but I am sure that such an
example is wanted, and I must press the point." "Well," he replied, "if
it be the _unanimous_ opinion of the court, it shall be done." It was
agreed to, and the prisoner was called. Though, sure that he must be
condemned, he entered with a bold front; but when informed that he would
be executed in one hour, he rolled on the cabin-deck in an agony. "What!
gentlemen," he exclaimed, "hang me directly? Will you not allow me a few
days--a little time, to make my peace with God?" The whole fleet was
appalled when the close of the court-martial was announced to them by
the signal for execution; and at the end of the allotted hour, the
wretched criminal was brought up to undergo his sentence.
A similar stern decision quelled in a few hours the spirit of resistance
during the special commission for trying the Luddites at York, when the
county was almost in a state of rebellion; and it was found necessary to
protect the court with cannon. Six of the ringleaders having been
convicted on the first day, the intrepid judge, Le Blanc, ordered them
all to be hung at six o'clock next morning. While the multitudes,
stunned by this unexpected vigour, waited in trembling anxiety for what
was next to follow, eight more were convicted on the second day, and as
promptly executed. The whole county was struck with terror; and the
judge, having thus effected the great object of punishment, by
compelling them to respect and fear the law, could now venture to show
mercy. It is the hardest effort of human resolution for a judge to
consign to certain and ignominious death the helpless being who stands
trembling before him, imploring the mercy or the delay which it rests
but with him to grant; but whenever justice demands life, duty requires
that so great a sacrifice shall be made most useful; and to effort
this, execution must take place before abhorrence for the crime is lost
in pity for the offender. _His_ proper time for repentance is the
interval before conviction. Little dependence can be placed on the
contrition which never shows itself till every hope of life is gone.
The _Impetueux_ formed part of the force which pursued the combined
fleets from the Mediterranean to Brest, and from which they escaped so
narrowly. She afterwards remained with the Channel fleet, under Lord
Bridport and Sir Alan Gardner. On the 1st of June, 1800, Earl St.
Vincent, who had assumed the command a short time before, detached Sir
Edward Pellew, with seven sail of the line, and some smaller vessels, to
Quiberon Bay, whore they were to land five thousand troops under General
Maitland to assist the royalists. Next day, the squadron arrived and
anchored; and on the 4th, the forts on the peninsula were attacked and
silenced by the _Thames_, 32, with some of the small craft; and
destroyed by a party of troops. Several vessels, taken at the same time,
were brought off or scuttled. Very early on the morning of the 6th, the
armed launches, and a division of small craft, were sent away under
Lieutenant Pilford, of the _Impetueux_, which completed the destruction
of the shipping in the Morbihan, bringing off six prizes, and destroying
several others, among which was the _Insolente_, 16-gun brig. They
landed at the same time about three hundred troops, who carried and
dismantled a fort. The whole service was effected with the loss of two
men killed on board the _Thames_, and one in the boats. By this time, it
was placed beyond doubt that the invalids were not strong enough to
warrant a descent. Sir Edward, therefore, proposed an immediate attack
on Belleisle, which had long been a favourite object with him, from a
conviction that nothing would enable the British to harass the enemy
more effectually than the possession of that island. He earnestly
combated the doubts of the General, and pressed the point with all the
energy of his character. Filled with the ardour so naturally inspired by
the opportunity to attempt a long-cherished enterprise, he exclaimed, "I
will be everywhere at your side, only let us attack the place without
delay." But the General, who could not feel that confidence founded on a
knowledge of the place, which Sir Edward had gained from having long
cruised in the neighbourhood; and who well knew the difficulty and loss
which a much larger force had formerly experienced in taking it,
objected to the attempt, and the enemy in a few days decided the
question by strongly reinforcing the garrison. The troops were then
landed upon the small island of Houat, about two leagues to the
south-east of Quiberon Point, where they remained encamped, while Sir
Edward cruised with his squadron off Port Louis.
Towards the end of July, Mr. Coghlan, who had assisted Sir Edward in
saving the people from the _Dutton_, and was now commanding the _Viper_
cutter, tender to the _Impetueux_, with the rank of acting lieutenant,
proposed and obtained permission to cut out a brig of war, which lay
moored within the port. Accordingly, with twelve volunteers from the
_Impetueux_, and a midshipman and six men from the _Viper_, in the
line-of-battle ship's ten-oared cutter, a boat from the _Viper_, and
another from the _Amethyst_ frigate, he went away on the night of the
26th to attack a national brig of seven guns, three of them long
twenty-four pounders, and with eighty-seven men on board.
The object of his attack, _La Cerbère_, was moored with springs on her
cable, within pistol-shot of three batteries, surrounded with armed
vessels, and not a mile from a seventy-four and a frigate.
Notwithstanding her formidable position, and though her crew were
prepared, while the boats of the _Amethyst_ and _Viper_ had not been
able to keep up with the cutter, he pushed on with the single boat, and
made a dash at the brig's quarter. In the act of springing on board, he
became entangled in a trawl-net, and before he could disengage himself,
he was pierced through the thigh with a pike, and knocked back into the
boat. Still undismayed, they boarded the brig further ahead, and after a
desperate struggle on her deck, carried her. Of the boat's crew, one man
was killed, and eight wounded; the brig had six killed, and twenty
wounded. The other boats now came up, and the prize was towed out under
a heavy, but ineffectual fire from the batteries.
This very brilliant action was rewarded with peculiar notice. The
squadron gave up the prize to the captors; Earl St. Vincent presented
Mr. Coghlan with a sword; and a most unusual distinction, he was
immediately made a lieutenant by an order in council, though, by the
regulations of the service, he had still to serve a year and a half
before he would be entitled to promotion.
A few days after, Sir J.B. Warren arrived, with a small squadron and a
fleet of transports; and having re-embarked the troops from Houat, and
taken the _Impetueux_ under his orders, proceeded to attack Ferrol. The
fleet arrived in the bay of Playa de Dominos on the 25th of August, and
Sir James Pulteney, the military commander-in-chief, desired that the
troops might be landed immediately. The direction of this service was
committed to Sir Edward Pellew, who first silenced a fort of eight
twenty-four pounders by the fire of the _Impetueux_, assisted by the
_Brilliant_, 28-gun frigate, _Cynthia_, sloop of war, and _St. Vincent_
gun-boat; and landed the whole army the same evening, without losing a
man. Sixteen field-pieces were landed at the same time, and the sailors
got them, with the scaling ladders, to the heights above Ferrol.
A slight skirmish took place on the first advance of the troops, and a
sharper one next morning; but the enemy were effectually driven back,
and the heights which command the harbour of Ferrol gained, with the
loss in all of sixteen men killed, and five officers and sixty-three men
wounded. Six sail of the line, two of them large first-rates, were in
the harbour. Sir James now resolved to abandon the enterprise. Sir
Edward entreated that he might be allowed to lead on with his sailors,
for he was confident that the town must yield. But Sir James--to the
intense disappointment and indignation of Sir Edward, who refused
afterwards and in consequence even to meet him at dinner--declined to
advance, and the troops and guns were all re-embarked without loss the
same night. It was afterwards ascertained, that the garrison, despairing
of effectual resistance, were prepared to surrender the keys.
The squadron escorted the transports to Gibraltar, to join a force
already assembled there; with which, under the command of Abercromby,
and protected by the fleet of Lord Keith, they proceeded to Egypt.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] Quiberon Bay, one killed in the boats; landing at Ferrol, none;
Batavia Roads, one killed in the boats; Griessee, none; skirmishes off
Toulon, one killed by accident; Algiers, eight.
[9] The sailors gave professional names to the various specimens of
entomology which infested their stores. Thus, a large maggot found in
the biscuit they called "Boscawen's bargemen."
[10] The case of Captain Baillie is remarkable as the first in which
Erskine pleaded. When this brilliant advocate, then a junior, unknown
even to his brethren at the bar, was assailing Lord Sandwich as the
prosecutor of his client with equal eloquence and courage, and even in
defiance of a rebuff from the Judge, the latter, Lord Chief Justice
Mansfield, leant over the bench and inquired in a whisper, "Who is that
young man?" "His name is Erskine, my lord," replied the clerk. "_His_
fortune is made," observed the Judge as he resumed his seat.