the French admiral, who had been engaged by Lord Howe's ship, the _Queen
Charlotte_, made all sail and crowded off, followed by nearly all the
ships in his van that were in a condition to carry sail; ten or twelve
of those that were dismasted, or much crippled, were left behind. Had
the British fleet not been very much disabled all these must have been
captured; but in consequence of their state several of them escaped; two
or three, even under a sprit sail singly or a smaller sail, hoisted on
the stump of the foremast, were able to get away. Six, however, were
secured and captured--viz., _La Juste_ of eighty guns; _La Sans
Pareille_ of eighty guns; _L'Amérique_ of seventy-four guns; _L'Achille_
of seventy-four guns; _L'Impétueux_ of seventy-four guns; and the
_Northumberland_ of seventy-four guns; these added to _Le Vengeur_ and
_Le Jacobin_, which were also sunk, made the whole loss of the French
amount to eight ships of the line. The return of [those] killed on board
of the English fleet was two hundred and seventy-two, and of wounded
seven hundred and eighty-seven. The loss of the French is not accurately
known, but it is believed to have been much greater than that of the
English. On board of _La Montagne_ the captain was killed and nearly
three hundred men were either killed or wounded. In the ships that were
taken six hundred and ninety men were killed and five hundred and eighty
wounded; besides, it is supposed that three hundred and twenty perished
in _Le Vengeur_.
Though this victory was a great triumph to the English and a severe blow
to the arms of the Republic, the French can hardly be said to have
failed in the object of their expedition; for while Lord Howe was
engaged in chasing and fighting the French fleet, the provision convoy,
which the French fleet came out to protect, managed to escape him, and
one hundred and sixty sail of vessels, valued at five millions sterling,
and conveying an immense quantity of provisions and naval stores,
arrived from America safe in port a few days after the engagement.
On the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday immediately following the
publication of the "Extraordinary Gazette" which announced Lord Howe's
victory there were illuminations in all parts of the metropolis; a
subscription was almost immediately raised at Lloyd's Coffee House for
the widows and children of the seamen who fell in the engagement, and
the proprietors of Drury Lane Theatre gave a clear benefit, which
produced upwards of one thousand three hundred pounds, in aid of the
subscription.
In order to show all due honour to the fleet which had achieved such a
victory, on Thursday, June 26th, George III. and Queen Charlotte and
three of the princesses arrived at Portsmouth; the three younger
princesses having come down the day before. The royal party then
proceeding in barges in the usual procession, and receiving the
customary honours, visited Lord Howe's ship at Spithead. Here His
Majesty held a naval levée, and presented Lord Howe with a
diamond-hilted sword, the value of which was three thousand guineas, and
a gold chain, to which a medal was afterwards suspended, to be worn
round the neck. After these ceremonies were gone through the royal party
dined with Lord Howe on board his ship. His lordship was also raised to
the rank of an earl for his glorious services in the battle.
TRIUMPH IN RETREAT.
A STORY OF "BILLY BLUE."
After the defeat of the French by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, 1794,
the French navy was much too shattered to attempt anything like
offensive warfare for some time. Notwithstanding this, however, fortune
favoured France with an opportunity of revenge as early as the following
year.
In June, 1795, Admiral Cornwallis, known in the fleet as "Billy Blue,"
was cruising off Belle Isle when on the 7th he fell in with a fleet of
merchantmen under the convoy of three ships of the line and six
frigates. His own force consisted of five sail of the line and two
frigates, with which he made an easy capture of eight of the enemy's
ships, the men-of-war effecting their escape. On the 16th, however, came
the Frenchman's opportunity of turning the tables; for, as the admiral
was standing in towards the land, near the Penmarks, one of his frigates
signalled the sighting of the enemy's fleet, which numbered thirteen
sail of the line, several frigates, two brigs and a cutter. The wind at
first falling calm and afterwards coming round to the north, the enemy's
ships were enabled to get to windward, and the next morning by daylight
they were seen mooring on both quarters of the British squadron.
During the preceding day and night the admiral himself had led the
retreating ships in the _Royal Sovereign_, in order that he might be
able to take advantage of any favourable opportunity that might present
itself in the night for altering his course and getting away
unperceived by the enemy; but with daylight he changed his disposition,
ordering the two heavy sailing ships, the _Brunswick_ and the
_Bellerophon_, to lead, and the _Mars_ and _Triumph_ to form the rear,
while he himself, in the _Royal Sovereign_, formed a connecting link,
and was prepared to bear down to the assistance of any of his squadron
that might particularly need his help. It was now in the power of the
French admiral to have engaged closely, and at about nine o'clock in the
morning a line-of-battle ship and a frigate opened their fire upon the
_Mars_. From this time a pretty constant cannonade was kept up, the
French ships firing at a distance as they came up, and three of the
English ships returning it. Such was the bad sailing of the _Brunswick_
and _Bellerophon_ that their fire was quite lost and they were obliged
to keep their course without retaliating; in fact, it became necessary
to cut away their anchors and launches, throw overboard part of their
ballast, and crowd all the sail they could carry, to enable them to keep
their proper place, while the _Mars_ and _Triumph_ continued under easy
sail. The day had nearly passed over, and there was no serious
appearance of attack; but as the afternoon drew on, the enemy, as if
ashamed of having yet done nothing effectual to check the progress, or
even to ruffle the majestic steadiness of our little line, seemed to be
inclined to close upon the rear ship, the _Mars_. Two or three of them
had fore-reached upon her beam, and a beautiful eighty-four-gun ship was
hauling towards her, as if determined to act as champion, and by
arresting one of the ships to bring the matter to an immediate issue,
when an incident occurred which completely deceived the enemy.
In the early morning the admiral had called by signal for a boat from
the _Phaëton_, and as her young officer, afterwards Admiral Sir Francis
Beaufort, K.C.B., was eagerly springing up the _Royal Sovereign's_ side,
he was stopped by the noble old admiral's foot and the words, "Stop,
sir; listen: go back immediately and tell your captain to go ahead of
the squadron a long way, and, when far enough off, to make the signals
for seeing first one or two strange sail, then more, and then a fleet;
in short, to humbug those fellows astern. He will understand me. Go."
The _Phaëton_ sailed well, but it took a long time to get to the
admiral's "far enough," in order to give colour and credibility to her
signals. At length, about three o'clock p.m., she made the signal for a
stranger, then two, five, and then for a fleet, which was made by
letting fly the top-gallant sheets and firing a lee gun. It was well
known that the French had copies of our "Tabular" signals, and by them
Captain Stopford announced that the fleet was English; the large recall
flag (the Dutch ensign) was then hoisted to bring them into the
squadron, and when time had been given for the supposed answer, the
_Phaëton_ wore round, under easy sail, towards the squadron, thus
implying that a fleet of English ships was following her, and, passing
under the admiral's stern, gave him three cheers.
By a happy coincidence two or three small distant vessels were at that
time actually peeping up on the horizon; but the bait had been fully
swallowed; a flood of signals was made by the enemy--their fire became
languid--and at half-past six their whole force tacked off to the
eastward, leaving our gallant squadron to enjoy the fruit of their
bravery and wit.
In the official announcement of this encounter the admiral gives full
credit to his gallant companions, as well as to Sir C. Cotton and Sir
Erasmus Gower, who, in the _Mars_ and _Triumph_, bore the brunt of the
fray. Of the officers, seamen and marines, he says that, "instead of
being cast down at seeing thirty sail of the enemy's ships attacking our
little squadron, they were in the highest spirits imaginable, and
although circumstanced as we were, we had no great reason to complain of
the conduct of the enemy, yet our men could not help repeatedly
expressing their contempt of them. Could common prudence have allowed me
to let loose their valour I hardly know what might not have been
accomplished by such men."
Of the admiral himself we are told that, on the anxious morning he
continued the operation of shaving, dressing and powdering with his
usual composure, and observed to Captain Whitby, in his customary cool
and dry manner, that he had been in similar situations before, and knew
very well what they, the French, would do. More than once during the day
he repeated that sooner than abandon his comrades in the slow sailers,
the _Brunswick_ and the _Bellerophon_, the _Royal Sovereign_ should go
down with her colours flying.
Admiral (then Captain) Cornwallis had previously exhibited great daring
in Rodney's celebrated action in 1782, when, in the _Canada_,
seventy-four, after having defeated the _Hector_, a ship of equal force,
single-handed, he bore down upon the huge _Ville de Paris_, and lay her
alongside and commenced a combat which lasted two hours. A point of
honour prevented De Grasse striking to anything short of a flag; but
when Sir Samuel Hood came up in the _Barfleur_ the count surrendered,
having only three men, of whom he himself was one, alive and unhurt upon
his upper deck. He declared, after the action, that the little red-sided
ship (the _Canada_) had done him more harm than all the rest with which
he had contended.
The fleet from which Admiral Cornwallis thus escaped were not destined
long to boast of their triumph; for on the 22nd of the same month, Lord
Bridport, with fourteen sail of the line and eight frigates, fell in
with them, and as they indicated no intention to fight him, made the
signal for four of his best sailing vessels to chase. As there was very
little wind the pursuit continued all that day and during the night.
Early on the morning of the 23rd some of the British ships came up with
the enemy; and a little before six o'clock the action began, and
continued till three in the afternoon. The French kept as near their own
shore as possible; so that only three were captured--the _Alexander_,
which had been taken from the British the preceding year, the
_Formidable_ and the _Tigre_. The rest of the French squadron escaped
into _L'Orient_. The loss of the British in this action was thirty-one
killed and one hundred and fifteen wounded; the loss of the French was
not accurately ascertained.
THE MUTINY OF 1797.
AT SPITHEAD, APRIL 15TH.--AT THE NORE, MAY 22nd.
In the course of February and March, 1797, Lord Howe received several
anonymous letters, enclosing petitions from the ships' companies of a
number of vessels of the Channel fleet, asking for increased pay and
better provisions. These letters, though coming from different quarters,
were apparently written by the same hand, and the authorities judging
that they were so, and that they represented an agitation carried on by
one person, took but little notice of them.
A word to the wise is sufficient, but governments are not always wise,
or the Admiralty would at least have made inquiries as to the justice of
the demands made. Of this, however, they can hardly have been unaware,
for while the pay of the army and the militia had been increased, the
pay of the navy had remained the same from the time of Charles II., and
many abuses had sprung up in the administration of the commissariat
which bore very hardly upon the men. The greed of purveyors and the
corruption of commissioners provided them with food short in quantity
and often unfit to eat; while under the system then in vogue the ship's
purser was allowed to deduct two ounces in every pound of provisions
served out to the men and a similar proportion of grog and beer in lieu
of direct wages from the government.
It soon became evident, however, that the disaffection was far more
formidable than was at first supposed. On the return of the Channel
fleet into port a secret correspondence was arranged between all the
ships that composed it; and this ended in a unanimous agreement that no
ship should lift an anchor until a redress of grievances was obtained.
At this stage it was reported to Lord Spencer, the head of the
Admiralty, that a general conspiracy had been entered into to take
command of the fleet on April 16th; to test which on the 15th Lord
Bridport ordered the signal to prepare for sea. But instead of the men
proceeding to weigh anchor, they manned the rigging and gave three
cheers, as the signal for mutiny, and every other ship followed the
example.
The officers of every ship exerted themselves to their utmost to bring
their men back to obedience; but all their endeavours were vain. The
fleet being now in the complete possession of the seamen, every ship's
company appointed two delegates, and Lord Howe's cabin was fixed upon as
their place of consultation. On the 17th an oath was administered to
every man in the fleet to support the cause in which they had engaged,
and ropes were reeved to the yard arms in every ship as signals of the
punishment that would be inflicted on those that betrayed it. Several
officers who had made themselves particularly obnoxious to their
respective crews were sent ashore.
In the meantime, though the admiral was restricted from putting to sea,
he retained the command of the fleet in every other respect; the
strictest discipline was maintained and the severest orders and
regulations were enacted by the delegates, enjoining the most respectful
attention to their officers, and threatening disobedience with rigorous
chastisement.
On the 18th two petitions, one to the Admiralty and the other to the
House of Commons, were drawn up and signed by the delegates. They were
both worded with the highest propriety of expression and respect. The
petition to parliament stated that the price of all articles necessary
for subsistence having advanced at least thirty per cent. since the
reign of Charles II., when the seamen's pay was settled as at present,
they requested that a proportionate relief might be granted to them. It
represented at the same time that, while their loyalty was equal to that
of the army, the pensions of Chelsea had been augmented to thirteen
pounds a year, but those of Greenwich still remained at seven. The
petition to the Admiralty contained a recital of the services rendered
by the petitioners and a warm declaration of their readiness to defend
their country, and set forth the low rate of their pay, and the
insufficiency of their allowance of provisions, demanding increase of
both, together with the liberty of going ashore while in harbour and the
continuance of pay to wounded seamen till cured and discharged.
Such, in the meanwhile, was the alarm of the public, and particularly of
the government, that it was judged necessary to transfer the board of
Admiralty to Portsmouth, in order to be nearer at hand to inspect the
transactions on board the fleet, and to consult on the readiest and most
likely means of quelling the discontent, the consequences of which might
prove ruinous to the nation by throwing open the Channel and all the
neighbouring seas to the uncontrolled dominion of the French fleets and
cruisers.
The first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Spencer, accompanied by Lord Arden
and Admiral Young, repaired accordingly to Portsmouth, where they
directly proceeded to take into consideration the petition that had been
transmitted to the board. They authorised Lord Bridport to inform the
ships' companies that they would recommend the king to propose to
parliament an augmentation of pay to the seamen in the navy at the rate
of four shillings a month to petty officers and able seamen, three
shillings to ordinary seamen, and two shillings to landsmen. Seamen
wounded in action were also to continue in the receipt of their pay till
cured or declared unable to serve, when they should be allowed a pension
or admitted into Greenwich Hospital.
To this notification the seamen replied by requesting that the
long-established distinctions in the navy, of able and ordinary seamen,
should be retained; the pay of the former to be raised to one shilling a
day, and that of petty officers and ordinary seamen in the usual
proportion; they also requested that the pay of the marines while on
board should be the same as of ordinary seamen, and that the pensions
of Greenwich Hospital should be increased to ten pounds.
On April 20th the lords of the Admiralty notified to Lord Bridport their
compliance with the demands of the seamen, directing him to make it
known through the fleet, and to require, in consequence, an immediate
return of the people to their duty, on pain of forfeiting their right to
smart-money, to pensions from the chest of Chatham, and to an admission
into Greenwich Hospital, and of being made responsible for the
consequences that might ensue from the continuance of their
disobedience. They were informed, at the same time, that an unqualified
pardon for all that had taken place would be granted to every ship's
company that should, within one hour of these resolutions being
communicated to them, submit to their officers and cease to hold farther
intercourse with those who remained in a state of mutiny.
On the 21st, Admirals Gardner, Colpoys and Poole went on board the
_Royal Charlotte_ in order to confer with the delegates, who explicitly
informed them that it was the determination of the crews to agree to
nothing that should not be sanctioned by parliament and guaranteed by
the king's proclamation. Admiral Gardner was so irritated by this
declaration that he seized one of the delegates by the collar, and swore
he would have them all hanged, with every fifth man throughout the
fleet. This behaviour of the admiral so exasperated the ship's company
that it was with difficulty he escaped with his life.
The delegates from the _Royal George_ returned immediately to their ship
and informed their crew of what had happened; after some consultation
they resolved to summon all the delegates on board their ship. This was
forthwith done by hoisting the red, a signal that struck terror through
the fleet, as it was not generally understood; the officers in
particular being apprehensive that some fatal designs were in agitation.
The crew now proceeded to load their guns, to order the watch to be kept
as at sea, and to put everything in a state of defence.
On the following day the ships' crews directed two letters to be
written, one to the lords of the Admiralty, to acquaint them with the
motives for their conduct on the preceding day, and another to Lord
Bridport, in which they styled him their father and their friend, and
assured him of their respect and attachment. This induced him to return
to his ship the next day, the 23rd, and to rehoist his flag, which he
had struck during the confusion on the 21st. After a short and pathetic
address to the crew he informed them that he had brought with him a
redress of all their grievances and the king's pardon for what had
passed. After some deliberation these offers were accepted and every man
returned to his duty.
From April 23rd to May 7th the fleet remained in due subordination; but
on that day a fresh mutiny broke out. The seamen, from whatever cause it
arose, had conceived a mistrust of government, and apprehending a
violation of the promises made to them, renewed their former menaces. As
soon as this alarming intelligence arrived, government dispatched with
all speed a person of the highest weight and authority to quell this
unexpected tumult. This was Lord Howe, an officer long held in the first
degree of respect and esteem in the British navy, and personally beloved
by all that had served under him for his humane disposition as well as
for his many great qualities. His presence and exhortations wrought the
desired effect, and happily dissipated the suspicions that were
beginning to prevail.
Conformably to the expectation of the public, the House of Commons on
May 8th took into consideration the estimates laid before it by the
ministry, for the purpose of augmenting the pay, and the Bill, as soon
as it was framed, went through the necessary formalities without delay,
and immediately received the royal assent by commission.
The suppression of the disturbances among the seamen at Portsmouth,
without recurring to violent measures, and by granting their petitions,
occasioned universal satisfaction, and it was hoped that no farther
complaints would arise. These reasonable expectations were, however,
wholly disappointed by a fresh mutiny that broke out at the Nore on May
22nd.
The crews on that day took possession of their respective ships, elected
delegates to preside over them, and to draw up a statement of their
demands and transmit them to the lords of the Admiralty. These demands
went much farther than those of the seamen at Portsmouth and Plymouth,
and were not met with the same indulgence. On June 6th, in the morning,
the fleet at the Nore was joined by the _Agamemnon_, _Leopard_,
_Ardent_, and _Isis_ men-of-war, together with the _Ranger_ sloop, which
ships had deserted from the fleet under Admiral Duncan.
The principal person at the head of this mutiny was one Richard Parker,
a man of good natural parts and some education, and of a remarkably bold
and resolute character. Admiral Buckner, the commanding officer at the
Nore, was directed by the lords of the Admiralty to inform the seamen
that their demands were totally inconsistent with the good order and
regulations necessary to be observed in the navy, and could not for that
reason be complied with; but that on returning to their duty they would
receive the king's pardon for their breach of obedience. To this offer
Parker replied by a declaration that the seamen had unanimously
determined to keep possession of the fleet until the lords of the
Admiralty had repaired to the Nore and redressed the grievances which
had been laid before them.
In order to put an end with all possible expedition to a mutiny that
appeared so dangerous, Lord Spencer, Lord Arden and Admiral Young
hastened immediately to Sheerness and held a board, at which Parker and
the other delegates attended; but their behaviour was so audacious that
the lords of the Admiralty returned to town without the least success.
The principal article of complaint on the part of the mutineers was the
unequal distribution of prize-money, for the omission of which they much
blamed their fellow-seamen at Portsmouth. On the return of the lords of
the Admiralty from Sheerness a proclamation was issued offering His
Majesty's pardon to all such of the mutineers as should immediately
return to their duty; intimating at the same time Admiral Buckner was
the proper person to be applied to on such an occasion. All the buoys,
by the order of government, were removed from the mouth of the Thames
and the neighbouring coast; from which precaution any ships that might
attempt to get away would be in danger of running aground. Great
preparations were also made at Sheerness against an attack from the
mutinous ships, which had manifested some strong indications of an
intention to bombard that place; and furnaces and hot balls were kept
ready.
Emboldened by the strength of men and shipping in their hands, and
resolved to persevere in their demand till they had exhorted a
compliance, the mutineers proceeded to secure a sufficiency of
provisions for that purpose by seizing two vessels laden with stores,
and sent notice ashore that they intended to block up the Thames and cut
off all communication between London and the sea in order to force
government to a speedy accession to their terms. They began the
execution of this menace by mooring four of their vessels across the
mouth of the river and stopping several ships that were coming from the
metropolis.