The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

APRIL 15, 1854 NOTES ON THE NAVY. ."THE RESULTS OF BRITISH SEA-FIGHTS. BEFORE proceeding with our notes on the fleets, it will be desirable to glance at the distinctive results of some of our great victories in the last war, as much misapprehension exist on the nature of the ' Yo. ll.—' difficulties which our nautical heroes had to over- come in former times. England owes an enormous portion of its political power to triumphs on the ocean, and the extent of the perils of the country in past periods has often been glozed over by the fulsome pens of servile partisanship. Seldom was England in grcater gloom—never was her deliver ance from danger more signal than in the mo mentous year " 1797." It wall, indeed, an awful crisis. In France, Spain, and Holland, combined naval preparations were actually carried on for the invasion of England and Ireland. But our foes w;thin were worse than our enemy abroad. Even at the distance of thirteen years, the fatal political effects of the dishonourable " Coalition" of Fox and North were seriously felt. Parliamentary leaders were not sustained by public confidence. The Whigs of that day were unscrupulously ambitious, and there were a party of waverers in that time, dampers of the public spirit, in an Aberdeen fashion. Civil war was waging in Ireland, and, worse than all, there was a mutiny at the Nore. Taxes were ac cumulated, the Bank stopped payment, commerce was paralysed, parliamentary action was unhinged, and then it was that the fierce Directory of France, raging with revolutionary frenzy, resolved to strike a tremendous blow at Old England, and invade her with seventy sail of the line, ready equipped for sea, in the ports of the Texel, Brest, and Carthagena! Terrible, indeed, was the crisis ; but let modern Manchester, and pusillanimous Peelites, mark how valiant actions restored our credit and preserved our power. While Europe was in suspense, Lord Brid port was ordered to blockade Brest, Admiral Duncan was sent to watch the Dutch, and Admiral Jervis was told to look out for the Spanish fleet. Two famous sea fights delivered our grandsires from the perils of the hour. The names of St. Vincent and Camper• down are immortal in British story. 1. The battle of St. Vincent was fought on the 14th of February, 1797, the English admiral having fifteen sail-of the-line, while the Spanish admiral (Cordova) had twenty-seven sail-of-the-line, besides ten frigates. There are some discrepancies in the accounts as to the actual numerical force engaged on both sides; but all the narratives, Spanish and Eng lish, give a formidable superiority to the Spanish meet. The Spaniards had La Safitissfma Trinidada with 130 guns, they had six three-deckers carrying 112 guns each, two 80-gun ships, and eighteen 74's. Against that apparently tremendous force the Eng lish fleet stood as follows: — Gun-ship. Admiral (b.) Sir John Jervis, RP. Victory „ George Grey. { Vice-Adm. (b.) Charles Thompson i B ritannia •• • • C a ptain Thomas Foley. • Ilartleur { V c i s pce-Adi tain ;. (b.) t ames he Wm. Waldegrt Rear scres. aptitdru3o.l(inr.)l\rwVilinliam Parker. P r ince George Blenheim • „ Thomas Lenox Frederick. Namur Captain Goliath { o a m pt ia t ' o n do p i A l Ho r atio o s r v ar e tt Nelson. iier „ Sir tharies H. Knowles,. Bart. Excellent .• • • „ Cuthbert Collingwood. T 4 Orion Colossus „ Sir James Saumarez. „ George Murray. Egmont „ John Sutton. C u lloden •• • • „ Thomas Troubridge. Urresietible 64 Diadem „ George Heury Towry. The frigates, by the time some had joined and others parted company, remained as follows •,-- G3B g. un Minerve Captain George Cockburn. Lively .... :82 1 Niger „ Edward James F oote. Southampton „ James Macnamara. t Ronne Limy r 1 en ~ Charles Lindsay. 73 Raven ........ „ Willi a m Prowse. Cot. Fox .......... Lieutenant John Gibson. The line of the Spaniards was loosely formed, and by a skilful manoeuvre Jervis resolved to cut off the outlying Spaniards, the result of which was that he reduced his immediate adversaries to eighteen. The Spanish admiral tried to wear his fleet and rejoin his separated vessels ; but the tactics of Jervis and the gallantry of his subordinates defeated the ob ject of Cordova, who was compelled to a close en gagement, in which h e was signally defeated, losing four of his large ships and an enormous num ber of his men. So decisive was this victory that THE PRESS. the panic of invasions ceased, and public confidence was completely restored. The English admiral was at a single creation made an earl, a course very un usual in the distribution of public rewards. The political resuh of the battle was undoubtedly very great, and the nation was overjoyed. But there have been battles more glorious to the English name, although Jervis deserves all honour, for his resolving with about fifteen sail to attack the Spaniards with twenty-five sail-of•the line, and an enormous supe riority in guns. But it is the wit end not the ships that decide sea-fights. For what were the Spaniards at that battle' We may reply in the words of "James's Naval History" (Chansier's edition, vol. p. 4) : One fact is certain. that the crews of the Spanish ships were the most worthless that can be conceived : they were composed of pressed laudnien and soldiers of the new levies, with about sixty, or at most eighty, seamen to each ship. Is it necessary to go farther? Can it. be surprising that the poor panic.struck wretches,' in the words of an in telligent writer, ' when called upon to go aloft to repair the injured rigging, fell immediately on their knees, and in that posture cried out, that they preferred being sasrilioed on the spot, to performing a duty in the execution of which they considered death as inevitable?' Upon the whole, the victory of Cape St. Vincent, although. from its consequences as a political event, pre-eminently great, from its merits as a naval combat, cannot be con• sidered, especially when the quantum of effective resist ance is taken into the account, in an equal degree glo rions." 2. The circumstances under which tte battle of Camperdown was fougbt have been well described in a most entertaining work, called the " Life and Reign of George the Fourth" (Longmans). Its author was the late William Wallace, a man of con siderable abilities, whose talents never received fait play : France had still the Texel and Brest fleets. Fortune, or rather an unforeseen event, in which the French had iv, share, though such an opinion prevailed at the time, promised them much more decisive aid. A dangerous mutiny broke out in the British fleet at Plymouth, Ports mouth, and still more desperately at the Nore. Admiral Duncan, a brave veteran beloved in the navy, was deserted by all but his own ship's crew, his courage, and his pre sence of mind. He continued, with his single ship, to make the usual signals, as if in command of a squadron, and the Texel fleet did not venture out. The mutiny was suppressed ; Parker, the ringleader at the Nore, and a few others, were executed ; subordination was restored ; and Duncan was again in command of a fleet. Admiral de Winter, a brave and experienced officer, and an ardent republican, received orders from the Government of Hol land, now called the Batavian Republic, to put to sea and engage the enemy. He accordingly came out of the Texel with fifteen sail-of-the-line and ten frigates. Admiral Dun. can, who was refitting in Yarmouth Roads, on being apprised of the enemy's movements, put to sea with sixteen sail-of-the line ; and at eight in the morning of the 11th of Qctober the two squadrons prepared for action off the coast of Holland, between Egmont and Camperdown. De Winter, whose lighter vessels drew less water, manoeuvred to keep near the shore. Duncan penetrated his intention ; and, by an experiment of unprecedented boldness, broke through his line to get between him and the land. The battle novetegan ship to ship, and was fought for several hours with desperate valour on both sides, until the Dutch vice-admiral struck to Admiral Onslow. De Winter, his ship La !Aborts having become a mere week, two-thirds of his crew hors de combat, and being himself wounded dan gerously, struck to ])uncan's ship the Veterrabk. The llatavian fleet, with the exception of a few ships winch got back to the Texel in a shattered state, was either destroyed or captured. This most important victory extinguished the chances of invasion. The admiral was created Vis count I iuncan of Camperdown, and De Winter was treated, as a prisoner in England, with all the respect and honour due to his gallantry and misfortune." De Winter died not long after of a chronic disease. Of the two actions, some have thought Camperdown the more honourable to English arms. Consummate nautical skill was shown in fighting a sturdy enemy upon a lee shore, and, though an Englishman pre fers to give rather than take the odds, still that. action was an overwhelming triumph. In num ber of guns the English bad 575 against 517 in the Dutch ; in number of crews the English were 8,121 men opposed to 7,157 Dutch ; and, in round numbers, the superiority of British tonnage was as twenty-three thousand tons to twenty thousand. At the end of the fight the English were in possession of two Dutch seventy fours, five sixty-fours, two fifties, besides a couple of frigates. How gallant was the resistance of the Dutch may be seen in the following statement of James : " The appearance of the British ships at the close of the action was very unlike whst it generally is, when the French or Spaniards have been the opponent of the former. Not a single lower mast, not even a topmast, was shot away ; nor were the rigging and sails of the ships in their usual tattered state. It was at the hulls of their adversaries that the Dutchmen had directed their shot: and this, not until the former were so near, that no aim could well miss. Scarcely a ship in the fleet but had several shot sticking in her sides. Many were pierced by shot in nil directions ; and a few of the ships bad twee wed some dangerous ones betweso wind anti water, which kept their pumps in constant employment. The driest had 347 received no fairer than ninety-eight round shot in her I hull. The Brlliqueux, BeWard, Venerable, anti .ilunareh had likewise their share. As to the last•named ship, such wr.s the entire state of hyr masts, rigging, and sails. that, were the topsail sheets whivh had been shot awe.% moiled home no one, viewing her from a little distance. would have be, lieved that she had been in action." Our loss in killed and wounded at these two battles are worth stating. At the sea-fight of St. Vincent we had only ti offfeers killed and 5 wounded ! There were 119 seamen killed, and. 16'J wounded; and 1 1 of the marines killed, and 33 of them wounded. At the battle of Camperdown the result of casualties ou our side WM Seamen—Killed lO5 Wounded 474 Mariues—Killed 2O Wounded. Officers—Killed fl Wended . 4l Or, in total, there were 707 seamen, marines, and boys, and 40 officers, killed and wounded at Cam perdown ; and, though it is anticipating, it is worth here rematking, that in the bloodiest and most decisive sea-fight in history—Trafalgar—there was a total of 1,6147 British killed and wounded, 30 of our oftkerti having been killed, exclusive of 3 who died of their wounds ! The results of St. Vincent and Camperdown may be stated as having raised the public feeling from despondency, and as having inspirited England rather than intimidated her enemas. To sitcom plish the latter, the Nelsonian battles were necessary. When we recollect that Nelson died only as viscount at Trafalgar, after his prodigies of personal valour, besides his exploits at the Nile and Copenhagen, we may feel surprise either at the moderate honours awarded to Mtn, or the excessive ones given for a single action to St. Vincent. But the state of public opinion at the tune justified the earldom to Jervis; and, recollecting that the Spanish admiral fought the encounter, we must greatly admire the audacity of Jervis in assailing such a numerous Beet as Cordova cotonianded. It must also be recollected that Jervis performed prodigious public services after wards as a naval administrator. Titular honours have been often niggardly withheld, and sometimes lavishly bestowed Lord Rodney was very Mused in being made only a baron ; and it. was certainly very hard to refuse a reversion of his title to that noble mariner whom the author of "Singleton Fontenoy " has so happily called "the Bayard of the Sea "—Col lingwood, whose genius was great, and whose glory is without a solitary stain. It is not a little curious that two brothers should have won glory as admi rals—Viscount Hood and Viscount Bridport—like Nelson, the sons of a clergjinan. We have a calculation (now before us) made in 1808. on high authority, of the comparative number of peer ages traceable to the military and naval life. There were then existing in the peerage, exclusive of any extinct honours, fifteen titles won at sea—from Mon tagu, Lord Sandwich, in 1000, to Lord Gambier; and there were fourteen military tithe, commtneing with Marlborough in 170 4 2, to Lord Cathcart in 1807. Down to the saute dates there were not less than twenty-seven peerages actually then in existence, owing their origin to—the low. Pu.or. [l'o be continued.l THE ELECTRIC TELRORAPH COMPAKY have laid down a main of wires to the new Stoat Exchange, in Throgmorton-street, for the us. of the members of that establishment. The Stock Exchange will now have direct communication with all places reached by the electric wires, both on the Continent and in the United Kingdom. THn DP.ATHB REGISTERED re THE WEEK ended on Saturday last declined to 1,14 U. The weekly average in March bad been 1,305 ; and the decennial average, corrected for the increase of population, is 1,228. The Government is sendiog agents to different parts to buy wooden steam vessels that will go about eight miles an hour, and can carry two 80-pounders. They have also ordered some half-dozen vessels to be built as gun-boats and despatch vessels for the Baltic. These are to be of 400 tons, with screw engines of about 160-horse power. It is expected that in the course of ten weeks aurae of these ships will be ready for the warm wtak in the North. They will be powerful in speed as well as in armament. WHAT has the taste for ardent spirits done in tan years in the htates of America?-1. It bar cost the nation a direct expense of I 00,0(}0,0(J0 dols. 2. It has cost the nation an indirect expense of 600,000,000 dole. 8. It bas destroyed 84X1,1100 lives. 4. Lt has sent 100.000 children to the porhouse. 5. It has consigned at least 150,000 persons to the gaols and penitentiaries. 6. It has made at least 1,000 maniacs. 7. It has inettgated to the mniinission of 1,500 murders. R. It has caused 2,000 persons to commit suicide. 9. It has burnt or uthenrit.e destroyed property I. die amount of 10$100$011 dots. 10. It has made 200 4' widows.p and 10/1 0 , 000 , ceplao obildres.—lielt. Edward zvereft. ' • • •