The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-27 00:00:00

AN ADVENTUROUS CAREER.

(From The Time )

If the timein which welive is eminently practical, and
the mechanical appliances of civilisation seem to in-
volve a certain monotony in the lifes of men, as con-
trasted with those of a ruder age, there are even in
these degenerate days those who know how to extract
from them the elements of adventure and excitement
which specially pertain to them, and to invest 19th
century life with a romance peculiarly its own. Oae
such has just passed away from among us. There are
many in all parts of the world who when they read, in
our obituary column of the 12th, the death in the
Albany of Captain Charles Stewart Forbes, R.N., will
recall with a sigh the daring and reckless seaman, the
warm-hearted and generous friend, and cheery corn.
pardon, whose eventful career has just closed. Few
men have lived so much in so few years, or seen and
done more with so little noise.
The first years of young Forbes' service were passed
as a midshipman in the North Star, with Sir Everard
Home, on the Australian station; the Crimean War
found him in command (f a gunboat in the Baltic; and
on the breaking out of hostilities in China, he proceeded
to the scene of operations as Lieutenant commanding
the Algerine. Throughout the war Lieutenant Forbes
never lost a chance ef distinguishing himself, arid the
Algerine soon became celebrated for her success in
"pirate siseo ma" Returning borne just as Garibaldi
landed in Sicily, Forbes hurried out aid was the only
Er glishman who participated in the first action outside
Palermo. Conspicuous from the beginning to the end of
the campaign, in his blue flannel suit, and always in the
hottest of the fire, he sion attracted the notice, and nil i-
mately the frif ndsbip of Garibaldi, finally reconnoitring
Napli sin a carriage in advance of the General, and receiv-
in,s a triumphant welcome intend, d for the latter, which
enabled him to report on his return that the Royal
troops had evacuated the city. On his return to Eng-
land Forbes published an account of the campaign
which is probably the most authentic record of it which
exists. The success of this book tempted him to new
scenes of travel, and he not long after made a mast
interesting exploration in Iceland, giving us the result
of his experience there in a graphic and interesting
form. On receiving his promotion he went out to the
River Plate as Commander of the Curlew, and com-
pleted his term of service in those always stirring
regions, just in time to accept the command, under
Captain Sherard Osborne, of one of the vessels of the
expeditien which was being fitted out for the Emperor
Of China. Taking his vessel along the West Coast of
Africa, and touching at several ports on his way, he
arrived at his destination to find the project of a
Chinese Imperial Fleet, commanded by British
officers, abandoned, and returned to England the
toarer of despatches from Captain Osborne to the
English Government. On his arrival in England,
Forbes found his love of adventure almost iname-
oiately gratified by the command which he obtained,
without difficulty, of a blockade runner, for the Ameri-
can War was then at its height, and he soon distin-
guished himself in his new vocation. His system of
evading the enemy required that combination of skill,
coolnras, and courage which the habits of his life were
so eminently calcnlated to develops. Steering his ship
with his own hands, he ran into port on the darkest
nights on the bearing which he had taken during the
day when first sighting land, and when the small vessel
which he commands 1 was too far out to be visible to
the blockading squadron. The close of the war found
him in the harbour of Galveston, and unable to extri.
cate his ship, he left her, to join the fortunes of the ill-
fated Maximilian in Mexico. Of his hair-breadth
lescapes and the varied perils he encountered during his
blockade running and Mexican experiences, we have,
unfortnnately, no published record. After a severe at-
tack of yellow fever in one of the West India Islands,
where he narrowly escaped premature burial, he returned