The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Autobiography of a Seaman. By Thomas,
tenth Earl of Dundonald, G.C.B. Bentley. Third
notice.
After the refusal of the Admiralty Board to grant
a ship to Lord Cochrane, he determined to spend
his leisure time in investigating the abuses of the
navy. These comprised an extensive list. First
and foremost came political interests, party preju-
dices, and private hatreds; next followed the Ad-
miralty Courts, navy contractors, et hoc genus omne;
after whom followed the legion of harpies in the
shape of hospital doctors, pay-clerks, &c. Beneath
the evil eye of the first were the hopes of poor
Lieutenant Parker blasted ; his family ruined by a
heartless lie, so gross and foul, that it would have
blackened the name of a Newgate felon, but which,
emanating from same gentleman high in office, of
course, passed by unheeded and unheard. Such a
vile transaction could not take place in our time,
but should not Engl;shmen blush to think that such
men had a share in our Government not sixty
years ago ?
In spite of this rebuff I nevertheless continued to perse-
vere, but it was not till some years afterwardh that the pro-
motion of Lieut. Parker was obtained, with a result to that
able and gallant officer which proved his ruin, and even-
tually caused his death.
The circumstances under which this took place were posi-
tively diabolical. Despairing of promotion, Lieut. Parker
retired to a little farm near Kinsale, by the cultivation of
which, in addition to his half-pay, he was realising an
existence for his family. From my determined persever-
ance on his behalf, he was.at length made commander, and
ordered to join the Rainbow sloop, represented to be
stationed in the West Indies. Selling off everything, even
to his household furniture, he proceeded to Barbadoes, and
reported himself to Sir Alexander Cochrane ; but, as the
vessel could not be found, Sir Alexander furnished him with
a passage to look for her at the Bermudas, where he sup-
posed she might be fitting for sea. Not finding her there,
Lieut. Parker returned to Barbadoes, when it became evi-
dent that no such vessel was on the North American
station !

On ascertaining this, poor Parker returned to England a
ruined man. Lord Melville, who had succeeded as First
Lord, expressed his surprise and regret that such a circum-
stance should have occurred, and promised the unhappy
man that he should not only be amply compensated for the
loss and expense attending his outfit and fruitless voyage
to the West Indies, but that he should have another com-
mand on the first opportunity. This generous intention was,
however, counteracted, for he never received either the one
or the other. _ _

Lieutenant parker's loss, consequent on the sale of- bis
property, the expense attendant on settling his family, to-
gether with his outfit and voyage, amounted to upwards of
£l,OOO. His prospects ruined, his domestic arrangements
destroyed, and his pride wounded, his spirit and consti-
tution gradually gave way, and at length overwhelmed
with sorrow he sank into a premature grave, leaving a
wife and four daughters to deplore the loss of their only
protector.
I never could- find out who had thus imposed on one of
the most gallant officers in the Navy this infamous decep
tion, concocted, doubtless, out of pure malevolence to my-
self. Be he whom he may, lam very sorry that it is not
in my power to hold up his name to the execration of pos-
terity. It is even at the present day the duty of the
Admiralty to remedy the injury inflicted on his destitute
family—for he had left four daughters unprovided for, who
had no opportunity to escape from indigence.
It is evident that when no fixed rule existed for
promotion, and when for a trivial achievement
an officer was promoted by favour, while, at
the same time, a bold and gallant action went un-
rewarded, men would feel disheartened and
careless. All men exert themselves to gain promo-
tion, and are watchful after the enemy's merchant-
men to gain prize-money. When they are uncertain
of obtaining their just promotion, and sure that all the
prize-money will be swallowed up in the Admiralty
Courts, they naturally lose heart, and the navy suf-
fers. Lord Cochrane dilates on this subject; and
no wonder, for he says that young as he was in
command he had already felt it heavily; he re-
marks that but for the peculations of the Admiralty
Courts, himself, officers, and crew of the Speedy
ought, consequent on the success of their cruise,
to have returned home with competence. But that
as it was they got the fighting for their share and
the Court got the money; and in one case he
was actually brought in debt fora Prize worth
thousands of pounds. Such were the nefarious
practices at home, according to Captain Bren-
ton, whose evidence (as the biographer of Lord St.
Vincent) Lord Cochrane calls in to support his
own—

"In the first edition of the Naval History, I have com-
mented on the profligate system of hired vessels and trans-
ports. In this—borough influence reigned paramount, and
the most solid information was disregarded when the per-
petrator of the greatest frauds was a supporter of Govern-
ment."—(Brenton's "Life of Lord St. Vincent," p. 167.)
" A ship purchased by a man of influence was a certain
fortune to him. He cleared his money in the first year at
the rate of £4OO per month, and if the ship were coppered at
£7,500 per annum. About twenty coppered-bottomed trans-
ports were lying for three years in the harbour of Messina,
without being employed in any duty."—(p. 169.)
The expense of these alone, no doubt all owned by " men
of influence" as Captain Brenton terms them, was for
the three years £270,000. As these transports formed only
a trifling illustration of the system, there is little wonder at
the enormous accumulation of the national debt, for results
so inadequate.
Captain Brenta/a might have gone farther, and stated
with great truth, that not only were transports hired from
men of influence, but that vessels utterly worthless were
purchased by the Government from their political support-
ers, and then patched up into ships of war., It was my
misfortune to be subsequently appointed to a collier so con-
verted—with what result will appear in the sequel.

While money was thus extravagantly expended to
suit the private home interests, as a setoff the ill
supplied hospitals were to be curtailed in their
already too scanty necessaries and comforts. On
the great iniquity of such a proceeding We cannot
trust ourselves to make comment. It is altogether
too horrible. Only fancy while millions upon

millions were being wasted by cheats and knaves,
that the hospitals of our seamen were put under the
control of a worthless, ignorant, and imperi▪
ous
coxcomb, a pet, forsooth, of Lord St. Vincent.
" Dr. Beard possessed his lordship's highest emit
dence, so to this person was confided the task. 01
regenerating the hospitals." It is needless to dilate.
upon his reforms. ECONOMY was his maxim, and
as it would be against professional etiquette to in-
terfere with any sinecure appointments, (few per-
haps existed in a naval hospital), he set about re-
ducing tho medicine, ordering that blue ointment
and pills being chiefly required for diseases that
might be avoided, should be doled out in a min• i"
mum quantity. Thus compelling captains and
naval surgeons to purchase these essentiais out 0f
their own pockets. This is bad enough, but too
warm a bed could not be chosen in the next world
for the man who enforced an order "that from the
expense of lint, in dressing wounds SPONGE should
be substituted, as it might be used over again." The
result was as might have been expected; slight,
wounds became infected, and the limbs and lives el,
many paid the price of this economy. Let us quit
such a painful subject, being thankful that what'
ever the present shortcomings of the navy may be,
humanity is at least studied. On the retiremen.b
of Lord St. Vincent (from whom he could obtain
no better ship than a collier metamorphosed into a
man-of-war, in which he was directed to protect
the fisheries in the North Sea) Lord Cochrane Was
appointed immediately by his successor, Lord Mel-
ville, to the Pallas, .a new fir-built frigate of 32
guns. Once more in command of a real man-oi-
war, and that a dashing frigate, Lord Cochrane
prepared for action, the first fruits of which were
the capture of two Spanish West Indiamen laden
with treasure, and the Pallas returned to port
with her prizes, having golden candlesticks
each five feet long, at her mastheads. The following
will show that a brave conqueror can sometimes
afford to be generous :
" Lord Cochrane, in his late cruise off the coasts of Spill!
and Portugal, fell in with and took La Fortuna, a Spaniel'
ship bound to Corunna, and richly laden with gold and silver
to the amouut of 450,000 dollars (£132,000), and about the
same sum in valuable goods and merchandise. When the
Spanish paptain and his supercargo came on board the Psi'
las, they appeared much dejected, as their private property
on board amounted to the value of 30,000 dollars each. The
captain said he had lost, in the war of 1779, a similar for-
tune, having then been taken by a British cruizer, so that
now, as then, he had to begin the world again. Lord
Cochrane, feeling for the dejectedcondition of the Spaniards,
consulted his officers as to their willingness to give there
back 5,000 dollars each in specie. This being immediate/
agreed to, his lordship ordered the boatswain to pipe al
Lands, and addressing the men to the like purpose, the
gallant fellows sung out, Aye, aye, my lord, with all our
hearts,' and gave the unfortunate Spaniards three cheers!'
That Lord Cochrane was wonderfully fertile in
expedients has been shown on many previous oc-
casions, but the following bold and original mode:01
avoiding an enemy when running before the wind,
deserves record : .

As the strange ships were coming up with us hand over
hand, the necessity of carrying more sail became indispely
sable, notwithstanding the immersion of the hull.
To do this with safety was the question. However, I
ordered all the hawsers in the ship to be got up to the mast,
heads and hove taut. The masts being thus secured, ever/
possible stitch of sail was set, the frigate plunging fore'
castle under, as was also the case with our pursuers, which
could not fire a gun—though as the haze cleared away vr°
saw them repeatedly flashing the priming. After sow'
time the line-of-battle ships came up with us, one keeping
on our lee beam, another to windward, each within half °
mile, whilst the third was a little more distant.
Seeing it impossible to escape by superior sailing, it
appeared practicable to try a manoeuvre, which might VI
successful if the masts would stand. Having, as stated,
secured these by every available rope in the frigate, the
order was given to prepare to clew up and haul down eyer/.
sail at the same instant. The manoeuvre being execute;
with greatprecision—and the helm being puthard a-weather.
so as to wear the ship as speedily as possible—the Pallas,
thus suddenly brought up, shook from stem to stern, i°
crossing the trough of the sea. As our pursuers were up'
prepared for this manoeuvre, still less to counteract it, the/
shot past at full speed, and ran on several miles before the/
could shorten sail, or trim on the opposite tack. Indeed,
under the heavy gale that was now blowing, even this Nytt°
no easy matter, without endangering their own masts.
There was no time for consideration on our part, so hav'
ing rapidly sheeted home, we spread all sail on the opposit°
tack. The hawsers being still fast to the masts, we wen
1
away from our pursuers at the rate of thirteen knots and
upwards; ; so that a considerable distance was soon inter,'
posed between us and them ; and this was greatly increaseu
ere they were in a condition to follow. Before they had
fairly renewed the chase night was rapidly setting in, an
when quite dark, we lowered a ballasted cask overboarl
with a lantern, to induce them to believe that we had
altered our course, though we held on in the same direction
during the whole night. The trick was successful, for, 0
had been calculated, the next morning, to our great satin"
faction, we saw nothing of them, and were all much re-
lieved on finding our dollars and his Majesty's ship once
more in safety. The expedient was a desperate one, but so
was the condition which induced us to resort to it.
To facilitate the capture of prizes, when boats had
to be made use of, Lord Cochrane provided himself,
when in England, with a boat, or rather galley,
built for him at Deal, which, pulling 18 oars, and
being built on the most approved principle, so
awed the coasters, that, at the sight of her, being
hopeless of escape, they very frequently ran thei'
vessels ashore. Having cruised with considerable
success on the American coast and other parts, the
Pallas returned to Plymouth to be thoroughly re-
fitted. During the time which was necessary
to elapse before she could be again ready for see,
Lord Cochrane employed his leisure in obtain"
ing a seat in Parliament. On the dissolution
of Parliament, in 1807, Lord Cochrane was chosen
one of the representatives for Westminster. But
his Parliamentary career was iot of long. duration,
A naval officer, the representative of an influential
borough, bringing to light the abuses of the dock'
yards and grievances, and calling on the House to
redress them, was not convenient for the Ministry,
which tolerated and profited by them ; therefore,
his own ship not being ready for sea, Lord Coch-
rane was appointed to the,lmperieuse, and ordered
to join Lord Collingwood's fleet in the Mediterra-
nean. He, however, still retained his seat for
Westminster. On the 12th of September, 1807,
the Imperieuse sailed from. Portsmouth. Fortune
may favour the brave, but in Lord Cochrane's case
she certainly did not favour the just; for, having
obtained an order to supersede the officer in com-
mand of the blockading squadron off the Archipe-
lago, while cruising on the station during the ar-
rangement of preliminaries, he captured three
merchantmen, and found, to his astonishment, that
each had a pass from the officer he was about to
supersede. Notwithstanding so treasonable a pass-
port-he secured them ; for which straightforward
course it was contrived, by the aggrieved parties,
that his command should be withdrawn. After
cruising in the Mediterranean for some time, vainly
expecting the command which he had been cheated
out of, he received orders from Lord Collingwood
to cruise on the Spanish coast, and assist the Spa'
niards against the French, peace having been made
with Spain. Now was Lord Cochrane in his ele-
ment; on a cruise by himself, with discretional
power, and what with blowing up batteries and
signal stations, and turning engineer to break up
roads and blow down bridges, and schoolmaster to
instruct the Spanish peasants as to the most advan-
tageous way to harass the enemy, his time was fully
occupied.
The defence of Fort Trinidad under Lord Coch
rare was most extraordinary and determined, and
not being exactly according to military tactics,
considerably bothered the enemy. The French
having laid siege to the town of Rosas, 'Lord
Cochrane proceeded to render what assistance he
could. On arriving there he found two British
men-of-war already on the spot ; but being inde-
pendent of superior command, he proceeded to lei
his own plans. He found that the possession of the
Fort of Trinidad was essential to the safety of the
town, and ,that the English seamen whom Captain
Bennet had placed in it to assist the Spanish garri-
son had been withdrawn; after examining the
works minutely, and considering that the place
might be kept possession of if vigorously defended,
after some flifficulty he prevailed on the commaw
dant to hold out until the next morning, when he
would place men out of the Imperieuse in the fort,
and remain himself with the men. Accordingly'
he landed with a strong body of men, and set to
work to, repair the fort :
A pretty correct idea of our relative position may bl
formed if the unnautical reader will imagine our small
force to be placed in the nave of Westminster Abbey, with
the enemy attacking the great western tower from the sum'
mit of a cliff 100 feet higher than the tower, so that the
breach in course of formation nearly corresponded to the
great west window of the abbey. It will hence be deer
that, in the face of a determined opposition, it would be no
easy matter to scale the external wall of the tower up to th°
great west window, and more difficult still to overcome int'
pediments presently to be mentioned, so as to get down into
the body of the church. These were the points I had ff
provide against, for we could neither prevent the French
from breaching nor storming.
It so happened, that just at the spot where the breaolli
was in process of formation, there was a lofty bomb pro°
interior arch, upwards of fifty feet in height. The arch'
reaching from the lower part of the breach to the interl
base of the tower, was without much difficulty converte
into an obstacle, f which the French little dreamed,
into a chasm, down which they must have plunged head:
long had they attempted to penetrate an inch beyond Ow
outer wall, even after they had gained it.
The only operation necessary was to break in the crow
of the arch, so that all who on an assault ventured on poleo(
trating farther than the outer wall of the breach, must a
necessary be hurled to the bottom. But as the fall ot.
portion of the enemy might not deter the rest from holdi %
possession of the outer wall till they were provided with 1!`,3
means of overcoming the obstacle, I got together all "..
timber at hand, and constructed a huge wooden caesq
exactly resembling the hopper of a mill—the upper
being kept well greased with cooks' slush from the
perieuse, so that to retain a hold upon •it was imP°B,suitus
Down this, with the slightest pressure from behind,
storming party must have fallen to a depthof fifty feet,
all they could have done, if not killed, would have bee
remain prisoners at the bottom of the bomb proof.to
do the
The mantra being thus coninietcd—'n'i
—the
oianredxst
objustice,jeotwt,,hoeytoepurteepreardowtirtaihrwardfoourr
tinebtooxptuihioecoeno
the magazines, in case evacuation of the fort
first deposit,
of
pulsory. This was done in two places ; the fir
-t- - spo'
powder being placed underneath the breach, with the