The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-20 00:00:00

THE LATE

DM.

-RAE HENRY
DUNDAS TROTZER.

The late Admiral Trotter, to high professional
and general attainments, united a kind and gener-
ous heart, and a frank and most urbane manner,
which made him universally beloved, both in the
discharge of public duties as an officer and in pri-

vate
Cut down while yet in the vigour of manhood,
and in the daily exercise of those acts of practical
benevolence which appeared to be a main object of
his life, he has left behind him an example well
worthy of imitation by the members of the service

which he adorned.
Having obtained the usual preliminary educa-
tion for the naval service at the Royal Naval
College, Portsmouth, out of which he passed in an
unusually short time, and after serving for a short
time on the North Sea station, Mr. Trotter, as a
volunteer of the Ist class, proceeded in May, 1819,
in the Eden, Captain J. E. Lock, to the East India
station, where he participated in many hazardous
boat enterprises against pirates, by whom the Per-
sian Gulf was at that time infested. He was pre-
sent at the destruction of Ras el Kyma, the head-
quarters and principal resort of these desperate
freebooters, and assisted in the burning or sinking
of all their vessels by an expedition under the joint
command of the late Admiral Sir Francis Collier
and Major-General Sir William Grant Keir.
In 1822 Mr. Trotter was appointed by Sir Henry
Blackwood, commander-in-chief on the station, act-
ing lieutenant of the Leander ; and on his return to
England in the following year his promotion was
confirmed by the Admiralty. Lieutenant Trotter
next joined her Majesty's ship Hussar on the West
India station ; and while in this vessel he was par-
ticularly mentioned by Capt. Harris, her comman-
der, in a despatch to
.Sir Laurence Halsted, the
commander-in-chief, for his gallant conduct in the
capture of a band of pirates at the Isle of Pines.
Obtaining his promotion in 1830, Commander
Trotter was appointed to her Majetty's ship Curlew,
which he commanded for nearly four years on the
Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa sta-
tion, and—the admiral being at the Cape—he was
left for a considerable period in the responsible
charge of the latter division of the station. His
capture while in the Curlew of the notorious pirate
ship Panda is perhaps one of the most striking in-
stances on record of determination and persistent
adherence to duty in a case of this kind. For fifteen
months Commander Trotter was on the track of this
vessel, and he eventually came up with her in the
Bight of Benin, when the piratical crew took to
their boats, and for a time escaped. The Panda
was at once boarded by her captors; but they had
been but a short time in possession of their prize
when she blew up, causing the immediate death of
two officers, wounding severely many of the men,
and seriously injuring the commander himself,
who was with difficulty extricated from between
the shattered deck and bulwarks before she sank.
The captain, the chief officer, and five of the crew
of the Panda, were eventually taken, under circum-
stances of considerable difficulty and danger, and
not without a personal struggle between the com-
mander and the pirate chief. They were sent to
England, and from thence to the 'United States,
where they were tried and convicted as pirates and
felons for an atrocious piracy committed on a brig
belonging to Salem, United States, in September,
1832. They justly suffered the extreme penalty of
the law.
A letter from Joseph Peabody, and bearing 100
other signatures, conveyed to President Jackson
the feeling common throughout the United States
regarding the perseverance, gallantry, and good
conduct of Commander Trotter on this occasion.
In a similar spirit the Lords of the Admiralty, in
awarding Captain Trotter his promotion, so well
earned, thus addressed him through the secretary :
" My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty having
had under their consideration your exertions while
in command of the Curlew, in the capture of the
piratical vessel Panda and her crew, and the per-
severance displayed by you in circumstances of ex-
treme difficulty, and involving you in great personal
responsibility, for which, and the protection thereby
afforded to American commerce, you have received
through his Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs the thanks of the President of the United
States, are pleased, as a mark of the sense which my
lords entertain of your conduct, to promote you to
the rank of captain in the royal navy."
With the exception of being for a short period in
the Britannia, 120, as flag captain to Admiral Sir
P. Durham, commander-in-chief at Portsmouth in
1838, Capt. Trotter was ashore from 1834 to 1840,
when an enterprise in every way suited to his tastes,
and promising full scope to his long-cherished de-
sire to explore the interior of Africa and ameliorate
the condition of her benighted sons, was unexpect-
edly opened to him.
The expedition to the Niger originated in the
noble and philanthropic mind of the late Sir Fowell
Buxton, and was espoused by the Government of
the day, more especially by Lord J. Russell, then
Secretary of State for the Colonies. Capt. Trotter
was selected by the Admiralty as the man, fitted by
habits, inclination, general acquirements, and know-
ledge of the African coast, to command such an
enterprise. Throughout his career in the service he
appeared to have been destined to wage constant
war against those enemies of the human race—
pirates and slave dealers. He was able and active,
in the prime of life, and most enthusiastic in the
object of such a mission. He was accordingly ap-
pointed to her Majesty's ship Albert, in command
of the expedition which left England in May, 1841,
and entered the Niger on the 13th of August of
the same year. On the 27th of August the expedi-
tioh had reached Ibu, 120 miles from the sea, 40
miles below the apex of the Delta; and on the 2d
September it was at Iddah, the capital of the Eg-
garah country, where rocks, consisting of ferrugi-
nous sandstone,were for the first time seen. Up to
this time the expedition had been fortunate beyond
all expectation. The Delta had been passed, and
the valley of the Niger was about to be entere
under circumstances seemifigly most auspicious.
The crews were in the best possible condition, and
looked forward with a buoyancy of feeling to the
pwehriiloed totwhheyeneothnteevmepsslaeltsedwewreithdelight ascend
the novel
the river,
and diversified scenery of the high land before
them. But fever of a malignant character broke
out in the Albert, and almost simultaneously in the
other vessels, and shortly after the expedition
reached the confluence of the Niger and Tchadda,
two of the vessels composing it were obliged to re-
turn to the sea.
The Albert, with the commander of the expedi-
tion, advanced higher up, as far as Egga, the Nufi
capital. On the 3d October all hopes of penetrat-
ing furtheraewfl
nr
a, Africthea
a arduous,
takenus ot receiveduasow,
Stanger,
etnrka-,
l aoi
nwn dt,
besidesofkoi truhDdeci interiorpt.
iAnac‘nTN 4rjeoi
jot,
or four whites were fit for duty. " Those
only," observes Dr. M`William,
finishingtfo en-
terprising, pey fever
i anr
neg bed,
"who were with
Captain Trotter from first to last in the expedition
and had an opportunity of observing with what
'un-
ceasing zeal, what untiring energy, h© devoted
himself to its grand objects, can form- any idea of
his painful sacrifice stern necessity compelled him
to make when he issued the order to turn the
vessel's head downwards, and relinquish designs
which his benevolent mind had so long and so
ardently cherished." The Niger expedition, although
thus repulsed by an enemy
andso
against which no human
, was
effort could prevail,farunsuccessful
by
nom
e a
n in
achieving its immediate objects s
fruitless in important results. A very considerable
addition was made to our knowledge of the river,
of the various countries on its banks, and of the
climate, which cannot fail to be useful to future
explorers of this interesting region.
Lord Stanley (now Earl Derby), who had suc-
ceeded Lord J. Russell at the Colonial office before
the return of the expedition to England, in convey-
ing through the Under-Secretary of State his sense
of the services of those employed in the expedition,
expressed his admiration of the zeal and ability
manifested by Capt. Trotter and those under his
command "in the attempt to execute the objects of
the expedition under very difficult circumstances,
and at great personal risk to all who were engaged
in it," At the outbreak of the Russian war, Sir
James Graham, then First Lord of the Aamiralty,
appointed Capt. Trotter as Commodore and Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope Station.
Here the commodore's administrative powers and
active benevolence were, as elsewhere, fully dis-
played. He originated and liberally,contributed
to the Cape Town Sailors' Home. On his urgent
representation to the Admiralty he was enabled,
through their liberality, to restore a small village
near Simon's Bay, founded may years ago by the
late Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, as an asylum for
captured slaves, and which had latterly fallen into
decay.
During his three years' period of command,
although he was ever at some humane work, such as
those to which we have alluded, the onerous, varied,
and more strictly professional duties of the station
were conducted with remarkable zeal and success.
On quitting the station Commodore Trotter re-
ceived from Governor Sir G. Grey the warmest
acknowledgments, and an earnest recommendation
to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for
the services he had rendered to the colony and to
obp eAr afttiieoan,
his counatry;obryiodhiosfcgorredaitalmalnxdietaycttioyesocnot-
e couldcpe
()hoar
ay
Toe
during
where nothing short of firm and decided measures,
command,
to avert an
commodore's arrival in
promptly taken,
Eotnligefalnidaffifrio•mwar. On
kenth, two years ago, he
of
observinga ftr t h
e him closely
Nigerp expedition
Lot. otalodn not
he
was apparently in good health ; but those who had
thefail t
to
perceive opportunity
that

was occasionally subject to severe headache, alid
other symptoms indicating that he never got quite
rid of the effects of the fever from which he barely
escaped with his life.
The close of Commodore Trotter's life career was
sudden ; but it came upon him while he was em-
ployed in a manner in harmony with his whole life.
He d just been renewing, at the Admiraly, an ap-
plication in behalf of an officer formerly under his
command, who possessed no title to Government
favour bnyond great professional and other merits,
when he was suddenly struck down with paralysis,
which proved fatal in a few hours.
His remains were followed to their resting-place
in Kensal-green by his bereaved relatives and many
of his more immediate friends in the naval service
as well as in private life, including two of his old
companions in the Niger expedition.

THE NAVY.

Letters dated Juty 15 have been received at Ply-
mouth from her Majesty's ship Havannah, 19, Capt.
Thomas Harvey. She was then in Panama Ban.
and had just returned from a short cruise on the
coast of Central America. The crew were all well,
and expected to leave shortly, by Cape Horn, for
England. She will probably be paid off at Ply-
mouth, from which port she sailed Oct. 13, 1855.
The paddlewheel st3am -sloop Hydra, 6, Comman-
der R. V. Hamilton, recently returned, with crew
sick, from Sierra Leone, steamed from Plymouth
Sound on Thursday into Hamoaze, and went along-
side the Argo hulk. She will undergo a thorough
repair, and an effort will be made to discover the
cause of some most offensive effluvia which rises
from between her timbers.
A court-martial assembled on Thursday on board
the flagship Impregnable, at Plymouth, for the trial
of Mr. Alfred Barren, additional paymaster of the
Eagle, for drunkenness. He was sentenced to be
dismissed the ship and placed at the bottom of the
list for two years.
It is expected that the Channel fleet will leave
Spithead this morning for a cruise of eight days of
Ushant, at the end of which time it will return to
port for three days, when it will again put to sea,
and being joined by her Majesty's ship Caesar, from
Devonport, will cruise until about the 20th Sept.,
when it will form two divisions, one of which, it IS
supposed, will winter at Bantry Bay and the other
at Portland.
The Pioneer, 6, screw, Commander H. Reilly, at
Spithead, is under orders for foreign service.
The Mersey, 40, screw, Capt. H. Caldwell, C. 8.,
got under weigh at Spithead yesterday, to make
an officiai trial of her screw, but owing to the prim-
ing of her boilers the trial was again deferred until
to-day.
The Metiers troopship left Spithead yesterday,
in tow of a steam-tug for London, for the purpose,.
of being docked and examined as to the cause 01
her leaking.
Letters received at Portsmouth from her Majesty's
ship Arachne, dated Port Royal, July the 26th,
speak of a terrific hurricane encountered by that
vossel on the 25th of June, on her passage from
Vera Cruz to Port Royal, in which she lost the
greater part of her canvas and one of her quarter
boats. She had been 32 days making the passages
between the two ports.
The Sidon, 22, paddle, Captain R. B. Crawford,
was officially inspected, 'and her crew paid advance
of wages, at Spithead yesterday. She is under
orders for forgign service, and is expected to sail on.
Monday next, calling at Devonport for final instruc-
tions.
The Arrogant, screw steam Coastguard ship,
Capt. L. G. Heath, C. 8., arrived at Spithead yester-
day from Southampton-water. After taking out
her powder and shell she will go into Portsmouth
harbour, when Capt. W. Edmonstone and the offi-
cers and crew of the Dauntless will take posses-
sion of her, Capt. Heath and officers and crew of
the Arrogant turning over to the Dauntless, which
will supply the Arrogant's place in the Smithamr
ton river.
The Gorgon, 6, paddle, Commander Bedford C.
T. Pim, arrived at Spithead yesterday from the
Downs.
Edward Pearce has been appointed surgeon to
the Tortoise ; W. J. Grundy, master's assistant to
the Mars ; and Francis Oliver, assistant-paymaster
o the Dauntless.