Volume 1 — CHAP. VII. ADMIRALTY RELUCTANCE TO PROMOTE ME.

LETTER FROM SIR ALEXANDER COCHRANE.—SECOND LETTER FROM SIR ALEXANDER.—BOTH WRITTEN UNKNOWN TO ME.—RELUCTANCE OF LORD ST. VINCENT TO PROMOTE ME.—LETTER FROM MY FATHER TO LORD ST. VINCENT, URGING MY RIGHT TO PROMOTION.—LORD ST. VINCENT’S REPLY.—ITS FALLACY.—HIS LORDSHIP’S REASONING A SUBTERFUGE.—PROMOTION OF MY FIRST LIEUTENANT REFUSED. MY IMPRUDENT REMARK TO LORD ST. VINCENT, WHO BECOMES MY ENEMY.—FURTHER EFFORT TO PROMOTE LIEUTENANT PARKER.—ADMIRALTY REFUSAL ALSO.—LIEUTENANT PARKER’S EVENTUAL PROMOTION, AND SUBSEQUENT SHAMEFUL TREATMENT.

It has been already stated that not only was the action with the Gamo for some time unnoticed in the customary manner, but the post rank to which the rule of the service entitled me from the result of the action, was withheld. My friends, being naturally surprised at the retention of what was no favour on the part of Lord St. Vincent, but my unquestionable right, respectfully pointed out to his lordship the nature of the services rendered.

The subjoined letter addressed to Lord St. Vincent by my kind uncle Sir Alexander Cochrane, in reference to the Speedy’s escape from a Spanish frigate (see page 100), was written previous to that relating to the capture of the Gamo, but is worthy of record on grounds generally connected with the naval service.

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“My Lord,—Yesterday we received accounts of your Lordship’s being placed at the head of the Admiralty, on which occasion I beg to offer my congratulations. I never subscribed to the opinion that a naval officer ought not to be First Lord of the Admiralty, and from your Lordship’s thorough knowledge of the service, we may now hope for that support on many occasions which we could not look for from those who—not having borne the brunt of the day, or being bred to the Navy—could be but bad judges either of officers’ characters, or the motives which on many occasions actuate them.

“Doubtless your Lordship has already received numerous weighty applications for the promotion of young men in the service, nor would I presume to add to their number but from the obliging expressions your Lordship once made me in favour of Lord Cochrane, had you remained longer on this station. I have the less reserve on this occasion, as I think his Lordship has a claim to be made post, from the presence of mind by which he lately saved H.M.’s sloop Speedy, which he at present commands. This I beg leave to recount.

“He had taken several prizes off Carthagena, when, one morning, he found himself close under the guns of a Spanish frigate.

“His only chance of escape was, either to board the frigate, in the hope of finding her unprepared, or to pass off the Speedy as a Danish sloop of war.

“With one of these objects he stood towards her under Danish colours, but, on a near approach, found her too formidable to be carried by the few hands he had on board. On being hailed to know what brig it was, he gave, through the medium of a Danish quartermaster, the name of a Danish brig lately arrived on the station. On being ordered to come on board the frigate with his commission, he informed the Spaniards that his orders from the court of Denmark were not to send a boat on board any foreign man of war, but that if they had any doubts of his not being a Danish sloop of war, they were at liberty to board him.

137“On this a boat left the frigate, but just as they were almost alongside the Speedy, they were informed that she was in quarantine, being only a few days from Algiers, where the plague at that time existed. On this the Spanish officers in the boat refused to touch a rope, and returned to the frigate, when her captain told Lord Cochrane that he knew his brig, and wished him a pleasant voyage.^[26]

“I have ever been of opinion that rewards for bold services cannot be too great, and I must confess, that where one of his Majesty’s ships is saved by presence of mind similar to what I have related, great praise is due to her commander.

“Your Lordship will, I hope, excuse me for trespassing a little longer in favour of my nephew, who is now twenty-five years old, a time of life that promotion can only be of use. His father has expended his whole fortune in discoveries which will be of great use to the public—but the real sufferer is Lord Cochrane. The liberality of your Lordship’s mind will see this in its true light, and also plead my excuse for the liberty I have taken.

“Hoping that your Lordship’s health is reinstated, &c. &c.

“I am, your Lordship’s, &c. &c.

“Alexander Cochrane.

“The Right Hon. Lord St. Vincent.”

I was not aware till recently that Sir Alexander had kindly made this application on my behalf. At the time the preceding letter was written he did not know of the capture of the Gamo; the Ajax, which he commanded, being then before Alexandria. On learning our success, he again wrote to Lord St. Vincent as follows:—

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“Ajax, off Alexandria, June 10th, 1801.

“My Lord,—I some time ago wrote your Lordship in favour of my nephew Lord Cochrane, recommending his being made post.

“I hope your Lordship received my letter, and that you viewed Lord Cochrane’s conduct in the light I did. But if my persuasions were not then judged of sufficient weight, I may now with much confidence come forward and claim for my nephew the palm of victory in both ways, by an act hardly equalled in this war of naval miracles, considering the great inequality of force between the Speedy with fifty-four men, and a xebec frigate of thirty-two guns and 319 men.

“Well knowing that nothing gives your Lordship more pleasure than having an opportunity of rewarding merit, let the rank of the person be what it may, I am confident your Lordship will, on the present occasion, do every justice to Lord Cochrane, though should his promotion have arisen from his former exploits it would be more grateful to my feelings, more especially as his subsequent conduct will do honour to your Lordship’s appointment.

“I believe I told your Lordship, in my former letter, that Lord Cochrane has the world before him. He has three younger brothers to take care of, one of whom boarded at his side^[27] when the Spaniard was carried. Unfortunately he has not served his time; if he had I dare say your Lordship would think him worthy of promotion for his conduct on that occasion.

“It will give me much pleasure to hear that your Lordship’s health is quite re-established, and that you may long live to enjoy it, is the sincere wish of

“Your Lordship’s

“Most obedient and humble servant,

“A. Cochrane.

“P.S. I wish I could give your Lordship any pleasing intelligence from this quarter; but ever since the death of 139Sir R. Abercromby, procrastination has been the order of the day. Never was a gallant army so lost as the present. God grant some man of sense may come out to command them, and save the remnant from destruction. Delay in this climate is worse than death; five men fall a sacrifice to disease for one in the field, and yet I don’t think it unhealthy; our troops suffer from being encamped on burning sands.”

Even this request from a distinguished officer—preferred unknown to me—failed to obtain what was no favour, but my right according to the invariable rule of the service. There was even then clearly some sinister influence at work, of the real cause for which I am to this day ignorant, and can only surmise that it might have arisen from my, no doubt, freely expressed opinions on being appointed to convoy the wretched packet which led to my capture; or perhaps from the still more indiscreet plainness with which I had spoken of the manner in which the French fleet had been unfortunately permitted to escape Lord Keith.

Brenton, in his Life of Lord St. Vincent, thus alludes to the delay in my promotion: “Lord St. Vincent was so much pressed on the subject of Lord Cochrane’s promotion for taking the Gamo, that it became almost a point of etiquette with the earl not to make him a captain! An illustrious person is reported to have said, ‘My Lord, we must make Lord Cochrane “post;”’ to which Lord St. Vincent replied, ‘The First Lord of the Admiralty knows no must.’”

There is no doubt that Captain Brenton received this account from Lord St. Vincent himself, and as the object of his book was to shield his lordship in questionable 140matters, we may receive this version as it was given to his biographer.

The only direct application that I was at the time aware of having been made was a letter from my father to Lord St. Vincent, after the post rank had been reluctantly conceded by placing me at the bottom of the list, below others previously my juniors in the service! My father’s letter and Lord St. Vincent’s reply are subjoined.

“No. 14, Mortimer Street, Sept. 23, 1801.

“My Lord,—I beg leave, in behalf of my son, Lord Cochrane, who is now in Scotland, to bring under your Lordship’s view, for your consideration, some facts and circumstances which may not hitherto officially have come to your Lordship’s knowledge, from the perusal of which I flatter myself it will appear to your Lordship that there are few instances of as much being performed by one individual in the like space of time, and with a force so inferior.

“When I first heard of Lord Cochrane’s engagement with the Gamo, I reckoned it as a matter not admitting of a doubt that your Lordship would reward him by immediately appointing him to a post ship, and I was the more confirmed in this belief from the circumstance that the Gamo was not taken by surprise, but at noonday, after an action of an hour and ten minutes; during all of which time the Gamo’s yards were locked with the Speedy’s rigging. The determination of the two vessels to engage was mutual; Lord Cochrane turned up his ship’s company at five in the morning, and informed them of his intention to engage the Spanish frigate.

“The anxiety I must naturally feel for whatever concerns the honour and rank of my son, led me, on Wednesday last, to inquire at the Admiralty how his name stood on the post captains’ list. And I must be allowed to state the surprise and disappointment I felt on finding several masters and 141commanders on the Mediterranean station—his juniors long before, and for several months after, the taking of the Gamo—now placed before him on that list.

“I beg leave to call your Lordship’s attention to what Lord Cochrane’s feelings must be, and what the situation he will be placed in on service from this supersession; and whether his being thus postponed in rank will not have a tendency to detract from the merit of one of the most gallant actions during this or any other war? And whether it may not induce the public at large, or the Navy in particular, to believe that your Lordships have had cause to disapprove of some part of Lord Cochrane’s conduct?

“If all the circumstances of the engagement had come to your Lordship’s knowledge in due time, I am persuaded you would have shown an additional mark of your approbation of Lord Cochrane by making him post from the date of the capture of the Gamo, or, at least, that you would not have put over him a number of masters and commanders on the Mediterranean station, who, perhaps equally capable as he of distinguishing themselves, have not been equally fortunate in similar opportunities. I am likewise convinced, my Lord, that those individual officers, who have thus been preferred to him, would not think it any matter of injustice that Lord Cochrane should retain, as post captain, the same seniority he held over them, both before and after his engagement, as master and commander.

“Allow me therefore to request that your Lordship will be pleased to give Lord Cochrane that rank in the navy which it is presumed he would have held if the circumstantial accounts of his engagements had reached your Lordship at an earlier date, or that he had not been so unfortunate as to have been taken by three French line-of-battle ships. I cannot suppose any censure is intended to attach to his conduct on that point; for, in the narrative of his capture, your Lordship will see that during a chase of several hours upon a wind, he received the broadside and bow-chasers of a seventy-four gun ship, and did not strike until, at the distance of 142musket shot, he received a full broadside of round and grape from the Dessaix.

“I do not, however, my Lord, rest my son’s claim for seniority in promotion solely upon the capture of the Gamo.^[28] Although these particulars, from their being stated in Lord Cochrane’s letters to Captain Dixon of the Généreux, are known to your Lordship, yet I cannot help here repeating them, as from their not being published in the Gazette a very erroneous opinion generally prevails that the Gamo was taken by surprise, and not after so long and close an engagement as was really the case.

“But perhaps, my Lord, I may in the whole of this letter have been impelled, by the ardour and anxiety of my own feelings, to urge that which your Lordship’s good intentions may have wholly anticipated towards Lord Cochrane. If so, my Lord, I have only to entreat your excuse for a zeal on my part for the honour and character of my son, for which I hope parental sensations will plead a forcible apology.

“I have the honour, &c. &c.

“Dundonald.

“The Right Hon. Lord St. Vincent.”

To this letter Lord St, Vincent next day replied as follows:—

“Admiralty, Sept. 24, 1801.

“My Lord,—I can have no difficulty in acknowledging that the capture of the Gamo reflects the highest degree of credit on Lord Cochrane and the officers and crew of the Speedy.

“The first account of that brilliant action reached the Admiralty very early in the month of August (it was fought on the 6th of May), previously to which intelligence had been received of the capture of the Speedy, by which Lord Cochrane was made prisoner.

143“Until his exchange could be effected, and the necessary inquiry into the cause and circumstances of the loss of that sloop had taken place, it was impossible for the Board, consistently with its usual forms, to mark its approbation of his Lordship’s conduct. Lord Cochrane was promoted to the rank of post captain on the 8th of August, the day on which the sentence of acquittal for the loss of the Speedy was received—which was all that could under existing circumstances be done.

“Having entered into this explanation with your Lordship, it remains for me only to add that, however disposed the Board might be to pay attention to the merits of his Lordship, it could not, consistent with its public duty, give him rank from the time of the capture of the Gamo—a measure quite unprecedented—without doing an act of injustice to other deserving officers.

“I have the honour, &c. &c.

“St. Vincent.

“The Earl of Dundonald.”

I shall not shrink from canvassing this matter, the less because Lord St. Vincent has been represented as considering himself bored on the subject. An account of the capture of the Gamo did reach the Admiralty, though later than it ought to have done, and was unjustifiably laid aside. Little that I effected was allowed to find its way into the Gazette! Even the log extracts given in the two last chapters, though relating to matters which occurred sixty years ago, are, for the most part, news to the public of the present generation.

But supposing that information relative to the capture of the Gamo had not reached the Admiralty before the news of my being made prisoner, even then it 144clearly entitled me to post rank from the date of my acquittal. Lord St. Vincent asserted that it entitled me to promotion only from the date on which news of my acquittal was received! Reference to the Navy List at the time will show that the postponement of my rank was rather owing to the bane of the Admiralty—family influence, and that some of my former juniors were put over my head because it was politically imperative on the Board to promote others before me.

That my promotion to post rank for a previous action was impossible, because I had some time afterwards the misfortune, whilst in a trumpery sloop, to be captured by three French ships of the line; and therefore could not be promoted “until my exchange could be effected,” was a subterfuge unworthy of Lord St. Vincent. Had this been the rule of the Admiralty, officers taken prisoners by the French could neither have been tried nor promoted, for there was no system of exchange, so that the reward of their services would not depend upon the discretion of the Admiralty or the generosity of their country, but on the will of the enemy’s Minister of Marine, who might detain them prisoners till the close of the war.

By Lord St. Vincent’s interpretation of the Admiralty rule, I should not have been promoted at all, or even tried for the loss of the Speedy, if, as Lord St. Vincent asserted, no promotion could be given till “my exchange was effected.” The fact is, that I never was exchanged, in the Admiralty sense of the term; for at that period, as has been said, there was no exchange of prisoners with France, nor had any previously taken 145place for many years. The Hannibal and Speedy’s prisoners owed their liberation to the fact that the French did not know what to do with them; and I owed mine to the fact of Captain Keats having, a few days after I had been liberated on parole, taken a ship of the line, the San Antonio; for whose second captain, by courtesy of Admiral Linois towards that officer, my liberation was effected.

Still it was not so much the neglect to promote me, of which proper complaint was made, as the injustice of placing over my head especially, a younger man and a junior officer, gazetted on the same day for a subsequent service, to the success of which he in no degree contributed.^[29] Further discussion is unnecessary, my object being to show the principle, or rather want of it, which prevailed at the Admiralty where influence was concerned.

It must, however, be explained, that these remarks in no way apply to the officer promoted, but to the act of promotion. That officer was my former messmate Lieutenant—afterwards Admiral—Dundas, a truly honourable man, whom, in later years, I was proud to call my friend. Strangely enough, the Admiralty which had placed him before me on the list, killed him in the end through grief at his inability to reform abuses; he having been called to the Board, where he worked so assiduously in the vain endeavour to purge the corruption around him, that his health 146became undermined, and he was one day found dead in a retiring room of the Augean establishment at Whitehall.

Before quitting the Mediterranean, a letter was addressed by me to Lord St. Vincent, requesting him to promote my gallant First Lieutenant Parker, who, as stated in my despatch, was severely wounded in boarding the Gamo. No answer being returned to this application, up to the period of my arrival in England, another letter was forwarded to his lordship, which met with the same reception, and afterwards a third, which produced from Lord St. Vincent the reply that my application could not be entertained, for that “it was unusual to promote two officers for such a service,—besides which the small number of men killed on board the Speedy did not warrant the application.”

It was impossible not to feel nettled at a reply so unexpected: that because few men had been killed on board the Speedy, her first lieutenant was considered unworthy of promotion, though terribly cut up. To argue with a First Lord is no doubt an imprudent thing for a naval officer to attempt, and my remonstrance in this instance had such an effect as to get my name placed on the black list of the Admiralty, never again to be erased.

In my letter to Lord St. Vincent, the following incautious observations were made, viz. that “his reasons for not promoting Lieutenant Parker, because there were only three men killed on board the Speedy, were in opposition to his lordship’s own promotion to an earldom, as well as that of his flag-captain to knighthood, 147and his other officers to increased rank and honours: for that in the battle from which his lordship derived his title there was only one man killed on board his own flagship, so that there were more casualties in my sloop than in his line-of-battle ship.”

From the receipt of that letter Lord St. Vincent became my bitter enemy, and not he only, but his successors thought it incumbent on them to perpetuate his lordship’s displeasure. My reply was no doubt keenly felt at the time, when it was a common remark in the Navy that the battle of St. Vincent was gained by the inshore squadron, under Nelson, the commander-in-chief being merely a spectator, at a distance which involved only the loss of one man in his own ship.

Notwithstanding this refusal of the First Lord to promote my lieutenant, my determination was to persevere with the Board collectively, and accordingly I addressed an official letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Nepean, embodying Lord St. Vincent’s reply, and concluding, that “if their Lordships judge by the small number killed, I have only to say that it was fortunate the enemy did not point their guns better:” indeed, had I not taken care to place the Speedy in a position where the Spanish guns went over her, many would have swelled the list whom it was my happiness to have saved.

This letter was dated May 12th, 1802, and, receiving no reply, the annexed official letter was addressed to their Lordships on the same subject:—

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“14 Old Cavendish-street, May 17, 1802.

“My Lords,—The anxiety I feel for the promotion of a meritorious officer, Lieutenant Parker, late of the Speedy, whose name I have not seen in the recent list of commanders, even though a very extensive promotion has taken place, induces me to address your Lordships.

“Lieutenant Parker served as sole lieutenant of the Speedy at the capture of the Gamo, of 32 guns and 319 men, carried by boarding, after an action of upwards of an hour; during the greatest part of which time the yards and rigging of the vessels were locked together. In boarding and carrying the Spanish vessel he was severely wounded by a sword, run through his thigh, and a musket-ball lodged in his chest.

“I have always understood it to be an invariable rule with the Board of Admiralty, to promote officers of unimpeachable character who have distinguished themselves in action, or who have been first lieutenants of His Majesty’s ships of war at the capture of vessels of superior force—especially of a force so very superior as that of the Gamo to the Speedy; the latter, as your Lordships know, mounting 14 4-pounders, having on board only 54 men, whilst the force of the Gamo was 32 guns, with a complement of men six times greater than that of the Speedy.

“When these circumstances are brought to your Lordships’ recollection, I am fully convinced that you will see proper to reward Lieutenant Parker by appointing him to the rank of commander in His Majesty’s service, which will tend to cherish and promote that spirit of exertion among the lieutenants, subordinate officers, and crew, without whose zealous co-operation the endeavours of the captain alone would prove of small avail.

“I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

(Signed) “Cochrane.

“To the Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners

of the Admiralty.”

149On the 26th of May the following reply was received from the Secretary:—

“Admiralty Office, 26th May, 1802.

“My Lord,—I have received and read to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your Lordship’s letter to me of the 17th inst., and the representation which accompanied it, and am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you that your application to me is perfectly regular, but that it is not so for officers to correspond with the Board.

“I am, &c. &c.

“E. Nepean.

“Captain Lord Cochrane.”

Determined not to be foiled in what I conceived to be the right of Lieutenant Parker, I replied to the Secretary as follows:—

“Old Cavendish-street, May 27th, 1802.

“Sir,—I have been favoured with your letter acknowledging that you had received and read to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty my letter of the 17th inst., and that you are commanded by their Lordships to acquaint me that my application to you was perfectly regular, but that it is not so for officers to correspond with the Board.

“I have, therefore, to request that you will inform the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that, although I have received your letter, still I wait in expectation to be favoured with an answer to the representation which, through you, I had the honour to transmit to their Lordships.

“I am, &c. &c.

“Cochrane.

“E. Nepean, Esq., Sec. to the Admiralty.”

The reply to this necessarily cut short all further correspondence.

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“Admiralty Office, 29th May, 1802.

“My Lord,—I have received and read to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of the 27th inst., and have nothing in command from their Lordships to communicate to you.

“I am, &c. &c.

“Evan Nepean.

“Captain Lord Cochrane.”

In spite of this rebuff, I nevertheless continued to persevere, but it was not till some years afterwards that the promotion of Lieutenant Parker was obtained, with a result to that able and gallant officer which proved his ruin, and eventually caused his death.

The circumstances under which this took place were positively diabolical. Despairing of promotion, Lieutenant Parker had 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 perseverance 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 supposed she might be fitting for sea. Not finding her there, Lieutenant Parker returned to Barbadoes, when it became evident that no such vessel was on the North American station.

On ascertaining this, poor Parker returned to England 151a ruined man. Lord Melville, who had succeeded as First Lord, expressed his surprise and regret that such a circumstance 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 command 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 to the sale of his property, the expense attendant on settling his family, together with his outfit and voyage, amounted to upwards of 1000l. His prospects ruined, his domestic arrangements destroyed, and his pride wounded, his spirit and constitution 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 deception, concocted, doubtless, out of pure malevolence to myself. Be he whom he may, I am very sorry that it is not in my power to hold up his name to the execration of posterity. 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.

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