Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez Volume II Part 31

"At length we arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez, in the South Sea, after having had several imminent dangers of s.h.i.+pwreck on the coast of Chili, off which the nature of our rendezvous required us to cruise, in hopes of rejoining the squadron.

"We anch.o.r.ed here on the 16th June 1741, as we subsequently learned, just ten days after the departure of a Spanish s.h.i.+p of war, which was sent by the Admiral of these seas to gain intelligence, himself having cruised with his squadron of four sail a considerable time, in hopes of meeting with us, well judging the condition our s.h.i.+ps might be in. You will be surprised to hear that in a sixty gun s.h.i.+p, on our arrival at this island, we mustered but seventy-two persons, including officers and boys, capable of appearing on deck; the rest being all sick, having lost 228 since our leaving England, which includes nine months.

"We were joined by the Gloucester and Tryal sloop, (vide Anson's Voyage, p. 114,) the crews of which vessels had suffered still more, so that had there been an experienced enemy to have dealt with us, they might have made a very easy conquest of us all. But, 'whatever is, is right.' They gave us time to recover our spirits and rally our forces, for which we visited them afterwards and shut up their ports.

"I shall not attempt a description of this island at present, but only tell you it is the most romantic and pleasant place imaginable, abounding with myrtle trees, and covered with turnips and sorrel. Its bays, teeming with all kinds of fish, seem calculated for the reception of distressed seamen. We stayed here three months, employed in refitting our s.h.i.+ps, and restoring the health of the sick, and this without any loss of time to us, it being the winter season, in which, from April to September, navigation is judged unsafe by the Spaniards. In the beginning of this month (September) we were agreeably surprised by the sight of a sail, to which we immediately gave chase, slipping our cable; but night intervening, we lost her. We soon after fell in with another, who was her consort, of 500 tons, and much richer, having about 18,000_l._ in money on board, besides a cargo, which would have been valuable (being chiefly sugar) could we have brought it to a proper market; but in these parts it is a misfortune that nothing but money is truly valuable, having no ports whereat to dispose of anything. Here I commenced captain again, in the Tryal's prize, having twelve guns, besides swivels, with thirty men, and had a separate cruise ordered me with Captain Saunders. (Vide Anson's Voyage, p. 114.) She was a s.h.i.+p he had taken in the sloop, which then proved so leaky and disabled in her masts by a gale of wind, that she was sunk, and her prize commissioned in her room. As nothing appeared on our station, which was to leeward of Valparaiso, we had no opportunity of exerting ourselves. We next proceeded along the coast of Peru, and took two prizes, both very valuable to the Spaniards, the one being loaded with s.h.i.+p timber, and the other with iron bars, but to us of no great service; by the latter, (viz. the Nuestra Senora del Carmin, 250 tons of cargo, value 400,000 dollars,) we had information of a rich vessel in the road of Paita, bound to Lousuata on the coast of Mexico, the money being still in town.

This was a chance worth pursuing; and having arrived off the port in the night, we sent in all the boats manned and armed, with fifty men, surprised and took the town with scarcely any resistance or loss, except one killed and one wounded on our side; the inhabitants abandoning their houses, and retiring to the neighbouring mountains.

"This event happened on the 15th of November 1741. (Vide Anson's Voyage, p. 149.) We kept possession of the town two days and a half without any disturbance from the natives, and, having plundered it, set it on fire, but spared the two churches.

"We found here about 30,000_l._ besides jewels; there was much more, but the inhabitants carried it off. We sunk two galleys and two snows, and carried away with us the small s.h.i.+p that was to have carried the money. We departed hence on the 16th, and some days after joined the Gloucester, which had been ranging the coast, and intercepted some vessels, though not so valuable as ours. We then proceeded along sh.o.r.e, burning some of our prizes, which proved dull sailers, and arrived at the island of Quibo, 17th December 1741, a delightful uninhabited place, abounding with wild deer and other refreshments. Having watered here with all imaginable expedition, we sailed hence on the 19th December, with a design to cruise off Acapulco, on the coast of Mexico, for a rich s.h.i.+p that was expected from Manilla, on the island of Luconia, in the East Indies.

"There is a yearly s.h.i.+p whose cargo amounts to an immense sum, and could we but have had a favourable pa.s.sage thither, she must indubitably have been ours; but we were disappointed, having been seventy-nine days in effecting a pa.s.sage which has been performed in twenty, meeting with a long series of calms and uncertain weather. Hence we arrived five weeks too late, and therefore hoped to speak her on her return, which generally is in March; she would then have been laden with money to purchase another cargo. We cruized off this port and the coast of Mexico two months, at a distance not to be discovered from the sh.o.r.e, and having intelligence, by a boat we took, of the day of her sailing, we made no doubt of her being ours. We were five sail in all, with our prizes, and lay at three leagues distance from each other, and ten from the port. During this time we lived on turtle, which we caught daily in our boats.

Our squadron described a half moon, our boats being at the same time three leagues from the sh.o.r.e within us to watch the port.

The disposition was so just and regular, it was impossible she could have escaped. I was so curious as to calculate my share, which would have amounted to 10,000_l._; but Providence ordained it otherwise.

"I should have told you that that s.h.i.+p mounted sixty guns.

Having cruised till our water was almost all expended, and having an enemy's coast whereon to replenish, we were obliged to depart, but left a boat behind to watch her motions. After many searches, we found a convenient bay for watering called Chequetan, where Sir Francis Drake had refitted. We sunk and burnt all our prizes, in order to cross the great Southern Ocean, and, with the Gloucester in company, go to the East Indies. We learned afterwards that this rich s.h.i.+p was detained, having had information from the coast of Peru of our being on the coast. We left Acapulco on the 6th of May 1742; and here begins another series of misfortunes and mortality surpa.s.sing the first. We had a pa.s.sage of three months and a half to the Ladrone Islands, which is generally made in two; yet it was a vulgar opinion amongst our people that we had sailed so far as to pa.s.s by all the land in the world! Length of time and badness of the weather rendered both our s.h.i.+ps leaky; this, joined to our mortality, the scurvy raging amongst us as much as ever, obliged us to destroy the Gloucester, which s.h.i.+p was ready to founder, and receive the men on board, who were all sick and dying. It is impossible to represent the melancholy circ.u.mstances wherein we were involved previous to our arrival at these islands. We anch.o.r.ed at one called Tinian, uninhabited, but abounding with wild cattle, hogs, fowls, and fruits: we could not have fallen in with a better place. I am convinced, had we stayed out ten days longer at sea, we should have been obliged to take to our boats, our leak increasing so fast, and our people being all infirm and disabled. We immediately sent all our sick on sh.o.r.e, and began to hope for better times, feeding plentifully on roast beef, when an accident fell out, on the 22nd September 1742, which nearly ruined us all.

"My post as first officer generally confined me on board the Commodore, whilst most of the officers and men were on sh.o.r.e for the recovery of their health, when a storm came on and rose so mountainous a sea as none of us ever saw before. The s.h.i.+p was in danger of being p.o.o.ped as we lay at anchor; at last we parted both our bower-cables and drove out to sea, with the sheet-anchor hanging in the hawse, a whole cable and three quarters of another out (excuse these barbarous sea terms), and narrowly escaped driving on a ledge of rocks, that was near, and leaving the Commodore and all the rest behind. The s.h.i.+p, by her labouring in such a troubled sea, made so much water that I was in doubt whether she would not have foundered; our ports and the guns were but ill-secured, owing to the suddenness of the storm, which also upset the long boat. Under these circ.u.mstances we drove to sea with one hundred men and boys on board, not knowing whether I should not at last be a captain in spite of my teeth. In this manner I drove seventy leagues, and was fifteen days before I recovered land, beating up against a fresh trade and the current. The Commodore, you may imagine, was overjoyed at my return, as were all the rest. They were very busy in building a vessel to carry them all to China, as they preferred venturing to sea in it to remaining in an uninhabited island, or to be exposed to the cruelty of the Spaniards who live in the neighbouring islands, the Commodore concluding that either the s.h.i.+p was lost, or that I should never be able to beat to windward. At last, after many hazards, we sailed on the 22nd of October 1742, and met with a tolerably good pa.s.sage to the island of Macoa, a Portuguese settlement on the coast of China, where we arrived on the 11th November, having buried one hundred and sixty men since our leaving Acapulco, or four hundred and twenty since we left England, including Indians and negroes, whom we detained as prisoners."

Commodore Anson arrived at Macoa, and having careened and repaired the s.h.i.+p, and been reinforced by some Lascars or Indian sailors, and by some Dutchmen, he sailed from Macoa on the 1st May, giving out that he was bound to Batavia, Captain Saunders of the Gloucester having gone to England in a Swedish s.h.i.+p; but when fairly at sea he made known to his crew that he was going to cruise off Manilla for the purpose of intercepting the two galleons expected there, one of which he ultimately took on the 20th June, just a month after they arrived off the station, after a severe action, in which the galleon, which was called the Nostra Signora Cabadonga, commanded by General Don Jeronimo de Montivo, had sixty-seven killed and eighty-four wounded, while the Centurion had only two killed, and a lieutenant and sixteen men wounded. Lieut. Saumarez, who had highly distinguished himself in this action, was now made Post Captain of the prize, which he safely conducted to Canton. She had on board 400,000_l._ in specie, besides property estimated at 600,000_l._ which was destroyed; he had now therefore obtained his rank, and a considerable share of prize money.

On the 7th of December 1743, they sailed from Canton, and arrived in England, to be welcomed by their families and friends, on the 15th June 1744, after an absence of four years, wherein they had endured hards.h.i.+ps of every description. Captain Saumarez went to Bath for the recovery of his health. He subsequently served in the Sandwich, York, and Yarmouth: in the York he encountered a heavy gale, in which his superior seamans.h.i.+p was severely put to the test. He was subsequently removed to the Nottingham, of sixty guns, and on the 11th October 1747 fell in with the Mars, a French sixty-four gun-s.h.i.+p, with five hundred men, commanded by M. de Colombe, being one of the s.h.i.+ps that had separated from D'Anville's fleet in the storm off Newfoundland. She was returning to Brest. The Nottingham had sixty guns and four hundred men. After an engagement of two hours within pistol shot, in which the Mars had twenty-three killed and nineteen wounded, she struck. On board the Nottingham only three men were killed and nine wounded, which was attributed to the superior seamans.h.i.+p of the Captain, who obtained an advantageous position in the battle.

Captain Saumarez had been often heard to say that his highest ambition was to fall in with an enemy of equal force, and on this occasion his honourable feelings were completely gratified. He received congratulations from all his friends, and particularly from the Lords of the Admiralty, who expressed their highest approbation of the skill and courage he displayed on this occasion; but his mild, liberal, and generous treatment to a vanquished enemy was no less conspicuous in this instance than his bravery; it was indeed one of the strongest traits in his character. On this subject he received the following letter from the Secretary of the Admiralty:--

"The Chevalier de Crenay, late Captain of the Mars, having taken notice to the Lords of the Admiralty, in a letter their lords.h.i.+ps received from him and his officers and company, I am commanded to let you know, that your civil treatment of them after they were taken, has been no less satisfactory to their lords.h.i.+ps than your resolution and success in taking them.

"I am, sir, &c. &c.

"THOS. CORBETT, Sec."

A letter from Chevalier Crenay himself is written in the strongest terms of grat.i.tude and regard; after enumerating many civilities, he declares that every article had been restored, even to a box of porcelain, and that his officers and men all joined in offering their grateful thanks. It may be added, that Captain Saumarez did all in his power to obtain Captain Crenay's exchange. The Mars was carried into Plymouth, and being found worthy of repair, was, from the representation of Captain Saumarez, taken into his Majesty's service: she was nearly 300 tons larger than the Nottingham, and found afterwards to be an excellent s.h.i.+p.

Captain Saumarez' s.h.i.+p was speedily refitted, and on the 3rd May 1747, he joined Lord Anson's squadron, which obtained a complete victory over the French fleet, commanded by M. Jonquiere, taking six men-of-war and three East Indiamen. After the engagement, the Nottingham, with two more s.h.i.+ps, was detached to pursue the convoy, and had the good fortune to capture four very valuable vessels from St. Domingo.

Captain Saumarez afterwards cruised under Admiral Warren, and on the 10th of September following he was ordered to join Admiral Hawke: he remained with that officer until the 14th October, when the Admiral came up with a French fleet, commanded by Monsieur De l'Etendiere, off Cape Finisterre, which he defeated, and took six of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps; but the Tonnant, an 80 gun s.h.i.+p, with the Intrepide, 74, having escaped, Captain Saumarez, with the Yarmouth and Eagle, immediately gave chase to them. Having come up with the Tonnant, although the Nottingham was so unequal in size and number of guns, he gallantly engaged her before the other two English s.h.i.+ps joined. After about an hour's close action, a shot from the enemy put an end to the existence of this brave officer, who, during his whole life, had served his king and country with honour and zeal; he died lamented by all those to whom he was known.

The following is an extract from the Rear-admiral's despatch: "Having observed that six of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps had struck, and it being very dark, and our own s.h.i.+ps dispersed, I thought it best to bring to that night, and seeing a great firing a long way astern of me, I was in hopes of seeing more of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps taken in the morning; but, instead of that, I received the melancholy account of Captain Saumarez being killed, and that the Tonnant had escaped in the night, with the a.s.sistance of the Intrepide, who, by having the wind of our s.h.i.+ps, had received no damage that I could perceive."[18]

[18] s.h.i.+ps taken:--Le Terrible; Le Monarque, 74; Le Neptune, 70; Le Trident; Le Fougueux, 64; Le Severn, 50.

The last will of Captain Philip Saumarez is an interesting doc.u.ment, inasmuch as it portrays his true character as an officer and a Christian, impressed with the uncertainty of human life, and almost antic.i.p.ating the glorious fate which ultimately befel him; and as it is also replete with piety, morality, grat.i.tude, and the other virtues which adorn the life of a hero, we shall conclude this memoir with some extracts taken from the original, which begins thus:

"I, Philip Saumarez, commander of H.M.S. Nottingham, from a reflection of the uncertainty of human life in general, particularly when engaged in a military profession: in order therefore to face death cheerfully, whenever duty or nature shall call upon me, I hereby dispose of whatever Providence has blessed me with, in the following manner:

"To my honoured mother, I bequeath the sum of 1500_l._ to be paid after my father's death, and until then to remain at interest; if she dies before him, to be divided equally among my eldest brother John's children.

"To my sister Anne, 300_l._ To my sister Elizabeth, 300_l._

"To my brother John, 1000_l._ all my silver plate, and a diamond ring, formerly belonging to Lady Carteret.

"To my niece and G.o.dchild, Carteret Saumarez, my brother John's daughter, I bequeath 1000_l._

"My brother Matthew Saumarez, 1500_l._ and all my books; and to his daughter, 500_l._

"My brother Thomas Saumarez, 1000_l._ with all my linen, liquors, furniture, and apparel.

"My brother-in-law, Philip Durell and his wife, I bequeath 50_l._ each, their fortunes being sufficient: his wife to buy mourning.

"To my aunt Durell, at Westminster, 100_l._

"My aunt Sauvaine, 10_l._ to buy mourning.

"Mr. Solomon Durell, 40_l._

"To my worthy friend James Wallace, commissioner of the victualling office, 100_l._

"To my steward, 30_l._ besides a suit of mourning; and to my other servants, 5_l._ each.

"In case I am killed in action, or die whilst I command the Nottingham, to the three lieutenants a suit of mourning each, which I beg they will accept; and to Mr. Surroude, my chaplain, I bequeath the sum of 100_l._ in regard to his large family; and to Mr. Redley, my clerk, the sum of 30_l._ for the trouble of making up my accounts.

"To Admiral Anson and Sir Peter Warren, I desire they will accept a mourning ring each, my executors to lay out 30_l._ in each ring; and to the former I recommend my brother Tom.

"I likewise desire that 300_l._ may be laid out to purchase a handsome monument, made in London, to the memory of my late aunt, the Lady Carteret, to be erected in the church where she is interred, and a due epitaph, enumerating her exemplary virtues and life, to be inscribed on it in French and English, and recorded to posterity; and this I desire my brother John will see duly performed, as well as my other executors, with expedition; this piece of grat.i.tude to her memory having been neglected by all her relations.

"In case it should not be attended with any inconvenience, the surgeon to preserve and embalm my corpse, to be interred in a military manner on sh.o.r.e, in whatever port the s.h.i.+p may put in; and the surgeon to be presented with 30_l._ for his trouble. I bequeath to my brother officers, Captains Thomas Coates, Martyn, Keppel, Rodney, and Timothy Brett, a mourning ring of 10_l._ value each; the same to Mr. Logie, first lieutenant of the Nottingham.

"To the poor of the parish in the island of Guernsey, where I was born, 100_l._ to be distributed: the remainder of what fortune I may have to bequeath, to my honoured father. And I do hereby const.i.tute and appoint my worthy friend p.u.s.s.ey Brook, Esq., James Wallace, Esq., and my eldest brother John Saumarez, Esq., executors of this my last will and testament, revoking all former wills by me heretofore made. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at sea, this 30th day of June, and in the twenty-first year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Second over Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c., and in the year of our Lord 1747.

"PHILIP SAUMAREZ." (L.S.)

"Signed in the presence of, Robert Richards, Master.

Alexander Gray, Gunner."

The wishes expressed in the will of this brave officer were implicitly complied with; his body was embalmed and sent to Plymouth by the admiral, in the Gloucester, commanded by Captain Durell, (afterwards Admiral Durell,) his brother-in-law, and was buried in the church at Plymouth with military honours. A neat tablet is erected in the said church, with the following inscription: "Near this place lies the body of Philip Saumarez, Esq. commander of H.M.S. Nottingham. He was the son of Matthew de Saumarez, of the Island of Guernsey, by Anne Durell, of the island of Jersey, his wife, families of antiquity and respectability in those parts. He was born 17th November 1710, and gloriously but unfortunately fell by a cannon-ball, 14th October 1747, pursuing the s.h.i.+ps of the enemy that were making their escape, when the French were routed by Admiral Hawke."

Out of respect to his memory, his brothers and sisters caused a plain monument to be erected to him in Westminster Abbey, with the following inscription:

"ORBE CIRc.u.mCINTO,

"Sacred to the memory of Philip De Saumarez, Esq., one of the few whose lives ought rather to be measured by their actions than their days. From sixteen to thirty-seven years of age, he served in the navy, and was often surrounded with dangers and difficulties unparalleled: always approving himself an able, active, and gallant officer. He went out a lieutenant on board His Majesty's s.h.i.+p Centurion, under the auspicious conduct of Commodore Anson, in his expedition to the South Seas: he was commanding officer of the said s.h.i.+p when she was driven from her moorings at the island of Tinian.

"In the year 1747, being captain of the Nottingham, a sixty gun s.h.i.+p, he (then alone) attacked and took the Mars, a French s.h.i.+p of sixty-four guns.

"In the first engagement in the following year, when Admiral Anson defeated and took a squadron of French men-of-war and Indiamen, he had an honourable share; and in the second, under Admiral Hawke, when the enemy, after an obstinate resistance, was again routed, in pursuing two s.h.i.+ps that were making their escape, he gloriously but unfortunately fell.

"He was the son of Matthew De Saumarez, of the island of Guernsey, Esq. by Anne Durell, of the island of Jersey, his wife.