[fo. 1] Yewden, May 23^rd, 1870

A paper in All the Year Round,Footnote ⁶⁵ on the battle of Navarino, in bringing that time to my recollection, has induced me to look upon some old letters and journals, and roughly to try to sketch out the principal occurrences of my life – in doing this I shall endeavour to be as concise as possible – and more or less correctly to connect this review of my earlier years, with the series of letter journals, which I began in 1835 and continued until the time of my marriage.

At nine years old I was sent to school at Richmond in Yorkshire, kept by the late Mr. James Tate, who died as Prebendary of St. Paul's: a dignity which he perhaps, in some degree, owed to this event,Footnote ⁶⁶ but which had been, in life, denied him, owing to his political opinions, given that his reputation as a Greek scholar was, if not the first in England, but little removed from it.

I remained three years at Richmond, and I consider that on the whole my life was a happy one – we were well fed & cared for, and out of school hours allowed to go where we pleased […] Mr. Tate was a kind-hearted but passionate man – & when I have [fo. 2] met him in after life, I have always been glad to do so […] [W]e had great liberty in play hours, and there was not a young lad in the town more conversant with the doings of race horses and jockies than I was before I had been two years at the school – this was a good deal owing to the injudicious kindness of a person who has been long dead, Mr. Samuel Moulton-BarrettFootnote ⁶⁷ who lived in the neighbourhood and supplied me with pocket money – he was a friend of my brother in law, Mr. Lambton – afterwards Ld. Durham – at any rate I have never forgotten my boyish regard for him – poor man he not long after this time lost all his property owing principally to the decline of West Indian property generally, and died in Jamaica, where he had gone to try and save what he could from the wreck of his EstatesFootnote ⁶⁸ – Carlton the name of his place about seven miles from Richmond was purchased by Lord Prudhoe afterwards Duke of Northumberland.Footnote ⁶⁹ Among others who were kind to me, as my father's son, were Lord Dundas of Aske, and his son the present Lord ZetlandFootnote ⁷⁰ […]

[fo. 3] Latin and Greek was the only knowledge thought useful at Richmond – Geography, Arithmetic, Mathematics, Modern languages were either totally neglected, or only attended to in so slovenly a manner, that it came to the same thing – and as for religion, we certainly did go to Church, and went through the form of prayers every evening, but it never was more than a form, and no boy could regard it otherwise, from the example that was held out to us […]

In the summer holidays of 1822, I had been given the task of learning the whole of the first two books of Virgil's Aeneid as a punishment, and, as the time drew near for returning to school, without my ever having looked at them – I mustered up courage to ask my father [fo. 4] to let me go to sea – for which I had always had some fancy, and which had been increased by the example shown by my brother Frederick, four years before. It seems like yesterday when I knocked at my father's door and I can now see his face of astonishment when I named my request. With his usual kindness he did not refuse [it] but advised me strongly to reconsider my choice of profession. I had made up my mind and in June 1822 I found myself at Portsmouth entered as Volunteer of the 1^st. class, on board the Forte 44 gun frigate,Footnote ⁷¹ commanded by Sir Thomas Cochrane.Footnote ⁷² As it was thought advisable to put me under the charge of a teacher of Navigation I spent the greater part of two or three months at the house of my Uncle Sir George Grey Commissioner of Portsmouth Dock Yard, varied with occasional short cruises – never shall I forget my Uncle's kindness – every moment that I could get away from my master, or that I was not attracted by my love of boat sailing in a wherry, which he put at my disposal, I spent in his office – he spoilt me I daresay […]

[fo. 5] In August 1822 I accompanied my uncle with his son, the present Sir George,Footnote ⁷³ to attend upon Lord St. VincentFootnote ⁷⁴ who had determined on paying his respects to the King, George the IVth, on his embarkation at Greenwich for Scotland.Footnote ⁷⁵ We went in the old Portsmouth yacht – (my yacht also 40 years afterwards) – and most horribly sea-sick I remember to have been. All the ceremony of the King's arrival, his reception of the old Admiral of the Fleet – and the whole scene on the river, is as fresh in my memory as if it had occurred but the other day. I felt proud of my new uniform, and still prouder of being stuck up near the coxswain of the Barge and of being considered as the Steersman of Lord St. Vincent, the last time he ever put his foot in a boat.

From Greenwich we went to RochettsFootnote ⁷⁶ his place in Essex, where we remained three days […] Lord St. V. was at this time in his 88^th year, and wonderful as to strength & bodily activity, he was however failing in memory, and somewhat childish – which must have struck my uncle much accustomed as he had been for so many years to his stern & vigorous intellect […] Lord St. Vincent always addressed my uncle as ‘Captain’ and seemed much attracted to him. I think with additional pleasure on this visit, since I read a life of [fo. 6] Lord St. Vincent by Mr. Tucker, under the supervision of Sir William ParkerFootnote ⁷⁷ in which the Admiral's letters are admirable, and prove him to have deserved his reputation.

During the months that I spent mostly at the Commissioner's house in the Dock Yard, I look back to the injudicious manner in which Lady Grey endeavoured to impress upon me religious principles.Footnote ⁷⁸ I believe there never was a better woman, but her earnestness made her intolerant, and her harshness of manner instead of encouraging a boy of my age, endangered making me a hypocrite, had I not asserted more independence than perhaps I ought have done […]

My time in a professional point of view was by no means badly spent. I had some hours of lessons in navigation, and when released from my master I either walked about the Yard with Sir George listening to his conversation with the Dock Yard officers, or different Captains of ships fitting out, or in a boat sailing under the care of his coxswain.

In December 1822, I sailed from Portsmouth in the Forte to join the Jupiter at Plymouth. Having succeeded in getting through the ‘Needles’Footnote ⁷⁹ we were caught in a very heavy S.W. Gale, which to me as the first has always seemed one of the severest I have ever been in; the frigate had her quarter-boats washed away, and part of her hammock nettings. The tossing about, the sea-sickness, noise and confusion made me for the first and, I may say the only time, regret the choice of the profession I was now fairly embarked in […] We returned to Spithead next morning and when my uncle came on board and asked me how I liked the specimen I had had, I answered with a good deal of bravado [fo. 7] partly from the fear of being laughed at, and partly because I had already forgotten my wretchedness.

On the first change of wind we sailed again with more success. During this passage I saw a man flogged for the first time, and now, nearly 48 years afterwards, I remember his name (Shannon) and the sickening impression it made on me. Since then I have seen very, very many similarly punished, and have had to order its infliction myself, presiding at the execution of the sentence – with the power of remitting it. A most painful duty, and one which I thought I had no right to shrink from, as the rules of the service were then in force; and I must say also that our crews were composed of many men who were lost to all sense except that of corporal pain – which men the Captains had no power of getting rid of. It is a great satisfaction to me to think now that I cannot recollect any case in which I would not much rather have let the culprit off than witness the infliction of the brutal act of flogging prescribed for certain crimes by the Articles of War – and the custom of the service. Punishment of this sort (abolished altogether by Parliament in 1881)Footnote ⁸⁰ is now never inflicted except by sentence of a Court Martial and in very grave cases. How often have I seen it most unjustly inflicted in moments of passion by Captains of the old war who seemed to have no other idea of how to maintain order and discipline. Yet in the flogging days there were men who seldom resorted to it; before my time such Captains of Frigates as Sir William HosteFootnote ⁸¹ and Sir Philip BrokeFootnote ⁸² found how much could be done when the devotion & love of the crew, & not their fear, was to be depended upon in the hour of battle and danger.

The Forte was by no means a happy ship. Sir Thomas Cochrane was a violent & inconsistent man, [for] he had never known what it was to obey[. H]e had been made a Post Captain by his father at 18 & appointed to a frigateFootnote ⁸³ on the American [fo. 8] station.Footnote ⁸⁴ In running into Plymouth Sound he had sent two midshipmen […] to the Main Top Galt. Yard armFootnote ⁸⁵ – such freaks of power are no longer permitted. I have seen a great deal of Sir Thomas […] at different times since then – but never again I am happy to say served under him[. D]uring the five years from 1858 that I was Superintendent of Portsmouth Dock Yard, he lived in the Isle of Wight – at Quarr Abbey […] and we often went over to see him & Lady Cochrane. In his hospitality & kindness I could hardly think he was the man I used so to dread in 1822.

I remained for a few days in the house of Sir Alexander Cochrane Commander in Chief at Plymouth – & father of Sir Thomas when I was discharged into the Jupiter 50 gun ship on two decks, lying in Barn Pool waiting to take Lord Amherst as governor general to India. She was commanded by Sir George WestphalFootnote ⁸⁶ […] He was also called a good-hearted man and may have been so on shore, where he had no power to give way to the unrestrained bursts of passion, with oaths & epithets that would astonish the officers & men of the present day. The first lieutenant was Alexander ElliceFootnote ⁸⁷ a man beloved by all who knew him, a thorough sailor – gentlemanlike, and open-handed as he was open-hearted […] I was placed under his charge as his brother ‘Bear’ ElliceFootnote ⁸⁸ had married my aunt Hannah (the widow of a Captain Bettesworth killed while in command of the Tartar frigate on the coast of Norway)Footnote ⁸⁹ – and mostly on Lieut. Ellice's account I look back on the year I spent on board the Jupiter as among the happiest I can remember of my midshipman's life. We did not sail from Plymouth until early in March, which two months [fo. 9] I spent with several messmates of my own age, in pulling about in boats, in learning duty aloft – sometimes also in doing mischief and chasing the deer and wild Turkies in the beautiful grounds of Mount EdgecumbeFootnote ⁹⁰ – where subsequently it was said a board was stuck up with the inscription ‘No admittance for Dogs or Midshipmen’ […]

We sailed […] with Lord and Lady AmherstFootnote ⁹¹ [&] Captain McMahonFootnote ⁹² […] Lord Amherst, having been made an Earl some years afterwards, his daughter became Lady SarahFootnote ⁹³ – and I met her and [fo. 10] renewed my acquaintance with her[. S]he is now a widow, Lady S. Williams, and her daughter is married to Captain Verney who stood for Marlow two years ago.

We made the passage to Madeira in six days, a very quick one, and wonderfully so for so short a tub as the old Jupiter. The impression that this beautiful island made upon me, as the first foreign land I had seen, has been a lasting one […] [fo. 11] I was obliged to work the ship's daily reckoning to take lunars, and chronometers, and to show my book to the First Lieutenant who as a reward to its being regularly kept, took me on shore at every place we touched at. With this inducement and the wish to please him, I made great progress in navigation. [fo. 12]

[fo. 13] On our passage to India we remained after leaving Madeira for two or three days at Santa Cruz in Tenerife. Then came the usual shaving ceremony on crossing the equator,Footnote ⁹⁴ with all its roughness and abuse […] On reaching the Cape of Good Hope, a violent gale made it unsafe to anchor in Table Bay and as the wind was fair we proceeded on our voyage. Here we lost a man overboard when it was quite impossible to lower a boat – and what made it more terrible was that the poor fellow succeeded in reaching & getting on the Life buoy, where he was left alone, the ship dashing on at the rate of eleven knots an hour – in all probability the cold & high sea would have prevented his [fo. 14] holding long […] [T]he wind moderating from its great fury continued to blow hard and steadily, so that for 33 days we averaged 209 miles a day – making a wonderful passage to MadrasFootnote ⁹⁵ […] While here I accompanied Lord Amherst on a state visit, which he paid to the Nabob of ArcotFootnote ⁹⁶ who had his court in the neighbourhood […]

We remained six weeks at Calcutta to which place we next proceeded [and] during all this time I lived with Captain Ellice, at the house of a bachelor merchant at [fo. 15] the fashionable quarter of Calcutta – the other Officers and midshipmen who could be spared duty from the ship, which remained at the anchorage in Sangor roads,Footnote ⁹⁷ were lodged in a Government house at Fort William put at their disposal by Lord Amherst. The weather was very hot, it being the hottest season, but in the novelty and enjoyment of this new life I did not mind it. We rode every morning at daylight, bathed with water thrown over us, which had been cooling all night, had a substantial breakfast, and then slept or lounged through the hottest hours, or were carried in our Palanquins to Government House, where there was always a substantial lunch ready called Tiffin – rode again in the evening and dined late […] A visit to Lord & Lady Amherst at BarackporeFootnote ⁹⁸ took up part of this time, also an excursion up the Hoogly in a steamer, almost the first that had gone up, and which astonished and frightened the natives not a little […]

[fo. 16] On sailing from Calcutta we steered for Mauritius […] and had only been at sea a few days when the Cholera broke out most suddenly, about fifty men were attacked, of whom eight & some of them the strongest men in the ship died – none of the Officers had it badly. Our passage […] was a tedious one, owing to light winds, [and] we remained at Port LouisFootnote ⁹⁹ a week […] At Cape Town we remained another week, and there the cooler climate made it a more pleasant visit, besides horses were cheap to hire, and very good, [and] young as I was I rode with a large party of Officers & midshipmen to StelenbochFootnote ¹⁰⁰ a distance of 32 miles returning the same day […] NewlandsFootnote ¹⁰¹ the country seat of the Governor, Lord Charles SomersetFootnote ¹⁰² I well remember […] At St. Helena we only remained one day, where I added to my stock of small treasures a cutting from the willow which overhangs Napoleon's grave,Footnote ¹⁰³ and which is now a thriving tree on the bank of the burn in the Long Walk at Howick. At Ascension we fell in with the Driver CorvetteFootnote ¹⁰⁴ from the Coast of Africa having lost half her crew from fever. [fo. 17] On anchoring at Spithead, about Christmas, little more than nine months since we had left England I heard that my father was living at the Government House at DevonportFootnote ¹⁰⁵ where he had gone for the sake of my mother's health […] I was fond of my profession, & I was returning home with the knowledge that I was well spoken of by my superior officers […]

[fo. 18] The Jupiter having been paid off, I was appointed to the Samarang 28Footnote ¹⁰⁶ or what was called a donkey frigate, fitting out for the Halifax station, and commanded by Sir William WisemanFootnote ¹⁰⁷ […] Seamen were in those days only paid at the expiration of the ship's commission, were seldom or ever allowed to go on shore after leaving England for fear of desertion. Now the men are brought up as boys in the service – enter for a certain time – get pay monthly – and are allowed leave where ever the ship goes to, while they behave properly, and being treated with kindness and as rational beings they behave as such […] [fos 19–20] During this time I went through the form of studying mathematics with a Mr. HarveyFootnote ¹⁰⁸ a very clever man, but too good natured in allowing my excuses for idleness and holidays. This poor man destroyed himself some years afterward – he had received an appointment which would have made him comfortable for life, but whether the joy at thus being freed from embarrassment, or the difficulty of paying his immediate debts affected him, the result was that he destroyed himself, leaving a widow & several children.

When the Samarang was nearly ready for sea I rejoined her at Portsmouth and we sailed shortly afterwards in the spring of 1824 for St. John's New Brunswick taking out Sir Howard Douglas,Footnote ¹⁰⁹ the newly appointed Governor with his wife & family […] Our 3 Lieutenants, Plagenborg,Footnote ¹¹⁰ McClintockFootnote ¹¹¹ and Brownrigg,Footnote ¹¹² were much above the average, & in short no ship could have had better Officers or a nicer set in the Midshipman's berth. Plagenborg was promoted from the Samarang to the Contest gun brig, one of those unsafe description of gun brigs, commonly called coffins, and was lost in her, with all hands, about two years later. McClintock I often saw afterwards[. H]e left the service, on being made a Commander, succeeded to a large fortune in Ireland and sat for many years in the House of Commons […] [fo. 21] [He] was a friend of my uncle, and of the present Sir George Grey, and used to invite me occasionally in his cabin to bid me good advice[. H]e was sincerely religious, but like many of the Evangelical school of that day, was not judicious in gaining influence over one so young as I was – like Lady Grey he thought it wrong to read anything in the shape of a novel, even those of Sir Walter ScottFootnote ¹¹³ […]

[fo. 22] We remained some days at Madeira on our passage out [to Halifax], where I properly found the difference of having to take my turn with the other midshipmen, being now older, and able to be of more use. We had a poor fellow killed here – he had strayed from a boat on duty and got drunk, and in a quarrel with some Portuguese got a blow on the head which was not thought of much when he was brought on board, and put in irons on the main deck – in the morning he was found dead – it seems writing about it now that there must have been some neglect […]

We first touched at Halifax, where we found my old ship the Jupiter, with the flag of Sir Willoughby Lake,Footnote ¹¹⁴ having just relieved Admiral FahieFootnote ¹¹⁵ in the Salibsury[.Footnote ¹¹⁶ W]e then proceeded to St. John's New Brunswick where Sir Howard Douglas left us with his family […]

While at St. John's I made some excursions in the Bay of Fundy with McClintock, and was much [fo. 23] taken with the beauty of it […] At St John's I dined at the Mess of the 52^d. Regiment, and I always think with disgust how grown men could drink themselves, and encourage boys, as a number of us were, to do the same […] I fortunately had a dislike to wine and never willingly exceeded, whether I had done so on this occasion I cannot now remember, but I do remember falling down a flight of steps on returning to the boat which nearly killed me.

The Samarang did not remain long on the Halifax Station, having gone on shore in the Bay of Fundy and having been nearly lost in a hurricane at Bermuda. In the latter case we were at anchor in October in St. Catherine's bay,Footnote ¹¹⁷ when the storm coming on suddenly [fo. 24] we were obliged to slip our cable and put to sea, leaving half the Officers on shore. By carrying all the sail the ship could stagger under, we just succeeded in clearing a reef of rocks off St. David's head […] The gale moderated in 24 hours, and we returned to pick up the Officers left on shore. Sir William Wiseman, having reported, both on this occasion and on that of getting on shore in the Bay of Fundy, that the ship had not answered her helm as she ought to have done, attribute[ed] the defect to some pieces of zinc, which as preservation for the copper had been fixed to the stern & stern post to test one of Sir Humphry Davy's experiments.Footnote ¹¹⁸ At any rate, Sir W. Lake ordered us to England […] [fo. 25] I was sorry to leave this station, altho’ I cannot say that I liked the climate, as excessive cold is always much felt on board ship. I remember having been mastheaded for above six hours, and I was so benumbed when called down that I was unable to move and was actually carried down by two of the topmen […]

We sailed for England in November and anchored at Spithead in 19 days, having, off Scilly, been in the tremendous gale at the end of 1824Footnote ¹¹⁹ […] [fo. 26] One middle watch, in which I was sitting under the weather bulwark in the sill of a port, the Carronade being secured fore and aft, we shipped a sea over the weather quarter […] passing clean over my head[, and] this same watch the man at the wheel was so dazzled and stunned by a flash of lightning that he was carried below, quite insensible […] Arriving at Spithead put an end to all our miseries. Certainly life on board a 28 gun frigate then, and that of today on board one of the present Leviathans, is indeed a contrast, [for] now the Midshipmen have every comfort, carry livestock to sea and, most essential of all, have roving places for sleeping, not huddled together in a close ’tween decks as we used to be […]

[fo. 27] On this occasion, I remained at home only three weeks […] [fo. 28] Sir George's idea was that it would be an advantage to serve in a sea-going Line of Battleship – with a schoolmaster on board. Perhaps his idea of Captain Hamond,Footnote ¹²⁰ afterwards Sir Graham, who was in command of the Wellesley 74 GuardshipFootnote ¹²¹ in Portsmouth harbour may have influenced him, but it was a great mistake[. H]aving now been two years at sea, in a ship with comparatively few midshipmen, like the Samarang, I should have been in a more responsible position than in a Liner, where I [would be] lost among 30 mates & mids of all ages, many of them old mates who had hoped never to go to sea again, but to remain in guardship until put on shore with Lieut'ts half pay.

Captain Hamond […] was a young man for his rank, being quite at the head of the Captain's list[. H]e had been promoted to Post rank at the age of 18, being the son of Sir Andrew Hamond,Footnote ¹²² Controller of the Navy, who commanded the Lively Footnote ¹²³ frigate at the battle of Copenhagen, and one of those who took the Spanish Treasure ships in 1806. [fo. 29] […] He must have been about 45 when I was placed under his charge in the Wellesley. He was as deaf as a post, fidgety to a degree that was laughable, if he had not been so waspish at the same time – a despot in his own family, a bigoted Tory, and a specimen of intolerance contracted from never having had to obey, and by the prejudices fostered by living uncontradicted in a small community dependent upon him […]

[fo. 30] We sailed in March, with Sir Charles Stuart (afterwards Lord Stuart de Rothesay)Footnote ¹²⁴ bound to Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro on a special mission & belonging to his suite were Colonel Freemantle,Footnote ¹²⁵ Colonel GarwoodFootnote ¹²⁶ (Editor of the Duke of Wellington's despatches) and Lord Marcus Hill,Footnote ¹²⁷ all of whom were very kind to me […] [fo. 31]

[fo. 32] We had a fair passage to Lisbon where we remained several weeks, and where we found a squadron of two or three Line of Battle ships and some frigates under the Command of Lord Amelius Branden,Footnote ¹²⁸ with whom I remember dining on one occasion and feeling considerable in awe of him, as the old type was noted for his roughness of manner. The ambassador [had] a good deal to arrange relating to the mission to the Brazils, the object being to bring Portugal to recognise the independence of that country, having failed to prevent it in a war of several years […] [fos 33–36] During our stay at Lisbon, Sir Charles Stuart gave a magnificent ball on board the Wellesley to the King of Portugal and the Royal family, no expense was spared, and it was a very fine sight[. N]ext day an order was published by Lord Amelius Branden, forbidding Officers to kiss the hands of Foreign Princes […] There was also a ball given at the Royal Palace and one by Sir William A'Court (Lord Heytesbury)Footnote ¹²⁹ but […] I did not go to either.

On sailing from Lisbon [to Brazil] we remained a day at Madeira and another at Tenerife, but these stoppages were not to me what they had been in the Jupiter […] [fos 37–39] I used often to be sent for by Sir Charles Stuart into the after cabin, where the Captain never came in the evening. Sir Charles & Colonel Freemantle used to encourage me in relating my boyish tricks, and certainly the conversation of His Excellency was not very edifying. No ship could have been in worse order than the Wellesley […] [fo. 40] On crossing the Equator, which [the Captain] did for the first time, he very properly would not allow the Officers to be shaved, but set the example himself of drinking Neptune's health in a glass of salt water, which was followed by the others. The men had got the ceremony up very well, the dresses were good and under the guidance of one of the Quarter Masters there was a good deal of cleverness in the arrangement […]

At Rio de Janeiro I spent a very pleasant fortnight at the country house of the AmbassadorFootnote ¹³⁰ […] We had been only a few days at Rio when Major Gurwood determined on going home by the packet. He suffered v. much at sea from a feeling of nervousness – fear one could hardly call it, in a man who had led two forlorn hopes [fo. 41] and was considered one of the best Officers in the Light Division during the Peninsular war. His subsequent fate shows there must have been some morbid tendency. After having gained great credit & reputation for the manner in which he had collected and published the Duke of Wellington's despatches, he destroyed himself owing to some unfortunate railway speculation, leaving a wife and children.Footnote ¹³¹

Sir George EyreFootnote ¹³² the Commander in Chief on the station having found the Spartiate (76),Footnote ¹³³ his flag ship, in such a state, from some undiscovered leak as to require to go to England, determined on changing with all his Officers and men into the Wellesley. The desire of the Spartiate's men to take their own ship home, the bad example shown by many of our officers in expressing discontent at having to move, and Admiral Hamond's remonstrance (he had seen his promotion in the Gazette,Footnote ¹³⁴ but having no order to hoist his flag remained as Captain of the Wellesley,) caused what more nearly approached to a mutiny than anything I have ever seen before or since […] [fo. 42] We sailed for England [in the Spartiate] at the end of September and, two days after we got to sea, a small leak, which from its regularity in harbour was not thought much of, increased so that the ship made 26 inches of water an hour; this produced some alarm at first, owing to reports of the ship being generally rotten […] For seventy-two days we were constantly at the pumps; an old transport that sailed from England on the same day arrived in 49, and there was no end to reports that we had been lost at sea, as the Spartiate was known to be almost the fastest line of battle ship in the Service […] [fo. 43]

I was now appointed to the Talbot on the home station […] [fo. 44] In April 1826 our family left Devonport, and I joined the Talbot at Portsmouth having remained for a short time with my brother Charles who with the Depot of the 43^d Regiment happened to be at Devonport. In May 1826 I went to London for a few days to be present at my sister Bessy's marriage with John Bulteel,Footnote ¹³⁵ [and] a few days afterwards we sailed on a short cruise to the North Sea and anchored off Grimsby in the Humber, where having received orders to prepare for the Mediterranean station we sailed for Portsmouth to refit.

While the ship remained at Portsmouth I spent my time with my Uncle in the Dock Yard and also at Lord Spencer'sFootnote ¹³⁶ house at Ryde, now belonging to Sir Augustus Clifford.Footnote ¹³⁷ A short time before we sailed while at the latter place I received a letter from home announcing the sudden death of my dear brother TomFootnote ¹³⁸ – it came upon me like a thunder clap – it was my first serious affliction. I hurried into a wood in that hot summer weather and spent hours in an agony of grief. I could not believe that I was never to see him more. Lady SpencerFootnote ¹³⁹ was very kind, but it was some days before I could recover in any degree. My love for Tom was the strongest feeling of my heart[. A]ltho’ younger, he was before me at school, but there never was the slightest jealousy mixed with my admiration of him, [and] for many years I could not bear to hear his name mentioned […] [fo. 45] [He] died from sun stroke in that terrible hot summer of 1826.

Captain SpencerFootnote ¹⁴⁰ followed up the kindness I had received from his Mother, and in my daily duties my grief gradually subsided, but even at that age when nothing is lasting, and when in the noise of those around me, I might forget for a time, the reality used to come upon me in the midst of mirth, for many months, and check me suddenly.

In approaching Gibraltar, the ship struck upon a shoal about 3 miles to the Westward of TarifaFootnote ¹⁴¹ called the ‘Cabegas’ with such force that nothing could have saved her from sinking but the great good fortune of her having struck on her exact stern, her false keel knocked clean off, her main keel started as far aft as the mainmast […] many of her planks and butt ends started [to give], the filling in between her timbers alone keeping her afloat.

We sailed from Gibraltar in company with the Romney Footnote ¹⁴² 50 Captain Lockyer,Footnote ¹⁴³ but soon parted, falling in with the Glasgow Footnote ¹⁴⁴ frigate […] [W]e anchored safely in Malta harbour, about the middle of July. [fo. 46] […] [D]uring the repairing and refitting the ship's crew & officers were lodged in the ‘Lofts’, a sort of barrack excavated in the soft rock, formerly galley arches at the head of the Dock Yard creek. Our life during this six weeks was not the most orderly, the officers paid little attention to us when off duty, the schoolmaster had a holiday, there being no fit place for a schoolroom, and Captain Spencer, living on shore at the Palace,Footnote ¹⁴⁵ did not trouble himself about us […] Of my messmates I have met many since, [including] Lord Clarence PagetFootnote ¹⁴⁶ & Hamond, now Sir Andrew,Footnote ¹⁴⁷ son of my old Captain in the Wellesley.

[fo. 47] We sailed for the [Greek] Archipelago in August 1826, [and] at this time the Greek and Turkish war was at its height.Footnote ¹⁴⁸ Captain HamiltonFootnote ¹⁴⁹ of the Cambrian Footnote ¹⁵⁰ was senior officer in the Greek & Turkish waters and during the winter we were actively employed in convoying merchant ships and in chasing the Pirates with which the Greek islands were infestedFootnote ¹⁵¹ […] Captain Spencer seeing that I was really fond of my profession, did all in his power to encourage me, and to this I attribute having been preserved from entering into the life of dissipation so universal those days when sailors [were] on shore. I was now seventeen, and had charge of a Lieutenant's watch whenever there were an Officer sick or on leave […] During this winter we had several brushes with the Pirates, & [fo. 48] […] to such an extent had the evil arisen that convoys of different nations were given periodically from SmyrnaFootnote ¹⁵² to beyond Cape Matapan,Footnote ¹⁵³ but in the dark nights vessels were often robbed in the middle of the convoy. On one occasion we had nearly 80 merchant vessels of all nations under our care, but with good arrangement we carried all safe, and the Pirates more oftener meddled with those under the care of an Austrian or SardinianFootnote ¹⁵⁴ man of war.

A Greek Corvette nominally fitted out against the Turks had committed great depredations and […] her commander, a ruffian of the name of Zacca,Footnote ¹⁵⁵ had committed some cruel murders. In December 1826, we were off the Island of Hydra, and Captain Spencer was in communication with the Primate of the Island, against whom the seamen of the island had revolted, and at last one night we stood close into the batteries & brought off old Admiral Mioulis,Footnote ¹⁵⁶ Condurrotti,Footnote ¹⁵⁷ MavrocordatoFootnote ¹⁵⁸ and several others who did not consider their lives safe. Mavrocordato told our Captain that Zacca had brought the Corvette into Hydra manned with the greatest ruffians & had just robbed two English merchant vessels. Captain Spencer at once sent off an Officer in an Ionian schooner which he hired for the purpose to Captain Hamilton, who soon arrived and collected a squadron consisting of his own ship the Cambrian 44 – Glasgow 46 – Talbot 28 – & Brisk 10,Footnote ¹⁵⁹ in Garden Bay opposite the island of Hydra.

[fo. 49] A day or two of unsuccessful negociations with the authorities of the island ensued, Captain Hamilton telling them that if they did not give up the Corvette he would cut her out with the ship's boats, but in truth they were powerless, and the mob of seamen being discontented and without pay determined to resist. The Talbot having taken Captain Hamilton on board got under way accompanied by the Brisk and all the boats of the squadron. As we approached the harbour, a narrow cove, without anchorage owing to the depth of water, but where vessels are made fast to the ricks with hawsers, the armed boats took us in tow. The town, a populous one built on the precipitous hills rising from the cliffs, quite overhangs the entrance, and as we passed in we saw the batteries manned and from the different houses the seamen might have swept our decks with perfect impunity to themselves, but they evidently had no wish to do this[. I]n the first place no one had done so much for the Greek nation as Captain Hamilton, who was much beloved by all ranks, and secondly the peaceful inhabitants would gladly have given up Zacca and the Corvette, had they been able to do so. We were allowed to enter the harbour without a shot being fired, and the ship was secured to the shore with her guns bearing on the wharf and custom house at the head of the harbour. The guns in the batteries could neither be depressed to bear on us, nor would ours bear on them, but the men actually looked down with interest on our decks. Besides the Corvette which was strongly secured to the shore with her rudder unshipped, there were two or three brigs and coasting vessels. The boats now shoved off, but in no order, [and] the first to reach the Corvette was a six-oared galley with Mr. Gregory,Footnote ¹⁶⁰ 1^st Lieutenant of the Cambrian. Zacca was standing on the gangway richly dressed with a pistol in his hand, waving to this boat to keep off, with not more than six or seven of his followers on deck. [fo. 50] Gregory pushed alongside, jumped in the stern sheets of his boat in order to board, when luckily he stumbled and fell, at the moment Zacca fired at him – the ball passing close to him & wounding one of the boat's crew[. U]pon this a few shots were fired from a house near[by], and we immediately opened fire from our quarter deck cannonades. The Corvette was boarded from the other boats and was taken in an instant, all the Pirates escaping to the shore except one […] Lieut. WillisFootnote ¹⁶¹ of the Glasgow who was grazed by a ball, whether from our own people or the Greeks I would not say, was the only person hurt besides the man in the Cambrian's galley. The boats of the squadron took the Corvette and brigs in tow, at the same time keeping up a fire on every thing they saw moving in the town, and from our quarter deck I saw what was apparently an influential person endeavouring to prevent resistance shot in the most brutal manner by a Corporal of Marines […]

[fo. 51] While employed in the Archipelago in the Talbot I saw many interesting episodes of the Greek & Turkish war, and amongst others the effect of the failure of the attack on AthensFootnote ¹⁶² by Lord CochraneFootnote ¹⁶³ and General Church,Footnote ¹⁶⁴ the latter having been over persuaded by the former to attempt a day-break attack on the Turkish lines. The irregular Greek troops were no match on the level ground between Athens and Piraeus for the formidable Turkish cavalry. The Greeks having seized some earthworks, and having advanced some distance from their main body encamped on the Phalaerum Hill,Footnote ¹⁶⁵ were of a sudden charged by the DelhisFootnote ¹⁶⁶ or forlorn hope of Cavalry, and scattered over the plain with very great slaughter. A band of SuliotsFootnote ¹⁶⁷ under a chief of the name of Karaschaki,Footnote ¹⁶⁸ to whom a plain obelisk monument now stands near the Piraeus, alone made a stand & by so doing saved the lives of Lord Cochrane & General Church, besides many others. Of 400 men 250 were killed and among them Karaschaki. We arrived immediately afterwards & received on board a young Englishman […] who had been badly wounded. The Greeks who had earlier mustered 14,000 men in and about the Piraeus only mustered between 3 & 4,000 on the Phalaerum Hill. Lord Cochrane also left in his frigate [fo. 52] and the prospects of Greece were at a lower ebb than they had been for a long time. General Church stuck to his post, and by his energy and constancy, inspired some confidence to his faithful followers who still rallied round him, and with whom he some months afterwards did essential service to the country by obtaining an extended frontier beyond what the allies first awarded in the following year[. B]ut other events rapidly followed bringing on the battle of Navarino which gave the independence to the present Kingdom of Greece, which the efforts of the inhabitants during six cruel years of warfare on both sides had failed to accomplish.

From Athens in July we sailed for Napulia de RomaniaFootnote ¹⁶⁹ and off SpezziaFootnote ¹⁷⁰ fell in with the Asia 84, the Flag ship of the New Commander in chief Vice Admiral Sir Edward Codrington accompanied by the Rose Footnote ¹⁷¹18 gun Corvette […] I forgot to note that shortly before this we had a cruise in the Gulf of Salonica with the Philomel Footnote ¹⁷² 10 gun brig under our orders, commanded by Lord IngestreFootnote ¹⁷³ […] [fo. 53] [I]t was also in this cruise that we retook an English merchant vessel and removed a young lad of the name of Barker son of the Consul or Vice Consul at AlexandriaFootnote ¹⁷⁴ – poor little fellow he was not above 13 and with us later in the battle of Navarino.

When we arrived at Nauplis in Company with the Asia & Rose Corvette, we found two rival chieftains in command of opposing forts in open warfare. GrievasFootnote ¹⁷⁵ who I often saw afterwards, held the Palamede,Footnote ¹⁷⁶ or Citadel, and FotomarasFootnote ¹⁷⁷ the town & lower batteries. The cannonade & musketry was kept up for a week and our boats would go in at night to assist the wounded & some were taken on board the Asia – one I remember in particular, an American of the name of Washington,Footnote ¹⁷⁸ who was mortally wounded at the lower battery. A good description of this truly Greek Episode may be found in a novel [fo. 54] called ‘Cavendish’, written by one of our messmates, a lad of the name of Neale,Footnote ¹⁷⁹ who soon after left the service & studied for the bar, but I believe made a more profitable trade [as a] Naval novelist. I saw him again in 1846 when he called upon me at the Colonial Office […]

On October the 31^st we reached Malta with several other ships of the squadron to repair the damage received in the action […] Sir Frederick PonsonbyFootnote ¹⁸⁰ was then Governor at Malta and he and Lady Emily were very kind to me[. T]he latter is still alive & living at Hampton Court[. H]er son Henry PonsonbyFootnote ¹⁸¹ has been married for some years to my niece Mary Bulteel, and last year [1870] succeeded my dear brother Charles as Secretary to the Queen.

The winter at Malta was spent in balls & parties, and in rejoicing over this ‘untoward’ event of Navarin.Footnote ¹⁸² Sir Edward Codrington, a kind, good-natured man, was one of the vainest I ever met. While the Talbot [fo. 55] was refitting, the Admiral gave me leave to go to Naples where I expected to have found my sister Louisa and her husband Mr Lambton in their yacht.

I went in a Russian Frigate with a Russian Diplomat of the name of DaschoffFootnote ¹⁸³ who spoke English as well as I did and luckily for me, as neither the Captain nor any of the Officers of the [ship] could speak anything but their own language, which was unusual in those days[. I]ndeed, many of the young Officers at Malta, when the Russian Squadron under Admiral Count HeydenFootnote ¹⁸⁴ & LazaroffFootnote ¹⁸⁵ were also refitting, spoke French & English fluently […] I lived with Daschoff in the captain's cabin, and at Naples went on shore to [meet] the English Consul, Sir Henry Lushington.Footnote ¹⁸⁶

[fo. 54v] On my return from Naples I found the gaieties at Malta still in full swing, and when the Carnival came on about February, Colonel BathurstFootnote ¹⁸⁷ & some of the officers determined to set up a tournament in the Palace Square, and a most successful attempt it was in many respects. Sir George Brown,Footnote ¹⁸⁸ then Colonel Brown of the Rifles, was the Black Knight in Ivanhoe[.Footnote ¹⁸⁹ T]he old armour[,] of which there is a quantity in the armoury, was mostly too small for our officers. It had been arranged that the Master Attendant of the Dock Yard, Billy Pitt,Footnote ¹⁹⁰ a drinking, singing, amusing, old vagabond, was to have been the Lady of the Tournament, but when the time came his nerve failed him and I was asked to take his place, which I did & enjoyed the fun […] Dressed in proper costume, with false curls, a long white veil and on a beautiful, but fiery Arab belonging to one of the A.D.C.s, I flatter myself I performed my part well. I was pelted with sugar plums and on the return of the procession, I fairly put my leg over the pummel of the saddle, & galloped into the Palace Yard, amidst the laughter of the grandees on the Balcony […]

[fo. 55] During the early summer we were sent to Ancona, for Sir Stratford Canning, Ambassador to the Porte.Footnote ¹⁹¹ Early in 1828 we were sent back to Greece and, besides again going occasionally to Corfu we were for some time cruising Navarin, to prevent the Egyptian transports & men of war sent there by Mehemet AliFootnote ¹⁹² from going into the harbour. I remember on one occasion a most exciting chase after two corvettes, but they had the best of it & succeeded in getting under the land and making their way in. We fired one or two shots at them from the miserable guns of our small ship, which of course fell short.

[fo. 56] During this year we had a very pleasant cruise to the Coast of Italy. But I have forgotten to state that about June or July Sir Edward Codrington was superseded in the command of the Mediterranean Fleet by Sir Pulteney Malcolm.Footnote ¹⁹³ The Government had not altogether approved of Sir Edward's conduct, but Mr. Canning's death in August 1827 led to Lord Goderich's being appointed Premier, and his ministry composed of men of different parties – Canningites – Whigs – & Moderate Tories, all in short in some degree responsible for the policy following Navarin.Footnote ¹⁹⁴ No party discussion or censure took place in Parliament altho’ many men of mark individually condemned both the battle of Navarino and the feeble measures after it, our fleet remaining in Malta, and Mehemet Ali being allowed with little interference on the part of the allies to transport many hundreds of the wretched inhabitants of the Morea to Egypt as slaves.Footnote ¹⁹⁵ The Duke of Wellington who succeeded Lord Goderich as Prime Minister in the session of 1828 described the Battle of Navarino as an ‘untoward event’.Footnote ¹⁹⁶

[fo. 55v] I find that I have omitted several events connected with our return to Greece in the autumn of 1828, when the war between the Turks & the Greeks continued. The Allies at the beginning of the year had appointed the Count Capo d'Istria,Footnote ¹⁹⁷ a Russian statesman, & Ionian by birth, to the presidency of Greece, but the squabbles among the Chiefs prevented any unity of action, altho’ without the crowning act of Navarino the cause [would have] been lost.

According to the Treaty for clearing the Morea of the Turks a French Force of some 10,000 men landed at Modon, Navarino, & Patras.Footnote ¹⁹⁸ We accompanied the expedition to Patras under the orders of Captain Lyons in the Blonde Frigate and were present at the taking of the Lepanti Castles […] I was stationed in the trenches with the advanced French troops to signalize to the Etna Footnote ¹⁹⁹ and as a sort of Aid de Camp to Captain Lyons, whose acquaintance I first made on this occasion and saw much of afterwards as Lieut. Com'r & Captain until the time of his death in 1858. General MaisonFootnote ²⁰⁰ afterward Marshal commanded the French force, and of course so overwhelming a one could not long be resisted by the small garrison of Albanians who soon surrendered as did also the Castle of Patras. [fo. 56]

[fo. 57] We were ordered to England in November, 1828, our time having expired […] We reached England in December 1828 and I found my dear Uncle Sir George Grey had died shortly before at Portsmouth. This was a great grief to me, but as I was now senior midshipman on board I had most of the work to do in paying the ship off, which in those days was not a pleasant duty[. D]iscipline was always relaxed and drunkenness & riot with few exceptions was the rule even in ships where the order had been best[. I]ndeed, severity at such a time was ill judged as practically the Government had little hold on the men who in a few days were to be paid off, with three years pay as a lump sum in their pockets, in many cases to be robbed by the women and Jews who flocked on board [the] ships paying off. The men entered into other ships when their money was spent and there were many fitting out at the time, but there was no [fo. 58] pretence of any system. A sailor was considered a sort of wild animal to be picked up after his drunken frolic on shore, and then kept, under iron discipline for his term of three years service, with no pocket money allowed him even out of his own pay […] Soon after this time a change began to take place […] The men [now] enter the service as boys for the most part and being engaged for a certain period of continuous service, feel that they belong to the service, and I don't think there is a better conducted class of men in the country than the man of war's man of the present day.Footnote ²⁰¹ As with the men so with the Officers – a more gentlemanlike tone prevails among them, drinking is rare, and swearing quite gone out. With the change from wooden to iron ships & steam, there are probably not so many good seamen among the Officers, not at least of the same sort, when circumstances called for more individual knowledge & resource in times of difficulty – in short there was then less science and theoretical knowledge, but more practical skill in handling ships. To those who were fortunate enough to have interest and to advance rapidly in the profession it was one of great power & independence and of great interest. The romance of the sea service is at an end & the Captain of the cruizing frigate no longer exists.

[fo. 59A] I went to Howick where I spent a very happy six weeks; all my younger brothers were at home for the holidays, which brought sadly to my recollection the last time I had seen my favourite brother Tom. Charles was with his regiment and Frederick on his way to England having lately been made a Post Captain, about the youngest in the service. There was at this time much excitement in the political world, as it was evident the Duke of Wellington was preparing to concede some of the just rights of the Roman Catholics in Ireland,Footnote ²⁰² altho’ he had apparently resented a letter written in that sense by Lord AngleseyFootnote ²⁰³ the Lord Lieutenant, who resigned in consequence. At Howick, Lambton […] and other Whig leaders were evidently sore at the prospect of the wind thus being taken out of their sails, when they had many of them, contrary to my Father's advice, joined Canning in 1827Footnote ²⁰⁴ knowing that he preferred Office to principle on that question. My father was much abused at that time by his own party, for his unbending consistency, but most of them, Lambton included, lived to own he was right.

My father determined to go up to London in Feb'r 1829 to support the Duke in the House of Lords, and as I was to sail shortly for the Mediterranean to join the Windsor Castle as Lieutenant, I accompanied him from Howick, and I shall never forget the interest with which I listened to his speech in support of the Ministerial measure of Catholic [fo. 59B] emancipation. How he put on one side his own exclusion from office for thirty years owing to his consistent support of a measure which could now no longer be deferred without the risk of a civil war in Ireland and how he gave an honest & straightforward support to the measure altho’ regretting that in some of its details it showed resentment to O'Connell and the liberals of Ireland. It was a great speech and allowed to be so by both sides, and it was a patriotic one, like my father, who only thought of the good of the country.Footnote ²⁰⁵ I don't think I had ever heard him speak before, and altho’ I heard him often afterwards, during the great Reform struggle, this speech, and the effect of it still dwells the most forcibly on my memory.

About the middle of February, I believe the 17^th was the day I sailed for Malta to join the Windsor Castle (76) as Lieutenant in the Ferret 10 gun brig,Footnote ²⁰⁶ commanded by Captain Hastings afterwards Sir Thomas HastingsFootnote ²⁰⁷ and first head of the Excellent Gunnery School & Portsmouth College […] This little brig not the size of one of the smallest of the modern Gunboats, under 300 tons, had a complement of 75 men, [and] she carried 8 18 pound carronades, and two long sixes, and except for patronage & detachment duties was even then ridiculous as a man of war.

[fo. 60] It has always been a matter of astonishment to me how so many of our different Admiralty Boards could have gone on building such vessels, which rejoiced in the name of coffins in the service from the fact of so many of them having capsized at sea, but not only these wretched 10 gun brigs, but deep waisted, dangerous Corvettes like the Rose & Pylades Footnote ²⁰⁸ with 50 gun ships like the Jupiter on two decks, to say nothing of our small 36 gun Frigates and 74s, the latter called 40 ThievesFootnote ²⁰⁹ from that number having been ordered at once towards the end of the war. And this too when we had such models as the Spartiate & Donegal Footnote ²¹⁰ – beautiful Liners, the former taken as far back as 1798 at the battle of the Nile, and the lesson we had been taught, during the American war of 1813 & 14,Footnote ²¹¹ ought to have warned us against small frigates & Corvettes.

The Ferret made the passage to Malta in 20 days, without touching at Gibraltar which was considered a good passage for those days […] We were crowded with supernumeraries and most uncomfortable. Lord Clarence Paget and Admiral [fo. 61] George EliottFootnote ²¹² were among those going out to join ships in the Medit'n as Midshipmen, both two years junior to me in the service.

On our arrival in Malta in March I received my Lieutenant commission and appointment to the Windsor Castle […] and at once went on board. I am afraid the night before, I took rather more Champagne than was good for me, much against my inclination, as I never cared about wine, but it was then the habit to treat old friends and messmates on such occasions, called ‘wetting the commission’. I know I had a splitting headache next day and had to stand on the quarter deck looking very miserable as our Captain BouverieFootnote ²¹³ read out my commission before the 600 Officers & men of the ship, and I heard afterwards that this first appearance had not given a favourable impression of my steadiness […]

[fo. 62] […] The men worked willingly for me and the Captain, at first doubtful owing to my age (not quite 20) and youthful appearance, soon slept as sound when I had charge of the watch as when it was kept by my seniors […] In a ship like the Windsor Castle with 5 Lieutenants, the first does not keep watch, but has charge of all the decks and internal arrangements of the ship in conjunction with the Commander. The Watches at sea would then be taken by the 3 next in seniority, and the junior, which I was, would have charge of the Signal Department, and take charge of the deck on the occasional absence of any of the others […]

[fo. 63] A short visit to Syracuse and exercise off the Coast of Sicily was followed by a move to the Greek Archipelago where the ships separated for a short time. We remained at EginaFootnote ²¹⁴ – Nauplia de Romania – & EpidaurusFootnote ²¹⁵ as our headquarters. We also visited the port of Piraeus at this time. Athens was now in the hands of the Turks, who remained in the Acropolis & surrounding country unmolested by the Greeks after the defeat of Lord Cochrane in 1827. I believe the Windsor Castle to have been the first Line of Battleship that ever anchored in Piraeus. We also visited the volcanic island of Santorini, the water of the anchorage being supposed to have the quality of cleaning the copper on a ship's bottom. We fancied our old tub sailed better afterwards. From this cruise we were recalled to join the flag of Sir P. Malcolm in Besika bayFootnote ²¹⁶ at the mouth of the Dardanelles, where we found our chief [fo. 64] with all the Line of Battleships and Frigates he had been able to collect, consisting (including the Windsor Castle) of six of the former & 3 of the latter. The war which had broken out between Russia & Turkey the preceding year had led to the advance of the Russian Army under DiebitchFootnote ²¹⁷ after crossing the Balkan to the neighbourhood of Adrianople and now in August 1829 Constantinople was threatened – a result which altho’ brought about by our stupid policy in joining Russia at Navarino was thought so serious by the Duke of Wellington's Government that orders were sent to Sir Pulteney Malcolm to prevent the entrance of the Russian squadron of seven Line of Battleships and four heavy frigates into the Dardanelles.Footnote ²¹⁸

([fo. 63v] Nov. 22, 1876. This opinion I must now qualify. The freedom of Greece with Russian co-operation was a good work. I only hope jealousy of that power may not interfere with the settlement of the present Eastern question.)

[fo. 64] This squadron still Commanded by Count Heiden with the ships that served at Navarin, reinforced by three very fine 80 gun ships under the orders of Admiral Lazaroff were at anchor between our squadron & Tenedos, waiting orders, and ready to act in case of the army advance. For some weeks the two squadrons lay watching each other[. T]here was great civility on both sides when Officers chanced to meet on shore, but […] for several days & nights both squadrons lay with their guns loose and the men at quarters, and early in September [fo. 65] this state of things was brought to a close by the treaty of Adrianople,Footnote ²¹⁹ by which Russia gained some permanent objects of her ambition, but which at the time was thought more favourable to Turkey, and she was counselled to accept it by our ambassador Sir Robert Gordon.Footnote ²²⁰ It was soon however discovered that this seeming moderation was in reality in consequence of the sickly state of the Russian army, which was exhausted & demoralised by the hardships undergone during the advance from the Balkan to Adrianople. Peace having been signed it was no longer necessary to keep the ships in Besika Bay. I had enjoyed our stay there as whenever it was my turn to go on shore I would accompany one of my messmates […] on shooting expeditions roaming over the plain of Troy […]

[fo. 66] In the early part of 1830 we returned to Malta where we remained some months […] [fo. 67] At this time I formed a great intimacy with Lord W. Thynne Major of the 7^th Fusiliers,Footnote ²²¹ a very nice fellow, and my time was spent most happily at Malta […]

In the early spring of 1830 we had some pleasant cruises in the Mediterranean, but no incidents occurred that I now recollect as worth recording[. O]ur old Commander HaydonFootnote ²²² a quiet gentlemanlike man but worn out as an officer, left us and was replaced by Captain MarshamFootnote ²²³ […] a most popular and cheerily eccentric officer and agreeable messmate. One of our cruises was to Tripoli in Barbary where I made the acquaintance of Colonel Warrington,Footnote ²²⁴ the Consul General with whom I had much future communication when promoted to the command of the Scylla the following year. Colonel Warrington's son-in-law, the famous African Traveller Major Laing,Footnote ²²⁵ had been murdered in Timbuctoo, not without suspicion attaching to the Minister of the Bashaw of Tripoli Mohammed de Gheis,Footnote ²²⁶ and Colonel Warrington accused this man of having possessed himself of Major Laing's papers & of having disposed of them to the French Consul. A book published [fo. 68] in France descriptive of the desert & Timbuctoo by a Monsieur CailleFootnote ²²⁷ who was never known to have gone to Africa, gave rise to serious suspicions and was the cause of much diplomatic correspondence. It was on this subject that Captain Bouverie was sent by Sir P. Malcolm to confer with the Bashaw. I was present at the interview and struck with the high bred manner of Yassouf Caramanli, a man whose career of bloodshed & murder was most remarkable. Talking of a man named Hassan de Gheis,Footnote ²²⁸ brother of the minister, he said that he must have been about 24 or [2]5, as he was born the year ‘I killed my brother’, the said brother having been the heir apparent & older than Yassouf.Footnote ²²⁹ The Caramanlis had reigned despotically at Tripoli, nominally subject to the Sultan, for upwards of 300 years, but their reign was about to come to an end, but more of that hereafter.

The French July RevolutionFootnote ²³⁰ caused the squadron in the Mediterranean to be increased and there was much anxiety as to the state of Europe, but in spite of many threatening appearances, including the revolution in Belgium,Footnote ²³¹ the peace of Europe was not disturbed. The effect at home was to render the Duke of Wellington's Government very insecure and led to several injudicious acts on his part, such as advising William the IVth, who succeeded about this time, not to accept a dinner at the Mansion House, in the belief that he would have been insulted,Footnote ²³² and strong declarations against all Reform led to an adverse vote in the House of Commons, and my Father was sent for by the King and became Prime Minister in December 1830. We were ordered to England at the beginning of that month and as we were passing through the Straits of Gibraltar were recalled by signal & received orders to take the 43^d Regiment to England where serious disturbances [fo. 69] had broken out in the agricultural districts known as the ‘Swing’ riots, farm steadings and ricks having been burnt down and placards threatening outrages signed ‘Swing’. Active measures were at once taken and the riots put down, with as little severity as possible. Still there was great distress in the country in the large towns as well as in the rural districts.Footnote ²³³ The old Tory measures of bloody repression were luckily abandoned, and my Father and his colleagues set to work to do what was possible to amend the laws and promise redress. The cause of Reform was now popular in the country and every-one waited in anxious expectation for the new measure promised, and in March 1831 this great measure was introduced into the House of Commons.Footnote ²³⁴ But I must return to the Windsor Castle.

We remained only 36 hours in Gibraltar bay, putting up temporary fittings for the Regiment consisting of about 600 men, 42 women and 100 children […] [fos 70–72] Our passage lasted a fortnight. The first few days were fine and all went well, but as the wind and sea increased, the lower deck ports, never very tight, admitted so much water as to make the women and children, who were sleeping on the deck […] most wretchedly cold and miserable, and some so seasick that the mates of the deck could not make them get up out of the water washing from side to side […] [fos 73–74]

[fo. 75] We arrived at Spithead before Christmas and orders came down for Captain Bouverie to give up the command of his ship to a Captain Quin,Footnote ²³⁵ who was to take her to Cork to reinforce the squadron in Ireland. I was also superseded and had little time to pack my things and dispose of my cabin furniture […] I was very sorry to leave the dear old Windsor Castle where I had spent two very happy years, and was always glad in after years to meet Admiral Bouverie, whose last service was as Admiral Superintendent at Portsmouth […]

[fo. 76r] I left Portsmouth the day after I landed from the Windsor Castle, and arrived in London about 5 o'clock. In those days, before railways, there were two fast coaches, the Rocket and the Regulator, which did the distance of 72 miles in about 8 hours, and a very pleasant journey it used to be in the summer.Footnote ²³⁶ The road, one of the prettiest in England, was much the same as the direct Portsmouth line of rail today. How well I remember being shown into the large drawing room at Downing Street with its yellow damask furniture. I had however only time to see my mother for a few minutes before going to some lodgings opposite, which I shared with my younger brothers, as the official house in Downing Street had not much bedroom accommodation. Still, it was a most liveable & comfortable house & is (Jan'y 1877) still used for some purposes such as receptions by the Prime Minister, but its days are numbered & with the new public offices towering above it,Footnote ²³⁷ it looks small & [fo. 76v] shabby[. N]evertheless, these old houses in some respects were better than their more pretentious neighbours, for instance the new India [fo. 77r] office with its dark and long passages, and melancholy quadrangle. I also much doubt whether the modern plan of scattering people about in these immense structures is the way to get real work out of them.Footnote ²³⁸

In December 1830, my Father's government had not been formed above a month, and the political world was in great excitement & curiosity as to the policy of the first Whig or Liberal administration that had been in power (with the exception of one year, 1806 & 7) for nearly 40 years.Footnote ²³⁹ The Greville Memoirs, which came out two years ago, treat most fully of this time and in spite of most unfair remarks on my Father, which however he shares with the Duke of Wellington, Peel, and all public men of note of that day, are to me very interesting as recalling many events of that most interesting time.Footnote ²⁴⁰ I was at home during some of the most dramatic events, the narrow divisions in the House of Commons, the sudden dissolution of Parliament in 1831, and the stormy scenes in both houses.Footnote ²⁴¹ I shall never forget the unrivalled manner in which my father led the discussions in the House of Lords. Harassed on every occasion by questions raised by Lord AberdeenFootnote ²⁴² and other chiefs of the opposition without even the usual courtesy of previous notice, he was always equal to the occasion, [and] his answers at once complete and dignified were at the time extolled as they deserved, but his position & character, which probably saved the country from serious convulsions, [fo. 78] are now quite forgotten, and even the great Reform Bill, which he alone could have carried, is often placed to the credit of Lord John Russell who was not in the Cabinet that brought it forward, but as a compliment to his comparative long advocacy of the measure, was made the exponent of it in the House of Commons.Footnote ²⁴³

At this time the state of Europe was precarious. The French Revolution in June, 1830, followed by that of Belgium, and the attitude of the Northern powers, made the Duke of Wellington assert that peace could not be maintained for six months. The most serious question was Belgium and the fear of its annexation by France. The King of Holland in possession of the Citadel of Antwerp, and encouraged by Russia & the German powers, was apparently likely to put down the Belgians, when France determined to intervene and my Father decided to act with them. Our fleet went to the North Sea, a French army took AntwerpFootnote ²⁴⁴ and finally, as agreed upon, evacuated the country, when Leopold,Footnote ²⁴⁵ having married a daughter of L. Phillipe, became King of the Belgians, and from that day to this, the country has been […] constitutionally governed without participating in the constant revolutions & changes in its neighbour, France. This policy was due to my Father in which he was no doubt ably seconded by Lord Palmerston, to whom alone it is now attributed. [fo. 77v] The Policy of Canning in 1827 of joining Russia in relieving the Greeks from the tyranny of the Turks, as that of 1831, in our acting with France, should have been adopted last year by Lord Derby,Footnote ²⁴⁶ which would probably have saved the present Eastern Crisis.Footnote ²⁴⁷

[fo. 79] It was the day of my arrival, or at any rate the day after, that I saw Sir Thomas Hardy,Footnote ²⁴⁸ the senior Sea Lord of the Admiralty, who to my mother's great disgust at once appointed me to the Alfred 50 gun frigateFootnote ²⁴⁹ [that was] fitting out at Chatham. In those days the fitting out of ships was a different affair from what it is now, when the crews are all prepared and put on board from the regular standing force of continuous service men, [who are] men instructed in gunnery and well drilled to the discipline of a Man of War. The Alfred was what is called a Razee, that is a Line of Battleship turned into a Frigate by one deck being taken off. She was one of the first of this class, and carried long 32 pounders on her maindeck, and was considered a very fine Frigate, with a complement of 500 men. The Captain MaunsellFootnote ²⁵⁰ had not been at sea for so many years and had the reputation of having been a severe man, but no one ever less deserved that character […] [T]he 2^d [lieutenant] Augustus CoulsonFootnote ²⁵¹ was a good Officer & sailor, but a disappointed man, the more so at this time as he was a violent Tory & his party was now out of power […] Atkinson the 3^rd Lieut., commonly called in the service ‘Matey’, […] was [fo. 80] the son of the Master Attendant of Portsmouth Dock Yard, who had been Lord Nelson's master in the Victory of TrafalgarFootnote ²⁵² […] Baring, our Junior Lieutenant, son of Mr. Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord AshburtonFootnote ²⁵³ was just made, or promoted, [and] he was much wanting in common sense but naturally clever. A violent Tory and fond of talking politics, […] [he] died after a short illness of fever – poor fellow, he had ruined his constitution, young as he was, by always drinking cherry brandy and other strong drinks at all hours of the day & night, not in great quantities, but more than enough to ruin his health.

We were some time at Chatham as we manned slowly, owing to a number of other ships having been commissioned to form a channel squadron under the orders of Sir Edward Codrington. [fos 81–82] […] [I]t was some time before we were able to leave the Medway, as in those days it was a long process the procuring men for the different ships. By degrees the squadronFootnote ²⁵⁴ collected at Spithead, Sir E. Codrington in the Caledonia,Footnote ²⁵⁵ with his old Navarino Captain CurzonFootnote ²⁵⁶ as Flag Captain – Sir William Parker in the Prince Regent,Footnote ²⁵⁷ 3-decker, and Deans DundasFootnote ²⁵⁸ as Captain […] [I]t was ridiculous to see in our first cruises how ships were scattered about, [for] it seemed as if no one had ever sailed in a Fleet, or squadron […] [fo. 83] We had several cruises to the Westward, anchoring in Torbay, Plymouth & going off Scilly, [and] it was a very fine summer. At this time commenced the great change in ship building, and introduced a new model under the management of Captain Symonds, subsequently Sir William and Controller of the Navy.Footnote ²⁵⁹ What decided the alteration was the immense sailing superiority shown by the Pantaloon,Footnote ²⁶⁰ a Yacht brig built at the expense of the Duke of Portland. She was tried on this occasion against all the best ships in our squadron […] and in going to windward not one had the slightest chance with her […] [O]n the conclusion of the trials she was purchased by the Admiralty and made into a 10 gun brig. There was some suggestion of my being given Command of her, as I was about to be promoted, and it was flattering to be considered equal to it, altho’ many would have said, and with much truth, that being the son of the Prime Minister had a great deal to do with it, and no doubt it was so […] As it was, after having seen some of the Lords of the Admiralty, I was told that I should be appointed to the Command of the Scylla (18), then in the Mediterranean, whose commander was to be promoted – this I liked much better, and was now anxious for the end of the summer cruise, but we had first all to go to the Downs where a large force was collected in consequence of the unsettled state of Belgium, and the suspicions raised by the [fo. 84] discussions in the French chambersFootnote ²⁶¹ […]

My father, who was Prime Minister at this time and who took the leading part in all this, has been quite forgotten in respect to it, and Lord Palmerston has the credit, but so it is, [and] those who puff themselves up & pander to the press are, in the eyes of the English public, the great men. If ever Lord Palmerston's history is written fairly and all the ‘muddles & meddles’Footnote ²⁶² of which he was the author truly described and their mischievous effects, it will be seen how vain all the intrigues with the politics of other countries and how often were we on the verge of war for questions that are now forgotten and in which our interests were in no ways concerned[. A]mong others, soon after my father's retirement in 1834 there was the quadruple treaty with Spain, Portugal & FranceFootnote ²⁶³ which gave us the excuse to interfere by sea and with Marines in the Basque Provinces with the Civil war in Spain, and to allow the enlistment of a Legion which went to Spain under Sir De Lacy Evans,Footnote ²⁶⁴ and brought little credit to England. The Carlist war which was settled by the Treaty of Bergara in 1839Footnote ²⁶⁵ was succeeded for the next twenty years by constant ‘pronunciamientos’, or I may rather say, for the next 40, for the last Carlist warFootnote ²⁶⁶ of nearly 4 years duration, only terminated 3 years ago, when Isabella's sonFootnote ²⁶⁷ was called to the throne & has now married his cousin the daughter of the Duke of de Montpensier. ([fo. 83v] The young Queen Mercedes died 5 months after her marriage in June, 1878) [fo. 84] – what a satire upon all the intrigues & diplomacy of Louis Philippe & Ld. Palmerston […]

[fo. 85] As the Alfred was ordered to the Mediterranean, I took a passage in her, living with my old messmates in the gun room, as Captain Maunsell was not able to take me into his cabin, where, as a Commander, I should naturally have gone, owing to his having to take Sir William HoustonFootnote ²⁶⁸ out to Gibraltar to relieve good old Sir George Don.Footnote ²⁶⁹ Sir George had been Governor for 17 years, but now [was] too old to continue[. H]e however finished his days on the Rock having taken a private house when his successor arrived […]

[fo. 86] We sailed from Spithead on the 7^th of September – Coronation of William the IVth, and had a good passage to Gibraltar, where we remained some days, but my brother Charles had gone with another brother, Frederick, in the Actaeon Footnote ²⁷⁰ 26 gun Frigate to Constantinople. The Actaeon had been commissioned in October or November 1830. She was a new 26, or Jackass Frigate, with a capital cabin and a most enjoyable command for a young man in those days, but a useless man of war at least for war time.

The Barham (50)Footnote ²⁷¹ [under] Captain PigotFootnote ²⁷² also sailed for the Mediterranean about the same time, and took out as passenger to Malta Sir Walter Scott, completely broken in health, [and] indeed he died the following year[.Footnote ²⁷³ H]e was accompanied by his unmarried daughterFootnote ²⁷⁴ and his son Major Scott,Footnote ²⁷⁵ the latter I often met at the soldiers’ messes at Malta, but Sir Walter himself I never spoke to, but I often saw him getting into his carriage at Beverly's HotelFootnote ²⁷⁶ & I remember helping to get a man who made small wax & plaster busts to take his likeness, which he did by stealth, as he would not sit for it. These likenesses were wonderfully good […] On our passage from Gibraltar to Malta we passed close to Graham's Island,Footnote ²⁷⁷ off the South Coast of Sicily and nearly opposite to the island of Pantellaria. It was volcanic and […] came up almost in one night, and my old friend Charles SwinburneFootnote ²⁷⁸ was sent by Sir Pulteney Malcolm to survey it – indeed, not long before its appearance the Admiral [fo. 87] in the Britannia and Swinburne in the Rapid had passed over the spot. Some English seamen placed a Union Jack on top,Footnote ²⁷⁹ about 200 feet high, & very difficult to ascend owing to the lava. The Neapolitan GovernmentFootnote ²⁸⁰ took great offence, as if we wished to appropriate the mound of cinders! But it soon settled itself as the island completely disappeared within 6 months, & has now only left rather a dangerous shoal.

On arriving at Malta I found my brother Charles in the LazarettoFootnote ²⁸¹ finishing the Quarantine that every one who came from Constantinople or the Levant had to endure. We also had a few days of quarantine to observe as the Cholera had shown itself in England before we sailed.Footnote ²⁸² [fo. 88] The Scylla, Captain Hindmarsh,Footnote ²⁸³ had not arrived from the Archipelago, so I had to wait, borne as a supernumerary on the books of the St Vincent 3 decker, Flag ship of the Commander in Chief Sir Henry Hotham.Footnote ²⁸⁴ Sir Henry had been one of the Lords of the Admiralty on the change of government, and appointed to the Mediterranean by my father. He had distinguished himself in the great French war, and was still young, that is under 50 for an Admiral in those days. He was most gentlemanlike and to me most kind, as was also his wife Lady Frances, a sister of Rous the great Racing Admiral who only died last year (1877)Footnote ²⁸⁵ […]

While Charles was waiting for the packet to return to England, Captain Lyons, who was ordered home in his frigate the Madagascar,Footnote ²⁸⁶ wrote to me to say that, if he did not mind sleeping in a cot of the main deck, he should be too glad if he would join their large party for a passage to England […] [fo. 89] On arriving in England, Charles became Private Secretary to my Father, and on an application from Sir Henry Hotham to Sir James Graham[, who was] First Lord of the Admiralty, to send Captain Lyons back to the station being refused, was able to convey Sir Henry's wishes and opinions that it was for the good of the public service that he should return. My Father sent a Cabinet minute to that effect and the Madagascar returned to the station early in 1832 […]

After the Madagascar sailed early in November, I went on board the St Vincent as a guest of the Admiral and was on board during a cruise of some weeks off Sicily, visiting Syracuse and exercising the few ships of the squadron of which the Alfred was one. A few days after our return the Scylla returned from the Levant, but was put into long quarantine. I joined her on the 5^th of December, and as she required a good deal of refitting, I took up my quarters in rooms at the Lazaretto in company with old Hindmarsh, whose promotion to Post Captain gave me command of the ship. Captain Hindmarsh was the son of a gunner and as a boy at the Battle of the Nile had brought himself into notice, and been made a midshipman[. H]is promotion had been slow and he was now upwards of 50[. H]e was hardly a gentleman, but a good sort of man[. H]aving no private fortune & a family at home, he was [fo. 90] unable to meet the expenses attendant on commands in those days and was I daresay unjustly accused of being stingy […] I was able to help him a few years later and, through Henry, obtained for him the Governorship of one of the smaller colonies in Australia, where I believe he did very well indeedFootnote ²⁸⁷ […]

[fo. 91] From the 5^th of December to the 7^th of January, 1832, I remained at Malta, refitting the Scylla, a great part of the time in quarantine, as, owing to the fear of the Plague and the old selfish sanitary laws, all ships from the Levant, Egypt & Barbary were subject to a long quarantine of observation, altho’ they may have never have had a case of infectious sickness on board and the Port [that they] last left equally free. The excuse for these selfish fears was that the European powers would otherwise have shut Malta out from free communication, and, as the island depended greatly on Sicily for its supplies there was some sort of reason in the argument […]

[fo. 92] On the 7^th of January 1832, I sailed from Malta for Tripoli in Barbary […] It was the 11^th before I anchored in the harbour of Tripoli, owing to head winds, the distance being not more than 200 miles. The harbour is a very intricate one to enter and is formed by a low reef of rocks and altho’ a year later my brother Frederick surveyed it, & took the Belvidera Footnote ²⁸⁸ commanded by Richard DundasFootnote ²⁸⁹ into the anchorage, he only did so by lightening her, & crossing the bar on a calm day in almost the exact [fo. 93] depth of water she drew. The Arab pilots are very good ones and seldom fail in taking vessels up to a certain draught of water in and out with safety. The Consul, Colonel Warrington, had a consulate and house in the town and a country house about two miles distant, with a large garden situated on a promontory facing the entrance to the reef, indeed, a summer house & mark on his garden wall were the leading marks to run in by.

For the next two or three years I paid several visits to Tripoli and can never forget the kindness & hospitality of the Consul to myself & officers – he had a large family & many of the children spoke broken English, or rather a sort of Levant English, [for] among themselves Arabic was constantly used […] [One] son had been in command of a squadron of cavalry at the time of the Bristol riotsFootnote ²⁹⁰ and had been dismissed from the service for want of decision at a critical moment.Footnote ²⁹¹ This was a severe blow to his father, who had been an old Cavalry officer himself, and was one of the most determined & courageous men I ever knew. Frederick, the 3^d son, was a man of curious habits, living in intimacy with the Moors, and of use to his father from his knowledge of the country & the language, but also a great anxiety to him owing to his habit of drinkingFootnote ²⁹² […]

[fo. 94] The ship being securely moored in Tripoli Harbour, I took up my quarters in the Consul's house and the first few days were taken up in receiving and returning visits from the foreign Consuls, some of whom were very gentlemanlike, […] but as a general rule, our Consuls and those of France were rivals for influence in all the Barbary and Levant ports. France, having been in possession of Algiers a little more than a year,Footnote ²⁹³ was naturally looked upon with fear by the rulers of Tunis & Tripoli and our English jealousy was then turned in that direction, as it now is towards Russia. Who can now doubt the great advantage to civilisation in France having superseded the barbarous & piratical Beys of Algiers, the long forbearance of whose rule on the part of Europe being caused by that dynastic jealousy and selfish policy which one hoped had ceased, but seems likely again to revive in our late proceedings, and [the] seizure of CyprusFootnote ²⁹⁴ in our unreasoning fear of Russia, but I must keep to 1831! and not 1878!

On the 19^th of January, 1832, I went with the Consul to wait on the Bashaw, old Yussouf Caramanli, the same whom I had seen in 1830 when in the Windsor Castle. Tripoli, like most Eastern towns, is a mixture of ruins, Mosques and fortifications, it has a large Bazaar which, on certain days, is crowded with natives of the different tribes of the interior [fo. 95] who come in large caravans from Timbuctoo, MoorzukFootnote ²⁹⁵ and the Soudan, bringing dates […] & ostrich feathers, ivory, &c. Formerly there was a great traffic in negro slaves,Footnote ²⁹⁶ which still existed to some extent in 1831, that I believe is nearly extinct, while the feather traffic has taken large dimensions, also the export of Esparto Grass,Footnote ²⁹⁷ a new article of commerce since the time of the Crimean war. The houses are mostly flat roofed and low, wretched looking as to the exterior, but I saw several with interior courts or Patios, as in Seville & the old Moorish parts of Spain, which were handsomely furnished and luxurious, with cool mats and silk divans. The women's apartments look into these courts, with trellice work in wood through which they can see without being seen. The narrow, filthy streets are thronged with wild looking Arabs, distinct from the Moor, or Berber, of settled habitations, Jews, Negroes and the scum of the Levant, among whom the Maltese and Ionians preponderate, being under British protection.

The Castle is a large and commanding building, one face to the harbour, with a landing place and postern gate, the others to the town & country and, like the rest of the town – much out of repair. Contrasting with some entirely new additions, it seems as if in the East it was not the custom ever to repair any thing.

We landed from my boat at the postern […] A minister by name of Mohamed TurkiFootnote ²⁹⁸ met us on landing with interpreter & attendants. This man was charged with English affairs and, to a certain extent was, in consequence, under the protection of our Flag. Other nations had their recognised native Agent. We passed through a great length of dark & vaulted passages, past stables, prisons and large rooms filled with a motley crowd of armed Arabs, Negroes & men in [fo. 96] the new frank uniform lately adopted at Constantinople, Turkish trousers & slippers, red Fez, and blue frock coat copied from a French model. On being introduced into the audience chamber we found the Bashaw seated on a divan richly ornamented, with his ministers standing round. The room, or rather hall, was a capacious one and seemed at its lower end open to the public. We were given chairs & then coffee brought to us and sweetmeats, but not pipes as in Egypt. The Bashaw, his long beard died black & most gracefully dressed in a white Bournouse over a rich under garment covered with embroidery, Turban &c., received us most graciously, and Colonel Warrington through the interpreter gave the usual messages from the Admiral on the station with which I was charged and asked His Highness to appoint a day for us to have a more private audience to discuss the claims of the British merchants, to obtain payment of which had been the reason of the Scylla being sent to Tripoli. While we were talking over these preliminaries, to my astonishment a young Arab, in wretched garments, rushed from the crowd of spectators and seized hold of my sword, kneeling & saying something in a beseeching tone. The Consul whispered to me to leave all to him, but not to allow the attendants to free me from the man as they were offering to do. It was curious to see the smile on Colonel Warrington's face when, in answer to the Bashaw's offer to have the man taken away he said he would not trouble his Highness, but immediately afterwards got up & took leave[. W]e returned through all the dark vaulted passages & corridors to the postern where my boat was waiting: a very fast 4-oared [fo. 97] gig. I put the man in the bow and told the boat's crew that his life probably depended upon our being able to reach the point on which the Consul's house was built, before the horsemen from the Castle whom we saw starting to gallop around the bay could reach the landing place near it. Of course the Consul could have taken the man into his house, but as the protection was only valid while within the walls he would have been watched day & night to our great annoyance, especially as we were ignorant of what was brought against him[. W]e did not wish to be responsible, but trusting that if he once landed among the thickly walled gardens of the Mescia – (the cultivated strip of date land along the coast) his chance of escape would be good & so it proved. When we landed we cut short all his gestures of gratitude and waved him to be off, wrapping his burnouse about him he started off like a deer[. H]e was a handsome young fellow, slim & active, with piercing black eyes. Some time after, one of his tribe brought me a present of dates from him in remembrance of his rescue, but how far […] this protection was a saving of life is very doubtful, as next day when we rode into the town, at the principal gate near the Castle wall we saw a sight I shall never forget. 5 Arabs, hanging over the wall on 3 ropes – that is, two of the ropes had each two bodies attached to them. It seems they, with the man we rescued, were hostages from some tribe in the interior, for the payment of tribute, and as the principal man had escaped the revengeful and bloody old Bashaw had vented his anger on these poor creatures. I never could bear the sight of him afterwards, altho’ his manner in the different interviews with him he was always, I may say, most courteous & engaging.

[fo. 98] I forgot to mention that the day after my arrival the Bashaw had sent me a horse as a present, also a bullock & boat load of vegetables for the ship's company – a custom which was, soon after this, put an end to as it entailed on the part of our Government a return present through the Consul […] The Consul's Country house, built by himself in a large garden and well adapted to the climate, was a delightful residence, especially at this time of the year, when the climate of Tripoli is perfection. There was a landing place, one of the best on the Coast, at the foot of the garden, and the Country inland was a succession of gardens, under a forest of date trees, extending some 8 or 10 miles along the coast, but in some places little [fo. 99] more in width than a mile from the desert. This district called the Mescia is very rich in its produce, and is thickly populated with a Berber, or Moorish, population. The wells which are very numerous and identical to the Spanish Norias in Andalucia & Valencia, are worked by means of a long spar which forms a lever, & by means of irrigation and most careful cultivation there is produced barley wheat, every sort of fruit & lucerns in abundance for their cattle. The date, or palm trees, form a pleasant shade and the rides which we took every evening through the narrow sandy roads, among the gardens were very pleasant […]

I used often to go with the Consul to the garden & house of an old renegade Scottish man, who was then chief Admiral, Mourad Reis was his Moorish title, his original name Peter Lyle,Footnote ²⁹⁹ and having been taken prisoner at the beginning of the century by one of the Barbary Corsairs, had nominally renounced his religion and become one of the most skilful & daring of the Bashaw's officers[. H]e was now an old man and I often saw him with a European blue coat over his Turkish trousers, pruning his fruit trees, and tending a garden in which he took great pride[. H]e had married a Moorish woman, and had a grown up family, & he was obliged to conform to the customs of the country by having a separate dwelling for the women of his family, but I one day saw in his own room a well thumbed English Bible, but even to the Consul with whom he had been intimate for many years, he never alluded to this subject, indeed, it would not have been safe for him to do so, as all his belongings were real Mohamedans, whatever he might have been.

[fo. 100] Another Scotchman who I remember well was Dr. Dickson,Footnote ³⁰⁰ who had been many years in the place, and was much respected both by natives and Christians. The Bashaw always consulted him, and it was also believed that in other matters besides those of his profession he used his influence for good. With the exception of the Maltese connected with the port & one quarter of the town, the Christian population consisted only of the Consuls and their families, and a few mercantile agents chiefly connected with Malta and Sicily. The climate in January is very agreeable and during this first visit I had some most pleasant rides and excursions with the Consul and his two grown up daughters with generally one or two officers & midshipmen of the ship, who took turns in staying on shore, it having always been the custom of Colonel Warrington during the short visits of men of war to keep open house. The eldest sister married a Mr Wood,Footnote ³⁰¹ Vice Consul at Benghazi, during one of our future visits, and the second, Louisa, a most popular and good natured girl, was the life of our riding parties, on her white horse ‘Caro’ which she rode beautifully[. S]he spoke Arabic better than English, naturally, having been born in the country, and living with Moorish servants[. S]he married a son of Dr. Dickson's some 10 years after this & I saw her at Malta in 1843. The marriage was not a happy one, her husband is now, and has been for some years, Physician to the Embassy at Constantinople,Footnote ³⁰² [and] she has long been dead […]

[fo. 101] The Bashaw, after many excuses, at last owned he could not collect the money demanded of him in the time given by the Admiral's orders for my stay, but he wrote to Sir Henry Hotham pledging himself to pay what was due, if the Scylla returned in a month or 6 weeks […]

On the 30^th of January we sailed from Tripoli and had a good run across to Malta where we anchored next day. Early in the afternoon, we had to go into the Quarantine harbour, and remain with the yellow flag up until the 13^th of February […]

For the next fortnight I lived on shore dining at the mess of the 7^th Fusiliers or with some party every night and enjoying the society of the place. I had to wait for the [fo. 102] arrival of the Madagascar – Captain Lyons then expected from England […] The Madagascar arrived on the 5^th of March, 1832, and I sailed next day with her despatches and letters to join the Commander in Chief at […] Nauplia, in Greece […] At this time there was much diplomatic negotiation going on relative to the establishment of the Greek Kingdom, after the assassination of Capo D'Istrias,Footnote ³⁰³ [and] it had been offered to King Leopold[. H]e unfortunately would not accept the crown, owing to the curtailment of the territory by the Duke of Wellington and his ministry,Footnote ³⁰⁴ [which was] unfortunate not only as losing such a man as he proved himself in Belgium, but as entailing the present difficult question as to the extension of the boundary[. H]ad the addition now proposed been given in 1830, how different would the provinces of Thessaly and EpirusFootnote ³⁰⁵ in all probability have been, at this moment. Jealousy of Russia again!

[fo. 103] Our Minister in Greece at this time was Mr. Dawkins,Footnote ³⁰⁶ a very clever, agreeable, and unscrupulous diplomat. I often dined and rode with him, and some times stayed in his house, some of which attention I no doubt owed to being my father's son […] Dawkins lived to a considerable age, married a very nice person & became one of the quietest and most domestic of men – I used to dine with him in his handsome house in Brook Street, 20 years after this time […]

[fo. 104] […] On the 2^nd of April I sailed in the Scylla for Malta, en route for Tripoli [and from] the 13^th of April to the 19^th of May we remained at Tripoli in the vain hope of the Bashaw producing the money he had promised to pay. I could not leave as every week it was to be forthcoming, but excuses & more promises were all we got. I began to suspect that it was not only unwillingness but an inability to pay, and so indeed it eventually proved. The climate at this time of year was delicious and we all enjoyed our rides and drives about the Mescia, and I got up some races on a sort of dry salt marsh. The Consul's hospitality was unbounded. I had a charming room at his country house, and some of the Officers & Midshipmen came to dinner after joining our daily rides. I had written to Sir Henry Hotham expressing my own opinion that Colonel Warrington was too sanguine in expecting to recover the claims of the Maltese merchants, and awaited his orders as I did not like to leave against the opinion of the Consul […]

[fo. 105] On the 19^th of May we sailed from Tripoli, had a good run over to Malta, where we anchored the following day, while waiting for the packet from England and performing quarantine, [and] I landed the ship's company at the Lazaretto, painted and cleaned. Frederick was in the great harbour in the Actaeon and of course often came to see me at the Parlatorio.Footnote ³⁰⁷ On the 1^st of June we went round to the other harbour and as I now had pratique,Footnote ³⁰⁸ we lived together in lodgings until the Actaeon sailed to join the Admiral on the 12^th. On the 5^th [of July] Sir Henry Hotham determined in compliance with Colonel Warrington's proposal to send a more imposing force than the little Scylla alone, to renew the demands on the Bashaw of Tripoli. The Belvidera, Actaeon and Scylla, sailed under sealed orders, much to the mystification of the squadron and our officers. Captain Dundas in Command, Frederick and Dundas were sworn allies,Footnote ³⁰⁹ F. having some years before been a Lieutenant with Dundas in the Volage Footnote ³¹⁰ […] On the night of the 13^th we shortened sail off the town of Tripoli […] and the two larger ships anchored around noon on the 14^th, outside the harbour reef and I took [fo. 106] up my old berth in the inner harbour […] Dundas accompanied by Frederick and myself called on the Consul and according to the instructions from the Admiral we waited on the Bashaw, giving him only 48 hours to pay down the $200,000Footnote ³¹¹ claimed by the Maltese merchants. As I fully expected, he could not do so and, on the 16^th we all went to the Consular residence in the town and, with great formality and before a large crowd of natives, hauled down the British Flag. I slept at the Consul's country house, and next day as it was known I was to sail in a few days to carry the result of our threat to the Admiral a deputation of merchants with the principal Maltese Agent came to Colonel Warrington and offered to accept half the sum, viz. $100,000 which the Bashaw had offered in full discharge of all claims, and no doubt the claims were exorbitant. Of course the Consul would have accepted this, and when I went off with him to the Belvidera I was never so astonished as to find Dundas was determined to stick to the letter of his instructions. I endeavoured to get Frederick to change his resolution, but no persuasion was of any use. The Flag having been struck, the Consul could do nothing, and according to the orders should have embarked with his family on board the Belvidera, but this he positively refused to do, but said he would hire a merchant vessel in the bay and go to Sfax in the Regency of Tunis, to wait the decision of the Colonial SecretaryFootnote ³¹² at home, to whom I was to forward his despatches from Malta […]

[fo. 107] I sailed on the 26^th of July to join Sir Henry Hotham at Napoli di Romania […] During our stay there was a large assemblage of men of war as the boundaries of the new Greek Kingdom were to be settled by the allied powers. The English, French and Russian Admirals [were there and there was] a good deal of coming & going. The Madagascar came in on the 8^th and Captain Lyons was as usual most kind to me. My ship was mustered and inspected by Sir Henry Hotham, and I was much pleased with the praise he gave us, he was always most kind to me. The Barham arrived on the 15^th of August with Sir Stratford Canning on board, but sailed again on the 18^th for Constantinople and I followed next day with Colonel BakerFootnote ³¹³ and a [fo. 108] small brig in tow containing the Turkish commissioner for the new Greek boundary, Colonel Baker acting for England, those of France and Russia were to join them at PrevesaFootnote ³¹⁴ […]

[fo. 109] On the 22^d of August, we hove to off Modon – to send despatches to the French Commandant, that town as well as Navarino being held by the Contingent force sent in 1828 from France. On the 27^th I cast off the Turkish brig with the Commissioner off Santa Maura and, on the 28^th, anchored at Corfu where my passengers left me. I only remained at Corfu one day and sailed on the 29^th for Nauplia, standing up the Gulf of Patras on our way to communicate with the Rainbow,Footnote ³¹⁵ a small 28 gun frigate, commanded by Sir John Franklin, who even then seemed an old man, and when he left on his last expedition in 1845, was above 70 and old for his age.Footnote ³¹⁶ After paying off the Rainbow, he was for some years Governor of Van Deeman's land,Footnote ³¹⁷ and there my friend Streleski became very intimate with him, and at one time had almost decided on accompanying him to the Arctic seas. We did not anchor at Patras, but having received Sir John's despatches, proceeded on our voyage, heaving to also off Navarino, where I went on shore to communicate with the French General. The bay now quiet and almost empty presenting a great contrast to when I had last seen it on the 20^th of October, 1827, and the few following days that we remained after the action […]

[fo. 110] At this time nothing could exceed the confusion, indeed I might almost say anarchy, of the state of Greece. The French force had been much reduced, and now held only a few strong positions, such as Patras, Navarin, Modon, and Argos. The Greek Government was in a transitional state: John Capodistrias, brother of the late murdered President,Footnote ³¹⁸ the nominal head, but the Chiefs were in arms against each other – Colocotroni,Footnote ³¹⁹ Grievas, Hadji ChristoFootnote ³²⁰ and others, with bands of brigands or ‘Palikari’ – ColetteFootnote ³²¹ [was] a protégé of France, Mavrocordato of the English. The Bavarian Prince Otto had been selected for King by the Allies on the refusal of Leopold, now King of the Belgians, to accept it, and Captain Lyons in the Madagascar accompanied by my friend Swinburne in the Rapid had gone, or [was] soon to go to Trieste to bring the young King, and his Three Germans who were to form the Regency.Footnote ³²² The Allied Ministers and Admirals were anxious to avoid any collision with the rebellious Chieftains, but the French had not succeeded[. S]ome French soldiers at this time having been fired at by Palikari at Argos, an almost indiscriminate massacre of the male populationFootnote ³²³ took place before the General and his officers could restrain the infuriated soldiers. For some time a feeling of rancour and bad blood had been growing up between the Greeks and the French, [and] at this time it was impossible to walk a mile outside the gates of Nauplia without the risk of being fired at. The jealousy of the Russian, English, & French ministers was taken advantage of by such Chiefs as Colocotroni & Grievas, but our [fo. 111] chivalrous and high minded Admiral Sir Henry Hotham was looked up to by all. My old friend Admiral Hugon,Footnote ³²⁴ the finest specimen of a sailor I had ever seen among Frenchmen, also left the lying and intriguing to his Minister, and ran true with our Chief; on the other hand, Admiral RicordFootnote ³²⁵ the Russian was as sly and deceitful an old fox as ever lived, and I well remember the tone of surprise and contempt with which Sir Henry on one occasion said to me, ‘I am sorry to say, Grey, that my Russian colleague is not a man of truth!’

The Colocotroni party, now in open arms against the Government in Nauplia, was joined by other influential chiefs, Grievas and Hadji Christo, and they threatened to cut off the water at some mills on the opposite shore of the Gulf, about four miles across from Nauplia, and upon which the squadron in the bay depended for water. In consequence of this I received orders to anchor off this watering place in company with a French Man of War Brig Dragon,Footnote ³²⁶ keeping up communication by signal with the Flag ship […] For several days I went out regularly and met no annoyance from the straggling Greeks that I [fo. 112] met and, becoming doubtful as to any real danger of the threatened occupation, I allowed myself to stray further inland and out of sight of the ship. At last one day having done so, I was followed by one of the boat's crew making signals and on joining him I heard that a large body of armed Greeks were between me and my boat, and taken possession of the mills. This was not pleasant intelligence & might have proved serious to me, from a professional point of view, but there was nothing for it but to put the best face I could on the matter, so shouldering my gun & followed by a young mid, my companion, and the man of the boat's crew, with my faithful dog Joe at my heels I walked towards the beach, and found a motley crowd of armed Palikari (irregular mountaineer soldiers) to the number of two or three hundred, and several mounted chieftains. No one interrupted me, and having gained my boat I went on board, where I found the crew at quarters, the guns loosed and the French Captain in considerable fidget waiting for me. Once on board and in my uniform, I was perfectly at ease, and accompanied my French colleague to the shore, in full fig. The head man was Hadji Christo, a man who had earned a great reputation in the war as a cavalry leader. He offered us coffee & pipes, and after a good deal of swagger and twisting of his mostachios, he owed how useless it would be to attempt to hold the mills against the broadsides of our two ships, with [fo. 113] the power of asking for any amount of assistance from the large ships of the allied squadrons at the opposite side of the bay. He therefore moved off to an encampment some 3 or 4 miles further down the gulf, and in a few days disappeared altogether, so there was an end of this small matter, and the two ships rejoined their respective flags at Nauplia.

From the 2^d of October until the 8^th we remained with the squadron, several arrivals and departures on different services taking place […] [fos 114A–114B]

[fo. 115] On the 8^th of October, I sailed from […] Nauplia, on a cruise to look after some Pirate vessels, or large row boats, that had been committing depredations off Cape Matapan, on the Maina Coast and in the gulf of Kolykithia. My orders were to go to Navarino and to communicate with the French Commandant of that station. I arrived in the old bay on the 12^th now with only two or three small French men of war in it and a few small trading vessels. The Castle was held by French troops, as was also those of Modon & Coron. Having shown my instructions to the Governor, he ordered the Commander of a small brig, the Dauphinoise,Footnote ³²⁷ to take on board 20 voltigeurs under the Command of a Lieutenant, with a small mountain howitzer and to sail in company with the Scylla, and to co-operate in any attack upon Pirates, or Pirate haunts, that we might consider there was sufficient justification for. We stood round the islands of Sapienza and at the Gulf of Kalamata, with the intention of summoning the chief of the village of Scardamoula,Footnote ³²⁸ situated on a rocky eminence and commanding a small harbour, to give up a Greek Mystico, or large lateen sailed boat, that had put in there, and was suspected of a late robbery on an Ionian merchant vessel. I had stood close in to this place on my way to Navarin, and had made up my mind how, with the ship's broadsides, and the landing of Marines and blue jackets, the possession of the place could be effected, and you may imagine the excitement & interest it gave this young captain of only 23 years of age, in those days of peace, to be selected for a service which, if successfully performed would have once brought me into notice. [fo. 116] […] It was at daylight on the 13^th that we had sailed from Navarino, and after passing Modon it came on to blow rather fresh in squalls, and as the Scylla sailed so much better than the French brig, I took in two reefs in the topsails and otherwise shortened sail, which so frightened the Frenchman, that he came on board to claim the weather was too bad to carry out our plan […]

This was by no means the first time, nor was it the last, in which I have seen French Captains left to their own responsibility act in the same way. Their large ships were in excellent order in those days, and acting together under a determined officer such as my old friend Hugon of the Armide Footnote ³²⁹ it would have been no Trafalgar that our often badly manned ships and old Officers would have attained[. B]ut when on detached service, and near the land the want of confidence in their own seamanship and in that of their men, made it very indifferent, and remembering this I have always of late laughed [fo. 117] at the ridiculous and disgraceful panics which have periodically occurred[. A]s for the invasion of a United England by France, or Russia, or both combined[,] I look upon it as absurd, [for] we know that Napoleon the great, not the Petit, with the continent almost at his command, with an unlimited number of men, and the best generals never did, or could, attempt it, and while our nation continues a commercial, that is a seafaring nation it can never be successful, even sketching the case, as in the ‘Battle of Dorking’,Footnote ³³⁰ of disposing of our Navy, either by dispersion or sinking […]

[fo. 118] The following day I again stood up the Gulf and communicated with the Primate of the village of Kardymyla, or Scardamoula. No small coasters or mysticoes were now in the small harbour, but probably concealed not far off. Of course the Primate professed that he and his Mainiote brethren were the most honest of men. Robbers as they were and had been for generations, and does it not prove much in favour of the Greece of our day that these are men [who] are now what they then professed to be, peaceable and honest. In a barren country comparatively as Maina or ancient Sparta is, they now developed many resources of trade, cultivation of silk worms, and considerable commerce by sea, yet it was even then the fashion with the atrocities of Ibrahim PashaFootnote ³³¹ before their eyes to praise up the cruel and sensual Turk as a gentleman, and to abuse the Greek as cunning & deceitful. If he was this, what had made him so, but ages of oppression and slavery. [fos 119–125]

[fo. 126] There was a good deal of movement at this time among our ships and the foreign ones, as the new King of Greece was expected. On the 17^th of January, 1833, the Alfred arrived with Sir Henry Hotham's flag. On the 30^th the Madagascar with King Otto arrived, accompanied by French and Russian Frigates, as belonging to the Alliance. Transports with Bavarian troops came at the same time. On the 6^th of February the Allied squadron fired a royal salute on the landing of King Otto, and for some days afterwards we had a round of ceremonies and presentations. The King was accompanied by 3 Bavarian magnates, as a sort of Council of Regents, of whom the principal was Count Armansperg, who had 3 very pretty daughters, [and] there was considerable gaiety and amusement in the usual dull Napoli during this month, at least the part of it I was there.

[fo. 127] On the 18^th of February, I again sailed for Malta […] It was not until the 27^th that we arrived […] and, on the 15^th of March got pratique with the Pelican, and towed round into the Grand Harbour, to have a general caulking and refit, of which the ship was much in want as a result of all the winter work of carrying the mails which had fallen to our lot […] [O]ne Sunday night when the ship had just been finished caulking, I received a note from Sir Henry Hotham to say that news had come from the Coast of Barbary that made it necessary for him to send the Pelican to Tripoli, and the Scylla to Tunis, and wishing to know how soon I could be ready […] [fo. 128] Officers & men showed the spirit I expected, and the work was arranged at once, I rode back to breakfast, and immediately afterwards waited on the Admiral, and told him that I proposed to haul the ship out to the fair way buoy on Wednesday evening, take in our powder on Thursday morning, and be ready to sail at 10 o'clock that forenoon. He took me by the hand, and said ‘I expected you to do your best, but had no idea you would be able to do so much – go on as you are now doing, and your success in your profession is certain’. [fo. 129] […] The ship was ready at the time I named, and I sailed for Tunis, having on board as passenger Catesby PagetFootnote ³³² of the 7^th Fusiliers – a very nice fellow but, at that time wild and inclined to drink […] I never saw Sir Henry Hotham again. Shortly after I left Malta, he was taken ill while sitting on a court to try some Pirates, and from the rupture of a blood vessel in his head, died in a few hours […] [fo. 130A]

Great numbers of the wildest Arabs of the interior[] were encamped on the site of Carthage, and around the town of Tunis, but so afraid was the Bey and his ministers of these savage allies that they were not allowed to enter the town. I took up my quarters with Paget at the residence of Sir Thomas ReadeFootnote ³³³ our Consul General in an old Palace called the ‘Abdulleah’ near Cape Carthage, in a lovely spotFootnote ³³⁴ […] After waiting on the Bey at his Palace of the Bardo,Footnote ³³⁵ and calling on the different Foreign Consuls & Captains, I spent most of my time at the Abdulleah, riding or driving down to the Goletta every other morning to go on board my ship for an hour or so […] [fo. 130B] I remained until the 12^th of May, when the dispute between the Sardinians and the Bey having been arranged the Arab tribes returned to the interior, and the foreign squadrons left the Bay […] I remained at Tripoli the month of June […]

During this time I lived as usual with Colonel Warrington at the Consul's country house. [There was now a] civil warFootnote ³³⁶ between the town & country Bashaws, which had begun a year ago on our hauling down the English flag at the Consulate, and when Dundas so foolishly in my opinion refused to agree to the terms offered by the Bey, and accepted by the merchants.

Casual skirmishes & sorties, with firing on exposed parties from the Castle, without much loss of life on either side, was the regular routine, and one got accustomed to it all, altho’ occasionally, in pulling backwards & forwards to the ship, the shots from the Castle, directed against a sand battery, erected near the Consul's garden were less than relaxing […] [fos 131–132B]

The rest of July and August I remained at Tripoli, and during this time the war between the Inside and Outside Bashaws continued, without much life on either side, with the exception of occasional Sorties from the Castle and the landing of some mortars for the Outside party from Malta. [fo. 133] […] It was curious to see the enthusiasm with which Colonel Warrington was greeted; indeed, as I often told him, he might have set himself up as a third Bashaw, and in all probability been the successful one. It is now 50 years since the events I am recording took place, but they, as others, are as fresh in my recollection as if they had occurred yesterday.Footnote ³³⁷ [fos 134–135]