Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Born	(1757-04-19)19 April 1757
Died	23 January 1833(1833-01-23) (aged 75)
Place of birth	Dover, England
Place of death	Teignmouth, Devon, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1770 – 1820
Rank	Admiral
Commands held	East Indies Station Mediterranean Fleet Plymouth Command
Battles/wars	American War of Independence French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars Second Barbary War
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Relations	Israel Pellew

Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother, Israel Pellew, also pursued a naval career.

Pellew was an officer of courage, leadership and skill, serving as a paragon of the versatility and determination of British naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars.

Childhood

Pellew was born at Dover, the second son of Samuel Pellew (1712–1764), commander of a Dover packet. The family was Cornish, descended from a family which came originally from Normandy, but had for many centuries been settled in the west of Cornwall. Edward's grandfather, Humphrey Pellew (1650–1721), a merchant and ship owner, son of a naval officer, resided at Flushing manor-house in the parish of Mylor. Part of the town of Flushing was built by Samuel Trefusis MP for Penryn; the other part was built by Humphrey Pellew who was buried there. He also had a property and a tobacco plantation in Maryland. Part of the town of Annapolis stands on what was, before the revolt of the colonies, the estate of the Pellews. On the death of Edward's father in 1764 the family removed to Penzance, and Pellew was educated for some years at Truro Grammar School He was a pugnacious youth, which did not endear him to his headmaster. He ran away to sea at the age of 14, but soon deserted because of unfair treatment to another midshipman.

Early career

In 1770 Pellew entered the Royal Navy on board HMS Juno, with Captain John Stott, and made a voyage to the Falkland Islands. In 1772 he followed Stott to the Alarm, and in her was in the Mediterranean for three years. In consequence of a high-spirited quarrel with his captain, he was put on shore at Marseilles, where, finding an old friend of his father's in command of a merchant ship, he was able to get a passage to Lisbon and so home. He afterwards was in the Blonde, which, under the command of Captain Philemon Pownoll, took General John Burgoyne to America in the spring of 1776. In October Pellew, together with another midshipman, Brown, was detached, under Lieutenant Dacres, for service in the Carleton tender on Lake Champlain. During the Battle of Valcour Island on 11 October, Dacres and Brown were both severely wounded, and the command devolved on Pellew, who, by his personal gallantry, extricated the vessel from a position of great danger. As a reward for his service he was immediately appointed to command the Carleton. In December Lord Howe wrote, promising him a commission as lieutenant when he could reach New York, and in the following January Lord Sandwich wrote promising to promote him when he came to England. In the summer of 1777 Pellew, with a small party of seamen, was attached to the army under Burgoyne and was present in the fighting at Saratoga, where his youngest brother, John, was killed. He, together with the rest of the force, was taken prisoner. After the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, he was repatriated.

On returning to England he was promoted, on 9 January 1778, to be lieutenant of the Princess Amelia guardship at Portsmouth. He wanted to be appointed to a seagoing ship but Lord Sandwich considered that he was bound by the terms of the surrender at Saratoga not to undertake any active service. Towards the end of the year he was appointed to the Licorne, which, in the spring of 1779, went out to Newfoundland, returning in the winter, when Pellew was moved into the Apollo, with his old captain, Pownoll. On 15 June 1780 the Apollo engaged a large French privateer, the Stanislaus, off Ostend. Pownoll was killed by a musket-shot, but Pellew, continuing the action, dismasted the Stanislaus and drove her on shore, where she was protected by the neutrality of the coast. On the 18th Lord Sandwich wrote to him: "I will not delay informing you that I mean to give you immediate promotion as a reward for your gallant and officer-like conduct." and on 1 July he was accordingly promoted to the command of the Hazard sloop, which was employed for the next six months on the east coast of Scotland. She was then paid off. In March 1782 Pellew was appointed to the Pelican, a small French prize, so small indeed that he used to say "his servant could dress his hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin." On 28 April, while cruising on the coast of Brittany, he engaged and drove on shore three privateers. In special reward for this service he was promoted to post rank on 25 May, and ten days later was appointed to the temporary command of the Artois, in which on 1 July, he captured a large frigate-built privateer.

From 1786 to 1789 he commanded the Winchelsea frigate on the Newfoundland station, returning home each winter by Cadiz and Lisbon. Afterwards he commanded the Salisbury on the same station, as flag-captain to Vice-admiral Milbanke. In 1791 he was placed on half-pay and tried his hand at farming on Treverry Farm near Helston, a property owned by his brother, who was a senior customs officer of Flushing. This met with indifferent success, during which time he attempted to sell a bull, only to find it was in the ownership of a neighbouring farmer. He was offered a command in the Russian navy but declined it. He was still struggling with the difficulties of his farm when the revolutionary government of France declared war on Great Britain on 1 February 1793. He immediately applied for a ship and was appointed to the Nymphe, a 36-gun frigate which he fitted out in a remarkably short time. Having expected a good deal of difficulty in manning her, he had enlisted some eighty Cornish miners, who were sent round to the ship at Spithead. With these and about a dozen seamen — apart from the officers (who were obliged to help in the work aloft) — he put to sea and by dint of pressing from the merchant ships in the Channel, succeeded in filling up his complement but with very few seasoned navy men. On 18 June the Nymphe sailed from Falmouth on the news that two French frigates had been seen in the Channel. At the Action of 18 June 1793 Nymphe fell in with the Cléopâtre, also of 36 guns, commanded by Captain Mullon, one of the few officers of the ancien régime who still remained in the French navy. After a short but very sharp action, the Cléopâtre's mizenmast and wheel were shot away, and the ship, being unmanageable, fell foul of the Nymphe, and was boarded and captured in a fierce rush. Mullon was mortally wounded, and died in trying to swallow his commission, which, in his dying agony, he had mistaken for the code of secret signals. The code thus fell intact into Pellew's hands, and was sent to the admiralty. The Cléopâtre, the first frigate taken in the war, was brought to Portsmouth, and on 29 June Pellew was presented to the king by the Earl of Chatham and was knighted.

Service in the French Revolutionary War

Edward Pellew in uniform

By 1794 he was Commodore of the Western Frigate Squadron. In 1795, he took command of HMS Indefatigable, the ship with which he is most closely associated. The squadron also comprised the frigates Argo, Concord, Révolutionnaire, HMS Amazon.

He was also a good swimmer and noted for saving the lives of several seamen who had fallen overboard. The most striking life-saving event was on 26 January 1796 when the East Indiaman Dutton, which was carrying more than four hundred troops together with many women and children, ran aground under Plymouth Hoe. Due to the heavy seas, the crew and soldiers aboard were unable to get to shore. Pellew swam out to the wreck with a line and with help from a young Irishman, Jeremiah Coghlan, helped rig a lifeline that saved almost all aboard: for this feat he was, on 18 March 1796, created a baronet.

On 13 April 1796, off the coasts of Ireland, his squadron captured the French frigate Unité, and the Virginie nine days later.

His most famous action was the Action of 13 January 1797 when, cruising in company with HMS Amazon, the British sighted the French 74-gun ship of the line Droits de l'Homme. Normally a ship of the line would over-match two frigates, but by skillful sailing in the stormy conditions, the frigates avoided bearing the brunt of the superior firepower of the French. In the early morning of 14 January, the three ships were embayed on a lee shore in Audierne Bay. Both the Droits de l'Homme and Amazon ran aground, but Indefatigable managed to claw her way off the lee shore to safety.

Pellew was also responsible for pressing the brilliant young black violinist and composer Joseph Antonio Emidy who had been playing in the Lisbon Opera orchestra.

Admiralcy and peerage

Edward Pellew, Lord Exmouth

Pellew was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1804. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station. It took six months to sail out to Penang so he took up the appointment in 1805. On his return from the east in 1809, he was appointed to the position of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1811 to 1814 and again from 1815 to 1816.

Painting of the Bombardment of Algiers by George Chambers Sr.

In 1814, he was made Baron Exmouth of Canonteign. In 1816 he led an Anglo-Dutch fleet against the Barbary states and was victor of the Bombardment of Algiers and secured the release of the 1,200 Christian slaves in the city. For this action he was created 1st Viscount Exmouth on 10 December 1816. Following his return to England he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth from 1817 to 1821, when he effectively retired from active service. He continued to attend and speak in the House of Lords. In 1832 he was appointed Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom and Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty's Fleet, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, also of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain, Of the Military Order of William of the Netherlands, Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, Of the Military Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare of Sardinia, and Knight of the Most Honourable and Most Ancient Order of the Annunciation of the Royal House of Savoy, High Steward of Great Yarmouth, and one of the Elder Brethren of the Hon. Corporation of the Trinity House.

He bought Bitton House in Teignmouth in 1812 and it was his home until his death in 1833. He is buried in Christow on the eastern edge of Dartmoor. The museum in Teignmouth has a comprehensive collection of artefacts that belonged to him.

Marriage and family

On 28 May 1783 Pellew married Susannah Frowde. They had four sons and two daughters. These children were:

• Emma Mary Pellew, b. 18 January 1785. Married Captain Lawrence Halsted in 1803.
• Pownoll Bastard Pellew, later 2nd Viscount Exmouth, b. 1 July 1786
• Julia Pellew, b. 31 May 1787
• Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, later an admiral and knight, b. 13 December 1789
• George Pellew, Dean of Norwich, born 3 April 1793
• Edward William Pellew, later a minister, born 3 November 1799

Geographical namesakes

The Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands, situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria were named after Pellew by Matthew Flinders who visited them in 1802. Other Australian geographical features include Cape Pellew (adjacent to the islands) and Exmouth Gulf. Pellew Island, Jamaica is also named after Edward Pellew. However, while Palau (formerly the Pellew or Pelew Islands), east of the Philippines is often said to be named for Edward Pellew, it was called that by Captain Henry Wilson in 1783 which was well before Pellew came to prominence. It appears to be an anglicization of the indigenous name Belau. Point Pellew, Alaska.

There is also a building in HMS Raleigh (where Naval basic training is conducted) named after him which is used as sleeping quarters for new recruits, and a Sea Cadet Unit in Truro called T.S. Pellew.

A building at Wyvern Barracks in Exeter, Devon, which is used as a temporary billet and a training facility for the Army Cadet force as well as other units, was handed over to the army from the navy. however it retains the name Pellew House in memory of Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth.

Fictional appearances

Pellew is featured as the Captain of Indefatigable in some of C. S. Forester's fictional Horatio Hornblower novels; in the television adaptations, as portrayed by Robert Lindsay, he is given a more prominent role. As a midshipman, he appears in the novel Jack Absolute by C. C. Humphreys. Pellew is the name of a minor character in several of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, including The Reverse of the Medal, The Surgeon's Mate, but as himself is only mentioned in The Yellow Admiral and The Hundred Days. As a captain, he has a small role in the American Revolution in Rabble in Arms, a historical novel by Kenneth Roberts.

References

• Mahan, A.T. (1902) "Pellew: The Frigate Captain and Partisan Officer" in: Types of Naval Officers: drawn from the history of the British Navy; Chapter VII. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Available on Project Gutenberg - accessed 10 June 2007
• Osler, Edward (1854) Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth. London: Geo. Routledge & Co., 235 p., Available on Project Gutenberg - accessed 10 June 2007
• Parkinson, C. Northcote (1934) Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth, Admiral of the Red. London: Methuen & Co., 478 p.
• Taylor, Stephen (2012) Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain, Faber

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Exmouth