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Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 S 6 I SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY J .1 . ♦(. t I "THE BAIRN THAT IS TORN ON TIIK SABBATH-DAY IS WISE, AND UtVlNG, AND BONNY, AND (iAV." i I "; J" ■'li ■f .* * 'dm i t ■L* 1 u 1... .■ :?■)..■ H^'/f - V^ i im^^ m « HRlSi'f^'y' w -W ' '/> / jA^^ "^^^!^ W'kr. *K,H.,«Mi; ) ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY G. C. B. ^ i3iostapl|0 BY MRS FRED. EGERTON WIL M BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCXCVI All RigMa reserved 247415 i: 'J. ;^ "t 115 TO MY FATHER'S OTJi SiriPMATES AND COMRADES. Ni t i i r OUT HA ITS. AIJMIKAI. IIOKNBY WllhN a MIOsHlI'MAV . Frmi, a miniatUTf p.VlIKAl. HOI^NHV WMKN CAITAIN OK M M S NKI'Tl'AH From a ph. 4- 'aken at Xap/e.<.. Ffiidiatpitre T •face p. aO "t "^ ADMIKAI HOkMiV Frr.fl a photo ((Uiii ai lAinUnyton . TU'asme was to gather a lar;,a^ family l»aity to- g»'tlit'i' ill tilt' siimnn'v montlis, and th«* visit to KiiowsUn' was lookfd i'orwaril to l»y all th^* chil- drt'ii as tlie holiday -tiui'' of the year. Kvcry room ill the house, evjny sj)ot in tht- j)ark, secMus to havf its own le»^'end, its own particular " Do yon renieniher ? " ill 18:52 Cajttain iloijilty was a|)|)ointed Cup- tain Su[)eiintend<'nt of the Naval Ifos[)ital anevo!i}iort. The whole party went round to IMyinouth l>y sea — father aiid mother, seven children (the ♦•Mest son was then at itu^^lty), i^'overness, and servants; and owin^;- to storniv we-ather, the passa^ti from Liverpool to Plymouth took eleven davs. Little GeoHT had alreatly heen to scho<»l i'v '\ year, as n, dav-bov, — 1<» the Grammai-Sehool Win wick, which just theji had risen to great pros- jx'iity as a jnvparatory school unch-r the master- sliip of the TIev. T. Hinde. At Plymouth the school chosen lor liini was Mr S(.>uthwood's, because the mathematical teachin<^ was said to be t.'ood. flis ability showed itself not so much in any j)re- cociotis (juickness, as in thou^-htfulness, ])ersever- ance, and a keen desire for knowledge. Ono who knew Geotf at this time describes him as a ([uick, active boy, neither j)articularly good- lookiiiLT nor the reverse, with a very red head, which his mother calh'd "'auburn," and a great passion for animals, especially horses. His only other CHILDHOOD. jKiKsioii was tlie nuvy : ewry eveniiijjf his occupa- tion was to carve little l)oats out of small j)iece8 of wood, sprejid'iig his handkerchief very tidily on the tahle to catch tlie chips, and then, liaving ^a)t his sisters to hem the sails, he proceeded to rig his small Hotilhi. Some of liis uncles amused themselves hy trying to persuaver, to enter his own men. Placards would l)e posted up all over the town where the ship was connuissioning, "Wanted, so many hundred men of the right sort," &c., &c. If few shii)s had been commissioned latelv, and if the captain or the station was popular, a ship's company was very quickly got togethei. The day l)efore she sailed the men were given a little pay in advance, and there was a I'egular orgy on board. All the men's friends, male and female, came to take leave, and a great many who were not friends brought liquor on board. There was a great deal of drmikenness, and some mothers, who were ill- advised enough to go that day to take leave of their little midshipmen sons, went away with a horrible impression of life on board ship. A day or two at sea, hoM-ever, usually sufficed for things to settle down in their usual routine till the end of the commission. n \ ' 8 SIR GEOFFREY FHirPS HORNBY. '; I The Princess Charlotte, with Admiral Sir Ivobert, Lady Stopford, and her daughters on lioard, sailed for the Mediterranean from Portsmouth on July 3, 1837. During- tlie winter 1837-1838 tlif fleet wintered as usual at Malta, and in those davs the feelintj between the English and Maltese ran very high. There was one e\hil)ition of this during the winter, which Geoff Hornby used always to de- Kcribe witli great gusto. (.)ne night at tlie opera, in consequence of a large party which was going on elsewhere, there were very few English in the house. A prima-donna, wlio was vei-y jjopular with the English, was singing, {ind for this reason the Maltese decided to hiss her. Directly she had finished her aria, and the English Ijegan to applaud, the Maltese began to hiss. A big Englishman who was sitting next to a Maltese said, " If you do that again I shall turn you out." The Maltese' turned round, and saw that his countrymen very nuich outnumbered the English, so he hissed again. Immediately he was taken by the c(>llar and forced towards the door ; the Maltese tried to rescue him, the English backed up their man, and the fight became ireneral. 'i'he Enijlish were in such a irreat minority that the flag-captain, anxious for their safety, broke the legs off the chairs in the Com- mander-in-Chief's box, and handed them down to his officers as weapons of defence and ofl'ence. Somehow word had been passed up to the main- ^i i I T> H.M.S. PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 9 guard that some ofticers were getting the worst of It in the opera-house. Of course the guard turned out, and took the Maltese in the rear, just as the English inside the house were be- ginning to force them into the street, with the result that the Maltese had a very bad time of it, Next day there was an in(|uiry; but as the Hag-captain, who had been present, said that hif. officers had only been acting for the maintenance of order and in self-defence, no further notice was taken of the Incident. Much less leave was given then than now, and the commander of the Princess Charlotte was not fond of giving the youngsters a run on shore. He had a way of replying to the question, '■ Please, sir, may 1 go on shore ? " " Oh yes, certainly, certainly ; " and when the boy had almost finished saying, "Thank you, sir," he would add, "but not to-day, no, not to-day." Occasionally, how- ever, the commander's heart softened, and the midshipmen did get on shore ; for during the summer of 1838 an uncle of Geoff Hornby's (the llev, George Hornby), who lived at Naples, of- fered him £10 if he would sit for a miniature to be Sfut home to his mother. Tiie boy very much grudged the time he had to sit cooped \ip in the studio, when he might have been careering all over the country round Naples on horseback ; but it was finished, and despatched at last, and the XIO procured him a great deal 10 SIR GEOFFREY PHIFPS HORNBY, I I I « i of enjoyment, to say nothing of a certain amount of smartening up of the cutter, of which he was given charge. This hoat was an endless source of delight and pride to him, all his spare cash was spent in beautifying her, and he even got his sisters to work little mats for the men to sit on. Her great achievement, during the com- mission, was winning a race at a regatta when it was blowing very fresh. The little lad was never a very good sailor, and this day he was very sea-sick indeed ; Ijut he carried on, and brought his boat in a wiinier, in spite of all the pangs of sea-sickness. Probably on account of the smartness of the above-mentioned cutter, and also because Geoff Hornby spoke French better than any other mid- shipman on board the Princess Charlotte, he was frequently employed in carrying messages to and from the French ships when the British squadron was at Toulon at the time of the Queen's Corona- tion, June 1838. On the Coronation day the French Admiral and suite dined with Sir Ro])ert on board the Princess Charlotte, and for several days after they were royally entertained by the French. Even then young Hornby, or, as his messmates called him, " Rufus," had made himself a reputa- tion for " smartness." Sir Arthur Farquhar writes : — " Hornby was my messmate in the Princess H.M.S. PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 11 Charlotte from autumn 1838 to autumn 1840, he Ix'ini^^ a midshipman and I being a mate at that time. Afterwards I was lieutenant of the Princess Charlotte from November 1840 to August 1841, whilst he was still a midshipman. Young Hornl)y was a very bright, clever boy, with a ruddy complexion and reddish hair ; he ^^■as a great favourite with both his messmates and superior officers, and even then gave promise of high qualities as an officer. He, young Peel (afterwards Sir William Peel), and Egerton (the late Admiral the Hon. Francis Egerton) were, I think, the finest specimens of youngsters I ever saw." The summer of 1839, after visiting a portion of the coast of Sicily and the Greek Archijielago, was spent at Besika Bay, and at Vourla in the Gulf of Smyrna. On July 14, 1830, the Turkish fleet of thirty- two sail was delivered over to Mehemet Ali by a traitorous Turkish admiral, thus leaving the Sultan virtually at the mercy of Ibrahim Pasha (a stepson of Mehemet Ali and generalissimo of the Egyptian forces), who was ruling in Syria. The European Powers (except France) agreed to interfere to help the Sultan ; but as tliere was no really secure anchorage for ships during the winter on the coast of Syria, operations did not begin till the spring. In March 1840 two ships were sent to reinforce Sir Charles Napier on the 12 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNL ! 'J coast of Syria, and orders were given to Lieut. - Colonel Hodges, Consul - General at Alexandria, to give immediate notice of the sailing of the Turco-Egyptian fleet. Sir Kobert Stopford did not go to Syria till Septeml)er, but remained most of the summer at Mitylene, so as to be out of tlie wav of collision with a French fleet of eight sail which was anchored at Besika. He (Sir Robert) was waiting, 1st, for some Turkish ships and transports, under tlie nominal if not real command of Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, which were to be conveyed to Syria ; 2d, for the Benhoiv, M'hich was bringing some sappers and miners from Gibraltar, and 10,000 stands of arms to be distributed among the Syrian mouii- taineers ; 3d, for Mehemet Ali's answer to the Sultan's ultimatum. Mehemet Ali declined to accept the Sultan's conditions, and the English Admiral proceeded to the coast of Syria, where all the marines of the fleet were landed, so as to make a demonstra- tion imposing enougli to induce the people from the mountains to come down to receive their arms. The combined English (under Sir Charles Napier), Austrian, and Turkish forces defeated Ibrahim near Beyrout on October 10, and the Egyptian army I'etreated soutli to St Jean d'Acre, which on November 3d was taken, after a three hours' bombardment. The capture of Acre led to the expulsion of the Egyptians from ;f «* H.M.S. PJilXOESS CHARLOTTE. 13 -Li i Syria, and to a peace by wliicli the viceroyalty of Egy[)t was made hereditary. This, then, was the only time In liis life that (reoffrey Hornby saw a siiot tired in anger; and it seems a curious coincidence that his first and last service afloat should have been in a fleet which \vas acting as the ally of the Sultan. / ' 14 \VM2 M I I ■ h ! ' ) CHAPTEII III. H.M.S. W/yCHESTE/i, 1842-1844 — H.M.S. CLEOPATRA, 1844 1847. H.M.S. WISCHE^TEli, 1842 LETTEH TO ADMIRAL SIR ROBEUT ST(.)P- FORD VOYAGE TO THE CAi'E A B(tER JNSURRECJ'loN EXPEDITION TO ^ATAI. REMINISCGXCES IJY SIR ASTIfo.VY HOSKINS II.M.IS. 'LEorATJiA, 1844 EAST AFRICAN SLAVERY RETURN' TO ENGLAND, J 847. From the tinie the Princess Cliarlotfe was paid off, August 1841, till the spring of 1842, Geoffrey Hornby was at Woolwich Dockyard, to which liis father had been appointed as Captain Superinten- dent after leaving Plymouth. Admiral the Hon. Joscelyn Percy, C.B., was then commissioning the WiiieJiaster as his flagship for the Cape of Good Hope, and it wjis thougiit well to send the boy in another flagship. 8lie sailed from Spithefid on Thursday, June T, and the earliest letter extant in Geoffrey Hornby's handwriting describes the voyage to the C-ape : — ,/i " Admiral the Hon. Sir lioHKRT Stopford, G.C.B. ''H.M.S. Winchest".r, Simon's Bay, Sept. 4, 18 42. "My dear Sir, — As you were so kind as to t J • I H H. M.S. Wiy CHESTER. express a wish to hear from me \>y any oppor- tunity, I will, now that I have a little time to myself, give you an account of our proceedings. We arrived at Madeii-a after a fortnight's pas- sage from England, and as we were to lay there two days, a large part}'' of us started to see the lions, and M-e made the most of our time, for we went to the Nunnery, the Church on the Hill, and afterwards to the Grand CJorral, whicli is a large ravine between two of the largest hills, and compi'ises in itself, and in the road to It, (juite the most l)eautiful scenery 1 ever saw. And, more- over, on our way home we nearly made a vacancy for a lieutenant — one of our party who was rash enough to race witli two of us mids. He was of course beaten, and as he was going astern was saluted by lour horse-shoes whistling by his head, Avhich had been discharged with considerable force from our horses' heels. Our next exploit was re- ceiving Neptune, and the christening of us his new children. We were fortunate in having a very fine day, and the Miss Percys, who were on the poop, seemed to take as much interest as we who were concerned. We reached Rio after rather a long, but a very fine, passage of five weeks from Madeii-a. We lay there a week, and, 1 think, 1 never enjoyed a week more. We had several parties to the most beautiful parts of the environs, and we were also invited to two balls. The first was a native one, and rather re- ! il 16 SIR GEOFFREY I'H1I'F« HORNBY. !l iniiided lis of Peter Simple's '(lli;"iiity ')a]l,' and \ve lant,died not a little at many of the figui'es. Foi'tunjitely, everybody who noticed us was, or seemed to he, pleased at Ijeino; noticed, and thoui,dit we were admiriiiii' them. The other hall was at the British Mhiister's house, and this we enjoyed, if i)ossible, more, as we met either Eng- lish people or those who spoke Frencli or English. We very foolishly sailed on a Friday, and we ^vere of course ke|)t under double- or treble-reefed top- sails the wliole way, fell in with the usual gale off the Ca])e, and lay-to four days, as the captain and master did not like going into a place where they had neither- of them been for some years. We an- chored here on Thursday last, and were rather as- tounded at the apparent barrenness of the place, though (»n landing we were equally surprised at the beauty of the wild Howers, which proves that the land must be g(.)od as well as the climate. We have lying here the Southampton and Iris, whicli have lately returned from Port Natal, Avhere they were obliged to go witli a detachment of troops, 200 men, to quell an insurrection that has broken out among the Dutch Boers, who wish to declare their independence. They had some smartish work for their first brusii, which took place very shortly after thei^" landing ; they lost 45 men killed and wounded out of 200. They say that these fellows a'et behind some shelter to fierht, and beincj" excel- lent marksmen, they picked off our men before they •- \ H.M.S. WINCHESTER. 17 could find out wliere theii' enemies lay. However, they \Nere subdued fuj' the time ; l)ut we liear i)osed that we should liavo to go down there again with more tro(»})s. We have fortunately seemed the K.-iHirs to our side, and they are of more use in such irreo'ular war th.an even our own soldiers — that is, when tliey are pro])erl}' sup[)orted. T tind the .shl[) very comfortal)le, as much so as the Princess Charlotfc, except fr(jm the superior ad- vantages of a gunrooni t(» a berth, liut T do not tiiink we shall be in such good order. The ship sails remarkaldy well, and is exceedingly easy in her motion, although she rolls very deej), and is wet wlien under a press of sail. T am sorry to say thei-e have been two very bad shipwrecks in T;d)le Bay, — one, the Ahereromhie Robinson, a troop -shij) that we overtook on our jiassage out with troops foi- the Cape. Tlie agent was persuaded to go in to Table Bay, and she went on shore in a north-westerly gale that Ave fell into, Sunday, 28th. Every one was savt^d from her ; but the other, the WaterJoo, a convict-ship, was totally wrecked at the same time, and lost about 180 men. "Sept. 11. '•The Hyacinth, which we expected would sail last Monday, has been delayed a week, J believe, B If 18 SIR OEOFFnEY PniPF'S flORNHY. ' 1 i 1 1 1 ; ' I 1 1 1 Oil account of Admiral Kind's illness. Every one who h;iH been at Oipe Town is (lelii;lited with it. I am thinkint^^ of goini;^ up for a day at the end of the week to make ac(|uaintance with the Govrrnor, who has sent me n most kind in- vitation ; and I should like to go again on tlie 24th for the races, which are exj)ected to he very good tliis year, antl a race hall is to be given on the 28th, to which everybody is go- ing. We hear of more losses in Table Bay almost every day ; I think there are now about eight vessels on shore. We are anxiously look- ing out for a packet I'rom England, as we have heard nothing since Wf were at Madeira. We there heard the news of the^ Tariff having passed, though whether the news was true we cannot tell. The Jlnaeinth Ijrought no news from ('hina; she had been engaged in t» few skirn.ishes just before she left, and she left all the fleet looking forward anxiously for the commencement of this year's cam])aign. I must now close my letter, which is shorter than I could have wished. Pray remem- ber me to all your family, and believe me ever, sir, your sincere and grateful young friend, " Geoffhey Horn by." The Winchasfer \\?i^ a good deal at Simon's Bay, and consequently the midshi|)men were often on shore. As is proverbial with " Jack on shore," they were a great deal on horseback. It is re- ri.M.S. n'lXC// ESTER. in cor(](M.l that GeotV llmiiUy once rode seventy-five miles to a ball, lie had ridden fi-(»m Simon's Hay to Cape Town, a distance of twenty-five miles, when he discovercil that part of his evening uni- form was missini!^. There was nothing for it, as he was determined to go to the ball, but to ride the extra fifty miles to Simon's Town find back, to fetch what lie retpiired. Another time, when riding neai- Cape Town, he had a bad accident. Having been thrown from his horse, he was })icked up insensible, and carried i»ito the house of a Dutcli lady, Mrs Van der Byl. Here lie was nuised with the greatest kindness and attention, so that after he recovered he used always to allude to Mrs Van der Byl as "my old Dutch mother." During the iirst winter at the Cape the Win- chester weut up to Natal with provisions for the town, an expedition which lasted only three weeks, January 15 to Feljruary 3. Sir Anthony Hoskins, who was a messmate of Geofirey Hornby's in this commission, furnishes the following recollections of this time : — " I have a vivid recollection of the fittinir out of the Winchester, 50, in April 1842 (Hornby's second and my first ship), and of the lead he at once took among us youngsters. His bright, debonair appearance and high-toned look and loearing are as fresh in my mind's eye as if it were yesterday that we were thrown together in that shij). After we put to sea he was stationed as mid of the main-top, IJ 20 SIR (JKOFFREY rHirP.S TEOUNMY. i J 1 y V ii . t i' 1 . and of the aclnilr.iVs bargt', the latter a not unenvi- able position, with snch i\ c\vav\u\\\^j; fjunily iis that of ArhiiiiJil IV-rcy. His [)assion foi' riioii oi' the midsiiipmrn's berth, if not of the ship. Many a cricket-match on Miller's Point and at \Vynl)er<^ attested his prowess at that i^ame, and he was, thouc^di so comj)aratively junior in rank, generally voted the captain of our team, as the wardi'oom officers were not very proficient at it. Those who were in the shij) can well rememl»e»' his neat, active figure as wicket-keeper, and the i;'eiiiality with which he chaffed us into good humour, and kept us to<.^ether. " Soon aftei we arrived at the Cape, we wei-e sent to Natal with })rovisions and stores for the troops, who Avere in a state of siege, or rather blockade, by the Boers. The bar of the Natal river, which our heavily laden boats had to cross, was little known in those days, and consideraV)le risk attended the service. The jolly-boat, in charge of Hyde Parker (who was the first officer killrMl in the Russian war), was swamptKl, and all the stores lost, but the crew fortunatelv were saved. ])rinci- pally by the shallowness of the water where the accident occurred. All the boats returne-d to tlie ship as soon as discharged, except the second cutter in charge of Hornby, which Captain Eden had U.M.S. CLEOPATRA. 21 I 8f'lt'ct<'(l to taku liiin in. This boat \\',m detained li\ him until liite in the afttn-noon, Imt in t\w n»«'an- tinu* a i^ale of wind had come on, nccessItatinjL;- thts slii[» licln^ iijot undci' weigh, and it was l)y the ex- hil)iti(M of nmdi skill and .seanianshi]), both in the ship and the boat, that the latter was at last got on board and a course «ha]»ed for Simon's TJay. It was a very narrow escape. I renieniber Hornby (lesci'il)ing how he was fully (jcoupied in baling out the boat, no other hand being available, and how more than once, owing to the knocking about of the boat, he could not help discharging the con- tents of the bidei' light in the captain's face. " Afttu- two years in the Winchester I went with the commander (Kelly) into the Conivay, and Hornby shortly afterwards obtained a death- vacancy in the Cleopatra, and we did not meet till 1846 (I think December), when the Conway being at the Capo for refit, he was borne on her books, while waiting passage home after the ti-ial of a slaver which he had broufdit down from the Mozambiquo. He was not doing duty, but I le- member his once walking a forenoon watch with me, and unfolding his views of the service. How necessary it was to preserve the highest tone and (hscljjline, and how detei'mined he was that in his hands nothinuf should ever be allowed to de- tract from it. It was an insjjiring conlidence, and has remained with me through life." Adraiial Percy had intended to give the death- ■m >^iPWii-ffii-fmfnws^n^*nMHii»t^ 22 SIR GEOFFREY PlllPrS HORNBY. 11 I,' ( ( Mi! s : vacancy alluded to above to hU son ; but as Percy was not old eiiou;L;'li to pass for mate, and the Adniii-alty rt^fused to keep the vacancy open, it was given to young Hornl)y instead. Ho did not join tlie Cleopatra till the autumn of 1844. She was a 8yraondite 2r)-gun frigate, and a very pretty little ship indeed, com- manded by a very smart officer, Captain Wyvill, and foi- tht; next two years was employed ex- clusively in suppresshig the slave-trade on the East Coast. Here the experience in boat-sailing which Horn})y had accpiired in the Mediterranean came in very usefully, as the ships were often obliged to lie out a long way from the shore, and the l)oats would be sent in for information, fresh provisions, or water. Often the distances were too oreat or the reefs too dano-erous to allow a return to the ships in the dark, and the boats hnd to remain in sonie creek or other for the night. As the malaria was very dangei'ous, awnings had l)een made for the boats, with curtnins all round, which at night were laced down to the side of the boat. There were generally fourteen men in the boat, very ofteji poultry and goats as well ; and yet no one o'ot suffocattnl — nay, more, thev did not ijet fever as much as when tliese precautions were not observed, so tliat it does not seem as if ventilation were such a necessity as we are taught to believe. There were one or two very exciting chases, and also one or two captures. One slaver in trying to H.M.S. CLEOPATRA. 23 escape struck on a reef. The Cleopatras were able to get otF the women and children, and they gave the men leave to swim on shore, taking anything they liked with them. One black fellow went over- board with a Dutch cheese under each arm, and another wrapped a large piece of diachylon plaster round and roand his body, though what ultimate use it could be to him no one could discover. The crew of five men either could not swim or else were afraid to face the surf, and as Captain Wyvill would not let his men's lives be risked in saving such black- guards, they wore left for* the night ; and though it was momentarily expected that the ship would go to pieces, no one felt very much compunction at their punishment for those who had seen what cruelties were practised on the slaves grew very hard-hearted towards their capturers. After two years of this work, Geoff Hornby was, as Sii' Anthony Hoskins says, sent down to the Cape in charge of a captured slaver. Here he remained for some months on board the Conivay awaiting a passage, as Captain Hornby thought his son had been long enough — four and a half years — on the same station, and was anxi- ous to get him home ; but though he was daily expecting him to arrive in February 1847, the opportiuilty did not occur till March, when he got a passage in the Wolverene. She was a smaller ship than any Geoft' Hornby had been in before, and for the first few days 24 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. he was very sea-sick. The voyage home took little more than a month, March 28 to April 29, and the next day he joined his flimily at Shooter's Hill, when we find the following entry in his father's diary : — ''Saturday, May 1. — Left London at 8 A.M. to get home to breakfast. Found my dear Geoff, whom I had not seen for five years, grown into a fine young man. James arrived from Oxford in order to see his In-other, so we were a larire and grateful family part v." ,11 , 25 CHAPTER IV. H.M.S. ASIA, 1847-1851. PERSOXAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER APPOINTMENT AS FLAO- LIEUTENANT TO HIS FATHER IN THE PACIFIC SQUADRON H.M.S. ASIA, 1848 LIFE AT VALPARAISO DEATH OF HIS ELDEST BROTHER APPOINTED COMMANDER OF THE FLAGSHIP DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA RETURN TO LITTLE- GREEN, 1851. As his father had waid, the promlsin*^ boy had developed into a fiu^ young man, not very tall, about 5 feet 10 inches in height, but slight, well proportioned, giving rather an impression of activity and energy than of physical strength, spruce and dapper in his appearance, scrupulously clean and particular, more from self-respect than from vanity, though he had quite the average share of good looks. Either time or the tropical sun had burnt his ruddy hair into a warm chest- nut ; but, after all, no description of curly hair, or hazel eyes, or firm-cut mouth or chin, would give any idea of the charm of the man, of his light-hearted bonhomie, and the irresistible twinkle with which his eyes lighted up if any- fti 26 SIR GEOFFREY THirPS HORNBY. f )'i 1 1 thing amused him, so that you were constrained to laugh whether you understood the joke or no. Then another of his great attractions was the keen interest he took in everything that came in his way, whether dancing or cricket, sport or science, pohtics or service matters, so that those about him were stirred to enthusiasm by his keenness. Below all this there was a very warm, tender heart, and a wonderful gentleness to any- thing weak and suftering ; hence probably his great love for and sympathy with animals. If ever he was disposed to be hard or intolerant, it was towards those whom he would have called "fools" — those who either did not make the best of the abilities with which they had been en- dowed, or were not conscious of their own short- comings. If such a one were caught tripping, he was certainly not let down easily. When Geoffrey Hornby returned from the Cape, his father, who had lately been promoted, was just giving up his house at Shooter's Hill ; and very soon after the young man had passed his lieuten- ant's examination — a matter which took him to Portsmouth for the inside of a w^eek — the whole party started off to spend the summer among their relations in Lancashire. While at Knowsley, Admiral Hornby received in August the offer of the Pacific command. It was not an appointment which he coveted, for at his age, sixty-two years, he very m^uch dreaded the prospect of starting off ill! H.M.S, ASIA. 27 to assume an active command on the other side of the world. The prol)abihty, however, of being able to give his hauling-down vacancy to his son induced him to accept it, and to takt^ his l)oy Geotf as his flag -lieutenant. (Captain Robert Stopford accepted the position of flag-captain, Mr Jones that of secretary ; and on September 6 the new commander-ifi-chief of the Pacific station hoisted his flag on board H.M.S. Asia at Sheer- Jiess, but left again the same day with his flag- lieutenant fo]' Kn'ivvsley, to be present at the festivities in honour of Lord Stanley's coming of age. As things never seem to go quite right in this world, just a few days after Admiral Hornby had accepted the Pacilic command, Portsmouth Dockyard, an appointment he mucii desired, was given away to Admiral Sherrifle, A\ho had been extremely anxious to go to the Pacitic. The one month's leave extended to two befoi'e tlie Asia was ready for sea, and it was not till the beginning of November that tlie Admiral and his son took leave of their dear friends at Knowsley, WInwick, &c. After a ten days' stay in London, to complete preparations and to receive flnal in- structions from the Admiralty, they left for Ports- m(uith, where they were to join the ship. Besides his son, Admiral Hornby was taking out with him his wife and three daughters, and Mrs Parker, a widowed sister of Mrs Hornby's. The whole party emljarked finally on November 26, and sailed next I !' 28 HIR GEOFFREY riTlPPS HORXB\. '; ! I ■I I I, e T4th March, reaching Val- paraiso April 3. Adrnlrai lloniby agreorl to take over the house and fvii'iiiture Ix^lonoini-' t(» Ins predecessor, Sir George Seymovn-. This first house was not a good one, some of the lioors were under- mined by rats, and it was ti»o small for Admiial Hoi-nhy's liiniily. He was therefore not sorry to accept the offer made hy an English resident to bnild a house for him. The new house was a very comfortable one, Imilt round a courtyard or patio, surrounded by a large field or garden full of orange - trees and lucern - grass, and only one storey high, because of the earthquakes, which were very frequent, and occasionally very severe. Sometim(^s on returning from a shooting expedi- tion Geoff Hornby would find that fissures wide enough to jump his horse over had appeared in places where in the morning there had l)eeii no sign of any disturbance ; but, as a rule, houses founded on the rock did not receive any damage, though the shaking of the floors and furniture was enough to be very disagreeable, and often very alarming. When tlie Admiral was livinsT on shore at Valparaiso, the duties <,f the flag-lieutenant were 30 SIR GEOFFREY THEPPS HORNBY. > , r 'II-: I) I not very arduous. There was a certain amount of sl(j;"nal]ing to the sl]i])s In harbour, Invitfition.s to send out and to acce])t, and occasionally visits to he paid. Valparaiso Avas a hospitable and sociable yjlace, and the Hornbys did their share of en- tertiiining with contiinial dirnn-r - pnrties, uhich never exceeded the number of sixteen, and an occasional reception or dance. Besides this, the fashion of evening visits obtained in Chili, so an evening rarely passed without some one coming in, the French Admiral being among the most frequent of these casual visitors. In the daytime, for serious occupation, GeofFrey Hornby and his sisters set themselves to learn Spanish, as they found French not cpiite the uni- versal language it pretends to be, and also to acquire some knowledge of the natural history of the country. For anuis(^ment they had chietly riding oxpeditions, whether it were only to Playa- ancha to see a cricket-match, or for a ridinir tour of a few days' duration to various points of in- terest. Some curious old customs still prevailed in Chili ; for instance, on Maundy Thursday all business ceased, all vessels of Roman Catholic countries struck their flags half-mast, the women left off their usual bonnets, and walked about the streets with black scarves or mantillas over their heads. This continued till 8 A.M. on Easter Eve, when the ships saluted and squared their yards, the ■r.-ja ■f-i m IT. M.S. ASIA. 31 fluid's were hoisted, hiicI the traffic hi the streets recommenced. In the iiiitumii, ajj^aiii, there was the rodeo, or annual collection of cattle. Admiral Hornl)y describes it in his Diary, C)ctober 5, 1848, Pitama : — " Up at six, and the wliole party on horseback started to see the driving of the cattle and horses from all the surroinidint^ hills down to the en- closure in the plain. The scene wild, beautiful, and striking, the riding of the horsemen wonderful, all the party highly amused. A picnic under the trees at noon, consisting of a lamb roasted wholo over the embers and a leg of veal. Dined at Mr Macfarlane's raneho, and two or three of the farmers' wives and daugliters to dance the national dance in tlie evening. *' Oct. G. — Still at Pitama, a mere raneho of the country, alibrdmg a sample of rural life In ( /hili. The girls on two truckU'-beds in a room floored — a great luxury — but not ceiled, and bare walls. The dining - room ditto, two of the gentlemen sleeping there, ;ind the remaining four in anotlier apartment of the same description. Food, a soup, called casuela ; dish 1st, made of fowls chopped up and stewed with potatoes ; 2d, ditto of mutton ; and 3d, ditto of turkey. We saw also young horses, unbroken, mounted at once and ridden ; but they are small weak things, and soon beaten. The lasso is first applied, and ponclio thrown over the head, the saddle then put on, and a leathern 32 SIR (JEOFFIIKV PlirPPS HORNP.Y. tliotii;' ill till! iiioulli For u hiidlc. Tlw luaii iiioniits, ])oitcl.o Mild liissc) ar»' iviiiovt'd. and off tliey go — a few ]>lim<,''('S, a fall or two, and the hoisf Is made Ori'tamly, as an t'xlill)iti(jii <»f liorstMriansliip and skill, I never saw anvtliiny- like tlic facility witli whicli the lieavifst l»iill was tlii'own and rendered powerless by a man with a mere pony." 'I'hese mere ponies were, it can l)e understood, not very easy to be i idden by peo])le accustomed to Wf'll-broken JMii^lisli horses. The first horse Geot!' Jlonib}'" had, broke away one day just as his master had dismitunted, and galloped over a j)recipice. At the tinie ho did not seem much hurt, but after a few days died from his injuries. The next horse was vei'v satisfactory, except that he had a ten- dency to bvick, and to run away with any Jider who ditl not understand the peculiai'ities of his mouth. Once, when this horse was lame, the flag- lieutenant hired one Avhich had recommended itself to him by its good looks : it proved, however, to buck furiously on being mounted, and before amic- able relations could be established the girths broke, and saddle and rider were ile])(»sited on the road, luckily without any serious injin-y. Only part of the year was sjient on shore ; at other times the ilag-ship cruised about t(» various parts of the station. The first cruise was to Callao, Payta, and Guayaquil, May to August 1848. Tlie Peruvian capital showed signs of having gone back a good deal during the late revolutions, though a 13! I ; H.M.S. ASIA. 83 certain amount of trade seemed to be returi\in^ to the place through the enterprise of foreigners. While at Calhio. the Plover airived on her way to Behriuii's Straits in searcli of tlie FrankHn ex- pedition ; and more than a year later tlie (rorrpn was sent to tow two other slii[)S through the Straits of Magelliin on the same errand, as it was not till the smnmer of 1850 that the news was confirmed of the loss of Sir J. Franklin and all with 4iim. At Callao, 1848, Admiral Hornbv heard of the death of his eldest son, a ca2)tain in the Tloyal Engineers, which liad occurred at Mcmtreal the preceding April. A heavy blow this to the old Admiral ; but though clinging perhaps more than ever to his second son, Geoffrey, he at once sent liim off to break the news to his motlier, who, after the long voyage out, had preferred remaining at Val])araiso during the cool wt^nther. The Admiral's family embarked with him for the next cruise to Concepcion the following December ; the French flagship also sailed the same day, December 4, for tlie same destination. There had been a discussion between the two Admirals as to whether it was better to make an insliore voyage or stretch right away, as was the practice with English ships. To settle the question, the Asia stood out close to Juan Fernandez ; the French frigate, Poursuivante, took an inshore course. The two ships met again in a thick fog close to 34 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPFS HORNBY. I' i the entrance of the bay at Conce})cion on the 9th, wlien the Pimrsuu'ante appeared on the Asias weuther-beani, and then began a trial of seaman- ship in which the English sliip prov^etl successful, as she just managed to get in a shc»rt time before the Frenchman. The longest expedition was planned for the early part of 1850, but the Asia had only got as far as Panama, on her way to some of the Pacific islands, when tho news arrived that Captain Paynter of the Goryon had come into collision Avith the Americans in the Gulf of Fonseca, and had landed and taken possession of Tiger Island there. Of course the Admiral h-.i to go off at once to inquire into and settle the affair, and the longer voyage was abandoned. It was during the cruise to Central America that the younger Hornby was promoted to commander. Captain M.'Dougall, connnander of the Asia, having been given the vacancy caused by the death of Captain Ilodney Ednn, tlie Admiral made his son commander of the flagshij), thus giving him his step a day before his twenty-fifth birthday, February 19, 1850. Mean- while Captain M'Dougall had gone off to join the Amijhitrite, and bring down a freight from the coast of Mexico. Just then the discovery of gold in California was making the freights very heavy, some of the ships carrying as much as 400,000 dollars. In Valparaiso merchants were throwing up their businesses to go oft* to the gold-fields, and 1 !| IT. M.S. ASIA. 35 'IK even the peons U'ft th(?a' masters and hegged, Ijor- rowed, or stole sufficient for a passage. As in all these epidemics of gold-fever, it was only the few who siicceed(Ml ; the others, after endming miheard- of privations, returned poorer than they went. Still, the accounts which came were sutlicient to excite the most j)lilegmati(;. Achniral Hornby in his occasional memorari'la sjiys : — "Wonderful are the accounts that have for some time reached us of the riches of California, and all are more than conhrmed by Ciptaiu (Jourtenay of the Co/'Stance, Asho left that country Septen\ber 17, 1848. Pieces of solid pure gold have been picked up of thirteen pounds, and one of sixtet^i. The gold is found in all the ravines over an t?xtent of country ninety miles by thirty on the banks of the Sacramento river. The average value of a cart-load of eartli is 400 «lollars, but in one instance five cart-loads produced 1 C,000 dollars of gold-dust. New diggings are being daily discovered. The Rocky Mountahis ai'e said to be full of gold, and the streams and. rivers to the east also." No wonder that some of the men from the Asia tried to desert, and though some were brought back, two marines succeeded in getting away. This last year of Admiral Hornby's command in the Pacitic was the only experience which his son had as commander. His jnidshipman logs are lost, but he ke])t a log of all his suljsequent voyages, including the one home in the Wol- 36 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. r. i I i . .' if : I i; Is rerene. Wlieii he became a coininander he added notes as to the advanta<,^es and disadvi outages of the various ports, the faciUties for watering' the prices of provisions, and sometimes also of water. During the earher commissions, he mentioned some- times where baulks of timber were to be bought, and the different varieties of wood ])roduct'd, but later he usually noted only the qualit}- and price of coal, and what ligliters, &c., were to be had. In Fel)raary 1851 Admiral Hornl^y's successor arrived at the station, and on the 13th the Admiral embarked with his ftimily for the return voyage. Four months later the Asia arrived at Splthead, and almost immediately Admiral Hornby settled at Littlegreen, a place which he had in- herited from his godfjitlier, Mr Thomas Peckham Phipps, In 1837. At that time tliere were so many charges on tlie property, and so many annuities to be paid, that Admiral Hornby could not afford to live there ; but now, as many of the annuitants had died off, and he had made a certain amount by freight during his counnand in the Pacific, he \\'as enabled to estal)lisli himself there. Luckily, Littlegreen was only sixteen miles from Portsmouth, for besides the usual impedimenta of a family move, each member of the family had brought collections of animate and inanimate ob- jects from the other side of the Avorld. Tliere was a white mule, who htid been bought from a priest to draw Mrs Hornby's chair, because he H.M.S. ASIA. 37 m had the reputation of Ijeing very okl and very steady, who nevertlieless hved for more than thirty years after his removal to I^n^d.md. There were some black - headed swans, the first ever intro- duced into En£,dand ; a stuffed alh'nator, and other trophies of the chase ; a colh^ction of butterilies and insects ; some ponchos and otiier articles of national costume, inchiding the fnll dress of a Fiji chief (which is not bulky), and a variety of other things impossible to i-emember or to catalogue. 38 -»!« "l i CHAPTER V. JOURNEY TO CEYr,OX, 1851 — PORTSMOUTH, 1857. TOUE WITH LORD STANLEY MALTA SUEZ CEYLON ILLNESS AND RETURN TO ENGLAND PROMOTION MARRIAGE, 1853 MANAGEMENT OF HIS FATIIEr's ESTATE APPOINTMENT TO THE NAVAL COLLEGE. After his one year as commander in the Asia, Captain Hornby never served again in that rank. He was not, however, very long at home, as he was asked to go with Lord Stanley for a tour in India. The two young men started from London July 22. From Paris to Marseilles was a fifty-one hours' journey, part of it by rail. At Chalons-sur- Saone their diligeJice, which had accompanied them on a truck, was taken off, and they drove the rest of the way. Journal. ^'■July 185L — The want of gentle- men's country houses and dilapidated state of most of the country buildings deprive it of a home- look ; but Its richness is surpassing, and the ex- treme appropriateiu^ss of the terms ' La Belle France ' and * Merrie England ' has been recurring JOURNEY TO CEYLON. 39 to ray mind perpetually, as so expressive of the peculiar features of the two countries." A three days' voyage brought them to Malta, where things remained pretty much as In 1840, excfpt that "the roads have been a good deal improved since T was here, and the horses also. There are also dressed police at the corners of the streets, anned with batons, who must be a great temptation to tht^ naval officers." Two days later, August 1 , the steamer from Southampton arrived, and they went on to Alex- andria, thence, August 5, by Nile boat to Cairo, arriving tliero the next day. The same evening they start for Suez : — Journal. ''Aug. 6. — Bathe and dine, pay an exorbitant bill, and get ijito a yellow box on two whe<4s, drawn by four horses, which is called a ' van.* I must say it is admirably suited to its work. Preceded l)y two men, one cracking a whip, the other carrying a cresset full of lighted pine, we drive at a hand -gallop through the streets, and halt about half a mile outside the walls to allow the other vans to join us. The horses are changed every five miles, and at every twenty miles there is a very good house, where tea, coffee, bread, meat, &c., is ])ry God bless her ! and make us a good and useful pair, liclpmates for one another, and His true servants." After a thiee-months' honeymoon, spent partly at Woodcote Manor, near Alresford, tliey settU^d first at Huxholt, a tiny cottage about a. quarter of a mile from Littlegreen, till Lordington should be ready for them. From 1853 to 1858 Captain Hornby remained on half- pay, five years with nothing to mark them exce]it small domestic events : the births of four little children ; marriages of his sister and his \A'ife's brother ; deaths of the uncle and 46 SIR tiEOFFnEY I'lTIPrs HORNBY. I consiii Jit Winwick, which hiourrht m lar^e acces- sion of fortuut' to Sir lMii]>ps. Though (|ni»'t, fhcy were not by any means idle years. In tlif first j)laoe, he was nianaj^lng the propeity for his father. The estate is of abont 4000 acres, a good (l(^al of it down-lanrl, so poor as ;iral)le land that even at tlie time when corn was dear il luirdly paid for the ex- pense of breaking up. At one end of tlio ])ro- perty is Littlegieen, seven miles from Peteistield, twelve from Chichester, which, tliongh not a pretty ]iousi% has very pretty surronnroti table part of the property ; but to-day, tliough the woods ht^ planted a^id very much to the beauty of tlie scenery, their value has considerably decreased. Another thint*- in which he took much interest was the improvement of the cottages and farm- buildings, and of this there was a good deal I'-i IP I) hs NAVAL COLLEGE. 47 to ))e done, as there are six villages or hamlets on the property — Conipton, one mile from Little- gi'een ; Walderton, one mile from liovdington ; four Hardens — East Harden, West Harden, North Harden, and Up Harden. For indoor occupation he had the study of strategy (naval and military), mathematics, geo- logy, and chemistry ; and for outdoor amusements fishing, hunting, shooting, and in summer breaking in setters, in which he took great pride, though it not unfrequently happened that though the dogs worked splendidly for him, they would not do a stroke of work for any one else. All through the Crimean war he look(,'d with very envious eyes at his friends who were fitting out ships at Portsmouth and elsewher-e for the Black Sea, hut he had no connection with the service till in August 1857 he was appointed to the Naval College at Portsmouth. Plere he re- mained till after the examination, an easy one, which took place early in June 1858. 48 I I > ; t CHAPTER VI. H.M.S. TRIBUNE, 1858-1800. TUE COMMA VD oP II. M. 8. miBUXF. IN CHINA, 185S DESCUIPTIVE LKTTEns FROM WIIAMPOA — NAXOAHAKT KSQUIMAULT THE FIl.'XZEB lirVEK THE SAN JUAN DIFFICULTY NAVAJ- OFFICEHS KI' ■ -roNEUlUNG KETUKN TO ENGLAND DEATH OF LADY HORNBY. 'I HiTHEETf> Caj)tain Hornby had been content to take lilc pic-tty much as it came. Wlien he first joined tlie navy he was a, younger son, and as one of a large family he had to work for his living ; but by the death of his elder brother in 184S he became heir to Littlegreen. His father, who had lately had one eye operated on for cataract, was growing an old man, and Avould have been glad to have his son near him. The latter had a wife and four little children, in fact abundant excuses for giving up the service and settling down into a country gentleman ; but he had undertaken to serve his country, and he wciuld not allow himself to be turned from his purpose. H ' i' H.M.S. TRIBUNE. 49 As soon as Lord Derby returned to office in the spring of 1858, Captain Hornby began to press for a ship. A. few days after he left the College, June 10, he went up to see Sir John Pakington, and afterwards wrote to Lord Stanley to use his influence in getting him one of the new corvettes, and so on througli the summer. Yet when at length the api)ointment came to command the Tnlnine in China, it camo as a sliock. The ofler was made on August 16, his appointment dated from the 19th, and he was ordered a passage by P. and O. overland, but, to give himself a few days longer in England, he paid his own way as far as Malta. On September 8 he started, having liad just a little over a fortnight in which to make liis preparations. Admiral Martin said tliat his trip would only be a short one, but it takes time to get round the world. The journey to Ce\don was very much as in 1851, except that there was noAV a railway all the way to Marseilles, and from Cairo to Suez. After Point de Galle they only touched at Penang and Singapore, reaching Hong - Kong at midnight on October 24. The next morning he breakfasted with Captain Edgell on board the Tribune, and was much pleased with what he saw of her. On Friday 29 he took command, and on the 31st sailed for Wliampoa. From there he writes to his wife : — D ! 50 SIR GEOFFREY PHIFFS HORNBY. " Octoher 31. " It is true I have a vast of little inconveniences connected witli my housekeeping. For instance, I had the othei night to be indebted to the gunner for a pillow. To-morrow I intend to give a dinner, and 1 have no soup-ladle, cheese, or beer. I shall call it a picnic. " November 7. " The furniture Captain E. has left me is faded and worn, but it is comfortable enough, and I hope as soon as I get to Hong-Kong to make a few improvements in the cabin. T have bought out of a ship here some hams, beer, bottled fruits, and preserved haddock. Tea and sugar from the shore. The officers had a chance of buying four- teen sheep, c»f wliich they have offered me half. My acting steward is a very worthy man, an excellent siiip's corporal, but as much fit for a steward as I am for a violin-player. "As to strange sights, they are innumerable. The rivei' population strike one as very extra- ordinary. Every boat, instead of having a man and a boy belonging to it, has a whole family. The mother generally takes the heavy stern-oar, with which she sculls away with immense vigour, frequently with a little child, of two oy three years old, tied at her back, and then it falls asleep, and you see its little head, hands, and feet nodding in time as she sways about with the oar. As i I H.M.S. TRIBUNE. 51 to Chinese ladies, I have not yet seen one ; but the women here are ugly to a degree : the only good part about them is their feet, which are very small and well-shaped, and they keep them very clean. " November 13. " T have had a most successful trip to Canton. I started yesterday morning in my gig at five o'clock. Of course the tide went down sooner than usual, so I had a long pull up, and did not reach till 7.30. I went on board a very nice brig, the Camilla, had a capital breakfast, and about half-past ten went on shore with the commander. We walked tht^ whole dav. We visit'^'i every part, and all the worst parts of the town, and not a soul said a word or lifted a finger against us. We went into a very large temple ' of the 500 gods.' 1 believe it has only once before been visited by a European. There we delighted the old priests by making the two dogs that were with us carry the umbrellas, and go and fetch them when we had hid them among the idols. The town was much cleaner than I expected — indeed 1 should call it decidedly clean. We went into no end of china, lacquer-ware, and curiosity shops. I have bought you a fan, some china, a curio, a table, &c. The only thing I was disappointed about was in not getting any toys for the chicks ; the toys don't seem to exist nov/." I i mm 52 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. " Sunday/, Novmiber 21. " My dear Father, — I left Whampoa on Mon- day 15th. I then began to pull the ship to pieces, and found that the rigging wanted overhauling very much. The ship has been lying at Whampoa for the last nine months, during which the rigging has had nothing else to do l)ut rot. The first lieutenant in charge (who is very young) merely thought of keeping the ship looking nice, so now we require, and are having, a heavy refit. Our mainmast is not to come out. They have cut the decayed parts out, have filled in with new wood, and have encased that part of the mast with iron fishes, which are to be strongl}-- hooped together, so that if it now decays right away we shall be like a hollow iron mast ; they say the decay will go no further. We shall be awfully lumbered up with our 150 marines; I don't know where all the room gets to. She is 1570 tons, lier complement is only 330, and yet she only stows three months' provisions for them below. No tiers, bad store- room, sailroom, &c. I take three marine officers to sleep in my forecabin. We shall liave three or four casks between every gun on the main -deck, and the Royal Marines stowed on top of them. ; so — as they say she is very wet at sea — tliey will have a jovial time of it. It seems to me that our fellows here liave got to a gi'eat extent tarred with the Chinaman's brush, and do things just op2)osite to what they would elsewhere. In the I H.M..S. TRIBUNE. 53 first place, the flagship never exercises. All the ships lie with top-gnllaiit-yards across, and the sails bent, and do nothing. When T came down the Admiral said he was anxious to get me away, ' when could I be ready ? ' I said it n Thursday. 'As 1 pleased.' So then i went and asked Hall (Hag- captain) lor a lot of carpenters, wliich lie sent us tlirectly, more than most flag-captains would do ; and the first lieutenant went on board the nearest ship and quietly asked her first lieutenant to make us 150 pair of clews for the marines' hammocks, which he immediately agreed to do. Altogether I am dumfoundered at their civility. Then the last time 1 dined with tiie Admiral he said, ' If I were you, I should look in to Nanga- saki as 1 passed. 1 can't order you there, but I should run short of water or something, and go in, for it is worth seeing.' I think, as I have a good many sick on board, T shall, if p<»ssible, drop ill. Lord Elgin is trying to do a grand thing to the northward — viz., push up the Yang-tse- 54 SIR GEOFFREY rilTPPS HORNBY, Kiang 500 or 600 miles. Most ])eo])le think he will have no difliculty but the uiiknovvii iiavi- gation, and tliat 1)y going uj) he will open up a very large trade. I think the Aduiii-al does not like his taking the shi})s about in this way without consulting him, and still less liis being active, while the Admiral is only doing the routine busi- ness of I -e station do^n here. It is a great pity that they do not hit it otF together, for 1 suspect they are ))oth capital men in their way, but they did not start well together. " Thursday, Nov, 25. " 1 have received orders to be readv for sea on Saturday, and we embark our marines to-morrow. 1 am sorry to say 1 luive plenty of work before me ; not that I am sorry to have work, Imt I. am sorry to find that things have been allo\Aed to go so far to the bad. The ftct is, 1 formed at fii'st too favourable an opinion of the ship ; she looked clean, and the Admiral said her gunnery ^^^as ex- cellent. To-day after our refit, and plenty of warning, v^'G l)ent sails. We took from 2.20 p.m. to 6.10 P.M. to l)end and furl all sails! ! And the sorts of mistakes I saw made, and the answers I received from captains of the tops, astonisiied me, for it showed they had for-o-otten their duties fis seamen. 1 say ' forgotten,' because some of them came out of good ships, and must have known better there. The great difficulty I have is that we shall l)e so oyercro\^(led with sujiernumeraries i M H.M.S. TRIBUNE. 55 on deck, and casks on the main-deck, that the exercises aloft and at the g-uns will be much im- peded. I shall expect to make a rare exhibition before the Ganges, where w-lited witli them. They are of such a good design, and so well executed, that you might put the vases on a dinner-table as centre ornaments mixed with silver things. If 1 can bu)' tlie dollars reasonably, 1 think I shall have a shy at them ; our sovereigns go for nothing here, and dollars are scarce, and therefore very dear." To Admiml Sir Phipps Hornhy, K.C.B. Lat. 150" north, long. 143° tnost, Feb. 7, 1858. "We left Nangasaki, January 15. "We have made a very aood run hitherto, and as we are now within three figures of our port, we consider ourselves there. Our passage iias been a very rough one — perpetual gales of wind, though mostly fair, and latterly very cold. We have been navigating with an amount of science that is per- fectly appalling. First making a great circle course, then we fell in with one of those circular storms off the coast of Japan, round the outer edge of which we ran, as Colonel Reid would have 60 SIR GEOFFJIKY riUPrS UORNKY. directed us, and so kept cmt of liiinii's way and nearly made a fair wind of il, but it did l)Iow above a bit. At .•d)0iit the heiirJit of it a whirlwind passed about a (|uarter of a mile of us, which was one of the most fri;L,ditfnl things T ever saw. You may liave seei' '»> windy weather the dust in a road whirled an eddy. In this case the surface of the sea for the space of aI)out half a mile in length was whirled uj) in that manner, but with tremen- dous violence, to the height of *20 feet, looking likr a mass of steam of an orange-red colour, as if the water were red-hot. "Then I have been all the' time making and shortening sail by the barometer, and it is surpris- ing how correctly he has guided us. Once I nearly came to i;rief, for he hatl been tellino- us for so many houis that bad weather was coming that I be^an to mistrust him, and T thou^dit T had done enough at sunset in putting the ship under treble- reefed top-sails, ami a reef in the mainsail, with top'gallant-masts housed. But in the first watch we got a rattler, only got the fore- and mizen-top- sails in in time to save them, and I spent that and the middle watch on deck trying to furl the main- sail, which we did not succeed in doing. Since then I have always reefed as it fell, and have only been on deck once in the night-time since. The men are getting more handy than they were at reeling, and the officers are getting into my ways about carrying sail — viz., to carry plenty, but not H.M.S. TRIBUNE. 61 to carry spurs away. [ luive fitted two splendid outrio^^'ers of the fore- and main-top-gallant-masts, and if I can get some new royals shall do well ; the j)resent ones are like brown ])aper. Tlie advantage of carrying sail is she n thus. We have made good as follows: first week, 1337 miles; second week, 1255 miles; third, 1190 miles, or, as it was really a week of eight days from our crossing the 180th meridian, 13G9 miles. " EsQUiMAULT, Fehrxiary 14. " Fourth week, 1875, and beat the Pj/lades. Wh anchored liere all safe on Sunday, and the next day the Pylades had the satisfaction of finding we had beaten her on the passage across, as on the second day from leaving Japan we were aljreast of her, and not many miles apart. " February 18. " I have been twice up to Victoi-ia, whicli Is growing wonderfully. It is laid out in wide streets, most of Avhich are at present nearly im- passable for nuid, and contains nothing Imt wooden houses. They are still finding gold in the Frazer river, and expect to do so very largely next month ; at present the weather is too severe to admit of much washing." A.11 the ships at Vancouver's Island had already lost men, and the Trihune and Pylades were no exceptions to the general rule ; indeed, considering <■ 1 :- 1 62 SIR GKOFFREY THirrS IIOltNTY. the inducernents which were offered to In'ibe the men away, it i§ surprisin<^ that so few of thern deseited. In June, Captain Hornby made an ex- ]^edition U}) the Frazer river, and was much struck by the scenery. / Letter to Wifr. "June 19, 1869. "The mountains are mountains, not Drachenfels. The river is a river and no mistake, about as wide as the Thames at Gravesend for nearly 110 miles up, and running six knots. The whole country is a forest, and the woods come down into the river with a foliage as luxuriant as if the country were tro])ical. It is beautiful to look at, but, to colonise, it would be better if it were more open and less precipitous. I started Tuesday at 3.30 a.m., and got back on Friday night. AVe lived all the time in the boat, and were boarded, lodged, and carried at the expense of the Company, so that the trip did not cost me more than live dollars. We saw all the new towns, but they are nothing but a few huts with more or less cleared ground round them. We never stopped more than tAvo hours except at night, so we could see nothing but the river, and tlid not see any miners at work. I was very anxious to dig a little gold for myself, but the river was so full of water that mining operations are almost at a standstill. We brought down several miners, and I was much pleased with them. ^ f / H.M.S. TRIBUNE. C3 They are intelli«^'eiit «iiul energetic men, disap- pointed with the country, und consider themselves neglected by the authorities (I agree with them), but perfectly civil, quiet, and sober, and not blustering and fighting as I expected." All these letters are signed '* Geoffrey Phipps Hornby," unlike the earlier ones, '* Geoffrey Hornby." It seems thjit after his brother's death he used his name " Phipps" as an acknowledgment of his connection with the Littlegreen property. The letters took nearly two months from Van- couver's Island to England and vice vcrsd, and the })0stage was half a dollar, so that correspond- ence was somewhat expensive in those days. Except the trip up the Frazer river, and anotlier in the Tribune to Nanaimo to get coals, and to convoy back to the north part of the island some Indians (who had so thoroughly acquired all the European vices that their presence in the neighbourhood of Victoria became a gi-eat scandal to the place), the first months of his stay at Esquimault were occupied in putting a new main- mast into the Tribune. Thei-e were plenty of single trees large enough, but it was difiicult to find a suitable one close enough to the water. Two were cut, and had to be rejected because they had a dead knot or other defect, but a third per- fect stick was found at last, and successfully got in. " It is a great weight off my mind, and 1 \ % 64 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. * thouf^'h I says it as didn't ought to,' it was very well done." Part of tlie foremast also was discovered to be rotten, but the bad parts were cut away and re- ])laced witli good, wood : altogether the repairs were not completed till the beginning of July. Just about this time, as it seemed tliat England was likely to go to war to help Austria out of her ti()ul)les, the Americans took the op})ortun- ity of advancing their claim to the island of San Juan. Letter to Wife. " San- Jua.v, Juh/ .31, 1851). " Yt»u must know that there is a considerable group of islands lying between Vancouver's Island and the mainland, and the terms of the treaty do not define clearly to whom they should belong. This is the one that lies nearest Vancouver's, and has always been held by the Hudson Bay Co. as a sheep-farm, and the agent has until lately had a commission as a magistrate. The Ame'ncans claim the island, and as the iiegotiations do not seem to advance rapidly, a hot-headed General Hearney (who hopes to get his name up for a future Pre- sident) has sent a small detachment of soldiers, who have formed a camp on the island and ht)isted their flag. Now, the Governoi-'s instructions ex- pressly tell him we are to coinm't no act of war, and we are not allowed to bundle these fello\\'S oft* H.M.S. TRIBV^IE. 65 neck and crop, so he takes a medium course. He sends over a magistrate, who is to take legal steps to warn them off the land, and to issue a summons (! !) against those that won i; go. 1 am sent to prevent any more troops lamMng, and to assist the civil power. "8 P.M. " Everything is changed since I began my letter this morninof. I have received fresh orders to take no steps against these men at present, or prevent others landing. We have sent for a detaclunent of mai'ines from Queeiiborough, with whom it is proposed to occuj>y part of the island. Th<3 object now seems to be to avoid a collision at all liazards until we hear from the America,n autliorities, but I foai' if the marines are landed, it will inevitably produce one sooner or later. We liave liad one most lucky escape. The Governor told me it would be as Avell if I called on tlie conunandiuir officer, and told bim what my orders were. When I called he was away, and before he returned my visit I had received my counter-orders, so I have not the disgust of having blustered, and then be- ing ol)liged to haul in my horns. He (a •. ,.j-tain Pickett) s})eaks moi-e like a Devonshire man than a Yankee. His manner is more ([uiet than that of most of bis countrymen, but he seems to have just the. notion they all have of get- " ig a name by some audacious act. He dropped one or two things whicii may be useful to us to know, E «-l CG SIR GEOFFREY PHI EM'S HORNF'.V. aiid, f hope, did not get much iiifonnatioii out of me. '" I)e ( Vjurcv lias ^o\m dowji to Saii Francisco to take Colonel Hawkins, U.E., who goes home with despatches on the subject. This leaves me senior officer. 'V\n' (rovernor has sent me .a long de- spatch, which seems to me to give me consider- able latitude of actl(jn. He told me to ])ropose certain arrangements to Captain F*ickett, wljich, lie sa.ys, lie has not authoiity to accept, but has forwarded them to his commanding officer. As he has refused them, I have told him that he and liis Government must be responsible for whatever happens hereafter, and also that I land directly 1 conceive that the honour oj- In- terests of England re(j|uire it. As we are for- tunately here in much superior force to him, we can afford to be fbrbearini'' without dan: consideral)le trouble. The next day, as I sat down to dinner, I was enlivened by tlie sudden appearance of the first lieutenant to say that a Imd leak had Ijroken out in our rotten old stern, and that they couldn't stop it. At last we did stop it, ]3ut I saw enough rotten wood in those parts to make me feel very anxious. Yesterday 1 was told that the leak had broknu out au^ain worse than evei". (.)f course having to look for an anchorage, it came on very thick, and we had some ditliculty in finding a certain Port A^alentyn, where we lay last night. As it was called a bad harbour in the ' Directory,' ^^: ■M I i 72 SIR GEOFFREY rillPrS HORXBY. 1 weiijlied this uiorninfr to come on here. It blew Bo hard to-day that in coming in here, not 400 yards from a high hiJl to windward of us, and in jDerfectly smooth water, all the steam would not force her ahead. To a,void a shonl-point 1 had to anchor pt'O tern., and then to weigh again to get a safe berth for the night ; so our whoh' Sunday has been spent weigliing, loosing, reefing, and furling sails, anchoring, weighing again, &c., and all to the accompaniment of a heavy gale of wind. " On Tuesday w^e fell in witli a merchant-ship In distress, and took the crew out of her. She was leaking greatly, and the sea washing clean over her; the crew had ])een sixty hours at the pumps and were exhausted. The captain lias now been taken otf sinking ships tiu'ee times. One of the men, when he came on board and asked the ship's name, said, ' AVliy, 1 was saved from the wreck of the Europa by this shij) foui* years ago.' And another man proved tt) be the brother of one of our marines, and they had not met for fourteen 3'ears." " Sunday, May 20. " We lightened the ship abaft, and found the leak proceeded fi-om all the oakum having worn out of the seams in those parts from age. For- tunately she is more soimd than we liad expected. In fact, outside she is quite sound, so that we were able to caulk lier and make her tight again, but inside she is dreadfully rotten." I ■ H.M.S. TRIBUNE, 73 "Rio de Jaxeiho, t/i/?ie ti. " After infinite bother from fo<( and rain, nearly ^'etting on shore and being obliged to resort to steam, which always goes against the grain with me, we got in here, Monday afternoon, June 4." The necessary repairs at Rio occupied till June the 10th, and though Captain IIornl)y had intended making a forty-five days' passage, it extended to forty-eight, as they did not anchor at Spithead till the morning of the 29th. It was proliabl)' the happiest home-coming he ever had, as his old father had just been restored to sii!:ht. At one time durinir his absence in the Trihu7ie, Captain Hornby had almost decided to give up his command and come home, as, though the first operation had seemed successful. Sir Phipps either caught cold in his eye or used it too soon, and completely lost the sight of it. It was feared that the poor old man would become totally blind, but the operation on the other eye proved quite successful, and there was never again any serious thought of C^aptain Hornby's leaving the service. The happy fomily circle only remained complete for a very few months longer, and then the first break came in the death of Lady Hornby. Captain Hornby was away at the time on a visit to a married sister in Lancashire, and though he and his sister started immediatelv the news of their mother's dangerous illness arrived, they were met n 74 SIR GEOFFREY l'FIll'1'.S HORXHV at Petersfield witli the sad tidinos that they wei-e <•><> hitr to s»M. her ii, hfe. It was the iiDrnin^- of Christmas Day, and the death ou tliat day of a niothpi'so much l)eloved cast a ^loom over 'many suhsequeut Chrlstmastides. 75 CHAPTER VII. H.M.S. NEPTUNE, 18G1-1862. APPOINTMENT TO II.M.8. KEPrVNE, 1861 Sin WILLIAM MARTIN THE BEGINNING OF STEAM-TACTICS — CELEUHATK^NS aT NAPLES — LIFE AT MALTA — KING VICTOU EMMANUEL VISITS THE FLEET — IlESIDENCE AT NAPLES — H.M.S. liUACK I'ltlSCE. After his first appointment Captain Hornby was not obliged to wait for another siii]) until his own party was ag'ain in power. The March following" his return in the Tribune he was appointed to the Neptyne in the Mediterranean. The Ncptuihe was an old three-decker converted into a screw two- decker, and she was manned by what Captain Hornl)y describes as " the last and worst of the bounty crews." The bounty-men had been in- duced to enter when there was a war scare in 1859 by a bounty of £10. This of course at- tracted some of the worst cliaracters, and also made them desert and re-enter as often as was possible without detection. To make mattei-s worse, the Neptune had twice changed her cai)tain during the commission, and when Captain Hornby IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // /jt ^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 1^128 |2.5 1.8 U IIIIII.6 V] v^ v: c> ^ 7 /<^ r ^ c^ I i 7G SIR GEOFFREY PHIPP!^ HORNBY. went on board at Malta, March 13, 18Gi., his diary of that date gives a gloomy view of the state of affairs : — " Crew a very rough-looking lot, but the officers have evidently done well with them. Ship looking well below, but wanting polishing up aloft and on the gun-deck. Tlie Admiral acknowledges the wretchedness of the crews we have to deal with, but says we must v/ork at the young ones, as it is our last chance." On March 21 he writes to his wife : — " I am beginning to settle down a little, but 1 am ajrhast at the load of work there is to do. What has been done on this shiji is wonderful, seeing the shameful riffraff they have in the shape of a crew ; but still there remains more to be done than in any newly commissioned ship I ever saw. Now, when one hears Lord Clarence Paget saying so barefacedly to the House of Commons that everything is vouleur de rose, and having been deprived of the greatest part of our authority by a new system of punishments, which are to come into vogue on tlie 1st of April, I must say I feel very much disgusted and appalled. " I cannot sufficiently admire wliat I see of the officers in this fleet, but the Admiralty are treating them cruelly, and I really don't know how it will end." 7'here were a few minor cases of want of dis- cipline, &c., which occurred during April, but '^.■Treit'''y> MiMMi^fm nB »!i*Tm w^^v^ifr-^ytv^^^ nnma^'-^'--'^r r'': H.M.S. NEPTUNE. 77 nothing of any im})ortance went wrong till May 8, when [Diary) " I came into collision with a watch (starboard) who would not hoist the main- top-sail, lor which they got a benefit." Again, May 20 {Diary) : " Found a lot of ropes cut this morning — sail-tackles, tacks, bunt-lines, &c. Had the ship's company aft, and told them what fools they were. Asked if there were any grievances, was told that they were aggrieved at having to scrub hannnocks every week instead of every fort- night, and at being exercised in their dog-watches — i.e., after quarters. Pretty well for the present state of tilings ! Told them they were not likely to get much redress except in the way of ham- mocks, which would be less frequently scrubljed if they kept them clean. Put sentrit^s from among the ordinaries on the ropes at night." The culprits were never discovered, although " the Admiral was very savage at our not being able to identify them." The Admiral then commanding in the Mediter- ranean was Sir William Martin,^ and he was of the school which considered that in service matters business and pleasure ought not to be combined. For instance, to take an exti'act from Captain Hornby's Diary : — ^^ April 26, 1861. — I went to the office, and 1 Admiral Martin w.is not made K.C.B. till July 31 ; but he is better known as Sir William Martin, therefore it is simpler to de- scribe him thus. i i 78 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. Martin (secretary) told ine that tliere being a good many supernnnieraries to go to Naples and Palermo, and for other reasons the presence of another shij) being desirable, he had suggested to the Admiral that we should combine pleasure with profit, and go to Syracuse, Messina, Naples, and Palermo. This had been agreed to, and it was ordered with the proviso that we were not to stay more than twenty-four hours at each place. It then occurred to the Admiral's secretary that it would be more desirable to trive all the officers a chance of landing at Naples, and he suggested that we should be allowed to stop there forty- eiijfht hours. The Admiral was off directlv. No amusement on any account. He would send off a despatch -boat with t[ie supernumeraries, and we are to go only to Syracuse and Messina, and cruise, and the orders are peremptory not to stay more than one night in port." Therefore they were kept cruising about for nearly three weeks, sometimes in sight of Malta, seeing the mails going in and out, and not allowed even to fetch their letters. At last, May 16, they were called in by signal to take in provisions for Corfu, and sailed next day for a very pleasant cruise. They joined Admiral Dacres, then captain of the fleet, between whom and Captain Hornby a very warm friendship was established. After his return to Malta, Captain Hornby watched his H H.M.S. XEPTr'NE. 79 opportunity to represent to the A ofHcers by their heing kept in i'ji'norance of tlieir future movements. The Admiral's Ha<;sliip Marlhorouyh had Q^one liome for rt'pairs, the Neptnne for a time carrying the Hog, and In .Inly Sir William ann with ships, that there will be a deal of fouling, and I cannot see the advantage to be gained by most of them." " Sejyt. 26.— The Admiral had the boats out to manceuvre, and I was not nmch edified. Too many boats ; and it hardly seems to me that tiie boats are any test of what ships will do. Tliis occupied all the forenoon, then on board Mavlhoroufjh to discu.ss these thino-s till 2 p.m." 1 In after-life Aflmiral Hornby alw.ays gave Sir William Martin great credit for having originated the present system of steam- tactics. H.M.S. SFPTUSE. SI Monday, ( k'toher 7, tin* ('xpoiinif^nt was iiifd witli tin? sliij)!s : — '■ VVeii^hwl at 10 a.m., and ^'ot tlir<»iiL,''li a fVw siiii[)le ••v()luli<»iis iii(lIH«Meiitly, — u<> one knowing' lii.< own Kpred, <»r tlir relative spet-d of otla-r ships, (Jreul tun at tlie inHetiiio- on Itoard ilai^sliij) wlien we came in, iui- fvery une was pitcliin;^ into his la'ij^dihour. />o/7.s [Ca])lain M'('hiit(K'k ) and oin-- selvt\s were romplinicntt'd on the st;dion we ke])t." " Oct. 8. — Mano-'uvring as yesterday, ami tiot so much ahuse." "Oct. [i. — Manieuvrini;' ahout the hay again all the morninii; at i(eneral (jii.irters, ;ind jtassing so as to peared, the bands by striking up that tune could instantly stop it, and change it into cheers. " Cialdini [the Piedmontese general who com- II. -M.S. XEPTrXE. 83 i y. » maiided ;\t CiistelHilurdo, iuifl who liad l)»vn chai'i,''e(l with the j)acitic}itiou of the Nt-ajxilitaii kingdom] was well rec«'lvcd. '"Sept. 8. — Heard that an Invitation iiad lieen sent to [(^i})tainj Glasse tor all of ns to accompany Admiral Torvesano to the frfc this e'Vt'nin'r. Old Glasso made all incjuiries, and tohl ns we were to go in I'rock-coats, and, much to oui disgust, we found every one else in full dress. However, they were very civil to us. ;ind we had a very good look at (Jialdini, who is a very good-looking— thnt is, workiniT-lookinif — fellow, with a remarkaldv hriuht determined eve. A isn^at m.inv soldim'S and National (lUards were turned uul, and evervtliini'- went oW well. ''Sf. 0.- — An order to meet Admiral Dacres to arrange for dining with Claldini at 7 P.M. The dinner went oW very well, though it was a thousand pities the A(hniral (Sir W. Martin) did not come. I sat hetween the chief of the stall* ;ind a very nice youn<>' fellow, an A. DM u ho had been in the Crimea, and we got on vi-ry \vell together. The dinner very fair, but nothing extraordinary. No one tliere Init ourselves, the Italian admirals, our consul, and Italian otiicers." Some one repre.mMited to Sir William Mai'tln that he had conn ■ 'd a breach of eticpiette by not accepting General CiaUlini's invitatltm. The Ad- miral therefore did his best to make amends when the Piedmontese general dined on board the Marl- I 3 » 84 SIR (JEOFFnEY I'lflPPS TIORM'.Y. ht>rou I'.M, so ms toinii;/h maimed yards witli hhit'-lii;-hts at th»' yard-arms, folourcd lights— red white, and pven — at tlio side to represent the Italian eoloin-s, and .1 doiihlr line of hoats from the ship to tin- sliore,all hurnniaj)- tain llornhy as to whether he would like to suc- ceed him. Somewhat to the Admiral's smprise. he demurred, for the reasons he gives in a letter written the same day ; — To Sir Phipps Hmnihy. ''October 15, 1861. " T told him [the secretary] I could not receive i U.M.S. NEPTVNE. 85 < I such Jill otier without f('t*hnut I said tliat I thought in some of our service notions the Ad- miral and I did not agree, tiiat a worse objection was a private one — viz., that when I left home, you had understood that I should probably get back about this time of year, and that it would be a disap])ointment to you if I was delayed — besides that, for other leasons connected witl) the pj'o- perty, it was not desirable that I sh(»uld be very lonir out of Enijfland." I Partly because lie found some dIHiculty in finding a substitute, and }>artly because every one he consulter visitors, l)ut otherwise society is exactly the same. In tlic first i)lace, there, is the uo\ernor; and almosi every ifovernor may he described ms ( a|)t;iin Hornl)y (hd 'his Kxoel- lency'' in 1801 : "He Is so great a man tiiat it is said lie seldom con«les' -nds to notice any one; and when lie does hav^. you to dinner, he is liive Oeoigc IV., he sits ii|) and does king and queen. L do like to see these httk; (hgnitaries make tools of theniselves." Then tliere is the Ntival C'onunander-in-Chief, who has a house in IStrada Mezzodi out of sight of the harljour, and lives on sliore in the winter ; the Dockyard Ad- uiiial; and the oHicers of the shi[)s, witii a cer- tain rmmher of wives and fannlies. The military also, a general commanding the troops, engineers, artillery, and two oi* three line regiments, with a great many wives and families. Besides these, there is the Colonial Secretary; tlie Maltese nobility, who, l)y the way, are generally not Maltese at all, btit old Spanisli, Italian, aiid Sicilian families which have settled in Malta. Lastly, there are the minor officials, elected mem- bers of Council, kc, kc. A few [)eoj)le who have merely official ])ositions aie only invited to official parties, but, as a rule, everybody goes everywhere ; and as when the ships are in dock the sailors liave very little to do, and except an occasional review or march-out the soldiers comparatively nothing, I * :»J T H.M.S. NEPTUNE. 87 tliere are a great many entertainments, and every- body meets everybody else at least twice a-day. The houses are large, the Governor's palace being the old Grand-Master's palace, and the club, most of the official residences, and some of the barracks being the okl auberges of the Knights. Living is cheap, luxuries— such as game, fiiiit, and flowers — very cheap, thus entertaining is very easy ; and to people of a sociable disposition a few winter months pass very pleasantly. Captain and Mrs Hornby established themselves in a. roomy house in Strada Forni ; but Sir William Martin did not allow his captains to be too comfortable. Early in December the Neptune was sent out for a three weeks' cruise, returning only just two days before Christmas Day. Some of the authorities thought so badly of the crew of the Neptune that they wished to prevent any of the usual indulgences, but (.^aptain Hornby did not think discipline was likely to be improved by denyijig the men their legitimate enjoyment. He dined on Christmas Day in the wardroom, and slept on board that night ; but otherwise everything went on as usual, except that having so lately come into harbour it was not possible to decorate the lower deck. The men's dinner was, however, ex- cellent, and no one was any the worse except the captain's two little sons, w^ho tried to eat all the plum-pudding which was given to them when they went round the dinners with their father. In •j 88 SIR GEOFFREY PHirrS HORNBY. I' i February again the ship was sent otf for a six weeks' cruise to Corfu, nmX while there the Oshorac arrived with the Prince of Wales on honrd. It was the first time that Captain Hornby had seen his Royal Highness. 13y the time the Ncphmc returned to Malta the Carnival was over, and the only excitement during Lent was the arrival of the hrst Japanese ambassadors on theii" way to England. Diary. " March 28. — Himalaya arrived un- expectedly at 10 A.M. We were all summoned to the palace to receive the Japanese ambassadors at 2 P.M. The vounirer of the two is a verv in- telligent man. Called on them with the Adniiral at 4 I'.M., found tlie French consul there tiying to persuade them not to go through France. The Japanese are not well pleased. ""March 29. — A review at Florian in the morn- ing. In the afternoon the Japanese came on board us, and we went to quarters, with which they were much pleased, and seemed astonished at the facility with which the guns could be moved. Ship looked very clean, l>ut the men foi'waid talketl on the yards, and we were not as quiet as we usually I are. Letter to Sir Phipps Hornhy. " March 30. " As they went away they paid a visit to the Marlhorovgh, which was cruising outside. They H.M.S. NEPTTNE. 89 said they liked the ships tlie best of anything they saw, and then the ladies." At Easter, about the middle of April, the fleet left Malta, Sir William Martin bein^,^ ofjliged to go East because of the troubles in Greece ; but the Neptmie was sent to Naples, where she arrived the same day as King Victor Ennnanuel. Diary. "April 28. — Very much hurried, as the king had left Gaeta at 8 a.m. About 3 r.M. he came in sight escorted by four French liners under Vice-A(hnirnl Rigault de Genouiily. We manned yards and cheered, &c. Tlie Erench seemtMl not to manceuvre the!; ships very ^^'ell, to come in very slow, and to have a dithculty in picking up their bertlis. We landed to receive the kinij- at the palace, and were pi'esented to him. Went out on the balccmy (where he was well received) to see the troops marcli past. In the evening four niore French liners arrived, and took uj) their berths well, seeing it was dark. Landed with the two boys [his sons] and drove about to see the illumin- ations, which were very fine. F^'eling very sore at the French producing so strong a fleet here, we having oidy three ships, one of which is under « )rders. " April 29. — I went off to call on the French admirals with Godd and Price. Paid long visits, and then Price and T went to call on the ca])tains. All the ships were painting, and in that, and in 90 SIR GEOFFREY PIIIFPS HORNBY. I; (\ H I ■ the rapidity with >vhich they ;>'et their crews to- gether and make their ships look decent, they are a good deal ahead of ns ; ])ut there is no ship among them to compare with the James Watt, and they do not look so neat aloft. We all had to dine at the palace. Dinner hand.sf»me, but cold ; wines indifferent. Then to the theatre for a Ijallet, at which there was some very good djincing. " May 3. — Got an intimation late last night that the king was coming on board us to-day. He went first to the Bret a (pic, and then came here. We manned yai'ds and saluted when he eml»arked, cheered as he passed. Manned and saluted when he left the Bretogne, dressing ship at the same time. I think our manoeuvre must have looked very pretty, and better than that of tl^*^ Trench. " Maij 4. — Torresano came on boaid to ask if I would accept a decoration, which of course I declined. Got an invitation to the palace to witness a French engagement which is to take place at 8.30 p.m. this evening. Got a little feverish attack, which prevented my going to the palace, but they said the Frenchman's sj)ectacle was pretty." While the king was feting and being feted by one part of Naples, there were other sides to the j)icture. On one hand there were some who, like the Rev. George Hornby, liad strong Bourbon sympathies, which he expresses very forcibly, vide Jiis letter to Sir Phipps Hornby : — 1 H.M.S. NEPTUNE. 91 "Nai'LKs, Aprils. " My DEAR Admiral, — Well, lie -e we are, Geoff, wife, and the most chariniii^ children. Geoff is stifled in thr midst of eitjht great French shi}).s. There never was such folly; but the whole plan of hacking u]) a. new Italy against Austria is Insanity, as far as Kiudish interests aiH' concerned. I sav nothing of tlie state of thi,', place, oi' you won't get my letter, the post being, according to the con- stitution, ' inviohite." N.B.-X wrote two letters to N. F. while she was at Home, and she three to me, none of which reached their destination! and whereas under the tyrant Bourbons there were 11,000 persons in j)rison, tliere are now (on sus- picion) i 8,000, and ])eople arrested every day. The number taken and shot then and there in- numerable. I rejoice to think you have so many you love ar.iund you, and with every good wish to all, am ever yours, G. FI." On the other side were those who thought that tile unification of Italy did not advance quickly enough, and there were risings and rumours of risings. (Japtain Hoi-nby's Diary :— "■May 18. — Called <»n Sir James Hudson [the English Minister] when IlatazzI came to consult him about Garibaldi's movements, which are caus- ing him some anxiety. ''May JO. — Heard of an outbreak of Gari- T 92 SIR (;eoffrey phtpps iioknry. I* I baldians near Brescia. They ai'e al)(>ut to make ail incursion on Austrian terr't(.ry. The Govern- ment set'ms to have Jieled very well, and tlie agents concerneil Aveje arrested at once, and it is Siud that Ihitazzi lele<,n;> plied to say that Garibaldi himself nnist be arrested W he vvt*r'^ carty broke uj), and the king hurried otl, in consequence of a demonstra- tion in favour of Garibaldi, which took ])hice in the Toledo." O bella Napoli ! With your blue sky and still bluei- hay, and the beautiful hills all roun'n('\s engines were on shore being ie]):iired, hul lyy gr(\Mt exerticins she was got imder weigh that (»vening, and a forty hours' ])assage took her to Malta, iiei'e, howe^el^ she had to wait for a week till the answei" arrived to what (Captain Hornby c;,ll.^ his " letlej' of apology." Sir William Martin acknowledged that the telegram nn'ght have been read in the sense in which C^iptain Hornl)y had taken it, and gave him leave to i-eturn to Na[)les. The same evening he sailed, but the winds were so light that it was eleven days before they got Ijack into Naples Bay, and when t\iv ship had been eight days out, she Avas boarded by a felucca, asking for bread and water, as she had l)een eiidit'3eii davs from Messina. All the rest of the sununer Captain Hornby re- Ml H.M.S. NEPTUNE. 97 maiiied at Naples, us tlio Admiral was t)ccu])ied in ■watch'mr(iiii,'hly, l>ut wliat I did see was very fine. The vulnei-ul)le ends, however, are a ^^re-at mistake, also the tln-o* masts instead nf four. The men in the ironclads are so dismist- '\n^\y [))oiu\ of their sliips that tin y will allow them )to faults." 90 CIJArTKlt VIII. II.M.S. EDGAR, 1803-1865. J H.M.8. EPil.in, 1863 — A mUIl OF TIU) lUUTlSU 18I.E8 — OHEEXOCK UVKHI'cKi] VTHIT IKOM CMiniAUiI AT POUTr^ANH — CA'^TAIN COWri:U-COLKS t)N AIIMOLUED .smPH--MllSrtI()N' TO LISJUON INVESTITUUK OK TIIK KIMJ of POUTUGAL WITH THE aAIlTEK " UNCI.E OEOFF ' COMPAUISONH WITH THE FllBNCH "'LEBT. Captain Hornby luul beeji oji shore for harelv three moiitlis Avhen he was asked })y A(hiih"al l)fK'res (who succeeded A(hnii-;d Smart in coni- nuiiid of tlie (Channel Fleet) to oo ;is his llag- captain. The offer was accepted withciit liesita- tion. To Rear- Admiral Dae res, CB. '' LoRDiNOTON, A^yrU I, 1863. " 1 feel extremely gratilied at your letter of the 26th March, and so far fiom refusino-, I shall be most happy to acce[)t youi kind offtM-, if you don't object to what follows. With my present stand- ing, I think 1 may naturally look forw^ard in a year or eighteen months to one of the better appointments of th( ervice, such as a steam- OT 100 SIR GEOFFREY PTIIPrS HORXBY. reserve or dockyard, especially if tliere was a clumge of Ministry ; indeed in the latter case, if I heard of a good thing gf'ing a-begging, T might feel inclined to ask for it. Now, tliough 1 know yon would not like to stand in my way, it very prohably may not suit you to tak(^ a ca])iain who may wish to leave you l.iefore your flag ciMues down. T therefcm?' leave the matter thus : if it suits you to take me. with the chnnce «^f my getting a steam-reserve or dockyard, T shall be very glad to serve under you again. The appoint- ment having been made public, T have so far taken advantage of the permission giveji in the end of your letter as to tell my father of yovu' offer, thougli it will go no farther than his ears. I write hurriedly to save the post." Admiral IJacres hoisted his tla*j' at PIvmouth on May 17 in the Edfjfnr. and the ship remained in the liands of the dockyard for another three weeks, while the cabins M^ere being ])ut in order, and leave given to some of tlie men. It was a very busy three weeks, — n cheeri'ul time also, as Captain Hornby had many fiit-nds in Devonport nnd the neighbourhood, and hardly ever dincnl on board. Tlie only unusual incident which occurred was that the flag-captain got one of his wrists badly burnt while helping to extinguish a very bad fire, which destroyed several houses in Plymouth. Early in June the flagship sailed to join the rest of the squadron at Portland. H.M.S. EDQAR. 101 Letter to Wife, " June 9, 1863. " We left Plymouth at noon yesterday, and went right out into the open sea between France and England ; hut we navigated with much skill until we at last saw certain lights, wliich proved to be those of Portland, and entering the anchor- age there, we cast out aii anchor at midnight, and made the ship fast until the daylight appeared. We had a splendid breeze, and it is a pleasure to have a ship that can sail again, and not sucli an old dummy as the Neptune. However, I find I have plenty to do ; for though the mariner's here are by no means such villains as those were at first, they don't knock the yards and sails about as our fellows did latterly. Thougli Foley has begun this ship remarkably Avell, still she is but a new ship, I fancy it will be with the squadi'on that I shall have most bother. So you doubtless will hear me plentifully abused Ibr my own sins, and those of the Admiral, in calling them to order." The transition from sails to steam for battle- ships was gradually being accomplished. In the Tribune it had simply been a fjuestion of steam- ing in and out of hai'bour ; in the Neptune there had been passages under steam, steam tactics, and orders by telegram ; and now in the Channel Fleet came a mixture of wooden ships and iron- I 102 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. clads : most of the tbinner could not steam, none of the latter could sail. Nevertheless the Ad- miralty, who always have an eye to economy, decreed that, as the ships had masts and yards, they must sail. June 17, Captain Hornhy writes to his wife from Yarmouth : — "We sail for Sunderland to-morrow, w^eather permitting-. I have no idea how long we may be getting theiv. It is 190 miles — one day's sail for this ship ; hut if Sir F. Grey's dummies are to go under sail, I sludl think it lucky if we get there in ten." As a matter of fjict it only took five days, as the squadion had to get up steani to avoid some dangerous shoals on the Norfolk coast. The dummies alluded to above were the five ironclads, the Resistance, the Defence, the Black Pmice, the Royal Oak, and the Warrior. The otlier sliips of the squadron were the Edgar, flagship, a two- decker ; the Emerald and Liverpool, frigates ; and the des})atch vessel, Trinculo. Their summer cruise was to be a tour of the British Isles, and to stay two or three days at each of the principal ports. As Captain Hoi'nby sjiys : — " We are doing popularity to a great extent. Ostensibly we are to show the shi2)s, and what happy fellows the British mariners ar(=( in a man- of-war — nothing but porter and skittles ! Really I suspect we are doing a little electioneering." H.M.S. EDOAR. 103 After Sunderland, they were to visit Leith, In- vergordon, Kirkwall, Loug-h Foyle, Lough Swilly, the Clyde, and Liverpool. At every place crowds of people visited the ships, and the townspeople got up balls, dinners, and every sort of festivity in their honoui-. The officers on their part were also anxious to make some acknowledsfment for the civility shown them. For this purpose Captain Hornby tried to arrange " a plan for enabling the officers of the squadron tt) show some special civil- ity to people whose acquaintance they may make. It is, to set apart one ship every day, where only people will be received who are brought by officers of the squadion ; and that there, tliere shall be a band playing for dancing, and a little tea, and so on. Most of the fellows seem to like the idea, and I think it will work by-and-by." As far as he })ersonally was concerned, the flag- captain was not able to do much entertaining, or to accept much hospitality, from tlie time he left Sun- derland till they reached Lough Foyle. The fatigue and anxiety of being up constantly at night (to see that the ships kept station, and that the sailing- ships shortened sail, so as to prevent their over- taxing the powers of the boilers of the ironclads — " tin pots," as he called them) brought on a severe liver attack, accompanied by a great deal of fever and ague, which left him so weak that it was not till they reached the Orkneys that the cooler air enabled him to begin to regain his strength. By 104 SIR GEOFFREY THTPPS HORNBY the time the fleet reached Greei ack he had quite recovered, and was immensely interested in the gi'eat shipbuilding- yards. To Sir FMpps Hornby, G.C.B. "ILM.S. Ed,jar, Greenock, Sept. 6, 1863. " I was up in Glasgow on Friday with the Admiral inspecting some of the building-yards, and notably an iron-cased frigate building for the Confederates, and three more for the Turks. I am delighted with the energy and skill of these Glasgow men, and the more I see of them the more Iladical I grow with regard to our dockyard system and Somerset House. When these men sit down to plan a warship proj)elled by steam, they make a steamship of her, and don't go pud- dling on drawing large sailing-shij)fi to put engines into. The Cunard people took us a grand trip on Thursday round Bute and up Loch Ranza. The steamer was beautifully fitted, and we went at the rate of fourteen knots all the way. Her sister-ship the Giraffe was sold for £30,000 to run the block- ade, putting a profit of £8000 into the hands of the company, I wonder what the new Admiralty yacht the Enchantress has cost ; and if she ever goes fourteen knots for six hours together, I'll eat her ! " f From thence the squadron crossed to Belfast, and after four days there, to Liverpool. Here n.M.S. EDGAR. 105 Lord Derby had ottered Captain Hornby a week's shooting for himself and his friends, but he was only able to manag»3 two days' shootiug, as the other days were taken up with visits to the hnild- ino-yards and docks, and various entertainments on board the ships and on shore — the week's fes- tivities ending by a banquet given by the Mersey Yacht Club to the Admiral, ca])rains, and officers of the fleet, on Monday, September 21. At this banquet it fell to Captain nornl)y to pro[)ose " The Ladies." An anonymous bard (not a sailor) who wrote a rhvmed account of the " Fleet in the Mersey ' seems to think tliat it was very well done : — - " Ailmiral Dacros gots up, and makos pvcry urn\ la,ugh hi a spucol) that's a niixturt' of cake^ and of chafl". Lord Stanley Is I'-njiftJiy; the Arcluloai'on is dull; Admiral Evans is heavy — in fact niaki-s a nadl. The toast of 'The Ladies,' the hist of the nii^ht, The gallant Flag-Ca])tain was told Avas his right ; Ho rose, and in a few well-chosen phrases, !More expressive than ail the most llattering praises, Gavo the toast, which was drunk — as it always will be By soldiers and sailors — with twice three times three." The summer cruise ended with visits to Dublin and Plymouth, and then the Eihjar was for two months at Portsmouth giving leave and making good defects. The winter of 1863-G4 was spent between 1 An allusion to the Knowsley ale and cakes with which they had been regaled the previous Saturday. I 106 SIR (lEOFFREY PFTTPPS liORXBY. Madeira, Teiieritff, (Jlbialtar, and Lislntii, though there were many rumours of the possibility of the Enghsh interfering to helj) the Danes in their resistance to Germany. The beginning of March saw the ships again In England, and on their arrival at Poi'tland, Captnin Hornby, who had again been knocked over with one of 1 lis fever attacks, was sent home for a week to recruit, and took with him a poor little midship- man who iiad been very mucli pulled down by sea-sickness. There was a gi'eat deal of sniall-pox at Portsmouth, so the ships had to r ]);irticular duties, it was not possible to do mucli in tliat line. Never- theless, the Hag-captain advocated ''keeping the s(^a as much as })ossil)le ; for the whole art of sailoring seems to me to be nearly extinct in tlie [British Navy, and the only way I know of putting connnon- sense into officers and men is to keep thein at sea." Though steam tactics were not nearly so perfect as Captain Hornby w(nild have liked, the general smartness of the squadron was ^'t■ry much in- creased, and the state of the Edgar was good enough to satisfy even so severe a critic as Admind clones, who came on board at Queens- town in August. 1 Ldtrr to Wife. " He [Admiral Jones] was our commander in the old Charlotte, and a pretty tight hand, when tight hands were the fashion. When he got below he said, 'Well, it is a pleasure to see thijigs like this again. You don't see it nowadays.' The last part of his remark is melancholy to think of, but it is ^'1 H.M.S. EDOAR. 100 something to hear that we keep up the traditions of cleanUncss and order somewhere." ]. ; il M From the middle of Auofiist to the end i>\' Octo- ber the heacLpiarters of the fleet was at Pori- Lmd, the ships g<^>ing out for a few days at a time for exercise. Nothincj much was doinu' on shore, except an occnsional cricket -match, S(, Ca plain H(3rnby was able to devote most of his leisure time to assisthig his brother-in-law, Captam Cowper-Coles, in a great paper wai-fare with the Achnirahy on the subject of fighting-ships. Cap- tain (Jo\vper-Col(\s l)t3ld that armoured ships should be mastless floating batteries, with low freje-boards and revolving turrets ; but the Admiralty would hear of no innovaiions, except a certain thickness of ii'on plates on the outside of fully rigged sliips. Yet witliin a very few years, masts for fighting- ships have entirely disappeared, and Captain Cowper-Coles's theories form the basis of all naval construction. In spite of opposition, Captain Cov.'per- Coles continued to press his views all through the winter, and when Parliament met, C;.ptain Hornby primed L<.»rd Stanley and Sir John Pakington with awkward ([uestions to ask the Government, until in the followinof June the Committee which had lieen sitting on the ques- tion agreed to advise the Government to try a two-turret ship. The fleet had wintered in England — the Edgar no SIR UEOFFHKV I'llIPPS HORNMV. and some of tlu' ships at Portsmouth, the rest of the s([ua(h'oii at Plymouth. They remained in their winter (juarters till March 27, when the Kilt/itr came out of harhour uiulor sail — thr. laM iiiic-of-hatth> shl/> fliiU crer saihd out of Ports- movth Jmrhour. At Spithead sh» remained till, in the middle of April, the Channel fleet was sent to [asbon with Lord Sefton, who was to invest the Kiiii;- of Portugal with the Garter. On April 22 they arrived at Lisb«»n, and Captain Ilornhy's account of their proceedings begins : — ''April 22, 18G5. — My Lord and his two Guardsmen attaches made themselves extremely agreeable, and indeed everything on the voyag-e went as well as possible. Loj'd S. seems to think we shall be here about eight days, " April 25. — -Nothing^ can exceed the civility of th(^ Mission since tlit-y landed. On Sunday Loi'd fS. took a lot of us to see M hidl-iight, a poor affair enough, kee[)ing u;^ to dine afterwards. To night he dines nil the captains of the scjuadron, to- morrow the officers of the Edgar. We went yesterday to l)e presented to the king. There is notln'ng- to be said about that — it was a dull affair. On Tliursday we go to present him with the Garter. The Admind and 1 take part in tlie }»lay, having to carry the cloak, or the spurs, or somethiniT. ''April '17. — Oui- departure is delayed for four days on account of the death of the Cesarewitch. Ill ^ H.M.S. EDOAR. Ill The Court did not lik»', to have the u)stallation so soon after hearing of his death, and accord- ingly postponed it until next Thursday. The dinners still go on greedily. To-night the Ad- miral has a heavy feed on hoard, and to-morrow we honour the Minister with our company, " April 28. — Just returned from our heavy dhnier. Four-and-tweiity peo})le at the feast, \\'hich was very elaboi-ate as regards cooking, but wanted arrangement in the guests. Cham- berlains, naval captains, ex-prince, ministers, &c., all jumbled together at table without introduc- tions. I was fortunate in getting near the Rus- sian Minister, who is a decent fellow. Everything was dressed with truffles, so I am like a stuffed turkey. If 1 get a good innings to-morrow, I shall attribute it to them. ''May 5. — Yesterday was our great day. We landed about 10 a.m,, started in very gorgeous old carriages, all gold, glass, and landscapes, drawn by six horses each (Sefton having eiglit), and proceeded at foot's pace to the palace. Colonel Carleton and 1 went in the first carriage, carry- ing the ' hat ' and ' cloak,' each upon brilliant velvet and gold cushions ; then followerl the Admiral and Lord H, Percy with the ' collar ' and 'sword'; then the heralds with the 'Stat- utes of the Order,' &c. ; and last, Sefton and the Garter King-at-Arms. It took us nearly two hours to get to the palace. Arrived there, 112 SIR GEOFFREY PIirTPS IIORXnY. we formed a procession in wliicli Carleton and [ led, accompanied by six little pages. Wo passed through a very handsome Ijanrjneting-room, in which all the officers who had been invited to see the ceremony were drawn np, and then into the throne- room. On the dais stood the kin;-- and queen, with the kintj;-'s father and In'otlier. The queen is (|uite a good-looking woman, very well dressed, and wearing some very beautiful emeralds and diamonds. The king's fatlu'r is a very handsome man. As for the king, he is not good looking, and when he came to be covered up in the cloak that I had so care- fully carried for hiu), he looked very miserable. We (the procession) advanced from the door to- wards the throne in a series of three steps and a bow, opening out as we came, and halting about six feet from the king. Lord Sefton and ' Garter ' then came through the middle, the former presented the Queen's letter ' To our dear brother,' and made him a speech in English. The king then read a reply in Portuguese. Lord S. then proceeded to invest him with the dif- ferent articles, a small herald taking each article in succession from us, giving them to ' Garter,' and he to Lord S. 'Garter' then read the kintr a couple of long Latin seritences, and we all bowed out backwards in the same order as we had come in. Lord S. was then recalled, and given the highest order of * ""ower and Sword ' in diamonds.. I i ■■m I [.M.S. EDGAR. 113 "Wo all went l>iif'k aa we cimn', iii our ma*,'- nificerit jL^lass co.icht*H, uiid at tin- h1(»\v j)acc, so \vh flid not •'•ft to the hotel till 4 I'.M. \\v tln-ii had a iiioutlitnl oflaiicli, and went to bo j»liotoniaj>lir(l. "Al seven wo \voiv again at tlio jialaco I'oi' dinn«u, ,sittini:'d<»^» n, about fortv-tive, to n handsome table, with eveiy thing very well don«'. and all the pe(i[)le retnarkahly civil. After the kint waiting nearly four hours. We were very late in getting tlie ships m()ored. This morning I have hGQn calling on all our half- pay and other admirals here, and have been to tlie Mar/cuta, whence I have come back full of envy at their cleanliness. I always thought this was a clean shi]), Ijut they beat us into tits. Their steam- launches are a deal better ; but that I always H.M.S. EDGAR. 115 knew, and said, for wliicli 1 was called a i'reiich- maii, &c. Now they nia\ see for themselves. ^'■Augmt 17. " ( )ri Tnesd.'iy we dined at the Hotel de Yille. A vei'v handsome service of plate, good attendance, dimier, &c., and I liad a fine opportunity of im- proving my French between two French, officers. The next morning dejeilner on board La FUiiulre at 11, lasting till 1.30; truHles, Dinner on board the Magenta, very prettily arranged, but more truffies. This morning dejeihier on board Heroism ; truffles and oil. Ins])ect Heroism and Ma -1 -r--''-T -" '■■' 117 CHAPTEE IX. H.M.S. BRISTOL, 1865-18G8. APPOINTED COMMODOUE OF THE WEST AFRICAN STATION, 1865 H.M.S. BliltiTOI. 0UTI3liEAK OF FEVER AT SIERRA LEONE THE SLAVE-TRADE MISSIONARY AND TRADING DIFFICULTIES ASOKNSUiN -ST HELENA — DEATH OF ADMIRAL HORNUY, 1867 IMPAIRED HEALTH HOilB AGAIN. The " year or eighteen months," <^f which Captain Hornliy had s])oken as liis probable term as flag- ca})tain, had leiigthened out into nearly two and a half years,''dm"ing which time dockyard and other appointments had been given away to men junior to him, before an offer of an a}>j)ointment came, that of commodore on the West Coast of Africa, — an offer very flattering in itself, but witli so many j)i'os and cons that the decision to accept it wfis a diitlcult one to make. letter to Wife. " H.if.S. Edgnr, Portland, July 26, I860. " 1 have been surprised and perplexed by a great offer that has just come to me from the Duke of Somerset — viz., tt) send me out to the coast of 118 8rK OEOFFREY PHI ITS HOUNBV. I ' Africa MS a C()inni(jd/ 30, ISO'). "Your letter has carried the f aye, whom he was never to see n. life again. On November 19 the ship sailed, biit was detained ;tt I'ortland f(»r a week by some of the most severe weatliei experienced for yeai'S. Tbey arrived at Sierra Leone on Christmas day, and their greeting on the station was the appearance of " yellow-jack " on boanb Letter to Wife. " n.M.S. Bristol, Sierra Leone, Dec. 29, 1865. "I shoi]l(] have sailed yesterday, but delayed that I might shift to a more healthy ])osition — an unfortnnate depot ship, the Iris, on which all the people have been getting fever and dying. 4 1 "J«w. 4,1865. " We have lieen obliged to alter our course in consequence of fever having broken out on board, and are now making our way to Ascension, calling at Cape Palmas to leave these letters. Out of 104 men who were employed in shifting th^ Iris, 35 have been attacked by fever. Of these, three are dead, and we are likely to lose three or f(^ur more. " Ascension, Jan, 14. " We arrived here lasl night, coming in under sail, with a bit of sjilash that has pleased all on board with themselves, and which they believe to have been the admiration of all on shore. All I H.M.S. BRfHTOL. 121 c.'\ii say is, ' More's the pity that it should lie so rare a tiling- to see a ship come into harliour under sail.' 1 am sorry to say we have in all lost 21 men. But, thank God, all the tii-st and worst cases that have survived ai'e mendinir, and we have only had one more case of lever this week, and that a slight one, so I hope we have got t»ver it." To Sir Phipps Hornby, G.C.B. " Bristol, Jan. 2.3, 1^66. "The fever laid on us very hard. We had thirty-nine cases, and lost 22 men, all dying of yellow fever. Fortunately it did not sjvread, no man taking it who was not on board the Iris. ^^)r the sake of this island I k(^ep in ipia ran tine until the 26th — i.e., foui'teen days from the last case. This has been an unhealthy season on. the coast, so I hope I may have seen the worst of it. " Still, it is not a place that any one Mould stay at if he could get away, I hear on all sides that the slave-trade is done, that the demand from Cuba has ceased, and that no vessels come to this coast. If this is so (and the Foreign Office seems to believe it), this squadron should be re- duced to one half at least, and there can be no doubt that one commodore could work the whole of S. Africa well. I can go even further, for if the slave - trade does continue, I feel sure that it would be better to combine the East and West 122 sin (iEOFFREY PIIIPI'.S HORNBY I i 5 '.: 8(|ua(lr(ms, so as to (/we tlie ships an oppoi'timity of jn'otitiiit;- l»y th" cliaiip' of climate fi'oiii one coast to tlu' other, and still (n<*re by the occa- sional bracing of the Ca]ie. Three years for a small ship on this coast is rcn/ hard, — moi'e tlian oin' men should be called on for, merely to suit the Avhims of so-called 'philanthropy,' and a nig- gardly [)hilanthi'opy too.' ( )iilv tA\" officers on l)oard the ]iri>'ro2t', and iriven Mr James Bruce tlu' HaiJ'-lieutenant's vacancy. C/Ommander Fitzroy did Jiot. however, leave the BrUfol, but exchanged with Captain Cambier, her commander, who was an\i<»us to return to England on account of private atl'airs. Ke was therefore glad to get the Sparrow, which had only a few months to remain on tlie coast. This excliange having been effected, and the men being sufHciently recovered from the fever, the comni(»dore left in January 186(3 to visit the principal })orts on his station. As Captain Hornby said in his letter to his father, " the slave-trade was done," maiidy because the demand hatl ceased. 4. I f ! I - 'irm-rr' " "!"■ ' • M H.M.S. lUaSTOL. 123 Since the \Mir no slaves had he«^ri taken into the United States, and the Governor of Cuba refused to have any more. As for the blockade, Captain Hoi'iiby writes : — "It appears as if it would be very difficult to keep up an effective blockade against slave-dealers, if there was a sufficient demand to make it again worth their while to run, and if they really organ- ised their scheme. At Manque Grande more than 20 canoes are reported by Commander Nelson, each of which can ship 30 slaves at a trip, so that in half an hour a cargo of GOO might be sliipped. At present (February 'IH(5G) the demand seems to have totally ceased, but it is reported that a few will be wanted ere long for Brazils." What Captain Hornby advocated in this even- tuality was, that the chiefs on the coast should be made to see that it was in tlieir own interest to encourage legitimate trade — i.e., palm-oil, india- rubber, &c. — instead of the illegitimate — i.e., slaves and rum. Note,^ on the Bight of Benin, 1866, 18G7. '* F'rom the Volta to Porto Novo, a distance of onlv 220 miles, is the main seat of the slave-trade ; in that short distance, backed by the King of Dahomey, the slaves are shipped. The country for 20 miles east of the Yolta belongs to England, having with the now deserted fort of Quito been purchased from the Danes, with all rights, in 1850. J I 124 sn{ GEOFFKEY F-IIIITV. FIOHNnY, 1 jM'ojHi'^t' tli!it. tlie fort l^«' lepaircd and ^TinisdjHMl, wliicl) would rcdnnc tlu^ iM-acli for sliIpnuMit to 100 miles in lenijfth. Tlicst; KMJ nlil(^s of coiisL may ])»i (lividt'd into two parts. The most westerly a1">ut 05 miles, w itli the small towns of Flowhow, Fish- town. Govvalonto, Porto Se^iiro, Little Popo, A^^- hevey, and ( Treat Popo ; tlie easterimiost, with tlie large town ofWliydah and its dependencies. The former six towns are independent, and governed by their chiefs and headmen ; sometimes they fight among themselves; they have little or no terri- tory. These towns are purely trading connnuni- ties ; tht^y carry European goods into tlu^ interio]-, and sell them foi' produce, oil, &c. I am convinced, from a toleral»ly intimate ac(iuaintance with tliem, that any person of character, iirnmess, and, above all, patience, could, partly by reasoning and partly by a smtdl demonstration of force (merely the presence of the two nearest gunboats), get them to agree to a few simple conditions — viz., not to allow slaves to be exported from their territories, or to admit white dealers in slaves ; to give pro- tectioji to black or white missionaries or merchants, a fail' import duty, &c. If a reasonable, though rather heavy, duty were ])laced on rum and spirits from the Volta to Lagos, it would give reveraie to the cliiefs, and make it worth their wliile to en- courage legal trade to the utmost. T believe tliat they would gladly acce])t such a treaty, and, what is more, keep it. It must be borne in mind that II H.M.8. IIRIflTOL. 125 we CMii, l)y ineaiis «if a regular Itlockade of any par- ticular port, easily stop its trade, wliicli is nearly erpiivaleat to starving- tlie chiefs into subinissioii. Tiiere now remains aliout 35 miles of coast, the sea- front of Dahomey, for 150 years the heaflfpiarters of the slave-trade. Tlic chief seaport, Whydah, is situated a short two miles from the l)eaoh, from which it is divided hy the lagoon, here generally fordable. From its central position, and command of water-carriage, Whydah will always he an im- portant place. The King of Dahomey would make no treaf.y promising to abstain from e.xpoiting slaves, and he would not keep it if he did. An ajjreement with the French, and if necessarv a few police from Lagos (Hijussa men), would cause a blo(jdless revolution or secession, and Whvdah would tbrm another petty ti'ading conununity, like the other towns in the 65 miles of sea-coast. The smaller ports would speedily follow, and Dahomey would be cut off from the sea. The consequence would be, that the kingdom, with its Anjazons, sacrifices, and hideous fanaticism, would cease to exist in three years, and the present king be begging for chop round the English factories." Another burning question on the West Coast at that time was the missionary and merchant ques- tion. The reason of this difficulty was, that the missionaries so often combined tradinyf with their other avocations that it was not easy for the .* ^ 126 I SIR GEOFFREY rillPr'S IJOKNBY. native to flistin^nish between the Europonns Avho came in the interests of connnerce and tliose who came in the cause of reh^ion. Apart from cases which were reported to tlie cornmoflore, of a negi'o being tortured to death by a Portuguese, or shot ])y a drunken factory clerk for no reason excej)t that the clerk was drunk, and hji])|)ened to. have a revolver in his hand, there were (Hsturbances which arose from a mere trifle. For instance — " March 31, 1800. — Commander St Clair reports that some time back a native's dog strayed into the factory-yard at Chinaongo, and v i wantonly shot by one of the clerks. The owner remon- strated and claimed compensation, which was refused, so he came the next day and shot a pig belonging to the factory. They sent to his village, and asked the chief to give him up, which was refused, and they then sent a party of Kroomen to take him by force. These got hold of the man, but the natives rescued him, fired on the Kroomen, an '^ 's believed killed one of them. After this ^ .des took to arms. The natives fired on the .ory, the whites called in the assistance of the Portuguese, and, from what Commander St Clair could hear, attacked one of the native villages. After going on in this way for some time, the natives agreed to give the man up ; but he died, or was killed, before he reached the factory. Finally, there was a palaver, on which the whites succeeded in getting a promise to pay them thirty , ' I H.M.S. BRISTOL. 127 barrels ol' palm-oil for the expenses to which they had been put." No wonder that luider these circumstances the nei,n-()es were not disposed to receive missionaries with open arms, especially as they were not easily distiii f r i \ ■ . To Sir Alexander Milne, K.C.B. "Coxoo River, May 28, 1807, " The fact is, Sir, tht? bow has been overstrained. With very few vessels the officers have kept as bHWTi iiinlH»if- II.M.S. BRJf^TOL 135 strict a blockatle as fully oniployt^cl a largvr mim- b«'r two yeai's since, A l)atl season has fallen on tlnnii, and tliev are done. I must tell you openly, that if it is not tlie intention of the Admiralty to keep the Sf^uadron up to the lowest mark — namely, fovu'teen effective cruisers — I think we slionld have permission to relax the stringency of the blockade. The work is very hard; there is no excitement, not even hope, nothing but a dogged pressing on to the across, but as the demand is slack we seem to waste our powers for a worthless object." To Sir Sydney Dacres, K.C.B. " St Helena, Jnne 20, ISriT. " We found no letters from the Admiralty on our arrival here, but the papers and letters from Plymouth affirm that the Rattlesnake is coming out to relieve this ship. Far be it from me to say that tliis is not a very wise change. At tlie same time, knowing how hardly she can accom- modate my stafi*, feeling that there is nothing doing liej'e, as far as I can see, that re([uires the country to be put to the expense of a first- class commodore, and that two years is as nnich -. { 136 Sm CiEOFFKEY PHTri'S irORNHY. as most people can last on the coast, I am writlno- to Sir A. Milnt' to request him to relieve me, if he relieves this shij). 1 can say to you vvhat I luinht not be justitied in intruding- on him, that j]i my opinion, instead of semhng out a large corvette with another commodoi'e, vou onixht to send out a small one witli a yomig captain, and put him and all the remains of this scpiadron under a conunodor(:> at the (Jape. If Greyliound and Racoon are kept cait y(^u would i\nn\ have three captains, who could relieve one another as senior oliicers in the Mozambique, the Bight, and the South Cuast, su])posing you still keep uj) the blockade aganist the Transatlantic slave - trade. They could do their work far more easily, and with less loss to the crews, than under the present arrangement. The ci'uisers for some time ])rst have not had more than fourteen days in a year heie, and then seven days at Ascensi(^n. It would lie a boon to them also if they could make an annual trip to the Cape instead. It would })ro- bably occupy but litth? moie time ; and the greater coldness of the climate would have a very invigorating effect on the crews. Indeed, the sepnration of the station from the Cape, and the removal of the Admiral thence, seem to have been made after a superficial glance at a chart, and without any consideration of the prevailing winds and currents, which really govern the dif- ferences of distance between places from a sea- I H.M.S. BRISTOL. 137 • farinnr point of view. We have had an indifferent season off the coast dui'injL,'' the last six months, and several »)f the crews have felt it." The report about the RattJcj^nake proved to be true. Tliouo-h the entjines of the Bristol had l)een patched up during,'- her visit to England the preced- ing winter, they were liable, from their construc- tion, to break down at an}' moment, and there was no means of repairing tliein on the station. It was therefore decided that the Rattlesnake sliould relieve her, and as Captain Hornby liad expressed a wish not to l)e left out after the Bristol went home, a st^cond - class commodore was appointed to succeed him. The Rattle- snake, with the new commodore, Captain Dowell, on board, reached Ascension at the end of No- vember, and as soon as possible after its arrival the Bristol sailed, reaching England early in January. Though Captain Hornby had seemed to stand the climate on the coast better than most i^eople, it told on him a good deal after his return. He suffered terribly from neuralgia, and, what surprised and troubled him a good deal more, from "nerves" as well. When he first arrived in London, whenever he drove he was convinced that every cab or omnibus he saw coming must run into him, and if there was no carriage approaching, he expected to come into collision with every lamp - post he ' ! ir^8 SIR OKOFriiEY rilTI'I's Hn|{M!V. drove pnst. After some months <<\' medical treat- meiit, he recovered c'omjtlctely, ami wliatever else may have ailed him, his nerves iit-vi'i- tntuMfd liim a^alii. As he liad hvcn relievt-d liefon*. lie expeeled, l)otli (if his places \\(4v still Ifl. lie li\«(l for the tiist few months after his return in I>i't'sdrn, where Mrs floridly was spending tlie winter for the sake of the education of \ivv children. Lordiji(>-t(;n hecame vacant first, and he returned tiiithei- with his family in May, when he found that tlie succession duties, leo-acies, and charges on tlie property woul, he was [)romW,jt»i*M/'*. ■ THE FLYING SQUADRON. 143 '« the si lips got ill under sail, but the Bristol and Emhiinivii. wfvre taken by an easterly current, and had to get up httnani. The next day they weighed under steam, jiicked up the Barrosa outside, and sailed for Haliia, wliioli they reached on August 2, havinu' crossed the line July 25, long. 18° W. Tliougli tlie allowance of water seemed so small, it was nevpi' exceeded after tlie first week or two. At l^ahiii they only remained forty-eight hours, and here they jiarted company with the Bristol^ taking on with them tlit^ frigate PJuehc, Captain Bythesea. Their |iassage to Ilio de Janeiro was a very slow one, twelve instead of six days, and, as ill luck N\ ould hiwf it, the Emperor, counting on the (pucker time, h..d come dowai to Rio yn\ purpose to sec the ships, an this the Japanese Ministers consented, and the S(puidrn7 14, 1870. "Sir. — We have the honour to iiiforni you that his Majesty the Tenno la desirous of receiving; you at (Jourt. and you are conseijuently invited to come to the pidace at one o'clock on the Ijth inst., with your stafl' and the captains of the ships under youi command.— We have, 6zc., \'c. "SAWA JU SAN I KlVOWAUA XOKIYOSIH, /.*V., Tekashima Ju ski I Fr.TiwAiiA Mlnenohi, L.S., Ministers oj Fori ign Affairs. " Ills Excellency Roar-Admiral Hok^^by." in du(3 course the Admiral, tlie ca])taii s, and his staff attiMided at the palace, and were received ; but in th(»se da\s the JVlikado was too sacred a personage; to i^xpose his face to the common gaze. He was seated on a raised platform or dais, in front of whicli a screen or lattice descended low enough to conceal his face. His sacred Majesty was l.)ut human after all, and was just as curious to see his guests as they to see him : several times the Adnnral saw hlin trying to peep below his screen witliout being seen. Sir H. Parkevs made the open- ing speech : — Translation. '' I have the lionour to present to your Majesty Ilear-Admiral Hornby, together with the captains of the vessels composing the English Flying 152 SIR (iEOFFIlKY PHlPrS HORNT5V. (Squiidroii, wliicli lias vcct'iitly Mii-ivcd in .lapaii oii a v'oyaij^c nniiul tlu; world. Hear- Admiral Hornby is lia|)pv to avail liiinself* of this opportunity to be ivctMA't'd in andienci* by your M.tjfSty, and it will attbrd liini in.i"li s? isfaotion to be of scrvict- to your Majesty's ' iment, ly enabling yonr Majesty's otUcers to nispect the vessels under liis commarid." T'l this the Mikado replied, through one of Itis Ministers : — Trnmlation. " In obedience to the orders of your CTOvernnient, you have safely cj'ossed \vidt» seas on a voyagt^ round tlie g]t>be. I take tlie op])ortujiity offered me to-day of congratulating you on your good health, and on the unexampled undertaking in which you are eno'aoed. I have also to express mv satisfaction that, owing t(» your good offices, two of my naval students will b( placed on board your fleet, and receive Instruction in navigation!" If the Admiral spoke, no record of his speech has been preserved. One of the above-mentioned young naval officers w^as taken in the ilagship, the other in the Pluchc. The one in the Phoebe was remarkably quick and sharp, and picked up not only English, but nautical information, with astonishing rapidity. The other THE FrA'IN<: SQUADRON. 153 on board the Liverpool hud niucli more diiticiilty in ncqiiirui^ knowledge, and, wliat was worse, was morbidly aware of his deficiencies. So low and depressed did he become tha* the Admiral, to cheer him, sent for his fellow-countryman to cttme to see him. The experiment was not successful, as a few days afterwards the poor yountr fellow killed himself, and wh<'n his compatriot was told of the fact, he did not seem sui'prised ; on the con- trary, he seemed to think that his friend had taken quite the best way out of his difficulties. The voyage from Japan was in many res])ects the same as that taken in the TribniLC in 1858-59, except that the squadron got across to Vancouver's Island under (our weeks. The colony was poor, and not able to offer nnich in the way of enter- tainment for the squadron, — only one ball, and a regatta got up in Esquimault harbour for the boats of the two S(|uadrons, of which the Flying Sfpiadron carried off eight out of twelve events. The squadron also took away from Vancouver's Island a new main-yard for the Phceh'. As soon as the regatta was over, the Boxer gunboat was sent to a lumber camp, about 80 miles up the coast, to choose a suitable stick. It was not till about eleven o'c]ock the next day that the lieu- tenant commanding the Boxer was able to see the foreman. The tree which was chosen was then stai ng in the forest; by 5.30 p.m. it was cut down and the yard alongside the Boxer. In 154 SIR GEOFFllRV rillPI'S HORNBY. thirtv-six hours from the time th« Boxer left Esquimault, the yard was on hoard the Phcpbc ! Labour is dear in l-?ritish Columbia, and work is cojiKe»|uently better and more ([uickly done. By tlies time they left Vancouver's Island, the Flyini,'' Squadron had exchanged both of her cor- vettes ; the iVa/'/ joined the scjuadron in Japan, and tlie Burrosa was left in her place, and at Esquimault, as seemed only natural, the Chavyhditi took the place of the Scylla as far as Valparaiso. As a parting gift the Scylla gave the Liverpool theii" tame sheep, Jack. He had endeared himself to his shipmates by refusing to remain in his pen. He would butt the other sheep into a corner till he had a clear space, and then jump out. He was washed and combed every Saturday, had his place at divisions on Sunday, and acquired a decided taste for tobacco and grog. When he was the only sheep left, the ship's company came aft and begged that his life might be spared, and on arrival at Plymouth they presented him to the Admiral, who relegated him to a paddock at Lord- ington, where he lived many years in honourable retirement. On their way to Valparaiso the squadron put in for six days to Honolulu, which seems to have been purely a pleasure visit. At Val[)araiso they went in for an extensive refit ; sails and rigging were very much worn, and almost all the ships required caulking. Here their departure was has- / k 1 i THK FIA'IXO SQITADIION. 155 teried by a teleirraiu aiuiounciiig that ^^ar had l)iokeii out ])etweeii France and Germany. Pro- visions for a hnn(h'ed days, and coals, were coni- plet(!d, and on August 28 they sailed, quite pre- pared for any eniert^-ency, and ready to j)ick uj) orders at the Falkland Islands, Bahia, and the Azores, which were to be their only points of communication. There was no signal made to them at the Falkland Islands, so they did not go in there after all, but kept on to Baliia, wliere they arrived, Octol)er 6, and received the news of Sedan and the fall of the Empire. " I am sorry," writes the Admiral, " for the fall of the Emperor. He has been a good friend to us, and I have no faith in European republics." Thouy-h after Sedan there seemed no chance of England engaging in war, the Admiral left Bahia again on the 9th, having only just remained in harbour long enough to have the Satellite's rudder repaired. She (the Satellite) had taken the C/iarylxlis's place at Valparaiso, and had got her rudder-hfc.id badly wrung off the Falkland Islands. Some of the other ships also had their steering- gear sliglitly damaged, and for this reason the Admiral thought it wiser to avoid the Azores and sail straight for Plymouth. From Bahia he wrote to Sir Sydney Dacres that he hoped to arrive in England about November 15, and at daylight on the 15th the signalman at Mount Wise reported that the Flying Squadron was in sight. During 156 SIR GEOFFREY FHIPPS HORNBY. the forenoon the six ships anchored in the Sound, and the cruise of the Flying Scjuadron was ended. It remained, therefore, only for the Admiral to write in tlie warmest terms to the captains who had so ahly and loyally seconded his etibrts ; to write to the Admiralty to heg that the men, who during the last seventeen months had heen more than 350 days at sea, should be granted extra leave; and to urge th;it the services of at least some of the commanders and first lieutenants should receive the reward of promotion. " The Flying S(|uadron was," he says, " 1 l)elieve, the only one which has ever kept continuous com- pany round the world. It sailed great distances in very limited times, and reached the different ports with a punctuality which I venture to say was not only unexpected, but unprecedented. On its return each of the large fi Igites inspected in the home ports was re])orted on most favourably. These results could not have been achieved, seeing that the S(piadron was manned by a large propor- tion of young and inexperienced officers and men, if the senior officers had not done their duty witli the utmost diligence and ability." For two or three days the Admiral took up his quarters with Admiral Stewart at the Keyham Dockyard, and on the morning when he drove thence to the station, the officers and me"i were drawn up at the dockyard gates to take leave of him. It was a parting much felt on all sides, this % THE FLYINli SQUADRON. 157 separation of old coinrades, who had ]:)eeii so inti- iiuitely associated for sn many months, and wlio \v(»vdd soon be scattered to the four (juarters of tlie globe. A tare well it was also to wooden siiips, to sails and yai'ds, to the old navy of Nelson's time. Henceforward oamt.' tlie era of steam and iron, of torpedoes and electricity ; (jf what Is called Science rei'di^is the kee)i observation wliich gained every advantage possible to Ije taken fr(Mn wind and weather, and wliieli used to be called Sramanship. I'aju.e i)F Dates. I'liRTS. 1 I Plymouth .... jMinclial, Madeira . Ealiia, Brazil .... Ifio tlanciro, lliazil . ]\Ionte Yuieo, River Plato Simon's Bay, Capo of (iood Hope Hol.ison's Bay, Molbourno . Sydiioy .... llobart Town, Tas^niania . Lyttleton, Xow /ealand . AVolliiigtun, II Auckland, n Y'lkoluana, .Tapan , Es(]uimanlt, Vancouver's Island . Honolulu .... Valparai.so, Cltili lialiia, Brazil .... J'lymouth Aniva'i. Di'p.'irtiirt'. 1809 1S09 . • luno 19 . July 1 duly 2 Aug. 2 Aug. 4 II 16 II 25 . Sept. 6 Sept. 11 . Oct. 3 Oct. 10 . Nov. 20 Doc. 7 . Doc. 12 ., 20 1870 1870 . dan. 2 Ian. 10 .1 19 ,, 22 1. 21 ,1 27 . Fob. 2 Fob. 9 . April April 19 . May 15 May 28 . dune 10 Juno 23 . Any. U Aug. 28 . Oct. Oct. 9 . Nov. 1.^ ... 158 CHAPTEil XI. THE CHANNEL St^UADIlON, .SEPT. 1871 TO 8EPT. 1874. THE LOSS tiF II. M.S. CAI'TAIS — TLTE COMMITTEE ON N.MAI COX- !1.\T10S QUESTION OF NAVAL UNIFOUM. While tlie Flviuo- Sniiadron wu.s oii its wav home to Bcihiti, M ilisaster had occiiried hi the C'liaiinel Fleet which wrought such desolation us has ])er- haps only been equalled hy tlie loss of the Royal George or the Victoria, On September 7, 1870, the Captain ca[»sized in tin- Bay of Biscay, and all hands were lost with the excejttion of sixteen men. This o[)eiie(l up the (juestion as to whether naval construction was beinjj;' conducted on satis- factory principles, and led to the formation of a Oonnnittee to inquire into the cause of the loss of the Cajjtain, and to report on what w-^s the best form of l)attleship. The ( lonnnittee w^as composed partly of civilians, partly of naval men, under the chairmanship of Loril Dutferin. The naval niem- iiiintiffnri ^^^•'TM'TrgiSg-^ '^ THE CHANNEL SQUADRON. 159 bers of the board were Admiral Elliot, Admiral Ryder, Admiral Stewart, Admiral Hornby, and Admiral Hood; tbe civilians, Sir William Arm- strong, Mr B'roiide, &c. Tbe Connnittee met for tbe first time on January 18, 1871, and the naval members being men of strong and widely divergent opinions, ever}' point was most tborougbly discussed at tl)e meetings held at irregular intervals between that date and July 26, when the report was gone through and signed by all but two meml)ers — Admirals Hyder and P]lliot decitling to issue a separate report. The Committee agreed that tbe loss of the Captain was not due to ajiy fault on the part of Captain Burgoyne, but to lier liaving two feet more dis- placement tlian wa.s intended. Masts were con- denmed for first-class ironclads ; but so stroiicr was the prejudice in favour of the old order of things, that it was thought re(|uisite to have a few fully rigg(3d ships, and some partially armoured fast frigates, for foreign distant service and the pro- tection of trade. Within a motith of the time that the Committee on Naval C^onstruction comjjleted its labours, Ad- miral Hornby received a letter from Mr Goschen, then First Lord of the Admiralty, saying that he thought the service would be benefited Ijy his being Admiral Wellesley's successor (in the Chan- nel Fleet), and that he would submit his name to the Queen. 1 160 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. ' I Accord'ntirlv, Anuu.st 24, 1871, lie received the ap[>oiMtineiit, and on Septeini)ei' 2 he hoisted his Hag oil l)oard the Minotaur. With the exception of a new flag-captain, (obson, his staff was the same as in the Flying ^(piadroii. The winter cruise of \.\w (*hannel Fleet was to verv )nu(,'h the same places as in 18G3 — viz., Lisb(m, Cadiz, Teneriffe, Gibraltar, Vigo, &c. — bnt the composition of the squadron was entirely different. Except the Topaze, which oidy remained with them a few months, the sliij)s were idl ironclads. Three of them wei-e the givat five-masted shi])s, Minotaur, Aghicourt, and Northnmherland ; tlie others, the Ile^'cules, the AfoiMrch, tlie BcUcrophou, and the Sultan, then rather a new thing in ii-onclads. Tlie Admiral a \ ailed himself fully of the o])por- tunity of exercising the Sf|uadr()n in team tac- tics, and was much disappoivited that during a two or tluve days' rendezvous he had with the Mediterranean Squadron, under Sir Hastings Yel- vertou, there was no opportimity of practising manamvres on a large scale with the combined squadrons. Christmas was spent at Gihraltai, where the Admiral met the Federal General Sherman. Diari/. " Dec. 26. — General Sherman came on board this ship and the Hercules. He seemed very much struck with the latter. He dhied with m<' in the evening, remarked, on my youthful ap- pearance ; in some ex.[)ressions was very American, ■■MM— iiiir ' "•'!"•• THE CIIAXNEL SQUADRON. 161 but an intollig'ent man, — a man with a reiiiarkablt'- looking head and good coiintenanco." The cheerfulness of the season was also much enhanced by the go.^d reports of the progress to- wards recovery made l)y the Prince of Wales, and at Vigo, on February '17, 1872, the s(piadron had its own Thanksgiving festivities. The ships were dressed, a special stM-vict^ was held, the ''main- brace Mas spliced," leave was granted, and the Admiral gave a large otticers' dinner-party on board the Minofai'r. About the middle of March tlie ships were ordered home, and as tl)e Minotaur had to ijo into dock for a couple of months to have her engines patched, the Admiral took a house for the time being at Southsea. A good many changes were beintr made at the Admiralty just then, and very soon after his arrival Allege to Greenwich, increasing the age for entry in the Navy, (fee. — vvei'e subsequently carried out. The Minotaur came out for* her steam trial o\\ May w7, and the following Sunday, June t, on his return from clnu'ch, the Admiral received an order ^y* V^ ' * i ^ ! :'-i 162 SIR rEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. to proceed at once to King'ston (to receive the Duke of Edii)burgii), whitlier the Ilercuh's iuul Nortlnmihoimid had pi-eceded hiiu. AVith a good deal of difficulty lie succeeded in getting away that same evening ; but when lie reached Kings- ton neither of the other shi])S had arrived, as, through some delay in the telegrapli oflice, their orders had not reached them till Monday morning. The Achniral could hear nothinjjf at Kino'ston a])out the programme for opening the Dublin Exhibition, and on yoing up to Dublin to write his name at the Lodo-e, he saw tlie Duke of Edinlmrtrh return- ing, with a very small procession, from the opening ceremony. The Duke was most cordi;d, and was evidentlv exertino- himself '' not onlv to do the Prince in Dublin, l)ut to make himself the head of our profession." From Kingston the shi[)S crossed to Milford Havoi to coal, ci' rvtc for Liverpool, Greenock (where they found great im- provement and extensiiui in the building-yards), Louu'h Fovle, and Loujiii S willy. Thence round the north of Ireland to Berehaven, and back to Portland, where the steam - reserse shijvs were lying, and where the Prince of Wales and the Lords of the Admiralty were expected for the opening of the Breakwater. Letiir to Wife. "August 11, 1872. "We had a strong gale from the N.W. yester- day, which has n*)t yet blown itself c»ut. It veiy THE CH.1NNEL SQUADRON. 163 I much interfered with the success of the ceremonial, which, if it had heen fine, would have been very impressive. Fifteen lai-g-e ships and. hve brigs manning yards and saluting together is a sight not often seen ; and there were a heap of yachts here which, if it had been fine, would have been knocking about under sail and enlivening the scene. As it was, the ships were a good deal hid in the mist, and there was enough rain at times to make it disagreeal)le to the spectators, and very nnich so to those who had to jmll about in boats." On the ft>no\ving day, as soon as the Prince of VVales had left, the Adnnral took the Avhole tieet out for a ten days' cruise — a ten days' pretty severe course of steam evolutions, on which, when the shijjs anchored at Spithead, Captain M'Crea of the Bellerophon connnented to Captain Van- sittart of the Sultan by semaphore as follows ; " Here eiideth the first lesson," vury much to the Admiral's amusement. For the next six weeks the headquarters of the Channel Sf[uadron were at Portland, the ships going in turn l^o Portsmouth and Plymouth to be tlocked preparatory to their winter cruise. .Vt Port'^^nd on September the 19th the first of the annual sailing races for the Adnural's Cup took place. This cup was given by the Admiral an- nually to encourage a taste for boat-sailing among 164 8[R GEOFFT^EY PHIPPS HORNBY. the youngei' officers, nnd was sailed for under special conditions : — 1. In this race servi'^o boats with any rig and of all classes may compote; no i-estriction as to rig, false keel, iV-c., except that water ballast can only bi- admitted if necessary. l>istance not, less than tea miles. 2, Time allowance to be as follows! — viz.: Launches, barges, and cutters to allow J'lnnaces (not steam) Galleys .... Dingies .... Sub-lieutenants to allow midshipmen Lieutenants Conjma)iders and others Minute.s. 7 9 12 1 •> •J 3 i. Of tlie three cups oiven by the Admiral in the years 1872, 1873, aod 1874, the two tirst were won liy Lieutenants Fitzgerald and Britten re- spectively, and the last by a niidsliipmati, Fred- erick. On twt.) occasions the winning boat was a cutter, on the third an adapted steam -phmace. It was distinctly proved that, if there was any breeze, the service rig was the best, Imt that, all things considered, skill iu handling the boat had more to do with success than build, rig, or any other supj)Osed advantage. Before leaving England, very much to the Ad- miral's regret. Captain Gibson was obliged to resign his appointment on the ])lea of ill-health, and was succeeded by an old flag-lieutenant and commander, R. O'B. Fitzroy, who had been pro- 1 1 THE CHANNEL SQUADRON. 165 raoted a tew months previously. This winter a much longer stay was made at Vi^-o than at Lisbon. In the first place, there were not the same temptations for the young officers to gaml,)le, and there was more shooting to he had. In the account of one of the Admiral's shooting expedi- tions there is an interestino- notice of tlie rural districts of Spain. Diary. "Oct. 30, 1872.— Left the ship with Hills [Staff commander], Manning [coxswain], and Joan [a setter] at 5.45 a.m. Found Bar- cena [the consul] and Don Xavier waiting, with a very useful dog, near the diligence. Don Xavier is by descent, and in reality, the great sportsman of the place ; his father held an ap- pointment under Government as sort of grand chasseur. He (Don Xavier) always wears a red handkerchief round his head, and thinks him- self very cunning on game, but is in my opin- ion an old poaclier. The diligence, drawn by wretched cattle, started half an hour late, and made its usual leisurely wav. On passinof tlie first ridfife we found all the valleys towards the Minho full of fon', so we saw nothinp- till beyond Puente - Arias. Then it cleared, and we saw some beautiful scenery — rugged hills clothed with very varied foliage, the red colour of the chestnuts and of a sort of wild cherry being very striking, the vines, a sei'ies of beautiful browns and dull yellows, and a quan- IGG SIR GEOFFRF.Y rHIPl\S HORNBY. tity of dark - green fir. Half-way down the hills were terraced almost as perfectly and lal)oriously as in Ja})an, and water was led to them all. The road, a very fine one, gradually rose into a coimtry where trees ceased, 1 fancy, by reason of thc^ soil, which looked like disin- teuTated iiranite. We left the hio-liroad at Fuente Fria, so called because there is no foun- tain there, and walked about two miles over some undulating ground coveivd with short furze, heather, and fern. There we came in sight of a very deep, wide, and rugged valley, on the far side of which, and high up, lay La Graiia. We had a very long and rough walk, at least seven miles, to reach it, mostly on the remains of the decayed roads, which had once been paved with huge blocks of stone, but since used as water- courses. On the way I killed a couple of part- ridges with two very good shots, nmch to the astonishment of Don Xavier, wi)o had no idea a gun could reach so far : and on ariival we found Fane and Brown, who had astonished a keeper with a like exhibition of skill. I be- lieve Don Xavier got frightened, and deter- mined that we should not have a chance of shooting much of his game. *^ Oct. 31. — The house at which we put up, though the priest's, and far the best in the village, was rude and dirty to a degree, and the owner much, the same — a very low - bred i I THE CHANNEL SQUADRON. 167 man In ap})en ranee. I slept badly on an air mattress, which had a tendejicy to slip from under me, ami was very cctld, "Don Xavier hurried us out at 8 a.m., took us to the top of the mountains, showed us a lot of very wild partrid-^-es on bare and steep hillsides, and walked us through long valleys where birds were not, till we were thoroughly tired. Luncheon also, which we understood was to be sent out to meet us, was not ordered, and we had to do our best on a few biscuits which I had in my pocket. At 5 P.M. we got home with only five brace of birds and no temper, and found that Barcena, who had left us tired, had killed three on his way down close to the house. "iVor. 1. — Left La Grana at 9 A.M., thinking what a beautiful country it was, how low in the scale of civilisation were the people, how dirty, and what a pity for them that there were no game laws to attract gentlemen to live in the country ; for there is no possible amusement for them, no roads, no shooting, and an en- forced division of property at death, which pre- vents any large houses being kept up. We took mules to help us up the hills, and reached Fuente Fria at noon. The other muleteers dawdled, and did not arrive with the luggage until 2 p.m. Then only did we allow the diligence, which we had de- layed for two hours, to proceed (this is how they do things in Spain), and it went at a most doleful <-£: lu:-*. rw r ^ ..>^. W IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 9 // o fA 1.0 I.I 1.25 l^|2£ |2.5 U£ 1^ 11122 t li£ IIIIIM 1.4 1.6 V] v^ 0: ^ a > 7: y /^ i^Bkdi :<5- U > 168 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. pace, taking six and a half hours to do twenty-nine miles doAvn-hill. I was truly glad to be again in my clean cabin." The year 1873 was, as far as the Channel Fleet w^as concerned, marked by a good deal of atten- dance on Iloyalty. First came the abdication of Amadeo, King of Spain. Things had been very much disturbed in Spain during the winter, but towards tlie beginning of F^-bruary the country seemed settling down a little, when, tlie Channel Fleet being at Cfibraltar, the news came from the Governor of Algesiras that King Amadeo was likely to abdicate. Next day, Fel)ruary 12, the Admiral writes in his Diary : — " Heard in the evening that King Amadeo had abdicated. Late received teletrram orderino- Agincoivrt, Ilcrcuhs, and Livtly to Lisl^on to embark him. "'Lisbon, Fch. 10. — King Amadeo at Belem. It seems that Forilla, after lettinof the kinof down, was not sufficiently red for the Repub- licans, wlio have kicked him out, and bn>ught in an entirely new set of men — Figueras and Castellar at the head. The Portuguese Govern- ment is much frightened, as their Republicans are nmch elated. King Victor Emmanuel said to be much displeased at his son's abdication, but I fancy he had no alternative. Nothing Is known about his leaving, but Macdonald [Rear- Admiral J and I are to see him on Tuesday at 1 P.M. I SS5 THE CHANNEL SQUADRON, 169 I ''Feb. 18. — To Belem at 1 p.m. to wait on King Amatleo ; rooms in the palace larg'e and airy, Ljoking on to a quaint g'arden, gravel paths narrow, with high box edgings ; King Aniadeo unshorn, and clad in a short black frock-coat «if the ' Young Spanish ' cut ; did not come to the point with reference to using our ships or not, said that an Italian squadrc^n was coming, that he could form no plans for moving till the (jueen was better, and that he was much obliged to the Government for offering ships. " Feb. 24. — At 2 P.M. Amadeo came on board particulieremenf, Avhich 1 undeistand means in diplomatic phrase * privately ' ; but it is not easy to know how to receive princes privately, unless they say they wish to be incognito. So we manned yards and saluted him on coming on board, and on leaving the ships which he visited — viz., Minotaur and Hercules. I wrote to Oldoin and said T should salute him under the Italian Hag unless otherwise desired, and he re- plied that his Majesty since his glorious abdica- tion had adopted the Italian Hag. Amadeo in his manner reminds me much of his father — short and abrupt in his phrases." Two Italian ships, lioma and Conte Verde, having arrived, the Admiral sailed for Vigo, leav- ing Rear- Admiral Macdonald in the Northnniher' land at Lisbon, and at these two places they remained till nearly Easter, when they were 170 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. recalled to Spithead. Very soon afterwards preparations began for receiving the Shah of Persia. The Minotaur s engines were in such a bad state that it was absolutely necessary to replace them, so she was paid off, and the Ad- miral transferred his flag to the Agincourt. About the beijinninir of June the Channel and Reserve Squadrons began to assemble at Spit- head, and on the 11th they sailed for Dover, and for the first time practised the manoeuvres to be exec'ited off the Dover pier on the occasion of the landing of the Shah. Agahi on the 1 7th the Admiral had " the captains on board to explain certain manoeuvres which are to be performed off Dover. Vanguard, Avdacious, and Devastation left for Ostend to embark and escort the Shah. Orders to embark certain correspondents of news- papers. Persian flag need not be hoisted. Though the Admiralty will be present, I am to remain in entire command. " June 18. — Morning broke calm and rainy. Weighed at 10.30 and ran out S.S.E. Yachts appeared at 1.40 p.m., but slowed as we turned, and we had to stop also. This put us rather near in to form line off the pier, and the Shah was a long time disembarking, so we were a long way to the southward before we saluted. We then stood off to do some manoeuvres, which were but moderately executed, and we were just forming line again to go off the pier when a fog came ■0-^- THE CHANNEL SQUADllON. 171 suddenly down, and we were not very far from the pier end. However, we stood on, and picked up most of the ships when the fog lifted. "June 19 — Off the Owens, slowed to let AcliUes and Black Prince up. Took a turn through Spithead, and anchored simultaneously and very well. ''June 20. — Off early to trim the lines of the ships, which, though fair, were not exact. " June 22. — I landed al)out 3 p.m., and found Sir A. Milne and Mr Goschen on board Enchantress. Both were very com[)limentary about tlie liandling of the ships at Dover, and what they had heard of our anchoring here. " June 23. — A very tine morning, witli light, westerly wind. Bliips in harbour dressed at 9 A.M. ; at Spithead when the Sliah arrived in dockyard with white ensign at main. Shifted to Persian ensign, when we saluted the yacht off Southsea pier. Laid out on yards when off Spit Buoy. Shah, Princess of Wales, and Czar- evna visited Aginconrt and Sultun. I received them at the bottom of the ladder. Went to quarters on board Agincoui^t ; a gun shown at work in Sultan. " Ju7ie 25. — Complimentary letter from Sir Alex- ander Milne, also saying that we may probably go to I)rontheim. '* Jtine 30. — Saw the official letter of thanks for the review at the Admiral's office, thought it 172 Sm GEOFFREY PHITTS HORNBY. most cold and unsatisfactory. A gieat contrast to that j^iven to tlu* army for the Windsor review. **«/?//// 5. — A tliick morning with wind from SS.K. Emharked at 9,'iO a.m. and waited for the Shah. Sliah reached the dockyard at 12.40. We weiglie "ther tlut-e hours t\vih<;ht, Ko that it was never t«") dark to read in the cal)ii). Two days after reaching Drontheim the A(hniral writes to Mrs Hoiiihy ; — "Oreland Bay, Juhj 16, 1873. "On Monday we anchored here early, and I went on to Drontlieini in the Vidoro'tis, to look at the anchorage. It is about twenty-six miles from this, through some pretty fiords, and it stands on a gentle slope facing the north, with a small islet called Monksholm, on which is a fort (?) defending the place. We found in there a German admiral with four wooden ships, two Swedes, and two Norwegians. Landed, and found a very clean- lookiuij: town, built almost entirelv <.>f wood, houses two-storeyed and comfortable. Streets very wide, at least 40 feet of paving in the middle, then a ride on each side, soft earth about 10 feet, and a paved troltoir of another 10 feet. We had a distant view of the cathedral, and I could see a handsome end of a transept and a very q.iaint- t(jpped apse ; but as 1 had to hunt for the harbour- master for information, 1 had not time to go in. Very little information did I get when I caught that functionary, and I don't know in what sort of a place we shall bring up. At 3 A.M. a Swedish frigate, with the king's standard flying, came suddenly round the point, and as a Nor- 174 SIR GEOFFREY nilPFS HORNBY. wefnan corvette which was in the roads sahited him at once, we had to do the same. At nine the A(hniial, who is on hoard with him, called on me and said tiiat the king would l)e glad to see me at eleven. I found him a very tall good-looking man, ])leasnnt, and very cordial in manner, wonderfully acquainted with many of oui' officers, ships, &c. A Swedish councillor — a general ofiicer, T believe — sat with us all the time to see we did not talk treason ; and before I left the king desired that I should pi'esent the officers of my Stalf to him. Talked to Bruce about old Sir Henry, and to Love about the Crimea. He (the king) has been touring in the north, and came here to meet the queen. She arrived late (ladies generally do) — half-})ast seven instead of five in tlie afternoon. We all saluted as she approached. The king went on board to greet her. yards manned. She returned with him to the frigate, yards manned again. About 9 P.M. they left for Drontheim, yards manned and a salute." Diary. ""July 16, Drontheim. — The Enchant- ress yacht, with Prince Arthur on board, came m sight about 5 p.m. We weighed and stood across to fall in with the Prince as he entered the fiord. As we fired our salute, the charge in one of the guns exploded in reloading. A poor fellow who was loading was blown overboard, while the man serving the vent had his thumb blown off. !*lf Till] CHANNEL SQUADRON. 175 We fonml notliln;^- of tlx* fbnrnT. Wi* ran up liore as fjiHt as we could, iieurly 12 knots, and anchon'd very well. We rather iistonisia'd tiie < Jeriuans and iSwedes at the way we rattlfd in. Went to yacht. H.ll. II. desired me to eonvwy liis n-pct at the accident to the sliijVs company; said he liad told the Cliamberlain 1 was to go with liim as part of liis IStatt'. "./"/// 17. — To }>ivakfa.st with l*rMie«' Arthur, where I met Prince VValdemar of Penmark in a sailor's dn-ss. He is serving? his first a])prentice8hip on hoard the Ijavllauc/. Then to call on achiiirals alone, and afterwards in comj)any with H.H.H., who finally came to Agincoart. Afternoon calle«l on Ministers, Mr Krskinc, &c. At 5 p.m. tro])osed our Queen's health, and Prince Arthur that of their Majesties, both speaking very neatly in French. C^Jueen agreeable, speaks very good English. No one present but Swedes, Norwegians, and English. *'Ji(ly 18. — Very fine morning. We all met the Prince at the landing-place at 10.30 a.m., and followed him on foo. ue in a carriage, to the palace. There we found we. had to go to the Cathedral, so went up through the lines of soldiers, receiving much saluting. King and queen arrived i ; 17G SIK (^KoFFUEY PIUPPS TTORNBY. about I l.^iO A.M. Service b('^^•ul witli ii liymn, tluMi a senmm t>f' soiim twenty-tive inimitt'S, iIh-ii a Kort of choral service, a iniiiistfr with a very i^oixl voice chantnio;, and the choir respondiiij^. The kini,^ then caiue to an old chair j)lace(l hcf'ortj tho altar. A }>ishoj) anointed him, touching; hiui witli oil on tlie forehead, hotli temples, tlie Hesh of his lo'east, rii,^ht tliumb, and both wrists. Then he was crowned, and received sceptre, orl), and sword. After which a herald In plain court dre.ss, with ;i red scai'f, proclaimed him to be Kin*,*' of Norway aiid Sweden, and no other person.' Then the (jueen was crowned. As the crown was placed on the head of each, their forts and ships saluted with 112 i;uns, for each, and we chimed in with our modest 21. More sint miineroiis, and all l>eiii<^ (livssed in white did not show well. King and <|nct'n markedly civil t(» me, and doing a great deal tu notice j)eo|)le generally. I never saw any persons try more to make themselves popular, or do it in a tnore gracious manner. "./'leased. A telegram allowing of our going to Bergen. ''July 22. — The Prince dii.ed with meat 8 A.M., German and N»>rwegian admirals and I>anish commod(»re to meet him. " Juiif 23. — A very fine and h(>t day. King and queen paid a visit to the S(}ua(h'ons. Foreigners hoisted jnast-head Hags : we did not, but crossed royal • yards. Prince Ai-thiir came on hoai-d Afjiiu'onrt to receive them. General salute. I)ane saluted again when they left his ship. Afterwards ejich squadron saluted the standard when hoisted hy tlieir own ships. General salute on landing. Yards manned, men cheering as he passed and I'epassed. Went to ijuarters on board Afp'ncourt, where they stayed some time, king wanting to see the double side, &c. They each tired an electric broadside of tuljes. Dined witii T^rince Arthur, nrranged to meet yacht in fiord near Bergen not eai-lier than G P.M. on Friday 2Gth. Ball in palace, walked in polonaise with queen and danced quadrille witii her, cis-d-vis to king with wife of M 178 SIR OKOFFHKY Pllirrs HOllNIW. Governr r of Drontheini. Hall very crowded und hot. Pilnce asked to fon'i;<) salutes on j)artini,'. ^^ July 25. — Our pilots were waltliii; ibi- us ott' HcIHso H^rJithouse. As they came on board, the yacht raniH In siv;ht astern. We went slowly on, and she overtook us aho t G..'{0 r.M. Found ti»e peo])le, api)arently, very ignorant of the soundni^^^s of their port. Where they ssiid it was det'p, we found 20 to 25 fit horns, where they said it 'ras f^ood anchornge we found 40 fathoms. We anchored in the l)inv distant voyage or encovniteied anything of a sea. The day on which they left I'ortlaiid, August KV. 1873, there was wind eiiough to begin the exjteriment, and the Admiral writes in his Diary : — *' Am/. 13. — I put Dcrastaflou on our starboard beam to watch her. Sh«^ plungetl heavily into the seas, taking a great deal of water on to her fore- castle, along which it rollrd and broke heavily against the forepart of her breast-work, and seemed to run off slowly. She looked as if overweiLdited, and as if all the gear on the forecastle was a gi*eat impediment to the free delivery of the water. As the day wore on the swell became longer, and she rode over it easily. We never went more than 5 knots. '' Amj. 21. — Found a certain amount of swell in passing the Smalls, sufficient to give a perceptible 180 SIR GEOFFREY THIPPS HORNBY. motion to the Afiincourt. Dcvastatioji rode over easily aiul drily wlieii ^^olng G knots, and with a very different motion from that exhil)ited on the 13th. She had then 1350 tons of coal on board, now she has 1180, or 170 less. "Aug. 31. — -As there was a single-reefed to])sail breeze blowing from W.S. W., we increased speed to 30 revolutions, and at 10 a.m. to 40 revolutions. Devastation took the seas in over her decks, and at times seemed covered half her length ; and measuring her by the horizon, the water on her deck seemed to burden her, yet they signalled that the instruments showed no change, and that she felt very buoyant. At 1.30 p.m. we kept away, increasing our speed to 9'5 and 9'8 ; she still went well. The sea more on the beam, which I thought would have co\ered her more, did not do so. The result '* her trial seemed to be that her buoyancy is tficiMnt, and that so long as nothing gives way, the se covering over her does not hurt her. " L t. 2, Berehaven. — Went to look at Devasta- tion, which I found quite tight, hardly a weep anywhere. Mr Froude to dinner. He is brother to the histr^rian, and puts the rolling question in (juite a different view from what 1 believed it to be. Waves of a much longer period than that of the ship will not make her roll over. The worst are those of rather more than her period. "Sept. 9. — Scud flying fast, and wind freshening, ordered Devastation and Sultan to get up steam. iMMaMMMMMIIIi THE CHANNEL SQUADRON. 181 We found a stront,'- double-reefed topsail breeze outside, and had a good trial, which showed to my mind that the ship could not be driven very fast a^^alnst a heavy Atlantic sea, but that she was likely to lay to well enough, and 1 tliink to run well. ''Sept. 15. — Fresh breeze from N.W. and a prospect of a sea outside. 1 embarked in Devas- tation, and, with Agiiiconrt following, steamed out of the bay. We there found the wind-force 8 and a sea 23 high, but not angry, going 7 knots, with it 2 points on the bow. She plunged into it very heavily. The green seas were at times two-thirds of the way up the jack-staff. It seemed incredible that she could live with so nuich water on her, yet she rose without effort. When eased from 50 to 40 revolutions, her speed fell to 4 knots, and she ceased to dip deeply. With the sea 4 points on her bow she behaved \\ell, so also In the trough of the sea, and running, with the sea on the (piarter, she shipped very little or no water. We anchored in Berehaven at 6.30 p.m. " Oct. 2, Portsmouth. — Drove to Eastney to meet ' my Lords ' ; met them returning. Had to fight Mr Barnaby all the way out on my report on Devastation, to discuss it with the Board in the carriage, and again by paragraphs on board En- chantress. They cannot make u}) their minds whether to send her out for the winter, with the chance of meeting a j?ale, or to take her in 182 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. hand at once, raise the forecastle, and take out extra weights, &c., and complete her on what we know of her at present. I think that they wished me to say I thought her quite safe." As the Admiral did not think her quite safe, he would naturally not allow himself to make any such admission, so it ended in the Devastation being left behiml in the hands of tlie dockyard. l)uring the w^inter 1873 to 1874 the record of the Channel Squadron was that of a happy country — viz., nothing. The training in steam evolutions still went on at considerably increased speed, but the Admiral was not yet abJe to attain his ideal — viz., "absolute precision and safety at 11 or 12 knots." In harbour — Vigo, Lisbon, &c. — all the old shooting-grounds and marshes were revisited ; but as there was no visit to Gibraltar, there were no exciting runs with the Calpe hounds. Towards spring, what may be called " the great plain clothes question," which had been smouldering during the last two years, burst into flame. Undoubtedly the orders as they then stood were exceedingly irksome if enforced, as the Admiral writes privately to Sir Alexander Milne : — " Feb. 10, 1874. " My difiiculty is this. There is a printed order that oflicers shall wear uniform except on specified occasions. Not only so, but it is the only order in the book which admirals and captains are specially charged to see obeyed. Nevertheless, it has be- HMH THE CHANNEL SQUADRON. 183 come the universal custom for officers to ask leave to land in plain clothes, as though ' going to take part in country sports ' ; and under cover of that permission they parade the streets of the ports. In the event of a senior officer in uniform comine iiinlti]>li<'(l :iliiiost iiidi'tiiiiicly. Amori'j llic duties «.!' ;i, S«"i-l/«it(I wu.s hIso tliiil f>r sjX'idJii^ ooojisloiiidlv. on naval matters, at <'ity and otlif-r puhlic dinners. Admiral lloi'nhy Kjiokf; shortly and to tlif jtoint, somcliineH very Immor- oiihly. lie Hj)oke HJowly, and liis voice, thou^^di not loud, was clear and distinct, so tliat I It' was o rt(Mi much l»etter heard than iiKiii wlm exerted them- selves far more : his only peculiai'ity was that while K))ea.kini^ he always riihhed his hands to- 'n'th(3i' as ii he weit; washiii*'' th(^m. ort(Mi in these Spef^clies he had to s]»eak in diametric oj)[»osition to the popular feeling of the day, y(;t ^eiiei'ally' hy his very st raii^htforwardfu^ss he hrou^ht som«^, at least, be nlteu'd. a puuislnneiit- tal)le to be i-eadjnsted, ?• ([Uestion as to the nunil)(*r of men rtMjuii'ed for any work to be raist'd, he Jiiust look the Avli()le (jiu'stioii up foi" himself. He cannot receive any assistance from his so-called assistants, f<»r they do not under- stand the workliiiTf of these things. "Again, as If for the purpose of preventing him from turning his attention to any of the* Important snbj»'(!ts of the day, he has to direct such minutl.'e as \\het!i''r a man reconnnt-nded for a truss shall be allowed one. When a retired oHicer visits the Contin»*nt, and when he returns, the Sea-Lord has to sign the letttM- in wliieh tht^ ollicer reports hiuiself as having retin*ned. He has to initial every report that arrives from aljioad of officers who have been surveyed, whethei- they have been Invalided or only sent to slck-([uarters for ten days' change of air. With a hundred such ridicu- lous occupations his time Is engrossed, and he has to scramble through important papers Avithout sufHcIent time to consider them, and to leave most reports and experiments unread. He can- not help feeling that his time is wasted and his work ill done. " The second gr at lault is want of unity of ' ¥■■ ggw 194 SIR GEOFFREY PinPPS HORNBY. plan. This arises to a certain extent from tlie chancres of Government and of Fli'st Lords ; Ijiit as to discipline and internal organisation, which are chieHy in the hands of the Naval Lords, they would he carried out Avith more regularity, and hetter effect, if the First Sea- Lord were appointed for five yearf^, and if all the naval men had to work imder him as they do afloat. " At present, each Naval Lord has a depart- ment of his ow^n to attend to, and in it can work very independently of his colleagues, and of those who have preceded him, though each person may be administering a branch which runs parallel with, and should be treated in the same way as, that under a colleague. For instance, my predecessor thought it was a good thing to move officers and men from ships frequently, and never to allow them to be together more than two years, I thought quite the reverse, and that the longer men could be kept together, the better for them and for the service. Accordingly, when I caiiie in, 1 left the men always three years in ships, and whenever there was a good excuse, even more ; but this sort of l)usuiess should be ruled from above, and iiot be left to each Lord to deal with as he pleases. There really nmst be some principle at the bottom which should guide it. *' Of course there is no feeling of connection between the permanent officials and the ser\ice, .%v THE ADMIRALTY. 195 and thereforf3 no pRprit de corj^s, or care liow the work succeeds aHoat. The office is lrk, and he to a great extent agreed. The real ditlicnlty, he said, wns tlie detail with which every one was overbm'dened, and that it was caused by the House of Commons re(|uii"iiig to know of, and hold Ministers res})onsible for, eveiy detail, NothiiiiT Nvas settled, but he said Milne would leave in November, and I fancy I have a good chance of the command." Later on, when the c[uestion came to l)e dis- cussed, the Admiral found that the opinion of his friends fell in with his own inclination!--, and al)out the middle of August the (.^ueen assented to his appointment. Even then things were look- ing very threatening in the P^ast : the Sultan was said to be mad; his Ministers were weak, and afraid to attempt or promise any reforms. Russia was stirring up trouble in Bulgaria, and Germany se«'nied to encourage her. (.)n Se})tember 7 Mr Gladstone's [lainphlet about the so-called Bul- garian atrocities appeared, and tended very much to influence pul»lic opinion. When these tilings came to be inquired into later, it was found, not only that the account liad been very much ex- aggerated, but that in some instances the })laces where the outrages were said teen ordered from Port Said, slished.' He then recurred to the (juestion, why we were so suspicious, when the Emperor had given his word that lie would not injiu'e «.tur interests ? I said he had given his word not to take Khiva, but he seemed to have been unable to control his statesmen or his generals, and that the result had been that he had annexed almost the whole of the Khivan territory, and that unless the statesmen of the fi THE MEDlTERKAIsEAN. 213 1 two coiuiti'ies could come to some uiulorstundliig, 1 tlioii^^ht. our suspicious would contiuue, ibr ii. seemed lit; was not absolutely autocratic. He then said, ' Why should the statesmtm not jL^ive one another guarantees which would be satisfac- tory ? ' I asked, ' What "guarantee could thev give that they would not ()Cciipy C(;tnstantin<:)ple ? ' He said, ' You have advanced ycMir squadron to Besikii, why should you not bi-ing it to (.Con- stantinople to protect the town ? ' I said, ' The squadron alone could not prevent the advance of a large army on to the town.* He answered, ' Then why not advance some other force, and take such a guarantee as is satisfactory to you ? T believe that if this were firmly but courteously proposed, without saying you doubted the word of the Emperor, no objection would be felt. But,' he said, 'if it was done abruptly or with harsh words, it might very likely lead t«> war. The fact is,' he wound up, * the Russians have got on their hands a much tougher affair than they expected. It is true the Turkish army cannot do much in the field, but it can defend positions well, and after the Kussians have obtained one decided success in Bulgaria, they will be very glad to make peace.' " Does this mean chat the Germans wished to urge us into war to save themselves trouble later, or, as subsequent events seem to show, that if England had only taken vigorous action at first, ■n 2U SIR GEOFFREY PlllPr'S HORNBY. much prestige w oiikl have been saved to herself, and iniieh bloodshed and misery to the two belligerents ? Tlie day after this interview Admiral Hornby went over the arsenal at Constantinople, and was much surprised by the capabilities of the work- shops there, and the store of Martini-Henry ritles in the armoury. He returned to Besika more than ever convinced that the Turk only required to be well led to make a tine soldier. By this time the Russians had advanced to Gabrova, and the English (jrovernment ordered out the Agincourt — Sir E. Commerell as second in command — and AcIiilU'S— Sir William Hewett — to reinforce the fleet. The Achil/e.'^ reached Besika on July 30. Oji August 2 the Admiral and Sir W. Hewett went in the Salamis to meet Sir Collingwood Dickson, R.E., at Tchernak, as the Turkish Government had granted permission to inspect the Bulair lines above Gallipoli. Like all Turkish fortificati(ms, these lines had been allowed to fall much out of repair ; but as it was a point of the highest strategic importance, commanding as it does botli the land and sea approaches to Con- stantinople, e\ ery effort was being made to put the lines into working order. Letter to Wife. ^'AuguatS, 1877. *' Our object was to inspect the old lines wiiich were thrown up by the French and English in 1 854 THE MEDITERRANEAN. 215 for the defence of the peninsula of Galllpoh, and to see liow far, and how fast, the Turks were restornig them. We had a pleasant ride, chielly along high ground, looking across the Sea of Marmora on one side and the Gulf of Xeros on the other. The Turks had swept in l)y a sort of corvee .5000 p»'asants, old and young, and it was surprising to see how well and cheerfully they were working. That work was to clear out and enlarge the old ditches over a length of at least five miles, strengthen the parapets, lay ])latforms for the guns, and huild new magazines in the redoubts. " Though they had only been at it five days, they have nearly completed the earthworks of the redoubts, and were going on so fast that (as the Russians liave received two severe checks this week), if they continue to work with the same vigour, I have no fear of the Russians seizirig the peninsula. " Tlieir method of collectino- their labourers is effective and simple, but somewhat onerous. They have, for purposes of conscription, tlie number of men in each village. They send an order to supply one-fourth of the residents for four days' work, to be replaced by others at the end of that time. If the reliefs do not appear, they retain the men who are at work. As we returned we met many parties going to perform their share. Several of the older men looked tired and worn, but there seemed to be no complaint. 216 SIR (JEUFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. "At present thini^s setmi to be rather in favour of the Tiu'ks Every day that they can delay the [Russians north o£ the Balkans is a great gain, and doubtless an unsuccessful, or even a partially successful, campaign would be a great shock to Russian prestige." ! ^ It was not till after 9 p.m. that the three offic^^rs got back on board the Salamis, but the long ride had not damped their spirits. During dinner. Sir W. Hewett and Sir Collingwood Dickson began discussing the old Crimean days, and one good story led on to another, the Admiral sitting by and laughinir till the tears ran down his cheeks, so that the dinner-party dif^ not break up till midnight. From this time forward Admiral Hornby con- tinued to press earnestly for a small force of British troops to hold these lines, and in almost every letter home he urges the impoi-tance of securing our communications and threatening those of the Ilussians. His letter to Lord Derby, August 10, describes very concisely his views on the subject : — " I assume that you think the batteries of the Dardanelles Avould not prevent the squadron passing into the Sea of Marmoi whenever it pleased, and that in passing it might, with small delay and damage, destroy them. In that opinion I concur, but I doubt if you realise what might follow. KR ^: I THE MEDITERRANEAN. 217 "I Rupprisc tlie sfjiifulron would <3n]y be sent up to play a part. If the northern shore of the Dardanelles wer<* occupied by an enemy, I think it very doubtful If \\^e could play any niatei'ial part ; and if the Bospliorus also was under their command, it would be almost impossible. In the latter case, we could not i^^et even the Heraelea coal. In the former, <»ur En^i'lish supply <>f coal, our ammunition, and perhaps our food, would in my opinion be stopped. This opinion depends on the topography of the north shore. If you will send for the chart of the Dardanelles, No. 2429, you will see that from three and a half miles below Kilid Bahar to Ak Bashi Imian, six and a half miles above it, an almost continuous clitf overhangs the shore-line, while the Stniits close to half a mile in one part, and are never more than two miles wide. An enemy in possession of the peninsula would be sure to put guns on connnand- ing points of those clitfs. All the more if the present l)atteries, which are a ^ffcur (Veau, were destroyed. Such guns could not fail to stop trans- ports and colliers, and would be most difficult for men-of-war to silence. We should have to fire at them with considerable elevation. Shots which were a trifle low would lodge harmlessly in the sandstone cliffs ; those a trifle high would fly into the country, without the slightest eflect on the gunners except amusement. " It is for these reasons that the possession of 218 am GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORXllV. llio liulair linos by a stron^^ and triemlly force seeiiis to every one here to be imperative, if now, or hereafter, you should want to act at Constantinople. The Turks are makintj^ pi'oi;rHSs with them ; hut they are uiinrmed, not ijcarrisoned, and the garrison that would be sent to them in case of reverse would probably be part of a beaten and dis])irited force. Is it wise to risk our vital interests in such hands? The Russians take advantage of being at war to destroy tho 8ulina navigation, ' for strategical pur- poses.' Are we to have no 'strategical purposes' because we are a neutral ? 1 think even Freeman, Gladstone, & Co. would not hear unmoved that the Dardanelles were closed ; but when thty are closed, It will be too late to act. Now, 1 believe there is time to prevent it, and for that reason I write. I want to see 10,000 British troops occupying Gallipoli in concert with the Turks ; and Mr Layard misinforms me, if the Turks would not ask for, and welcome, such an occupation." While ])ressing earnestly for the occupation of the Bulair lines, the Admiral was workitig hard to make sure of the efficiency of the fleet and its readiness to act in any emergency. Besides the steam tactics already mentioned, there wej;e plenty of the usual exercises aloft, manning and arming boats, torpedo and gunnery practice. Colliers were brought up to keep all the slnps fully supplied with coal ; the ships were sent in turns to the Malta dockyard to have their defects made good, and also THE MEDITERRANEAN. 219 1^ m\ to Athens for a few days to give general leaver to the men. At Besika there was not much amuse- ment for the men on shore except crick^'t. Some Greek publicans endeavoured to set up drinking- ])0()ths for the sale of spirits ; this having come to Admiral Hornby's ears was sunnnarily stopped by his sendinijf a bodv of men On shore to destro^' the store of spirits, and by a requ(>st through the consul at Tchernak to the Turkish autliorities to stcjp the licences. The old consul was very much alarmed at these high-handed measures, but was finally obliged to support the Admiral in not allow- ing his men to be drugged. As to officers, the opportunities of amusement depended on their taste ; society there was none, but there were cricket and lawn-tennis grounds, snipe in the marsh, quail and partridges on the higher ground, and pheasants on some of the adjacent islands. Hares also, but of them later ; and rumours of wild boar, but no one ever succeeded in getting a shot. Several shooting-parties went away to the different islands, and great rivalry existed as to which should bring home the largest bag. On one occasion all the poultry on board the Scdamis was killed, and each pheasant had a chicken tied to it to make it look like a brace ; the game w^as then hung up on the davits to be conspicuous, and to excite the envy of the other ships when she rejoined the squadron. The most brilliant inspiration of the autumn 220 SIR GEOFFREY I'HTPrS HORNBY. was the jdaii <>t'i;i'ttiii<^ out a pack of beagles from EMt^laufl. Tliey arrived in the Wye on November 10, ami tlie first meet took place on Saturday the 17th. Captain Hunt Grubbe was master, the Rev. H. Gilbert, cha()lain of the Rah'ixjh, huntsman, and the whips de[)en(led very much on which of the lieutenants could get on shore on the day of the meet. The first run was very good and sharp for about ten minutes, and then the ho inds ran into a su; posed hare in a bush. She seemed to take rather an unusual amc)unt of worrying, and when the huntsman went in to see what had v .-"urred, he brought out, not "puss" in the sporting sense of the term, but a real cat. The brush had been s in the l^osphorus, sliould be riijorouslv withdrawn to the soutii side. Com- merell cannot go to you at present, but I send this by an officer specially." 1 1, After this, for a few days there was not mucli done in the way of writing : the time had come for action. At ti p.m. on the 12th a telemam was received from the Admiraltv directino- the Admiral to proceed into the Sea of Marmora with the fleet on Wednesday morning without waiting for a firman, and if fired uj)on, and the ships struck, to return the fire, but not to wait to silence the forts. Accordingly at daylight on the 13th the fleet weighed from Besika ; it was blowing a north- ' (kjmmandant at the Dardanelles. THE MEDITERRANEAN. 241 easterly gale with snow, and very thick. A.s the ships passed out of the l)ay tliey saw the IMeigh on shore near Ilabhit Island, and the Hotfipur and Ruby were detached to her assistance. The Alex- andra had rejoined about a fortnight previously, and the other ships with the Admiral were the . lgiu,conrt, Achi/les, Swiftsnre, Temerairc, Sultan., and Salamis. On the two previous occasions tlie mission of the fleet had been ostensibly a friendly one, and tliere had been no visible signs t)f any warlike preparations, but now they had their masts down and everythinix cleared for action. There were then only four formidable forts in the Dar- danelles. The lowest of these was Fort Najuas- ghia, in which were sixteen Krupp breech -loading ritled guns, supposed to be about 2() centimetres, also one Krupp and two Armstrong 7-inch muzzle- loading guns. Nearly opposite is the Sultanieh Fort, in which the monster 50-ton Krupj) gun had been moujited to conmiand tlie approaclie^ to the " Narrow s " ; this was, however, the only formid- able piece of ordnance in the fort, A mile above is the Medgidieh Fort, probably the strongest of all, having been rec}' her tlireatenin^- position and hino-uage witli l■e<,^ard to Constantinople ? I can account for It in no other way than that she lias deter- mined to imjirctve her opportunity and try (or both positi(»ns. We can save neither unless we come to sorno aj[,a'eement on the subject with the Turks. There seems to be an idea that this fleet can keep tlie Dardanelles and Bosphorus '^»pen. Nothing can be jnore visionary. Not all the fleets in the world can keep tliem open for unaruKjuied ships. Small earthworks on the cliffs would always pre- vent their ])assage. Then, look what a risk we run if Fiussia once holds the north shore of the Bos]jhorus, and shuts us out of the Black Sea ! She can reinforce and supply her army by a voyage from Odessa to Bouri^'as of *J80 miles, oi- to MIdia of .'520 miles, while we should have to sup])ly <»ui'S from a distance of ;iOOO miles, even if we were so lucky as to have saved Gallipoli. I cann(»t believe tliat the time has not come to sav to Russia, ' We will help the Turks to defend Constantinople if you attack them, and. as they are grievously im- f)erilled, we must now move our troo])S in support.' The traitorous general has been removed from Bulair, so we may have one moi'e chance to .save it. 1 eai'iiestly hoj»e we may not let this oppoi-- tunity slip as we have so many, and as another may not recur. My only consolation is to find from the Ambassadoi- that the Turks will not : I T 254 Sill GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. listen to the sale of any ships. Even those, they have ill England are not so good as this ship, 'ind I should be grieved to think that, after the war, we were to Vx burdened with suchlike, while other nations had been buildinir, and w»' with the money might build useful vessels like the Dread- nought and litjfcxihlc. If we go to war with llussia, it will not be ii'onclads we want, but fast small vessels, coin})etent to watch and catch the torpedo - vessels and extemporised cruisers like Vi'.sta, which Avill annoy us in the Black Sea. — Yours very truly, G. Phipps Hornby." Much to the indignation of the Admiral, the Russians were driving the very hardest possible bargain with the Turks; but as the British Gov- ernment had not yet made up its mind \^'hether to oppose the Tlussian demands by force or at the Conference, he began to look for a more comfort- able ancliorage for his ships. February 27 he writes in his Diary : — '• To Ism id in Salamis. It would Vie a nice place to move the squadron to, but with tiie town t; ^ visible, the ships would be very open to torpedo attack. Society in a state of chaos, Governors paralysed, inhabitants without powei' of combina- tion, and many armed Circassians about. Prince Ali'xander of Battenberg arrives to visit the Duke." This visit of Prince Alexander gave I'ise to a perfect howl of indignation in the English papers. THE MEDITERRANEAN. 255 Tt was said he came as a spy, to ferret out torpedo secrets. At tliat time, as now, all torpedo secrets are secrets only to the majority of our own service, but the public property of other nations, so in that line there was nothing for Prince Alexander to discover. Probably he may have ascertained that the 15,000 troops were not on Ijoard the ships ; but he nmst also havi^ discovered what perfect good-feeling and confidence existed between the men and officers and their chief, and cannot have failed to draw contrasts between their com- fortable condition and that of his own disorganised army, very mucli to tlie disadvantage of the latter. On March 4 news came from Constantinople that " peace was signed yesterday afternoon, and is to be ratified witliin fifteen davs at 8t Petersburtf. The liiissians have abated some of their demands, and have increased others. The 40 millions to be paid in bonds have been reduced to 12 millions, and the tributes of Bulgaria and Egypt are no longer demanded as part of the guarantee. Sal- onica will remain with the Turks, but the rest of the /Egean coast goes, I undri'stand, to Bulgaria, the limits of whicli will be extended considerablv more tc» the westward tiian was at tirst supposed, in order to compensate for a large cession of ter- ritory to Servia. The ironclads remain with tlie Sultan, who refused to give them up. At the last moment General Igjiatietf demanded, as an addi- tion to the treaty, that Turkey should make a 256 SFR GEOFFREY I'HIPPS IIORXI5V. foniifil sigiiwi (Itjclucutioii t});it thn coiuiitions were accepted of Ixt onii five will, uiirl that she would stick to them at tin- ( 'oiiference. Ti> this the Sultan also positively refused to agi'ee." As for the tiine ])einir affairs seemed to he in the hands (if the diplomatists, the Admiral remov^ed his ships to pleasanter (|u;irters at Ismid on the lH,h, ai le IM id the same da.y Mrs Ilornljy arrived In tl thr-ee weeks' visit. A few days latei icon on a tlie I Mjkc of Edinhnr^h and I'rince fionis of liatttMi- herg- ohtain(?d leave \^^ l;-o to iVIalta ; and the flay they sailed, the Admiral a.nur favour. Probably the Jlusslans would not think It worth while to b' ' j^ sufiiclent heavy guns to Bourgas to prevent our destroying ships Inside it. Eventually perhaps we might borrow 2000 soldiers, and hold that ptn't against the Tiusslans. Then we should be in clover. I think we should keep the sea some tinie and be disaij^reeable to them." About this time the Admiral arranixed for a picnic for some of his officers to Belkos, a bay near the north end of the Bi)sphorus, just opposite Therapla and Buyukdere, where the Sultan has a summer kiosk. Close by is a hill called tho Giant's Mountain, which commands a a ery good view of the Black Sea, and near the landing-place was a camp of Turkish refugees, so there was plenty t(^ Interest both philanthropists and lovers of scenery. It was the most beautiful time of the year In the Bosphorus, all the trees were coming into leaf, and the azaleas and rhododendrons, which clothe the slopes, bursting into bloom. After passing the Golden Horn, the Sultan has several palaces on either side of tlie Bosphorus ; onc^ of them has never been occupied, because the Sultan THE MEDITERPANEAN. o.-n ta <.) t' who built it stumbled as lie crossed the threshold, and this is considered a bud omen. Then come on either side two medi;>jval castles, of Eurojie and of Asia. Bevond, remindiiiff one of the Thanit'S al)ove London, only far more beautiful, come a succession of sunnner resideiices of the })rincipal Turkish officials and millioiiaii-es, and, giouped closely toi,^ether at Therapia and Buyukdere, the bouses where the envoys of the various foreign Powers spend the summer months. All the way up the B(^sphorus the water is very deep ; but the strength of the current setting down from the Black Sea makes the navigation rather ticklish. At one place, Candilli, a house is built close to the water's fdg*'. with a latticed balcony overhanging the stream. It seems as if the ship were being steered straight for this, wlien, just at the moment when it seems impossil)le to avoid carrying away some of the woodwork on the bowsprit, the current catches her bows and carries her into her course agani. Before Easter came the news of Lord Derby's resignation, and, almost simultaneously, the an- nouncement of a firmer and more consistent policy on the part of the Government. Letter to Wife. "IsMiD, Jp-i7 7, 1878. "I received a very satisfactory telegram from the Admiralty on Tuesday, giving Commerell the .J T^r 260 sill CiEOFFllEV nilPl'S HORNBY. uuthority for which 1 had asked — viz., 'To tak« any ste[)S he mii^dit think necessaiy, pHCuniary or otherwise, in case of an attack l)y tlie Hussians, to |)rest'rve tlic limvs at Galllpoli.' This means that, if it should he necessary, lie riiay take tlie Turkish ti'oops at Bulair into our pay, — pashas, army, and all, — and land some of his own men and his otHcers to assist them in the defence. Of course Mr La3''ard was pretty well pleased when he heta-d it. He also had received some good news in his first telegram from Lord S.vdislmry, which was to the effect tliat England could not permit the formati(»n of this huge Bulgarian principality under I'ussian control : tliat the Bulgarian province must not come soutli of tlie Balkans; and that, after taking sufricient precautions for its proper government, we should leave it under the sovereignty of the Sultan, and that he might tell the Sultan this. Now we shall carry the Sultan witli us ; and the Turkish Ministry, who are English in their policy, will feel that there is more to lie got for their country liy sticking to us than by following the advice of their opponents, the Russian party, who say, ' England will do nothing except for her own interests ; we liad better join the Russians, Avho promise to do everything for us in Asia.' Already it has had an immense effect. There had been a question whether it would be possible still to preserve the city from capture. Now it seems to be determined to tiy. The Turks are quietly THE MEDITERRANEAN. 2G1 i I throwing up a few earthwoiks here and there, and have moved out the troops they had called in, so as to reoccupy Buyukdere. The Russians sent to inquire whether these preparations were made a^'-ainst them, and said that il* they were, they also must intrench themselves, and <)ccn])y the ground they were on more rirmly. The Sultan answered that they were occupying ground to which they had no right, as it was far in advance of that stipulated for in the armistice, and that, as they had not ([uitted it, he had moved his tnwps so as to guard against accidents. This 'rapprochcnK'nt is kept ([uite secret ; but the Turkish Ministers do not fail to show, whenever they can, how much they appreciate it, and on Friday they exhibited me in a way 1 thought rather foolish, though it was amusing. I had told one of the Ministers, Said Pasha, that I should be glad to call on him, if he would allow me to do so incognito, and it was arranged 1 was to do so on Friday about noon. I went to the palace accordingly, and found he had gone down with the Sultan to moscpie, leaving word to ask me to follow^ to speak to him. The Sultan's going to mosque is a great ceremony ; all ' the Faithful ' turn out to look at him, and there is an immense collection of troops, officers, &c., &c. On that day a great number of Russians were present. When we got near the mosque I dismounted, and my cavass elbowed in throurrh the thick of the crowd '4 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) :/ I 1.0 I.I 1.25 Li«8 125 ISO ■^" ■■■ 1^ 1^ 1 2.2 2.0 *a "t 140 1.8 U IIIIII.6 V] ..%. /i ^ ^^ *^"> ^/. ^ /^ V I 6^ 262 SIR GEOFFREY I'HIPPS HORNBY. and th« mass of tlie troops : I followed in my black coat, and that low black hat, which is rather the woree for Besika hunts. But, from what he said, every one made way, and we went in among a lot of offictn's standing at the p'jrrh of the mosque. Then one A. !).('. asked me in ]^i,nch to step into aside-room, and another A\ent Lo tell Said Pasha 1 was there. Presently he came down and said I was to wait till the ceremony was over, as the Sultan wanted to speak to me at his kiosk. He took me out and introduced me to Osman Pasha, and I met tliere lleouf Pasha, Minister of War, and Mouktar Pasha, and tliere we stood looking at the troops and the Sultan's best charger. Most of the pashas drew back a little, and left Said and me well to the front. A tall man in an ulster went down and be^jan to talk to some of the Ilussian C'tiiceis. I asked who he was. ' Zenghis Khan ! he is one of the Ilussian spies.' It seemed to me that he and his countrymen were asking who the man in plain clothes and the Ijad hat was. wlio was standin^j' so forward amonu the pashas. Presently we went inside. The Sultan came down-stairs, and as he passed said something to a general, Namyk Pasha, who was standing close to me. It was repeated by him in French, ' That the Sultan hoped to see me presently at his kiosk.' After the Sultan had left we saw the troops file off, and then Said and I mounted, and we rode together down the principal street, which ^ THE MEDITERRANEAX. 263 was very full of people. I was riding a very good- looking horse of the Ambassador's, and as Said is the Sultan's right hand, all eyes wen» turned on him. I am sure what all the men were thinki-ig was, ' Who is that foreiofuer in the bad hat ridiiiii' such a nice horse ? ' Well, when wt* got to the kiosk we went in to talk to tlie Sultan, and he asked me questions on all sorts of subjects. How Ave had fared at Ismid ? How many ships I had there ? at Besika, &c. ? AVhat 1 thought of the internal state of Russia ? If in case of a disastrous war, 1 thought that there ^^'ould be a revolution ? How many troops I thought we should send out if we went to war with her ? How wv were to make much impression with so small an army ? How many ships I sliould want to carry out an efficient blockade ? &c., &c., &c. He seemed rather surprised at my giving him two or three answers very contrary to his own opinions. He asked if I did not think the llussian soldiers very barbarous. I said, ' No ; I thought they were naturally, so far as I had read of them, peaceable and good- tempered.' He asked how I accounted for their murdering so many of his men when prisoners. T thought he laid himself rather open there ; but I said all soldiers became cruel in war, and there was no doubt that in the Indian rebellion our soldiers had at times been very cruel. I thought that much which had been done in Bulgaria had been done by design, so as to frighten the Moham- t-'-<.OS' "Ll ' 264 .SIR (lEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY medans into leaving the country. Again, when he spoke of our army being so small, I said we had always acted with a small army because we had not a large one ; nevertheless, we had usually done pretty well. For instance, when Napoleon was at the zenith of his power and held Spain with 100,000 men, we landed an army of 20,000, and yet in five years we bundled the French out. Further, I said, nowadays war is carried on very much by indirect means, and on our blockading the ports on the Black Sea, the llussians would have such a difficulty in keeping up their supplies that they would have either to leave the country or to be ruined in money and material, as they were in the Crimean war by the stress we put on them to hold Sevastopol. However, he took his contradic- tions as one of the lessons he had to learn, and I left him (rather wondering how a man who had been brought up in a harem, and had never had an opportunity of rubbing up against his fellow- creatures, could have as much sense as he showed). He said rather a good thing to Mr Layard the other day. It seems that tl.e Grand Duke forced him, by hints of the most barefaced sort, and by telling those about him ' that he had heard it had always been the custom of the Sultan to give a horse to distinguished visitors,' to offer him the choice of two of his Arab horses. He went to the stable, said that the Sultan had offered him four, chose them, and took them away there and then. THE MEDITERRANEAN. 265 The Sultan, after telling all this, said, ' I had often heard that there is a great dt'.i] of comnuinistic spirit in Russia ; perhaps this is an instance of it.'" ■' I A few davs after this interview the Ministers favourable to En'iit ()j)s to Malta in May. Tli»' ultimat*' destiiuition <»{' these troops remained uncertain, and the only thinj;' tlie Admiral could do was to encourai^e the Turks in eiioi'ts to iMi]»rf)ve their (nvn |)ositi(»n without f'oicing the hand of the En;L;lish (Joverninent by taking any initiative aijainst the Uussians. The (i!'ar>d I)uke hnd returned to llussia ; so far his pro^^ness had been successful, and he left to Todle- ben the task of extricatinu' tlie army fi-om tlie awkward position In which it now I'ouial itself. There had been some chanu;es in the S(piadron ; the l)('i'«.s(rttiou had i-ej)laced the Sultan, whose boilers were worn out, and Ca[)tain lleneag-e had replaced SIj- W. Hewett In command of th*' Achilles. For the rest, the Admiral's letters speak for themselves. To Mr ir. If ^•//!^7/^ " April 2'^. " The great object we should hav«' in view is, to get the Russians f'\r enough away from (V)n- stantinoj)le to enal.»le the Turks to form a good line of defence in front of the city. For that reason, if I were In your j)lace, 1 would accept nothing short of Adrlanople. I telegi'aphed to you in that sense to-day, and the leasons I gave were, I believe, valid. 1 am much obliged for the large sup[)ly of steamboats shipped in the Surtif.ifra, which will, I hope, relieve me fi'om the necessity I 1 268 SIR GEOFFREY THIPrS HORNBY . of Inlying in Constantinople. xVdmiral (Jommerell is much pleased with the new tug. He has had a very anxious time of it at Ciallipoli. I helieve tlie Uussians in Houmelia are very badly oti', and have nothini,^ to rely on but the game of brag. Their troops are very sickly, and they have great difficulty in feeding them. Cavalry and artillery horses very few, ;ind in bad condition. Money very tight. An excuse for a retreat would be wfilcome. If we could only hit them at once, I believe we should crumple them up like paper.'' To Mr ir. II. Smith. "April 30. 1878. "... But what I cannot understand is the idea of going to war with Russia in these parts with- out first securing the nlliance of Turkey. The middle and lower class Turks wish nothing better than Entdish i-ule, and to assist in fij-ditinix Russia. The Sultan and mc)st of the Pashas are said to be of the same opinion. There is no reason, because we fight beside tliem, that we must thereafter support the bad rule of the Paslias. As fighting- material you can hardl}' find better than the Turk, and why we are to make a bulwark to Russia rather than an enemy to her, is one of those in- comprehensible propositions that only justify them- selves in my brain in a nightmare. " We have just lost 8ir VV. Hewett. He is very anxious to rejoin us, as we are to have him TIIK MEDITKUUANEAX, 260 l)!ick ; and 1 may rt-mark that liis locjil kiiowledofe would make him specially useful in the Black Sea." LrtUr tu Wife. " .l/'V/ 2, 1H7.^. " 1 am yolno- up to Ojnstantinople to see the Ambassador, hy his request, on account of the neL;'otiations which are goini;- on for the simul- taneous withdrawal of our ships from this sea and of the llussian army to Adrianople. My belief is that it would be a very good thint^-, as it wouhl ena])le the Turks to recover possession of the lines which cover their city, and whicli should never have been given up. The only thing I cannot understand is, how the Russians can consent to lose the gi'ip they have of it. It would look as if they were weaker in some way than we sup])ose ; but if we can by any means get them away, 1 shall be easier in my mind than I have been since they were so foolishly allowed by us to get to San Stefano." Ldtcr to Wifr. ''May 9, 1878. " No signs of retiring on the part of the Rus- sians. 1 shall believe it when I see it accom- plished, not before." To Mr W.H.Smith. " May 14, 1878. "I am writing officially to ])ropo.se to change the anchorage of the squadron shortly. This place 270 SIU (iEOFFRKY I'lIirPS HORNBY. Is notoriduslv iinlu-altliy in siininuT. The reason is patbiit. Tliere is a lar^n iiiaisVi at thf upper «*iiil; low. irrii^atKl, and swampy land on either side; high hills all round which shut est ireiieral he met, because he always made the dispositions which were most dis- agi'eeable to him (the Dukf). Todleben has done the same by us." To Mr W. IL Smith. "J%21, 1878. " T warned you on the 7th that the Turks Ijefore Constantinople were weak as compared to the Russians. The Intelligence Department in Lon- don seem lately to have overrated the llussian strength, but the late movements have demon- strated the accuracy of what I had been told. I hope now that the Turks will insist on putting guns into position to strengthen themselves with, and that we shall support them in doing so. Last month the Grand Duke forbade them, which, as peace was signed, seems to me monstrous. At the present moment the Russians are, I understand, within striking distance of the Turkish lines, and Todleben has removed all his stores out of our reach ; so the only help this squadron could now afford to the defence of their vital positions would be the moral encouragement which sending up our few field-pieces manned by seamen would give to the Turkish soldiers. I do not see why the Russians should retire from their present position so long as they continue to be supplied with all ' rilK MEDITERllANKAN. 273 tliey HMjuhv. 'I'hey liavf iiiijiorb'd all sorts (A' stores very luriiely, and thrii fioises have Im- proved iir nensfly in condition, I trust you will do younce." Letter to Wife. ''Juno. f>, 1878, "The pashas are so supine and so mutually jealous that really no trust can be placed in them : T THE meditf:kiianean. 275 that they are pulliiiij^ examine, article by article, that of San Stefano, with a view to bring it into agreement with them, and that Russia was willing to accept the decision of the CVtngress.' lie said that whereas, after "Lord Salisbury's tlespatch was ])>il>lished, it was under- stood that then' was to be a Bulgarian ])rincipality noiith of the fialkans, now thei-e was no fuither talk (tf a pi incipality. There were to be two Bulgar-ian [trovinces, as proposed at the (^>nfer- ence — both autonomous: tho northern tributary to the Porte, but under the protection of Europe; the latter tributary to, and dependent on, the Porte. Batoum was not to become Bussian, and all she would get in Armenia would be Kars and a small territory round it. As he said, ' If Russia cedes all this, what did she go to war for ? ' The conclusion to be di-awn, I think, is that she does not mean to give them up, but W 276 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY is only irainino- tiim* to rt'Inforce and provision her army, and to prepare her cruisers." To Mr W.H. Smith. " I received last week a messaire from M. Bartoletti, who is the (hrectoj- of tlie Sanitary Department at (Constantinople, that if I re- mained here till the hot weather, or till fever appeared, T sliould tind we had a great deal of it afttM" we left, I liave therefore determined to move to Priiic« 's Island ahout the 20th, uidess the W'Cather becomes veiy hot. I do not wish to appear to be moving In a hurry just as the Congress meets, l)ut have said openly I should probably do so in a week or ten days. "1 paid a visit to General Bakei- on the 4th to 8th, and rode along all the lines in front of Constantinople, so far as they have been formed. I was disappointed with their strength. There are tw^o or thiee weak points far a])art, which would give the assailant great o})portunities. The numl)er of men is small to hold so long a line. Artillery very weak. Some [)ashas work well to secure the ground they havc^ to defend, others do not. The highest oliicers are frightfully supine. I am told that Osman Pasha, who is Commander- in-('hief of the whole Turkish army, and Mouktar Pasha, \\\\o until a few days since was chief of the staff, have never visited the lines ! Tefik THE MEDITERRAXEAX. 277 Pasha, tlie man who planiH:'';iiiist snoli douliiig' would \m\ in case of a sudden attack heiv, to tell Conmieivll t<> take the Avhole force there at ouce uito Eii<,dish pay, and to hold the place." Diary. "June 14, 1878. — Heard yestMi-day that Mouktar Pasha would visit the squa(h'on to-day. I retujiied here i'rom (Jy I p.m. Found ^L)uktai' and Trfik Pashas looking- at Devastation. They lunched with me, ajid seemed quite j)i'epared i'ov lar«^e changes in Government to the suppression of arhitrary power. They returned to Constantinople by evening train." TuAibniral WdhsUui, C.Jl "./<',if 18, 1878. " Aflaii's seem very critical at Constantinople. Authority is verv weak, ,tnd the Sultan very unp(»[tuhir. If a revolution broke out wliile the Russians wt-re still under the walls, it vNould be a git'at temptation to thejn to move into the town, and I expect their agents are fomenting it for that purpose. "./vf«e 15), 1878. " xiiichored at Prinki})0 at 4 P.M." To Mr W. n. Smith. " Prixkipo, June 24, 1878. "I must now draw your attention to the situ- ation in which Lord John llav has been ijlac P iced THE MEDITERRANlwXX. 279 since he came on tliis Btatioii, atid in wliicli ho now Htaiuls. From €^ach poit ho has wiitton to me privately, and latterly publicly, t<> ask 11* 1 couM give him any information as to his ini- niediate emplovmmt <>r his Cutuic movements. I have to rei)lv on each occasion that 1 know absolutely nothing about him, exce[)t that latterly he had been placi'd undei- my <»rders. Now he finds himsflf at Suda Bav with the country much disturbt^l, and <:»ur consul carrying on special negotiations under orders from tin' Ambassador, but I'rlerruig t(» him occasion,illy for countenant^o and support, while he has iiot (me Une to guide him, oi' enalile him to form an opinion how far the consul may be leading him right or wrong. That, so tar as my exjieiience goes, is a position so unj)re'cedented for an otiicer of his rank to be placed in, that I am obliged to bring it to your notice, as 1 cannot think it will work ad- vantageously to the country." I! To Admiral Wdkslcy. CM. '*Ju>u: 24. "I am sorry to be obliged to ask for another store-ship, but, as you W'ill see by my j)ul)lic letter, I am driven to it. You will remember what importance Sir llobert Sto})ford usrd to attach to the mail-steamers and men-of-war l)ring- ing up f>fHct'rs' stores. But the Wye was unable to convey even the provisions demanded, so 300 280 SIR GKOFFREY I'UirPS HORNBY. casks -ukI cases had to be IVeighttMl for the oiVicers and canteens by merchant steamer, and now the tliint^s bronirht hv Monarch fi'om P2n*rland remain ;it Maha, while Urlicun will come up emj)ty. It does not affect me person dly, as 1 deal vi-ry little with IMalla, l>nt get in)' things direct I'rom Mar- seillos \i\ Frejioh steamer. It afTects the olHcers and men considerably, though the way I'hey have behaved in the late tedious times makes them dese]'ve every consideration." Diary. ''' Jmto 24.— Congress said to be getting on well. Some excitement about tiie agreement between Lord Salisbury and Schouvalolf. said to have been signed in May.'' Letter to Wife. ''Juiw 25, 1878. ■'T3aker came to lunch; says Turkish positions are imw. he thinks, safe. Much sicknt\ss in Rus- sian canij), ;30 men per regiment said to die daily. Tin- publication of that [tapei- In the 'Globe' was a trick of Schouvaloff. Batourn and B»»ssarabia are not gone yet, and even if all in that paper is cor- rect, it seems to me only to amount to saying that we will not fight alone for those points. If others will join, we may fight ; or even if they \x\\\ not, and liussia strengthens herself on the Armenian frontier, we retain a right to strengthen ourselves and the Turks there also ; and if we only develop THE MEDITFKRANEA.V. 281 the resouices of Asia Minor, we may in u fV-w yt-ars make Iliissia look vt>i-y foolish. If Schuiivalutf plays 1)1(1 Dizzy a trick, 1 feel pretty contident he will plav a return matcli with him." Diary. '' Jvh< 29, 1878. — Hay's squadron ordeied to Lainaca. liaUvjIi and [nvinciblr to join them." I hart/. ''June 30, 1878. — Srnt Sulamix yester- (.lay to Therapia to carry some very secret orders from Mr Layard."' Dlanj. ''July 2, I 878.~»SV<7 possession of Cyprus." Ldter to Adinind WimUuriii Hornhij. "Juhj 10, 1878. " Ambassador telegra[)hs that the cession of Cyprus Avas announced to the House of Parlia- ment on Monday (8th). 1 am anxiously lookint^ for the details of the agreement made ai ijerlin. 8o far as I know of tliem at present, 1 do not like them at all. The occupation of Cyprus looks so much like a sharing of spoil with the other rohbers ; and to leave the llussians for nine months in Koumelia is to hand over the Moham- medans of that province to the murders, rapes, 282 SIR CIEOFFREY I'HII'I'S HORNBY. ;ukI I'ohberies. wliicli wore held to be so mon- strous when perpetrated hy Mobainmednns on Biilj:^ariaiis, For my part, 1 don't see any dif- ference HI the tur])itude." Dinry. '' .hij,j 1l>, 1878.— The Tm'ks ahvady pre{)arni;^'' to raise money on the revenue whicli we shall ij;uarantee them from Cyprus." To Admiral the Lord John Hay. "The disclosure of the Schouvaloff- Salisbury circular, followed so closely by the occu})ation of Cyprus, has had the worst possible effect Iiere. The Turks are as sti'ongly o])posed to us as they were in i>ur favouj' before, and tlie French are ex- tremely sore at our taking a position so near Efi^ypt and Syria, and doin*,'' it by a secret agree- ment, while we pretended to be negotiating (piite openly with them." To Mr W. H. Smith. ''Juli/IG, 1878. " What I meant witii regard to Lord John Hay was, that it was very unusual for an officer of his rank to flni himself, in presence of an insurrection, at the beck and call of a consul, while he had not one line to tell him what the views of his Govern- ment were. The worst pinch is to be looked for when the wires are cut, a thing which usuallv happens as soon as affairs become serious. Per- haps neither he nor I might find difficulty in THE MRI^ITERRANEAX. 283 tdkiiif( a course, hut whether we sliould curvy uut the Avislies of the Government is auothtT (|Ut\stioii. Yet it is tlu' main one, ami it used to Ite ensured by the instructions >>r h-tt«M« with which senior otHcers were furnished wlici sent Ic disturbed places. For my ov/n part, T have no wish to penetrate Cabinet or other secrets; hut when a course of action ii^ settled, I know tii^it the more fully agents are informed of their masters' wishes the better work will be done, I fieijueiitly see instances of tliis. For example, a few days ago you wanted two ships sent secretly from X(;ros to Cyprus. If Admiral Commerell had known this, he could have sent them witliout exciting the least attention. As he knew nothing, he could only repeat yoin- bald telegram, and tht? ships sailed with sealed oi'ders. Every Greek at Xeros knew it directly, and it was telegraphed all over the Levant. When Caj)tain Jago reported his arrival every one knew that we intended an expedition to Cyprus. Again, on the 30th ult., 1 was told to place a despatch vessel at the Ambassador's dis- posal. No sooner did she, at his request, reach Therapia than every spy inquired her Inisiness, and discovered that she must, be on secret service. On the 4th they found she was going to Cypi'us. She did not sail till the 7th. If I had known hei' errand, she might have lain (piietly here till wanted, and when she sailed no one but her captain would have known where she was bound. On the other 284 SIR GEOFFREY rillPrs HORN BY. hand, take a cas<; wlieiv secrt'<'y was t'(|ually iK'Ct\s- Kary, hut wheiv the authorities wero told of the pi'ojects — viz.. the dt'spatch of the Sidamix to examine Scarpaiito. Stampalia, &c., lust siimmei". r*<^iiaidernl»le siii\evs were made bv her otHcers, bill except tlii'iii there is no em- i?i the S(jnu(h'on. nor a foreiijiier on shore, whtj knows what her mission was. To Adhdnd Welh.dnj, C.R ''Jul)/ 2-i. "The on]}' people who seem ]>leased by the C(»n- yress aj'e tht* llussians, wlio, \Nith Skobelefl'at their head, say we have let them out of a terrible scrape ; that they ha\e ij^ot far more than they ever ex- pected, and in Sofia all that is necessary for the present. In two or three years they will be reiidy to take tht^ rest. I will ask the (leneral ^ to send his spies specially to Buyuk-Tchermedge to look for those torpedo-boats. 1 shall be 411 ite lelieved if we Hud them there, for a lot left the Danube overland, antl Bourgas, &c., and we have never been fd»le to account ibr them. It is difficult to spy in the Ilussian linr^s, and Buyuk-Tchermedge is so covered with high reeds that boats might easily be hid there. I have not the slightest doubt the Tiussians had full plans for attacking us with them, and 1 kept up my patrols more or less till the Conference met. Commen^ll had to 1 Sir CoUingwoDtl Dickson. THE MEDITERRA.VEAN*. 285 run his btill hardor, but th»^ii he was awfully exposed. The narrow entrance to Isnild was a great protection to us, and we \N'atched the trains carefully, so as not to be taken from the shore." Dinry. ''Jaly 18, 1878.— On the IGth Coni- merell reported that the Swift sun's steam-pinnace had been finnl into by Russians, and two otticers taken prisoner, on Sunday 14th. Next day Sul)- Lieutonant Hall arrived with Commerell's report on the subject. I sent Jlelicon to San Stefano, with a letter for Todleben, in charge of Fitzroy. He was very civilly received, and brought back an answer full of regrets." Official Bcport. " General Todleben S(3nt a despatch vessel with answer to my letter, expressing great regret at the firino- at boat. He informed me that he had sent a colonel on the statf to Xeros to inquire into the affair of the Swiftsttrr's boat having been fired upon, and that he has not received any previous information on the subject. He will ac(|uaint me with the steps he has taken to prevent a similar occurrence in future." To Mr W. IT. Smith. "Juli/ 23, 1878. " I was very glad to hear of the treaty with Turkey ; we have immense opportunity to do good r 286 «IR GEOFFUKY I'HIl'I'S HORNBY. ill these atl]ict*-(l lauds, if we only carry it out boldly and vigorously." To Mr IV. U. SwifJi. " AHffu. d, A^llJ. 19, 1878. " Dear Mr Smith, — I beg you to accept my best thanks for the handsome terms in which you have brought my name to her Majesty's notice, as well as for the gratifying manner in which you have publicly spoken of the conduct of the officers and men of this squadron. I venture to hope that you may be willing, and may find occasion, to bring Sir E. Commerell to her Majesty's recollec- tion. His work has been more difficult than mine, as he had less assistance and a more exposed posi- tion, and he has excited amomx all with whom he has been broujiht in contact — Greeks and Turks as well as his own people — such a spirit of concord and devotion as cannot fail to have a beneficial effect in the new position we seem about to occupy in this country. I ever feel deeply indebted to him for the ability and loyalty with which he has always helped me. — Believe me, yours very truly, " G. Phipps Hornby. "The Eight Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P." e, A few days before, Sir Ednmnd, while sailing a match in his barge against the Ilupert's pinnace, got caught in a squall, which capsized both boats. T mmmm 290 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORXBY. f i The Rupert's pinnace sank, and two of her men were drowned ; those of the Agincoiirt managed to cHng to their boat till they were picked up, but the Rear - Admiral was very much exhausted. Commentiniif on it, the Admiral savs : — "The coinitrv would Indeed have suffered a ofrievous loss if Commerell had been drowned the other day. He has not only shown in his present command the decision and professional ability which always distinguished him, but also a great power of influencing all with whom he is brought in contact. Even Turkish pashas are kept straight by him." There \vas a great deal of boat-sailing just then. Besides tlie regattas before referred to, there was an international one held at Prinkipo, where Lieutenant Wyatt Rawson, in the Alexandra piimace, won the cup, beating all the yachts, in- cluding an American centre-board yacht. General Todleben was among the guests on board the Alexandra that afternoon. Prinkipo was to Constantinople, so to speak, what Bn'ghton is to London, and the presence of the stiuadron made it more than ever a fashionable resort. The islands are all hilly, and more or less covered with pine-woods, which keep the air very sweet and fresh, and the views are lovely : at one place, between the wooded capes of the island in the foreground, you can see the islands of Marmora eighty miles away. On the highest part of the THE M EI )TT l]RRAN EAN. 291 • : iM lie jjiiiicipul island the officers luul nuulo a very good iMWii-teiuiis gTound, and here iiearly every after- noon the A(hnu"al ean^.e np to play, and the Easterns, who cannot understand any one taking exercise in warm weather, amustMi themselves by looking on and wondering ;it the eccentricity of the English, An enterprising Greek had set up a little shanty or cafe where the balls and rackets were kept and where drinks could V>e obt;iined, and later on he laid in a sup])ly of little rockets, because the people who rode up by moonlight to see the vievv sometimes liked a few fireworks, (^ne night, Avheu tlie Admiral had ridden up, some of the mitl- slii]r a lark, As those " See's" go out hunting to-day.' The Great Master says, ' No, they must stay ! What on earth will Sir Henry Layard say? l!ut it's such a grand spn^e, tluit I'll let them go free, Arid we'll all go a-hunting to-day.' Chorus — For Ave'll all go a-huntuig to-day, &c. E. J. K.- is in boots, breeches brown as cheroots ; (irf'eks, Turks, I'ersians their visits may |iay, But lie cares not a jot if they got in or not. Or who sees the great ' Elchi P>ey.' ^ There's Lord ( leorge ' in his gaiters of grey. He and K. are the haves, folks do say ; He sings out fr<">m las cob, ' It's a fine sporting jol) To lead you a-hunting to-day.' Chorm — For we'll all go a-hunting to-day, &e. Mr Pritchanl's ^ at large, on a horse that takes charge Of him when he goes for a ride ; ' Public servant,' '' gay felloAv, is up on a yellow ; — There's a host of young sportsmen beside, liussian shijis and torpedoes, they say. Are (ialling the Admiral away. But he soon says, ' Lord ! I cannot stop on board. For I will go a-huiiting to-day.' Chorus — For we'll all go a-hunting to-day," S:c. 293 I They threw ofl' near some inagiiificent plane- trees, where the crusaders had encamped seven himdred years before, ran uj) the Buyukdere valley, and through the forest of Belgrade, on 1 Sir Kdward Malet. ^ The Aniba-ssador. * Paymaster of Antelope. • R J. Kennedy. ■■ Lord CJeorge Montagu. " Mr A. Leveaon-Gower. 294 SIR OEOFFKKY PEIIITS riOKMiV, tho other side of wliich the scent was very hlhid aiiioiior the fern, and there were a few rifie-])its, which took some jtnn})inn'. Soon after tliis the hares were viewed, but l)y this tinit* sonu- of the horses had begun to give out ; even the Achniral's was so Ijlown that he liad to pull U|» ;iiid bring him in cjuietly. Only three were in at the finish : one, a French attache', was so much pleased w ith himself for having acquired the English view-halloo that he never ceased hallooino- fiom the moment the hares Avere first viewed. He wjis riding a ca])ital, good-lo(.»king pony, and went afterwards to Ml' Kennedy to ask for a certificate to say he had got in third. Almost every day transports with Kussian troops })assed up the liosjihorus on their way hom(\ They were very closely packed, and there seemed scarcely standing-room on deck among the baggage, but they appeared in excellent spirits. By way of a little chaff, as one regiment of the Guard went by, they eased down a few minutes before the English emba.ssy, and their band played "Jingo," They evacuated the San Stefano lines about the 23d September, and the Turkish military police occu- pif^d them ; so, in accordance with the agreement, the tleet moved inspect (Vprus, aiul asked the Admiral, if lie could leave without risk, to join them there. On his way thither in the llelivoii he looked in at Gallipoli and Tchernak t<' warn the pashas to he very careful in watching the Russians, and landed at Besika to have a look at the beagles. Next day he stopped at Mitylene to shoot, got eleven brace of partridges ; then on to Syra, where he interviewed Mr Binney, the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company's agent there. From there he went on to Khodes and had a look at the fortifications : " All those old knights did was very good and substantial, but it has not altogether survived three centuries of Turkish neidect." On October 28 he reached Larnaca. In the intervals between service and political talks with " My Lords," Lord John Hay, and Sir Garnet Wolseley, he took several rides about the island with Sir Garnet. After a few days at Larnaca they went on to inspect Famagusta and Kyrenia ; and on Noveml)er 4, after an interesting conference with Mr Smith, Colonel Stanley, and Sir Garnet Wolseley, he sailed for Artaki. On his way back he touclied at Samos and Scio, At Samos the harvest was good, and tlie people therefore disposed to be contented ; at Scio he found the island in the dila})idated condition usual in Turkish posses- sions. He stayed a night at Besika to put matters right about a cau^ue which Captain Beamish had .iw»i.»»".i«a:. TTIE MEDITERRANEAN. OQ7 ca})tiu'e(l by mistake for a ])irat(;, and next TDoiTiing called on Hussein Pasha to i>et his promise to deal lemently with some runaway sole hers he had captured. November 10 lie o-ot huek to A)t;i.kl, and turned ovei* to the Alexandra ; and two days later he recorded his impressions of Cy])rus in a letter t<« Lord Derhy : — « AiiTAKi, Xoi\ 12, 187S. " T have just returned from a short visit to Cyjjrus, and I think you may like to hear v/hat Ave have learnt, as it is of value to us. First, as a possible coaling-station f)r ships wiiLching the Canal, the survey in ])rogress ;it Famagusta shows that the roadstead there is considerably deeper than we supjiosed. By carrying a l)ieakwater out along the shoals in a depth never moiv than 27 feet, averaging probably only IG or 17 feet, we should shelter a good harbour, about one and a half sea miles in length and half a mile wide. •Some 1700 by 700 yards of this would have a depth of not less than fathoms, s(» any six ironclads could moor there safely for the w'inter. The remaining space would accommodate a great many small ships with a depth of water from 4^ to 2^ fathoms, which is ca[)aljle of being dredged out to 6 or 10 fathoms without injuring the holding- ground. Inside this again is the old harbour, now silted up. It is a perfectly sheltei'ed basin of 80 acres, which may be easily dredged out tf) 24 feet, and would make an excellent mercantile harbour. I ^fWi^Vf^NW^V*^ ■f |iiiDlipf iionclatls could lie in comi'oit , and a pier 300 feet loni;' nii^ht easily })e huilt on a ledire of rock witli a di-ptii «>f not more than 9 feet, which at its outi'ir end would allow ships of 19 feet to lie alongside. The position is close to the old walls, which are useless for de- fence, 1)i.it \\'>uld iji-ive the material for a ])ier. "Now, as to the climate and productive puld have had just as nuich fever. That regiment is now encamped on the northern slope of the southern range of hills, and the men have been set to work mornino- and eveninir to prepare ground for and to erect tlieii' huts. The residt is that their sick are reduced to 5 per cent. The 42d are more favourably placed on the slope of the northern hills and close to the sea, but are unemployed and kept in tents. Their sick reach to over iO per cent. When we first took possession of the island, Buffo was garrisoned by seamen from the Raleigh. They were proA'ided with distilled water from the ship, and luid plenty <.>f w(.»rk in landing stores, cleaning up the place, &c. They had no sickness. They were replaced by two com- ])anies of the 42d, who have been carefully nursed after the system adopted in the regiment : they have had no end of sickness. It seems to me as much a question of colonels as anything else. " The latest accounts show that we shall have to pay the Porte about £90,000 a-year. The tithe and taxes m the Larnaca districts alone reach that 300 SIR GEOFFREY PlllPrS HORNBY. sum. The siqx'iIntHiKlent t)f customs toltl mu that up to th»' present we have received 50 ])er cent more than tlie Turks received hi any correspond intjf pei'lod of late years. At Lurnaca the streets iiave been well repaired, and a small sea-wall nearly Iniilt, hy lines and small contributions. These have been most willingly paid, for the people say they see the money has been spent for their benefit. The town is now as cleanly kept as Valet ta, and everywhere houses, walls, and fences are beiiic^ re- paired and tidied, showing not only that there must be a good deal of money hid away, but that already the j)eople feel they are perfectly secure in spending it. In fact, going there rather prejudiced by what I had read against the island, I have re- turned feeling sure that we have at command the power of making all we want in the way of a naval station — an island that might easily give us, if such were our policy, a large tribute ; and we shall give the blessing of a good government to a long- o[)pressed people, with so small a change apparent in system that they and their countrymen will be astonished. I have heard but two ' growls ' with reference to our action. One was from some Cypriot soldiers at Rhodes, who say they are now English subjects, and should be freed from Turkish service. The other from Syria, where the people say it was very hard that we stopped at Cyprus, and did not go on to take possession of their country." THE MEDITKPRAXEAN. 301 Very soon after the Afliuirfil's i-eturn from Cyjirus, CliristTiias festivities beg-aii to l)e con- sidered, and all agreed that Chiistnias was tc» be kept in the most ortliodox fasliion, ht^cause the anxiety of the former "ear harl ])revented • ny due celehiation of tlie season. The prepar- ations were almost comj)]et(^ Avlien, as ill lurk would have it, the Admiralty decided iust a few days l)efore t.'hristmas to order the Innui'lhle and Pan<(s to change stations, thus si)oiling the Christmas dinners of both ships. "Our men," says the Admiral, 'have so few diversions that I do not like to see them lose one to which they look forward so long and hope- fully as their Christmas dinner. I fear the ar- rangements for the Christmas dinners of the Incinciblc and Pallas will be spoilt by their ex- change of stations ; the lumncihles men would have gone to - night to Constantinople in the Helicon with those of the other ships. Beamish has doubtless made his arrangements, as we did last year, to get his things from Constantinople. As our telegraphs have again broken down, he probably will not know anything about this move befcn'e the 1 9th, when it will puzzle him to get them to this out-of-the-way place by the 24th." From each of the other ships eight men had been sent to Constantinople to get tlip necessary supplies ; and extra allowances of beer, tobacco, and lights were given to the men with the per- 302 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. mission of the captains. The latter dined with the Admiral, and a very merry dinner they had — " thus," as he writes, " bringing to an end pleasantly a year that has been very prosperous to me through the good conduct of my three dear boys, and which I shall look back on there- fore with thankfulness to God." For some time previously the Admiral had been advocating a move to Ismid ; he had written to Mr W. H. Smith :— " December 8, 1878. " I cannot see why the country is to be put to unnecessary expense, and my men to the mon- otonous existence they endure here, to gratify Russian whims and fancies. Their army moves where it pleases on Turkish soil. So far as I can learn, they occupy positions on it chiefly with a view to put the most plunder in their officers' pockets. I beg to submit the claims of my men in preference. It is not here an officers' question. The officers can get some diversion, shooting or on ln^rseback ; the men get none except what indiflerent grog-shops can affiDrd. We cannot even get a recreation-ground within four miles of the ship for them." At last permission was granted for the squadron to proceed to Ismid. The ships sailed, January 1, from Artaki, and next day occurred a disastrous explosion on board the Thunderer, Captain Chat- THE MEDITEUIIAXEAX. 3o: field, which had reheved the Devastation some two months i)i'evioUbly. Tlie official and private reports of the accident say : — Official Report. " At daylii^ht the ships of the squadron separ- ated, liy signal, to carry out the usual monthly firing at targets. On board the TJivnderer th practice began with an electric broadside, for which all the guns were loaded with battering charges and chilled shell. This havinu: been fired, the guns were loaded with full charges and empty shell. The starboard gun in the fore-turret fired first ; when the smoke cleared, the order was given to fire the })ort gun. A violent shock was felt throughout the ship, accomj)anied by a loud explosion and much smoke, while masses of metal of various sizes were thrown into the flying deck, and one fiagment even so high as the top. It was found immediately that the gun just fired had l)urst, all the muzzle before the trunnion beiug blown away ; that several men were killed, more wounded, and that the ship was on fire in the fore - shellroom and l)attery - deck. There was a slight delay in extinguishhig the fire, consecpient on so many hands in that part of the ship being suddenly stricken down; but direc'-y the reason of the delay was recognised, the firemen from the after-part of the ship ran forward with the great- est alacrity and coolness, and it was got under 804 Sill GEOFFREY PlllPrS HORNBY. without fiu'ther loss of time. Captain Chatfield immediatflv sio'ii'i-llt'd tor medical assistance, and the nearest ships, the Monarcli and AvhilJcs, were quickly on the spot. I followed them so soon as I had ascertained tlie nature of the accident, for the Thunderer was not Avithiii sisjfnal-distance of the Alexandra, and by noon the wounded w( re divided among the ships present, and the squadron proceeded to Ismid. The two officers killed were youn(^ men of considerable promise, and tlieir death is a great loss to the service. Lieutenant Coker conunanded in the turret, and, with seven out of the nine men in it, was kiJletl outright. Lieu- tenant Daniel, R.M.A., supervised the hydraalic loading-gear. Me Mas looking into the turret at the time the explosion took place, and, with one of his men, was killed instantly. The shock throughout the ship was so severe as to put out all the lights ; and when the order was given to stop the engines, the engineers had some trouble to find the levers. . . . The sufferers are reported as (juiet, and doing as well as can Ix^ expected. Indeed I may say that the medical ollicers are sanguine as to saving the patients." To Mr W. II. Bmith. "■January A, 1879. " The llmnderers accident is a o-reat calamitv, not only fi'om tiie loss of life ami amount of suffer- ing it has caused, but from the distrust it must THE MEDITERRANEAN. 305 create in our heaviest guns. Fortunately those two excellent othcers, Captains Tryon and Heneage, recognised instantly the gravity of the occasion, and no sooner had thev sent their doctors to assist the wounded tlian they returned to their targets, and blazed away with the heaviest charges, to show that their guns were not o-oinsf to burst. 1 think there will be no nervousness in their ships." To Admiral Wclksky, C.B. " January 8, 187!). " I am sending a report Ironi Captain Chatfield, commendnig some of his officers and men for conduct in the late accident. 1 think if some mark of [)proval could l)e given to two of them it would have a good effect — viz., James Bunce, bugler, who, though l)lown down and hurt by the explosion, picked hin\self and his bugle up quickly, and sounded the ' Still ' smartly when told to do so after the fire-bell rang ; William Bridges, quarter- master, went down straight into the shellroom, which was on fire, and from which thick smoke was issuing, showing a very good example." OJicial Report. " I received the following from her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople — namely, ' Sultan begs me to express to you and the fleet his deep regret at the lamentable accident on board TJnui- u ■' .:V 306 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. di'vcr, and places his kiosk at your disposal. He will send down an aide - de - camp to make all necessary arrangements. His Majesty adds, that if you like to send up some of the wounded to the hospital in the imperial palace, they will be properly taken care of liy his own surgeons, and that he will himself visit them, this being the least he can do for his friends and allies.' To which I immediately sent the following reply : ' I have received your telegram, and desire to tender tc* his Majesty the Sultan, through you, the expression of my sincere gratitude, and that of the officers and men of the squadron, for his Majesty's kind message of sympathy, and good- ness in placing his kiosk at the disposal of the wounded. This afternoon, January 4, I received instructions from Enti'land to send the T/tiin- dereJ^ at once to Malta, so that the landincif of the wounded here will be inexpedient. His Majesty's offer to receive some of the woiuided into the hospital at his palace, and to visit them himself, is gratefully appreciated, but the medical officers represent to me that the moving of the patients from the ship at present is undesiraV)]e. 1 am happy to say tiiat only two cases give cause for immediate anxiety, and the remaining thirty-four are doing very well.' " On the 3d the funeral of the two officers and eight men killed by the explosion took place in the Armenian cemetery at Ismid. The funeral THE MEDITERRA^TEAN. 307 was attended by the captains and nearly all the officers, and a large number of seamen and marines of the ship^ present." Telegram. " The evidence and report of in({uiry into cause of the t;un bursting is lengthy : the opinion of the inspecting otEcers is that, after being rannned home, the shot followed the ranmner down the bore towards the muzzle, the cartridge remaining in its right position, thereby subjecting the gun to excessive explosive strain when iired. The shot had slipt forward on former occasions, owing to the wad having been withdrawn by the rammer." Official licporf. " Some of the wounded men made statements that, when the rammer was withdrawn the last time the gun was loaded, some of the wad was withdrawn with it." Letter to Wife. " Febniari/ 21, 1879. " At Constantinople they have subscribed about £740 for the TIiunderev'H fund, and all the nations and languages seem to have joined in it truly — Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics. The list begins with H.M. the Sultan, contains a lot of Pashas, Demetriades, Zafiropoulos, &c., &c., and ends with Solomon Ben Jeuda." VvT?:r^ 308 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. A further inquiry was held at Malta when the men were sutliciently recovered to be thoroughly examined, and the conclusion come to was that the gun burst from having a double charge. It is possible for a gun to miss fire, when an electric broadside is fired, without any one noticing it at the moment. On the other hand, it seems in- credible that no one observed that the ranmier did not go quite home ; and as almost all those who could have given decisive testimony were killed, it remains one of those questions which will never be satisfactorily solved. The first two months in the year had been spent at Ismid, and as the hounds had been brought up from Besika, the second season of the Besika Bay beagles commenced, under the mastership of Captain Culme Seymour, There were plenty of hares, but the country was very much wooded, which made it very difficult to kill them. Nevertheless the hounds went out twice a-week and had some very good runs. One day they drove puss into the sea ; she swam 300 yards before she landed, beating the hounds who swam after her, and finally got away by putting up two others. Another day one of the Sultan's keepers, who had been told to give the officers every assistance in his power, with the best intentions in the world, shot the hare immediately under the nose of the hounds. He was very much surprised, first, at the volley of -■i^ THE MEDITERRANEAN. :^09 invective showered upon hiin, then to see the hare, vvhicli such a niunber of men and dogs had turned out to kill, given to the latter to eat, and went oft' shaking his head and muttering to himself, probably about the extraordinary customs of these " dogs of diristians." By the beginning of March the Admiral wns getting very anxious to bo able to make a move with the ships ; he believed that when the llus- sian troops retii'ed there would prob;d)ly Ije troubles among the sn)aller States, and was anx- ious to get the slii])s refitted, so that they might be ready if called in to hel|>. Moreovei', the men were much on his mind : some of them, the liberty and special - leave men, had been granted leave at Ismid and at Prinkipo, but gen- eral leave had not been given for fifteen months. Letter to Mm Stnj^ford. "... That is, many of them have not been out of the ship for tliat time, nor, with the mniiber of villains who infest these towns, and the inefti- ciency of the police, is it ])0ssible to give leave to any who cannot be trusted in the matter of drink." At last, early in March, the news came that the Russians were about to withdraw their troops from yVdrianople, embarking them at Varna, and shortly afterwards the Admii'al received orders ' : i ;3io SIU GEOFFREY I'HirPS HORNBY. to hold liiiiiself in readiness t<> leave at f'orty- eig^ht hours' notice. Preparations for leavintj were made accordingly, and the Besika Bay lieagles were presented to the " Sport C^lub " at Constan- tino])le. Their shoi't hut distinguished career ended with the two seasons at Besika and Isniid, as Levanthie ideas of sport were peculiai-. One member of the club proposed that any member might, l)y giving two or three days' notice, order them to any particular place, and " use them foi' stirring up a large wood, and driving out hares, b(iar, deer, &c. ' Orders to sail for Besika were received on the 1 1th, and next day the ships were ready to weigh, wheii a telegram from Mr Malet (Sir H, Layard was away) delayed them. The reason for the delay was that the Sultan wished to give to the Admiral and his captains "a banquet in acknow- ledgment of the service which the presence of the fleet had been to him, and to show the Queen his appi'eciation of it.' It was a very high mark oi' imperial favour, but, as the Admiral says in his journal, "We had a most quiet dinner at the Yildiz Kiosk. The room was in the shape of a wide cross — the side-bays bein^ separated from the aisle, in which the table was laid, by very pretty and light marble j)illars, formed of four brownish columns each, the rest of the room being white and gold. Tn each corner of the dining-space was a very handsome glass can- V THE MEDITERRAXEAN. ill {lelabrum, about 10 feet or I 2 feet liiirb, and a larire ^lass cbandelier hnii^^ ov^-r the centre of the table. The silver plate on the table \v;is lairly handsome ; the candelabra rejn-esented trees, with deer, slieep, &c., at their I'oc^ts. There were lari^e and hi'di masses of artificial ilowers on stands between, and the whole effect was good. The party consisted of myself, secretary, and Hag-lieutenant, four cap- tains, two commanders, and Wingfield (command- ing Antelope). Malet was accompanied Ity two secretaries and the head di'airornan, Saiidison. There was the Grand Vizier ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Seraskier (Gha/j Osnian Pasha); Grand Master of Artillery, Namyk Pasha ; Gapitan Paslia, and three Turkish admirals ; Sami Pasha, who occupies some high position at the Seraskierate ; Kurd Pasha, whom I did not recognise at first ; Colonel Dreyse, and some minor officers. We sat down, about thirty, to dinner. The Sultan sat at the head of the table, Malet on his right, I on his left, Khaireddin next to Malet, Ghazi Osman next to me. Almost a dead silence was preserved during the greater part of the dinner. Among the Turks no one would speak except the Sultan spoke to him. The Sultan had his dragoman standing by him ; he gave him messages in a low tone, now for Malet, then for me. The dragoman, drawinof close to us in turn, translated it into French, and spoke it to us in a very low voice. The Sultan's conversation was very small ; except 1 ' 312 .SIR (JKOFKUKV rUllM'S IIOUXRY. that he asked if any, and which, of tln' olHceis had served durinir the Crimean war, lie hardlv Bald aiiythiui^ woi-tli icuieniherinjjf. 1 spoke oocasion- ally t.(» ()sinan, and he answered, but niadr no attempt to eontinut^ a conversation. After- a lime thei-o was a httle talk down the table, but the: general effect was very quiet. Dui'iri*^ dinner the Sultan filled a champa^ne-«rlass with water, rose, and told Muriei- something' in a low voice. Murier, in an ecpially l<»w voice, S(^ that only Malet and I could heai', said that the Sultan wished to «hink the Queen's health, and the continuance of the alliance which had so loni>: existed betw»;en the empires. No one at the table could know what they were called on t(» di'ink. Presently Malet rose },nd proposed in English the Sultan's health, thanking him for the honour he conferred on us in offering us this bancjuet. The dinner consisted a good deal of Turkish dislu^s — mutton and rice, kabobs, kc, but no pilaif. Th»i wine was pretty good, but nf) Turk touclied it, nuich to old Hassan's disgust, who said it wouhhi't do for him to drink there. "After dinner the vSultan took Malet, Khaired- din, and mv^self into his small drawing-room : the Grand Vizier acted as interpreter. He told Malet again to convey to the Queen his ^ense of the great sei'vice the fleet had rendered to him by coming near Constantinof)le. He digressed a little to talk of the refoi'ms and the new gendarmerie THE MEDITKRRANEAX. 313 that was to be established. Malet gave Osniau a slap in the face, and Khaireddln a help, by point- mg out that to appoint only a few line-looking men of the Redif, as had bpen done, was not to provide the necessary material. He was told the present measure was only provisoira. Then the Sultan told us that as soon as the reforms were started, so that he could show what he had done, he meant to come to iMigland to visit tln^ Queen, The (^)ueen of Sheba went to visit Solomon. Times are changed I " Ldler to Wife. " The Sultan wanted to decorate us all. Of course Malet told him that could not be ; he begged him to telegraph home for permission, but Lord Salisbury \ery properly replied that he could not depart from our custom and regulations." The Admiral had moved the fleet to Gallipoli before the banquet, and had, with his captains, gone up to Constantinoj)]e for a couple of nights in the Salamis and Antelope, though the Sultan had offered to send a royal yacht to fetch them. The day after his return to Gallipoli, March 19, they again passed the Dardanelh -this time in lovely weather, and making a very imposing spec- tacle, all the ships under steam and sail. They anchored at Besika the same evening, but remained there only two days, as "I received a telegram .-^ 014 SIR fSEOFFREY THIITH HORNBY. from Admiralty onlerin<^ me to Saloiiica, and ' to make the usual arr{in«;ements for detaching ships to visit the dirt'erent parts of the station.' This tlid not convey a very clear notion of their wishes — if they had any — to my mind. 1 therefore did what was best ni the interests of the squadron, and sent Monarch, Invincible, and Pallaii to Malta to refit." These sliips were to spend a few days at Athens on their way, so as not to be placed in quarantine when they arrived. There was supj)osed to be some plague near Damascus, therefore the Maltese authorities had seen tit to impose (juarantine on all vessels cominj^ from the P^ast, thong] i travellers who took the quicker overland route from Salonica might land without <(uestion. The panic among the custom-house oificials was rather comical. Before the Admiral knew of their reo'ulations he had sent down a barrel of oysters to Lady Hornby : they did not like to take the responsibility of de- stroying this, or to detain it nine days in quaran- tine ; they therefore fumigated it with sulphur, as they did letters, and sent it up to Admiralty House. The effect, when the oysters were brought into the house, can be better imagined than de- scribed. It never seemed to occur to the Maltese that this policy of imposing quarantine only cut their own throats, as it was arranged that the ships should stop at other places on the way down, so as to pass the necessary time, and thus money THE MEDJTKRHANEAN. 115 was spent at Athens and t'lsewliere which would iuive ^one into the j)Ockets of the Maltt'Se. At last, in tht^ beginning'' of April, the Achnlralty gave the Alcxntidra permission to go to Malta, provided three ironclads were left in the ^l^^gean Sea ; and the Hagship anchored in Valetta harlx)ur on Good Friday, April 11. As the summer was a hot one, no one was sorry that the summer cruise was t<> conunence early in June, and the dockyard was being pushed to the utmost to get the ships r-eady. As things were not yet (|uiet in the East, the cruise was to be to the eastward again, but as Etna was in eruption, the Admiral thought that too interesting a sight to be missed. Journal. ''June 6, 1879. — Anchored at Ripoh.o, about seven miles north of Aci lleale, at 8.15 A.M. Landed with Maiy, Fitzroy, and Winsloe, and drove through Pie -Monte and Lingua Glossa towards Moya to see the lava -flow. The road was pretty, and the foliage of trees and vines luxuriant, but disfigured by a covering of powdered pumice. The cloud from the mountain shaded us from the sun during most of our journey, and for about an hour, near Lingua Glossa, it showered pumice upon us. The road was good, and including the zigzags, must have been seventeen miles, and occupied us five and a half hours in going and four in returning. The lava had spread in a huge heap, like a rough railway embankment, about one and a half miles . if! \\\ 316 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY, mto the valley, with a mln;mum width of a mile at least, and was piled up iuU 50 feet above the road, where it had crossed it. The line in which it had descended the mountain was narrow and sharply defined, and had of course followed that of a ravine. The mass of it was enormous to be ejected in so short a time. We were told that we should have to walk three miles to the end of the mass, and as Mary was with ua, I could not under- take it, but some of the officers went, and found the distance less than two miles, and the sight most curious. The lava moved on a,t the rate of about three yards in five minutes, and every now and then rolled over a mass of the cooled scorite from above, disclosing the molten earth below. It was like a great wave of stones and earth breaking on a beach. The mass was smoking in various places, and very hot. It had overflowed two houses, and was making straight for a village, from which it was about one and a quarter mile distant. Vineyards were disappearing under it, but we saw no sign of weeping proprietors. Several tourists came towards evening to see the lava by night, and a large body of troops had been collected in the neighbourhood to protect deserted houses ; but the flow of lava was so steady that any one might calculate exactly the time at which his house would be invaded. The mountain was smoking, heaving, and emitting sounds like cannon- THE MEDITERRANEAN'. 31' I shot eve^ry now and then. The lava was said to hn tlowino- from five craters." A passage of sixty hours, including steam trials, &c., brought the S(|uadron to Athens, where the French, Russian, and Greek squadrons were lying. The King and (^u(^eii came in in their j^acht m xt morning, and all the shi])s salute-d and dressed ship. The foreign ships dress from yard to y;n-d, which does not look so well as the English fashion from mast to mast. At Athens the Admiral dined once with the King, and had two dinner-parties on board. Owing to the heat, the taljle was placed on the quarter-deck in the open air, and the con- trast of tlie shaded candle-light on the table with the starlight outside gave a pretty effect. The first of these parties was to the foreign admirals and ca|»tains. The llussians were most anxious to acquire all the information tliey could. The Frenchmen enjoyed their diiuitu* : there was per- fect enjoyment in the tone in which one French captain said, " Petlts pois h I'Estragon. Ah-h- h ! " The other dinner was to the King and Queen, Jmie 19. Of this occasion the Admiral writes in his Journal : — " After dinner he [the King] began to talk about the cession (Ireece was to I'eceive from Turkey, and that they could accej)t nothing less than the line mentioned in the Berlin Trv^aty. 1 said 1 did not see how, if he got Janina, tlie (Greeks could r^T"'™ (.T^TFjr .'} 1 H SIR (;koiki{i;v i-rniM's hohmjv ^rovcvu It. II*' s;ii() tli;il vviiH iiol, ho; Ik- IumI Irth'iH from Jill tlif most inflm-nt iai iiKiii, All*;iiii;iii.s UH well ;is ()i<-rkH, K.'iyin^ ^'"'y wmld vvijlin^jly c}i!i(i;4'c to Cin-i-k iiilf, l)H< tli;il, t licy Wfn- ;i,iV;ii(l to H;iy s<» puMicly hu loti^ ;is tlioy \v(;i(^ umlcr IIkj Tiji'kisli (iovcniiiHMiL" Tlif AdimiJi! Iiiid Im'cii pioiiKttcd on llic I5llj, ;iim1 n-c.c.wrtl oil I Ik- I7tli [M-rmiHKioii to lioist liis flii^ ill tin- m;iiii ; init iis lio disliked ;tny iipjXijii'- aiKM; ol" oKlt'idat ion, Ik- vvaiti-d ti» lioist it till ;d't»'r- Ik- irfl, HO ;is to avoid liaviii^ Ins ll;i^ suliitrd hy tin; ion-Ajj^w slil|)s. (Mm- of llir ol)jccls ol' tliis ,snnnn<'f f;iuis(t ol" I H7I) vv;is to ins|)(M:l some of tlic [»ossiiil r (ro;ilin^- Htid ions Ml llif ;ocln|)<'|;iMo : for tins |)nijjosc, hotli Milo iitid StiiinjiitliJi were, visited. Jnin-H'il. '' Mth,^ .hnn L'j, IH7i). We li;jvc Imm'ii Iktc ("oni" d;i\'s. Tin- h.'iy is hir^'c iuid well protecti'd, hut the dejdh of \v!i,te|- iriJikes liir- the |jir^(!st |);ut un;i v;nl;ihle for (he ships. The hilln on ejich side oi" the eiitninf;«; would iiMord iidmii"- ul)l«i |)<»HitionH I'oi forts ; hut witJi siieh (Nm'J) vvjiter ;iiid ;in eiitraiKte HO \'n'{\ from all difli- cultiffs, I <|iiestion if ships eoiild he Htop|)ed hy siMV iii-t,ilhriy fire IVi.m eiit,ennij(iiry is ojifn iuid ••;iKy, jiimI it in hurkf'd <»ii llmt side hy ;i, riiii;^n- ol" IhIIh uliich would uflofd <^iu>i\ .sil.cH (or ltiit.(<-(I<'S to lire on sliijiH iiiooifd ill iIh- Iciv. I do tiot lliiiik it so r^'ood ;i jtort iiM Sir Howard I'Jj)IiiiihIoiic injucsfUiltMl it, 1,0 h.-." '' Sle Admiral's pt rry, Osman, had for the last two years always acconipanied his master. , I THE MEDITERRANEAN. 323 and got quite accustomed to being hoisted in and out of the ship, and jumping on shore or into the launch when re-embarked. He had to spend the days in his box, but at niglit a colhsion-mat was spread for him on the deck, he was brouglit out, and, after a good roll, stretched himself out com- fortably for the night, never disturbing himself in the least when the men jumped over him, for blue-jackets have a wonderful power of inspiring confidence in all animals. At that time they had on board a hare, a pigeon, and a bear living in perfect harmony. Sometimes at night experiments were tried as to the possibility of protecting ships in harbour from torpedo-attack, by electric search-lights, by look-out boats at short distances from each other, by a floating hawser, and by a ])oom across the mouth of the harbour. I Official Beport. " October IG, 1879. " The lotal result appears to be that ironclads in harbour are open to the attack of locomotive torpedoes from torpedo-boats with very little risk to the assailants, unless the mouth of the harbour can be closed by a boom which the boats cannot break. If the ships can be seen from the boom, it will be necessary further to hang torpedo-nets under it. The boom itself must be protected by guns. 55ri7?^S7ET?5r?^7:srrT3r?^!r':;3'?rrj^^ 324 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPrS HORNBY. Thus the summer wore on till the beginning of September, when the Admiral, having got very much knocked up by the heat, took a week's run to Therapla. There he found Mr Laurence Olij^lumt negotiating for the return of the Jews to Palestine, the Ambrssadors of England, Austria, and Italy very much at issue with the French Ambassador about the settlement of the frontier of Greece, and every one excited about a change of Grand Viziers which was pending. The Admiral rejoiiu'd the lleet at Sigri, and as the ships were not allowed to go to Besika, during the rest of the month he cruised slowly down by way of Patmos, Kos, Marmorice, and Rhodes to CJyprus. The day before reaching Cyprus (Official lieport) " the Achilles ran alongside of, and came into collision with, the flagship of this squadrcm at about 4.20 p.m. The squadron was at the time exercising steam tactics, each ship being manoeuvred by the officer of the watch. I attriljute the damage done to each ship being so small to the ships being well handled by the captains when the collision was inevitable, so that they fell alongside each other, and only touched once. The defects have been made good." The damage caused by this laying the ships alongside each other, and which the Admiral often subsequently referred to as one of the prettiest m inoeuvres he had ever seen executed, consisted only of smashing the Admiral's galley and a few m THE MEDITERRANEAN. 325 minor articles, and cracking a plate in the bottom of the AvkilU'S. On October 1 the squadron anchored at Larnaca, and on the 5th the Admii-al started in the Helicon for a trip to the coast of Syria. At that time the Admiral Avas anxious to see as much of Asia Minor and Syria as possible, because his mind was full of Lord Beaconsfield's scheme for establishing military consuls in those parts, to open up the country and to raise a militia which could be depended on in case of Russian aijm'ession. There was also mucli talk t)f a Euphrates valley railway, with a terminus in the bay of Alexandretta. Perhaps, ii' Mr Gladstone had not seen fit to reverse all Lord Beaconsfield's policy in the East directly he came into office, there miglit have been no Armenian troubles to-day, but a peaceable and prosperous country. Letter to Wife. " My trip to the coast of Syria has been a very pleasant one. Tlie party I took were Tryon, Lake, Gallwey (torpedo lieutenant of Alexandra), Jenkins (commander of Temevaire), and Winsloe. We left soon after midnight, October 5, in Helicon for Tripoli ; we anchored there a little after noon, found it very hot, and so did not land until 4 p.m., when we rode a short two miles to the town. We unfortunately found, at so late an hour, the bazaars shut ; but there was a queer and interesting mixture ^M 326 SIR GEOFFREY PUIPrS HORNBY. of Eastern ju'ople, Syrians, Arabs, Jews, and non- descripts. Tlie Arabs were real desert-men, who had come in with their caravans, and with very marked features as well as dress. Nt^xt day we went on to Iluad Island and Latakiah, small and uninteresting places. The following day — Tuesday — we steamed past Alexandretta, It stands on the end of a niarsh, and oilers no attractions except for a tine mountain behind it, which looks as well, or better, from the sea than anywhere else. AVe then steamed round the head <^f the bay to see the field of the battle of Issus, and to look for a new site whereon Tryon wishes to found a town and have a railway-station, and then we went on to Ayas Bay. It is a ojreat shooting-place in winter, and a good place for francolin, which I had never seen, so we stayed there twenty-two hours and shot a few. Tryon was in great force, and we had a merry party." The day after his return to Larnaca the Admiral rode up to Nicosia, and was much struck by the beauty of the approach to the town. From Larnaca the ships went on to Famagusta and Limasol, and at each place the officials dined with the Admiral, and seemed much to enjoy a civilised dinner after their long time of roughing it. On the whole, the island seemed to have improved in general prosperity, but at Larnaca the town was not so I / r THE MEDITERRANEAN. 327 H clean or the roads so well ke])t as when a soldier had l)een commissioner the year previous. At Famagusta, to prove ho\, much space there was in the harbour, the Admiral took the shi])s in and out in two columns in line ahead. They sailed on the 1 6th, and steamed in to Yaletta harboin- in close order on the 24th, Almost the first person on board to greet the Admiral on his arrival was his eldest son, wliose death from cholera had been reported two months previously. The tleet, for the fii'st time for two years, wintered at Malta: conse(juently the season was an unusually gay one. At last the time of his command drew to a close. On February 25 a telefjram was received announcing that Sir B^auchamp Seymoiu' had left ]*ortsmouth in the IncoiiMaiit , and everything be- uan to be done foi^ the last time,— -the last cricket- match, Polo Club versus Garrison, won by the former ; the last polo-match, Iloyal Scots rn'svs Garrison, won by the latter ; the last picnic ; the last visit to the naval hospital, where the Admiral always went once or twice a-week to visit the sick ; the last dinner to naAal men at Admiralty House, March 9. Then followed a farewell dinner at the dockyard, where Admiral M'Crea proposed the Admiral's health ; the leave-taking on board the Alexandra, when (.'aptain Fitzroy, contrary to Admiralty regulations, called for cheers ; the 'IM mn^ ?.28 SIR GEOFFREY I'lIIPPS HORNBY, sayirii,'- "Good-bye" to the officers in tiie dockyard on the nth; the embarkation on Friday 12th, the yards manned, the bands playing, and all who could uet away comin*; on board the Helicon to say "Good-bye" again, when nearly every one was weeping, and no one seemed ashamed to show feeling. 329 2tlj, who 1/ to one how CHAPTEU XIV. THE GREENWICH ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE, 1881 TO 1882. LETTER OF APPROVAL FROM ADMIRALTY APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL NAVAL (COLLEGE — WORK AT (iREENWICU THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGN. Within a week of his return to Eno'laiid tlie Admiral was, at a meet of the hounds at Stansted, being warmly greeted by many of his old friends. Almost immediately he took up his cor .ty duties, attending a meeting of magistrates to discuss county business at Petworth, the Bench at Chichester, the Board of Guardians at Westbourne, &c., &c. Before this he had reported himself at the Admi- ralty, where he had a very cordial reception, and asked that extra leave miMit be o^ranted to the crew of the Alexandra w^lien they arrived. Next day he received a letter of approval from the Admiralty couched in very flattering terms. The letter ends as follows : — " The war between Kussia and Turkey, and the i 330 SIR GEOFFREY PHIPPS HORNBY. critical attitude of other European Powers, added very inucli to the responsibilities of those duties, and my Lords have observed with much satisfac- tion the zeal, ability, and good judjnjment with which you had carried out the instructions of H.M. Government, and so ably supported H.M. Ambassador at Constantinople in upholding the dignity and honour of this country." Folded in with this is another paper, " testifying to the extraordinarily creditable state in which the Alexandra was hajided over to her present officers, reflecting the utmost credit on Captain Robert O'B. Fitzroy, Commander A. P. M. Lake, and Lieutenant James L. Hammet, and all who be- longed to the ship." These papers are docketed in the Admiral's handwriting : " Approval of conduct while com- manding in Mediterraneaji, but no promotion offered on hauling down flag, and request for that of Commander Lake, Lieutenant Hammet, and Mr Mosse, senior secretary's clerk, not granted." Captain Lake did ?iot get his promotion till January 1881, and the letter announcing it to the Admiral makes the latter the offer of the appoint- ment of President of the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. These Admiralty letters are some- what deprecating in their tone, Vjegging Sir Geoffrey not to decline the appointment without coming up to see Lord North brook and Sir Cooper Key, also that he would " sacrifice his own incli- GREENWICH. 331 nations and wishes and accept the post." The Admiral went up to see Lord Northbrook, and accepted the appointment without any arriera pensee, because with him the only consideration which had any weight was the good of the service, Writhig to announce it to his sister, Mrs Stopford, he says : — " LukijiNGTON, Jitn. 15, 1881. "Naturally you will not congratulate me on having to turn out of this pretty home again ; but you will be interested to hear that I am going to Greenwich. Lord Northbi'ook was jileased to say that the rV)llege had got^ ' very \o\v, and that he was sure the service would be very inach benefited if I would go there.' J quite agr^e with the premiss, whether the conclusioii will be achieved is doubtful, but of course under such representa- tions on^ can only go and do one's best. From what 1 heard at the Admiralty I believed that the vacancy would not take place till the end of March, but Shad well writes that it will be on the 1st. This is a great bore, as I shall lose a mouth's hunting, and we have this vile frost on. 1 hope you will feel very proud of having your two brothers ' Head-Masters ' ; l)Ut I leproach myself frn' not having had sullicient presence of mind to stipulate that I should be a doctor." ! i ■5 ! Every one knows Greenwich Hospital, the great handsome building close down to the river-side, 332 8IU (;F,OrFRKY I'TUrPS HOUNFJV . • ' I with the Purk and ( )l>S';iVHti)i'y i-isini; bt'liiiul, and the icfin /ailin^s whicli siUTound tin; eiicloKurt? fliuikod on citlicr side by the Anclior and the Ship of (hninel, \slii('li was ;4;oini^ on at this time, his woi'k was maiidy athninistrative, a?id had to d(»with the physical and mental w(dM»ein<( of the ollicers at the (^dle^e. The j)hyHiral aspect of thin;;s gave him pictty nearly as tnuch to think of as the tiK-ntal. lioth extei-nally and internally the place could not ))e considered a healthy one. Externally, because the Thames, which runs close by, could be likened to nothin;^ but an o})en sewer ; internally, because the ])locks of buildint,^ thou^^ii of various ages, were all old, as their names, Charles CJIIEENWICII. II., \VillI;iMi iuid Mary, Qu«;eu Anne, (inov^^i III., &c., testify, and very ill-suited to the modern aj)pliances of C(us, sanitary urran^einents, kc, vvfiioh liad Ix-en fitted into tlifMii. Tlie mess, also, was very far from wliat fie wislicd to make it, lils ol)i(;ct beinif that it should hi- t<» tlie Navv what tlie one at Woolwich is for the Artilh-rv. When the ( !olle^e was first moved to (irtjenwlch, the oftlc(!rs \v(;re not allowed to have the Painted Hall for ii messroom, for f'eai' tin- i^as should s|toil the pictun-s, and the messroom had heen made in tli(! hasement, and was conse(Hiently very low and stufl'v. The ante-room was also in anotlaM' hase- rnent, and the two connnunicated i)y a vnry cold and di'auj^hty underp'ound passage. Meanwhile nearly a whole block of huildin_i;s had heen given uj) to the nnisenm, models of ships, Nelson relics, kc, which har hiterest the ofticei-s ni its good manageniont. Of course, though in many ways the vicinity of Greenwich to London is a gr(;at convenience, yet it has its drawbacks. When a place; i^; within three or four minutes of a station, and twenty I ' ; t t 334 Slit (;k<)I'kiii:y imiiim's uokmsy. iiiinulcs uf ^ 'lintiiii'' < 'I'oHN, !i voniM'- rt'||<»\v iiiusl/ \>*'. v«Ty iiiril»it louH, oi- vccy si iidioiis, not lo .sfiiik Home of llic Work oil o(',(:;isioii I In- l*r<',si(l(tii( oj" llic ( !(>I|(M'(' rr(i!i!rc,s to fX('if!l,s(t ;i ''ifjil, i\r:\] ol" iiiHiLrlit Jtiid t,;i(rt to know (;\;i.cllv vvlicii IokIiiiI, Ins «!V<"H ;iinl vvIkmi t(» li;i,v<' (Ih'Iii very vvi(l«; <»|)(Mi iiidfcd, to show ;i, nice ••y IM! vvliicli li.ul ;(,iiy c'Miiiccl loll uilli ii;ivi --mall slaluif, drciSKi'd hiinsflf j)cil(M',t ly in l*ajro|i» iiii clothes, and had a very fair knowlcdno of |']iif naval architects, and was constantly l)ein£r consulted on a varietv of minor matters. Another reason put ibrwartl for appointing the Admiral to Greenwich had l)een, that he would be near at hand iji case the Admiralty wished for his opinion on any subject under discussion ; and the Admiralty certainly availed themselves pretty freely of the opportunity of consulting him, a week rarely ela})sing without some such notice in his Diary as, "To Admiralty about signal-book"; or "Estimates,'' or "Building pr<)gnimm(\" &c., &c. In the spring of 1882 troubles began brewing again in the East, and in July the campaign com- menced with the bombardment of Alexandria. Sir Geoifrev was watchinc' each turn of the irame with the keenest interest, and was kept au fait of the progress of events from every point of view, — from that of Sir Beauchamp Seymour, naval Commander-in-Chief, to that of his own sWi'ii. was ca])able. The Admirid got hack from liis ci'uise just in time to receive some xVhyssinian envoys, line liaml- some men in thi-ir pictures([ue natiori;d dress, over which they wore cloaks of leopard - skin fastened by ^'ery curious and massive gold clasps. After this the Admiral settled down to completing his book oil 'Squadrons of Exercise,' the manuscri])t of which was sent off to (JrilHii on Februai'y 13. The book was ready by May, and at first tlie Admiral contemphitfMl the idea, of publishing it, but refrained from thr s;ime reason v\hich had ]j)'ev(^nted him from [)u))lishing his lectures in IH82. He kept the copies entirely in his own hands, giviig them away t<» those among his brother otficei's who wero likely to profit l)y them, and the most importiint part of the Ijook is now incorjjorated in the • Manceuvring Manual.' PORTSMOrXII. 34^ St'oing how matters ([niftt'd dtiwii afterwards, it seems curious to look l*iick and eliserve how inevltal)]e war witli liussia seemed In the spring of 1885, and iiow it ulmosi seemed as if the Russians wen' taking tlie initiative. Judgijig from the Athniral's lt;lters and diaries, it was a veritnhl(! uai- scare, which after all only ended in the initiation of the atimud na\al nuiiKeuvres. Diary. " April 9, 1885. — Hear that the Jiussians have attacked the Afuluuis on thf Kheish liver and given theni a devil of a thj'ashing. "ylpnV 10. — lieport that the Indian Govern- ment wisli foi; war now. ^^ April 13. — Michael Seymour and Heneagodown from town, — the f?•// \^d.—lri>ti Thikc ordiMvd to he conunis- sioned, " AprU 21. — Wi'iting hard most of tho day. *' April '2'2. — Heneage says London was very warlike yesterday : he wishes to go to Baton m, but does not see how wo ai-«; to get into the IJlack Sea. "April 24. — To see Mi- White's tor] »edo - boat. Admiralty can't make up thoii- minds to buy her, and are wasting much time, lb- has otferod her for £20,000, but will want X25,000 when - ar is declared. *' April 25. — Ri'puUe arrived. \\ r — I jiiyifM^jii* jF"'««i!W"i'*TC^ ■p_,T-'^^-iF-''T"'P" ■ 'y" '7"VT^T'7 -ir-n^jwy ;48 sill GEOFFRFA' PIIIPPS HORNBY. " Ajyril 26. — Lord Warden arrived. " April 27. — Jack Fisher tells me he is to have command of the squadron of tugs, ai'd otlier li,^*ht craft, in Baltic under Hoskins. "April 29. — Pressing' on preparations for war. Kennedy appointed to Ajax. "Apnl 30. — Walter Kerr appointed to Devasta- tion and Kujg to Ilnpert.''' Letter to Mrs Htopfonl. "-Maj I, ]f^S5. '' The country is absurdlv apathetic ahout the war. It sliuts its eyes to the shameful neglect of duty and the petty mse goodwill we iire not secure. The only vulnerable point of our enemy, the Black Sea, has been care- fully blocked. " Now the only place w^here we can strike him is tlie very place where w^e ought Jiot to do so — viz., Finland. 1 am not at all sorry they have not fisked me to go to the Baltic. The Reserve Squadron was ordered thei'e, and it is quite riglit it should go under its own admiral, Hoskins. When I connnanded the Channel Squadron, T PORTSMOUTH. 349 I 1 should have been veiy inuoli ag-oTioved if it had been sent to the Baltic under another admiral. I have always held that it work is to be done, the vouno-est men will do it best. lloskins is four years young-er than I am ; and in picking- Cuhne-S(^ymour and ITeneage for commands, Lord Northbrook has, I think, shown wisdom, as they are young- and experienced. 1 wouldn't mind, though, having a sliy in waters 1 know. If we ])egin this war, 1 can't see how we ar(? to finish it without passing the Dardanelles, and I am vain enough to think that I could take a fleet up there better than tiie Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean. 'Mlowever, you recollect liow our dear father used to sav. ' No one ouL'-ht to go to sea after he is sixty, for he can't sleep properly.' I am sixty, and I don't sleep as I used t(~> do, so I am quite satisfied to go or stay as the Powers may decr«^e." Diary. " Maij 3, Sundai/. — Brassey called, said there would be no war, and suggested a review. I objected strongly." After this anti- climax the Government \\as doubtle.ss a little puzzled to know what to do with the large numl)er o{' ships assembled at Portsmouth, as nothing transpired for mor(- than a fortnight. The Admiral takes up the subject again in his Diary : — ''May 17. — To town to see Key about cruise. I ' i\ i ^ ■■ ti ■ > 350 SIR (iKOFFREY J'Hiri'S HORNBY. Found hliii leady to ^nve me everything — Lcander, gunboats, Orec/on, tugs, &c. Many greetings in Clul). ''Moi/ JO. — Called I ) town by note to see Lord Northl>rook, who wishes me to take commaml ii for a calf which was said in luive heuii prematurely born frojii tlie cow lu'ini; friglitened l)y a torpedo discharge-, and got it. Now several aie soiiding in falmjous claims. One wrote for compensation for damage done to his land by Sj)ars having })een liuuled np on the beach. 'Daniel Bai-ry' makes claim ' for trespass on his potato-garden, and injuiv done to his cows by reason of the noise and waving of Hags, £.'1' 'i'lie palish priest indorses liis claim, saying he is a very iionest and poor man, with many children, and that the value was assessed l>y two most respectable men. Aftt?r much search the scoundrel showed me one fo(>t,print in his potato- i)ed, but « n close inspection it pro\(Ml to be made by a bare foot. I met tlie priest a little later and gave him a bit of my mind. " June 27. "The Lcunboats are come, so we shall hav- nm- sham tight, probably on Monday. We continue mutually to seize sus])icious persons as s})ies. Last night young Thyiine came down with a letter from Hoskins and an artist. Tliynne made himself busy in examining the mine-field, and the artist made a, sketch (/ the l)oom. They were imprisoiuHl iiu- i 5 ;,l ; I ! ■ i! ' 1 , \ i ■^ 354 sin tiKOlT'REY rilllT'S IlORNr.Y. medi.'itely, nnd tbe artist, who, I pivsume, Is a i^^ood fMlike went hv land to (ilenijjaritl' tor a Saturday's ontint,^ They have been seized, and, 1 suppose, Avill be kept at the hotel. •' We ' declared war' yesterday. G.-dl^voy cume down will) Mcrcuyif and his boats and captured two of our lioats. Iloskins came down to attack ns last niuht about 1.1 p.m. : the siuiile boom was jumped, but the double one is secure. Early ttiis morning we began some experiments with (an* boom. Ivaii I'tJ iiphciDus at it, tiying to stop her w Itli Whitehead torpedoes ; but she was well handled, escaped them all, and blew up part of the boom, but hardly made it passable. ''July 2. "We ai'e «>ft' for a sea voyage, so you nt^^d not ex|)ect to heai' again till you see a letter." Diary. ''Jul if 3, — Sunbeam in company. Bras- sey came on board at 9 a.m., and ' l)egaji steam tactics ; but thick mist came on, ar x I was glad to get them in two columns again, four cables apart, before it came on thick. '''July 4. — Told the slii])S off for anchoring in tln-ee divisions. Formed ttiree cohunns on ap- proaching anchorage at Blacksod Bay and moored. , IS u )y the Duke •ntini^. ,111 l^e uie 30. y- CiiUie ptuied attack )ni \\!is •ly tills til t >ur t(>|) I lev IS \\v\\ (.r the Udy 2. c(l not Bras- (-ICDIl 'lad to apart, •uig in on ap- iK )ored. i'OKTSMOl'TIl. 355 "./?'/// 0. — Arianged an attack hy the first-chiss boats, 'i'he elrctric h^hts were luid diagonally away from the fltM't, so that boats coming in nnist cross tliem, and picket-boats were auchorod oil', with second-class torpedo bouts palroUing. It answered well, as all boats were seen on entei'ing, and the nets caught the torpedoes." Letter to Wifn. "Belfast, Jul;/ 14. "We ran in liere this moniiug after an interest- ing and amusing cruise of fom* days. On Friday morning Admiral Whyte and his division sailed from Blacksod lUiy to interc<-pt us in oui- attempt to pass romid tlie north of Ireland, so as to attack this ])lac(! or Greenock. After they left we saw the Oregon return, a little after sunset, towards the harbrmr to watch us. We took little heed, however, for the night was dark and dirty, and iniless we ran over her there was little chanc(^ of l>eing seen. l>y morning we were thirty-Hve miles off the land, liut the w«Nitlier was nasty, and the other torpedo-boats could not deal with it, so they had to be sent back to Blacksod, and the lleela went with them to rejiair and to look after them. Gallwey in liis boat and ATerevn) went on to Colonsay. My plan was tt> go there, and run through the I'ather narrow sound which separates Islay from Jura, pusli acrt)ss from thence to the high land of the Mull of Cantire, under shade ! > \ \ ; i ; I hi M! i i ^mm IMAGE EVALUATEON TEST TARGET (MT-3) y A A // V^-^ 1.0 Ifi^l^ I.I 1.25 us ^ 140 20 1.8 U 11.6 V] <^ /] 7 'e^. e. o 7 /A 356 SIR CEOITREY I'lIirPS lIORXnY. of which r liopcd to pass down nnpt^rceived, and pos.sihly get round th»^ Mull aiul go up to Greenock. '•We made a long jKiSKnge to (joloiisay. First, because we had to keep a long way to the west to kee]) clear of th<^ Onyoii. Secondly, l»f :ause I coul