DREADNOUGHT Class. Sir John Henslow design, approved
20.3.1788. Four ships were ordered to this design (the fourth ship, Ocean ordered
9.12.1790 and laid down 1.10.1792 at Woolwich, was re-ordered to new design
1797). The UD battery on all three ships was altered to 18pdrs before
completion; thus armed, they fought at Trafalgar, but reverted to carrying
12pdrs on the UD in 1808 and were reclassed as 104-gun First Rates in 2.1817,
but as none were completed until after 1793, their histories have not been
included below.
Dimensions & tons: 185ft 0in, 152ft 65/sin x 51ft 0in
(50ft 3in moulded) x 21ft 0in. 2,11053/94 bm.
Men: 738. Guns: LD 28 x 32pdrs; MD 30 x 18pdrs; UD 30 x
12pdrs; QD 8 x 6pdrs; Fc 2 x 6pdrs. By 1792 the 6pdrs had been replaced by
12pdrs.
First cost: Dreadnought £60,484.
Dreadnought Portsmouth Dyd. [M/Shipwright George
White to 3.1793, Edward Tippett to 10.1799, completed by Henry Peake]
As built: 184ft 11in, 152ft 2¾in x 51ft 2½in x 21ft 6in.
2,12332/94 bm. Draught 14ft 7in / 17ft 6in.
Ord: 17.1.1788. K: 7.1788. (named 23.10.1788) L: 13.6.1801.
C (sailed): 9.8.1801.
First cost: £60,484 including fitting.
Commissioned 6.1801; paid off 1806 after wartime service.
Fitted at Portsmouth 9.1806 – 1.1807; recommissioned 12.1806; paid off at
Portsmouth 12.1811. Large Repair at Portsmouth (for £72,511) 8.1812 – 3.1814,
then to Ordinary. Fitted at Portsmouth as a lazarette 9.1825, to lie at
Pembroke. Fitted at Sheerness as a hospital ship 3 – 5.1831, then at Woolwich
to 6.1831. To Greenwich as the seamen’s hospital from 6.1831. BU at Woolwich
24.2 – 31.3.1857.
Neptune Deptford Dyd. [M/Shipwright Martin Ware until
6.1795, completed by Thomas Pollard]
As built: 184ft 9½in, 152ft 2¼in x 51ft 2in x 21ft 5½in.
2,11929/94 bm. Draught 14ft 8in / 18ft 1in.
Ord: 15.2.1790. (named 24.7.1790) K: 4.1791. L: 28.1.1797. C
(sailed): 11.6.1797.
First cost: £77,053 including fitting.
Commissioned 3.1797; paid off 12.1806. Fitted at Portsmouth
(for £29,053) 3 – 11.1807; recommissioned 8.1807 and paid off again 1810.
Fitted for Ordinary at Portsmouth 12.1810. Fitted as a temporary prison ship at
Plymouth 11 – 12.1813, under Lieut. George Lawrence. BU at Plymouth 10.1818.
Temeraire Chatham Dyd. [M/Shipwright Thomas Pollard
to 6.1795, completed by Edward Sison]
As built: 185ft 0in, 152ft 33/8in x 51ft 2in x 21ft 6in.
2,12058/94 bm. Draught 14ft 8in / 18ft 0in.
Ord: 9.12.1790. K: 7.1793. L: 11.9.1798. C: 18.5.1799.
First cost: £73,241 including fitting.
Commissioned 3.1799; paid off 1803 after wartime service.
Fitted at Plymouth (for £16,898) 5.1803 – 2.1804; recommissioned 10.1803; paid
off 1806. Fitted at Portsmouth (for £25,352) 6.1806 – 9.1807; recommissioned
3.1807; paid off 1813. Fitted at Plymouth as a prison ship 11 – 12.1813; in
Ordinary there from 1814. Fitted at Plymouth (for £27,733) as a receiving ship
9.1819 – 6.1820, to lie at Sheerness. Victualling depot 1829. Receiving ship
and depot at Sheerness 8.1836. Sold to J. Beatson (for £5,530) to BU 16.8.1838
(Turner’s famous painting in the National Gallery of the ship being towed to
her last berth – the scrapyard at Rotherhithe – by the tug Monarch dates from
this time).
The sixteen 98-gun ships still on the List at the end of
1792 comprised four in commission for sea service, and eleven in Ordinary, plus
the Sandwich as a commissioned harbour-ship. However, the three-decker Second
Rate was by this date clearly obsolete, and only one further example would be
built after 1801.
Thursday 8th September 1803 H.M.S. Dreadnought off Ushant
The most notorious of the many corrupt 18th-century dockyard
practices was the ‘Devil Bolt’. The main frames of wooden warships were clamped
together by enormous copper bolts some two inches in diameter and two or three
feet in length. Upon the integrity of these bolts depended the safety of the
ship. The ‘Devil Bolt’ had a copper head and tail, a couple of inches long,
with the space between them filled with a wooden plug. Thus, on inspection, the
bolt appeared to have been fitted; in practice, dishonest dockyard officials
had pocketed the considerable price of the copper which had been saved. Several
warships were known to have foundered, and thousands of seamen drowned, as a
result of this unscrupulous deception; and this was only one of hundreds of
similarly-fraudulent practices which were reducing the sea-worthiness of
British ships and endangering the lives of their crews.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Lord St. Vincent, with
his passionate concern for the welfare of British seamen, should, as First Lord
of the Admiralty, target corruption in the dockyards as energetically as he had
targeted sedition in the Mediterranean and Channel Fleets. It was a worthy and
necessary crusade but was undertaken, perhaps, at an unwise point in time.
During the brief lull in hostilities, Bonaparte had made
full use of the freedom of the Channel which France temporarily enjoyed. While
in Britain shipbuilding had ground to a halt due to industrial action and
political wrangling over Lord St. Vincent’s reforms, the French navy had been
refurbished, augmented and trained. Flushed with his military success on the
continent, Bonaparte was now determined to conquer the only power which stood
in the way of his domination of Europe and, ultimately, the world. A vast
invasion fleet of over 2,000 landing craft and support vessels had been
assembled in the Channel ports and the civil population of England was in
perpetual alarm. Charles Purvis wrote to his cousin:
We have nothing but the threats of Bonaparte; thank God
this Country was never so unanimous and there are certainly very many people,
who calculating even for the Horrible Carnage that must ensue, that wish he
would attempt to put his threats in execution and ease their minds from the
irritation they now suffer.
and from Daniel Garrett:
We are told by the Ministers etc. that we are to expect
Bonaparte in ten or twelve days — let him come from the shores of France — I
hope and trust he will never put his foot in England nor in France again.
Captain Purvis took command of the Dreadnought off Ushant on
Thursday 8th September 1803. Having read his Commission to the crew, he opened
the orders which awaited him from Admiral Cornwallis in the Ville de Paris. He
was to deliver some letters and papers to Rear-Admiral Collingwood, whose
Inshore Squadron was off Brest, and then return to Cornwallis, off Ushant, for
further orders. In the meantime, he had a problem with his First Lieutenant and
wrote to the Commander-in-Chief:
Lieutenant James Oades Lys belonging to His Majesty’s
Ship under my command having represented to me by letter of yesterday’s date
that he was surveyed at the hospital at Plymouth before the Governor Physicians
etc. about 3 weeks ago for deafness and mental derangement, that they
pronounced him incurable and therefore could not admit him into the hospital, I
beg leave to enclose his letter and to state to you, I understand from Captain
Brace he has not done any duty these last four months and very little before
and, as he is senior Lieutenant and subject to occasional madness, I request
you will be pleased to direct his being removed from the ship.
Admiral Cornwallis, who was determined to enforce the
blockade in ‘St. Vincent’ rather than ‘Bridport’ style, ordered Captain Purvis
to stop and search any neutral vessel he encountered and, assuming he had no
cause to detain it, to enter in the ship’s papers that “she had been so
examined by you and apprized of the blockade”. Dreadnought sighted the Inshore
Squadron off Brest on the 15th and, there being much to attend to on board his
new command, Purvis sent one of his Lieutenants over to the Flagship with the
orders instead of going himself and renewing his longstanding friendship with
Admiral Collingwood. As Captains, they had served together in the Mediterranean
in the nineties — Collingwood commanding the Excellent and Purvis the Princess
Royal and, later, the London. It was unusual to send a ship of-the-line with
despatches, a task usually undertaken by brigs or packets, as Admiral
Collingwood noted in his reply:
Though I should have had great pleasure in seeing you, I
am very glad you did not give yourself the trouble to come on a business which
your Lieut has performed admirably. We begin to look out for you as we used to
do for “Little Nimrod” that had many a trip with orders. I think when Bonaparte
is informed that our packet boats carry ninety guns he will not look to the sea
for his glory. I have sent you a couple of the Black Rock Trout, taken
yesterday — fishery we have there; they are part of some my friend De Courcy
sent me.
Having returned to Lord Cornwallis, the Dreadnought was
again sent to Admiral Collingwood with orders and from there to gather
intelligence from the ports of L’Orient and Rochefort:
Having delivered the packet you will herewith receive to
Rear-Admiral Collingwood, inshore off of Brest, you are immediately to proceed
along the French coast, looking in to L’Orient and by observation, as well as
intelligence, you may be able to obtain, learn what force is in that port and
particularly whether the French line-of-battle ship said to have been refitting
is there. You are then to go on and gain what information you can of the force
at Rochefort and upon finding the three-deck ship fitting at that port still
there, you are to continue upon that station for the purpose of watching her
and to intercept her should she attempt to put to sea. You are also to do your
utmost to prevent any part of the enemy’s cruizers from getting out or into
that port, or any of their prizes being carried there. Should the French
three-deck ship above mentioned have sailed from Rochefort before you get
there, you are in that case to join me without loss of time off Ushant or
wherever else you may learn I am with the squadron, with such information as
you may have been enabled to obtain which, during your absence from the
squadron, you are to communicate to me by every opportunity. P.S. You will be
careful to protect and assist the trade of HM’s subjects.
Captain Purvis looked into L’Orient then sailed down the
Biscay coast to Rochefort from where he was able to report to the Admiral on
28th September:
In L’Orient, a line-of-battle ship, full-rigged and top
gallant yards across but no sails bent except the fore and mizzen topsails.
There were also in that port a frigate and an armed brig the two latter in a
state of refitting. They had all French colours up. In the port of Rochefort
near the Isle d’Aix is a three-deck ship and a large frigate both apparently
ready for sea. I was informed yesterday by an American ship that there was
another 3-deck ship expected from Rochefort to the same anchorage to take in
her guns, but she is not within the reach of our view.
The Dreadnought was then ordered to continue cruising on the
same station until 15th October when Captain Purvis should rejoin Admiral
Cornwallis off Ushant “or wherever else you may learn I am at the time”. When
he rejoined the Squadron a letter from Daniel Garrett awaited him: there was
speculation in the newspapers that a naval promotion was imminent. Promotion
from Captain to Rear-Admiral was, in those days, purely by seniority and as
John Purvis was by now a senior Captain, near the top of the list, his
advancement could be expected at the next general promotion. Daniel Garrett
expected his son-in-law to be an Admiral in a few days but was less sanguine
about the prospects of his son, John, being made a Lieutenant, though he had
long-since passed his Lieutenant’s exam and, thanks to his father and his uncle
George, acquired the necessary qualifying seatime:
You must push him on with Lord St Vincent as, without his
Lordship’s orders, Captain Oughton says he will not perhaps be made a
Lieutenant.
The Dreadnought patrolled the Biscay coast from Ushant to
Ferrol through the storms of October and November 1803 with the prospect of
more severe weather as the winter approached. A victim of penny-pinching
government constraints, several of the ship’s sails and much of her running
rigging was worn out and unfit for Channel service. Captain Purvis wrote to the
Navy Board requesting an increase in the number of staysails he was allowed
when his ship next got into port:
His Majesty’s Ship under my command having been in
situations on a lee shore where the greatest dependance must necessarily be
placed on such sails as are best calculated to stand the most violent gales,
and as the nature of the present war requires ships of her class to be
frequently placed in deep bays such as we are now in, and as the winter season
is now coming on, I take the liberty of requesting you will be pleased so far
to depart from what may be considered as an old establishment, as to give
directions that the ship may be allowed when we next arrive at Plymouth two
main staysails and three fore staysails . . . I am induced more particularly to
make this application because it often happens that sails of such description
are nearly worn out when the ship leaves port, tho’ perhaps not quite so bad as
to be condemned which most likely will be the case when we go into port where
our stay will not admit of an answer to any letter I may then write on the
subject.
In addition to worn out sails, the ship was:
. . . so extremely crank as sometimes in blowing weather
to prevent my carrying sufficient sail to keep properly up with the
Commander-in-Chief as well as the unfair pressure with which the masts are at
those times charged.
Forty-five tons of additional iron ballast was requested
when the ship returned to Plymouth which appears to have cured that particular
problem.
Young Richard’s preparations for India were meanwhile going
ahead under the supervision of Daniel Garrett with some assistance from George
Purvis. George was now gazetted as a Captain in the Fareham Militia which was
training intensively, to be ready for Bonaparte’s arrival. Captain Purvis,
constantly at sea, could do nothing to assist his son during this important
period of his life. He wrote to him from the Dreadnought off Ushant on 2nd
November:
You may be assured, my dear boy, it is one of the first
wishes of my heart that, whatever line of life you make choice of, that success
and every possible good should follow. I wish I could be with you at this
particular time for many reasons; but that cannot be. Our good friends the
Garretts will, I am sure, stand in my stead and give you every assistance and
advice you may stand in need of.
On 24th November the Dreadnought was ordered to exchange her
foreyard with that of the Prince of Wales which had sprung. In towing the
massive foreyard alongside, the tow broke and the yard drifted away to
windward. Captain Purvis sent boats in pursuit but it was a very dark, stormy
night and he soon had to recall the boats and abandon hope of recovering the
yard. The following day he explained to the Admiral his presence in Cawsand
Bay:
I continued sailing during the night keeping sight of the
Admiral’s lights until the main topsail, main staysail and mizzen staysail blew
away in the violent squalls we experienced. I made the Lizard lights at 10
o’clock this morning when, considering the crippled state of the ship, I
thought it best for His Majesty’s service to bear up for this place which I
hope will meet your approbation and I beg to assure you I will lose no time in
completing the ship with water, provisions, etc. and joining you.
In addition to the appalling weather, Captain Purvis was
singularly unfortunate with his officers in the Dreadnought: when he first took
command in September he had had to dispose of a deaf First Lieutenant who was
prone to periodic fits of insanity; the following month he had had to request
the court martial of Lieutenant Thomas Sandsbury for “having been repeatedly in
a state of intoxication when having charge of the watch,” and on 7th December
his Master, John Gridley, “discontinued every part of his duty (even to the
keeping of the ship’s reckoning)”. This, with the very precise navigation and
pilotage required in the treacherous waters off Ushant, was an even more
serious impediment than a mad, or a drunk, Lieutenant. Captain Purvis requested
a replacement Master but by 30th December none had been received and Gridley
still declined to undertake any duty. The situation was exacerbated when on 4th
January 1804, with the Dreadnought about to sail on another patrol, Purvis was
ordered to discharge his French pilot into the Terrible whose need of him,
apparently, was greater.
Through January, February and March, Captain Purvis
patrolled off Ushant beset by some of the most violent Channel storms in
memory, his potential fighting strength weakened by the removal of forty of his
marines and his ship’s company 109 below strength. Time and again the Squadron
was blown off station and individual ships had to run for cover or limp into
the nearest anchorage to repair storm damage.
On 29th January Dreadnought anchored for five days in Torbay
where a letter from Daniel Garrett was waiting:
I have been daily in expectation of seeing in the News
Papers of your arrival at Plymouth or in Torbay — thinking that it was
impossible for you and the other Ships to keep the Sea in the midst of such
storms and hurricanes — and I hope soon to hear that you are well and have
escaped all the dangers which must have surrounded you. We on Xmas Day drank
your health — and so we shall again by and by.
The main purpose of Mr. Garrett’s letter was to advise his
son-inlaw that Richard had been appointed to the Bengal Native Infantry subject
to an interview in London the following week. This he duly attended and passed,
after some confusion regarding his birth certificate which Uncle George was
called upon to regularise.
Captain Purvis was at sea off Ushant from 4th February until
30th March 1804 and was therefore unable to see Richard off when he sailed for
India in the East Indiaman Sir William Bensley on 10th February. He had not
seen his son for the past eighteen months and would not see him again for
almost fifteen years. While the Dreadnought lay at anchor in Torbay awaiting a
favourable wind, he wrote his last letter to Richard before the boy left
England. It impressed upon him the need to live within his income and contained
some ‘Good Advice’, which would be repeated with unfailing regularity during
the course of their fifteen-year correspondence. The letter so perfectly illustrates
the importance which John Purvis placed upon honourable, god-fearing behaviour
and strict attendance to duty that it is reproduced here in full:
My dear Richard, — I received your letter of the 16th on my arrival at this place yesterday, and as the Wind will not admit of your Sailing, I think it probable this will catch you before you go. Mr. Garrett has indeed, my dear Richard, taken uncommon pains and trouble on your account, and as I am well acquainted with his disposition and goodness of heart, I can venture to assure you, that you cannot gratify him in anything so much as scrupulously attending to the good advice he has and will continue to give you as long as you remain within his reach. I have occasionally given you advice since your having decided on the plan of going to India, but as my Mind has been so much employ’d on the business of the Ship and the continual interruptions in consequence of the uncommon bad Weather we have had; I have not been so collected as I would wish to inforce on your mind the very great consequence it is to you to preserve through life a fair and unspoted Character, too much cannot possibly be said on so interesting a subject, and as Mr. Garrett will probably commit some of his thoughts to paper for your future guidance; I intreat you to pay every possible attention to them, preserve them, and read them over frequently and always keep in your mind the pleasure and satisfaction I shall derive from hearing as good accounts of you as I have of your Brother; I have been very much gratified from reports frequently brought me of his good conduct, Gentlemanlike behaviour and great attention to his duty, he has met with many friends in a distant country, who are always showing him civilities, tho’ totally unknown to me; Remember Richard the strong admonitions I have so frequently and forcibly given you in common with the other youngsters on board the London and Royal George, I think they can never be forgot unless the Heart should become so corrupted as not to retain a virtuous sentiment; this my dear Richard I trust will never be your case; God forbid it should; I only wish you clearly to understand how much I am interested in your doing well and always acting uprightly honourably Religiously and honest; never suffer yourself to be led out of the proper path, by any specious deceitful Characters, which you may chance to fall in with; civility is due to all, but do not hastily form friendships with those you scarcely [are] acquainted with, you will have the advantage of being recommended to some of the Principal Gentlemen in the Settlements, to them you should look for advice, and their reports of you will give me I hope all the satisfaction I can wish. I come now, my dear Richard, to another matter which I desire you pay the greatest attention to, this is your expenses; the fitting you out is more than I can well afford and therefore the most exact economy on your part is absolutely necessary, the Sum to be paid will reduce my income considerably and I had nothing to spare before; you must make your pay support you in India as others do; your two Uncles as well as myself had no assistance from our Father, and yet pass’d on without ever disgracing our family in any respect whatever; If I could assist you in the early part of your service I would, but this heavy expense of the outfitting will prevent me. Be assured my dear Richard of my best love, and that it may please God to forward your happiness and take you under his protection is the sincere wish of your affectionate Father, Jhn. Chd. Purvis.
Daniel Garrett wrote to Captain Purvis in February to
confirm that Richard had sailed and to bemoan the fact that the promotion had
still not been announced. As a staunch Tory, he had little sympathy with Lord
St. Vincent’s political principles and compatriots:
I was in great hopes that ere this I should have
congratulated you on being an Admiral — what can the great man mean in
postponing such a necessary and proper boon to gentlemen who have so dearly
earned and deserved such promotion. He is not backward in promoting his own
creatures and turning out others . . . I suppose you will not stay long in
Torbay — the first fair wind will take you back to Brest. You have a great deal
of fagging and no Prize Money — nothing but wear and tear!
And back to Brest he went for another month of fagging until
the end of April when the welcome and long-awaited communication from Mr.
William Marsden at the Admiralty Office was received:
Sir — His Majesty having been pleased to order a
promotion of Flag Officers of his Fleet and my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty having in pursuance thereof signed a commission appointing you
Rear-Admiral of the Blue Squadron, I have the honour to acquaint you herewith.
But the rank in itself was not enough. As John Purvis had
pointed out to his son, he had received little in the way of prize-money during
his career and had difficulty enough making ends meet on a Captain’s pay. Now,
the last thing he wanted was to be put ashore as a half-pay Rear-Admiral; he
needed a job. On 3rd May, off Ushant, he acknowledged Mr. Marsden’s letter:
Sir — I have received your letter of the 23rd Ult. giving
me an account of my being promoted to the rank of a Rear Admiral of the Blue
and I request you will be pleased to make known . . . my earnest desire of
being employed.
The Dreadnought returned to Plymouth on 12th May 1804 and
Rear-Admiral Purvis went ashore where, in spite of his plea to the Admiralty,
he was to remain unemployed for two years. Although Britain was locked in a
bitter struggle with France, the recent promotions had created a glut of
Flag-Officers with not enough jobs to go round.
On 2nd August Admiral Purvis was married for the third time.
His bride was Elizabeth Dickson, only daughter and heiress of Admiral Sir Archibald
Dickson, Bart, an old brother officer who had recently died. As Captains,
Dickson and Purvis had commanded the Egmont and the Princess Royal in Lord
Hood’s Mediterranean Fleet at Toulon in 1793. At thirty-six Elizabeth Dickson
was twenty-one years younger than her groom and had previously been married to
her cousin, Captain William Dickson of the 22nd Regiment of Foot, who had died
at San Domingo [Haiti] in 1795.
Elizabeth was a well-educated and cultured woman with a
sociable nature and considerable poise and self-confidence; as such, she was
well-qualified to undertake the social duties of a Flag Officer’s wife and,
moreover, had received £15,000 in 3% Bank Annuities under the terms of her
father’s Will. On the death or remarriage of her stepmother, she would inherit
the balance of her late father’s estate including a mansion house at Hardingham
in Norfolk. Now, even if John Purvis never got the chance to hoist his Flag,
with a Rear-Admiral’s half-pay and his wife’s income, the couple could live in
reasonable comfort for the rest of their lives.
In September they travelled to Suffolk to visit Mrs. Lucy
Purvis, the widow of John’s elder brother Richard. Lucy was a daughter of the
Revd. John Leman, Rector of nearby Wenhaston, the family having been prominent
in the Suffolk clergy for many generations. Lucy was in mourning for her eldest
son, ‘Oadham’ who, having obtained his promotion to Lieutenant, had died in the
West Indies in January. She told John, who had done so much to help him, that
he had left his ship which was returning to England, and remained in the West
Indies in the hope of improving his prospects of promotion. At least, Admiral
Purvis later wrote to Richard: “He left a good character which was some
consolation to those who regarded him.” Lucy’s second son, John Leman, was now
a Lieutenant in the Bengal Native Infantry and her third son, George Thomas,
was preparing to follow him to India.
The following month Sir John Orde obtained satisfaction for
the slight he had received from Nelson’s preferment six years earlier. William
Pitt, who had returned to office in May, decided that Britain might just as
well be at war with Spain as to suffer the effects of her continued abettment
of Bonaparte’s regime. Sir John Orde, commanding the Squadron off Cadiz, was
therefore ordered to intercept the annual Spanish Treasure Fleet loaded with
gold, silver, copper and tin. Its capture on 3rd October brought massive
prize-money to all involved and Orde became considerably richer, for a great
deal less effort, than he would have done in command at the Nile. Nelson was
furious: “Now he is to wallow in wealth while I am left a beggar,” he wrote.
George Purvis must be forgiven a wry chuckle when the news reached England.
Spain, consequently and understandably, declared war on
Britain in December and a Franco-Spanish Treaty followed in January 1805 by
which time Napoleon Bonaparte had been crowned as Emperor of France. Thus far,
he had had no way to launch his invasion of Britain due to the Royal Navy’s
command of the Channel but now, with the Spanish Fleet added to his own, he
might be able to undertake it. Its success would depend on being able to lure
the British Fleet out of the Channel for long enough for the Franco-Spanish
Fleets to create and control a corridor through which the invasion armada could
cross unmolested. A feint at British interests in the West Indies was
considered an appropriate bait which was duly taken by Nelson who then chased a
French force across the Atlantic only to find that they had turned about and
returned to Europe.
Throughout the first nine months of 1805 an involved cat-and-mouse
game was played between two very able strategists — the Emperor Napoleon and
Lord Barham who had succeeded Lord St. Vincent as First Lord on the return of
Pitt’s government. The game reached its climax on 21st October with Nelson’s
historic victory over a superior Franco-Spanish Fleet at the Battle of
Trafalgar during which Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed by a sniper’s bullet
in the hour of his, and the Nation’s, greatest triumph; but Napoleon had
abandoned his plans for invading Britain well before this. By the end of August
he had accepted the fact that he could never induce the Royal Navy to drop its
guard for long enough to enable his forces to cross the Channel; the invasion
camps on the French coast had been broken up and the troops dispersed early in
September.
Ashore and unemployed in Wickham, Admiral Purvis had missed
out on yet another major fleet action. Had he not received his promotion he
would probably have been at Trafalgar — his last command, the Dreadnought, had
been there as part of Admiral Collingwood’s Lee Column and had taken a
prominent part in the battle suffering seven killed, twenty-six wounded and
considerable damage to her spars and rigging. His friend, Cuthbert Collingwood,
had enjoyed better fortune; he had commanded a ship of-the-line at ‘The
Glorious First of June’ and at the Battle of St. Vincent and, now, as Nelson’s
second-in-command, at Trafalgar after which he had been ennobled and appointed
Nelson’s successor as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean.
Earlier in the year Admiral Purvis had learned of the death
of his nephew ‘Leman’ on service with the Bengal Native Infantry in Rangoon.
This was the second son that his sister-in-law, Lucy, had lost in the space of
a year. The third son, George, had left for India in April and had taken with
him a letter for Richard from his father. The Admiral had not heard from his
younger son since his departure for India — an omission which did not please
him, particularly as, shortly after his arrival in Bengal, Richard had drawn
£100 on his father’s account without any note of explanation:
I have written you many letters since you sailed . . . but
the last I received from you was from Cawsand Bay and for no purpose whatever
but that of recommending a Bumboat Woman. I think a little reflection will show
you this neglect on your part must be very displeasing to me.
However, his disappointment with Richard was countered by
his pride in John who was in the Driver, sloop, in the West Indies and had been
promoted to Lieutenant in May aged just eighteen. In November he was deeply
saddened by the death of his former father-in-law, and stalwart friend, Daniel
Garrett, who had provided such unflagging support during Richard’s preparations
for India; but from Richard, himself, he had still heard nothing and by 28th
April his patience was wearing thin:
It is now more than two years since I received a letter
from you . . . you wrote to Mr. Garrett and Mr. Maidman from Madrass telling
them you intended to address me on your arrival at Calcutta, when you did get
there, you drew two Bills on me without even a letter of advice and in a few
months afterwards you drew another Bill with as little ceremony; how you can reconcile
all this to your own feelings, I cannot form any judgement, since it is so
different from my conduct when I was as far removed from my Father, and also
from that of your Brother towards me;
Better news was not long in coming; Lord Collingwood, in his
new appointment as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, was exhausted and
inadequately supported. He had written to the Admiralty requesting that
Rear-Admiral Purvis should be sent out as his second-in-command. Early in June
a letter from the Ocean, off Cadiz, arrived at Wickham:
My dear Purvis, — I was so glad to hear from you and
thank you most sincerely for your kind congratulations and good wishes for me.
I am here almost worn to a shadow sometimes with fatigue and otherwise with
anxiety. I have no soul with me as flag officer and Admiral Knight at Gibraltar
is rather worse than having nobody there. Some time since I mentioned my desire
to have another flag officer sent to me to Mr. Grey — and proposed you as one
who I should prefer — and if he accedes to it I shall be very happy in having
so excellent a second. I beg my kind regards to Mrs. Purvis and to your brother
and am, my dear Sir, your faithful servant, Collingwood.
to be followed a few days later by the long-awaited order
from the Admiralty:
By the Commissioners for executing the office of the Lord
High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, etc. You are
hereby required and directed to repair without loss of time to Portsmouth and
hoisting your Flag on board His Majesty’s Ship Chiffone at Spithead remain
there until you receive further orders.
The most important chapter in the life of John Child Purvis
was about to begin.
