Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice Admiral R.N. by Lady Biddulph of Ledbury

L >> Lady Biddulph of Ledbury >> Charles Philip Yorke, Fourth Earl of Hardwicke, Vice Admiral R.N.

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For half a century at least, the depredations of these barbarians had
made the Mediterranean a sea of great peril for the merchant vessels of
all nations, and even for the fighting ships of the smaller
Mediterranean powers like Naples and Sardinia, whose weakly manned
vessels were often no match for the galleys and feluccas of the Barbary
corsairs. The ruffianly Deys made little attempt to conceal the
piratical nature of their proceedings, and became a perfect scourge not
only to the mariners of all nations in the Mediterranean, but also to
the unfortunate inhabitants of its shores. They ravaged the islands and
coastline of the mainland wherever there was plunder to be gained or an
unprotected town to be raided, impudently hoisted the flags of one or
other of the great naval powers then at war, and preyed upon the
commerce of the rest, plundered and burned their shipping, and, worst of
all, consigned the crews of the vessels they captured or destroyed to
all the horrors of slavery in a Mohammedan country.

Among these Barbary Powers the Deys of Algiers had long been the most
powerful and the most truculent. During a lull in the fighting between
France and England in the middle years of the eighteenth century,
Admiral Keppel, [Footnote: Admiral Keppel, second son of the second Earl
of Albemarle, created Viscount Keppel for his gallant services; died
unmarried in 1786. He was the eponymous hero of so many public houses.]
then a very youthful-looking captain, had been sent with a squadron to
curb the insolence of the Dey of that period, which he effected without
the firing of a shot. Keppel demanded an interview with the Dey, and
went ashore to the palace without a guard, and stated his business in
very plain terms. The Dey wondered at the presumption of King George in
sending a beardless boy as his ambassador. 'The King my master,' replied
Keppel, with a glance at the Dey's hairy countenance, 'does not measure
wisdom by the length of the beard, or he would have sent a he-goat to
confer with your Highness.' The Dey raged at this bold repartee, and
began to speak of bowstrings and the ministers of death. 'Kill me, if
you will,' replied Keppel, pointing through the open window to his
squadron riding in the roadstead, 'and there are ships enough to burn
your city and provide me with a glorious funeral pile.' Keppel's
firmness had the result of checking the Algerian piracies for a time,
but during the long wars between the Powers which were shortly resumed,
these were overlooked in the press of matters of more urgency, and it
was only with the return of a permanent and general peace, as already
noted, that the Powers had leisure to turn their attention to a state of
things in the Mediterranean which had long been intolerable.

In view of her established supremacy at sea, England was generally
regarded as the police-constable of Europe in naval affairs, and upon
her fell the chief duty of chastening the Dey of Algiers, though on this
occasion the Dutch Government also lent its assistance. Quite early in
the spring of 1816, Lord Exmouth placed himself in communication with
the Dey, and stated the terms of the British demands. These were that
the Ionian Islands, long a hunting-ground for the Barbary pirates,
should be henceforth treated as British territory; that the British
Government should be accepted as arbitrator between the Barbary Powers
and Naples and Sardinia, who had a long list of claims and grievances
against them; and that the Barbary Powers should enter into a definite
undertaking to abolish all slavery of Christians within their dominions,
and to treat all prisoners of war, of whatever nation, in accordance
with the customs of civilised nations. The Dey agreed to the first two
demands and released the Ionian slaves as British subjects, but declined
all promises as to the abolition of slavery. Leaving that matter in
abeyance, Exmouth sailed on to Tripoli and Tunis, whose Deys he found
more amenable to reason, and who consented to make declarations in the
form demanded by the British Admiral upon all three points.

Exmouth then returned to Gibraltar, where his squadron was assembled,
and at once resumed negotiations with the Dey with the intention of
procuring his adhesion to the all-important undertaking to abolish
Christian slavery. The Dey, after many evasions, at length repeated his
refusal on the ground that he was a subject or vassal of the Sultan, and
could not consent to so important a stipulation without his authority.
Exmouth granted a delay of three months accordingly, and himself lent a
frigate, the _Tagus_, to convey the Dey's envoy to Constantinople.

Meanwhile, however, the Dey committed an unpardonable atrocity. A coral
fishery at Bona worked under the British flag was suddenly and
treacherously destroyed by an attack of the Algerines. The fishermen
engaged at their work were, without warning of any kind, almost
annihilated by artillery fire from the fort and by the musketry of 2000
Algerian infantry, their houses and goods were given over to the looting
of the soldiery, the company's stores and magazines were rifled, and
their boats either seized or sunk. This atrocity, of course, put an end
to all negotiation, and the Admiral, who had sailed for England, was at
once directed by the British Government to complete the work which he
had initiated, and to exact the most ample satisfaction and security for
the future. He was offered any force that might be necessary, and
surprised the naval authorities by his opinion, which was the result of
observation upon the spot, that five line-of-battle ships, with
frigates, bomb vessels and gun brigs, would be sufficient for a
successful attack on the formidable defences of Algiers. In less than
two months Lord Exmouth commissioned, fitted, manned and trained his
fleet, and on August 14, 1816, the expedition, including his own
flagship the _Queen Charlotte_ of 120 guns, the _Impregnable_
of 98, three vessels of 70 guns, the _Leander_ of 50, four smaller
frigates and several armed vessels of lesser tonnage, sailed from
Gibraltar. One of these, a gunboat, towed by the _Queen Charlotte_
from that port, was placed under the command of Charles Yorke, who had
just completed his seventeenth year. The English admiral's force was
joined at Gibraltar by a Dutch squadron of five frigates and a sloop
under Admiral Baron von de Capellan.

On the very eve of the sailing of this powerful force, young Yorke wrote
home a letter to his father which shows the spirit of the young sailor
and the enthusiasm which animated the fleet.

* * * * *

'MY DEAR FATHER,

'We are hove to for a Packet, and she is coming up fast, so my stave
will be short, with a strong breeze, which is to say I am quite well. We
have a great deal to do, shall be at Gibraltar to-morrow if the wind
holds. We clear for action there, and leave all our chests, bulkheads,
and everything we have except guns, powder, shot, &c. &c. of which we
have not a little.

'I have the honour to command one of H.M.S. _Queen Charlotte's_
boats on service, and if there is any work, expect to cut no small
caper. I have seen the plan of attack; all our fire is to be on the mole
head. Us, the _Leander_, _Superb_ and _Impregnable_ are
to be lashed together and as near the walls as possible. _Minden_
engages a battery called the Emperor's Fort, and _Albion_ stands
off and on to relieve any damaged ship. As soon as the Mole is cleared,
we are to land; glorious enterprise for the boats.

'Give my love to dearest Uranie and Lady C. [Footnote: Dowager-
Marchioness of Clanricarde, his stepmother.] &c. &c.

'Your affecte.

'C. YORKE.'

* * * * *

The British fleet with its allied Dutch squadron arrived off Algiers on
August 21. Lord Exmouth had sent in advance a corvette with orders to
endeavour to rescue the British Consul, a humane effort which, however,
succeeded only in rescuing that gentleman's wife and child, and
resulted, on the other hand, in the capture of the boat's crew of
eighteen men. The captain of the corvette reported that the Dey refused
altogether to give up that official, or to be responsible for his
safety, and also that there were 40,000 troops in the town, in addition
to the Janissaries who had been summoned from distant garrisons. The
Algerine fleet, he said, consisted of between forty and fifty gun and
mortar vessels, as well as a numerous flotilla of galleys. Works had
been thrown up on the mole which protected the harbour, and the forts
were known to be armed with a numerous artillery and to be of excellent
masonry with walls fourteen to sixteen feet thick. The Dey, thinking
himself fairly secure behind such defences, was prepared with a
determined resistance.

On August 27, Lord Exmouth sent a flag of truce restating his demands
and giving a period of three hours for a reply. Upon the expiration of
that term and on the return of the flag of truce without an answer, he
anchored his flagship just half a cable's length from the mole head at
the entrance of the harbour, so that her starboard broadside flanked all
the batteries from the mole-head to the lighthouse. The mole itself was
covered with troops and spectators, whom Lord Exmouth vainly tried to
disperse before the firing began by waving his hat and shouting from his
own quarter-deck as the flagship came to an anchor at half-past two in
the afternoon.

'As soon as the ship was fairly placed,' writes Lord Exmouth's
biographer, 'the sound of the cheer given by the crew was answered by a
gun from the Eastern Battery; a second and a third opened in quick
succession. One of the shots struck the _Superb_. At the first
flash Lord Exmouth gave the order "Stand by," at the second "Fire." The
report of the third gun was drowned by the thunder of the _Queen
Charlotte's_ broadside.'

Thus opened an engagement which is memorable among the attacks of fleets
upon land fortifications, and which fully justified Lord Exmouth's
opinion that 'nothing can resist a line-of-battle ship's fire.' The
Algerine tactics were to allow the British squadron to come to an anchor
without molestation, and to board the vessels from their galleys while
the British crews were aloft furling sails, for which purpose they had
thirty-seven galleys fully manned waiting inside the mole. To the
surprise of the enemy, however, the British admiral had given orders for
the sails to be clewed from the deck, instead of sending men aloft for
the purpose, and the British ships were thus able to open fire the
moment they came to an anchor. The result of this smart seamanship was
an instant disaster for the Algerines; their galleys were all sunk
before they could make the few strokes of the oar which would have
brought them alongside, and tremendous broadsides of grapeshot from the
_Queen Charlotte_ and the _Leander_ shattered the entire
flotilla, and in a moment covered the surface of the harbour with the
bodies of their crews and with a few survivors attempting to swim from
destruction.

On the molehead the effect of the British fire was terrible; the people
with whom it was crowded were swept away by the fire of the _Queen
Charlotte_, which had ruined the fortifications there before the
engagement became general, and then crumbled and brought down the
Lighthouse Tower and its batteries. The _Leander's_ guns, which
commanded the principal gate of the city opening on the mole, prevented
the escape of any survivors.

The batteries defending the mole were three times cleared by the British
fire, and three times manned again.

'The Dey,' wrote a British officer on the _Leander_, 'was
everywhere offering pecuniary rewards for those who would stand against
us; eight sequins were to be given to every man who would endeavour to
extinguish the fire. At length a horde of Arabs were driven into the
batteries under the direction of the most devoted of the Janissaries and
the gates closed upon them.'

Soon after the battle began, the enemy's flotilla of gunboats advanced,
with a daring which deserved a better fate, to board the _Queen
Charlotte_, and a few guns from the latter vessel sent thirty-three
out of thirty-seven to the bottom. Then followed the destruction of the
Algerine frigates and other shipping in the port, which were set on fire
by bombs and shells and burned together with the storehouses and the
arsenal.

The Algerines, none the less, made a most determined resistance, and
maintained a fire upon the squadron for no less than eleven hours. Young
Charles Yorke was in command of a tender of the flagship which was
moored near to his parent ship, and was consequently in the midst of the
hottest fire, within sixty yards of the mouths of the enemy's guns,
throughout the engagement. Long before that period had elapsed, however,
he found himself running short of ammunition, and taking one marine in
his dinghy, pulled in her to the _Queen Charlotte_, climbed her
side and made his way to the quarter-deck, where, saluting Lord Exmouth,
he said, 'Sir, I am short of ammunition.' 'Well, my lad,' replied the
admiral, 'I cannot help you, but if you choose to go below, and fetch
what you want yourself, you are very welcome.' Charles Yorke, wishing
for nothing better, again saluted and withdrew. He then descended into
the flagship's magazine, and single-handed brought up 1368 lbs. of
ammunition, which he lowered over her side to his single marine in the
dinghy, and in her returned to his gunboat to resume his firing until
the close of the action, when, by the aid of a land breeze, which turned
about half-past eleven into a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning,
the fleet was able to draw out from the batteries. Nothing had been able
to resist the concentrated and well-directed fire, and the sea defences
of Algiers, with a great part of the town itself, had by this time been
shattered and reduced to ruin.

This success was only purchased at heavy cost, for the British
casualties, considering the size of the squadron, were enormous, the
_Impregnable_ being the chief sufferer. One hundred and twenty-
eight men were killed and 690 wounded, while the Dutch lost thirteen and
fifty-two respectively. The _Leander_ had every spar injured and
her rigging cut to pieces, and when her cables were at last shot away,
was unable to set a single sail, and so was drifting helplessly ashore,
when a fortunate change of wind allowed her boats to bring her to a
second anchorage. On the flagship the enemy's fire was so hot that Lord
Exmouth himself escaped most narrowly, being slightly wounded in three
places, and the skirts of his coat were shot away by a cannon-ball.

When the morning broke, the admiral found that he had brought the Dey to
reason. Having first beheaded his prime minister, that potentate
released the British Consul and the boat's crew he had detained before
the action, handed over the ransom money he had extorted from captured
subjects of Naples and Sardinia in exchange for their freedom, amounting
to no less than 382,000 dollars, and undertook, 'in the presence of
Almighty God,' to release all Christian slaves in his dominions, to
abandon the enslavement of Christians for the future, and to treat all
prisoners of war with humanity until regularly exchanged, according to
European practice in like cases. About 1200 slaves, the bulk of them
Neapolitans and Sicilians, were embarked on the 31st, making, with those
liberated a few weeks before, more than 3000 persons whom Lord Exmouth
thus had the satisfaction of delivering from slavery. He sailed away
from the city without leaving a single Christian slave, so far as could
be gathered, in either of the Barbary States.

Charles Yorke's conduct at this engagement was fully recognised by
Captain Brisbane, who, when the young midshipman came to leave the
_Queen Charlotte_ a few months later, wrote his certificate in the
following terms:

* * * * *

'These are to certify the principal officers and commissioners of His
Majesty's navy that Mr. Charles Philip Yorke served as midshipman on
board H.M.S. _Queen Charlotte_ from the 11th day of July to the
16th October 1816, during which time he behaved with diligence and
sobriety, and was always obedient to command. His conduct at the battle
of Algiers was active, spirited, and highly meritorious.

'(Signed) JAMES BRISBANE,

'_Captain._'

* * * * *

Charles Yorke's share in this action, together with his later services,
is recorded on a tablet, next to a similar one to Lord Exmouth, in the
English chapel at Algiers, by his daughter, the writer of the present
memoir.

It may be added that he always cherished the memory of the distinguished
admiral under whom he served on this occasion, and that in later years
he purchased from Sir William Beechy's studio a portrait of Lord Exmouth
on his quarter-deck at Algiers, in full dress and orders as the naval
fashion then was, which hung on the great staircase at Wimpole.

Still in his seventeenth year, Charles Yorke had not yet served long
enough for promotion, and was transferred on October 17 of the same
year, 1816, to the _Leander_, commanded by Sir David Milne, who had
been second in command at Algiers, and was then under orders for the
North American station at Halifax, where the _Leander_ shortly
sailed.

CHAPTER III

THE NORTH AMERICAN STATION. 1817-1822

A few letters which my father wrote home from the Halifax station,
covering a period of about twelve months from July 1817, I set out here
as giving better than any comment of my own an account of his life and
experiences in Nova Scotia at that time. They present a self-reliant
character, and the young midshipman who was so early recognised by his
superior officers as efficient and capable was found worthy of a small,
but most important, command soon after joining this station. His father,
Sir Joseph Yorke, who lost no opportunity of watching his son's progress
in his profession, was a little nervous at his undertaking a
responsibility of the kind, but how well his superiors' confidence was
justified will be evident from his letters. Young Yorke was full of
pride in his little sloop the _Jane_, and there is no hint in his
letters of the risk and danger of this service. As a fact, she was an
exceedingly difficult craft to handle, and if not unseaworthy, was, to
say the least, an unpleasant vessel in a sea, with decks constantly
awash, and the character she bore in the service appears in her nickname
the _Crazy Jane_. I have often heard my father describe this as a
most arduous and dangerous service, and say that life upon the
_Jane_ was 'like living on a fish's back.' In her he made voyages
to Bermuda from Halifax and back with despatches and ships' mails in
very heavy weather, and I find the following note referring to this
service in my mother's handwriting:

'C. commanded the _Jane_ at the age of nineteen, carrying mails
from Bermuda to Halifax during winter months when ordinary mail was
struck off, during which perilous service he had not a man on board who
could write or take an observation. This _crazy Jane_ was hardly
seaworthy, and he finished her career and nearly his own by running her
into Halifax Harbour in the dark, all hands at the pump.'

His certificate from Sir David Milne contains the following passage:

'Mr. Charles Philip Yorke, Midshipman of H.M.S. _Leander_,
commanded the _Jane_, Sloop, tender to the said ship bearing my
flag, from the 23rd of December 1817 to the date hereof, during which
time he took her twice in safety from Halifax to Bermuda, and from
Bermuda to Halifax, and was at sea in her at different other periods,
and conducted himself at all times so as to merit my entire
approbation.' Dated 28th December.

* * * * *

H.M.S. 'LEANDER,' HALIFAX:

July 10, 1817.

'MY DEAREST FATHER,

'I almost fear my letters have not reached you, for the May packet has
arrived, and no letters. But silence I always take in a favourable
light, so I conclude you are all well and happy; indeed I had a letter
from Lady St. Germans which informed me so.

'I am, thank God, very well and like my station very much; it is really
a very pleasant place, and the inhabitants attentive and hospitable. I
am now very well acquainted all over Halifax thanks to Captain Lumley's
kindness; pray tell him so, for the family he introduced me to is very
pleasant and kind, so that it is a great comfort to go on shore, and to
be able to spend your evenings among friends instead of being obliged to
go to a dirty tavern.

'I have been on several very delightful fishing parties, and have never
returned with less than three or four dozen fine trout. This will make
the English sportsmen stare, but the fishing here is beyond everything I
could have imagined. The shooting has not come in as yet, and does not
until August, and then it will be very fine.

'The way I go fishing is this. I have got an Indian canoe, and I just
jump into it with my gear, paddle on shore, shoulder it, and carry it to
the lakes. I am become quite an Indian in the management of this canoe,
and with the expense of only one ducking. I was upset in the harbour,
but swam on shore and towed the canoe and all with me quite safe. I can
paddle this canoe much faster than any gig in the fleet.

'We are now just on the point of sailing for Shelburne with Ld. and Lady
Dalhousie, and I fancy shall be absent about ten days. The _Jane_
has not yet arrived, so I am still a mid, not a captain, but expect her
hourly. Last Monday we mids of the _Leander_ gave a grand
entertainment to the inhabitants of Halifax and officers of the fleet; a
play, ball, and supper, which went off remarkably well. _The Iron
Chest_ was the play; the _Wags of Windsor_ the farce. I did not
perform being steward of the supper, but merely spoke the prologue. Our
stage was very large and scenery very good, and on the whole, nothing
could go off with more _eclat_ than it did.

'The girls of Halifax are pretty, generally speaking, and certainly
rather ladylike in their manners, but not very accomplished, but there
is one thing very formidable in their structure, which is tremendous
hoofs, so that a kick from one of them would make you keep your bed for
a week. But they certainly are 50 degrees better than the Bermudians,
they are very affable and agreeable, which is the great point to an
indifferent person.

'Now I have tired your patience with lots of nonsense, which in fact is
all the news I have to tell, so you must excuse it. Give my kindest love
to Lady Clanricarde, Urania, and all the boys, not forgetting little
Agneta, who by this time must be grown and improved much.

'I remain, my dear Father,

'Your most affectionate son,

'C. P. YORKE.'

SIR J. S. YORKE,

_Admiralty._

* * * * *

H.M.S. 'LEANDER,' HALIFAX HARBOUR:

Aug. 8, 1817.

'MY DEAR FATHER,

'I have received your letter by this packet, and am very sorry to find
you disapprove of my commanding the Admiral's tender, and am also
astonished to find that you can imagine I have so little command of
myself that I cannot keep from what you term "low company." This is a
thing which since I have been at sea I have never kept, and especially
at a time when I had charge of a vessel and the safety of men's lives. I
am happy to say I took care of myself and of the vessel, and pleased the
Admiral as much as I could wish. I have not got the large tender, as I
expected, on account of a prior application having been made, which I am
now glad of, as you disapprove of the sort of thing, and it certainly
will deter me from accepting any offer of the kind made to me, though at
the same time I consider myself perfectly capable in every sense of the
word.

'I am very glad to hear Grantham has so well got over the measles.

'We have had a very pleasant trip along shore to Shelburne, Liverpool
and Mirligash(?), all of which ports you knew well in their former
state. Shelburne now is miserably fallen off, not above 200 inhabitants
in that once populous town, and more than half the houses falling to the
ground, having no owners. I asked the price of a good house and about 40
acres of land, and they said the most they could ask for it would be
L30, a cheap place to settle, for provisions also are cheaper than
anywhere I have been. Liverpool is a very flourishing little town, and
on the contrary with Shelburne, a rising place with a vast deal of
commerce and trade which keep the place quite alive. At these two places
I had capital fishing both salmon and trout. I caught one day at
Liverpool three very fine salmon and two or three dozen trout. In this
country they take most with the fly, and it does not matter of what
description. I am now become a very expert fly fisherman, make my own
flies, &c. Pray next season send me out a good assortment of fly gear
which is rather difficult to get here and not good.

'I am going to-morrow to Salmon River, a very fine river about seven
miles inland on the Dartmouth side. I was there last week with two of
our officers, and between the three of us we caught eleven dozen salmon
trout. Fine sport, and all with the fly. Do not forget to send me a
flute as soon as possible and some music; let it be new. Give my kindest
love to Lady C., Urania, and all hands. How delightful the Lodge must
look. I suppose the Urania is by this time ready for sea, and Henry
fighting captain. I must say I envy your circle, but Adieu!

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