CONQUEROR, 74

My Lord, you give a fight in sham,

A Spithead fight not worth a damn,

And that’s your Lordship’s epigram.

My father joined the Conqueror in December 1777 as fifth and then fourth lieutenant, the late Admiral Thomas Lord Graves captain, fitting in Hamoaze; and after a cruise or two the ship was ordered to Spithead to join the fleet assembled there for the sham fight, and to be reviewed by his Majesty King George III. Sir Thomas Pye, admiral of the white, was port admiral and senior officer, and Admiral Keppel (blue at the main) had his flag on board the Prince George, 98. When his Majesty went afloat, the flag officers and captains attended in their barges, Sir Thomas Pye leading the van. The royal standard was hoisted on board the Prince George, and a grand salute took place from the whole of the men of war, which was repeated several times during the day. Thousands of boats full of spectators attended at Spithead; several of the nobility were on board the Conqueror. The ladies didn’t much like the firing, and one of them had a tooth knocked out by biting the frame of the quarter-gallery window when the after gun on the main deck went off. Soon after the review, a fleet being ordered to sail for America with all possible dispatch, we were sent to Plymouth to join them. They consisted of the following men of war under the command of the Honourable John Byron, vice-admiral of the blue:—

Princess Royal	98	Flag Ship
Conqueror	74	{Commodore Graves {Captain H. Harmood
Cornwall	74
Sultan	74
Grafton	74
Fame	74
Bedford	74
Albion	74
Culloden	74
Russell	74
Invincible	74
Royal Oak	74
Monmouth	64
Guadeloupe	32

The fleet sailed from Cawsand Bay in 1778 soon after the review and a short time before Keppel’s action, and I left the ship for school. It is in the remembrance of many that this fleet had a dreadful passage and separated. The Princess Royal arrived at her destination alone, and it was a long time before they could be collected. The Conqueror was eleven weeks on her passage, and had three hundred of her crew in the sick list. The Invincible put into St. John’s, Newfoundland, in distress, and all the squadron suffered more or less. I hope it will not be presumptuous to state that my father was considered one of the best seamen in the service, and a very able and skilful pilot, particularly for the coast of America; which is well known to some of the oldest officers of the present day. In this gale he exerted himself with such ability that when Admiral Hyde Parker hoisted his flag on board the Conqueror, he told my father that he should remember him when opportunity offered, which promise he performed by removing him to the Princess Royal, his flagship, when he took the command of the fleet on the return of Admirals Byron and Barrington to England. The rear-admiral was a very strict officer, and from his austere disposition got the nickname of Old Vinegar, and it was a very difficult task for an officer to get into his good graces. When he shifted his flag (blue at the mizen) from the Conqueror to the Princess Royal in the West Indies, he also removed Mr. McInerheny, the master of the former (an officer and seaman of first-rate abilities), to the flagship, and, in February 1780, he promoted my father and appointed him Captain of the Etna, wishing him success as a meritorious officer and deserving of promotion, and said he would recommend him to Admiral Rodney as soon as he should take command of the fleet. I shall just mention that Patrick Gibson,[^[6]] who died about four years ago, aged one hundred and eleven, was purser of the Princess Royal and a messmate of my father’s. I shall state further particulars of this extraordinary man when I come to the Blonde.

The following are the names of the officers.

Thos. Graves, Esq., Captain and then Commodore.

Dead [1802]. An admiral of the white. When made a rear-admiral he had his flag on board the London, 98, at the Chesapeake, but failed in preventing the Count de Grasse getting there with succours for the American Army. Owing to this unfortunate circumstance, Lord Cornwallis was obliged to capitulate with 5,000 men to the Americans. He had his flag on board the Ramillies when that ship foundered in the gale of September 1782, coming home with the West India convoy, of which he had charge, and showed uncommon presence of mind in the dreadful situation that ship was in. The Ramillies was lying-to under a main sail [^[7]] (a sail that a ship should never be laid to under) on the larboard tack with her head to the westward, when she was taken aback, and if her mast had not gone she must have foundered. She had six feet of water in the hold, which increased to nine feet, and it was found impossible to keep her free. Fortunately the gale abated for a short time, and the ship’s company were removed to a merchantman, the admiral being the last to quit. He did everything that an able seaman could do to save her, in setting a good example and showing undaunted courage in a situation that would have shaken the nerves of the philosophers of Greece and Rome. Admiral Graves was port admiral at Plymouth, and when the war broke out in 1793 he hoisted his flag on board the Royal Sovereign, 110; was in the action of the 1st of June 1794; was wounded and made a peer.—[D.N.B.]

Harry Harmood, Esq., Captain

Dead. Commissioner of the Navy.

[Charles] Osborne, 1st Lieutenant.

Dead.

[Ellis] Troughton, 2nd Lieutenant.

Dead. A commander.

[Thomas] Floyd, 3rd Lieutenant.

Dead. A dandy.

Francis Geary Gardner, 4th Lieutenant [5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd.]

Dead. Captain. [James Gardner, his servant; both D. August 28, 1779, to Princess Royal.]

Williams, 5th Lieutenant.

Dead. A mad fellow.

N[icholas] McInerheny, Master.

Dead. An excellent officer and seaman. [William McInerheny, his servant.]

Sir John Dalston, Baronet, Captain of Marines.

Dead.

Walter Smith, Lieutenant of Marines.

Dead. A colonel.

William Barker, Lieutenant of Marines.

Dead. A captain in the army.

[Henry] Hutchins, Purser.

Dead.

[Robert] White, Surgeon.

Dead.

[John Stode] Foote, Chaplain.

Dead.

[Thomas] Mears [or Mayers], Gunner.

Dead.

[Benjamin] Hearle, Carpenter.

Dead.

Richard Nash, Midshipman.

Dead. A lieutenant R.N.; was first of the Impregnable, 98, the flagship in Hamoaze; and while standing on the gangway was killed by a man falling on him from the mainyard.

[John] Nash, Midshipman [Captain’s servant].

Dead [1824]. Captain, brother of the above.

[James] Nash, Midshipman [Captain’s servant.]

Dead [1827]. Captain, brother of the above.

John Blake, Midshipman [Captain’s servant].

Dead. A commander.

Robert Rolles, Midshipman.

A vice-admiral, and a most active and able officer. [Died, 1839—Marshall, ii. 676.]