[THE STORY OF ADMIRAL THE HONOURABLE JOHN BYNG.]
BY JOHN CAMPBELL.
The honourable John Byng was the fourth son of George Viscount Torrington, and was born at his father's seat at Southill, in Bedfordshire, in the year 1704. Showing a strong inclination for the navy, his father took him to sea with him when he was only thirteen years old; and so rapid was his promotion, that at twenty-three he was made captain of the Gibraltar frigate, then stationed in the Mediterranean. These were, comparatively speaking, peaceable times, and the record of the next twenty-five years was one of routine service, honourably performed and rewarded by steady promotion.
Towards the end of the year 1755 the British Government received intelligence that a powerful armament was equipping in Toulon, which was intended to act against Fort St. Philip. Though the case was urgent, the government took no notice of repeated warnings until at last, on the strong and positive representation of General Blakeney that his garrison must be reinforced if the ministry wished to retain it, they made a tardy and inadequate arrangement to relieve the garrison and protect the Island of Minorca.
To effect this purpose it was necessary to send out a fleet and a reinforcement of troops. The command of this fleet they gave to Admiral Byng, whom they promoted to the rank of admiral of the blue. The ministers were blamed at the time for appointing Admiral Byng to this command. The service was one of the greatest importance; it required not only great personal courage and professional skill and experience, but also a comprehensive judgment and great activity and zeal, and Admiral Byng, whatever talents he possessed, had never had an opportunity of displaying them; he was, in fact, without that degree of experience which ought to have been regarded as an indispensable requisite in the person entrusted with this command. Moreover, the force placed under his command was inadequate to the service; it consisted only of ten sail of the line, several of which were not in a proper condition either for fighting or going to sea; and most of them were either short of their complement of men, or manned by crews consisting of young and inexperienced seamen.
On April 7th, 1756, Admiral Byng sailed from St. Helen's, and on May 2nd he arrived at Gibraltar. From this place he wrote a letter to the Admiralty, which is supposed, by reflecting on the conduct of ministers, to have irritated them against him. On May 8th he sailed for Minorca, but having contrary winds, did not make that island until the morning of the 19th, when he saw the English flag still flying on the castle of St. Philip, and several bomb-batteries playing upon it from the enemy's works. Early in the morning the admiral despatched Captain Hervey, in the Phœnix, with the Chesterfield and Dolphin, with orders to reconnoitre the entrance into the harbour, and, if possible, to convey a letter to General Blakeney. Captain Hervey got round the Laire, and made signals to the garrison for a boat to come off, but without effect; and the admiral, about this time discovering the French fleet, ordered him to return.
At two o'clock on the following day Admiral Byng made a signal to bear away two points from the wind and engage. Rear-admiral West was then at too great a distance to comply with both these orders; he therefore bore away seven points from the wind, and with his whole division attacked the enemy with such impetuosity that several of their ships were soon obliged to quit the line. Had Admiral Byng been equally alert, it is most probable that the French fleet would have been defeated and Minorca saved; but the enemy's centre keeping their station, and Byng's division not advancing, Admiral West was prevented from pursuing his advantage by the danger of being separated from the rest of the fleet.
After engaging about a quarter of an hour, the Intrepid, the sternmost ship of the van, lost her foretop mast, which, according to Byng's account of the action, obliged his whole division to back their sails to prevent their falling foul of each other. But when this matter came to be examined by the court martial, it appeared that immediately after the signal for engaging, while the van were bearing down upon the enemy, Admiral Byng, in the Ramillies, edged away some points, by which means the Trident and Louisa got to windward of him, and that, in order to bring them again into their stations, he backed his mizen-top sail, and endeavoured to back his main-top sail. This manœuvre necessarily retarded all the ships in his division and gave the enemy time to escape. M. Galissoniere seized the opportunity, and, his ships being clean, he was soon out of danger.
The English had in this engagement forty-two men killed and one hundred and sixty-eight wounded; the French one hundred and forty-five wounded and twenty-six killed. The next morning the admiral, finding that three of his squadron were damaged in their masts, called a council of war, which decided to proceed to Gibraltar.
Admiral Byng wrote an account of this engagement, which he sent to the Admiralty who, after some delay, published it with excisions which materially affected the impression it was likely to produce.