History of the Post-Office Packet Service between the years 1793-1815 / Compiled from Records, Chiefly Official

by Arthur H. Norway

This was the charge against the Falmouth officers,—a charge involving so much base dishonesty that one hesitates before accepting it as true of even the smallest section of the Service at which it was levelled.

Lord Auckland declined to believe in the possibility of “so black and desperate a fraud.” Still, whatever incredulity might be felt at headquarters, the accusation was clearly one which demanded instant notice; and accordingly the optimistic Inspector of Packets was directed to proceed to Falmouth, and report on the matter.

Little time was lost by the Inspector. He quickly produced a report which positively asserted the existence of such fraud to be impossible. His reason was that no insurance company would pay the value of its policy in the absence of an affidavit declaring precisely the quantity and quality of the goods on board the Packet at the time of the capture. The honest man forgot that the very nature of the charge involved treachery and lying; and that men who could be supposed guilty of those basenesses would not be likely to hesitate at a perfectly safe perjury. Of course the Inspector’s conclusion was not necessarily absurd, because his reasoning was unsound. But there are two stories on record which go some way to prove that the one and the other were equally wrong.

To take the least conclusive story first. The “Earl Gower,” commanded by Captain Deake, was on her way home from Lisbon in June 1801 when she encountered the “Télégraphe” Privateer cutter, of fourteen guns and seventy men, a force considerably superior of course to her own. Captain Deake plied his guns with vigour, however, and might perhaps have got clear off, had not fully half his crew gone below in a body, refusing either to work the vessel or to fight her. The action of these men is scarcely comprehensible on any other supposition than that they wished to be captured. Cowardice would have impelled them to flight; but they refused to work the ship, which was of course taken.

The second case tells a plainer story; and must always stand, exceptional as it may be, as a black disgrace upon the records of the Falmouth Service. The facts are as follows.

The “Duke of York,” a Packet homeward bound from Lisbon, was chased throughout September 18th, 1803, by a Privateer of scarcely more than half her size, though more heavily manned. Towards evening the master, who was acting commander at the time, consulted with the surgeon as to the course proper for them to take in view of the fact that the enemy was obviously gaining on them. The surgeon stated that in his opinion resistance was impossible. He advised surrender; and the master, after a short conversation, adopted his view. They came to this resolution while the enemy’s vessel was still a mile distant from them, and before she had even fired a summoning gun they hauled their colours down.

It was then seven o’clock, and the night was falling rapidly. This circumstance however did not suggest to them that there was a chance of escaping under cover of the darkness; it brought to their minds only the fear that the enemy might not have seen their flag pulled down. And so, to avoid any misapprehension on the subject of their shame, they sent a boat on board the Privateer and proclaimed it in advance.

The story as here told leaked out by degrees. However, on the first receipt of the news in London, Lord Auckland heard it with so much suspicion that he resolved to use the occasion for instituting the Court of Inquiry, about the necessity of which he and the Inspector of Packets held such divergent views. A Court was accordingly constituted at Falmouth, composed of all the commanders in port at the time, under the presidency of the agent; but the result was disappointing. The commanders put their questions in such a manner as to shield the culprits as far as possible; and finally stultified themselves by finding that all the officers did everything possible to save their ship.

Perhaps little else was to be expected at the outset of such inquiries. The commanders doubtless resented the change of system as an insult to themselves. They were all old friends and neighbours; esprit de corps was strong among them in proportion as their numbers were few; and, moreover, their Court having no legal standing, nor any power to administer oaths, there was nothing to excite a feeling of responsibility, or dignity, among the individuals composing it, such as might have outweighed the natural dislike to its establishment. The responsibility developed; the dislike wore off. In course of time these inquiries, which became part of the regular routine of the station, were found useful enough, and even indispensable.

On this first occasion, however, the finding of the Court was useless, if not positively mischievous; and some more stringent inquiry was plainly needed. It was entrusted to the Inspector of Packets, who was acute and shrewd when he could cast off the preconceived ideas bred by his long experience, and who had been shaken out of his optimism in some degree by recent events. He set himself to work in Falmouth with zeal and energy, and gradually disclosed a number of very remarkable facts. He traced, so far as possible, the value of the goods which each officer and sailor had on board, what insurances he had effected on the outward voyage, and what on the homeward, and finally what sum (if any) he had gained by being captured.