NOTE.
My acknowledgments are due to Mrs. Ball, of Roscarrach, Falmouth, for permission to make use, in illustrating this work, of four pictures in her possession, namely, two of the action of the “Duke of Marlborough” with the “Primrose” one of the “Windsor Castle,” and one of the “Hinchinbrooke” To Mr. Burton, of the Old Curiosity Shop, Falmouth, I am indebted for an illustration of Russell’s Wagons; and to many other friends, in Cornwall and elsewhere, for very kind assistance and advice.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Falmouth in the Olden Time, | [1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Lax Administration, | [13] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| A Firmer Rule, | [35] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| The West India Merchants, | [56] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| The End of the Abuses, | [83] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| The North Sea Packets, | [106] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| The Second French War, | [120] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| The Struggle against the Continental System, | [147] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Two Brilliant Years, | [171] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| The Mutiny at Falmouth, | [197] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| The Outbreak of the American War, | [222] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| The American War, | [245] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| The American War, | [264] |
| Index, | [306] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
| Windsor Castle—Capt. Rogers, Commander, | [frontispiece] |
| Russell’s Wagons, | to face page [10] |
| H.M. Packet, Marlborough, | [128] |
| Primrose—Marlborough: Commencement, | [274] |
| Primrose—Marlborough: Close, | [276] |
| Hinchinbrooke and American Privateer, | [282] |
CHAPTER I.
FALMOUTH IN THE OLDEN TIME.
No nation can afford to forget its past history; and England, of all others, whose power is so deeply rooted in sea-fights, should not be careless of her naval records. After many generations of almost ceaseless warfare, there has been a long breathing time of peace, an interval which could not be better spent than in collecting and recording the actions of those brave men whose struggles ensured our ease, and preserving them for our own benefit, as well as for that of posterity.
This task has been accomplished long ago as regards the great sea-battles; and most of even the lesser fights in which the ships of the Royal Navy were engaged have been sufficiently described. But there remains a service distinguished over and over again, an ancient service, highly useful to the public, and associated with a great department of State, whose history has been left untold till all the officers connected with it have passed away, and the personal recollections which are the lifeblood of such a narrative are lost to us irretrievably—I refer to the Post-Office Packet Service.
The very name has grown unfamiliar to our ears. It brings nothing to our minds, recalls no train of recollections, stirs up no dim memories. For the whole world, with the exception of a few people in Cornwall and on the east coast of England, the Packet Service is dead, like all the men who made it, and fought in it, and laid their lives down for it. It was a fighting service, yet the naval histories scarcely mention it. It was for a century and a half the regular vehicle of travellers; yet among the multitude of books which treat of the journeys of our grandfathers, few indeed take note of the fact that they sometimes crossed the ocean. Its records, containing many a story which other nations would have set with pride in the forefront of their history, have lain neglected for eighty years. Some have perished through the carelessness of three generations; some were wantonly destroyed as possessing neither use nor interest. Even in Falmouth itself, so long the headquarters of the Service, the actions which distinguished it are forgotten; and you may search for half a day before finding some old sailor, mending his nets in the stern of a boat, in whose memories those stories linger which have never been collected, and which few indeed of his fellow-townsmen have cared to remember.