In spite of the many interests of his position as a great landowner and the distractions of politics at a time of great political unrest, Lord Hardwicke had never wavered in his love for his true profession of the sea. In his own words, 'in piping times of peace he was loth to take the bread out of his brother officers' mouths after he became a peer,' by applying for active employment in the navy. He had, nevertheless, always placed himself at the disposal of the Admiralty, where his wish to serve his country at sea was well known. To his family he made no secret of his ambition to resume his career in the service which had been interrupted by his succession to the peerage. I have often heard him say that his ideal of a happy death was to be killed by a round shot on his own quarter-deck.
This longing for active service was, perhaps, a little relieved, but was scarcely satisfied, by a short voyage he made in 1844 in command of the St. Vincent, line-of-battle ship of 120 guns. That vessel formed one of a small squadron which included also the Caledonia, Queen and Albion, and sailed under Admiral Bowles upon an experimental cruise of six weeks in order to determine the respective merits of those ships.
It was, perhaps, the menacing aspect of European affairs which followed the revolutions of 1848 which decided Lord Hardwicke again to seek active service. He had certainly become restless, and his craving to resume the profession which lay nearest his heart and once more to command a battleship was daily growing stronger. Most of his friends were opposed to that step; he had done so well and showed such aptitude for politics, had lived so energetic and useful a life in his own county of Cambridgeshire, that they felt so great a break in that life as was involved in service abroad was a mistake. Moreover, Lord Hardwicke had now a family of seven children, the eldest being only about twelve years of age. Many were the counsels heard by his friends to dissuade him from the step. His old friend John Wilson Croker was among those who sought most urgently to persuade him to abandon the idea, and the esteem and admiration in which he held Lord Hardwicke and his devotion to Lady Hardwicke and to 'Lady Betty' (who often sat on his knee) are plain in several letters of advice he wrote at this juncture. But all was unavailing; Lord Hardwicke applied to the Admiralty for a ship, and was given command of the Vengeance. Mr. Croker rather unwillingly acquiesced in this course in the following letter:
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WEST MOLESEY: 9th Novr. '48.
'MY DEAR CHARLES,
'I cannot say that I like losing you from home at so important a crisis, and I fear the good ship Wimpole will have cause to regret the absence of the padrone, and all the world will say that this is proving the love of the profession with a Vengeance. But seriously,… if dear Lady Hardwicke not only does not object, but becomes the accomplice and partner of your exile, no one else has anything to object, not even political friends, as you can leave a proxy. It may also be an advantage to all the children, for it will perfect the young ones and indeed all in the languages, and the two elder young ladies will have opportunities of seeing what all the world desires to see. Whatever you do, and wherever you go, you will be followed by the affectionate solicitude of your old constant and most attached friend,
'J. W. CROKER.'
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Lord Hardwicke sailed early in 1849 to join the Mediterranean Fleet
under Sir William Parker who was in command at that station. Lady
Hardwicke and her family were installed at Malta, where a hotel in the
Strada Forni was engaged for them.