Ramilies
, a man-of-war, which suffered shipwreck in the Channel) till 1762, when he published his
Shipwreck
. This poem was dedicated to the Duke of York, who had newly become Rear-Admiral of the Blue on board the
Princess Amelia
, attached to the fleet under Sir Edward Hawke. The Duke was not a Solomon, but he had sense enough to perceive, that the sailor who could produce such a poem was no ordinary man, and generous enough to offer him promotion, if he should leave the merchant service for the Royal Navy. Falconer, accordingly, was promoted to be a midshipman on board the
Royal George
(Sir Edward Hawke's ship); the same, we believe, which afterwards went down in such a disastrous manner, and furnished a subject for one of Cowper's boldest little poems.
The Shipwreck
was highly commended by the