After exchanging complimentary letters with his Excellency the Captain-general and Governor of Andalusia, Sir James took leave of his Royal Highness the Governor of Gibraltar. He sailed on the 30th of June, anchored at Spithead on the 23rd of July 1802, and reported in the usual manner the arrival of the Cæsar to the Admiralty.
CHAPTER V.
1803.
Commencement of Hostilities with France.—Sir James hoists his Flag at Sheerness.—Proceeds to Guernsey.—Flag in the Grampus.—Anecdote of Captain Caulfield.—Sir James visits Jersey, &c.—Diomede arrives as Flag-ship.—The Admiral examines the Defence of the Island.—Loss of La Minerve.—Attack and Bombardment of Granville.—Cerberus gets aground.—Narrow Escape from a Shot.—Public and Private Letters.—Blockade of the Coast.—Loss of the Shannon and Grappler.—Conclusion of 1803.
Hostilities with France were about to be resumed early in the year 1803, and Sir James was called into active service. On the 11th of March he hoisted his flag at Sheerness, on board the Zealand, in order to expedite the preparations that were going on in the Medway. Soon after this, the Zealand went to the Nore. She was at that time commanded by Captain, afterwards Admiral, William Mitchell, an officer who had risen to the rank of Rear-admiral by his good conduct, after having been flogged through the fleet for desertion.
The great preparations now making at St. Maloes rendered it probable that the intention of Bonaparte was to attack the Channel Islands; Sir James was therefore appointed to the command at Guernsey, and, proceeding from the Nore in the Kite brig, he fell in with the Grampus, which was destined, pro tempore, for his flag. Both ships arrived at St. Pierre's roads on the 19th of May. Here the Admiral's squadron consisted of six frigates, and six brigs and cutters, which were chiefly employed in blockading the adjacent coast, and in preventing the concentration of the enemy's force at St. Maloes and Granville, the two principal places whence it appeared an attack would be made.
The Grampus was commanded by Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield, who had notions of discipline peculiar to himself, with which Sir James, who lived on shore with his family, did not interfere. The following anecdote will serve to show that these deviations from the laws and customs of the navy are seldom attended with success.
It was Captain Caulfield's positive instructions that no boatswain's mate, or other petty officer, should carry a cane, the usual emblem of their authority; and that he would not punish any man unless convicted by the testimony of two witnesses, while the man himself might bring others to contradict the assertion of the officer making the complaint: in short, that the single testimony of an officer could not be taken without a majority of evidence in its support. The ship had just been manned by impressed seamen, and her complement was completed from the prisons: it may therefore be supposed, that these regulations were not calculated to bring the ship speedily into a state of discipline. It must be remembered that the captain had not the power of administering an oath, and, when a complaint was made, men were soon found who would come forward, and prove, according to this system, that the accusation was groundless; and thus the culprit always escaped. The ship accordingly fell into a complete state of insubordination.