CHAPTER VII.
1807.
Sir James is called into active service.—Joins the Channel Fleet as second in command.—Shifts his Flag from the San Josef to the Prince of Wales.—His decisive conduct.—Anecdote of the Prince of Wales' Men.—Change of Ministry.—Sir James leaves the Channel Fleet, and returns to Guernsey.—Is offered the Command in the East Indies.—Letter on that occasion.
Early in the year 1807 Sir James was called into more active service. The enemy's fleet at Brest had again become formidable. Earl St. Vincent was appointed to command the Channel fleet, and immediately applied for Sir James to be second in command. To make him eligible for this, he was promoted to the rank of Vice-admiral; and on the 7th of January he received orders to hoist his flag, blue at the fore, on board the San Josef, of 112 guns. As the noble Earl was unable from ill health to keep the sea in the Hibernia, his flag-ship, the whole responsibility fell on Sir James.
The San Josef, one of the finest ships in the navy, had been taken in the battle of the 14th of February 1797; and, having since that period been almost constantly employed, was in need of a thorough repair. In February she became so leaky, that Sir James was obliged to shift his flag into the Prince of Wales, Captain Bedford, and send the San Josef into Plymouth to be repaired; and, it being ascertained that it would take more than a year before she could be ready, the officers and men were turned over to the Ville de Paris, which was ordered to fit for his flag.
Sir James's activity in blockading the enemy was unremitting. The fleet consisted of twenty-seven sail of the line, nine of which were three-deckers. It was his custom, every day that the weather permitted, to stand towards the Black Rocks in a line of battle, and off in a line of bearing, always communicating with the in-shore squadron.
On one occasion, while the weather had been thick for several days, the signal was made from the Hibernia for the enemy's fleet to leeward. The English fleet bore up in chase; and, although the Prince of Wales was the worst-sailing ship in the fleet, by carrying a great press of sail she became the headmost. The wind was from the west, and the fleet was standing in for Brest, the French coast being a lee shore. Captain Bedford, who was not so well acquainted with the coast as Sir James, represented the danger that the fleet was running into, as it was blowing hard at the time; when Sir James replied, "There is good anchorage in Douvarnenez Bay," and continued his course: but it was soon after discovered that the strangers were the Plantagenet and in-shore squadron, and the fleet was still able to weather Ushant.
Captain Bedford, who, like other promoters of a religious feeling on board ship, was liable to be imposed upon by hypocrites, had on board the Prince of Wales a set of individuals among the seamen, who, taking advantage of his desire to encourage piety among the crew, ingratiated themselves so far by their outward manifestations as to induce him to appropriate a convenient berth in the ship, where they might sing psalms and perform other devotional exercises unmolested. This place virtually served as a depôt for the hypocrites, who had for a long time unsuspectedly committed divers acts of depredation. Just before the ship went into port, either to refit or replenish the water and provisions, the secretary's gold watch disappeared, as well as a considerable sum of money; and the complaint being made by him to the Admiral, the latter commanded the captain to call all hands on deck, and make a strict search for the stolen property.
The men being reported on deck by the officer who had charge of the lower decks, Captain Bedford said, "Where shall we begin to search?" to which the lieutenant replied, "My cabin, sir; then your's; and then the religious berth." This answer drew forth a rebuke for even suspecting these "good Christians," as the captain emphatically called them. The examination was however persisted in: the officers went to the berth, the keys were demanded, and could not be found; but an iron crow-bar was effectually substituted; and the whole of the missing property, besides many other stolen articles, were discovered in the chests of these miscreants, to the surprise and mortification of the worthy Captain Bedford, who did not fail immediately to make his report to the Admiral then on the quarter-deck.