The letter ran:—
To the Prince of Great Britain and Ireland.
"May it please your highness,
"That having served in the 88th of foot during the Crimea War and afterwards in the East India Mutiny—drink alone disqualified me for pension.
"I pray you will help to live one of her Majesty's loyal soldiers."Daniel Moriarty."
The terrible Irish famine was nearly at an end. To the Duke had been allotted the mission of official inquiry and relief; but although much had been done officially to relieve the general suffering, on our daily trips we frequently came across cases of great distress, usually where the peasantry refused relief outside their own homes. During one round we came upon a particularly painful scene. Walking into an old cabin which was apparently empty, we discovered through the dim light which penetrated from a hole in the roof, the weird figure of a very old man scantily clothed in the meanest rags. Stretched upon the floor by his side lay a young boy in the same deplorable condition. The old man spoke a few words of welcome in a feeble voice, and the miserable lad tried to rise to come forward. It was the most painful scene I can remember, and it would have taken the genius and human understanding of Hogarth to depict in detail. Needless to say such a case of dire distress was immediately relieved.
The Duke of Edinburgh was most kind-hearted, and he did much personally as well as officially to relieve the distress in this district. I was told on the best authority that he distributed within a very short time over £200 from his private purse in individual cases of extreme need.
When the Channel Squadron under Admiral Hood (afterwards Lord Hood) joined us life on board became more ceremonious and eventful. Admiral Hood gave a dinner-party for the Duke on board the flag-ship Minotaur, and Admiral Hewitt accompanied H.R.H. During their absence I was inspired to caricature the latter. When they returned, the Duke took up my sketch, and it tickled his fancy immensely, in fact I had never seen him laugh so much. Sir William was getting very stout at the time, and I had noticed that he always fastened the bottom button of his jacket leaving the upper ones loose, doubtless with the intention to give an appearance of slimness to his waist. The effect was ludicrous, and I had endeavoured to put on paper my impression of it. I fear, however, that poor Sir William did not appreciate the joke.
The next day the Duke inspected some of the ships, and I was privileged to accompany him and found it a great opportunity to increase my knowledge. The combined fleets lying at anchor made a glorious naval picture. The ships were seventeen in all, of which I remember:—
Northumberland, Captain Wratislaw; Defence, Captain Thrupp; Valiant, Captain Charman; Audacious, Captain Woolcombe; Warrior, Captain Douglas; Achilles, Captain Heneage; Hercules (flag-ship), Captain Townsend; Lord Warden, Captain Indsay Brine; Hector, Captain Caster; Penelope, Captain Nicholson; Agincourt, Captain Buller; Minotaur (flag-ship), Captain Rawson; Salamis (despatch boat), Commander Fitzgeorge; Lively (despatch boat), Commander Le Strange.
I was introduced to several of the Captains, and among them were some whom I was destined to draw years after as Admirals for Vanity Fair.
On the evening of the inspection the Duke gave a return dinner-party on board the Hercules. Admiral Hood was, of course, the principal guest, and I had the privilege of being placed next him at dinner. The Hercules having no band of its own, that of the Minotaur was lent for the occasion, and several of the leading officers were present, notably Captain Heneage of the Achilles—known as "Pompo"—who was certainly the beau of the combined fleets. The immaculate appearance of this distinguished officer in these days at sea was certainly one of the distractions of the voyage, and as Admiral Sir Algernon Heneage, he is still to be seen in the West End, an ornament and a great favourite in London Society. Eventually he came to my studio and I made a characteristic drawing of him.
As we were still waiting for the Bacchante (with the young Princes on board) to join us, H.R.H. arranged a fishing excursion to Blackwater for an off day. Commander Le Strange was to conduct us. The Lively weighed anchor at 7 a.m., and we arrived at Blackwater at 10 o'clock. Unfortunately as a bag containing my fishing-rod, footgear and other articles of wearing apparel appropriate to a voyage of this kind had failed to reach me yet from Cork, I was altogether unprepared for the excursion. The Duke hearing of my predicament, very kindly offered to lend me a rod, at the same time he impressed me with the fact that he valued it greatly, and that I must take great care of it. It had been a birthday present given to him by the Prince Consort, and bore an inscription in silver to that effect.