Produced by Steven Gibbs, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net SKETCHES FROM MY LIFE BY THE LATE ADMIRAL HOBART PASHA _WITH A PORTRAIT_ THIRD EDITION LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1887 _All rights reserved_ PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON PREFACE. These pages were the last ever written by the brave and true-hearted sailor of whose life they are a simple record. A few months before his death, some of his friends made the fortunate suggestion that he should put on paper a detailed account of his sporting adventures, and this idea gradually developed itself until the work took the present form of an autobiography, written roughly, it is true, and put together without much method, part of it being dictated at the Riviera during the last days of the author's fatal illness. Such as it is, however, we are convinced that the many devoted friends of Hobart Pasha who now lament his death will be glad to recall in these 'Sketches' the adventures and sports which some of them shared with him, and the genial disposition and manly qualities which endeared him to them all. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A ROUGH START IN LIFE 1 II. PERILS BY SEA AND LAND 14 III. A TRAGICAL AFFAIR 27 IV. RIO DE JANEIRO 36 V. SLAVER HUNTING 43 VI. SLAVER HUNTING (_continued_) 53 VII. LOVE AND MURDER 62 VIII. THE QUEEN'S YACHT 71 IX. IN THE BALTIC 78 X. BLOCKADE-RUNNING 87 XI. EXCITING ADVENTURES 103 XII. A VISIT TO CHARLESTON 120 XIII. NEVER CAUGHT! 133 XIV. LAST DAYS ON THE 'D----N' 147 CHAPTER PAGE XV. RICHMOND DURING THE SIEGE 159 XVI. THE LAND BLOCKADE 175 XVII. I ENTER THE TURKISH NAVY 186 XVIII. THE WAR WITH RUSSIA 201 XIX. THE TURKISH FLEET DURING THE WAR 217 XX. SPORT IN TURKEY 235 XXI. SPORT AND SOCIETY 253 EXTRACT FROM THE 'DAILY TELEGRAPH' 277 SKETCHES FROM MY LIFE. CHAPTER I. A ROUGH START IN LIFE. To attempt to write and publish sketches of my somewhat eventful career is an act that, I fear, entails the risk of making enemies of some with whom I have come in contact. But I have arrived at that time of life when, while respecting, as I do, public opinion, I have hardened somewhat into indifference of censure. I will, however, endeavour to write as far as lies in my power (while recording facts) 'in charity with all men.' This can be done in most part by omitting the names of ships in which and officers under whom I have served. I was born, as the novelists say, of respectable parents, at Walton-on-the-Wold, in Leicestershire, on April 1, 1822. I will pass over my early youth, which was, as might be expected, from the time of my birth until I was ten years of age, without any event that could prove interesting to those who are kind enough to peruse these pages.