The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford — John Shaqi
The Memoirs of Admiral Lord BeresfordBeresford, Charles William De la Poer Beresford, Baron
History
The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
Beresford, Charles William De la Poer Beresford, Baron
Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography; Great Britain -- History, Naval -- 19th century
Admiral of the Blue James Whitley Deans Dundas, C.B., entered the Navy
in 1799, took part in the blockade of Alexandria in 1800, and served
with distinction in the North Sea, Baltic and Mediterranean.
Admiral of the Blue Henry Hope, C.B., took part in the blockade of
Alexandria in 1800, and served in the Mediterranean.
Admiral of the Blue the Hon. Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew
performed long and gallant fighting services in the Dutch East Indies.
Admiral of the Blue Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B., etc. etc., {38} had a
most distinguished fighting record in the West Indies and on the coast
of Syria. In 1841 he represented Marylebone in Parliament, in which
respect, as in others, his career resembled that of Lord Charles
Beresford.
In 1854, Sir Charles Napier was appointed to the command of the great
fleet which sailed for the Baltic in the spring of that year. Admiral
Penrose Fitzgerald, who received his nomination to the Navy from Sir
Charles Napier, and who served in the second Baltic expedition of the
following year, makes some instructive observations in respect of the
treatment of Sir Charles Napier by the authorities.
"... The issue was really decided in the Black Sea, and both Baltic
expeditions were, practically speaking, failures. The admirals were
told by the Government that they were not to attack stone forts with
their wooden ships, and were then censured by the same Government for
doing nothing, when there was really nothing else to do. Sir Charles
Napier, who commanded the British Baltic fleet in the summer of 1854,
was shamefully treated by the politicians, and, being a hot tempered
old gentleman, he couldn't stand it. He got into Parliament as member
for Southwark and gave them back as good as they gave.... It was the
old story--the politicians shunting the blame on to the soldiers or the
sailors when they fail to achieve such success as is expected of them,
but quite ready to take credit to themselves for their magnificent
strategy and foresight when it turns out the other way.... When Sir
Charles was peremptorily ordered to haul down his flag, as a punishment
for not disobeying orders, he was superseded in command by Admiral
Dundas, who had been a Lord of the Admiralty in 1854...."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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