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The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Sailor of King George by Frederick Hoffman This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: A Sailor of King George Author: Frederick Hoffman Release Date: December 13, 2008 [Ebook 27520] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SAILOR OF KING GEORGE*** [I] A SAILOR OF KING GEORGE THE JOURNALS OF CAPTAIN FREDERICK HOFFMAN, R.N. 1793–1814 EDITED BY A. BECKFORD BEVAN AND H.B. WOLRYCHE-WHITMORE v WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1901 [II] BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. [III] PREFACE. In a memorial presented in 1835 to the Lords of the Admiralty, the author of the journals which form this volume details his various services. He joined the Navy in October, 1793, his first ship being H.M.S. Blonde. He was present at the siege of Martinique in 1794, and returned to England the same year in H.M.S. Hannibal with despatches and the colours of Martinique. For a few months the ship was attached to the Channel Fleet, and then suddenly, in 1795, was ordered to the West Indies again. Here he remained until 1802, during which period he was twice attacked by yellow fever. The author was engaged in upwards of eighteen boat actions, in one of which, at Tiberoon Bay, St. Domingo, he was wounded in the head, and entirely lost the hearing of his left ear. As first lieutenant of H.M.S. Volage, while attempting to cut out an enemy’s vessel laden with tobacco from under the guns of the Moro Castle, St. Jago de Cuba, after a running fight of two hours with three Spanish privateers, he was obliged to surrender, and was carried prisoner to St. Jago, where he remained for six weeks until exchanged. In 1802 he returned to England in the [IV] Volage, which was then paid off. In 1803 he was appointed lieutenant of H.M.S. Minotaur on the Channel Service, but in 1804, in consequence of a very severe attack of rheumatic fever, which completely prostrated him and for several months necessitated the use of crutches, he resigned his post. On his recovery, in the summer of 1805, he was appointed to H.M.S. Tonnant, and was senior lieutenant of her lower deck viii A Sailor of King George quarters in the Battle of Trafalgar, concerning which he gives several new and interesting details. During the battle he was slightly wounded in the left hand. His next ship was H.M.S. Diamond (to which he was appointed March 8th, 1806), ordered for service on the West Coast of Africa. In 1807 he became commander of the Favourite sloop of war in consequence of the death of her captain, and three months afterwards took the last convoy of slave ships to the West Indies. In 1808, while in Jamaica, he was attacked by fever, which affected his eyesight, nearly producing blindness; and, on the advice of the doctor at Port Royal Hospital, Admiral Dacres gave him permission to exchange into the Goelan sloop of war, which was shortly afterwards ordered to England with convoy. In 1810 he was appointed to command the Apelles on the Downs station, and in this capacity he was actively employed [V] until May, 1812, when, during the middle watch, and in a dense fog, the Apelles, with the Skylark, her leader, unfortunately grounded on the French coast, near Etaples, on “the infant ebb of a spring tide.” All efforts to float the sloop were vain, and, after being for three hours under the incessant fire of a French battery, which riddled her hull and cut away her masts, and having meanwhile sent away all the crew which the boats were capable of containing, the author and eighteen others were compelled to surrender. The following is the sentence of the Court Martial held at Portsmouth on the conduct of Captain Hoffman for the loss of H.M. sloop Apelles, Sir George Martin, Bart., President:— “That there is no blame whatever attached to the conduct of Captain Hoffman; that he is fully and honourably acquitted. “That great praise is due to him for remaining with his ship. “That the Court regrets he was under the painful necessity of becoming a prisoner, and that his services were lost to his country for the period of two years.” After reading the sentence Sir G. Martin spoke as follows:— ix “Captain Hoffman,—In the name of the Court and myself I present you the sword, which by your conduct you so well merit.” The author spent about two years in France, and during his captivity there did excellent service to his country by opening and superintending a school for the midshipmen who were also [VI] prisoners of war at Verdun. It appears that he wrote these records of his life while residing at Dover in 1838. He evidently intended to have them published, but for some reason or another they have never hitherto been printed. The Editors, in presenting them to the public more than sixty years after they were originally written, think that they will prove of general interest, not because they lay claim to literary excellence, but because they present a simple, unexaggerated picture of the everyday life in the navy a century ago, and give us an insight into the characters of the men who helped to build up the sea power of Great Britain, and to bring her to her present position of political and commercial greatness. November, 1901. [VII] CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EARLY EXPERIENCES. My mother consents to my going to sea—Journey to Portsmouth—Join H.M.S. Blonde—Take General Prescott and suite on board—We sail—Supply West Indiamen with provisions and in return impress six seamen—Windbound at Falmouth—Again sail—Attacked by four French frigates, but escape and again make Falmouth—Finally sail for West Indies—Amusements in crossing the Equator. pp. 1-17 CHAPTER II. WEST INDIES. Arrival in West Indies—Cruise among the French Islands—Bombardment and capture of St. Pierre, Dominique—Attack on Fort Bourbon—Capture of Forts—Surrender of General Rochambeau and the French garrison. pp. 18-29 CHAPTER III. RETURN TO ENGLAND. Sail for England with despatches—A lunar rainbow—A two-tailed fish—Reach Falmouth after passage of fifteen days—To Plymouth to refit—All leave refused—Sailors’ frolics ashore—To sea again—Cruise off French coast and Channel Islands—Run aground off Guernsey—Return to Plymouth to repair damages—Rejoin fleet—French fleet xi escapes into Brest—Return to Plymouth to refit for foreign service—Transhipped to H.M.S. Hannibal—Description of the ship’s officers—Tricks played on the Irish chaplain. pp. 30-45 [VIII] CHAPTER IV. OFF USHANT. Join the Channel fleet off Ushant—Capture the French frigate Gentille, also a twenty-four-gun ship five days later—Fleet returns to Portsmouth—Prize-money—To sea again in charge of a convoy—Transport with two hundred Hessian troops on board founders off Cape Finisterre—Suddenly ordered to West Indies—Fight between a negro and a shark at Port Royal, Jamaica—Dignity balls—Collision with H.M.S. Sampson—Outbreak of yellow fever—Ordered to sea—Capture two French ships and two privateers. pp. 46-56 CHAPTER V. WEST INDIES AGAIN. Owing to ravages of yellow fever go to Jamaica to obtain more seamen—Difficulties and humours of impressment—Author attacked by yellow fever—Proceed to Cape St. Nicholas mole—Great mortality among the officers. pp. 57-68 CHAPTER VI. TOUGH YARNS. Tough yarns—The sea-serpent—The fair-wind sellers of Bremen—Mermen and mermaidens—Capture of Spanish schooner with mulatto laundresses on board—Boat attack on, and capture of the French privateer Salamandre—Outbreak of malignant scurvy—Novel method of treatment—French women dressed as men—A voyage of discovery. pp. 69-85 CHAPTER VII. CRUISING OFF PORTO RICO. xii A Sailor of King George A ball on board—Fishing with a seine—Ordered to cruise off Porto Rico—News of the Battle of Camperdown—The boasts of Napoleon—Views on matrimony—A sailor’s courtship—Futile boat attack on a Spanish war vessel at St. Domingo—Author loses the hearing of his left ear from effect of a wound. pp. 86-99 CHAPTER VIII. MUTINY ON H.M.S. HERMIONE. Tea with the boatswain’s wife—News of the mutiny at the Nore causes trouble among the sailors—Sent to cruise [IX] in consequence—A white squall and waterspout—Capture of a Spanish cruiser—Return to Port Royal—H.M.S. Hermione seized by mutineers and carried to Porto Bello—Recaptured by Captain Hamilton—An alarm caused by fireflies. pp. 100-113 CHAPTER IX. A MOCK COURT-MARTIAL. Transhipped to H.M.S. Queen (98)—Sailors’ appreciation of books—The ship runs aground and sinks: with difficulty raised—A mock court-martial on the master—Author made lieutenant with a commission on a twenty-four-gun ship. pp. 114-125 CHAPTER X. MORE CRUISING. Requested to act as first lieutenant, but refuses—Description of officers—A fruitless search for a Spanish treasure ship—Run on a coral reef, but float off again—A tropical thunderstorm—A futile attempt to cut out three schooners off Matanzas—Author becomes first lieutenant—Return to Port Royal—The incriminating papers of an American sloop found in a shark—Seize a French ship in ballast off St.
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