 Chapter 22 of the Life of Thomas Lord Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, completing the autobiography of a seaman, Volume 2, by Henry Richard Foxbourne and others. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Timothy Ferguson. Chapter 22, 1828-1829 Lord Cochrane's absence from Greece was longer and less advantageous than he had anticipated. Arriving in London on 19 February 1828, he found that the English Philhalenes were tired out by the bad faith and the unpatriotic conduct of the Greeks, and that the English government, which he had hoped to influence so far as to obtain an alteration in the Foreign Enlistment Act, which would enable him to secure the services of a well-trained force of British semen, was determined to give no help in the matter. He found too that the steam vessels yet to be furnished in accordance with the old contract with Mr Galloway were still unfinished and that there would be no little trouble and delay added to all that had already been endured before their completion could be hoped for. Not disinherent, however, he went almost immediately to Paris, there to see what could be expected from the Philhalenes of the continent. Quote, I have taken steps, he wrote to Montréal-en-Arde from Paris on 2 March, to cause one of our small steam vessels to be fitted with proper engines, the expense of which I shall find means to defray. I hope the President will favour me with the communication at an early date, at least, to say whether he has means to pay, and victual, a few hundreds of foreign semen, and thus put my mind at rest, for he must depend on foreign aid to support him in his government, protect commerce, and enable a revenue to be derived from the latent resources of Greece. The Greeks themselves will do nothing towards these objects, though there will not be wanting individuals who will endeavour for their personal views to persuade them to the contrary of this. My mind is not yet sufficiently tranquil to give detailed reasons, for my opinion, that things will not succeed in Greece without troops and other foreign aid, but such time will prove the case. Were the three great powers, he said in another letter to Montréal-en-Arde dated 17 March, pleased to aid the President with funds to a small amount they would accomplish more for their own benefit, and that of Greece, than by great fleets and armies, 4,000 troops under the Greek government and 500 semen would terminate the affair, but never will Anarchy cease, or piracy be put down, nor will Cappadistrias be secure, unless he has under his own authority the means of enforcing obedience to the laws and regulation for the public good by sea and land. I have told you that the Greek semen cannot be used to suppress piracy, and I may truly add that no Greeks of age to bear arms can become soldiers, though they learn readily enough to perform the military exercises. There neither is, nor has yet been, since my arrival in Greece, one single company, not even the Marines, with which so much pains was taken, that deserves the name of regular. Their ideas are quite repugnant to everything that constitutes the military character." Lord Cochran, who it will be remembered was chiefly instrumental in the election of Count John Cappadistrias, as the President of Greece in April 1827, had hoped much from his government. His confidence was not a little shaken by the long delay which the President had shown in entering on his office, and when Cappadistrias arrived in Greece, only a few days after Lord Cochran's departure, his first acts were calculated to shake that confidence yet more. He introduced many solid reforms, but in other respects, clung to the old and bad traditions of the people, and, which was yet worse, allowed himself to be guided by some of the worst place hunters and most skillful abusers of national power, whom he ought to have more carefully avoided. Lord Cochran began to perceive this before he had been six weeks out of Greece. He yet hoped, however, that wise councils and good government would prevail, and he tended his advice, while he reported his own movements, in a second letter, which he addressed to Cappadistrias. Quote, The information which your Excellency must have acquired since your arrival in Greece, he wrote to him on the 22nd of March, may have convinced you of the facts briefly touched on in the letter, which I had the honour to address to you on the 1st of January, and may also have proved to you the impossibility under existing circumstances of my rendering service to Greece, otherwise than by the course I have pursued. Although on my arrival in England, I was disappointed at finding other ministers than those I expected in the councils of his Britannic Majesty, yet I had the opportunity of making facts known to influential individuals, in proof that the interests of England would be best promoted by a liberal policy towards Greece, and by placing that country without loss of time in the rank of an independent state, having boundaries the most extensive that could be conceded. Since then I have had several conversations here with the gentlemen of the Paris Greek Committee, and I have advised them to assure the ministers that large naval and military armaments are not required for the expulsion of the Turkish and Egyptian forces from Greece, or to protect that country from further attempts at invasion by the before mentioned powers, that for speedy regulation of the internal affairs of Greece and the support of your authority, it would be far preferable and infinitely less costly for the mediating powers to place in your hands the means of maintaining four or five thousand troops together with five hundred seamen, and apply a portion of the vast sums they will save to the education of the rising generation of Greeks abroad and at home, and to the encouragement of whatever will tend to direct the talent and genius of the young people most speedily into the course which will entitle Greece to rank amongst the civilised nations of Europe. Whether this advice should be listened to or not, I am satisfied that my opinion is correct, and that a multitude of foreign troops in the pay of rival foreign nations would contribute less to the objects these nations profess to have in view than a much smaller force under your own authority, more especially when it is considered that these troops could in no way interfere with the internal arrangement and police of the country, unless by usurping or at least suspending the authority which ought to be exclusively vested in your excellency as chief of the Greek government. Besides knowing as I do the jealous character of your countrymen, the facility with which they listen to surmises and reports the diversity of interests among the rival chiefs and the intrigues practised by base and worthless individuals, I have no doubt that such mixture of troops of different nations would give rise to a state of anarchy more injurious to Greece than that which at present exists. Whether such anarchy might be prevented by one nation alone taking upon itself the internal arrangement of Greece seems doubtful for to enforce laws, however just and necessary by troops in foreign pay against the opinion and habits of the people who have no just notion of the reciprocal duties of civilised society would be in their estimation to erect a military despotism and would call forth resistance on their part even to the most salutary changes. I have also recommended as additional security against a multitude of evils an immediate demarcation of the boundaries of Greece or at least an acknowledgement of your excellency as president. The outfit of two or three steam vessels still unfinished is going on and I shall find means to accomplish this object in a way that will render them equal if not superior in velocity to most of the steamboats in general use. But as no pecuniary means could be obtained in England to procure semen and purchase provisions, coals and other necessaries I came to Paris in the hope that the Greek committee might enable me to give orders regarding these arrangements so indispensable to the navigating of these vessels to Greece. The Paris committee, however, intimates that they have no funds and the chevelier Einard ensures me that the monies collected by him are exhausted. I therefore await with anxiety your answer to the letter which I had the honour to address to you previous to my departure from Greece. No answer came from Capodistrias. He sent a message to Lord Cochrane asking him to sell the little unicorn which had conveyed him to England but said nothing about his own return believing that the Allied powers would do for him all that was necessary in naval resistance of Turkey. He was not sorry to be deprived of an associate in the actual service of Greece as powerful as Lord Cochrane. This Lord Cochrane began to suspect quote, everything is arranged regarding the engines of the two steamboats he said in a letter to Marshal Einard on the 24th of March. But circumstances do not enable me to accomplish more especially without the sanction of the President from whom I shall no doubt shortly hear on the subject unless indeed he shall be persuaded by the primates of the islands that he can do better without a regular naval force or at least without me, which I know is the opinion of Condoriotis and also of Mavra Michales, the great licensor and patron of pirates so loudly and justly complained of. I am very low and I do not feel at all well I cannot free myself from the oppression of spirits occasioned by seeing everything in the lamentable state in which all must continue in Greece unless some effectual steps are taken to put an end to the intrigues and rival ships headed by unprincipled chiefs and backed by their savage followers. Believe me there is nothing I believe undone to serve the cause but it is essential that more time shall not be wasted in endeavouring to accomplish objects of vital importance by inadequate means." While Lord Cochrane was endeavouring to hasten the arrangements for his return to Greece, he was annoyed by a letter forwarded to him by Sir Francis Bedet. The letter was from Andreas Luriotes, one of the two Greek deputies who had requested Lord Cochrane two years and a half before to enter the service of Greece and who now claimed a restitution of the £37,000 paid to him on the plea that by leaving Greece he had broken his contract. Quote, Before writing to Sir Francis, said Lord Cochrane in the indignant letter which he addressed to this person on the 20th of April, you ought to have informed yourself of facts and circumstances. You might have learned that I continued to serve until the Greek government had assumed to themselves the powers vested in me as naval commander-in-chief to regulate the distribution of armed vessels and until they had covered the seas with piratical craft. You might have informed yourself that I remained at my post until the neutral admirals refused old communication with the government which had so misconducted itself and with which they considered it would have been disgraceful to correspond even on subject of a puppet nature. You might have informed yourself that I remained on board the helis until the temporary government had sold and applied to other purposes. The revenues of the islands allotted for the maintenance of the regular naval service and deprived me of the means to satisfy the claims of the officers and seamen that I continued until the seamen had abandoned the frigate, plundered the fireships and fitted out pirate vessels before my eyes all of which I had no power to punish or means to prevent. If you or others infer that my endeavours in the cause of Greece are to be judged by naval operations carried out against the enemy by open force, you are mistaken. It is essential that you hold in mind that there are no naval officers in Greece who are acquainted with the discipline of regular ships of war that the seamen would submit to no restraint that they would not enlist for more than one month and they would do nothing without being paid in advance nor continue to serve after the expiration of the short period for which they were so paid that by this determination of the seamen the helis was detained for months in port or occupied in collecting amongst the islands poultry means to satisfy their demands and that at last when money was found half the period of the seamen's engagement was consumed in proceeding even to the nearest point which hostile operations could be carried on once it became necessary to return almost at the moment of our arrival. It is not for me to speak except when I am attacked of the services I have rendered both in my professional capacity and otherwise. Those who were in Greece knew my exertions to reconcile the national assemblies in April 1827 to suppress the animosity amongst the chiefs and save the country from civil discord. They know that I double the national marine by captures from the enemy. They know that by desaltry operations devise the efforts of fleets we could not oppose. They know that the attack on Vasillade and Lepanto in September last induced the Turkish and Egyptian fleets to follow to that quarter in violation of the armistice and that this act produced their ring contra and dispute with the British admiral and ultimately led to the destruction of those fleets in the port of Navarino. End quote. A few days after writing that letter Lord Cochrane returned to London from Paris and had been staying for nearly two months in frequent communication with the members of the Phil Hellenic committees of that city and other parts of the continent. The growing dissatisfaction which the bad conduct of the Greeks had awakened in many of their best friends and still more, the silence of Capodistrias prevented his doing all that he had hoped to do. He succeeded however in exciting some fresh interest and found that one of the steamboats at any rate, the Mercury, was at length in a fair way of completion or only affected by an advance of 2,000 pounds which he himself made. This was the business which took him to London where he was busily employed during May and the first few days of June. He then went back to Paris for nearly three months more and made further efforts though in vain to procure the substantial assistance for Greece on which his heart was set. As soon as the Mercury was ready for sea he directed that she should proceed to Marseille where she arrived on the 13th of September and on the 18th determined to make the best use of her in his power, he again set sail for Greece. He reached Poros on or near the last day of September. He found that the internal arrangements of Greece had wonderfully improved. Capodistrias during the last eight months had been ruling with an iron hand over all those districts which the previous conquests of Turks and Egyptians had not taken out of his control and all those conquests were just being finally abrogated. The full effects of the Battle of Navarino of the King. Ibrahim Pasha having deported many of his troops to Alexandria, chiefly because there was not enough food to be found for them in the Maria, had refused to surrender his authority or to abandon any of the numerous fortresses of which he was master. The president with Sir Richard Church and the worn out refuse of the so-called army for his only support could do nothing to expel him but he gladly accepted the prophet aid of France in compliance with the protocol signed 14,000 soldiers under General Maison landed at Petlidi on the 30th of August and within a week Ibrahim had been forced to sign a convention pledging himself to prompt evacuation of the peninsula. Half of the residue of his army quitted Navarino on the 16th of September the rest was prepared and took part at the time of Lord Cochrane's arrival and actually started on the 5th of October. The ensuing weeks were worthily employed by the French army in clearing out the pestilential garrisons to succeed to the seven weary years of strife. Thus the primary work which Lord Cochrane had been engaged to do and which he vainly strove to do under the miserable circumstances of his position had been affected by others. The Ottoman fleets had been dispersed and destroyed and as far as they were concerned Greece was free at last. There was work yet to be done, troublesome but most important work in converting the disorderly and piratical vessels and crews which constituted the navy of Greece into an efficient agent for protecting the state and extending its boundaries. This in spite of all previous annoyances Lord Cochrane was prepared to do if the Greeks were willing but they did not will it. Capodistrias had laid his plans for governing Greece and for their performance he had no need of a foreigner as wise and honest as Lord Cochrane. The plans were not altogether reprehensible at starting they were perhaps the best that could be adopted. The new president the president whom Lord Cochrane had nominated as the likeliest man to beat down the factions and override the jealousies that had hitherto brought such grievous mischief to Greece began by acting up to the anticipations which had induced his selection. Schooled in Italy and Russia he practised both torturous diplomacy and straightforward tyranny in attempting to turn divided Greece into a united nation in which 100 rival claimants for power should be made humble instruments of the authority of their one master. Thereby the state was unable to assert its existence and it was made possible for good government to be introduced. When however the time came for inaugurating that good government Capodistrias sought to continue the method of rule which if allowable at first was no longer right or likely to succeed. Young Greece was to be kept in subjection for his own aggrandisement and for the aggrandisement of his few favourites and advisers. These favourites and advisers were the leaders of the old Finariate party. Prince Mavro Condortos and his brother-in-law Mr Trikoupez men whose policy Lord Cochrane had opposed on his first arrival in Greece and who accordingly became even more inimical to himself than he was to their purposes and plans. Therefore it was that when Lord Cochrane returned to Greece in the autumn of 1828 he was coldly received and his office of further service though not openly rejected were not accepted. Throughout ten weeks he was treated with contemptuous indifference or formal compliments the hollowness of which was transparent. On his arrival the president found it difficult to grant him an interview. When the interview was granted the only subject allowed to be discussed was the accuracy of the accounts that had been drawn up by Dr. Goss as commissary general of the fleet during the nine months of the previous year in which Lord Cochrane had been in active service. Nearly two months were spent in tedious and vexatious examination of these accounts and correspondence there upon ending however in the partial satisfaction which Lord Cochrane derived from the knowledge that after the most searching investigation they were admitted to be correct in every particular. More than once during this waiting time Lord Cochrane threatened to leave Greece immediately without waiting for the settlement of the accounts. He was only induced to remain and submit to the insults offered to him by the consideration that his hasty departure might cause an indefinite postponement of this settlement and so prove injurious to his subordinates if not to himself. This being done however he lost no time in resigning his office his first admiral of Greece in a rare exhibition of generosity. The direct and active interference of great European powers having decided the glorious contest for the freedom of Greece he said in a letter to Count Capia Distris written at Poros on the 26th of November and its independence being formally acknowledged by accredited agents from these powers no means now presents themselves to me whereby I can professionally promote the interests of this hitherto oppressed people I beg therefore that I may be permitted as an individual to alleviate their burdens by presenting the state with my share as admiral of the Corvette Hydra and the schooner of war Athenian captured from the enemy and further by absolving the state from any and every obligation whereby the sum of £20,000 was to be paid to me on the acknowledgement of the independence of this country. If your excellency shall be pleased co-jointly with the National Assembly to appropriate any part of the set amount to the relief of the seamen wounded and of the families of those who have fallen during the contest it will be a high gratification to my feelings and I hope will be admitted as a testimony of my satisfaction at the introduction of useful institutions and of the pleasure I experience at the rapid advancement towards order which has taken place even during the short period of your Excellency's presidency. I have only to add that if at any future time your Excellency shall deem my services useful I shall be delighted at an opportunity to prove my zeal for the welfare of Greece more fully than circumstances have hitherto permitted." The President's reply dated 4 December was complimentary The Government of Greece he said, thanks you my lord for the services you have rendered and for the new proof of your interest and your benevolence which you have shown in your letter of 26 November. As you observe Greece having been taken under the protection of the great powers of Europe the provisional government can engage in no warlock operation worthy of your talents and your station. It regrets therefore that it cannot offer you an opportunity of giving further proof of the noble and generous sentiments which animate you in favour of Greece. The Government will make it its duty to convey to the National Congress your offer to cede your rights in the Corvette Hydra and the Skouna Athenian and in the £20,000 which Greece was to pay you on the acknowledgement of her independence. It doubts not that the Congress will value at its true worth that the nations debt to you and that it will adopt the measures which you propose for suckering the families of the Greek semen who have fallen in the war. The future of Greece is in the hands of God and of the allied powers. You have taken part in her restoration and she will reckon you with sentiments of profound gratitude among her first and generous defenders. A day had not passed however before Lord Cochrane had fresh proof of the worthlessness of that pretended gratitude information having reached messes J. and S. Ricciardo the contractors for the Greek loan of 1825 that the new government contemplated repudiating the debt. They had written to Lord Cochrane begging him to bring the matter before Capio Distris and represent to him the injustice to the stockholders and the discredit to Greece that would result from such an act. Lord Cochrane accordingly had an interview with the President and his two chief advisers on the 5th of December when the subject was discussed though repudiation was only threatened attempts were made to justify it on the plea that the £2 million forming the loan had nearly all been squandered in England and America much having disappeared in unexplained ways the rest having been absorbed in shipbuilding and engine making from which Greece had derived no benefit both in the personal interview and in the long letter which he addressed to the President on the following day Lord Cochrane indignantly resented the proposed repudiation he admitted there had been gross mismanagement but showed that the chief blamed for this attached to the Greek deputies Orlando and Luriotis who had been sent to England to raise the money and to see that it was properly expended but who as was well known had sought only their own advantage and enjoyment and pilfering themselves had allowed others to pilfer without restraint he urged that the innocent holders of the Greek stock ought not to suffer on this account and showed also that if there had been great abuse of the loan it had enabled the Greeks to tide over the time of trouble quote, Your Excellency must be aware that there was no warship belonging to the state which was not bought, taken or obtained by the aid of this loan and that all the guns, mortars, powder and other military stores would serve to maintain the liberties of Greece during these later years were chiefly procured by the help of this same fund it enabled you to carry on the war until independence was secured by the intervention of the Allied Powers the debt was not repudiated but Lord Cochrane's arguments for its acknowledgement gave an opportunity for exhibition of the long smothered jealousy with which he was regarded by the councillors of Capiodistris, if not by Capiodistris himself the exhibition certainly was contemptible as Lord Cochrane was about to leave Greece and indeed eager to do so the spite could only be shown in the arrangements made for his departure having transferred the Mercury which brought him out to the President Lord Cochrane had to ask for a vessel to take him from a genar where he was then staying to the Ionian islands or if he could not there find a suitable conveyance to Toulon en Marseille the Brig Persephone was gradually placed at his disposal I pray you my lord wrote Mavro Cordatos on the 8th of December if you were obliged to take her to Toulon en Marseille not to detain her at Navarino or Zante but to enable her to return with as little delay as possible to her work on the shores of western Greece Lord Cochrane, accordingly embarked in this vessel on the 10th no sooner was he on board however then he found himself treated with studied rudeness by her captain, Anoli Bauti exposed as he said to privations and insults which would not be allowed in the conveyance of convicts he had to put in at Poros on the same evening and then to address a complaint to the government then lodged in that island four days passed before he received a written answer to his letter and then it conveyed nothing but a formal intimation that another captain would be appointed in lieu of the obnoxious officer many personal communications however had passed in the interval by which was confirmed the suspicion formed by Lord Cochrane from the first that the captain's misconduct had been dictated by his superiors and that it had been a preconceived plan to try and send the first admiral of Greece for both title and function still belonged to him from her shores with every possible degradation he naturally resented this indignity he claimed that while he remained in Greece and until his office of first admiral was abrogated he should be treated with the respect due to his rank all he asked he urged was that he might be allowed to leave Greece at once if with such a show of honour from the people him he had done his best to serve as would free him from insult and the government from disgrace quote I assure your excellency he wrote to the president that I regret the occurrence of any circumstance that occasions uneasiness to you but I believe that on reflection you will clearly perceive that all which has occurred has been the work of others whose acts I could neither control nor foresee I waive my right to insist at present on any explicit recognition of my authority and though there is ample justification for my seeking more than I desire all that I demand of your excellency is for the sake of Greece not to suffer not to sanction your ministers in an endeavour to force me on to public explanations by persevering in the scandalous line of conduct which they pursue surely your excellency cannot be aware of the importance which navalmen attach to the continuance of the insignia of office whilst actually embarked within the limits of their station or you would not for an instant tolerate the attempt made to degrade me in the estimation of the high authorities and numerous officers here present in the port of Poros I respectfully await your excellency's official commands and warrant to strike my flag not founded on reasonings or assumptions which may prove fallacious or incorrect but dictated in explicit terms such as an officer can such as he ought to obey that Lord Cochran was not fighting with a shadow appears from a letter addressed to Dr. Goss on the 15th of December by Count Hayden then commanding the azov as representative of Russia in the bay of Poros as the affairs of etiquette are delicate he said I beg that you will inform me whether his lordship is still serving his first admiral of Greece or whether he has received his conju if he is still in her service and employ I shall rejoice to render him all the honors due to his rank in the other case I will pay him all the honors except the salute of Canon I beg that you will favour me with an answer in order that I may show his lordship all the honor that is due to him end quote Dr. Goss's answer though longer than Lord Hayden expected claims to be here quoted as it furnished an important tribute to Lord Cochran's worth and was all the more valuable in that the Russian officer, glad to do all in his power to render homage to a man whom the Greek government was now treating with childish insolence made it his own by publishing it in the naval archives of Russia quote Lord Cochran wrote Dr. Goss having arrived in March 1812 was in the national assembly at Troozine elected first admiral and commander in chief of the forces of Greece with independent and unlimited powers subsequently and after the election of Count Cabiodistrus as president the assembly decided that the admiral should be under the authority of the government until the arrival of the president during the year 1827 Lord Cochran fulfilled his duties with all the zeal all the accuracy and all the talent for which he is renowned but he found it impossible to achieve anything of importance, isolated as he was without sufficient funds except that of the Phil Hellenic committees and without the cooperation of the Greeks themselves at length having pledged himself not to interfere in internal politics he considered his presence in Greece useless until a firm government could be organised and deemed that he could render best service to the nation by advocating its interests in Western Europe he departed early in January after two months vainly awaiting the arrival of Count Cabiodistrus whom he informed of his expedition and asked for instructions he returned to France and England used all the means in his power to obtain fresh aid for Greece fitted out one of the steamboats that were being prepared in London took steps for the completion of the other two and after writing a second letter to the president which like the first one received no answer returned to Greece resolved to devote himself to her cause he was received with coldness and indifference neither lodging nor provisions nor employment were offered to him ignorant or evil minded commissioners were entrusted with their investigation and the government only took it in hand very tartly objections and disputes difficulties and contradictions accumulated and it was only after a delay of 60 days that his accounts were publicly and officially declared to be correct all that while he remained like a private person on board his steamboat manned only by six sailors in all the audiences that he had with the president he asked for instructions as to the position and work that he should assume to receive any definite answer during one interview which he had with Prince Mavrokondotos on board the Mercury in the port of Poros on the 1st of December the anniversary of the coronation of the Emperor of Russia he announced his intention of hoisting his flag on board of one of the national vessels as a public compliment to that sovereign and asked Mavrokondotos to inform the president of that intention but he received no answer he had during this period received numerous letters from the government and addressed to him as 1st Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the naval forces of Greece he afterwards went to Regina with messes Trey Coupez and Mavrokondotos to receive part of the money due to him and to hand over to the commission of Marine the steamboat Mercury that done he was embarked in a national vessel a miserable brig which had been seized as contraband badly repaired which had been sent to convey him to Navarino, Zanti, Toulon or Marseille this vessel was under the orders of a tear an ignorant and coarse man who long before at the expedition against Alexandria had acted in direct violation of the Admiral's orders and the crew was on par with the captain Lord Cochrane was instantly received by these people no place of safety was found for his baggage and his money, no food was provided even for the voyage from Regina to Poros will Lord Cochrane wish to take leave of the president at Poros the captain repeated his insults Lord Cochrane requested the president to release him but received no answer I'm sure Troy Cooper's even came on board and declared that the captain should continue his voyage and proceed to his destination Lord Cochrane then said that he would be master on board a vessel from whose mast flooded his Admiral's flag and that he would yield to nothing but the written orders of the president in order as he said that he might protect himself from the insolence of the servants of the government who sought to annoy him by the exhibition of poultry jealousy and forced him into a quarrel with the president the day before yesterday in the afternoon he had an interview with the president and Messrs, Troy Cooper's and Mavrukandotos being present he openly pointed out to him the intrigues of these officials and the dangers of the course in which they were leading him warmly and with the boldness of a good conscience he exposed their policy and expressed his views upon the organisation of the Greek navy he then repeated his wish to depart as soon as possible although he declared himself willing at any future time to serve Greece if she had need of him he also announced that he would at once take down his flag of authority if the president officially and directly required it but that if any charges were brought against him he should be compelled to remain in Greece until he had exculpated himself before the nation and obtained the punishment of the unworthy servants of the president for whom personally he declared that he had a profound respect while he commiserated his difficult and painful position in this interview Lord Cochran appeared to me to have a great advantage over his antagonists yesterday the Admiral's flag was still floating in the evening the president wrote him a letter in vague terms and contributing nothing to the end he had in view this morning Lord Cochran in his reply has again asked for authority to lower his flag if that is the will of the president but no orders have been received this precise statement of facts which have come under my own knowledge will I think make it easy for your excellency to arrive at conclusions contributing with the laws of etiquette end quote quote I have read your letter with pleasure and with pain wrote Admiral Hayden in answer on the same day for I am certain that Lord Cochran must have suffered greatly from the treatment to which he has been exposed in proof of my esteem I beg that he will send back to their kennels these miserable causes of his annoyance and proceed to Malta or Tizante if he wishes in one of my corvettes taking with him as large a sweet as he likes it cannot be too numerous as regards his salute I shall receive him with the honours due to his rank and with musical honours and at his departure I will man the yards but the salute of guns I cannot give him as he is not in naval authority Vice Admiral Mialas never received from me the honours which I hope to offer Lord Cochran I did not man the yards and did not give him a salute I hope I shall have the pleasure of seeing his lordship and that I can provide him a passage more agreeable than that proposed for him by Greece not content with sending that friendly message to Lord Cochran Admiral Hayden took prompt occasion to reprove Capodistras for his unworthy conduct Capodistras thereupon used his influence to Dr. Gross in bringing about at any rate a formal reconciliation between himself and Lord Cochran the result of which was that the latter received the official discharge that he desired and even offered to find him in another ship a better passage than would have been expected on board the prosopine Lord Cochran however preferred to accept Admiral Hayden's more generous invitation quote it is gratifying he said in a letter to Dr. Gross on the 18th of December that even the authority to which wicked men refer in proof of the rectitude of evil deeds fails to sanction infamous conduct alas if Capodistras suffers and he seems not inclined to oppose I say if he suffers the base intrigues of the faena to be introduced as the means of ruling a nation Grease must fall back if not into a darker state yet into a worse condition in so much as suspended anarchy is preferable to civil war end quote these prognostications proved correct Capodistras allowing others to direct him in ways of bad government entered on a policy which very soon led to his assassination to be followed by the milder rule of King Arthur on the 20th of December Lord Cochran left Poros in the Russian Corvette Gromachi probably placed at his disposal by Admiral Hayden and proceeded to Malta there he was worthily received by the British Admiral Sir Pultney Malcolm who offered him immediate conveyance to Naples in the Racer or in a week's time a passage direct to Marseille in the Etna believing that he would save time he chose the former alternative from Naples however he found it impossible to proceed to Marseille and was obliged on the 29th of January to embark in an English merchant vessel to Leghorn 11 days were spent in the short voyage and on reaching Leghorn he had to submit to 15 days of quarantine before being allowed to proceed to Paris there to rejoin his family the whole journey occupied nearly 10 weeks from Leghorn he wrote on the 15th of February to Chevalier Einard respecting Greece and her still unfortunate condition quote civilisation and internal order he said can make no steady progress in Greece unless the government can be supported by the present bands of undisciplined ignorant and lawless savages under existing circumstances Greeks who have attained the age of maturity are incapable of military organisation you have long known my opinion as to the necessity of sending foreign troops to Greece to maintain order you know that I preferred Swiss or Bavarian soldiers to those of the great pacificating powers because the latter cannot with propriety interfere in matters of police was paid by foreign countries they were too late to send small military establishments such as would have sufficed on the arrival of Capega distress because now they would be considered as oppressors then they would have been received as allies and friends the alternatives that must be pursued in the conduct relative to Greece now are to let the revolution work itself out as in South America or to leave six regiments in the country until the young men who were abroad shall be educated and the rising generation at home shall be somewhat civilised it is of no use to attempt to do good by half measures under the present circumstances of Greece Calakotronis is ready on the spot to take possession of Patras the moment it is evacuated Petro Bay who has been prosecuted in the court of admiralty for piracy is prepared to avenge himself by taking authority in Maina Condorio Tezames and all the other chiefs anxiously await the meeting of the assembly which they hail as the final hour of the president's authority Capodistris is ministers too who are no fools but on the contrary cunning men undoubtedly have similar views for they have taken every means to discredit, disgust and drive away every foreigner who by his conduct counsel or friendly intimation could avert the evil thus things are fast-tending towards a discreditable close of the president's administration Thank God wrote Lord Cochran three months later on the 17th of May to Dr. Goss who had also left Greece we are both clear of a country in which there is no hope of amelioration for half a century to come indeed immigration should take place to a great extent under some king or competent ruler appointed and supported by the governments of the mediating powers the mental fever I contracted in Greece has not yet subsided nor will it probably for some months to come Lord Cochran might well be suffering from mental fever nearly four years of his life had been spent to serve Greece and with very poor result to himself the issue had been wholly unfortunate even the pecuniary recompense to which he was entitled having been so reduced as to not meet the expenses to which he had been put partly through his generous surrender of the £20,000 which he was to receive on the completion of the work partly through the depreciation of the Greek stock in which out of sympathy for the cause he had invested the £37,000 paid to him on his engagement and to Greece the issues had been far less beneficial than he had hoped the tedious and wanton delays to which he had been subjected at starting whereby that starting was prevented for a year and a half had hindered his arrival in Greece till it was too late for him to do much of the work that had been planned the want of money and still more the want of patriotism courage and even common honesty on the part of nearly all the leaders with whom he was to cooperate and the officers and crews whom he was to command was to his ten months active service in Greece to compromise little more than a series of bold projects and projects which if they had been aided by brave men would have been as easy as they were bold in which he received none of the support that was necessary in which accordingly all his energy and genius could not make successful when after his visit to England and France he returned to Greece eager and able to render invaluable assistance in the organisation of the navy he was treated only with neglect and insolence from which at last he was enabled to escape through the generous sympathy of a Russian admiral much however he had done for Greece to his persistent entreaties were due all the meager displays of patriotism by which the government of the country was maintained and Capiodistras accepted as president and all the feeble efforts by which the war was carried on and the triumph of the port was averted until the direct interference of the Allied powers that interference had been in great measure induced by the report that he had entered the service of Greece so that to him was due not a little of the benefit that accrued from the whole course of diplomacy by which her independence was secured and the independence was made more prompt and complete than could have been expected by the fortunate circumstance of his having occasioned the collision between the forces of Turkey and those of the Allied powers which issued in the battle of Navarino much more he would have achieved had his arguments been listened to and his plans supported his failures no less than his successes bespeak his worth and of Chapter 22 recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast, Australia Chapter 23 of the life of Thomas Lord Cochran 10th Earl of Dundonald completing the autobiography of the seaman volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox born and others this Libra Fox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1828 to 1832 Lord Cochran's retirement from the service of Greece brought to a close his career as a fighting seaman with one brief exception occurring 20 years later when he commanded the British squadron in the North American and West Indian waters but when there was no warfare to be done the rest of his life comprising 30 years of ripe manhood and vigorous old age was passed without employment in the profession which was dear to him and which he had shown himself to be possessed of talents rarely equalled and certainly never surpassed he entered that profession at the age of 17 in 1800 when he was 24 he was promoted to the command of the speedy with that crazy little sloop no larger than a coasting brig he captured a large French privateer on the 10th of May and on the 14th he recaptured two English vessels that had been seized by the enemy on the 16th of June he took another French vessel and on the 22nd another with the prize which she had just obtained on the 29th he secured a large Spanish privateer in spite of five gunboats which fought in her defence on the 19th of July he captured another French privateer and rescued her prize and on the 27th he sunk another and on the 31st he put another to flight and took possession of the prize which she had in tow on the 22nd of September he seized another of the enemy's vessels on the 15th of December he wrecked one French warship and captured another of three which came to her assistance and on the 24th being attacked by two Spanish privateers he took one of them on the 16th of January 1801 he chased two vessels and seized one and on the 22nd two of the enemy's craft one French and one Spanish struck to him on the 24th of February a French brig fell into his hands the same fate was shared by another vessel on the 11th of April by another on the 13th and by two others on the 15th he captured a Spanish tartan and a Spanish privateer on the 4th of May and on the 13th occurred his celebrated victory over the Garmo carrying four times the tonnage six times the number of men and seven times the weight of shot possessed by the speedy which was soon followed by taking two other Spanish privateers heavily armed on the 9th of June the speedy and another little vessel had a nine hours flight first with a Spanish Z-beck and three gun boats and afterwards with a Falucco they came to their aid which were only allowed to escape when the English ammunition was nearly exhausted the speedy having discharged 1400 shot on the 3rd of July the pygmy vessel after hard fighting had to surrender to three French line of battleships it was on that occasion that their senior officer, Captain Palierre declined to accept the sword of an officer as he said who had for so many hours struggled against impossibility in his 13 months cruise Lord Cochran had with his little sloop of 14 four-pounders and a crew of 54 officers and men taken and retaken 50 vessels 122 guns and 534 prisoners his next ship the Arab was made to serve during 14 months in seas in which there was no work to be done but for the palace a fine frigate of 32 guns who was allowed to find remarkable employment he was first sent to the Azores with orders to limit his cruise to a month he captured one large Spanish vessel on the 6th of February 1805 the second on the 13th the third on the 15th the fourth on the 16th forced after that to be idle as far as price taking was concerned for more than a year he seized two French vessels on the 27th of March 1806 and another a few days later on the 6th of April he captured the Tapa Goose and on the 7th he chased three other Corvettes till they were driven unsure by their cruise and wrecked on the 14th of May the palace had her famous engagement with the French frigate Minerv and three Briggs the Lynx the Sylph and their Palinneur carrying 88 guns in all wherein she was so disabled that she was forced to return to Portsmouth to be refitted the Imperius being assigned to him in August 1806 Lord Cochran took two prizes on the 19th of December and a third on the 31st he was then ordered home and they detained till the autumn of 1807 on the 14th of November being again in the Mediterranean he captured a Maltese pirate ship and soon afterwards seized some other vessels being ordered to scour the French coast during the summer of 1808 he took numerous prizes on the sea and affected yet more important work on land with varying opposition but with unvaried success he wrote in his concise report to Lord Collingwood on the 28th of September the newly constructed semaphoric telegraphs which are of the utmost consequence to the safety of the numerous convoys that pass along the coast of France at Burding, La Pined, Sint Maguire, Frontingen, Cannae and Faye have been blown up and completely demolished together with their telegraph houses 14 barracks of gins to arms one battery and a strong tower on the lake of Frontignan the list of casualties was none killed none wounded once singed in blowing up the battery that work was followed by more of the same nature a famous episode in which was Lord Cochrane's occupation of the castle of Trinidad the zeal and energy with which he has maintained that fortress, wrote Lord Collingwood excite the highest admiration his resources for every exigengy have no end the splendid exploit with the fire ships in Basque Roads followed in 1809 and with that, Lord Cochrane's services to England as a seaman were brought to a conclusion official persecution kept him in idleness during the remaining period of the war with France and he was in the end driven to secretly from oppression at home and exercised for his talents by devoting himself to the cause of freedom in Chile, Peru, Brazil and Greece his unparalleled successes on both sides of the South American continent and the circumstances of his partial failure in Greece have been sufficiently detailed in previous chapters all through that time of virtual expatriation his dearest hope had been that England would, as far as possible retrieve the cruel wrong that had been done to him. Full redress was impossible the heavy cloud that had been cast over so many years if his most energetic manhood could not be removed by any tidy act of justice, but that tidy justice could at any rate be done to him and for this he strove with unabated zeal to this end he was partly occupied during his temporary absence from Greece in 1828 on the 4th of June he addressed a memorial to the Duke of Clarence then Lord High Admiral who just two years afterwards was to become King of England this memorial eloquent in its simplicity and earnestness that prelude to many others that were to be presented in later years claims to be here quoted in full to his Royal Highness the Lord High Admiral it ran the memorial of Lord Cochran Humbley-Showith that for 14 years your memorialist has suffered among many injuries and privations the loss of his situation rank as post captain in his majesty's navy in consequence of a verdict pronouncing your memorialist guilty of an offence of which he was entirely and absolutely innocent that during the whole course of your memorialists life up to the day on which he was charged with the crime of conspiring with others to raise false reports for the purpose of fraudulently affecting a rise in the price of the public funds the character and conduct of your memorialist were without reproach and numerous have been the transactions in which your memorialist has subsequently engaged he has amid all of them uniformly preserved though not an unassailed yet an unshaken and unsullied character that your memorialist has never ceased and never can cease to assert his absolute innocence of the crime of which he was pronounced guilty he asserts it now most solemnly as in the presence of Almighty God and certain he is that in every doubt be not dissipated in this world that when summoned to enter more immediately into that awful and infinite presence he shall not fail with his last breath most solemnly to assert his innocence that it was your memorialists consciousness of innocence that contributed perhaps more than any other cause to produce his conviction because it rendered him confident and much less careful in making the necessary preparations that he ought to have been or that he would have been if guilty while on the other hand there existed the utmost zeal industry and skill in the conduct of the prosecution that your memorialist did all that was possible to procure a revision of his case but as he had laboured under the disadvantage of being included in and tried under the same indictment with some who had probably no reason to complain of the result as well as the still greater disadvantage of having his defense splendid with theirs so as he denied a new trial for the same reason it being a rule of the court that a new trial should not be allowed to any individual tried for conspiracy unless all the parties should appear in court to join in the application which in the case of your memorialist could not possibly be some of the parties having quitted the country on the verdict being pronounced against them that your memorialist has never been able to obtain a read investigation of his extraordinary case nor to obtain redress in any way but now that your royal highness is lord high admiral and has among other illustrious acts distinguished yourself in that capacity by doing justice to meritorious officers your memorialist feels that he has everything to hope for from the magnanimity of your royal highness that it is indeed certain that nothing can be more repugnant to the feelings of your royal highness than that an individual who zealously devoted himself to the naval service of his king and country as your royal highness knows your memorialist to have done should be forever cut off from the service without the most unquestionable certainty of the rectitude of so severe an inflection so far therefore as depends on your royal highness your memorialist cannot but confidently hope that he shall not be doomed to remain all his life the victim of a verdict of which he has not only never ceased to complain but which he knows that he has proved to be unfounded to the satisfaction of those who have examined as well what was advanced against him at the trial as what he has since adduced in his own justification your memorialist therefore is encouraged most respectfully to solicit your royal highness to represent his case a case of peculiar and unprecedented hardship to his most sacred majesty and to advocate his cause and if happily for your memorialist his most sacred majesty recognising the innocence of your memorialist and taking his long-contracted and unmerited sufferings into his greatest consideration should of his most gracious pleasure vouchsafe to reinstate your memorialist in that rank and station in his royal navy which he previously held your memorialist will ever maintain the deepest and most grateful sense of his duty to his most sacred majesty and to your royal highness and will never cease to testify his gratitude by all means in his power that document was presented by Sir Robert Preston to the Duke of Clarence who promised to use every endeavour to obtain a reconsideration of Lord Cochrane's case he was unsuccessful Dear sir he wrote to Sir Robert Preston on the 14th of June immediately on the receipt of the memorial you brought from Lord Cochrane I sent it to the Duke of Wellington where the request it might be considered by his majesty's confidential servants and last evening I had a communication from his grace to state that the king's cabinet cannot comply with the prayer of the memorial I ever remain dear sir your sincerely William the harsh news was sent to Paris where the Lord Cochrane had gone in furtherance of his efforts for the assistance of Greece to Paris he returned as we have seen after his final departure from Greece and there he resided with his family for about six months he paid a brief visit to England in September 1829 but seen no immediate prospect of gaining the restitution of his naval rank and finding that idle life at home was especially irksome to him he soon went back to the continent the serious illness of Lady Cochrane induced him to pass the winter in Italy where by the same cause he was detained for several months he was in England again in the autumn of 1830 one motive for his return was the accession of the Duke of Clarence to the throne as King William IV the new sovereign's often expressed sympathy for him induced him to hope that now he had a better chance of obtaining the justice that had been so long withheld the change of sovereign's however was of smaller veil while the ministers who had summarily rejected his former memorial continued to have the direction of fares quote to petition or memorialize the king whilst his present ministers remain in office he wrote in a letter on the 10th of September would be to debase myself in my own estimation and I think in that of every man of sense and feeling I cannot petition again he said in another letter though I am assured from high authority it would be attended to so Robert Wilson and others have obtained favor but I who protested against the forging of charts and public waste of money have had no mercy shown Lord Cockrenas attained about this time that his memorial of 1828 though sent by the Duke of Clarence for the consideration of King George IV had never reached his majesty the cabinet having preferred to dismiss it at once he therefore had good reason for abstaining from further action until a more friendly ministry should be in power the long to wait on the 16th of November the Duke of Wellington's cabinet resigned in the administration which succeeded Earl Grey was the premier and Mr Bram raised to the peerage was Lord Chancellor Lord Cockren then lost no time in completing a review of his case which he had prepared for publication and in getting ready some early copies of the volume to be presented to the king and his ministers the king's copy was forwarded through Lord Melbourne the home secretary on the 10th of December accompanied by a brief petition assured that the memorial which I laid before your majesty when Lord High Admiral Lord Cockren was honored with your earnest consideration and that your majesty was graciously pleased to make an effort in my behalf with the desire of restoring me to my station in the navy assured too that had not ministers of the late most gracious majesty been opposed to the prayer of my memorial I should then have been restored and believing that no such obstacle to your majesty's favor would now be interposed I have every reason to hope that the auspicious moment is at length arrived when the redress which I have so long sought will be freely bestowed by my most gracious sovereign I beseech your majesty to condescend to receive the accompanying review of my case which I trust will prove to your majesty that I am not unworthy of that act of your majesty's favor which I humbly solicit it is not because I have undergone a sentence heavier than the law pronounced it is not because I have been deprived of 16 years of the rank and honors applied in the Royal Navy nor is it because I am deserving of any consideration on account of services to my king and country that I now presume to appeal to your majesty though no one is more likely than your majesty to feel for my sufferings and no one more competent to appreciate my services but it is because I had no participation in and no knowledge not even the most indistinct and remote of the crime under the imputation of which I have been so variously and so unceasingly punished it is this alone which impels me to approach your majesty and this alone which enables me it is not letter ends other copies of the review having been sent to the cabinet ministers with letters urging its favorable consideration Lord Cochran in nearly every case received a friendly answer I need not say wrote Lord Gray on the 12th of December that it would give me great satisfaction if it should be found possible to comply with the prayer of your petition this opinion I have expressed some years ago in a letter which I believe was communicated to you to the sentiments expressed in that letter I refer which if I remember right acquitted you of all blame except such as might have been incurred by inadvertence and by having suffered yourself to be led by others into measures of the consequences of which you were not sufficiently aware that rains more than a year was to be spent however in persevering effort before Cochran's claim for justice was acceded to objection was taken by some to the form in which his address to the king was worded it was a letter they said not a petition and Lord Cochran was distressed at hearing on the 18th that the document had been given back by his majesty to Lord Melbourne without any comment if I have erred in the form of my petition which was in the shape of a most respectful and dutiful letter to his majesty or as to the channel through which it should have been forwarded said Lord Cochran in a letter to Earl Gray written on the 23rd of December I have erred in judgment only and it would be hard indeed should redress not be accorded by reason of any informality in the mode of my application I have since been advised that my petition ought to have been forwarded through the first Lord of the Admiralty whom I have therefore solicited to present another petition the same in effect but more brief and in the regular form when his majesty was Lord High Admiral he received a memorial from me by the hands of Sir Robert Preston and though it had not the effect of procuring my restoration at that time yet from the gracious banner in which I am assured that it was received I did flatter myself that his majesty would have pleasure in the opportunity which appeared to present itself when your lordship's administration was formed over originating a measure which all would consider gracious and most I hope belief would be perfectly just in reference to the letter in answer to mine with which your lordship honoured me on the 12th instant which I cannot but perceive is written with a kindness of feeling which commands my best thanks I beg only to state the opinion of me in regard to the crime imbuted to me that does not fully equip me of all knowledge thereof whatever does not do me justice the crime was contrived and completed entirely without my knowledge that I had not the most distant idea of its having been meditated until I read of its commission in the public prints the letter ends in a brief reply to that letter Earl Grace stated that the petition having been presented to the king and being now under consideration no more formal address need to be sent in the law of it thus Lord Cochran had only to await the result of his application and he waited for 16 months during that interval many friends interceded on his behalf especially Lord Durham and Lord Auckland and from time to time his hopes were quickened by information that the subject was still being considered by his majesty's ministers who were anxious that rights should be done but he was often disappointed the king he said in a letter written on the 1st of April has invited all the knights of the bath to dine with him on the 12th which is the anniversary of the affair of Basque Roads as well as that of Gambia's installation if nothing is done on that day I shall not obtain justice during the life of William IV indeed I understand that every effort has been made to influence the king to my prejudice it is no letter ends I was at an evening party at the Marquess of Lansdownes on Friday Road Lord Cochran on the 25th of April and there I met with the Lord Chancellor who was very civil indeed and told me they had a battle to fight for me and hoped they would succeed since then the electors of the butter of Southwark have sent a deputation to beg me to stand but hearing that Brahms brother was also to be accented at I have declined opposing him I had a double motive for this line of conduct for had I been returned to Parliament I could not have consciously accepted a favour at the hands of the ministers of the Crown end quote service in the House of Commons soon after that made impossible to Lord Cochran his father archibald 9th Earl of Dundonald died on the 1st of July 1831 Lord Cochran then ceased to be a covener and became in succession when he was nearly 56 years old Earl of Dundonald as Earl of Dundonald however he found it no easier to obtain an answer to his demand for justice than as Lord Cochran in September he heard that his opponents were making use of some admiralty correspondence respecting his conduct in Chile nearly 10 years before he had once applied to Sir James Graham the First Lord of the Admiralty for extracts from his correspondence of any parts requiring explanation in order that he might furnish the same I beg leave to state wrote Sir James in reply that it is not usual for his Majesty's Government to produce from the records of the public officers documents which do not appear to be required for any public purpose I am therefore under the necessity of declining to comply with your Lordship's request is it not astonishing said Lord Dundonald in the letter to the Duke of Hamilton that Sir James Graham does not consider justice to an individual to be a public object tied at length by the delays in the settlement of his case Lord Dundonald wisely resolved to seek a personal interview with the King with that object he went down to Brighton and the interview was readily granted to him on Sunday the 27th of November he was graciously received and the King listened attentively to his respectful claim for fair investigation of the matter and for permission to rebut any charges that might have been bought against him respecting his conduct and connection with the Stock Exchange fraud his Chilean service or any other portion in his life that had been or could be complained of his Majesty promised to see that the case was fairly looked into and Lord Dundonald was not long in observing the good effects of his bold step Lady Dundonald has seen Lord Gray and he has expressed his readiness to do all he can he wrote from London on the 17th of December but I understand there is something in the way Burdette assures me he will bring the whole affair before Parliament if they do not do me justice there is no deterrence so Francis Burdette who never flagging in his friendship had rendered valuable assistance during these weary months continued in the same course to the end but it was not necessary for him to speak to Parliament in this case yet its settlement was further delayed I am unwilling to trespass on your Lordship's most valuable time wrote Lord Dundonald to Earl Gray on the 28th of January 1832 but as it is now two months since I had the honour of an audience with the King and of presenting to his Majesty my humble memorial setting forth my claims to be heard in my defence in refutation of the accusations existing against me in the Admiralty and praying that I might be furnished with copies of the accusatory documents I can no longer refrain from intruding your Lordship to relieve my mind from its present state of most painful suspense by making me acquainted with the decision of the Government from my knowledge of your Lordship's considerate feelings towards me and your desire should it be found practicable and just to restore me to my place in his Majesty's service and from that consciousness of my own integrity which has maintained me during so many years of adversity I cannot but be sanguine understanding the delay of an ultimately favourable result but the period of suspense is not only one of great mental anxiety but in other respects most injurious it places me in a position worse than that which I was in under the former administration which once decided to dismiss my complaint without consideration and spared me the uncertainty that makes the hut sick While those ministers were in power my character sustained no injury from their refusal to do me justice and public opinion must be that my case has received every consideration and that the ascertained justice of the verdict against me is the bar to my restoration This opinion already operates so much to my disadvantage and annoyance as to paralyse all my pursuits and will shortly compel me unless your Lordship spares me that sacrifice to quit a country of which I have never by any act of my life rendered myself unworthy and in the bosom of which unless called out again in her service I would feign the remainder of my life in tranquility The letter was delivered by the Countess of Dundonald who at this time as at all others laboured with rare energy and tact to lighten her husband's heavy load of suffering and to augment his scanty store of joy Lady Dundonald he wrote on the 6th of February has had a long talk with Lord Grey on the subject of my affair and it clearly appears that there are two individuals in the cabinet who will not give in it is now however determined that Lady Dundonald, I being out of town shall go to the king with a very proper memorial on her part praying that the stain on the family may be wiped away by a free pardon it is supposed this will succeed because in that case the king can exorcise his prerogative without other counsel than that of his prime minister who is favourable The letter ends That term free pardon was calling to Lord Dundonald he knew that he had done nothing which needed forgiveness it was just as pardon he sought he had suffered so much however from official formalities and his honest resentment of them that he now reluctantly consented to accept the virtual acquittal which was the great object of his hopes and toils though it might be couched in a phrase nonetheless distasteful to him because it was a phrase that from time immemorial had been used as a cloak for the withdrawal of official wrong his concession was successful the king he was able to write on the 4th of March has at last promised to do that which the late administration refused and the present ministry had not the power or courage to accomplish for this I am indebted to the zealous exertions of Lady Dundonald who has been at Brighton and has left Lord Grey and others no rest until her object was accomplished thus you see perseverance has done more than reason, right and justice the fact is that great folks neither read nor trouble themselves with judging from facts on subjects which do not immediately concern themselves there is no doubt that the review has never been looked into by one of the ministers the free pardon was promised on the 28th of February but was not formally granted until five weeks afterwards Lord Dundonald ascertained that one cause of the long delay in considering his case was the heat of party fight occasioned by the reform bill the government feared to show any kindness to a man whom the Tories had so long and so persistently reviled lest thereby they should lose of commons a few wavering votes that were important the reform bill passed the lower house for the second time at the end of March its final adoption being expected with less difficulty than arose it was now easier to do justice to Lord Dundonald I was happy to hear your memorial to the king read in council and referred to the Admiralty the Earl of Durham wrote to him on the 16th of April I trust we may eventually have the means of doing an act of private as well as of public justice and that I shall see you restored to that service of which you are the highest ornament but you well know that you have not only my best wishes but my warmest exertions for your attainment of that object the object was at last attained at a privy council held on the 2nd of May a free pardon was granted to the Earl of Dundonald he was restored to his position in the navy list and on the 8th gazetted as a rear admiral of the fleet in that capacity he was presented to King William IV at a levy held on the 9th of May and congratulations poured in from all quarters as soon as the good news was published but he could not even at the first moments of rejoicing forget that the cause of congratulation was only a pardon for an offense which he had never committed and for which he had been enduring heavy punishment during 16 years of his life end of chapter 23 recording by Timothy Ferguson Gold Coast Australia chapter 24 of the life of Thomas Lord Cochran 10th Earl of Dundonald completing the autobiography of a seaman volume 2 by Henry Richard Fox born and others this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Timothy Ferguson 1833 to 1847 Lord Dondonald's father the 9th Earl had devoted the chief energies of his long life to scientific pursuits which won for him not profit but well-earned fame and which proved of immense benefit to his own and succeeding generations by him was discovered the art of extracting tar from coal and out of that discovery was developed partly by him and partly by others the manufacture of gas first used for lighting his tar works the important chemical process of making alkali and crystals of soda was also introduced by him whereby a great impetus was given to the manufacture of glass and to many other important branches of industry he discovered the present method of preparing alum or sulfate of vitriol and suggested its substitution for gum senegal which has proved hardly less advantageous to the mechanical arts in 1795 he published a treatise the result of numerous and costly experiments on the connection between agriculture and chemistry which was almost the parent of all the later researchers that have issued in beneficial plans for improving the soil and invigorating the growth of crops and in various and important developments of scientific farming the 10th Earl of Dundonald inherited his father's mechanical and scientific genius the lamp invented by him in 1814 which introduced the principle upon which all later lamps for burning oil, naphtha and other combustibles have been constructed has already been referred to many other inventions and discoveries occupied his leisure during the years in which he was allowed to follow his profession both in British and foreign service footnote it is interesting to note that the recent introduction among us of the Turkish bath was due to Lord Dundonald having recovered said Dr. Goss in his treatise Dubane Turk from two attacks of intermittent fever I visited the islands of the archipelago until summoned to Naplia by Admiral Cochran who was then on board the little steamer Mercury there the air of the Gulf the marshy miasma bought on another attack of fever from which I feared a fatal issue Lord Cochran had the kindness to take me in his arms and to place me in the current of steam which caused me to perspire freely my illness disappeared as if by enchantment a similar service was rendered by Lord Dundonald to Mr. David Urkut whose attention was thus called to the advantages of the Turkish bath and who became its great advocate footnote ends forced upon him during the years following the return from Greece was chiefly devoted to further exercise of his inventive faculties to the wonderful invention known as his secret war plan illusion will presently be made his other most important mechanical pursuits had for their principal object the improvement of steam engines and other appliances for steamshiping almost his first reminiscence was of a visit in which when he was seven or eight years old he accompanied his father to Birmingham there to meet with James Watt and hear something of his memorable discovery apprehending in his youth the value of that discovery he never worried in his efforts to extend his usefulness the rising star built in 1818 under his directions and those of his brother Major Cochran for service in Chile he was the first steam vessel across the Atlantic and it was an additional disappointment to him amid all the misfortunes incident to his efforts to give adequate assistance to the Greeks in their war of independence that the ill-fated steamers which were to be his chief instruments therein failed through the indolence and incompetence of those to whom their construction was assigned it is not necessary here to detail the studies and experiments by which he afterwards sought to introduce a better steam engine for locomotive purposes than was then or is even now in general use his plan, not a new one though it had never before been made available in practice, was to substitute for the ordinary reciprocating engine a machine which should at once produce a circular motion of the many rotary engines he therefore offered to the notice of the world he wrote in 1833 none of stood the test of practical use and experience the cause of this uniform failure has been the great difficulty of obtaining within the machine a base of resistance on which the steam might act in propelling the movable piston he did not quite overcome this difficulty but he succeeded in producing what the foremost critic in this department of manufacture describes after a lapse of 30 years unrivaled for their development of ingenuity as the most perfect engine of the class that has yet been projected in this engines has the same authority an eccentric is made to revolve on an axis in the manner of a piston and two doors forming part for the side of the cylinder press upon the eccentric the points of these doors are armed with swiveling brasses which apply themselves to the eccentric and make the point of contact tight in all positions the revolving engine said Lord Cochran does not require any valve or slide consequently there is no waste of steam thereby neither is there any loss as in the space left at the top and bottom of the cylinders of reciprocating engines there is much less friction than arises from the sum of all the bearings required to convert the rectilineal force of the common engine to circular motion there are no beams, cranks, side rods connecting rods, parallel motions, levers slide valves or eccentrics with their nicely adjusted joints and bearings and thus the revolving engine is not liable even in one tenth degree to the accidents and hindrances of other engines as its parts pursue their course in perfect circles without stop or hindrance it is capable of progressive acceleration until the work performed equals the pressure of steam on the vacuum an advantage which the reciprocating engine does not possess the diminished bulk and weight and the absence of tremor add to the capacity buoyancy velocity and the durability of vessels in which it is placed the rotary engine did not satisfy all Lord Dunn-Donald's expectations but it took precedence of all others of the same sort and was of great service at any rate in directing attention to what he rightly considered to be the great want in worshipping namely vessels are the least possible bulk and the greatest possible strength speed and fighting power years were spent by him in attempting to bring it into notice at his own cost he fitted out a little steamboat which navigated the Thames but to perfect the invention were required more funds than he had at his command and he sought in vain for adequate assistance from others in January 1834 he wrote to Sir James Graham then First Lord of the Admiralty thanking him for his share in the restitution of his naval rank that had occurred nearly two years before and urging the cooperation of the government in perfecting an invention that promised to be of so much importance to the naval power of England you are not obliged to me for anything answered Sir James on the fifteenth I only am fortunate in being a member of a government which has regained for our country the benefit of your distinguished valor and services which if again required in war will I am persuaded be so exerted as to win the gratitude of the nation and demonstrate the justice of the decision to which you allude it is impossible to overestimate the paramount importance of steam in future naval operations and it is fortunate that you have directed so much of your attention to the subject as complied with your request and two engineers in whom we place reliance will be ordered to attend you end quote it does not appear however that the engineers did attend at any rate nothing was done by the Admiralty in aid of the invention either then or for many years after yet its ingenuity was acknowledged by all who investigated it and by naval authorities among the number the Earl of Minto when First Lord of the Admiralty sought to introduce it into the national ship building but official hindrances to great even for him to overcome stood in his way all he could do was to have it referred to competent judges and to receive the report in its favor I am commanded to acquaint your lordship wrote Sir John Barrow the secretary of the Admiralty to the Earl of Dunn Donald on the 20th of December 1839 that the opinions received of your revolving engine are favorable to the principal and that it has not been stated that there are any insurmountable obstacles to its practical execution end quote the insurmountable obstacles were in the stoddard resistance of subordinates to any novelty designed to lessen labor and promote economy Lord Minto when out of office was able to speak of the engine in more approving terms then he could adopt in his official capacity I need hardly say he wrote on the 6th of September 1842 that the report of continued success in your rotary engine gives me great pleasure not only upon your own account but as promising a valuable addition to our naval power in its application to ships of war as a high pressure engine the complete success of your plan has I believe been recognized by all who have attended to it and it is in this form that I had contemplated its application in the first instance as an auxiliary and occasional power in some ships of war end quote at length though not with all the energy that he desired Donald's engine was put to the test by the Admiralty during the Earl of Haddington's tenure of office in that department in May 1842 he was invited by the new First Lord who in common with all the world was aware of the zeal and intelligence with which he had devoted himself to the consideration a very branch of naval science to communicate his opinions thereupon the first result of this invitation was a letter showing remarkable discernment of evils than existing and curiously anticipating some later efforts to make them the slow progress wrote Lord Donald on the 7th of June which the naval service has made towards its present ameliorated state he had far from perfection has not permitted any one board of Admiralty in my time to stand preeminently distinguished for decisive improvements these have rather been affected by gradual changes which time occasions or by following the example of America or even of France than by encouraging efforts of native genius this has arisen from causes easily remedied one of which is that the rejection or adoption of profit improvements has depended on the decision of several authorities who consequently feel little individual responsibility and imagine themselves liable to censure only for a change of system thus my Lord is still heavier responsibility has in fact been incurred by continuing long after the most superficial observation demanded a change to construct small ships of the line and little frigates which the great practical skill and bravery of our countrymen were taxed to defend against the powerful 80 gun ships of France and the large frigates of America this timidity as to change cause many years to elapse after the commercial use of steam vessels before the naval department possessed even a tug boat hence the mischievous economy manufactured by the purchase of worthless merchant steamers hence the subsequent parsimonious project of building small steam vessels fitted with engines immersed beyond their bearing and deficient in every requisite for purposes of war I am not one of those my Lord who deem it advantageous to act on the belief that one Englishman can be two Frenchmen I am inclined to doubt whether a practical demonstration of that saying might not be attended with disastrous consequences long habititude reared experienced British officers who are now replaced by others who possess less analytical skill and are near on par with those of France in regard to his education every pains has been taken by its government I do not presume to advise that your lordship should adopt any changes precipitately nor without consulting those who may be most competent to judge nor even then that the best measures should be prematurely disclosed so as to give intimation to other nations of the vast increase of power which may suddenly be rendered available I venture to suggest that you may quietly prepare the means of effecting purposes which neither the ordinary ships of war nor the present steamships in the navy can accomplish permanent blockades my lord are now quite out of the question and so in my opinion are all our ordinary naval tactics a couple of heavy line of battleships suddenly fitted on the outbreak of war with adequate steam power would decide the successful result of a general action and I am assured that I could show your lordship how to fit a steamship which in scouring the channel or arranging the coast could take or destroy every steamship belonging to France that came within view that offer was accepted by the Earl of Haddington who being at Portsmouth in August made personal inspection of some experiments in which Lord Dundon Lord was there engaging and the result of that inspection was that he promptly arranged for the introduction at the public expense of the rotary engine in the fire fly a small steam vessel which like many others the government had bought and found useless by reason of its clumsy machinery in her with no more than the usual delay occasioned by the cooperation of official routine with private enterprise in which Lord Dundon Lord had the assistance of Mr. Renton and Mrs. Brama the experiment was tried and found to answer so well in spite of the difficulties incident to a first attempt that it was resolved to develop it further in a frigate to be built throughout in accordance with his plans for the improved construction of shipping to these he had lately made some valuable additions on the 19th of January 1843 a patent was granted to him for various improvements in engines and other machinery one of which was an apparatus for propelling vessels this improved propeller says a competent authority consists of an arrangement of propelling blades emerged beneath the water in the manner now usual in screw vessels but instead of the blades being set at right angles with the propeller shaft they form an angle there with one important effect of this arrangement is that it corrects the centrifugal action of the screw for whereas in common screws the water which is discharged backwards assumes a conical figure enlarging as it recedes in a screw formed by Lord Dondon Lord's plan the outline of the moving water will be cylindrical the centrifugal action being counteracted by the convergent action due to the backward inclination of the propelling blades it is found practically that screws constructed upon this principle give a better result than ordinary screws another invention patented by Lord Dondon Lord at the same time was a modification of the boilers used for steam engines these boilers says the same critic are constructed with a double tier of furnaces with the upright tubes and water being contained within the tubes and the smoke impinging upon them on its passage to the chimney this species of boiler is found to be very efficient a hanging bridge is introduced to retain the heat in the upper part of the flue in which the tubes are erected by inserting a short piece of tube in the upper extremity of each tube within the boiler the upward circulation of the water within the tubes was increased as the length of the lighter column of water was augmented while the length of the gravitating column remained without alteration footnote John Bourne a treat is on ship building 1861 page 233 these boilers extensively used in London America and elsewhere and now introduced in the Admiralty ship building have been greatly improved by Lord Donald's son Captain the Honourable A. A. Cochran C. B. I believe he said in a letter to Lord Huntington dated on the 22nd of May 1843 that all our old vessels of war save the class of 80 gun ships and a few first-rate and large frigates are almost worthless whilst our steam department is deficient in most of the properties which constitute effective vessels no blockades worthy of the name can now be maintained by fleets of sailing ships nor can accompanying steamships be kept for months and years even in approximate readiness awaiting the distant night when it may suit the enemy to attack our blockading force or quietly slip out in the dark in order to assail our commerce in other quarters I have my Lord during the last 12 years actually dispersed to the great inconvenience of my family upwards of 16,000 pounds to promote nautical objects which appeared to me of importance your lordship knows their nature and it is in no way difficult to ascertain their reality I consider that several if not all of our line of battleships should have the benefit of mechanical power say to the extent of 100 horses the machinery to be placed out of the reach of shot the construction of new ships on the best lines that could be found would prove more judicious than repairing old ones however apparently cheap such repairs may be for a few powerful and quick sailing ships are preferable to a multitude which can either successfully chase or escape from an enemy end quote that allusion to the best lines of shipbuilding and some of Lord Dundonald's other views on naval architecture will be explained by another letter written by him to Lord Haddington three months before on the 20th of February I have lately he said submitted to the consideration of Sir George Coburn and Axiom for the uniform delineation of consecutive parabolic curves forming a series of lines presenting the least resistance in the submerged portion of ships and vessels and Axiom never before so applied in naval architecture as is manifest from the discrepant forms of our ships of war I also offered to Sir George's attention a new propeller and method of adapting propellers to sailing ships in her majesty's service free from the disadvantages of paddle wheels and from the injurious consequences of lessening the buoyancy and weakening the strength of the after part of ships by a prolongation of the dead wood and by cutting a large hole through it for the insertion of the Archimedean's screw the favorable impression made on the mind of Sir George and my own deliberate conviction of the importance of these improvements and of others then briefly touched on led me by reason of the lamented indisposition of that talented officer now personally instead of through him to offer them to your lordship's attention the French as your lordship is well aware are making great exertions to advance their steam department especially in the Mediterranean where calms are frequent and their coal is abundant doubtless in the hope of thereby preventing the future blockade of Toulon and keeping open their intercourse with Algiers which would be equivalent to possessing the dominion of the Mediterranean sea where a British blockading fleet of sailing ships must under such circumstances themselves be protected in saying this my lord I beg to be understood as by no means deprecating the capabilities of our common ships of war whilst they possess the power of motion but as holding them to be quite unfit for blockades and exposed to great peril where calms are frequent currents and long duration indeed it may be worthy of your lordship's serious consideration whether in another point of view it might not be judicious to place steam engines in some at least of our line of battleships in order to divert the attention of foreign nations from the exclusive employment of mechanical propelling power to the purposes of naval war whereby British officers and seamen deprived of the means of displaying their superior skill become reduced to a par with the train bands of continental states I have prepared a model in bronze of a steam frigate possessing peculiar properties founded on the before mentioned axiom which I do not hesitate to submit to your lordship would save vast sums wasted in the construction of inferior ships and vessels by enabling the Admiralty on unerring data to stereotype if I may use the expression every curve in every rate or class of ships and so impose on constructors the undeviating task of adhering to the lines and models scientifically determined on by their lordships footnote the following statement of Lord Dunseneys axiom accompanied the model which was submitted to the Admiralty it is universally admitted that a sharp bow and clear run contribute to the speed of vessels but what the consecutive lines ought to be in order to constitute a perfect bow or what those to form the run no builder has yet exemplified by uniformity of practice or theoretically defined ship delineators profess the art as a mystery and arbitrary forms are assumed as the result of science these lines ought to be by an axiom founded on a law imposed by infinite wisdom for the perfect guidance of inanimate matter projectiles thrown obliquely take their flight in convex parabolic curves wherein resistance is overcome by a minimum of force and elastic surfaces obey the converse of that law in opposing certain external influences it is a property of conic sections that a straight line centered in the apex and cause to circumscribe the surface of the cone will apply itself continuously to all consecutive parabolic curves hence curves similar to the flight of projectiles and to those formed by the flexion of elastic surfaces may be described on a large scale simply by causing a straight line or beam to revolve as on the axis of a cone in contact with a parabolic or elliptical section thus a consecutive series of convex parabolic or elliptical curves may be substituted in ship building for hollow fantastical lines the benefits from which application are increased velocity capacity, strength, buoyancy facility is steering ease in hard seas and exemption from braking or hogging diagrams and explanations thereof accompany this concise statement of the principle footnote ends I have never been satisfied with the properties of these vessels much as their construction has undoubtedly been improved of late years it is certainly a difficult subject because some of the qualities essential to a vessel under sail can only be obtained by some deviation from the form calculated to give the greater the better the quality of a vessel under sail can only be obtained by some deviation from the form calculated to give the greater speed under steam and I consider fair sailing powers so as under all circumstances to keep company with the fleet as not less important than speed and power as a steamer the best combination of these different qualities or that which will upon the whole produce the most serviceable ship is yet to be sought I think also the insufficient consideration has not yet been given to the correction of that very grievous defect the great uneasiness and excessive rolling of all these vessels from the low position of the weights they carry there is another object in connection with your engine which I had constantly in view I mean its adoption in the high pressure form to our ships of war in general it was my intention had I remained in office to have fitted a frigate with one of your high pressure engines not very high however with a view with the experiment answered to the introduction of an occasional steam power to all ships of the line I believe you and I may probably differ as to the amount of steam power it might be advisable to give such ships and that you would wish to steam the vanguard or the queen at the rate of 10 miles an hour my wishes are much more humble and I should be perfectly satisfied with an amount of power sufficient to give steerage underway in all circumstances to carry the ship in or out of action and to afford her some assistance in clearing off a lee shore something about equivalent to five knots an amount of power that might probably be obtained together with some fuel for occasional use without encroaching too much upon the stowage of the ship I shall be extremely glad if you can induce Lord Haddington to direct his attention to this object end quote Through the latter part of 1843 and the whole of 1844 Lord Dunn Donald was chiefly occupied with the construction of the Janus the steam frigate which was being built and fitted upon his plans she was shaped in accordance with his lines in her were introduced both his revolving engines and his improved boilers I've just returned from Chatham he wrote to a friend on the 6th of April 1844 where everything regarding the Janus is going very well indeed and I have further good news to tell you the Admiralty are so pleased with my parabolic lines for shipbuilding that they have ordered a drawing to be made immediately of a frigate of the first class in order to have one construct it end quote hopeful that at last his long cherished ideas would bring benefit both to himself and to the nation he had in these months much to encourage him all is going on as well as I could wish or even as I could accomplish were destiny at my command he wrote on the 31st of May the Portsmouth engines now meet the approbation of all the authorities of the Yard and the Admiralty are so satisfied that they have given me the building of a steamship to put them in in lieu of placing them in the old firefly nothing he said in a letter written a week or two later can exceed the perfection of the work which the Brahmas have put into the Janus's engines the experimental engine at Portsmouth he wrote on the 3rd of July continues to perform admirably beating all others in the Yard in point of vacuum which you know is the test of power the engines will commence being put together in 10 or 14 days we read in another letter dated on the 10th of July after that we shall make rapid progress the Janus is now completing being coppered and having the part of a deck laid down which was left off for the purpose of getting the boilers on board my patent boilers will be tried by authority of the Admiralty about the 20th and I hope for a favourable result the trial postponed till the 1st of August was satisfactory we have tried the boilers of the Janus he wrote on that day and the result is most triumphant having with slack firing 10 and a half pounds of water evaporated by each pound of coal I have just returned from Portsmouth he had written 5 days before where I had the pleasure to find my engine exceeding even all that he had done before the vacuum with all the work on being 28 and a half 2 inches above that of any other engine in the dockyard Mr. Taplan the chief engineer is quite delighted with it Sir George Coburn and Sir John Barrow permanent secretary of the Admiralty saw my engine yesterday he wrote on the 24th of October concerning the machine being built by the Brahmas for the Janus and so did Lord Brahm all of whom were well pleased with my explanation of its principles and the appearance of the workmanship it is now being pulled to pieces in order to its being sent to Chatham and set up on board the Janus whose boilers by my request are again to be officially tested as to their evaporative power and that too by the Woolwich authorities whose boilers have been beaten one third by the evaporation of mine this request must show the Admiralty my confidence the correctness of the former trial for there is no doubt the Woolwich people would condemn it if they could the second and crucial trial to place on the 9th of November and the results exceeded a like Lord Don Donald's expectations and those of the official judges to whom failure would have been most pleasant all matters as regards my engines he wrote on the 20th of November are going on well I hope soon to hear something satisfactory from the Admiralty on the subject of the boilers respecting which they have until now pursued the most profound silence withholding the triumphant result which has surpassed the product of the far-famed Cornish boilers in evaporative power in quote those extracts from Lord Donald's letters to the friend with whom he corresponded most freely will suffice to show in what temper he watched the progress of his inventions during 1844 at the close of the year he hoped that his labors to bring them into general use were now nearly at an end but as soon as he was disappointed the Woolwich authorities who had at the time expressed their approval of the boilers sent in an adverse report to the Admiralty and Lord Donald had to wait several months before he could disprove the statements made against them and opposition of the same sort the common experience of nearly every inventor encountered him at every turn and had again and again to be overcome his port to Muth engine continued to work well but in September 1845 he learned that a malicious trick had been resorted to to prevent it working better on a recent examination of the pumps in the well wrote Mr. Taplan the engineer to our utter astonishment we found in the middle suction pipe an elm plug driven in so tight that we were obliged to bore and cut it out the plug stopped that suction pipe effectually and from its appearance must have been there from the time the pumps were first put in motion as proof of this we never had such a supply of water as at present and that is only an illustration of the obstacles accidental or designed that occurred to him by them the Janus was delayed for a whole year she was to have been completed in 1844 but this was not done until the end of 1845 I have just returned Lord Donald was able to write on the 24th of December from a nine day strip in the Janus the result of which has been successful both in regard to the properties of the engines and those of the lines on which she has been constructed nothing can exceed the beauty of her passage through the water without even a ripple far less the wave which ordinary steamboats occasion that success however was followed by a long series of disasters the weight of the Janus had been miscalculated and though she could proceed admirably in smooth water she was found to lie so low that there was constant danger of her being wrecked in rough seas and bad weather other faults incident to the bringing together for the first time of so much new workmanship were also discovered she had to be returned to dock and fresh hindrances of every sort during the two following years each hindrance being attended by tedious correspondence or controversies with petty functionaries jealous of a stranger's interference and only eager to bring discredit upon his work much discredit did result loud complaints were made concerning the waste of public money resulting from Lord Cochrane's experiments and on him of course nearly all the blame was thrown all this added to his previous difficulties in securing for his boiler and engine and he noticed all was very grievous to him every complaint and every entreaty from him was met by a new excuse and a new reason for delay ten days are always added he said in one letter and ten days yet are said to be required the days became weeks and the weeks became months and still the Janus was incomplete she was unfinished when Lord Dunn-Donald left England for more than two years in order to fulfill the duties assigned to him as commander-in-chief of the North American and West Indian Squadron and his absence caused a final abandonment of the works the tedious process of her construction however to which only sufficient reference has here been made to serve as illustration of one phase of Lord Dunn-Donald's life was attended by many good results to himself she bought only trouble and expense but the obstacles thrown in her way and in his did not deter private adventurers from acting upon some of the principles developed in abortive attempts at her completion by public functionaries Lord Dunn-Donald's inventions his revolving engine his screw propeller his boiler and his lines of shipbuilding have all proved useful in themselves and have been of yet greater use in their influence upon the improved mechanism of our generation to him must be attributed no slight share in the revolution that has been affected in the materials for Nathan warfare of the superiority of steam as to warships he was one of the first advocates his own rotary engine was never extensively adopted and was superseded by other engines which liking the great merit of direct action upon the paddles that it was his object to attain had other and greater merits of their own but in their adoption his great object was realized seeing that the object was not his own a grandisement but the development of the naval strength of England end of chapter 24 recording by Timothy Ferguson Colcoast Australia