by Sam Willis
APPENDIX I
The Secretaries of the Admiralty
PHILIP STEPHENS (1723–1809)
18 JUNE 1763 – 3 MARCH 1795
Born on 11 October 1723 in Essex, the third and youngest son of Nathaniel Stephens and Ellis Deane, Stephens may have followed his eldest brother Tyringham into the navy’s victualling office, but certainly worked in the Navy Office from July 1739, beginning as a clerk of storekeepers’ accounts. He continued in the Navy Office for over 10 years, having transferred to the ticket office in January 1741. He became secretary to George Anson, perhaps after impressing the Commodore by resolving payroll problems following Anson’s recent voyage around the world.
Stephens became First Clerk of the Admiralty in April 1751, having been chosen over other clerks with many more years’ experience. In 1752 he accompanied Anson, who had been charged with escorting the King across the Channel, and the two worked together again for four months in 1758 when Anson commanded the Channel Fleet. During this time Stephens worked on behalf of others as a prize agent, a role in which he accumulated a substantial personal fortune.
In October 1759 Stephens was made Second Secretary of the Admiralty and in June 1763 he was promoted to First Secretary. During his 21 years in this pivotal role, he served 10 of the Admiralty’s First Lords and enjoyed responsibility both within the office and in the regulation of the business that went to the board. Lord Sandwich became dependent on his diligent Secretary, turning to Stephens at the first hint of crisis. The Secretary’s power and influence annoyed Charles Middleton, Comptroller of the Navy, but Sandwich continued to rely on Stephens. In 1781, for example, when the French and Spanish fleets united in the Channel, it was Stephens who drafted the admirals’ orders following a house call from Sandwich. As a high-ranking official, Stephens inevitably attracted negative attention, and was involved in political scuffles with Samuel Barrington and, in 1778, with future First Lord Augustus Keppel.
Stephens was MP for Liskeard from December 1759 to 1768, and then represented Sandwich from 1768 until 1806. He was known for taking good care of his constituents, but preferred to keep out of the spotlight. Indeed, no record exists of Stephens having spoken in the House in 45 years.
Stephens was an influential figure in the field of exploration, beginning with the first voyage of James Cook. It was he, with the assistance of Hugh Palliser, who made Cook’s selection possible. The botanist Joseph Banks used Stephens’s unusual influence to sidestep the unhelpful Sir Edward Hawke, then First Lord, during preparation of the Endeavour. His support of the expedition was recognised by the naming of Cape Stephens and Stephens Island in New Zealand’s Cook Strait. The explorer George Vancouver also named an island after him in Chatham Sound.
In March 1795, aged 71, Stephens resigned his Secretaryship and was subsequently created a baronet. His membership of the Board of Admiralty fell during a period of political instability, particularly the administration of Lord St Vincent, in the course of which both Secretaries tried to resign at once. His wealth of experience led to the King’s 1804 request to Viscount Melville, recently appointed First Lord, to keep Stephens on as Commissioner, despite his advanced age.
After 67 years of service, Stephens’s administrative stamina was finally exhausted and he resigned his post in October 1806. He received a yearly pension of £1,500. Stephens died three years later, on 20 November 1809. He remained a bachelor throughout his life, but fathered two illegitimate children, both of whom died prematurely. His son died in a duel aged 20 in 1790 while his daughter Charlotte died in childbirth in 1805. With no living descendants, the baronetcy became extinct. Stephens was buried next to his daughter in Fulham.
SIR EVAN NEPEAN (1752–1822)
3 MARCH 1795 – 21 JANUARY 1804
Born on 19 July 1752 at St Stephens, near Saltash, Cornwall, the second son of Nicholas Nepean and his second wife Margaret Jones, Nepean joined HMS Boyne as a civilian clerk in December 1773, and in October 1775 was made Purser aboard the Falcon at Boston. The next year he joined Admiral Molyneux Shuldham and returned with him to Spithead in February 1777. In April of that year Nepean became Purser and secretary to Lord Shuldham in the Ocean. Rather than continue with Shuldham on his appointment as Port Admiral in Plymouth, by special resolution of the Admiralty Board Nepean joined the Achilles as Purser in February 1778. He then served on the Hero and the Foudroyant, where he remained until June 1782. In that month Nepean married Margaret (or Harriett) Skinner, who bore him six sons and two daughters.
In March 1782 Nepean enjoyed a radical promotion by Lord Shelburne, becoming Under-Secretary of State at the recently established Home Office. Such major career advancement suggests that he had undertaken some intelligence work as well as fulfilling his duties as a purser. In his new role, Nepean was involved in planning botanical expeditions, notably Bligh’s breadfruit quest in the Bounty, as well as being responsible for matters such as Irish governmental regulation and arrangements for the first convict settlement in New South Wales. Nepean was nominally responsible for the money paid for Foreign Secret Service, though the actual payments were made by the Chief Clerk, William Pollock. During the 1780s Nepean also appointed William Clarke and 12 others to keep an eye on potential dissidence in London.
An extensive workload with wide-ranging responsibilities was detrimental to Nepean’s health and, from 1789, he required annual periods of convalescence at Bath or in the country. Two sinecure appointments had Nepean first as Naval Officer in Grenada, Dominica and Barbados and, subsequently, in the better-paid position of Clerk of the Peace and Chief Clerk of the Supreme Court in Jamaica, a title that remained with him until 1819. The Jamaican appointment had been secured by Lord Grenville, both in appreciation of Nepean’s dedication and out of concern for his health. In the Home Office Nepean was relieved by the division of labour afforded by the addition of William Huskisson and John King. Nepean maintained personal friendships with both William Pitt and Henry Dundas, and worked closely with King George III, who valued his discretion.
In 1794 Nepean left his post at the Home Office to join Dundas and Huskisson in the new Department of War and Colonies. The indefatigable Nepean was appointed Secretary of the Admiralty in 1795, but remained an influential figure in foreign and home secret service. In 1797, for example, he was chosen by the King to take sole charge of the nautical arrangements for a secret plot to invade Spanish settlements in South America.
Nepean entered parliament for Queenborough in 1796 and went on to represent Bridport from January 1802 until 1812. In July 1802 he was created a baronet and two years later became a privy councillor. Nepean’s involvement in the 1803–4 conspiracy to depose Napoleon met with naval disapproval. His 1804 appointment as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland also proved unsuccessful. Nepean lacked parliamentary experience and this was exacerbated by his unpopularity with Lord Hardwicke, who accused Nepean of indecision and criticised his intimacy with the King. Nepean left Ireland in May 1804 and in September returned to the Admiralty as a junior Lord.
Nepean’s official career ended in February 1806, but he remained a privy councillor and in 1812 accepted the Governorship of Bombay. Seven years as Governor were advantageous to his botanical interests and gave him the opportunity to correspond with the botanist Sir Joseph Banks about samples of plants and seeds sent to England, including the best varieties of teak and any number of flowering plants from India’s western coast. In May 1820 Nepean became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He died on 2 October 1822 and was buried at Loders Court, near Bridport.
WILIAM MARSDEN (1754–1836)
21 JANUARY 1804 – 24 JUNE 1807
Born on 16 November 1754 in County Wicklow, Ireland, to John Marsden, a banker and shipping merchant, and his second wife Eleanor Bagnall, Marsden was classically educated in Dublin and intended for a career in the church. Instead he joined his eldest brother, John, as a Writer in the service of the East India Company at Fort Marlborough in Sumatra. Marsden arrived in Sumatra i
n May 1771 and began his career in the Secretary’s office. In January 1774 he assumed full secretarial duties to the East India Company’s Sumatran government but formal appointment only came in October 1776. Marsden resigned his post and returned to England in December 1779, where he began to dedicate his time to the arts, as well as to parliament and the law courts.
In March 1780 Marsden became acquainted with the botanist Sir Joseph Banks, the scientist Charles Blagden and the hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple among others, and was invited to attend meals and meetings at the Royal Society, as well as regular breakfasts hosted by Banks at his Soho Square residence. In 1783, inspired by the intellectual milieu at Soho Square, he published his History of Sumatra, a book based on his own records from his service at Fort Marlborough. The History established Marsden as an able writer and displayed a scholarly treatment of zoology, linguistics and botany.
In 1783 Marsden formally left the East India Company. In January 1783 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in December 1785 a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. That year also saw him involved in the foundation of the Royal Irish Academy and in June 1786 he received an honorary doctorate in civil law at Oxford. Marsden became a member of the Royal Society Club in August 1787 and held the position of Treasurer from 1788 until 1804. A dedicated orientalist, he studied several languages and used vocabulary lists brought to England by ships’ officers on return voyages to supplement his knowledge.
In February 1795 Marsden accepted the Second Secretaryship of the Admiralty, but remained committed to his intellectual pursuits; he was elected to the Literary Club in 1799, and in 1803 became Treasurer of the Royal Society. Then, in 1804, Marsden postponed his retirement to become First Secretary. In this role he reported the victory at Trafalgar and the death of Nelson to Lord Barham, then First Lord of the Admiralty. An enthusiastic numismatist, Marsden made a significant addition to his collection of oriental coins in September 1805 with the purchase of Sir Robert Ainslie’s Kufic coin collection. Marsden resigned from the Admiralty in June 1807 and in August married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Charles Wilkins who was to become librarian of the East India Company and shared Marsden’s interest in oriental languages and literature. The marriage produced no children.
In November 1810 Marsden gave up his roles as Treasurer and Vice-President of the Royal Society. That year he had moved to his residence at Edge Grove in Hertfordshire, and went on to spend his married years writing and publishing works including his Dictionary of the Malayan Language (1812) and The Travels of Marco Polo (1818), the latter a translation from the Italian, and two volumes of Numismata orientalia illustrata (1823 and 1825). In 1827 Marsden arranged for the printing of a catalogue of his own library entitled Bibliotheca Marsdeniana philological et orientalis, a work intended to further the study of oriental languages and literature. Works on Polynesian languages and lexicography followed, and he also wrote papers for academic journals. From 1831 Marsden gave up his annual Admiralty pension of £1,500, as he felt he had amassed enough in the way of personal wealth for a comfortable life. In July 1834 he gave his enormous oriental coin collection to the British Museum, and the contents of his library were presented to King’s College, London in January 1835.
Marsden died on 6 October 1836 of apoplexy, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. He was survived by his wife, who went on to edit and publish the wonderful A brief memoir of the life and writings of the late William Marsden (1838).
APPENDIX II
The Royal Navy’s Prizes
This appendix provides a list of all the enemy’s ships of war taken by the Royal Navy between 1794 and 1806 in the actions in this book and registered as such by the Admiralty. ‘Prize’ is understood in the contemporary sense of taken, sunk, burnt, or destroyed, including those that escaped after capture. The prizes are listed here in
The Glorious First of June, 1794
Achille (74)
Dispatch folio 12 Name in dispatches L’Achilles Taken by Brunswick and Ramillies Built and launched December 1777 to January 1779, Brest, as Annibal; launched 5 October 1778 Size 1478 / 1500 / 2939 tonnes; 1818 58/94 tons BOM Armament (from 1793): 28x36, 30x18, 16x8 + 4x36 obusiers + 6x1 perriers Complement 11–17 officers, 690/734 men Complement in the action 800 men under Guillaume-Jean-Noel la Villegris Casualties 36 killed, 30 wounded ‘Nature of the prize’ 74 guns Purchased for £7,964 0s 6d Bounty awarded £4,000 0s 0d Prize money awarded £60,000 for the Sans Pareil, Juste, Impéteux, Achille, América, and Northumberland to the warrant officers, petty officers and foremastmen, ‘in part of the money to be paid for the purchase and for the bounty due to the captors’, by royal warrant of 22 June 1794 Brought to Portsmouth Crew confined at Plymouth (Prudent) Fate Purchased, October 1794 but repairs estimated at £40,231 and 13–14 months so never fitted for sea by the RN; broken up at Plymouth, February 1796. Notes Name changed in 1786. Sister ship of the Northumberland. Sources ADM 2/272; ADM 7/354; ADM 18/121; ADM 43/33; ADM 43/80; ADM 103/503; ADM 106/2219; ADM 106/2220; HCA 8/89; London Gazette no. 14055 (16 October 1797); Gardiner, Fleet Battle and Blockade; Demerliac; Lyon; Roche; Winfield.
América (74)
Dispatch folio 12 Name in dispatches L’Amerique Name in RN service Impeteux (see Fate) Taken by Leviathan Built and launched end 1786 to 1789, Brest; launched 21 May 1788 Size 1537 / 1550 / 3069 tonnes; 1884 26/94 tons BOM Armament (in 1793/4): 28x36 (30 ports), 30x18, 16x8 + 4x36 obusiers + 6x1 perriers Armament in RN service (in 1796): LD 30x32, UD 30x18, QD 2x18 + 14x32cr, FC 2x18 + 4x32cr, RH 6x18cr ‘Nature of the prize’ 74 guns Complement 13–17 officers, 690/706 men Complement in the action 720 men under Pierre Lheritier Complement in RN service 640 Casualties 134 killed, 110 wounded Purchased for £25,778 12s 6d Bounty awarded £3,600 0s 0d Prize money awarded £60,000 for the Sans Pareil, Juste, Impéteux, Achille, América, and Northumberland to the warrant officers, petty officers and foremastmen, ‘in part of the money to be paid for the purchase and for the bounty due to the captors’, by royal warrant of 22 June 1794 Brought to Portsmouth Crew confined at Plymouth (Prudent) Fate Renamed Impétueux 14 July 1795 after the captured Impétueux burned by accident 24 August 1794; purchased, September 1794; repaired and fitted for sea, July 1795 to November 1796, and served until 1813, when she was put in Ordinary at Chatham; broken up, December 1813. Notes Also appears in the Admiralty records as Amerique. Not to be confused with the Impétueux. Sources ADM 2/272; ADM 7/354; ADM 18/121; ADM 43/33; ADM 43/80; ADM 103/503; ADM 106/2219; HCA 8/89; HCA 34/61; London Gazette no. 14055 (16 October 1797); Demerliac; Gardiner, Fleet Battle and Blockade; Roche; Winfield.
Courrier (10)
Built and launched March to September 1792, Boulogne; launched 7 September 1782 as Courrier des Indes Size 50 / 50 / 113 tonnes; 120 tons BOM Armament 4–10 (calibre unknown) Complement in the action 31 men under Jacque Nicolas Joseph Brisout (or Canot) Bounty awarded £155 0s 0d Fate Sunk by order of Lord Howe before the battle. Notes Lugger, captured 23 May. Name changed 1793; in the Admiralty records as a cutter, Courrier de l’Orient. Sister ship of the Vanneau, captured by the Colossus in 1793 and in RN service until 21 October 1796. Roche has her under Canot. (Size in BOM is of the Vanneau.) Sources ADM 18/121; ADM 43/33; ADM 43/80; Roche; Winfield.
Impétueux (74)
Dispatch folio 12 Name in dispatches L’Impetueux Taken by Russell Built and launched July 1786 to June 1790, Rochefort; launched 25 October 1787 Size 1537 / 1550 / 3069 tonnes; 1879 69/94 tons BOM Armament (from 1793): 28x36, 30x18, 16x8 + 4x36 obusiers ‘Nature of the prize’ 74 guns Complement 13– 17 officers, 690/706 men Complement in the action 713 men under Louis Douville Casualties 100 killed, 75 wounded Prize money awarded £60,000 for the Sans Pareil, Juste, Impéteux, Achille, América, and Northumberland to the warrant officers, petty officers and foremastmen, ‘in part of the money to be paid for the purchase and for the bounty due to the captors’, by royal warrant of 22 June 1794 Purchased for £26,956 10s 11d Bounty awarded £3,565 0s 0d Brought to Portsmouth Fate Purchased, but burn
t by accident at Portsmouth on 24 August 1794, and the name given to the captured América. Sources ADM 2/272; ADM 7/354; ADM 18/121; ADM 43/33; ADM 43/80; HCA 8/89; HCA 34/61; London Gazette no. 14055 (16 October 1797); Gardiner, Fleet Battle and Blockade; Demerliac; Lyon; Roche; Winfield.
Inconnue (12)
Taken by Audacious and Niger Built and launched May 1793 to March 1794, Dieppe; launched c. 30 December 1793 Size 220–280 / 220 / 475 tonnes; 346 49/94 tons BOM Armament 12x12 Complement in the action 136 men under Jean Duchart Bounty awarded £680 0s 0d Fate Burnt by order of Lord Howe before the battle. Notes Variously described as a brig, corvette or sloop, captured 25 May. The British measurements are of the Belette, ex-Belliqueuse, a sister ship built at Dieppe at the same time. Five brigs of this design were built at Dieppe and Honfleur; all were taken by the RN, and while in RN service captured twelve enemy ships. The Mutine, commanded at the Nile by Hardy, was one of these. Sources ADM 18/121; ADM 43/33; ADM 43/80; HCA 8/89; James; Demerliac; Roche; Winfield.
Juste (80)
Dispatch folio 12 Name in RN service Juste Taken by Invincible Built and launched c. July 1782–85, Brest; launched 13 or 17 September 1784, as Deux Frères Size c. 1900 / 1900 / 3800 tonnes; 2143 18/94 tons BOM Armament (from 1794): 30x36, 32x24, 18x8 + 4x36 obusiers Armament in RN service 84 guns: LD 30x32, UD 32x18, QD 2x24 + 14x32cr, FC 6x12 + 2x32cr ‘Nature of the prize’ 80 guns Complement 13–17 officers, 839 men Complement in the action 877 men under Antoine Blavet Complement in RN service 738 Casualties 100 killed, 145 wounded Purchased for £25,929 14s 2d Bounty awarded £4,385 0s 0d Prize money awarded £60,000 for the Sans Pareil, Juste, Impéteux, Achille, América, and Northumberland to the warrant officers, petty officers and foremastmen, ‘in part of the money to be paid for the purchase and for the bounty due to the captors’, by royal warrant of 22 June 1794 Brought to Portsmouth Crew confined at Plymouth (Prudent) Fate Purchased, August 1794; served from August 1795; part of Calder’s squadron in 1801; laid up at Plymouth, April 1802; broken up there, February 1811. Notes Name changed September 1792. Sources ADM 2/272; ADM 7/254; ADM 18/121; ADM 43/33; ADM 43/80; ADM 103/503; ADM 106/2219; HCA 8/89; London Gazette no. 14055 (16 October 1797); Demerliac; Gardiner, Fleet Battle and Blockade; Lyon; Roche; Winfield.