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owing to the activity of the French frigates, to follow more closely; but we can well imagine the dismay on board, in which young Lyons, as signal mid., must doubtless have shared. Once more the search for the

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French is resumed, and for sixteen days no news of them is obtained. Then it is discovered that they made for Gibraltar, which they passed eight days before. Nelson is now terribly delayed by foul winds, and does not reach the Straits of Gibraltar till May 7, by which time the French, with nearly a month's start, are threequarters of the way across the Atlantic. How Nelson finally brought the French to book on the 21st October in Trafalgar Bay all the world knows; but the Active took no part in this glorious work, she weather-worn that it was necessary to send her home for repairs. When she returned to the Mediterranean she was relegated to the humdrum duties of commerce protection. In 1807 young Lyons, still in the Active, was in Duckworth's expedition, which made a naval demonstration off Constantinople. was a failure, and simply resulted in our ships being severely handled by the Dardanelles forts as they returned. The Active had eight men wounded-the first casualties that had happened on board that ship during four years of war. Bickerton was now at the Admiralty, and young Lyons was sent home at the age of seventeen, after some six years' knocking about in frigates, during which time he

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was constantly at sea, so that, though young in years, he was already a thorough seaman, and passed satisfactorily for lieutenant. His next service was in the East Indies, where he was at first employed in commerce protection in the Caroline frigate. This was varied by attacks on the Dutch settlements in Malay waters. Here the garrisons were generally living quiet and secure, with no thought of danger, when our expeditions swooped down upon them. Not that the ships carrying the attacking forces made rapid passages-far from it; the voyage from Madras to Banda Neera, which a cruiser could now make in a fortnight, took three months. The attack was, however, a complete surprise, the place being successfully assailed by night immediately the expedition made the coast. A force of 400 left the ship at 11 P.M.; but, as so often happens in boat - expeditions, half the boats lost their way, and only 180 seamen and soldiers reached the beach. Nothing daunted, this little force advanced against a garrison of 1500.

Two forts, including the principal work, were carried by surprise with scarcely any loss, and the following morning the Dutch, finding the key of the position in the hands of the enemy, surrendered. The stealthy approach by night, and the final rush upon the works, were excellently planned and successfully carried out, Lieutenant Lyons being amongst the foremost of the stormers.

Lyons was presently to take

the lead in a most gallant exploit of the same character, carried out too, not only on his own initiative, but contrary to the orders which his senior officer had given; for the fort in question was considered too strong to be assailed by the small numbers available. Being detached with two boats' crews, numbering 35 officers and men, he decided to attack Fort Marrack, which mounted 54 guns, and had a garrison of 180 men, besides two gunboats' crews.

The result had better be given in his own words:

"Having made every necessary arrangement during the day, I placed the boats at sunset behind a point which sheltered them from the view of the enemy's sentinels. At halfpast twelve, the moon sinking in the horizon, we proceeded to the attack, and were challenged by the sentinels on opening the point. At this instant a volley of musketry from the enemy precluded all hope of surprise; I therefore ran the boats aground, in a heavy surf, under the lower tier of guns, and placed the ladders in the embrasures, which were mounted with that bravery inherent in British seamen ; whilst a few men, placed for the purpose, killed three of the enemy in the act of putting matches to the guns.

"A few minutes put us in possession of the lower battery, where I formed the men, and we stormed the upper one. On reaching the summit of the hill we perceived the garrison drawn up to receive us. They sustained our fire, but fled from the charge on my calling to them that we had 400 men and would give no quarter."

Lyons found it impossible to hold the fort so gallantly won, as it was at once fired upon by another battery and two gunboats. After disabling the

guns he therefore retired to the boats, one of which he found stove. He made good his retreat to the ship in the remaining boat, not having lost a man, and with but four wounded.

Lyons also took part in the successful attack by a joint naval and military expedition. on Java. This enterprise was mainly carried out by a military force of 8000 men furnished from Madras. So excellent were all the arrangements for landing that, although the squadron did not arrive until the afternoon of the day of attack, all the troops were on shore before nightfall. After a three weeks' siege the place fell.

In

In this instance the dominant sea - power of the British navy enabled the troops to be spared from India, and also ensured them a safe passage. certain eventualities this type of expedition might well be repeated in the present day. A powerful navy in the East will always safeguard the shores of India, thus setting free a mobile military force, without which no conquest can be made.

Invalided home from the East Indies, Lyons was promoted to commander at the age of twentyone, and, after rather more than a year on half-pay, was given the command of a sloop in the Channel in 1813. There was but little active service in home waters in those days; for though the war dragged on, the sea-power of France was completely crushed. But even here Lyons pushed his way to the front, and obtained a warm commendation from that excel

lent officer, Admiral Foley one of Nelson's captains at the Nile for his intelligence, zeal, and activity. Peace brought promotion to post captain's rank, mainly in recognition of the approval of the Court, and of various magnates, whom he was directed to carry to France for the peace negotiations.

But peace also meant utter stagnation in the navy. Ninetenths of the ships were paid off, and nine-tenths of the officers were relegated to halfpay. It was hopeless to get employment afloat without the most powerful interest. So for fourteen years Lyons was left on shore, and only got a ship then owing to the fact that his younger brother lost his life at the battle of Navarino. Thus it was not till he was thirtyseven that he was once more at sea, in command of the Blonde, a 46-gun frigate, destined for the Mediterranean. The ship very quickly made her name for smartness and efficiency, and a number of mids. were confided to his care, for though it was long since he had been afloat, his capacity was well known in the service. He was fortunate in coming in for a little piece of active service in co-operating with the French in the siege of Morea Castle, which was held by the Turks, who were being expelled from Greece. Lyons also subsequently managed matters so well, when senior officer of a small British squadron on the coast of Greece, as to win the hearty goodwill of the French officers with whom he was associated; and he also

ingratiated himself with the President of Greece.

The state of affairs in those days on the coast of Greece was very similar to the present position in Crete; and then, as now, the final satisfactory settlement was more due to the exertions and good sense of the officers on the spot than to the protocols of the Concert of Europe. Russia, however, having declared war against Turkey, and having advanced as far as Adrianople, it was now necessary to support the Turks. Lyons' ship was selected to take a special envoy to Constantinople, the result of the mission being the establishment of peace. Lyons then seized the opportunity to carry out а winter cruise in the Black Sea, and thus gained some most useful experience of those waters, which then, as now, were entirely unknown to all naval officers except the Russians themselves.

For seven years in all Lyons commanded frigates in the Mediterranean-first the Blonde and then the Madagascar. During this time he was almost continually in the East. It was his ship that was chosen to convey King Otho, the young Bavarian prince, selected by the Powers as first King of Greece, to his unruly kingdom. His duties at Constantinople had introduced him to a number of diplomatists, and wherever he went he won golden opinions by his tact and good sense. It was not, therefore, surprising that when his service in the Mediterranean was over,

and the opportunity offered of his being appointed British Minister at the Court of Greece, he accepted it rather than the alternative of going as flagcaptain to the South American station, which was also offered him.

In the year 1835 an activeminded man might well consider it desirable to abandon the navy. Lyons had been twenty-one years a captain, and, notwithstanding his abilities and his many friends, he had been fourteen years on half-pay. His continuous employment for seven years had aroused jealousy, as to get even three years' employment out of twenty was what many a man failed to do. If he was fortunate enough to put in another three years' service in South America, there would still be a dozen years to wait for his flag, most of which time would of necessity be spent in inaction on half-pay. There seemed no chance whatever of active service, and the ordinary peace service under venerable admirals and white-haired captains was not by any means stirring work. It was in the early years of the Queen's reign that our fleet had fallen into such a low state that M. Thiers, confident that it was within the power of the French fleet to destroy it out of hand, was seeking a casus belli in order to put his plan into execution. Most mercifully those optimists who thought that there could by no possibility be any more European wars were right on this occasion, for we were undoubtedly on the verge of the

gravest disaster. Preparation for war was the last thing thought of. The few appointments vacant went to men with interest, either family or political, and the very fact that the navy was the safeguard of the country passed entirely into oblivion.

There is little to say from the naval point of view of Lyons' services to diplomacy. He showed the sense of duty acquired in the navy by remaining fourteen years at his post in Athens without once coming home. Whilst there he secured the approval of various Administrations, and carried out the policy of Lord Palmerston with that great Minister's approbation, receiving a baronetcy in reward of his services.

From Athens he was transferred to Berne and thence to Stockholm, and it was here, in October 1853, in anticipation of the war with Russia, that he received his appointment as second in command of the Mediterranean station. It seems very strange that a diplomatist, who had practically left the service for more than eighteen years, should be specially selected for such an appointment. Under the the present regulations, which very properly lay down that a captain who has not served for seven years should be compulsorily retired, Lyons would long before have been placed on the Retired List. As it was, he had received his promotion to rear- admiral when Minister at Berne, having gone up the Active List at exactly the same

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rate as if continuously afloat. His age on promotion was fifty-nine, and he found himself one of 75 rear - admirals, many if not most of whom were more than seventy years of age, and none at all under fifty-five, which is the maximum age under present regulations for a rear-admiral on promotion. Of the 75 only 2 were actively employed afloat, and 6 others in various harbour or shore appointments. It was not therefore remarkable that when three years afterwards, in 1853, Sir James Graham, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was looking out for an active rear-admiral for the Mediterranean, his choice fell upon Sir Edmund Lyons. His commander-in-chief, ViceAdmiral Dundas, though one of the youngest vice-admirals, was sixty-eight years of age: his service during the last forty years had been mainly political; he was a sound Whig and an ex-Lord of the Admiralty, but of sea experience he had very little.1 Dundas's flag - captain was over sixty-five, and there were other captains in the squadron who were well beyond the present retiring age of fifty-five; others again owed their appointments to political interest. Sir James Graham informed Lyons that he was to be ready to supply Dundas's place "in case of accident." That the best and

the

most

straightforward course would have been to relieve Dundas at once few will deny. But this Sir James was not apparently strong enough to do. He continued to correspond privately with the rear- admiral when in the presence of his commander-in-chief, saying for example in one letter, dated September 1854, just before the departure of the expedition to the Crimea

"You are the life and soul of this great enterprise. Long ago you have declared that all is ready at Malta and at Constantinople.... Your part has been well performed: I hope that others will now proceed to rival you. It is not the wish of Admiral Dundas to remain much longer on foreign service. His health is failing, and he wishes to be relieved as soon as it can be done consistently with his honour. My intention is that you should be his successor."

And yet Dundas was kept for three months longer commander-in-chief. Sir Edmund Lyons was second in command for no less than fourteen months in all. That the navy did well all that it undertook in the Crimea was in no sense due to the wisdom of the Admiralty administration. Lyons would have been more than human if he had not, under these circumstances, given vent on one or two occasions to impatient expressions concerning his commander-in-chief; and it is exceedingly creditable to him that there was no open rupture.

1 Kinglake tells us that the command in the Mediterranean had been granted as a pleasant marine retirement, which a good faithful Whig had earned by toil at the Board in Whitehall, by toil in the lobbies of the House of Commons, by long and enduring patience on the cushions of the Treasury Bench.

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