he attained the rank of Post-captain, by the spirited services mentioned in the following letter:

Admiralty Office, 25th May, 1782. "SIR,I am so well pleased with the accounts I have received of your gallant and seamanlike conduct in the sloop you command, in your spirited attack on three privateers inside the Isle of Bass, and your success in driving them all on shore, that I am induced to bestow on you the rank of a Post-captain in the service to which your universal good character and conduct do credit; and for this purpose I have named you to the command of the Suffolk.

(Signed)

KEPPEL."

"To Capt. Edward Pellew,

H. M. S. Pelican, Plymouth."

The cessation of hostilities having restored him and others of his gallant comrades to the more peaceful occupations of home, he remained on shore until 1786, when he proceeded, in command of the Winchelsea frigate, to Newfoundland, and remained on that station till 1789. In the following year he was appointed to the Salisbury, bearing the flag of Admiral Milbanke; and was at length paid off in December, 1791.

At the commencement of the war of the French Revolution, Captain Pellew was among the first officers who were called into active service, being appointed, on the 11th Jan. 1793, to command La Nymphe frigate of 36 guns. Being by descent a Cornishman, his popularity in the neighbourhood of Falmouth, where he resided, enabled him to man his ship principally with miners, and put to sea with his usual activity; but he had no opportunity of proving their spirit until the summer of that year, when, having prevailed on his brother to accompany him as a volunteer, he sailed from Falmouth on the evening of the 17th June, and before the day closed, when off the Start, they descried a large vessel, to which they gave chase, and followed her through the night. At daybreak next morning she appeared again, standing towards them; and on her approach proved to be the French

frigate La Cléopatre, of equal force. All was silent until the ships came within hail: Captain Pellew then ordered his crew to man the shrouds and give three cheers, with "Long live King George the Third!" The French Captain ordered his rigging, in the same manner, to be manned; and, coming forward on the gangway, waved his hat, exclaiming "Vive la Nation!" which his crew accompanied with three cheers. Captain Pellew's putting on his hat was the signal for La Nymphe to begin the action. One more desperate was never fought they were engaged, throughout, yard-arm and yardarm. The sails and rigging were so much intermixed during the engagement, that the crew of La Nymphe actually went from their own yards to those of La Cléopatre, and cut the men from their quarters. At length a shot from the British frigate carried away the enemy's mizen-mast, and another her wheel; so that she became ungovernable, and fell on board her opponent. The gallant French Captain was cheering on his crew to board La Nymphe, when he was shot dead before them, by which they were so disheartened, that his Second vainly endeavoured to rally them, and Captain Pellew, seizing the advantage, ordered his men to board La Cléopatre, which was carried after a short struggle. He proceeded with his prize directly to Portsmouth, and was received with acclamations on entering the harbour, this being the first important capture made since the declaration of hostilities. As such it was distinguished by peculiar reward; Captain Pellew, on being presented to the King, on the 29th June, 1793, received the honour of knighthood, and he had the further satisfaction of seeing his brother advanced to the rank of Post-captain for his voluntary services in the action.

Sir Edward was now removed to the command of the Arethusa, of 44 guns, attached to the squadron under the command of Sir John B. Warren. In this ship he was pre sent at a number of encounters, both with batteries on shore, and with the enemy's vessels at sea.

Early on the 23d of April, 1794, while cruising off Guernsey, in company with the Flora, the Melampus, La Nymphe,

and La Concorde, four sail were discovered standing out to sea; and, as day broke, they were clearly perceived to be French. The wind, by fortunately changing two points, enabled the British to gain the weather-gage, and bring them to close action, while at the same time it precluded the possibility of their gaining their own shore. The battle was maintained on both sides with great resolution for three hours, when two of the enemy's ships, La Pomone, of 44 guns, and La Babet, of 22 guns, struck to the Flora and Arethusa. The other English frigates pursued the remainder of the French squadron and captured L'Engageante, of 38 guns.

On the 23d of August, the squadron under the command of Sir John B. Warren, cruising off Brest, fell in with, and drove on shore near the Penmark Rocks, La Félicité, French frigate of 40 guns, 18-pounders; and soon after two corvettes, L'Espion and Alert, mounting 18 guns, 9-pounders. They at first took shelter under cover of three batteries in Hodierne Bay; but, being hard pressed, cut their cables and ran ashore. The boats of the squadron were ordered under Sir Edward Pellew to set fire to them; but finding them filled with wounded men, incapable of being removed, his benevolent spirit revolted at their destruction, and, he preferred to abandon the ships rather than debar these poor fellows from the relief afforded to them in their extremity by their countrymen on shore.

In October following, he was cruising off Ushant, with a small squadron under his own command, consisting of the Arethusa, Artois, Diamond, and Galatea frigates. On the 21st of that month, he discovered a large French frigate, and immediately gave orders for a chace. The enemy, being to leeward, was cut off from the land, and after sustaining an action of forty minutes with the Artois, obliged to surrender.

At the commencement of 1795, Sir Edward was again serving under Sir J. B. Warren; whose squadron, on the 18th February, fell in with, off the Isle of Oleron, a French frigate and twenty sail of vessels under her convoy, which were pursued half way up the Pertuis d'Antioche, in sight of

the Isle of Aix. The tide of flood then setting strong up, and the wind being right in, the British ships were obliged to haul off; notwithstanding which, they captured a national schooner of eight brass guns, and seven merchantmen; and destroyed eleven others. These vessels were chiefly laden with provisions and clothing for the French fleet and army. The frigate under whose escort they were, was La Néréide, of 36 guns. In the ensuing month, Sir Edward again commanded a squadron, and took and destroyed fifteen out of a fleet of twenty-five sail of coasters; the remainder he obliged to seek refuge among the rocks near the Penmarks.

But justly as his conduct in command was entitled to distinction, nothing gained him more deserved honour than that union of prompt resolution with constitutional philanthropy which personally endeared him to his followers. Twice already, when captain of the Winchelsea frigate, this heroic spirit had been signally displayed by his leaping from the deck, and thus saving two of his drowning sailors. A more conspicuous example of this noble feeling was shown at the commencement of the year 1796. On the 26th of January of that year, the Dutton East Indiaman was driven by stress of weather into Plymouth. The gale continuing with increased fury, it was deemed advisable, for greater safety, to make for Catwater; but the buoy placed as a mark upon the reef off Mount Batten having been sunk or broken adrift by the late storms, of which the Plymouth pilots were not aware, the ship touched on the tail of the shoal, and lost her rudder. disabled and ungovernable, she fell off, and grounded under the citadel, near the Barbican; the sea continually breaking over her, which occasioned her to roll so prodigiously, that at one jerk all her masts went by the board, and fell towards the shore, the ship heeling off with her side to seaward. As many as were active and able got safe on shore, with the captain and officers; but there still remained a considerable number of seamen, soldiers and their wives, on board. Captain Pellew observing that the gale rather increased than abated, and knowing that a single rope from the ship to the shore was

Thus

all the communication they could have with it, and that the flood tide would make a complete wreck of the vessel, earnestly entreated some of the numerous spectators to accompany him, by means of this rope, on board, that he might rescue the crew from the fate that impended over them. The shore was crowded with people of all descriptions, among whom were pilots and other seafaring men, to whom Captain Pellew offered any money, if a single individual would follow his directions. The scene was tremendous; the gale every moment increased, and one and all were appalled; when at length Mr. Edsell, the Port Admiral's Signal Midshipman, came forward, and nobly volunteered his services. Captain Pellew and he were accordingly fastened to the rope, and hauled on board. As they had not dared to make it completely fast on shore, lest the rolling and jerking of the ship should break it, it may easily be conceived that, by the rising and falling of the rope, these brave adventurers were at times high above, and at others under the water. Being at length got on board, they sent a hawser to the shore, to which travellers and hawling lines were affixed; and by this means the whole of the crew were saved.

The following is the hero's own modest account of this act of benevolence, extracted from a private letter written by him many years afterwards-when he was Commander-in-chief in the North Seas:

-

"Why do you ask me to relate the wreck of the Dutton? Susan (Lady Exmouth) and I were driving to a dinner party at Plymouth, when we saw crowds running to the Hoe; and learning it was a wreck, I left the carriage to take her on, and joined the crowd. I saw the loss of the whole five or six hundred was inevitable without somebody to direct them, for the last officer was pulled on shore as I reached the surf. I urged their return, which was refused, upon which I made the rope fast to myself, and was hauled through the surf on board, -established order, and did not leave her until every soul was saved but the boatswain, who would not go before me. I got safe, and so did he, and the ship went all to pieces;