Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
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Admiral
Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB
(9 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British
naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary
, and the Napoleonic
Wars. His younger brother, Israel Pellew
, also pursued a naval career.
Pellew is remembered as an officer and a gentleman of great courage and leadership, earning his land and titles through courage, leadership and skill — serving as a paragon of the versatility and determination of British naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars.
, the second son of Samuel Pellew (1712–1764), commander of a Dover packet. The family was Cornish
, descended from a family which came originally from Normandy
, but had for many centuries been settled in the west of Cornwall
. Edward's grandfather, Humphrey Pellew (1650–1721), a merchant and ship owner, son of a naval officer, resided at Flushing manor-house in the parish of Mylor. Part of the town of Flushing
was built by Samuel Trefusis MP for Penryn; the other part was built by Humphrey Pellew who was buried there. He also had a property and a tobacco plantation in Maryland
. Part of the town of Annapolis stands on what was, before the revolt of the colonies, the estate of the Pellews. On the death of Edward's father in 1764 the family removed to Penzance
, and Pellew was for some years at the grammar school at Truro
. He was a pugnacious youth, which did not endear him to his headmaster. He ran away to sea at the age of 14, but soon deserted because of unfair treatment to another midshipman.
on board the Juno, with Captain John Stott, and made a voyage to the Falkland Islands
. In 1772 he followed Stott to the Alarm, and in her was in the Mediterranean for three years. In consequence of a high-spirited quarrel with his captain, he was put on shore at Marseilles, where, finding an old friend of his father's in command of a merchant ship, he was able to get a passage to Lisbon
and so home. He afterwards was in the Blonde, which, under the command of Captain Philemon Pownoll
, took General John Burgoyne
to America in the spring of 1776. In October Pellew, together with another midshipman
, Brown, was detached, under Lieutenant Dacres
, for service in the Carleton tender on Lake Champlain
. During the Battle of Valcour Island
on 11 October, Dacres and Brown were both severely wounded, and the command devolved on Pellew, who, by his personal gallantry, extricated the vessel from a position of great danger. As a reward for his service he was immediately appointed to command the Carleton. In December Lord Howe wrote, promising him a commission as lieutenant when he could reach New York, and in the following January Lord Sandwich
wrote promising to promote him when he came to England. In the summer of 1777 Pellew, with a small party of seamen, was attached to the army under Burgoyne and was present in the fighting at Saratoga
, where his youngest brother, John, was killed. He, together with the rest of the force, was taken prisoner. After the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, he was repatriated.
On returning to England he was promoted, on 9 January 1778, to be lieutenant of the Princess Amelia guardship at Portsmouth
. He wanted to be appointed to a sea-going ship but Lord Sandwich considered that he was bound by the terms of the surrender at Saratoga not to undertake any active service. Towards the end of the year he was appointed to the Licorne, which, in the spring of 1779, went out to Newfoundland, returning in the winter, when Pellew was moved into the Apollo, with his old captain, Pownoll. On 15 June 1780 the Apollo engaged a large French privateer, the Stanislaus, off Ostend
. Pownoll was killed by a musket-shot, but Pellew, continuing the action, dismasted the Stanislaus and drove her on shore, where she was protected by the neutrality of the coast. On the 18th Lord Sandwich wrote to him: "I will not delay informing you that I mean to give you immediate promotion as a reward for your gallant and officer-like conduct." and on 1 July he was accordingly promoted to the command of the Hazard sloop, which was employed for the next six months on the east coast of Scotland
. She was then paid off. In March 1782 Pellew was appointed to the Pelican, a small French prize, and so low that he used to say "his servant could dress his hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin." On 28 April, while cruising on the coast of Brittany
, he engaged and drove on shore three privateer
s. In special reward for this service he was promoted to post rank on 25 May, and ten days later was appointed to the temporary command of the Artois, in which on 1 July, he captured a large frigate-built privateer.
From 1786 to 1789 he commanded the Winchelsea frigate on the Newfoundland station, returning home each winter by Cadiz
and Lisbon
. Afterwards he commanded the Salisbury on the same station, as flag-captain to Vice-admiral Milbanke
. In 1791 he was placed on half-pay and tried his hand at farming on Treverry Farm near Helston, a property owned by his brother, who was a senior customs officer of Flushing. This with indifferent success, during which time he attempted to sell a bull, only to find it was in the ownership of a neighbouring farmer. He was offered a command in the Russian navy but declined it. He was still struggling with the difficulties of his farm when the revolutionary government of France declared war on Great Britain on 1 February 1793. He immediately applied for a ship and was appointed to the Nymphe, a 36-gun frigate which he fitted out in a remarkably short time. Having expected a good deal of difficulty in manning her, he had enlisted some eighty Cornish miners, who were sent round to the ship at Spithead
. With these and about a dozen seamen — apart from the officers (who were obliged to help in the work aloft) — he put to sea and by dint of pressing from the merchant ships in the Channel
, succeeded in filling up his complement but with very few seasoned navy men. On 18 June the Nymphe sailed from Falmouth
on the news that two French frigates had been seen in the Channel. At the Action of 18 June 1793
Nymphe fell in with the Cléopâtre
, also of 36 guns, commanded by Captain Mullon, one of the few officers of the ancien régime who still remained in the French navy. After a short but very sharp action, the Cléopâtre' s mizenmast and wheel were shot away, and the ship, being unmanageable, fell foul of the Nymphe, and was boarded and captured in a fierce rush. Mullon was mortally wounded, and died in trying to swallow his commission, which, in his dying agony, he had mistaken for the code of secret signals. The code thus fell intact into Pellew's hands, and was sent to the admiralty
. The Cléopâtre, the first frigate taken in the war, was brought to Portsmouth
, and on 29 June Pellew was presented to the king by the Earl of Chatham
and was knighted.
of the Western Frigate Squadron. In 1795, he took command of HMS Indefatigable
, the ship with which he is most closely associated.
He was also a good swimmer and noted for saving the lives of several seamen who had fallen overboard. The most striking life-saving event was on 26 January 1796 when the East Indiaman Dutton, which was carrying more than four hundred troops together with many women and children, ran aground under Plymouth Hoe
. Due to the heavy seas, the crew and soldiers aboard were unable to get to shore. Pellew swam out to the wreck with a line and helped rig a lifeline which saved almost all aboard: for this feat he was, on 18 March 1796, created a baronet
.
His most famous action was the Action of 13 January 1797
when, cruising in company with HMS Amazon
, a French 74 gun ship of the line
, the Droits de l'Homme, was sighted. Normally a ship of the line would outmatch two frigate
s, but by skillful sailing in the stormy conditions, the British
frigates avoided bearing the brunt of the superior fire power of the French. In the early morning of 14 January 1797, the three ships were embayed on a lee shore in Audierne
Bay. Both the Droits de l'Homme and Amazon ran aground, but Indefatigable managed to claw her way off the lee shore
to safety.
Pellew was also responsible for pressing
the brilliant young black violinist and composer Joseph Antonio Emidy
who had been playing in the Lisbon Opera orchestra.
. It took six months to sail out to Penang
so he took up the appointment in 1805. On his return from the east in 1809, he was appointed to the position of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet
from 1811 to 1814 and again from 1815 to 1816.
In 1814, he was made Baron Exmouth of Canonteign. He led an Anglo-Dutch
fleet against the Barbary states and was victor of the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 and secured the release of the 1,200 Christian slaves in the city. For this action he was created 1st Viscount Exmouth
on 10 December 1816. Following his return to England he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
from 1817 to 1821, when he effectively retired from active service. He continued to attend and speak in the House of Lords
. In 1832 he was appointed Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom
and Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty's Fleet, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, also of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain, Of the Military Order of William of the Netherlands, Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, Of the Military Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare of Sardinia, and Knight of the Most Honourable and Most Ancient Order of the Annunciation of the Royal House of Savoy, High Steward of Great Yarmouth, and one of the Elder Brethren of the Hon. Corporation of the Trinity House.
He bought Bitton House in Teignmouth
in 1812 and it was his home until his death in 1833. He is buried in Christow
on the eastern edge of Dartmoor. The museum in Teignmouth has a comprehensive collection of artefacts that belonged to him.
, situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria
were named after Pellew by Matthew Flinders
who visited them in 1802. Other Australian geographical features include Cape Pellew (adjacent to the islands) and Exmouth Gulf
. Pellew Island, Jamaica
is also named after Edward Pellew. However, while Palau
(formerly the Pellew or Pelew Islands), east of the Philippines
is often said to be named for Edward Pellew, it was called that by Captain Henry Wilson in 1783 which was well before Pellew came to prominence. It appears to be an anglicization of the indigenous name Belau. Point Pellew, Alaska.
There is also a building in HMS Raleigh
(where Naval basic training is conducted) named after him which is used as sleeping quarters for new recruits, and a Sea Cadet Unit in Truro called T.S. Pellew.
in some of C. S. Forester
's fictional Horatio Hornblower
novels; in the television adaptations
, as portrayed by Robert Lindsay
, he is given a more prominent role. As a midshipman, he appears in the novel Jack Absolute by C. C. Humphreys
. Pellew is the name of a minor character in several of Patrick O'Brian
's Aubrey-Maturin novels, including The Reverse of the Medal
, The Surgeon's Mate
, but as himself is only mentioned in The Yellow Admiral and The Hundred Days
. As a captain, he has a small role in the American Revolution in Rabble in Arms, a historical novel by Kenneth Roberts.
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(9 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, and the Napoleonic
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
Wars. His younger brother, Israel Pellew
Israel Pellew
Admiral Sir Israel Pellew, KCB, RN , was an English naval officer who spent his career under the shadow of his more successful older brother Edward Pellew.-Early naval service:...
, also pursued a naval career.
Pellew is remembered as an officer and a gentleman of great courage and leadership, earning his land and titles through courage, leadership and skill — serving as a paragon of the versatility and determination of British naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars.
Childhood
Pellew was born at DoverDover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, the second son of Samuel Pellew (1712–1764), commander of a Dover packet. The family was Cornish
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
, descended from a family which came originally from Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, but had for many centuries been settled in the west of Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. Edward's grandfather, Humphrey Pellew (1650–1721), a merchant and ship owner, son of a naval officer, resided at Flushing manor-house in the parish of Mylor. Part of the town of Flushing
Flushing, Cornwall
Flushing is a coastal village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles south of Penryn and eleven miles south-east of Truro. It faces Falmouth across the Penryn river, an arm of the Carrick Roads...
was built by Samuel Trefusis MP for Penryn; the other part was built by Humphrey Pellew who was buried there. He also had a property and a tobacco plantation in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Part of the town of Annapolis stands on what was, before the revolt of the colonies, the estate of the Pellews. On the death of Edward's father in 1764 the family removed to Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
, and Pellew was for some years at the grammar school at Truro
Truro
Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...
. He was a pugnacious youth, which did not endear him to his headmaster. He ran away to sea at the age of 14, but soon deserted because of unfair treatment to another midshipman.
Early career
In 1770 he entered the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
on board the Juno, with Captain John Stott, and made a voyage to the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
. In 1772 he followed Stott to the Alarm, and in her was in the Mediterranean for three years. In consequence of a high-spirited quarrel with his captain, he was put on shore at Marseilles, where, finding an old friend of his father's in command of a merchant ship, he was able to get a passage to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
and so home. He afterwards was in the Blonde, which, under the command of Captain Philemon Pownoll
Philemon Pownoll
Philemon Pownoll was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of post-captain....
, took General John Burgoyne
John Burgoyne
General John Burgoyne was a British army officer, politician and dramatist. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several battles, mostly notably during the Portugal Campaign of 1762....
to America in the spring of 1776. In October Pellew, together with another midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
, Brown, was detached, under Lieutenant Dacres
James Richard Dacres (1749–1810)
James Richard Dacres was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...
, for service in the Carleton tender on Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
. During the Battle of Valcour Island
Battle of Valcour Island
The naval Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a narrow strait between the New York mainland and Valcour Island...
on 11 October, Dacres and Brown were both severely wounded, and the command devolved on Pellew, who, by his personal gallantry, extricated the vessel from a position of great danger. As a reward for his service he was immediately appointed to command the Carleton. In December Lord Howe wrote, promising him a commission as lieutenant when he could reach New York, and in the following January Lord Sandwich
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS was a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather, Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich, as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten...
wrote promising to promote him when he came to England. In the summer of 1777 Pellew, with a small party of seamen, was attached to the army under Burgoyne and was present in the fighting at Saratoga
Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, south of Saratoga, New York...
, where his youngest brother, John, was killed. He, together with the rest of the force, was taken prisoner. After the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga, he was repatriated.
On returning to England he was promoted, on 9 January 1778, to be lieutenant of the Princess Amelia guardship at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
. He wanted to be appointed to a sea-going ship but Lord Sandwich considered that he was bound by the terms of the surrender at Saratoga not to undertake any active service. Towards the end of the year he was appointed to the Licorne, which, in the spring of 1779, went out to Newfoundland, returning in the winter, when Pellew was moved into the Apollo, with his old captain, Pownoll. On 15 June 1780 the Apollo engaged a large French privateer, the Stanislaus, off Ostend
Ostend
Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke , Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
. Pownoll was killed by a musket-shot, but Pellew, continuing the action, dismasted the Stanislaus and drove her on shore, where she was protected by the neutrality of the coast. On the 18th Lord Sandwich wrote to him: "I will not delay informing you that I mean to give you immediate promotion as a reward for your gallant and officer-like conduct." and on 1 July he was accordingly promoted to the command of the Hazard sloop, which was employed for the next six months on the east coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. She was then paid off. In March 1782 Pellew was appointed to the Pelican, a small French prize, and so low that he used to say "his servant could dress his hair from the deck while he sat in the cabin." On 28 April, while cruising on the coast of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, he engaged and drove on shore three privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s. In special reward for this service he was promoted to post rank on 25 May, and ten days later was appointed to the temporary command of the Artois, in which on 1 July, he captured a large frigate-built privateer.
From 1786 to 1789 he commanded the Winchelsea frigate on the Newfoundland station, returning home each winter by Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
and Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. Afterwards he commanded the Salisbury on the same station, as flag-captain to Vice-admiral Milbanke
Mark Milbanke
Admiral Mark Milbanke was a British naval officer and colonial governor.-Military career:Born the son of Sir Ralph Milbanke Bt, Mark Milbanke graduated from the Royal Naval Academy, Portsmouth in 1740. He was made Lieutenant in 1744 and in 1746 was given command of HMS Serpent.In 1789, Milbanke...
. In 1791 he was placed on half-pay and tried his hand at farming on Treverry Farm near Helston, a property owned by his brother, who was a senior customs officer of Flushing. This with indifferent success, during which time he attempted to sell a bull, only to find it was in the ownership of a neighbouring farmer. He was offered a command in the Russian navy but declined it. He was still struggling with the difficulties of his farm when the revolutionary government of France declared war on Great Britain on 1 February 1793. He immediately applied for a ship and was appointed to the Nymphe, a 36-gun frigate which he fitted out in a remarkably short time. Having expected a good deal of difficulty in manning her, he had enlisted some eighty Cornish miners, who were sent round to the ship at Spithead
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
. With these and about a dozen seamen — apart from the officers (who were obliged to help in the work aloft) — he put to sea and by dint of pressing from the merchant ships in the Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, succeeded in filling up his complement but with very few seasoned navy men. On 18 June the Nymphe sailed from Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
on the news that two French frigates had been seen in the Channel. At the Action of 18 June 1793
Action of 18 June 1793
The Action of 18 June 1793 was the first decisive and one of the most celebrated encounters between British and French frigates during the French Revolutionary Wars. The action occurred off Start Point in Devon, when the British frigate HMS Nymphe encountered and chased the French frigate Cléopâtre...
Nymphe fell in with the Cléopâtre
French frigate Cléopâtre
The Cléopâtre was a 32-gun Vénus class frigate of the French Navy. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and had a coppered hull.She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782....
, also of 36 guns, commanded by Captain Mullon, one of the few officers of the ancien régime who still remained in the French navy. After a short but very sharp action, the Cléopâtre
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
. The Cléopâtre, the first frigate taken in the war, was brought to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, and on 29 June Pellew was presented to the king by the Earl of Chatham
John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham
General John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, KG, PC was a British peer and soldier.-Career:He was the eldest son of William Pitt the Elder and an elder brother of William Pitt the Younger...
and was knighted.
Service in the French Revolutionary War
By 1794 he was CommodoreCommodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
of the Western Frigate Squadron. In 1795, he took command of HMS Indefatigable
HMS Indefatigable (1784)
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
, the ship with which he is most closely associated.
He was also a good swimmer and noted for saving the lives of several seamen who had fallen overboard. The most striking life-saving event was on 26 January 1796 when the East Indiaman Dutton, which was carrying more than four hundred troops together with many women and children, ran aground under Plymouth Hoe
Plymouth Hoe
Plymouth Hoe, referred to locally as the Hoe, is a large south facing open public space in the English coastal city of Plymouth. The Hoe is adjacent to and above the low limestone cliffs that form the seafront and it commands views of Plymouth Sound, Drake's Island, and across the Hamoaze to Mount...
. Due to the heavy seas, the crew and soldiers aboard were unable to get to shore. Pellew swam out to the wreck with a line and helped rig a lifeline which saved almost all aboard: for this feat he was, on 18 March 1796, created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
.
His most famous action was the Action of 13 January 1797
Action of 13 January 1797
The Action of 13 January 1797 was a small naval battle fought between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the action the frigates successfully outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it on shore in...
when, cruising in company with HMS Amazon
HMS Amazon (1795)
HMS Amazon, was a 36-gun frigate, built at Rotherhithe by Wells & Co. in 1795 to a design by Sir William Rule. She was the first of a class of four frigates....
, a French 74 gun ship of the line
Ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
, the Droits de l'Homme, was sighted. Normally a ship of the line would outmatch two frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s, but by skillful sailing in the stormy conditions, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
frigates avoided bearing the brunt of the superior fire power of the French. In the early morning of 14 January 1797, the three ships were embayed on a lee shore in Audierne
Audierne
Audierne is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The town lies on a peninsula at the mouth of the Goyen river and for centuries was a fishing village, with a wide sandy beach. Visitors can take a boat from Audierne's port of Esquibien to the Île de Sein.The...
Bay. Both the Droits de l'Homme and Amazon ran aground, but Indefatigable managed to claw her way off the lee shore
Lee shore
The terms lee shore and windweather or ward shore are nautical terms used to describe a stretch of shoreline. A lee shore is one that is to the lee side of a vessel - meaning the wind is blowing towards it. A weather shore has the wind blowing from inland over it out to sea...
to safety.
Pellew was also responsible for pressing
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
the brilliant young black violinist and composer Joseph Antonio Emidy
Joseph Antonio Emidy
Joseph Antonio Emidy was a West African born slave in early life, but later became a famous and celebrated violinist and composer in Cornwall.-Life:...
who had been playing in the Lisbon Opera orchestra.
Admiralcy and peerage
Pellew was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1804. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East IndiesEast Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
. It took six months to sail out to Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
so he took up the appointment in 1805. On his return from the east in 1809, he was appointed to the position of Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet
Mediterranean Fleet
Several countries have or have had a Mediterranean Fleet in their navy. See:* Mediterranean Fleet * French Mediterranean Fleet* Mediterranean Squadron * United States Sixth Fleet...
from 1811 to 1814 and again from 1815 to 1816.
In 1814, he was made Baron Exmouth of Canonteign. He led an Anglo-Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
fleet against the Barbary states and was victor of the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 and secured the release of the 1,200 Christian slaves in the city. For this action he was created 1st Viscount Exmouth
Viscount Exmouth
right|thumb|Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount ExmouthViscount Exmouth, of Canonteign in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1816 for the prominent naval commander Edward Pellew, 1st Baron Exmouth...
on 10 December 1816. Following his return to England he became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth
The Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. Plymouth Command was a name given to the units, establishments, and staff operating under the admiral's command. In the nineteenth century the holder of the office was known as Commander-in-Chief,...
from 1817 to 1821, when he effectively retired from active service. He continued to attend and speak in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. In 1832 he was appointed Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom
Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom
The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. Despite the title, the Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is usually a full admiral. He is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary office vested in the Sovereign from...
and Admiral of the Red Squadron of His Majesty's Fleet, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, also of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles the Third of Spain, Of the Military Order of William of the Netherlands, Of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit, Of the Military Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare of Sardinia, and Knight of the Most Honourable and Most Ancient Order of the Annunciation of the Royal House of Savoy, High Steward of Great Yarmouth, and one of the Elder Brethren of the Hon. Corporation of the Trinity House.
He bought Bitton House in Teignmouth
Teignmouth
Teignmouth is a town and civil parish in Teignbridge in the English county of Devon, situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign about 14 miles south of Exeter. It has a population of 14,413. In 1690, it was the last place in England to be invaded by a foreign power...
in 1812 and it was his home until his death in 1833. He is buried in Christow
Christow
Christow is a village located on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, England. It has been around for hundreds of years nestled on the side of the Teign Valley. The village is presently home to around 850 people and grows slowly. It is situated 5 miles from the small town of Chudleigh and 8 miles...
on the eastern edge of Dartmoor. The museum in Teignmouth has a comprehensive collection of artefacts that belonged to him.
Marriage and family
On 28 May 1783 Pellew married Susannah Frowde. They had four sons and two daughters. These children were:- Emma Mary Pellew, b. 18 January 1785. Married Captain Lawrence HalstedLawrence HalstedSir Lawrence William Halsted GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
in 1803. - Pownoll Bastard Pellew, later 2nd Viscount Exmouth, b. 1 July 1786
- Julia Pellew, b. 31 May 1787
- Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds PellewFleetwood PellewAdmiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew CB KCH was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was the son of Captain Edward Pellew, who later became an admiral and first Viscount Exmouth...
, later an admiral and knight, b. 13 December 1789 - George PellewGeorge PellewGeorge Pellew was an English churchman and theologian, Dean of Norwich from 1828.-Life:He was third son of Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, and was born at Flushing, Cornwall in April 1793. He was educated at Eton College from 1808 to 1811, and admitted as gentleman-commoner at Corpus Christi...
, Dean of Norwich, born 3 April 1793 - Edward William Pellew, later a minister, born 3 November 1799
Geographical namesakes
The Sir Edward Pellew Group of IslandsSir Edward Pellew Group of Islands
The Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands is situated in the south-west corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria, off the northern coast of Australia.-History:They were named in 1802 by Matthew Flinders in honour of Sir Edward Pellew, a fellow naval officer...
, situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria
Gulf of Carpentaria
The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the Arafura Sea...
were named after Pellew by Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
who visited them in 1802. Other Australian geographical features include Cape Pellew (adjacent to the islands) and Exmouth Gulf
Exmouth Gulf
Exmouth Gulf is a gulf in the north west of Western Australia. It lies between North West Cape and the main coastline of Western Australia. It is considered to be part of the region of the North West Shelf and in the Canning Basin area.-Environment:...
. Pellew Island, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
is also named after Edward Pellew. However, while Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
(formerly the Pellew or Pelew Islands), east of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
is often said to be named for Edward Pellew, it was called that by Captain Henry Wilson in 1783 which was well before Pellew came to prominence. It appears to be an anglicization of the indigenous name Belau. Point Pellew, Alaska.
There is also a building in HMS Raleigh
HMS Raleigh (shore establishment)
HMS Raleigh is the modern-day basic training facility of the Royal Navy at Torpoint, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is spread over several square miles, and has damage control simulators and fire-fighting training facilities...
(where Naval basic training is conducted) named after him which is used as sleeping quarters for new recruits, and a Sea Cadet Unit in Truro called T.S. Pellew.
Fictional appearances
Pellew is featured as the Captain of IndefatigableHMS Indefatigable (1784)
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars...
in some of C. S. Forester
C. S. Forester
Cecil Scott "C.S." Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith , an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of naval warfare. His most notable works were the 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen...
's fictional Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy officer who is the protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester. He was later the subject of films and television programs.The original Hornblower tales began with the 1937 novel The Happy Return Horatio Hornblower is a fictional Royal Navy...
novels; in the television adaptations
Hornblower (TV series)
Hornblower is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
, as portrayed by Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay (actor)
Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
, he is given a more prominent role. As a midshipman, he appears in the novel Jack Absolute by C. C. Humphreys
Chris Humphreys
Chris Humphreys is a British actor, playwright and novelist. Born in Toronto, Canada, he was raised in Los Angeles until the age of seven and then grew up in the United Kingdom. For acting he is best known for his role in The Bill where he played PC Richard Turnham from 1989 to 1990...
. Pellew is the name of a minor character in several of Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
's Aubrey-Maturin novels, including The Reverse of the Medal
The Reverse of the Medal
The Reverse of the Medal is a historical novel by Patrick O'Brian set during the Napoleonic Wars. It was first published by HarperCollins in 1986 and is the eleventh book in the Aubrey-Maturin series, concerning the adventures of naval commander Jack Aubrey, and his friend, ship's surgeon,...
, The Surgeon's Mate
The Surgeon's Mate
The Surgeon's Mate is a historical novel written by Patrick O'Brian and set during the Napoleonic Wars. It is the seventh book in the Aubrey–Maturin series.-Plot summary:...
, but as himself is only mentioned in The Yellow Admiral and The Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (novel)
The Hundred Days is a historical novel written by British author Patrick O'Brian. It is the nineteenth novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series, set during the Napoleonic Wars...
. As a captain, he has a small role in the American Revolution in Rabble in Arms, a historical novel by Kenneth Roberts.