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THE MEMOIRS OF ADMIRAL LORD BERESFORD
THE MEMOIRS OF ADMIRAL LORD BERESFORD
WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS FOURTH EDITION IN ONE VOLUME METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published (2 vols.) . . . . October 6th, 1914 Second Edition . . . . November, 1914 Third Edition . . . . December, 1914 Fourth Edition (1 vol.) . . . . September, 1916 TO MY BROTHER OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL NAVY PREFACE This work is a record of my life from the year 1859, when I entered the Royal Navy, to the year 1909, when I hauled down my flag and came on shore. For the Intr
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CHAPTER I I SEE THE FLEET
CHAPTER I I SEE THE FLEET
I saw the Navy for the first time in the year 1858, when I was twelve years old. The Channel Squadron came into the Downs; the admiral, who was a friend of my father, invited me to visit his flagship. The admiral put off from Deal in a six-oared galley, and I was taken into a second boat. Both crews began to pull with all their might. I remember being intensely excited, beating with my hand on the gunwale and urging the men to row faster. We were overhauling the admiral, when the boat in which I
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CHAPTER II THE BEGINNING OF SERVICE
CHAPTER II THE BEGINNING OF SERVICE
I was sent to sea for the somewhat vague reasons which so often determine a boy's future. There was a belief that I was of a delicate constitution, and an impression—perhaps justified—that I needed discipline. I was sent to Bayford School in England when I was very young, together with two of my three brothers. We were known as the three "wild Irish." Among my schoolfellows were the present Lord Rosebery, James Lowther, Lord Newport, Lord Claud Hamilton and Lord George Hamilton, Lord Worcester,
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CHAPTER III THE SHIP OF HAPPIEST MEMORY
CHAPTER III THE SHIP OF HAPPIEST MEMORY
On the 25th of March, 1861, I was appointed naval cadet in the Marlborough . As I climbed up her side by the hand-rungs, while my chest was being hoisted in over all, I perceived two huge men looking down upon me, and I heard one say to the other:— "That white-faced little beggar ain't long for this world, Dick." The speaker was John Glanville (called Clamfy Glanville), boatswain's mate (of whom more anon), and he addressed this lugubrious remark to Dicky Horne, the quartermaster, a very fat man
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CHAPTER IV THE SHIP OF UNHAPPY MEMORY
CHAPTER IV THE SHIP OF UNHAPPY MEMORY
I did not like the Defence . I thought her a dreadful ship. After the immaculate decks, the glittering perfection, the spirit and fire and pride of the Marlborough , the "flagship of the world," I was condemned to a slovenly, unhandy, tin kettle which could not sail without steam; which had not even any royal-masts; and which took minutes instead of seconds to cross topgallant yards, a disgusting spectacle to a midshipman of the Marlborough . Instead of the splendid sun and blue waters of the Me
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CHAPTER V THE MIDSHIPMAN OF 1864
CHAPTER V THE MIDSHIPMAN OF 1864
I wish I could convey to my readers something of the pride and delight which a sailor feels in his ship. But who that has never had the luck to be a deep-water sailor, can understand his joy in the noble vessel, or the uplifting sense of his control over her matchless and splendid power, born of a knowledge of her every rope and sail and timber, and of an understanding of her behaviour and ability. For every ship has her own spirit, her own personality. You may build two ships or twenty upon the
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CHAPTER VI STRICT SERVICE
CHAPTER VI STRICT SERVICE
Captain Lord Gillford, afterwards Lord Clamwilliam, was one of the finest seamen, and his ship was one of the smartest ships, in the Service. The Tribune was what we used to call a jackass frigate. She was pierced for 31 guns, was of 1570 tons burthen, and 300 h.p.—not that anything could ever induce the captain to use steam. Before I joined the Tribune , she had sprung her foremast so she went up the Fraser River to cut a new spar out of he forest. Such things were done in those days. But on th
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CHAPTER VII THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA
CHAPTER VII THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA
I. TO THE ANTIPODES After a brief spell in the royal yacht, I was promoted out of her to lieutenant, and was appointed to the Galatea , Captain H.R.H. Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, K.G., K.T. H.M.S. Galatea had four months previously returned from the long cruise of seventeen months, 24th January, 1867, to 26th June, 1868, during which the Duke visited South Africa and Australasia. While he was in Australia, an attempt had been made to assassinate his Royal Highness, who had a very na
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CHAPTER VIII THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
CHAPTER VIII THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
II. MY TWO FAITHFUL SERVANTS They came to me first in the Galatea , so that their story may fitly be related in this place. Tom Fat the China boy came to me at Kowloon. He was brought to me by his uncle, who desired to dispose of his nephew, for a consideration. The consideration was £5. Lest I should be accused of Chinese slavery—and anything is possible in these days—I should explain that the fiver was not the price of Tom Fat, but was in the nature of a delicate compliment paid to his uncle.
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CHAPTER IX THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
CHAPTER IX THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
III. TAHITI AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS We arrived at Tahiti in June, 1869. Here is the most lovely climate in the world. The inhabitants never seemed to do any work, with the single exception of carrying bananas. In this exercise they were extraordinarily expert, bearing enormous weights upon the shoulders, the skin of which becomes hard like leather. I considered myself to be fairly strong; but when I tried to carry one of the masses of bananas under which the natives march swiftly all day long,
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CHAPTER X THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA
CHAPTER X THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA
IV. OLD JAPAN NOTE When Lord Charles Beresford visited Nippon (from the Chinese Jih Pun, the place or rising of the sun, changed by English pronunciation to Japan), it was the old Japan that he saw; the Japan of centuries of isolation, inviolate save for the intrusion of the Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth century, and the little wedge of Dutch traders. It had been the Japan of the Mikado, who was as a god; of the Tycoon, his temporal representative, who, like a man walking the tight-rope a
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CHAPTER XI THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
CHAPTER XI THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
V. WITH THE DUKE IN JAPAN The Galatea arrived at Yokohama on the 29th August 1869. The Duke with his suite, including myself, went up to Tokio (the old Yedo) and took up his quarters at Hama-go-ten, which had been the summer residence of the Tycoon. The estate marched with a piece of water opening into the bay; here were many summer-houses; and a commodious building equipped for the Duke by the orders of the Mikado. The name was changed to Yen-Rio-Kan, signifying a place set apart for distinguis
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CHAPTER XII THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
CHAPTER XII THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. GALATEA (Continued)
VI. THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE From Japan we proceeded to China, touching at Chefoo, Shanghai and Hongkong. Nothing could exceed the princely hospitality of the great British mercantile firms in China. It was then that I learned, what subsequent experience confirmed, the remarkable integrity of the business dealings of the Chinese. The head of the Chinese Bank told me that he never had a bad account with a Chinaman. The Chinese keeps agreements to the letter, quite irrespective of documentary contracts
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CHAPTER XIII FLAG-LIEUTENANT AT PLYMOUTH
CHAPTER XIII FLAG-LIEUTENANT AT PLYMOUTH
In 1871, I was appointed flag-lieutenant to Admiral (afterwards Admiral of the Fleet) the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel, commander-in-chief at Plymouth. His flag was flown in the Royal Adelaide . Sir Harry, as already recorded, had been commander-in-chief upon the China station when the Duke of Edinburgh visited Japan, and had accompanied his Royal Highness upon his visit to the Mikado. It was at Plymouth that I first had the honour of serving under Sir Harry Keppel: a splendid seaman, a most distinguis
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CHAPTER XIV POLITICAL EVENTS OF 1873-80 AND POSTSCRIPT
CHAPTER XIV POLITICAL EVENTS OF 1873-80 AND POSTSCRIPT
NOTE The following brief summary of political and international affairs is introduced for convenience of reference. It may be skipped by the reader, should he disdain politics. The Government of Mr. Gladstone, returned to power in 1868, began to disintegrate in 1873. The proximate cause was the Irish University Education Bill, announced in the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the session on 6th February, 1873. Irish affairs have always been the curse of the Liberal Party. But a popular G
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CHAPTER XV AN IRISH ELECTION AND IRISH POLITICS
CHAPTER XV AN IRISH ELECTION AND IRISH POLITICS
The political situation in Ireland at the time when I entered politics was characteristically exemplified in the Kerry election of 1872, in which I took part. It was fought entirely on the Home Rule issue, which had been revived by Isaac Butt when, in 1870, he formed his Home Government Association. In the Kerry election of 1872, the Roman Catholic hierarchy was opposed to Home Rule. The anti-Home Rule candidate, Mr. Deas, was a Roman Catholic, a local landlord and extremely popular. His opponen
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CHAPTER XVI MEMBER FOR WATERFORD, AND COMMANDER, ROYAL NAVY
CHAPTER XVI MEMBER FOR WATERFORD, AND COMMANDER, ROYAL NAVY
I shall never forget my first impressions, when, in 1874, I entered Parliament. There was a discussion upon a matter of Local Government. I listened to the speeches made on both sides of the House, each speaker taking a different point of view, and I became more and more doubtful concerning the solution of the problem in hand. At last a Radical member, whose name I forget, drew all the yarns into one rope, making what appeared to me to be a clear, concise and reasonable proposal. Sitting among m
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CHAPTER XVII WITH THE PRINCE IN INDIA
CHAPTER XVII WITH THE PRINCE IN INDIA
In September, 1875, I was appointed A.D.C. to the Prince of Wales (our late King) to accompany his Royal Highness upon his visit to India. The complete list of the suite was as follows: The Duke of Sutherland, K.G.; Sir Bartle Frere; Lord Suffield, Head of the Prince's Household; Major-General Lord Alfred Paget, Clerk-Marshal to H.M. the Queen; Lord Aylesford; Major-General Probyn, V.C., Equerry to the Prince, in charge of the transport and sporting arrangements; Colonel Arthur Ellis, Grenadier
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CHAPTER XVIII THE EGYPTIAN WAR
CHAPTER XVIII THE EGYPTIAN WAR
I. THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE NOTE The story of the Egyptian war may conveniently begin with an account of the affair of the 9th September, 1881, when Tewfik, Khedive of Egypt, met Arabi Pasha face to face in the Square of Abdin at Cairo, and failed to take advantage of the greatest opportunity of his life. Had he acted there and then upon the counsel of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Auckland Colvin, British Controller, it is possible that the Egyptian war might have been avoided. The beginning of the trou
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CHAPTER XIX THE EGYPTIAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XIX THE EGYPTIAN WAR (Continued)
II. THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA My appointment to H.M.S. Condor was dated 31st December, 1881. The Condor was a single-screw composite sloop gun-vessel of 780 tons and 770 h.p., carrying one 4½-ton gun amidships, one 64-pr. forward and one 64-pr. aft, all muzzle-loading guns. In June, 1882, the Condor formed part of the squadron lying off Alexandria under the command of Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour. On Sunday, 11th June, calling upon Captain Blomfield, the harbour-master, I found him in great
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CHAPTER XX THE EGYPTIAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XX THE EGYPTIAN WAR (Continued)
III. CHIEF OF POLICE The bombardment took place on the 11th July. On the 12th, as I have narrated, the Egyptian soldiery fired the city, looted it, and evacuated the defences. On the same day the Khedive was surrounded in his Palace at Ramleh by some 400 of Arabi's cavalry and infantry, a force subsequently reduced to about 250 men. That evening Admiral Seymour was informed that the Khedive was in danger. The admiral dispatched the Condor to lie off Ramleh; and there we lay all that night, rolli
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CHAPTER XXI THE EGYPTIAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXI THE EGYPTIAN WAR (Continued)
IV. GARRISON WORK When I was relieved, on 1st August (1882), of the post of provost-marshal and chief of police, the Condor was ordered to keep the Mex lines and citadel, which defended the south-western boundary of Alexandria, forming a barrier across the long and narrow strip of land which extends between the sea and Lake Mareotis, and upon which the city is built. The fortifications of the sea front were continued, with a brief interval, at right angles to the sea face, extending no more than
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CHAPTER XXII PASSING THROUGH EGYPT
CHAPTER XXII PASSING THROUGH EGYPT
At the beginning of the year 1883 I was on my way out to India with Lady Charles in the P. and O. s.s. Malwa . Proceeding into Ismailia Lake, the Malwa was rammed by another vessel which tried to cross the Malwa's bows. I was looking over the side of the Malwa and I saw a curious thing. I saw the colliding vessel rebound from the Malwa and strike her again. I ran up to the bridge, where the captain had already given orders to stop the engines. The ship was sinking; it was no time to stand upon c
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CHAPTER XXIII THE SOUDAN WAR OF 1884-5
CHAPTER XXIII THE SOUDAN WAR OF 1884-5
I. SUMMARY OF EVENTS NOTE A year before the British forces restored order in Egypt, trouble was beginning in the Soudan. One Mahomet Ahmed, who was the son of a boat-builder, and who had the peculiar conformation of the teeth which betokened the fore-ordained of the Prophet, announced that he was the Mahdi. In July, 1881, the holy man dwelt upon the island of Abba, on the White Nile, above Khartoum. Thence he caused it to be made known that he was the chosen instrument for the reformation of Isl
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CHAPTER XXIV THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXIV THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
II. HOW WE BROUGHT THE BOATS THROUGH THE GREAT GATE In January, 1884, General Gordon was entrusted by the British and Egyptian Governments with the impossible task of evacuating the Soudan and of organising its future internal administration, in the face of a vast horde of armed fanatics. In April, the investment of Khartoum, in which Gordon was shut up, was complete. In May, preparations for war were begun in England and in Egypt. It was not, however, until 8th August that Lord Hartington infor
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CHAPTER XXV THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXV THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
III. UP THE CATARACTS AND ACROSS THE DESERT "To Assiout, in a cloud of dust We came, and it made us smile, To see each other's features, till We washed them in the Nile. From there, by boat, to Assouan We came, and every night Made fast, for the boatmen wouldn't steam Excepting in daylight." Songs of the Camel Corps (Sergt. H. EAGLE, R.M.C.C.) On the 6th December, 1884, Peel and Colbourne, my two gallant comrades who had done so splendid a work upon the Second Cataract, quitted t
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CHAPTER XXVI THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXVI THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
IV. THE FIRST MARCH OF THE DESERT COLUMN NOTE By the end of December, 1884, the whole of the expedition was in process of concentrating at Korti. At Korti the Nile fetches a wide arc north-eastward. The chord of the arc, running south-eastward, runs from Korti to Metemmeh, and Shendi, which stands on the farther, or east, bank. From Korti to Metemmeh is 176 miles across the desert. Shendi was the rendezvous at which the troops were to meet Gordon's steamers sent down by him from Khartoum. Wolsel
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CHAPTER XXVII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXVII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
V. THE DESERT MARCH OF THE FORLORN HOPE "When years ago I 'listed, lads, To serve our Gracious Queen, The sergeant made me understand I was a 'Royal Marine.' He said we sometimes served in ships, And sometimes on the shore; But did not say I should wear spurs, Or be in the Camel Corps." Songs of the Camel Corps (Sergt. H. EAGLE, R.M.C.C.) Korti was a city of tents arrayed amid groves of fronded palm overhanging the broad river; beyond, the illimitable coloured spaces of the deser
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CHAPTER XXVIII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXVIII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
VI. THE FIGHT AT ABU KLEA "England well may speak with wonder Of the small heroic band, Fearlessly, though parched and weary, Toiling 'cross the desert sand; How they met the foeman's onslaught, Firm, undaunted, with a cheer, Drove ten times or more their number, Down the vale of Abu Klea." Songs of the Camel Corps (Serg. H. EAGLE, R.M.C.C.) Before the square was completely formed on the top of the knoll at the foot of which it had been halted when the thousands of Arabs sprang i
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CHAPTER XXIX THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXIX THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
VII. THE FIGHT TO REACH THE RIVER "We had beat the foe at Abu Klea, and now had marched all night, Parching with thirst, each longed to see the first faint streak of light, For all expected with the dawn to see the river flow. 'Twas there all right, but in our path stood thousands of the foe; We halted, and a barricade of biscuit boxes made, And swift their deadly bullets flew round that frail barricade, And many a gallant fellow dropped before the welcome cry, 'Form square' was heard, 'we must
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CHAPTER XXX THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXX THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
VIII. DISASTER "Comrades, who with us side by side, Did in the brunt of battle stand, Are absent now, their manly forms Lie mouldering in the desert sand." Songs of the Camel Corps (Sergeant H. EAGLE, R.M.C.C.) On 21st January, the day after the main body of the Desert Column had come to Gubat, an attack was made upon Metemmeh, which resolved itself into a reconnaissance in force. Lord Wolseley's instructions to Sir Herbert Stewart were "to advance on Metemmeh, which you will attack and
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CHAPTER XXXI THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXXI THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
IX. THE RESCUE "And while lying near Metemmeh He went—many a time you know— Up the river in his steamer, Dealing havoc on the foe; And each gallant tar and Jollie That was with him, fighting there, Now would follow without question, Let him lead them, anywhere." Songs of the Camel Corps (Sergeant H. EAGLE, R.M.C.C.) [The men used to sing 'Our Navy on the Nile,' of which the above is an excerpt; but the rest is so complimentary to the author, that he is obliged to omit it.] At two
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CHAPTER XXXII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXXII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
X. THE EFFECT OF THE ACTION OF WAD HABESHI The proximate result of the fight of the Safieh was of course the fulfilment of its immediate object, the rescue of Sir Charles Wilson's gallant detachment. But, years afterwards, it was made known that the full effect actually extended so far as to include the salvation of the whole Desert Column. In The Royal Navy: A History , vol. vii., Sir William Laird Clowes briefly mentions the fact, referring to Sir F. R. Wingate's letter to Lord Wolseley of 18t
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CHAPTER XXXIII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXXIII THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
XI. THE RETREAT Upon the day after the rescue of Sir Charles Wilson's party, a court of inquiry, under my presidency, was held to investigate the conduct of the captains of the two wrecked steamers, and one of the Reises. The captains were acquitted. The Reis was found guilty of treachery, but his punishment was remitted in consideration of the fact that he had brought Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley safely down the river after the wreck of the Bordein . The little Safieh was riddled with bullet-holes
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CHAPTER XXXIV THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
CHAPTER XXXIV THE SOUDAN WAR (Continued)
XII. SEQUEL AND CONCLUSION For the first few weeks after the return of the Desert Column to Korti, we all believed that there would be an autumn campaign, and we looked forward to the taking of Khartoum. Lord Wolseley distributed his troops among various stations along the Nile from the Hannek Cataract to Abu Dom, there to remain in summer quarters. In his dispatch of 6th March, 1885 (Colville's History of the Soudan Campaign , Part II.), Lord Wolseley indicated the force he would require, and r
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CHAPTER XXXV ORGANISATION FOR WAR
CHAPTER XXXV ORGANISATION FOR WAR
There is nothing quite so dead as dead politics; therefore I do not intend to dwell upon my political experiences, except in so far as they relate to the purpose for which I entered Parliament. That purpose was to serve the interests of the Royal Navy. Politics, as such, have never greatly interested me; the Party system always appeared to me to involve a sacrifice of principle; and if I am associated with the party with which I am naturally most in sympathy, at least I may claim to have attacke
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CHAPTER XXXVI THE TWENTY-ONE MILLION
CHAPTER XXXVI THE TWENTY-ONE MILLION
In January, 1887, my routine work at the Admiralty was varied by a trip in the new submarine Nautilus to the bottom of Tilbury Dock, which was very nearly the last voyage of the party in this world. The owners of the boat, Mr. Edward Wolseley and Mr. C. E. Lyon, had invited several guests, among whom was Mr. William White (afterwards Sir William Henry White, K.C.B., F.R.S., etc.), together with some officials of the Admiralty. The theory was that by pushing air cylinders to project from each sid
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CHAPTER XXXVII H.M.S. UNDAUNTED
CHAPTER XXXVII H.M.S. UNDAUNTED
I. WITH THE MEDITERRANEAN FLEET "Undaunteds be ready, Undaunteds be steady, Undaunteds stand by for a job!" Bugle call of H.M.S. Undaunted It was invented by the first lieutenant, William Stokes Rees (now Vice-Admiral W. S. Rees, C.B.), who was one of the best gunnery officers I have known. I was appointed to the command of the Undaunted in November, 1889. The commander was Robert S. Lowry (now Vice-Admiral Sir Robert S. Lowry, K.C.B.). It was the Undaunted's first commission. Sh
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CHAPTER XXXVIII H.M.S. UNDAUNTED (Continued)
CHAPTER XXXVIII H.M.S. UNDAUNTED (Continued)
II. THE SALVING OF THE SEIGNELAY The Undaunted , lying at Alexandria in 1891, was being rigged up for a ball; when a telegram arrived ordering her to go to the rescue of the French cruiser Seignelay , which had gone ashore near Jaffa, on 26th April. The telegram arrived at one o'clock in the morning of the 28th April. Before daylight, the ball-room was unrigged, the decorations were taken down, 300 guests were put off by telegram, and we were steaming at full speed to the Seignelay , distant 270
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CHAPTER XXXIX THE SECOND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME
CHAPTER XXXIX THE SECOND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME
It is easier to take the helm than to be on the con. I have always been on the con. To drop the metaphor, I have looked ahead in matters of naval defence and have pointed out what (in my view) ought to be done. In 1889, I resigned my post at the Board of Admiralty in order to fasten public attention upon the instant necessity of strengthening the Fleet by the addition of 70 vessels at a cost of £20,000,000. In the same year, the Naval Defence Act provided those vessels at a cost a little in exce
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CHAPTER XL STEAM RESERVE
CHAPTER XL STEAM RESERVE
In the days of the sailing Navy, when an accident occurred, the captain knew every method by which it could be repaired, and gave directions exactly how the work was to be done. He was not necessarily able to do the work with his own hands (although I know at least one captain who could); but (what was more important) he knew how it ought to be done. Should a topsail-yard carry away, for instance, the captain would know whether to have it sawn in half longitudinally and the halves reversed; or t
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CHAPTER XLI VIEWS AND REVIEWS
CHAPTER XLI VIEWS AND REVIEWS
The three years succeeding the termination of my appointment at Chatham were mainly occupied with questions of naval reform. The task was of my own choosing; and if, in comparison with the life I led, the existence of the early martyrs was leisured, dignified and luxurious, it is not for me to draw the parallel. The chief difficulty encountered by any reformer is not an evil but a good. It is the native virtue of the English people, which leads them to place implicit confidence in constituted au
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CHAPTER XLII COVETED CHINA
CHAPTER XLII COVETED CHINA
NOTE As the significance of Lord Charles Beresford's doings in China cannot be appreciated save in the light of the knowledge of the international situation in 1898, a brief analysis of it may here serve the convenience of the reader. The governing factor of the problem was the fear of Russian ambition and of Russian aggrandisement. Both Russia and Great Britain are great Oriental Powers. The Asiatic possessions or dependencies of Russia consisted of over six million square miles, containing a p
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CHAPTER XLIII THE INTROMISSION OF THE ADMIRALS
CHAPTER XLIII THE INTROMISSION OF THE ADMIRALS
In August, 1898, I received from the Associated Chambers of Commerce of Great Britain, whose President was Sir Stafford Northcote, an invitation to proceed on their behalf to China, "to obtain accurate information as to how security is to be ensured to commercial men who may be disposed to embark their capital in trade enterprise in China." Sir Stafford Northcote added that he desired to obtain a report on these matters from a "non-official source," and that, further, it should be supplied by an
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CHAPTER XLIV TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES
CHAPTER XLIV TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES
I. CHINA THE MISFORTUNES OF KANG YU WEI On my way up to Pekin, I visited Hong Kong, arriving there on 30th September. The island of Hong Kong, being British territory, is a city of refuge; to which sanctuary, just before my arrival, had fled Kang Yu Wei, the leader of the Reform Party. To the influence of Kang Yu Wei may be ascribed the conversion of the young Emperor, Kuang Hsu, to Reform; and the issue by the Son of Heaven of the series of Decrees, during the Hundred Days of Reform of the prec
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CHAPTER XLV TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (Continued)
CHAPTER XLV TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (Continued)
II. JAPAN Having received invitations to visit Japan from the Chambers of Commerce and from prominent persons interested in the China trade, I stayed for a short time in that country on my way home. Thirty years previously, accompanying H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh in the Galatea , I had seen the Old Japan. I was now to see, super-imposed upon the Old, the New Japan. That which China was groping after, Japan had seized and made her own. What we call Western civilisation: the civilisation of comm
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CHAPTER XLVI TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (Continued)
CHAPTER XLVI TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (Continued)
III. THE UNITED STATES The many invitations sent to me while I was in China from the United States determined me to visit that country on the way home; in order to explain to the American nation the situation in China; to encourage if it might be, the growth of amity between the English and the American peoples; and incidentally to mark the contrast between the most ancient and static Empire of the East and the restless dynamic forces of the latest experiment in Western civilisation. I had arriv
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CHAPTER XLVII H.M.S. RAMILLIES
CHAPTER XLVII H.M.S. RAMILLIES
When the men who had gone out to South Africa to take part in the Jameson Raid were passing through the Suez Canal on their way back again, I saw and heard the people in the British ships cheering them as they went by; a popular effusion which (in my view) boded trouble in the future. Soon after my return from the United States in 1899, an instalment of the trouble arrived. The burghers of the Transvaal and of the Orange Free State crossed the British frontiers on the 12th October. This country
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CHAPTER XLVIII HER MAJESTY'S MIDSHIPMEN
CHAPTER XLVIII HER MAJESTY'S MIDSHIPMEN
Having adopted the practice of asking the officers in the Fleet under my command to write essays upon subjects connected with the Service, I once received a disquisition in which the author (a midshipman) dwelt sorrowfully upon the unaccountable indifference manifested by senior officers towards the opinions of midshipmen, who, said the writer, having young and vigorous minds, were naturally better fitted to grapple with problems which baffled the older and slower intellect. This particular youn
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CHAPTER XLIX THE PARLIAMENTARY ANVIL
CHAPTER XLIX THE PARLIAMENTARY ANVIL
Shortly after the expiration of my appointment as second in command in the Mediterranean, I was back again in the House of Commons, this time as member for Woolwich, having been returned unopposed. Many improvements in the Navy had been accomplished under Lord Salisbury's administration; but the central defect in the system remained; and the name of it was the want of a War Staff. There was no one in existence whose duty it was to discover and to represent what were the present and the future re
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CHAPTER L THE CHANNEL FLEET
CHAPTER L THE CHANNEL FLEET
H.M.S. Majestic , first-class battleship, completed in 1895, sister ship to the Magnificent (which was built at Chatham during my time at that port as captain of the Steam Reserve), was one of nine ships of the same class; the rest being Magnificent , Hannibal , Prince George , Victorious , Jupiter , Mars , Cæsar and Illustrious . These represented an improvement on the preceding Royal Sovereign class, the Renown , a beautiful, somewhat smaller vessel, being a class by herself. The Majestic is o
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CHAPTER LI BOAT RACING
CHAPTER LI BOAT RACING
The enthusiasm which I have always felt for the noble sport of rowing induced me, while in command of the Undaunted , to publish some notes on the subject of men-of-war pulling races, and how to win them, the substance of which is here reproduced, in the hope that they may still prove of use in the Service. One of the results of steam and machinery having succeeded masts, yards and canvas in a man-of-war was the creation of greater interest in pulling races. The regattas held in different fleets
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CHAPTER LII THE MEDITERRANEAN STATION
CHAPTER LII THE MEDITERRANEAN STATION
Forty-four years had elapsed since I was a midshipman in H.M.S. Marlborough , flagship in the Mediterranean, when I hoisted my flag in H.M.S. Bulwark as commander-in-chief upon that station, in June 1905. Those changeful years had seen the Old Navy out and the New Navy in; their revolutions had transformed the whole material aspect of the Navy; and the essential spirit of the Navy, adapting itself to new conditions remained unaltered. One result, perhaps inevitable, of the swift progress of scie
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CHAPTER LIII SPORTING MEMORIES
CHAPTER LIII SPORTING MEMORIES
I. RIDING AND DRIVING I rode my first race in Corfu, as a midshipman. An old colonel of artillery, who knew my father, said to me: "You are a Beresford, an Irishman, and a sailor, and if you can't ride, who can? You shall ride my horse in the next race. He is a hard puller, and if only you stick on he will win." He was a hard puller, and he did win. I rode in my midshipman's uniform, and lost my cap, and won the race. But the horse ran three times round the course before I could pull him up. I h
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CHAPTER LIV SPORTING MEMORIES (Continued)
CHAPTER LIV SPORTING MEMORIES (Continued)
II. SHOOTING There are few kinds of beasts which I have not shot; and among those few are lions and giraffes. When I was at Vancouver as a midshipman, I went out after deer upon a pouring wet day. I fired at a deer; the gun, a muzzle-loader, missed fire; I set the stock on the ground in order to ram home the charge; and the gun went off. The bullet cut the button off the top of my cap: a narrow escape. I shall never forget the excitement of three of us midshipmen of the Clio , when, being out af
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CHAPTER LV SPORTING MEMORIES (Continued)
CHAPTER LV SPORTING MEMORIES (Continued)
III. FISHING When, as a youngster, I was sea-fishing at Ascension, my boat made fast to a buoy, I had used all my bait without getting a fish, when a booby gull kindly came and sat on the buoy. I knocked him over with an oar, used his remains for bait, and caught lots of fish. In nearly every ship in which I have served, I had a trammel, a trawl and a trot. As a midshipman, I used them myself; when I became a senior officer, I lent them to the midshipmen. Upon visiting the island of Juan Fernand
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CHAPTER LVI HOME WATERS: THE LAST COMMAND
CHAPTER LVI HOME WATERS: THE LAST COMMAND
Before taking over the command of the Channel Fleet, to which I was appointed on 4th March, 1907, on my return from the Mediterranean, I proceeded on leave, family affairs calling me to Mexico. My younger brother, Lord Delaval, had been killed in a railway accident in the United States, on 26th December of the preceding year (1906), while I was in the Mediterranean. He left a large property in Mexico, whither I went to settle his affairs as his executor. Lord Delaval had gone to Mexico as a youn
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POSTSCRIPT THE MAKING OF AN ADMIRAL
POSTSCRIPT THE MAKING OF AN ADMIRAL
One of our greatest naval administrators, the late Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Richards, was constantly preoccupied with a problem, of which he used often to speak. "How are we to make great admirals?" he would say. It is a question of the highest moment. A great admiral may be born, but he must also be made. The making of an admiral has been the study of the best minds in the Navy for generations. And for this reason: In time of war, all must depend on one man, and that man the admiral i
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