HAWKE. 



95 



25. EDWARD HAWKE. 



EDWARD HAWKE was born in 1705. He entered the British navy in 1720, 

 was made post captain in 1734, and in 1743 was assigned to the command of the 

 ship-of-the-line Berwick. In January 1744, under Admiral Mathews, he took part in 

 the naval battle off Toulon and won distinction by the spirit he showed, engaging 

 his antagonist in close action and capturing her. The king personally favored him 

 and helped to advance him to the position of rear admiral in 1747. At that time 

 he was given command of fourteen ships to intercept a French convoy. On October 

 14 he sighted the merchant fleet and its convoy of nine ships. He fought the con- 

 voy and six of its ships fell into his hands. In 1848 he became vice admiral of the 

 blue squadron, having already been elected to Parliament, a seat which he re- 

 tained for 30 years. On the outbreak of the war with France in 1756, Hawke was 

 made full admiral. France was planning to invade England and Hawke was 

 watching the French fleet under de Conflans in the Channel. When Hawke learned 

 that the French fleet was at sea he put on all sail and after a chase of three days 

 caught up with it. The enemy made for Quiberon bay, full of dangerous rocks and 

 on a lee shore. Without order of battle the pursuers engaged the enemy's ships 

 as they came up with them and poured shot into them. In three hours two French 

 ships had sunk and two had struck, eight had run ashore, including the flagship, 

 and eight had escaped. The British lost two ships on a shoal, but most of the 

 people on board were saved. This great victory brought deserved recognition and 

 the admiral was created Baron Hawke. He was lord of the admiralty from 1776 

 to 1781, when he died. 



Hawke had the spirit of a fighter. There is insufficient knowledge as to his 

 hereditary elements. We know, however, that his mother belonged to the Fair- 

 faxes, one of England's greatest fighting families, and that his mother's mother's 

 father was a general in the Parliamentary army in the early part of the seventeenth 

 century. 



FAMILY HISTORY OF SIR EDWARD HAWKE. 



I 1 (M F F), Thomas Bladen, a physician. I 2 

 (M F M), Sarah, daughter of Lord Blayney. I 3 

 (MM F), Sir William Fairfax of Steeton (born 1610), 

 a general in the army, who saved the Parliamentary 

 army from defeat and lost his life at the battle of 

 Montgomery. I 4 (M M M), Frances Chaloner. I 5, 

 Robert Stapleton. I 6, Catherine Fairfax, daughter of 

 Viscount Thomas Fairfax of Gilling, a distant relative 

 of M M F. 



II 1 (M F), Nathaniel Bladen of Lincoln's Inn, 

 barrister-at-law. II 2 (M M), Isabella Fairfax (1637- 



1691). Fraternity of M M: II 3, Thomas Fairfax (1633-1712), a general in the army and governor 

 of Limerick. II 4, Catherine and Mary Fairfax. II 5, William Fairfax (1630-1672), saw military 

 Bervice. II 6, Catherine Stapleton. 



III 1 (F), Edward Hawke, of Lincoln's Inn, barrister-at-law. Ill 2 (M), Elizabeth Bladen. 

 Fraternity of M: III 3, Colonel Martin Bladen, comptroller of the mint, a Lord of Trade, and 

 editor of a superb edition of " Caesar's Commentaries." Ill 4, Hammond (died young) and 

 Hammond Bladen. Ill 5, William Bladen, settled in Maryland. Ill 6, Frances and Isabel Bladen. 

 Ill 7, Althea, Elizabeth, and Frances Fairfax. Ill 8, William Fairfax (died 1694). Ill 9, Robert 

 Fairfax (1666-1725), was of a roving disposition and not fond of study. He first went to sea 

 in a merchant ship. He was first lieutenant on the Bonaventure in the battle of Bantry Bay; 



