104 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



30. RICHARD HOWE. 



RICHARD HOWE, EARL HOWE, was born at London, March 8, 1726. He was 

 a grandson of a mistress of George I ("a relationship," says David Hannay, in 

 Encycl. Britt., eleventh ed., " which does much to explain his early rise in the 

 navy"). At the age of 14 he entered the Severn as midshipman and started for 

 the South Seas, but the ship, having been disabled in a storm, returned to England. 

 He went next to the West Indies on the Burford (Captain Lushington); in an 

 attack on La Guayra the ship was damaged and the captain killed. In 1744 he was 

 made acting lieutenant; and in the next year he commanded the sloop Baltimore 

 and was wounded in the head in a fight with two French privateers. Made post 

 captain in 1746, he commanded the Cornwall and brought her back injured from 

 a fight with the Spaniards off Havana. He held various other commands between 

 that time and the beginning of the Seven Years' War, and during that war he 

 engaged in various trivial operations against the coast of France, which, whether 

 failures or triumphs, added to his fame. In 1759, as captain of the Magnanime, 

 he led Hawke's fleet to victory at Quiberon. From 1762 until the outbreak of 

 the American Revolution Howe did shore duty; he ran for Parliament and was 

 elected; was a member of the admiralty board and treasurer of the navy. In 

 1775 he was appointed vice admiral. In 1776 Lord Howe was appointed commander 

 in chief of the North American station, with powers to treat with the disaffected 

 colonists, as it was known that he was friendly to them. He conferred with 

 governors of the colonies and communicated with George Washington, but mean- 

 time kept a firm hold on the cities of New York and Philadelphia. The sending 

 of a new peace commission to America offended Howe and led him to resign, but 

 before he could return to England the French fleet under d'Estaing, of nearly twice 

 the strength of Howe's, arrived and he stayed on. He prevented it from enter- 

 ing New York harbor and forced it out of Newport harbor, so that it eventually 

 found refuge in Boston harbor, where it was of least value. These maneuvers were 

 a fine combination of caution and calculated daring. Howe returned to England 

 and refused further service, embittered at the ministry's bungling and antagonism 

 to him. In 1782 a change of ministry occurred and Howe was appointed admiral 

 of the blue and ordered to watch the Dutch fleet in the Channel. He also pro- 

 tected incoming ships from the combined French and Spanish fleet. He next 

 convoyed a large number of supply ships to the beleaguered garrison at Gibraltar 

 and, though the fleet of the enemy was superior to his own, he landed his supplies 

 and men and returned without injury, due to his extraordinarily fine handling of 

 his fleet and to the incapacity of the enemy's. From the age of 56 to 67 years he per- 

 formed land service, much of the tune as first lord of the admiralty. In 1790 he 

 was again called upon to command the Channel fleet, as admiral of the white. 

 Finally, as admiral and commander in chief of the fleet, he, in 1794, fought the 

 "battle of the first of June," in which he won a brilliant victory by hard fighting, 

 though it was not decisive. He died five years later, his one remaining service 

 being to compose an extensive mutiny, largely due to failure in discipline re- 

 sulting from his advanced age. He quieted the disturbance by granting the 

 mutineers all they asked. He died August 1799. 



Howe was of the hypokinetic type, though not so depressed as Nelson. He 

 was remarkably taciturn. Once, early in his career, an army officer of rank addressed 

 him questions without receiving a reply and said: "Mr. Howe, don't you hear me? 



