283 



SAUSMAREZ, JAMES, LORD DE. 



SAUSSURE, HORACE-BENEDICT DE. 



284 



he was presented by the merchants of London with a valuable piece 

 of plate. In the month of November following, Sir James Sauemarez 

 was placed under the orders of Admiral Macbrirte, who gave him the 

 command of a squadron consisting of the Crescent and Druid frigates, 

 a brig, and a cutter, destined to assist the attempts made by the 

 French royalists to join the rising of the Vende*ans. On the 5th of 

 June 1794, an opportunity was presented him of displaying his skill 

 and intrepidity : while proceeding from Plymouth to Guernsey with 

 the Crescent, Druid, and Eurydice frigates, he was attacked by a 

 French squadron of more than double his force. A running fight 

 ensued, the brunt of which was borne by the Crescent and the Druid, 

 to cover the escape of the Eurydice, which, on account of its inferior 

 sailing, ran considerable risk of being captured. This object being 

 effected, he closed in with the enemy in the Crescent, and thus 

 enabled the Druid also to take refuge into the roads of Guernsey. He 

 effected the escape of the Crescent by his cool intrepidity and a per- 

 fect knowledge of the difficult coast in which he was engaged. As 

 soon as the other ships were secure, he bore up as if to run the 

 Crescent on the rocks to avoid being taken, ordering the pilot, a 

 native of Guernsey, to steer through a narrow passage between the 

 rocks, which had never before been attempted by a ship of her size ; 

 he thus reached in safety an anchorage where he was able to defy 

 every effort of the enemy to take his vessel. 



In March 1795, Sir James was appointed to the Orion, 74, and 

 placed under the orders of Lord Bridport, in which ship he opened 

 the memorable battle which took place on the 23rd of June. In 1797 

 the Orion was attached to the squadron sent to reinforce the fleet of 

 Sir John Jervis off Cape St. Vincent, and took a prominent part in the 

 glorious engagement with the Spanish fleet. [JERVJS, JOHN.] He 

 was after this battle employed till the end of April 1798, in the 

 blockade of Cadiz, and then selected by Lord St. Vincent to join the 

 squadron under Sir Horatio Nel.-on destined to watch the operations 

 of the French armament at Toulon. At the important victory of the 

 Nile, Sir James, as senior captain, was the second in command, and 

 his ship was the third which entered into action ; the courage which 

 he displayed on this occasion was enhanced by his humane endeavours 

 to save the remnants of the unfortunate crew of the Orient. [NELSON, 

 HORATIO.] A wound which he received during the action was so severe 

 as to^prevent his leaving the Orion, after the victory, to present his con- 

 gratulations to Lord Nelson. Shortly after his return to England, on 

 the 14th of February 1799, Sir James Sausmarez was promoted to one 

 of the vacant colonelcies of marines, and to the command of the Caesar, 

 of 84 guns, in which he sailed with a detachment of the Channel fleet, 

 tinder Sir Alan Gardner, to bring home from Lisbon the ships cap- 

 tured at the battle of the Nile. During the winters of 1799 and 1800 

 he was entrusted with the command of the squadron which was 

 commissioned to watch the French fleet in Brest. The difficulties to 

 be encountered in this arduous service, particularly during the winter 

 season, were very great; and it is no small praise to the careful 

 vigilance of this commander to remark, that, during the whole time 

 he remained on that station, not a single vessel sailed from or entered 

 the port of Brest. 



At the commencement of the year 1801 he was promoted to the rank 

 of rear-admiral of the blue, and in the month of June following was 

 appointed to the command of a squadron to watch the movements of 

 the Spanish fleet at Cadiz. On this occasion he was created a baronet. 

 On his arrival at Cadiz information was given him that three French 

 line-of-battle ships and a frigate were in the bay of Algesira?, and he 

 immediately determined upon attacking them. The position of the 

 French was one of great strength, defended by the batteries in the bay 

 and fourteen large gun-boats. The action commenced on the morning 

 of the 6th of July, in which he had the misfortune to lose the Hannibal, 

 74, which accidentally grounded ; and, after a long and sanguinary 

 engagement, Sir James found himself compelled to repair to Gibraltar. 

 The failure of his first attempt on the French fleet did not discourage 

 him. Expecting that the enemy's squadron at Cadiz would make use 

 of the first opportunity which the weather might afford of rescuing the 

 French ships at Algesiras, he hastened to put his vessels in a state of 

 repair. This object was effected in a remarkably short space of time. 

 On the 10th of July a French and Spanish fleet, consisting, with the 

 captured Hannibal, of ten sail of the line and four frigates, was seen 

 steering for Algesiras. With a squadron of not more than half the 

 strength of the enemy the admiral determined to attack them, for the 

 purpose of preventing their return to Cadiz, and on the 12th sailed out 

 to meet them. The enemy formed their line-of-battle off Cabrita. 

 Shortly after the commencement of the engagement two of the enemy's 

 ships were discovered to be on fire, and about midnight blew up with 

 a tremendous explosion. An accident which occurred at daylight to 

 the Venerable, Captain Brenton, the disabled state of the English ships, 

 and the sudden failing of the wind, prevented the admiral from attaining 

 his object, which was to prevent the French and Spaniards re-entering 

 Cadiz ; they did so however with the loss of three sail of the line, and 

 upwards of 3000 men, blown up, killed in action, and taken prisoners. 

 An important result of this victory was the preservation of a large 

 fleet of British merchantmen, which it was the object of the French to 

 seize. An unfounded imputation has been attempted to be cast on 

 the naval character of Sir James Sausmarez by a well-known modern 

 French historian, who haa asserted that, contrary to the rules of war, 



red-hot shot was used by him hi that engagement, and that it was 

 owing to these means that the burning of the Spanish ships occurred. 

 This assertion has been indignantly refuted by the concurrent testimony 

 of several who were present at the action. The admiral was rewarded 

 by receiving the Order of the Bath. On the meeting of parliament a 

 motion made by the Earl St. Vincent, and seconded by Lord Nelson, 

 was carried, in which Sir James received the thanks of the house for 

 his gallant conduct in his late actions with the combined fleets of 

 France and Spain. Lord Nelson remarked that " a greater action was 

 never fought." The thanks and freedom of the city of London were 

 also voted to him, with a valuable sword. 



At the peace of Amiens Sir James Sausmarez returned to England, 

 and in 1803 a pension of 1200. a year was conferred upon him. On 

 the renewal of hostilities he was appointed to the naval command of 

 Guernsey, which he held till 1806, when he was promoted to the rank 

 of second in command of the Channel fleet under Earl St. Vincent. 

 On the breaking out of the war with Russia, he was intrusted with 

 the important command of the Baltic fleet. He there displayed con- 

 siderable diplomatic talent, and by his firm" but conciliatory conduct 

 he was powerfully instrumental in detaching Russia from her alliance 

 with France. The judicious policy he pursued towards the Northern 

 States has been clearly detailed by his biographer, Sir John Ross, in 

 the work referred to at the end of this article. As an expression of 

 gratitude for the services rendered by Sir James to the court of 

 Sweden, the Grand Cross of the Military Order of the Sword was con- 

 ferred upon him by the king, Charles XIII. His influence with the king 

 of Sweden was also the chief means by which the neutrality of Sweden 

 was preserved on the accession of Marshal Bernadotte as crown-prince. 

 [CHARLES XIV. of Sweden.] 



The changes which took place in the aspect of affairs on the Con- 

 tinent having rendered the presence of a British fleet in the Baltic no 

 longer necessary, Sir James was recalled, and his recal was accompanied 

 by a letter from, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in which 

 they expressed " their marked approbation for the zeal, judgment, and 

 ability evinced by him during his late command." 



At the peace of 1814 he was raised to the rank of full admiral ; on 

 the visit of the allied sovereigns to England he received their personal 

 thanks for the services which he had rendered to their cause, and, 

 having accompanied them to Oxford, he obtained the honorary degree 

 of Doctor of Civil Law. In 1819 he was appointed rear-admiral, and 

 in 1821 vice-admiral of Great Britain. In 1824 he was preferred to 

 the command of port-admiral of Plymouth, which he held till 1827, 

 and with it may be said to have closed his professional career. At the 

 coronation of William IV. in 1831 he was raised to the peerage of the 

 United Kingdom, with the title of Baron de Sausmarez, of Sausmarez, 

 in the island of Guernsey. He was shortly afterwards made general 

 of marines, and in 1834 an elder brother of the Trinity House. In the 

 same year he was presented by the king of Sweden with a full-length 

 portrait of himself, accompanied by a letter, which showed that time 

 had not effaced from the mind of the king the services rendered by 

 Lord de Sausmarez to Sweden. The remainder of his life was for the 

 most part spent in the enjoyment of quiet and repose on his country 

 estate in Guernsey. His religious zeal, charity, and affable demeanour 

 had endeared him to his countrymen ; and his death, which occurred 

 on the 9th of October 1836, was lamented as a public loss. He was 

 succeeded in his title by his eldest son, James, the present peer, who is 

 in holy orders. 



(Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Sausmarez, by Sir 

 John Ross, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1838; Biographical Sketch of Lord de 

 Sausmarez, appended to Duncan's History of Guernsey, London, 1841; 

 James, Naval History, London, 1822.) 



SAUSSURE, HORACE-BENEDICT DE, was born at Geneva, Feb- 

 ruary 17, 1740. His father Nicolas de Saussure was also a native of 

 Geneva, and is known as the author of some essays, chiefly on agri- 

 cultural subjects. Young de Saussure was educated with great care, 

 partly at the College of Geneva, and partly under the superintendence 

 of his father and his maternal uncle Charles Bonnet. At the age of 

 twenty-two he was appointed professor of philosophy in the college, 

 in which situation he performed the duties of a public teacher for 

 twenty-five years, interrupted only by his travels in search of physical 

 and especially geological knowledge. The events of his life are con- 

 sequently few, and the substance of them may be best given in his 

 own words : 



" I had a decided passion for mountains from my infancy. At the 

 age of eighteen I had already been several times over the mountains 

 nearest to Geneva ; but these were of comparatively little elevation, 

 and by no means satisfied my curiosity. I felt an intense desire to 

 view more closely the Higli Alps, which, as seen from the summits of 

 these lower mountains, appear so majestic. At length, in 1760, alone 

 and on foot, I visited the glacier of Chamouni, then little fr -quented, 

 and the ascent of which was regarded not only as difficult but danger- 

 ous. I went there again the following year ; and from that time I 

 have not allowed a single year to elapse without making considerable 

 excursions, and even long journeys, for the purpose of studying 

 mountains. In the course of that period I have traversed the entire 

 chain of the Alps fourteen times by eight different routes. I have 

 made sixteen other excursions to the central parts of the mountain 

 mass. I have gone over the Jura, the Vopges, the mountains of 



