EXMOUTH FALKLAND ISLANDS. 



477 



after the battle of Saratoga, he returned on his 

 parole to England, and was soon after appointed 

 first lieutenant of the Apollo frigate, under captain 

 Povvnoll. In the midst of an action, fought in the 

 spring of 1780, the captain fell wounded in Lieu- 

 tenant Pellew's arras, who thereupon assumed the 

 command of the ship, and soon compelled the ene- 

 my to take safety in flight. For his conduct on 

 this occasion, he was promoted to the command of 

 the Hazard sloop of war, from which, in March 

 1782, he was removed to the Pelican. A few 

 months after he was raised by admiral Keppel to 

 the rank of post captain, for a very spirited attack, 

 near the Bass Rock in the Frith of Forth, on three 

 of the enemy's privateers, all of which he drove on 

 shore. The following ten years he spent partly 

 afloat at various stations, and in the command of 

 different ships, and partly at home. 



On the breaking out of the war of 1793, he was 

 appointed to the command of the frigate La Nymphe, 

 of thirty-six guns, in which he sailed from Fal- 

 mouth on the 17th June, and the next day cap- 

 tured the French ship La Cleopatre, after a sharp 

 struggle. For this achievement'he received the 

 honour of knighthood. It was followed by many 

 other successful exploits, the enumeration of which 

 we must omit. Twice, when captain of the Win- 

 chelsea frigate, his heroic spirit was signally dis- 

 played by his leaping from the deck, and thus 

 saving two of his drowning sailors. A more con- 

 spicuous example of this noble feeling was shown 

 on the 26th January, 1796, when, by his great 

 personal exertions, he preserved the crew and pas- 

 sengers of the Dutton transport, which, crowded 

 with troops and their families, proceeding on the 

 expedition to the West Indies, was driven on the 

 rocks under the citadel at Plymouth. His own 

 modest account of this act of benevolence, con- 

 tained in a private letter which he wrote many 

 years afterwards (1811), when commander-in-chief 

 in the North Seas, is as follows. " Why do you 

 ask me to relate the wreck of the Datton? Susan 

 (Lady Exmouth) and I were driving to a dinner 

 party at Plymouth, when we saw crowds running 

 to the Hoe, and learning it was a wreck, I left the 

 carriage to take her on, and joined the crowd. I 

 saw the loss of the whole five or six hundred was 

 inevitable without somebody to direct them, for 

 the last officer was pulled on shore as I reached 

 the surf. I urged their return, which was refused; 

 upon which I made the rope fast to myself, and 

 was hauled through the surf on board, established 

 order, and did not leave her until every soul was 

 saved but the boatswain, who would not go before 

 me. I got safe, and so did he, and the ship went 

 all to pieces ; but I was laid in bed for a week by 

 getting under the mainmast (which had fallen to- 



wards the shore) ; and my back was cured by lord 

 Spencer's having conveyed to me by letter his Ma- 

 jesty's intention to dub me baronet. No more 

 have I to say, except that I felt more pleasure in 

 giving to a mother's arms a dear little infant only 

 three weeks old, than I ever felt in my life ; and 

 both were saved. The struggle she had to entrust 

 me with the bantling was a scene I cannot describe, 

 nor need you, and consequently you will never let 

 this be visible." This letter was communicated 

 to no one, till after the death of the writer. From 

 this time, till the peace in 1802, Sir Edward was 

 employed in active service, and shared largely in 

 the success which attended the naval arms of his 

 country. On coming home after the peace he was 

 returned to parliament as member for Barnstaple. 

 The resumption of hostilities, however, soon called 

 him again abroad. In 1804 he was sent to take 

 the chief command on the East-India station, in 

 the Culloden of seventy-four guns; and here he re- 

 mained till 1809, when he had attained the rank 

 of vice-admiral. A few months after his return 

 to England, he was again sent out as commander- 

 in-chief of the fleet then blockading the Scheldt, 

 and assisted in various operations of importance 

 till the peace of 1814. Among the promotions 

 which were made on that occasion, Admiral Pel- 

 lew was elevated to the peerage by the title of 

 baron Exmouth, with a pension of 2000 per 

 annum. He also received the riband of the Bath, 

 and a year after, the grand cross of that order. On 

 the escape of Napoleon his services were again em- 

 ployed, and he was sent out in command of a squad- 

 ron to the Mediterranean. From this station, in 

 the beginning of the year 1816, he proceeded, by 

 order of the government, to Algiers, and obtained 

 from the Dey a promise to liberate all the subjects 

 of the allies who were detained by him in slavery. 

 Most of our readers will recollect the manner in 

 which this engagement was disregarded by the 

 African sovereign as soon as the British ships had 

 left his coast, and the brilliant success which at- 

 tended the expedition that was immediately sent 

 out under lord Exmouth's command to compel him 

 to perform his stipulations. Twelve hundred 

 Christian slaves were by this exploit restored to 

 liberty. The dignity of Viscount was the well- 

 merited revvard which lord Exmouth received for 

 the important service which he had rendered to his 

 country and to Christendom. The following year 

 the chief command at Plymouth was conferred on 

 him for the usual period of three years ; and at the 

 conclusion of that term, having now attained the 

 age of sixty-three, he retired into private life, pass- 

 ing the greater part of his time at his beautiful re- 

 sidence at Teignmouth, where he died on the 23d 

 January, 1833. 



FALKLAND ISLANDS, (a.) The Falkland 

 islands lie between the parallels of 51 10' and 52 

 3Q> south, and the meridian 58 and 62 west near 

 the straits of Magellan. They consist of two 



large and a number of small islands. The two 

 large islands are about seventy leagues in circum- 

 ference, and are divided by a channel twelve leagues 

 in length and from one to three in breadth. The 



