108 FAMOUS RACINCt MEN. 



was uiaiuly one of admiring awe, evoked by his daring speculations, his 

 Napoleonic coups, and the splendid nonchalance of his aristocratic 

 bearing. He dazzled the world of sport but he did not rule it. Now 

 Admiral Rous, on the other hand, though as a mere racing man he 

 never did anything brilliant or sensational, became nevertheless 

 emphatically the Dictator of the Turf. It may be said of him that 

 his word was law, and that for nearly forty years his sway was as 

 undisputed as it was autocratic. A brief sketch of his career will 

 serve to illustrate the qualities by which he attained this high 

 position and kept it. 



Admiral the Hon. Henry James Rous was the seoond son of the 

 late Earl of Stradbroke, and was born on the 23rd of January, 1795, 

 at Henham Hall, near Southwold, in Suffolk. He was from the first 

 intended for the navy, and after a couple of years at Dr. Burney's 

 naval school, at Cfosport, entered the service in 1808 as a midshipman 

 on board the Rppvhlic, and soon after joining he saw active service 

 in the expedition to Flushing. He was next transferred to the 

 Bacchante, commanded by that splendid sailor Sir William Hoste, 

 and speedily showed what stuff he was made of in half-a-dozen 

 boat actions and cutting out expeditions, where his coolness and 

 courage attracted the notice and won the admiration of his 

 superiors in command, so that on several occasions he obtained the 

 high honour of a special mention in despatches, besides being pre- 

 sented with a medal for his gallantry. In September, 1812, young 

 Rous had a narrow escape from drowning, owing to a prize vessel of 

 which he had been placed in command springing a leak in mid-ocean, 

 which the crew were not strong enough to keep under. In later days 

 he used to say that this was, with one exception, the most trying 

 and perilous situation in which it was ever his ill-fortune to be 

 placed. However, by pluck and perseverance he brought his prize 

 safely to shore, and was warmly congratulated by the Admiralty 

 on the fine seamanship he had displayed. Subsequently the subject 

 of our sketch served as a lieutenant on board the Meander^ 

 Conqueror, Podargus, Mosquito, Sappho and Hind, until the year 

 1822, when he received his captaincy. He had, however, to wait 

 three years for his ship, for it was not till 1825 that he was 

 appointed to the command of the Rainboiv. The frigate was told 

 off for service on the Indian and New Holland stations, and there 

 Captain Rous remained for four years, during which he discharged ' 

 his duties faithfully and well, and acquired a high reputation for 

 seamanship. On his retm-n home in 1830 he retired on the half- 

 pay list, but in 1835 he again hoisted his pennant, and went on 

 active service afloat. It was in that year, the last of his naval career, 

 that Captain Rous crowned his many brilliant exploits by a feat of 

 seamanship to which our maritime annals can show few ]:)arallels. 

 He started from Quebec for England in command of the Pique in 

 the autumn of 1835. The ship was driven north by contrary winds, 

 and at last sti'uck upon a sunken reef off the coast of Labrador. For 



