THE NAVAL HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE YEAR MDCCLXXXIII. TO MDCCCXXXVI. BY EDWARD PELHAM BRENTON, CAPTAIN IN THE ROYAL NAVY. A NEW AND GREATLY IMPROVED EDITION, ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, PLANS, ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1837. DA 87 383 1837 V. I TO HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY SIRE, KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH. I rejoice in the opportunity of laying at your Majesty's feet these Records of a profession in which the name of your Majesty stands enrolled in every rank, from that of a Midshipman to that of Lord High Admiral. A History of those stupendous events since the year 1782, in which the British Navy has borne so distinguished a part, may with peculiar propriety be submitted to the judgment of a Monarch who, previously to the commencement of that period, and at an early age, renounced the luxuries of a Palace to encounter the dangers and privations of a sea life. Your Majesty, being the first British Monarch regularly trained up to the Naval Service, is the better able to appreciate the laborious task which I have undertaken. The support of the Throne, and the safety of the Empire, are inseparably connected with the vigorous condition of the Navy. My chief objects have therefore been to exhibit transactions and events to the rising Officers of the Service, in a manner that may enable them to draw such inferences from past errors as shall teach them to avoid future disasters; to suggest such beneficial alterations as my experience might furnish in the construction of our ships; and also to 155989 point out the means by which corporal punishment and impressment may prospectively be dispensed with, not only with safety, but so as to increase the number and improve the character of British Seamen. War being a contingency common to our nature, I have sought to inculcate such precepts as may tend to mitigate its horrors, and to diminish the amount of human misery. Such, Sire, have been some among the many objects embraced in the following History. That the Almighty Disposer of events, who has so signally favoured and protected the British Empire, may ever continue to do so, and may also prolong your Majesty's happy reign for many years, is the constant prayer of the humble individual who has the honour to subscribe himself, · With great respect, SIRE, Your Majesty's most dutiful Servant and Subject, EDWARD PELHAM BRENTON, February 1, 1837. Capt. R. N. |