Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
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Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth (April 9, 1757 – January 23, 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars.
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Childhood
Pellew was born at Dover, descended from a family which came originally from Normandy, but had for many centuries been settled in the west of Cornwall. He grew up in Penzance and attended Truro Grammar School. He was a pugnacious youth, which did not endear him to his headmaster. He ran away to sea at the age of 14, but soon deserted because of unfair treatment to another midshipman.
Early career
Pellew entered the Royal Navy in 1770. He saw service in the American War of Independence where, as a Master's Mate he took an active part in the campaign on Lake Champlain, performing well in the Battle of Valcour Island and the Battle of Saratoga. After the surrender of General John Burgoyne at Saratoga, he was repatriated and was promoted to lieutenant.
Marriage & Family
On 28 May 1783 he married Susannah Frowde. They had four sons and two daughters. These children were:
- Pownoll Bastard Pellew, later 2nd Viscount Exmouth
- Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, later an admiral and knight, b. 13 December 1789
- George Pellew, later a bishop, born 3 April 1793
- Edward William Pellew, later a minister, born 3 November 1799
- Emma Mary Pellew, b. 18 January 1785
- Julia Pellew, b. 31 May 1787
Captaincy and the French Revolutionary War
He was captain of the Nymphe which took the first French warship, the Cléopâtre, during the Revolutionary war with France in 1793. For this action he was knighted. By 1794 he was Commodore of the Western Frigate Squadron. In 1795, he took command of HMS Indefatigable, the ship with which he is most closely associated.
He was also a good swimmer and noted for saving many lives. The most striking event was on January 26, 1796 when the East Indiaman Dutton, which was carrying troops, ran aground under Plymouth Hoe. Due to the heavy seas, the crew and soldiers aboard were unable to get to shore. Pellew swam out to the wreck with a line and helped rig a lifeline which saved almost all aboard. For this feat he was, on 18 March 1796 created a baronet.
His most famous action started on January 13, 1797 when cruising in company with HMS Amazon, a French 74 gun ship of the line, Les Droits de l'Homme, was sighted. Normally a ship of the line would outmatch two frigates, but by skilful sailing in the stormy conditions, the British frigates avoided bearing the brunt of the superior fire power of the French. In the early morning of January 14, 1797, the three ships were embayed on a lee shore in Audierne Bay. Both Les Droits de l'Homme and Amazon ran aground, but Indefatigable managed to claw her way off the lee shore to safety.
Admiralcy and Peerage
Pellew was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1804. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies. It took six months to sail out to Penang so he took up the appointment in 1805. On his return from the east, he was appointed, in succession to the positions of Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean from 1811 to 1814, and of the North Sea in 1820.
In 1814, he was made Baron Exmouth of Canonteign. He led an Anglo-Dutch fleet against the Barbary states and was victor of the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 and secured the release of the 1,000 Christian slaves in the city. For this action he was created 1st Viscount Exmouth on 10 December 1816. In 1832 he was appointed Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom.
Geographical namesakes
The Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands, situated in the Gulf of Carpentaria were named after Pellew by Matthew Flinders who visited them in 1802. Other Australian geographical features include Cape Pellew (adjacent to the islands) and Exmouth Gulf.
Pellew Island, Jamaica, and the Republic of Belau (formerly the Pellew or Pelew Islands), east of the Philippines, are also named after Edward Pellew.
Fictional appearances
Pellew is featured as the Captain of Indefatigable in some of C. S. Forester's fictional Horatio Hornblower novels; in the television adaptations, as portrayed by Robert Lindsay, he is given a more prominent role.
As a midshipman, he appears in the novel Jack Absolute by C. C. Humphreys.
References
- Military Heritage mentioned Sir Edward Pellew as one of the finest British frigate captains who was featured in the famous Hornblower novels by C.S. Forester saying in real life he was more colorful for his deeds and more charismatic (John D. Gresham, Military Heritage, February 2002, Volume 3, No. 4, p. 17).
- Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth by C. Northcote Parkinson, (1934)
- Life of Viscount Exmouth by Edward Osler
External links
- The Pellew Family website
- Biography of Pellew by C. Northcote Parkinson
- Template:Gutenberg A 1854 biography by Edward Osler.
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