George Cadogan: The Ferret Mutiny 1806 (4/4)
Concluding the story of George Cadogan's service on the West Indies Station in 1805/6
It is all too easy to see the Honourable George Cadogan as a caricature of the stereotypically brutal and incompetent naval captain, promoted to a position of command through little more than privilege, patronage and interest. Like all caricatures though, this is an exaggeration and the reality is considerably more complex.
By 1806 George Cadogan had been at sea for over ten years, all of which he had served on the quarter deck, not on the ships books. For six of these years he served with a charismatic and supportive captain, Sir Edward Pellew, who took a close personal interest in the well being and careers of all his officers and young gentlemen. However even under Pellew’s protective wing it had been far from plain sailing. George had already survived several ferocious frigate actions, long periods of blockade duty and “promotion”, along with his captain, from the close knit crew of the frigate Indefatigable to the malcontent ship of the line Impetueux. And it was aboard the Impetueux that George witnessed Captain Pellew defending his quarter deck from mutineers, three of whom were subsequently court martialed and hung.
George certainly had considerable experience of the vicissitudes of naval service by the time he reached the West Indies Station in 1804. His first command, the Cyane began promisingly, but after taking several impressive prizes he must have been bitterly disappointed to loose his sloop to two vastly superior French frigates, L’Hortense and L’Hermione. Although George was a prisoner of war for less than two months it is likely that this period of incarceration had a considerable impact on him, particularly given that he knew a court martial awaited him on his release. Under Admiralty regulations all captains who lost their ship, regardless of circumstances, were subject to court martial. And George had the ignominy of knowing that he had struck his colours without firing a shot, after throwing his guns overboard and running for it. In the event, any fears he might have had were unfounded. The verdict of the court martial held on board HMS Unicorn in July 1805 reads as follows:
The Honourable George Cadogan Commander of His Majesty’s late sloop Cyane the officers and seamen used every endeavour to prevent His Majesty’s said vessel falling into the Enemy’s hands and Captain Cadogan did not strike his colours until it was impossible to escape from the enemy, also being in such state, was in no condition to defend the ship against two large frigates of such force as they were.
George, his officers and his crew were all honourably acquitted. This verdict may seem like a foregone conclusion given the circumstances; Cyane had only 18 guns while L’Hortense and L’Hermione carried 40 a piece. However one has only to read C. S. Foresters’ Flying Colours to glimpse what the threat of an impending court marital could do to the spirits and moral of a prisoner of war.
Despite his honourable acquittal, George had to wait six months for a new command and one can easily imagine the impact on his morale of the rapid breakdown of discipline aboard the Ferret, and the subsequent mutiny, court martial and inevitable capital sentence. Indeed there is one extraordinary personal letter that testifies to George’s state of mind at this time. The existence of this letter, in the Huntington Library California, is remarkable as very little of George Cadogan’s correspondence has survived*. A handful of letters from later in his life exist in the Cadogan Family Archive but it appears that any correspondence that may have existed in the family collection were likely to have been destroyed in a fire in 1874.
The letter from George to his father, the 1st Earl Cadogan, survives among the papers of Thomas Grenville, First Lord of the Admiralty, 1806 - 1807. Grenville had received the letter from his friend and predecessor at the Admiralty, Earl Spencer, who in turn had received it from the 2nd Earl Cadogan. The letter was written immediately after the court martial and execution of the mutineers and it is clear that events had taken a considerable toll on George, as he writes:
“I am very low, & unwell, & only hope somebody will say something for me for I really have neither health nor strength to go through much more here. I have taken nothing nor do I think there is much to be done here altogether.”
The 2nd Earl forwarded his son’s despairing letter to Spencer in the hope that he could bring his not inconsiderable influence to bear. Spencer in turn sent the letter to Grenville hoping that he might arrange a promotion for the son of “poor old Lord Cadogan”. Although Spencer also added the rather callous coda:
“…though from the tenor of his letter, I really should not be surprised to hear that he had died of yellow fever which always seizes people when they are in low spirits.”
George confounded Spencer’s expectations, although his health clearly suffered, he did not succumb and he was eventually discharged from the Ferret and the West Indies Station in February 1807. The reason for his discharge recorded in the Ferret’s muster book is “Invalided”.
In two years on the West Indies Station from the 11th July 1805 to the 10th June 1807 the Hon George Cadogan experienced perhaps the best and the worst of Naval service on board a ship of war. He took command of his own vessel, captured several rich prizes, lost his first ship to the French and almost lost his second to mutiny, he spent two months as a prisoner of war, witnessed two courts martial and saw eleven of his men condemned as mutineers and hung at the yardarm. He had served over ten years at sea and yet when George Cadogan returned home to England he was still only 23 years of age.
* The details from the letters quoted here are taken from C., Hardin Jr., (1970), “The First Lord Opens His Mail: Thomas Grenville and Personal Problems at the Admiralty, 1806 - 1807” in Huntingdon Library Quarterly, Vol. 33, No 2. nodbear and I have received copies of these letters from the Huntington Library, though we do not yet have permission to publish the contents. Suffice to say the letters contain many more remarkable insights into George Cadogan’s experiences on the West Indies Station and his state of mind following Ferret court martial.
It is all too easy to see the Honourable George Cadogan as a caricature of the stereotypically brutal and incompetent naval captain, promoted to a position of command through little more than privilege, patronage and interest. Like all caricatures though, this is an exaggeration and the reality is considerably more complex.
By 1806 George Cadogan had been at sea for over ten years, all of which he had served on the quarter deck, not on the ships books. For six of these years he served with a charismatic and supportive captain, Sir Edward Pellew, who took a close personal interest in the well being and careers of all his officers and young gentlemen. However even under Pellew’s protective wing it had been far from plain sailing. George had already survived several ferocious frigate actions, long periods of blockade duty and “promotion”, along with his captain, from the close knit crew of the frigate Indefatigable to the malcontent ship of the line Impetueux. And it was aboard the Impetueux that George witnessed Captain Pellew defending his quarter deck from mutineers, three of whom were subsequently court martialed and hung.
George certainly had considerable experience of the vicissitudes of naval service by the time he reached the West Indies Station in 1804. His first command, the Cyane began promisingly, but after taking several impressive prizes he must have been bitterly disappointed to loose his sloop to two vastly superior French frigates, L’Hortense and L’Hermione. Although George was a prisoner of war for less than two months it is likely that this period of incarceration had a considerable impact on him, particularly given that he knew a court martial awaited him on his release. Under Admiralty regulations all captains who lost their ship, regardless of circumstances, were subject to court martial. And George had the ignominy of knowing that he had struck his colours without firing a shot, after throwing his guns overboard and running for it. In the event, any fears he might have had were unfounded. The verdict of the court martial held on board HMS Unicorn in July 1805 reads as follows:
The Honourable George Cadogan Commander of His Majesty’s late sloop Cyane the officers and seamen used every endeavour to prevent His Majesty’s said vessel falling into the Enemy’s hands and Captain Cadogan did not strike his colours until it was impossible to escape from the enemy, also being in such state, was in no condition to defend the ship against two large frigates of such force as they were.
George, his officers and his crew were all honourably acquitted. This verdict may seem like a foregone conclusion given the circumstances; Cyane had only 18 guns while L’Hortense and L’Hermione carried 40 a piece. However one has only to read C. S. Foresters’ Flying Colours to glimpse what the threat of an impending court marital could do to the spirits and moral of a prisoner of war.
Despite his honourable acquittal, George had to wait six months for a new command and one can easily imagine the impact on his morale of the rapid breakdown of discipline aboard the Ferret, and the subsequent mutiny, court martial and inevitable capital sentence. Indeed there is one extraordinary personal letter that testifies to George’s state of mind at this time. The existence of this letter, in the Huntington Library California, is remarkable as very little of George Cadogan’s correspondence has survived*. A handful of letters from later in his life exist in the Cadogan Family Archive but it appears that any correspondence that may have existed in the family collection were likely to have been destroyed in a fire in 1874.
The letter from George to his father, the 1st Earl Cadogan, survives among the papers of Thomas Grenville, First Lord of the Admiralty, 1806 - 1807. Grenville had received the letter from his friend and predecessor at the Admiralty, Earl Spencer, who in turn had received it from the 2nd Earl Cadogan. The letter was written immediately after the court martial and execution of the mutineers and it is clear that events had taken a considerable toll on George, as he writes:
“I am very low, & unwell, & only hope somebody will say something for me for I really have neither health nor strength to go through much more here. I have taken nothing nor do I think there is much to be done here altogether.”
The 2nd Earl forwarded his son’s despairing letter to Spencer in the hope that he could bring his not inconsiderable influence to bear. Spencer in turn sent the letter to Grenville hoping that he might arrange a promotion for the son of “poor old Lord Cadogan”. Although Spencer also added the rather callous coda:
“…though from the tenor of his letter, I really should not be surprised to hear that he had died of yellow fever which always seizes people when they are in low spirits.”
George confounded Spencer’s expectations, although his health clearly suffered, he did not succumb and he was eventually discharged from the Ferret and the West Indies Station in February 1807. The reason for his discharge recorded in the Ferret’s muster book is “Invalided”.
In two years on the West Indies Station from the 11th July 1805 to the 10th June 1807 the Hon George Cadogan experienced perhaps the best and the worst of Naval service on board a ship of war. He took command of his own vessel, captured several rich prizes, lost his first ship to the French and almost lost his second to mutiny, he spent two months as a prisoner of war, witnessed two courts martial and saw eleven of his men condemned as mutineers and hung at the yardarm. He had served over ten years at sea and yet when George Cadogan returned home to England he was still only 23 years of age.
* The details from the letters quoted here are taken from C., Hardin Jr., (1970), “The First Lord Opens His Mail: Thomas Grenville and Personal Problems at the Admiralty, 1806 - 1807” in Huntingdon Library Quarterly, Vol. 33, No 2. nodbear and I have received copies of these letters from the Huntington Library, though we do not yet have permission to publish the contents. Suffice to say the letters contain many more remarkable insights into George Cadogan’s experiences on the West Indies Station and his state of mind following Ferret court martial.