Part 30

The Kent and Superbe (the latter being commanded by Captain Streynsham Master, whose first lieutenant was Mr. Arnold), together with the Grafton and Orford, being the fastest sailing ships, having orders to make what sail they could, and to place themselves near the four head-most ships of the enemy, were the first that came up with them. The Spaniards began the action by firing their stern chasers at them; but the English ships having orders not to fire unless the Spaniards repeated their firing, made no return at first; but the Spaniards firing again, the Orford attacked the Santa Rosa, which some time after she took. The St. Charles struck next, without much opposition, and the Kent took possession of her. The Grafton attacked the Prince of Austrias (formerly called the Cumberland), in which was Rear-Admiral Chacon; but the Breda and Captain coming up, she left that ship for them to take, which they soon accomplished, and stretched ahead after another sixty gun ship, which was on her starboard while she was engaging the Prince of Austrias, and kept firing her stern chase into the Grafton.

About one o’clock the Kent and Superbe engaged the Royal St. Philip the Spanish Admiral; which, though supported by two other ships, and all of them kept a continual fire, yet made a running fight of it till about three in the afternoon, when the Kent bearing down upon her and passing under her stern, gave her a broadside and fell to leeward of her. After that the Superbe bore up to the Royal Philip; but Captain Master (who commanded the Superbe) being diffident concerning the most successful method of attacking her, consulted his first lieutenant, Mr. Arnold, who told him, “That as the eyes of the whole fleet were upon them, expecting the most vigorous efforts in the discharge of his duty in that critical moment; he therefore advised him to board the Royal Philip immediately sword in hand.” The council of Mr. Arnold was immediately put in execution; and as his office of first-lieutenant obliged him, he boarded the Royal Philip, sword in hand, and shortly after carried her. Mr. Arnold received such a dangerous wound in this service, in one of his hands and arms, as rendered him almost useless afterwards. At the same time the Barfleur being within shot of the Royal Philip, and astern of her, and also inclining on her weather quarter, one of the Spanish rear-Admirals and another ship of sixty guns, which were to the windward of the Barfleur, bore down upon her and gave her their broadsides, and then clapped upon a wind and stood in for the land. Admiral Byng, in the Barfleur, stood after them till it was almost night; but it being little wind, and they galeing from him out of reach of his cannon, he left pursuing them, and stood away again to the fleet, which he joined in the night. In this action the Essex took the Juno, of thirty-six guns, the Montague and Rupert took the Velante, of forty-four guns. Vice-Admiral Cornwall followed the Grafton, to support her, but it being very little wind, and night coming on, the Spaniard galed away from the Grafton. Rear-Admiral Delaval took the Isabella of sixty guns. The English received but little damage in this battle; the ship that suffered most was the Grafton, Captain Haddock, and being a good sailor, her Captain engaged several ships of the enemy, always pursuing the headmost, and leaving those ships he had disabled or damaged to be taken by those that followed him. Several other men-of-war, fire ships, bomb vessels, etc., were taken and destroyed in this action. As for the prizes that had been taken, they were sent to Port Mahon; where, by an unlucky accident the Royal Philip took fire and blew up with most of the crew on board; but the Spanish Admiral had been before set ashore in Sicily, with some other prisoners of distinction, where he soon afterwards died of his wounds.

As soon as Admiral Byng had obtained a full account of the whole transaction, he dispatched his eldest son to England with the intelligence; who, arriving at Hampton Court in fifteen days from Naples, brought thither the agreeable confirmation of what public fame had before reported, and on which the King had already written a letter to the Admiral as under:

Sir George Byng—Although I have received no news from you directly, I am informed of the victory obtained by the fleet under your command and would not, therefore, defer giving that satisfaction which must result from my approbation of your conduct. I give you my thanks, and desire you will testify the same to all the brave men who have distinguished themselves on this occasion. Mr. Secretary Crags has orders to inform you more fully my intentions, but I was willing to assure you that I am your good friend.

GEORGE R.

Hampton Court, August 23, 1718.

Mr. Byng met with a most gracious reception from his Majesty; who made him a handsome present, and sent him back with plenipotentionary powers to his father to negociate with the several Princes and states of Italy, as there should be occasion; and with his royal grant to the officers and seamen, of all prizes taken by them from the Spaniards.

The Spanish Court was extremely chagrined at this unexpected blow, which had almost totally destroyed the naval force which they had been at so much pains in equipping, and therefore were not slow in expressing their resentments; for they immediately made themselves masters of all the English ships that were in the port of Cadiz, and seized all the effects of the English merchants that were at Malaga. These hostilities occasioned a declaration of war against Spain, in form, on the 17th of December, 1718.

Soon after this battle Mr. Arnold was appointed Captain of the Spy sloop of war, and sent express to the West Indies; but his ship was so very unfit for the voyage that it was expected he would never return. However, he was so fortunate as to arrive safe again in England, and was afterwards appointed to the command of the Fox man-of-war, and ordered upon the Carolina station; but on coming home again, finding his friend Lord Torrington dead; {167} and all his hopes of promotion entirely frustrated, he resigned his command in the navy, and retired to Great Yarmouth, where he ended his days, August 31, 1737, aged 58 years, and was interred in Lowestoft church, where a monument containing a just representation of a brave and gallant officer is erected to his memory.

These are the accounts of the many valiant sea commanders who formerly belonged to the town of Lowestoft, and who by their wisdom, conduct, and gallantry, have not only adorned the annals of their country, but have cast a lustre upon the place of their nativity, and obtained the most distinguished honour to themselves and their posterity.

Lowestoft being a maritime town, it is more distinguished by important events relative to naval affairs, than those respecting military transactions having occurred, which were of considerable importance, such as have given evident demonstrations of the loyalty of its inhabitants, and of their invoilable attachment to the Government.

In the year 1715, a block-house was standing at Lowestoft, well furnished with ordnance, for the defence of such ships as anchored before the town for the purpose of merchandising, which block-house was destroyed by the sea.

In 1549, as soon as the report of Kett having formed a camp upon Mousehold Heath, Norwich, was received in Suffolk, the common people assembled together in great multitudes, made themselves masters of Lothingland, seized six pieces of cannon at Lowestoft, and brought them to an enclosure at the north end of Gorleston, intending to batter from thence the town of Yarmouth. These designs being perceived by the inhabitants, a party of them were dispatched to set fire to a large stack of hay, on the west side of the haven; which being executed, it occasioned a prodigious smoke, and falling upon the face of the rebels, prevented their seeing the Yarmouth men, who, consequently, fell upon the enemy, whereby many of them were slain, thirty were taken prisoners, together with six pieces of cannon. The prisoners, with the cannon, were immediately carried to Yarmouth, where the rebels were committed to prison, and the remainder of the party being disappointed in their design of seizing the town, immediately withdrew themselves, and taking another rout, joined their leader Kett on Mousehold Heath. Afterwards, Queen Elizabeth gave the town of Lowestoft four pieces of cannon and two slings, in the room of those taken away by the Suffolk rabble, when they went to join Kett at Mousehold.

In 1588, when the nation was alarmed with the apprehension of a Spanish invasion it cost the inhabitants of Lowestoft upwards of £200 towards defending the coast against the enemy, which was applied in the following manner: in fitting out a pinnace, £100; in erecting bulwarks, £80; in mounting the cannon £16; and in purchasing gunpowder £16. Also, in the following year, a warrant was issued by the Privy Council to the men of Ipswich, commanding the inhabitants of this town to concur with them in fitting out two ships of war; the charges attending this undertaking amounted to £2,800, and the share allotted to Lowestoft was £23. The town received also a warrant from the Lieutenant of the county, directing that another bulwark should be erected for its defence. In consequence of this order, it was found necessary to apply the money which had been collected in Ipswich, in erecting this bulwark. But about two or three years after, the Ipswich men made a demand of this money; and for non-payment thereof procured an order of Council, whereby several of the principal inhabitants of Lowestoft were arrested, in order to appear before the Council, and answer the charge of disobedience, which cost the town £60.

During the great revolt from loyalty, the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell, the town of Lowestoft exerted its utmost efforts in support of the Royal cause, and consequently was thereby exposed to the greatest dangers and inconveniences; particularly in opposing and counteracting the violent proceedings of Cromwell and the Parliament, respecting the association of the Eastern Counties. Among the many misfortunes and inconveniences which the town was subject to in consequence of this rebellion, may be reckoned, its being obliged, in 1642, to join with Ipswich, Orford, Dunwich, Aldborough, Southwold, Colchester, Maldon, Harwich, Woodbridge, Walberswick, Gorleston, Manningtree, and Barnham, in furnishing a ship of 800 tons burthen, and 260 men, with double tackle, ammunition, wages and stores.

In 1642, when Cromwell was advanced to the rank of Colonel, and also appointed a Commissioner in the order for settling the militia, the eastern counties entered into an association, and agreed to support the Parliament against all its opposers.

The king, in order to defeat the designs of this association, which the Parliament had confirmed, issued out his commission of array.

Cromwell having by his great skill and management, raised a regiment of a thousand horse, obstructed, with the most indefatigable industry, the levies that were raising for the service of the King in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and hearing that several gentlemen of eminent rank were assembled at Lowestoft, among whom were Sir John Pettus, Sir Edward Barker, etc., with a design of forming a counter association in this county, and also in Norfolk, for the service of his Majesty, he marched with the utmost expedition to Lowestoft, and surprised them the day before that many others were to have met and joined them; and had not their designs been frustrated by this unexpected surprise, probably all the eastern counties would have been rescued out of the hands of Oliver Cromwell and his adherents.

The inhabitants of Lowestoft, as soon as they were informed of Oliver’s approach were exceedingly alarmed, and exerted their utmost efforts to put the town in a state of defence, and to dispute his entrance; and in order to this purpose, two pieces of cannon were placed at the south end of the town, and two at the head of Rant’s score, but one of the principal inhabitants (Thomas Mighells, merchant, who died in 1695) foreseeing the improbability of a design of this nature being attended with success, and also representing the extreme rashness of attempting it with so inferior a force, as well as the great damage which the town would probably sustain from an unsuccessful opposition, so far prevailed with the inhabitants and members of the association that they declined the resolution of opposing Oliver’s entrance into the town. The sum of twenty pounds was paid by the City of Norwich to Sergeant-Major Sherwood’s volunteers for their service at Lowestoft, where a design was discovered of a counter-association on the King’s behalf, made by Sir John Pettus, Sir Edward Barker, and other loyal gentlemen; and was carried so far, that Colonel Cromwell was in danger of his person, and was very near being taken, had not these volunteers rescued him, by sending for one hundred soldiers from Norwich and also one hundred more afterwards.

In consequence of pacific measures being adopted, Cromwell entered the town without any opposition, and fixed his head quarters at the Swan Inn. While he was here he sent for Sir John Pettus, who accordingly waited on him. After that Oliver had interrogated him very closely respecting the designs of the counter-association, requested that he would inform him to which party it was that he intended to engage himself during these disputes, Sir John, without any duplicity or reservation, declared that he should act for the King. Oliver, so far from shewing the least resentment against Sir John for his ingenuous declaration, highly applauded his frankness and sincerity, and dismissed him with assuring him, that he sincerely wished every man in the kingdom would be as open and sincere in declaring his real sentiments and intentions.

Cromwell by the surrender of the town became possessed of a considerable quantity of ammunition, saddles, pistols, and several pieces of cannon; as many as were sufficient for arming and supplying with necessaries a considerable body of forces.

This unfortunate event exceedingly discouraged the King’s friends of Norfolk and Suffolk; and it appeared afterwards, that, however artfully Cromwell might conceal his resentment on this occasion, yet, he was far from being sincere, or that those resentments were wholly suppressed by the surrender of the town. For he not only declared that had the inhabitants and those concerned in the counter association attempted to fire upon him when he entered the town, he would have put them all to the sword, but also suffered his soldiers, in a great measure, to plunder the town and live at free quarters. The tradesmen in Lowestoft suffered the greatest injuries by Oliver’s soldiers plundering them of their stocks-in-trade, as far as they were useful to the army, without making them any recompense. This misfortune, which happened in the year 1643, together with the terrible fire in 1644, which consumed £10,000 worth of property; the Dutch wars, which followed soon after, and the tedious and expensive law-suit with Yarmouth concerning the herring fishery, almost ruined the town.

In the year 1663 a petition was presented by the town of Lowestoft to the Duke of Albemarle, requesting that the four pieces of cannon then in the town might remain there, in order to guard the coast against any attacks of the enemy.

In consequence of this petition, the four pieces of cannon were permitted by Government to remain at Lowestoft, for the defence of the town; accordingly the inhabitants at their own expense, mounted the same on a platform, and also purchased ammunition necessary for their own security. But this platform being afterwards destroyed by the sea, the town was obliged to present a petition to the Earl of Suffolk, Lord Lieutenant of the County, requesting assistance, in order to enable them to erect another platform which petition was granted.

In 1744 a battery of six pieces of cannon, eighteen pounders, was erected at the south end of the town, for protecting ships in the south roads, and guarding the passage of the Stanford. The cannon were given by Government, but the ammunition was furnished by the town.

On the 14th October, 1745, in consequence of the rebellion in Scotland, a subscription was opened in Lowestoft for the defence of his Majesty’s person, the support of the Government and the peace and security of the county; when the sum of £200 was subscribed, advice was received of the victory obtained over the rebels, 16th April, 1746, by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, only £20 of the subscription was paid.

In 1756 a battery of two pieces of canon, eighteen pounders, was erected upon the beach at the north end of the town, near the ness. These pieces were taken from the battery at the south end of the town. They were never of any great service to the town, for vessels belonging to the enemy seldom approach so near to the coast as to come within reach of the guns. On the 7th of April, 1778, Lord Amherst, accompanied by his brother, came to Lowestoft and examined the forts in consequence of the survey they were making by order of the Government, of the state of all the fortifications on the coast.

In 1782, when England was involved in a war with France, Spain, Holland, and America at the same time, was under apprehension that the British Navy was unable to maintain its superiority as mistress of the sea, when threatened by such numerous and powerful enemies, the county of Suffolk held a general meeting at Stowmarket, where it was agreed to open a subscription throughout the county, in order to raise a sum sufficient for building a man-of-war of the line, of seventy-four guns, to be presented to the Government. The town of Lowestoft subscribed £38 6s. 6d. The sum proposed to be raised was £30,000. The utmost efforts were exerted to obtain the money, and weekly accounts were published in the papers of the success that attended it in the several parts of the county; but it appearing, at the close of the year, that the whole subscription amounted to only about £20,000, it was apprehended that the zeal of the county was nearly exhausted, and that the subscription had arrived at almost its utmost limits. In the beginning of the year 1783, the war being terminated in a general peace, a further subscription became unnecessary, and consequently the subscribers were not called on for their subscriptions.

In the beginning of the year 1781, when the war broke out between England and Holland, there were quartered at Lowestoft two companies of the East Suffolk Militia commanded by Col. Goat, which in the May following were succeeded by a party of the 19th Regiment of light horse. Government seemed to have been apprehensive of this war, and also sensible of the necessity of having recourse to such methods as were proper for securing the eastern part of the kingdom against any attacks of the enemy.

On the 31st of July Lord Amherst, Commander-in-chief of his Majesty’s forces in the Kingdom, in his survey of the fortifications on this coast, after being met at Kessingland by a party of light dragoons from Lowestoft, was escorted to Lowestoft, where he surveyed the forts, which were found to be in a very ruinous condition. On the 13th of August the town was alarmed with the appearance of a fleet of large men of war in the offing, steering a direct course for Lowestoft, supposing them to be Dutch ships, but on a nearer approach they were found to be Admiral Parker’s fleet returning from a sharp engagement with a Dutch squadron, commanded by Admiral Zoutman on the Dogger Bank, the 5th August. On the 4th September there arrived in Lowestoft a waggon loaded with powder, shot, &c., guarded by a party of the Huntingdonshire and East Essex Militia, from the camp at Hopton, in order to prove, before General Tryon, four pieces of cannon then lying at the old fort, at the south end of the town, in order to discover whether they were serviceable or not; when, after charging each of them with 16lbs of powder and an 18lb shot, one of them burst, and flying in various directions, part of it struck a boy on the arm, who happily received no material injury. One part of the cannon, weighing between two and three hundred weight, was thrown into a field at a distance of 175 yards. On the 11th October following, Colonel Deibeig proved also the guns lying at the old fort, near the ness, which had laid there since the reign of Queen Anne, when three of them burst. This month the party of the 19th regiment of light horse quartered at this place, left the town, and were succeeded by two companies of the East Suffolk Militia, commanded by Captain Delane, who continued here till the May following.

Government being acquainted with the ruinous condition of the forts at Lowestoft, and the defenceless state of this part of the coast, immediately formed a resolution to erect several new fortifications at this town, and the principal one to be situated at the north end of the town, on the same spot whereon the old fort formerly stood; and also to have it much larger. But the premises on which the fort was designed to be erected being town land, Government was under the necessity of hiring it by a lease for a term of years, and also to purchase of different proprietors about three-quarters of an acre of land to add to it, the former spot not being large enough. Half an acre of this land was purchased of Mr. Robert Reeve, and the other quarter of an acre of Mr. Henry Lucas.

On January 7, 1782, the new fort, at the south end of the town was begun under the direction of Captain Fisher, one of His Majesty’s engineers. About 300 men (including fifty of the East Suffolk militia), were employed in this work. This fort consisted of a ditch about eighteen feet deep, fifteen feet wide, mounted with chevaux de frize. Over this ditch was a drawbridge between four and five feet wide. The inside of the south-west angle measured seventy feet; the width of the other angles were 95, 140, 100, and 249 feet. The terrace before the embrazures was four feet wide. The embrazures were eighteen feet wide and eight high. Next the sea was the glacis, extending about sixty-five yards. There was also a breastwork to defend the bridge, about eighteen feet thick and eight feet high. At the north-west angle of the fort was the magazine, it was thirty feet long and twelve broad; it was sunk beneath the surface of the earth, and was bomb proof, and contained 300 barrels of powder. In the centre of the fort stood the guard house; this was a handsome sashed building, about seventy feet long and twenty-six wide, having a spacious parade in front. At the south-west angle stood the flag staff, fifty-five feet high on which was hoisted an English jack. The battery mounted thirteen pieces of cannon, ten thirty-pounders, and three eighteen-pounders. The whole battery was finished on the 21st December, 1782. The south battery was distant from the north, three quarters of a mile, and from the east battery upon the beach, seven furlongs; and the distance of the north battery, near the distance of the north battery, on the beach three furlongs.