by John Marshall

“ By the Foreign Enlistment Bill, I am liable to be deprived of my rank, as a commander in His Majesty’s navy, with the half-pay attached to it, if I accept any appointment in the service of the Greeks: and these I would willingly sacrifice, in exchange for the glory of sharing (not to say commanding) in such an expedition as I am suggesting to your lordship. ”

“ It is therefore very natural to conclude, that the effect of our guns must either have been weakened by having been overloaded, or else (in compliance with an order which was once issued by the Admiralty respecting carronades) our ships’ carronades, when closely engaged with the enemy, have been loaded solely with grape and canister, which will not penetrate a ship’s side, while the Americans have made use of round shot only. ”

“ What I propose, then, is to wait the opportunity of catching a Turkish fleet at anchor, in such a situation as would render it impossible for any one of them to escape, except by running on shore, and to make the attack in the day time, when, with the arrangements which, I am going to recommend, the Greek fire-vessels cannot possibly miss their objects; and as the weather-ships will be fired first of all, these will necessarily, drift down upon those that are to leeward, and will become fire-ships in their turn. ”

“ In a day attack by fire-vessels, in the open sea, the chances of success are not much increased. The ships that are attacked see the danger approaching, and, most generally, have the means of escaping: and, moreover, whenever any of them happen to be set on fire in this way, the mischief ends there; because, in the open sea, it is not likely that they can drift upon other ships that are under weigh, and, of course, in a condition to avoid the contact. ”

“ In the Mediterranean and Levant seas, the wind, as is well known, most generally, in the summer season, blows directly into all harbours during the afternoon and early part of the night; so that, if the Greek fire-ships should make their attack in the early part of the evening, they would at once see the object of attack, and be sure of having a leading wind in, which in all probability would not fail them before they completely effected the object in contemplation. ”

“ There are four different methods of making an attack on an enemy’s fleet by fire-ships: at anchor, and at sea, in the night-time, and in day-light. At sea, an enemy’s ship, if it sails equally well, has the opportunity of running away from a fire-ship; and, in the night-time, from not being able to see the objects, the fire-ships are very apt to miss their aim. It was for this reason that not one of the French ships in Aix Roads was injured by the fire-ships that were sent in to attack them under the command of Lord Cochrane ”

“ A single fire-ship, with no one at the helm, is very likely to pass wide of the object of attack; or her grapplings may not retain their hold, even if she should get alongside, when she is going with equal rapidity through the water; but it is not likely that the object of attack should escape, when she is enclosed by two fire-ships, which are coupled in the manner which I have represented in the accompanying figure. In Lord Cochrane’s attack on the French squadron, with single fire-vessels, there was but one out of the whole that ran on board an enemy’s ship ”

“ In short, my Lord, when a ship is constrained to engage another of superior force, her best chance of succeeding is to reduce the two forces as nearly as possible to the same level, and her only way to do this is to lay her adversary close on board; because, in that case, if her adversary should be ever so much longer, she can only bring the same number of guns to bear upon her ”

“ Again, my Lord, the American ships, from being much better manned than ours; have usually a greater number of small-arm men; and on this account, the commanders of our ships may, perhaps, be disposed to avoids coming in close contact with them; and, if so, they give the Americans the principal, if not the only advantage which they can derive from their superior numbers. ”

“ A short time afterwards, in the same small boat, he got possession of a similar vessel, close to the rocks of Scio; but being exposed to a smart fire from the Turkish musketry on shore, and pelted by the Greek crew with heavy stones from the overhanging cliffs, he was obliged for a time to abandon her, with one of his men severely wounded in the face. On being joined by the Herald’s cutter and jolly-boat, he immediately landed, drove away the enemy, and brought off his prize in triumph. ”

“ The Americans, from being better manned, can manoeuvre their ships and fight their guns well at the same time, while we have not a sufficient number of men to do both together; and accordingly we find that, in every one of the recent engagements, in which our ships have been unsuccessful, the Americans have reaped great advantage from this very circumstance; for they have invariably crippled our ships, without being materially injured themselves. ”

“ It is impossible, Sir, that all these letters could have miscarried, and though his Lordship is undoubtedly a great man, and a successful commander, I am sure that you will agree with me, that neither great talents nor good fortune will justify the neglect of those common rules of good breeding which are generally understood to characterise the gentleman. ”

“ The money should have been placed in the hands of some strong-minded, active and firm commissioners, instead of being placed in those of Greek Deputies and the Greek Government. Twenty times in * * * I predicted the fate of this loan and of Greece, if the money was to be placed at the disposal of feeble men.
“With respect to your fire-ships, the plan seems to me, as an unlearned man, as admirable. One decisive success, and the Turkish fleets would fly and huddle into their harbours; and thus would the resources of the invader be cut off. ”

“ Ellice, to whom, as that gentleman was not at home when I called, I forwarded nearly the same plan which was afterwards sent to Lord Cochrane, accompanied with a written offer, either to take the command of the expedition myself, or (to prevent Jealousy on the part of the Greek officers) to serve in it under the command of a Greek admiral. Mr. Ellice, in reply, told me that the Greek committee had no power to treat with me on this subject, but at the same time gave me a letter of introduction to the Greek deputies, and advised me to present my plan to them. ”

“ In 1806, being then at Gibraltar, the boats of the Euryalus frigate were placed under his command, and sent to rescue an English gun-vessel which had drifted close to the shore, in the neighbourhood of St Roque:– although exposed to a heavy fire from the Spanish batteries, he succeeded in warping her clear of all danger, and that without losing a man. ”

“ They still persisted that the Turks never would afford the Greeks an opportunity of putting my plan into execution; but their prophecy was very speedily falsified. A very short time afterwards, the Egyptian fleet, under the command of Ibrahim Pacha, anchored in the harbour of Modon. ”

“ If we may credit newspaper reports, the American corvette Wasp recently sustained an engagement with His Majesty’s brig Avon for nearly two hours; and then, after receiving two broadsides from the Castilian (another English man-of-war) , sheered off, without apparently having received any material damage, while her opponent was left in a sinking state. ”

“ On the 4th June, 1809, the following letter was addressed to Lord John Thynne, by the officer who had some time before succeeded Captain Hony in the command of the Herald:
“My Lord, – Though I have not the pleasure of your lordship’s acquaintance, yet, at the desire of my first lieutenant, Mr. Walter Forman, I am induced to address you, in order that his merits may not pass un-noticed.
“Understanding that your lordship is about to intercede with the Admiralty to get him promoted, may I beg to assure you that there cannot be a person more worthy than he is ”