by John Marshall

“ Prince William Henry continued to serve in the Warwick until the 3d Nov. following, when, in compliance with the command of his august parent, he joined the late Viscount Hood, who had come from the West Indies in quest of a French squadron under the command of the Marquis de Vaudreuil. It was at this time that our illustrious sailor became acquainted with the heroic Nelson, to whom he was first introduced by Lord Hood, on board the Barfleur.
The enemy being securely anchored in the port of Boston, the British Admiral sailed from Sandy Hook on his return to the West Indies, Nov. 22d. ”

“ In the summer of 1785, Prince William Henry, having served the regular time in the navy as a Midshipman, all the duties of which station he performed with becoming alacrity, and having undergone the usual examination, was appointed third Lieutenant of the Hebe frigate, commanded by Captain (now Sir Edward) Thornbrough; soon after the Hon. John Leveson Gower hoisted his broad pendant in that ship, and proceeded on a cruise round Great Britain and the Orkney Islands. ”

“ The antiquity, dignity, and importance of the illustrious house of Brunswick, have occasioned such extraordinary care to transmit their annals to posterity, and have employed the pens of so many ingenious writers, in the various languages and different parts of Europe, that we are thereby enabled to trace it up to a very early period with the greatest certainty. And farther to honour this subject, it has been illustrated by the elaborate investigations of the historian Gibbon ”

“ Will you be pleased, Sir, to accept their pardon and their lives, in the name of the Spanish army, and of my King ? It is I trust the greatest present that can be offered to one Prince in the name of another. Mine is generous, and will approve my conduct.
“In case your Royal Highness deigns to interest yourself for those unfortunate men, I have the honour to send enclosed an order for their being delivered the moment any vessel arrives at Louisiana communicating your pleasure. We shall consider ourselves happy if this can be agreeable to you. I have the honour to be, &c. ”

“ His Royal Highness made his first debut in the naval service on board the Prince George, of 98 guns, under the tutelage of the late Hon. Admiral Digby, June 15, 1779. His private tutor appears to have been Dr. Majendie, the present Bishop of Bangor. The Prince George was attached to the Channel Fleet, under the orders of Sir Charles Hardy, and cruised in the Bay of Biscay until the latter end of the same year, when she accompanied Sir George B. Rodney to the relief of Gibraltar, the garrison of which place had long been subjected to the privations attendant on a close blockade [3] . ”

“ The captured ships were the Phoenix of 80 guns, bearing the Admiral's flag; and the Minorca, Princessa, Diligente, San Julian, and San Eugenio, of 70 guns each. By this time the British fleet, which consisted of three 3-deckers, eleven ships of 74 guns, one of 64, and two frigates, were very near the Spanish coast, which, with the wind as it then blew, was a lee shore. Every exertion was made to put the prizes in a proper state to proceed ”

“ Andrews in the kingdom of Great Britain, and Earl of Munster in Ireland [12] . In 1790, when the conduct of the Spaniards at Nootka Sound seemed to render a war inevitable, he was nominated to the command of the Valiant, of 74 guns; and, on the 3d Dec. in the same year, advanced to the rank of Rear-Admiral. By subsequent promotions H.R.H. had become an Admiral of the Red, when, on the demise of Sir Peter Parker, Bart., in Dec. 1811, he succeeded that veteran officer as Admiral of the Fleet.
During the late wars the Royal Duke often solicited employment, but without success. ”

“ We next find H.R.H. proceeding with Rear-Admiral Digby to the coast of North America, where, preferring a cruising vessel to the inactivity of a stationary ship, the Prince George remaining principally at New York, he was removed at his own request into the Warwick, of 50 guns, commanded by the present Viscount Keith, and was with that officer when he captured l’Aigle, a large French frigate, la Sophie, of 22 guns, and the Terrier sloop of war, off the Delaware river, Sept. ”

“ James’s.
↑ The Duke is Patron of the Adult Institution and Asylum, established in memory of the late Princess Charlotte, for friendless unprovided daughters of Clergymen and Naval and Military Officers, of any age from 14 to 22:– an asylum, where the grown-up orphan, in the hour of distress and affliction, may find a temporary refuge, at a period when female inexperience stands most in need of protection. ”