eeeeee pelllew eeeeeee.

[quigonejinn]

The C. Northcote Parkinson biog of Pellew is an absolute delight, for the record. Pellew is delightful, and Parkinson is delightful, and

Edward underwent some schooling at Penzance, and later at the grammar schol at Truro, under Mr. Conon. He can have learnt little beyond reading and writing, and such tales as there are of his schooldays do not uggest that he ever had any taste for books. He eventually ran away to avoid a flogging. One of his schoolfellows has left the following description of him as a schoolboy: 'Pellew was one of the most daring of Conon's boys. I confess I rather stood in awe of him; though with his high spirit he had a very kind heart. Pellew would never suffer the weak to be trampled upon, but would fight their battles totis viribus. But I think he once thrashed me.' The unfortunate biographer, comparing the meagreness of information about Pellew in the Rev. R. Polwhele's Reminicences with the amount he was clearly in a position to give, cannot suppress a deep regret that Pellew did not go further and kill him outright. Polwhele, a contentious divine and the author of an enormous number of prolix and rambling works in verse and prose, rather boasts than imparts his knowledge of ellew's early life. As the suitor, at one time, of Constantia, one of Edward's sisters, he must have known more about him than most of his contemporaries at Turro grammar school. But there is exasperatingly little to be gained from his works

The short and sum of it was that the family of Pellew is old and established in Cornwall, that Pellew's grandfather was rich for a while from a tobacco plantation in Maryland, but that by the 1721 (36 years before E's birth), the prosperity was gone. E's father didn't marry until he was forty, and as a result, he left beyond a widow and six kids, four boys and two girls. The eldest of the brat pack was eleven, so the mother re-married, the kids got farmed out to relatives, and E was brought up by his grandmother in a "cottage" as Parkinson puts it. There wasn't a lot of money, and what little there was went to getting E's older brother, Samuel, (E was #2, three years behind and eight years old when his father died) training as a surgeon.

However, the family was in good with the famous (Cornish) Navy family of the Boscawens AKA Earls of Falmouth, and Lord Falmouth gets third brother Eddie to get the boys into service. Our hero, at the age of 13 and a half, gets packed off a Captain's Servant to Old Dreadnaught's old bosun, Stott, now become captain. Adventures with fowl ensue.

The 18th-century English Navy was a profession open to talent, especially middle-class talent. Influence played its part, but the most important form of it was professional in character -- it was the influence of admirals rather than that of politicians. For rapid promotion it was probably better ot be the son of an admiral than the son of a duke. And this kind of nepotism often had excelltne results. But apart from being related to a flag-officer the best way to gain the benefit of influence was to deserve it. The most prevailing forms of influence were closely connected with merit. In war time, at least, lack of influence ashore never hindered any officer's promotion. Those men who remained midshipmen until they were grey-headed, or whose dotage found them in the rank of lieutenant, were not held back by lack of influence but by incomptence or drink. Influence could assist promotion but the lack of it could not hold back a man of real ability. Pellew had practically no influence in the Service, but he was in this respect mostly in the position of most of his brother officers. In so far as lack of influence could retard his rise in the ervice, it did; but his career well illustrates how soon a reputation for efficiency could overcome that difficulty. It would be a mistake to suppose that he started his naval career under peculiar difficulties of any kind. His social position was rather above than below the average. He was poor but only moderately so. He had little influence, but he was not altogether without it. The interest, in short, of his life is that he was typical of his profession in social origin, in education, and in character; typical of his century in his virtues and vices; superior to most of his contemporaries not by differing from them but by carrying their pecularia qualities to an extreme. His genius was not of an original sort. It was, rather, intensive. He didnot do the unexpected. But he did the obvious unexpecteldy well.

Comments

[quietcontrary.livejournal.com]

Is this that "Life and Times of HH" book? The one that has the "confession" by Hornblower at the end? Cos I confess it irritated/bored me :( (I will also confess that I read it at 3am and skipped most of the book, so mine really isn't a reliable testimony.)

Those men who remained midshipmen until they were grey-headed, or whose dotage found them in the rank of lieutenant, were not held back by lack of influence but by incomptence or drink.

...? What does that say of Mr Bush? He was lieutenant wayyy after Hornblower was made captain, and he was some years older than Hornblower too. (Just how many is being debated in navalchronicle, I see :D) And I think Hornblower had a part to play in his promotion to Captain, as well.

I'm random. It's 2:30am. I'm very determinedly avoiding homework....

*just soke up from nap*

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Is this that "Life and Times of HH" book?

Ahahah. No. It's a straight-up historical biog of Pellew by the same dude who wrote the "Life and Times." What does HH confess to?

And yeah, I think it's pretty clear that Forester and Parkinson had insolubly different opinions about the importance of influence in helping you rise in the service. Bush did take an awful long time to get up to captainhood, particularly when you think about how many brilliant victories he took part in as HH's first lieutenant, and it makes me wonder, a little, whether Bush was overshadowed by HH's brilliance.

If you take BH's idea of his career/the notion that's v. strongly suggested by the later books (that he rose up from the ratings via the Master's Mate path), though, he wasn't late to the party at all. I think I read about one guy who came up from the ratings, didn't mkae lieutenant until his forties, but ended up with flag rank. XD

don't read if don't want to be slightly spoiled/possibly pissed off

[http://users.livejournal.com/_oggy_/]

HH confesses to pushing Sawyer down the hold. he also confesses to getting wellard in on the plot to kill sawyer while the spanish were trying to take the renown. the confessional letter (ficitonal of course concocted by the "biographer") was written later and is, in my opinion, very much out of character. HH is more a man to let his guilt fester and destroy him from within then to let it all out in a letter to his descendents.

Re: don't read if don't want to be slightly spoiled/possibly pissed off

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

AHAkjdfj. That is amazing. I had pretty much decided that book!HH did shove Sawyer down the stairs, but I had no notion at ALL of him engineering Sawyer's death. Ho ho ho. Parkinson is even more of a scheming bitch than I am. :D

Though. The notion of the confessional letter from HORNBLOWER s retarded, yeah.

Re: don't read if don't want to be slightly spoiled/possibly pissed off

[http://users.livejournal.com/_oggy_/]

the letter part of the letter about Sawyer's death was built off a little passage in LtH where Bush thinks about the oddness that the spanish tied buckland up and left him unharmed while they "savagely" cut sawyer's throat. in the letter HH admits that he thought the chaos was the perfect time to get rid of sawyer, and knew that wellard would help him. his reasoning was something along the lines that if sawyer reached shore alive (since he seemed to be recovering a bit) then the surviving lts would all be hung for mutiny, and he wasn't going to let that happen, so sawyer had to die (the letter is better worded than that, but essentially the gist). so he either suggested to wellard or ordered him (can't remember which) to go kill sawyer (i think, don't quote me). and later when bush reads about wellard drowning he puts the question HH again he he gets all weird again and won't give an opinion on wellard drowning.

[black-hound.livejournal.com]

n war time, at least, lack of influence ashore never hindered any officer's promotion. Those men who remained midshipmen until they were grey-headed, or whose dotage found them in the rank of lieutenant, were not held back by lack of influence but by incomptence or drink. Influence could assist promotion but the lack of it could nto hold back a man of real ability.

Has this guy every read any 18th century social history? XD

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

You know? I was kind of like [insert stream of amazed Japanese emoticons here].

If you sort of take a squinty sideways look, I guess you can kinda see it holding true for HH -- despite all of his complaining, he really does have some high-ranking people looking out for him. He never has a single super-powerful Admiral who'll see him through things, but Cornwallis and Pellew both take care of him, and he never really is lacking for employment.

[black-hound.livejournal.com]

I mean the midshipmen had to pass an exam, and if you didn't know ANYTHING you weren't going to pass, so a theory of incompetence might be applicable there, although you could be a good practical sailor and not be good at tests, etc. AND THERE IS NO QUESTION that if you were the son of the Duke of Earl or whoever that your exam evaluation could EASILY be different from Joe Schmoe the blacksmith's son.

But the idea that a lack of influence couldn't hold an officer back? *makes a big long line of those Japanese emoticons too*

And HH does have Pellew as his de facto patron/mentor/whatever who has juice of his own on different levels.

Interestingly in Parkinson's fictional biography, "Life and Times of HH"? Here is what he says about influence and advancement when he talks about how Bush came to get his appointment as Flag-Captain.

The chief difficulty at the outset arose from Hornblower wanting to have Bush as Captain of the Nonsuch. It was pointed out to him that Bush had only just been promoted Commander and that his first command as Captain -- when he was made post -- would be a sloop not a ship of the line. The compromise reached in the end was for Hornblower to have the nominal command of the Nonsuch and for Bush to be posted as supernumerary with the rank of captain. This allowed Bush to command the ship -- except for the purpose of signing documents -- while creating much jealousy among other Commanders. Here was a one-legged man commanding a seventy-four who had never so much as commanded a frigate! There could be no more shameful example of partiality and interest. All that can be said in Hornblower's defence is that Bush justified his promotion, which might have come sooner had he not been Hornblower's follower.

When in fact we all KNOW it was because the Admiralty knew they had been dating since that night in the Long Rooms. XD

[http://users.livejournal.com/_oggy_/]

when i read that paragraph it irked me, but then when i thought about it, the "biographer" was kinda right, it is very strange that bush just gets to suddenly captain a 74, and not only command it under a commodore but gets to keep it afterwards. it works well for the storyline and you have to wonder if forester decided to not care about the real logistics of how naval commands are parcelled out.

i always thought that when they return from france bush was promoted to captain and got to skip commander (whic was possible, i think) because he was sent to the dockyard i think forest would have written "commander" since he would not have been referred to honorifically as "captain" since he wasn't on a ship (a fact forester was aware of), so i always thought he got right shoulder epulette rather than the left.

i forget who he was talking to about who he wanted his flag captain to be, but i love the line when HH requests bush and the guy says "we thought u'd say that."

i've chalked up bush's sudden jump from dock to 74 as a case of naval nepotism, but one the admiralty were okay with since they knew he was quality material, despite the missing foot.

oh, horatio.

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

When in fact we all KNOW it was because the Admiralty knew they had been dating since that night in the Long Rooms. XD

fdjdghdf clearly. Can you just imagine the Lords of the Admiralty sitting around after word about the Witch of Endor and the escape? "You think Hornblower's stopped fucking his first lieutenant yet? I heard he lost a leg, after all."

or

"What do you MEAN, it wouldn't be a good idea to call that stumpy-legged motherfucker Mrs. Hornblower on the deck of his own ship?"

And DAMMIT. Now I almost phyically need fic about Bush leading that Baltic squadron home. GODDMAN.

BookPellew doen't seem to pull plum promotions for HH quite as much as the movie version does, I don't think, but yeah, you're right. He does have the big squishy love in surplasage for HH, doesn't he? *ponders those goopy letters that Pellew sends him when he takes over command of the In-Shore*

[lamis-p.livejournal.com]

Influence could assist promotion but the lack of it could not hold back a man of real ability.

One does wonder how you would show these real abilities if you were never put into a position to demonstrate them. Perhaps he means that in comparison to the rest of society (or the army say) promotion was not entirely due to who daddy was and how much money he had?

God and being a woman back then – 6 kids – shit my very much older hubby is dead – quickly find new husband and say farewell to my very young children!?!

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Perhaps he means that in comparison to the rest of society (or the army say) promotion was not entirely due to who daddy was and how much money he had?

That's got to be part of it. I think he's also pointing to the (particularly compared to the Army and land life) reasonable numbers of captains who made it out of the ratings -- there were only something like three of them during the classic Age of Sail who reached the rank of flag admiral, but after you got vested with post rank, that was just a straight-up matter of seniority. (ie: a function of the fact that most of them hit post rank v. late and consequently just didn't live long enough to hit the high echelon.)

So. Yeah. I gue I kind of agree with him if you look at it slant-wise, but still. I'm ausming that you've got to show a LOT more brilliance if you're the son of a blacksmith than, you know. If you're an Earl's son.

[cleverthylacine]

I have to get this damn book :)

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Available online, actually. I think the copyright must've run out last year or that they got a dipensation or something. Parkinon's final verdict on P. is a little heartbreaking, though. :/

[cleverthylacine]

Eh, he can think what he likes, we don't have to agree with him.

[hlglne.livejournal.com]

sorry to post and delete, but I was merely spewing the equivalent of japanese emoticons, there. When I read further, my points had already been made by others.

Sure, they were all sitting round the club discussing the propriety of referring to Bush as Mrs. Hornblower in public, certainly. Is there such a thing as a Navy toff? or merely upperclass twits at their level of incompetence?

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Ahahha. Yes, there were such things as Navy toffs.

There were also a lot of men who rose, through nepotism, to high rank at very early ages. Some of them were very bad, but a lot of them were actually amazing. Pellew actually did that for his two oldest sons, and one of them eventually got to be an Admiral and was very good at what he did, though he was eventually forced out of the Navy because he was such an asshole that two of his crews mutinied and put him ashore.

The officer wouldn't really have been making cracks about Bush being "Mrs. Hornblower" in the club -- more like while they were huddled on deck in the freezing Baltic rain waiting to go down into their boats after being given their marching orders by Bush. XD Resentment over Bush being "Mrs. Hornblower" stems more, I think, from his relative lack of experience (going from being a lieutenant to commanding a 74-gun ship is like giving a junior college student studying hotel management a Ritz Carlton property) than his class background.

And in my head at least, also not becuase of the homophobia. XD Even if the Admiralty knew that Bush was getting shtupped by Hornblower (and sodomy was a crime punishable by death in the Navy if committed at sea in a time of war), the Admiralty kept giving HH plum assignments over and over and over and let Bush keep his command even after HH was out of the picture.

[hlglne.livejournal.com]

Yeh. William the Sea King. but he's the king, who you could not call a toff because a toff is a perjorative term, I thought...silly me?

In civilian life, a toff was a high-born fop, or so I thought. HH thus has toff immunity.

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble understanding this comment, but -- making my best stab at answering anyeways, before he was king, he was a little prat of a Prince running around on a ship and knocking his head into beams, right? XD

Plus I'm allowed to talk smack about him anyways since I'm American.

If HH's father had his way, Hornblower might have wormed his way into toff-dom. Hornblower's father was only a village doctor, but he got his son French lessons and dancing lessons and music and deportment lessons from a French noble in exile. He also kept his boy in school with at least some intent of teaching him the classics. XD

[cleverthylacine]

As much as my heart says Edward can do no wrong, I am forced to point out that if you are such a big asshat that your crews are in the habit of mutinying, you can't actually be all that good at being an admiral.

*has nothing to say*

[randomalia.livejournal.com]

I have nothing sensible at all to had, having just come home from class and words aren't making sense, but I just like to muscle in and say hi. I'll bookmark these links, so thank you. And I thought HH pushed Sawyer, too (in both book and movie).

[thehappyreturn.livejournal.com]

Oh, all I want to do is join in the conversation and lovingly spam you to death, but I'm at work and have real life things like events to organise.

Just to quickly say that I haven't read C Northcote Parkinson for ages, and so my abiding memory is one of general amusement that the cod-portrait of Hornblower is uncannily like a young and slightly more preposessing version of C Northcote Parkinson, a photo of whom is is printed VERY LARGE on the back cover of my copy. *chortle*

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

Alas, alas, wretched real life. :/

Ad ahahahha. Holy God. The hard copy I have has been library-ized, so there's no dust jacket, but I'll look for an edition like that when I've got access to decent used book places again. :D

[thehappyreturn.livejournal.com]

ah, one day I'll scan it for you, and then you can look on the TRUE FACE OF HORNBLOWER.

*snorts* I tell you what, I'd have done a lot less daydreaming in school if he really *did* look like that. :D

THE TRUE FACE OF NAVAL NEUROTICISM

[quigonejinn.livejournal.com]

ghdf that is terrible. And you are terrible. XD

Gruffudd has become so firmly weaseled in my head as Hornblower that it's ridiculous, though -- I figure that he wouldn't have pulled Maria and Barbara and Marie and the Countess and Bush if he weren't fairly hot, and man oh man, Gruffudd in a British Navy uniform fits the bill.