From Powder Monkey to Admiral

From Powder Monkey to Admiral
a Story of Naval Adventure
by W.H.G. Kingston
Introduction.
A book for boys by W.H.G. Kingston needs no introduction. Yet a few
things may be said about the origin and the purpose of this story.
When the Boys' Own Paper was first started, Mr Kingston, who
showed deep interest in the project, undertook to write a story of the
sea, during the wars, under the title of "From Powder-monkey to
Admiral."
Talking the matter over, it was objected that such a story might offend
peaceable folk, because it must deal too much with blood and
gunpowder. Mr Kingston, although famed as a narrator of sea-fights,
was a lover of peace, and he said that his story would not encourage the
war spirit. Those who cared chiefly to read about battles might turn to
the pages of "British Naval History." He chose the period of the great
war for his story, because it was a time of stirring events and
adventures. The main part of the narrative belongs to the early years of
life, in which boys would feel most interest and sympathy. And
throughout the tale, not "glory" but "duty" is the object set before the
youthful reader.
It was further objected that the title of the story set before boys an
impossible object of ambition. The French have a saying, that "every
soldier carries in his knapsack a marshal's baton," meaning that the way
is open for rising to the very highest rank in their army. But who ever
heard of a sailor lad rising to be an Admiral in the British Navy?
Let us see how history answers this question. There was a great sea

captain of other days, whose fame is not eclipsed by the glorious
reputations of later wars, Admiral Benbow. In the reign of Queen Anne,
before the great Duke of Marlborough had begun his victorious career,
Benbow had broken the power of France on the sea. Rank and routine
were powerful in those days, as now; but when a time of peril comes,
the best man is wanted, and Benbow was promoted out of turn, by
royal command, to the rank of Vice-Admiral, and went after the fleet of
Admiral Ducasse to the West Indies. In the little church of Saint
Andrew's, Kingston, Jamaica, his body lies, and the memorial stone
speaks of him as "a true pattern of English courage, who lost his life in
defence of queen and country."
Like his illustrious French contemporary Jean Bart, John Benbow was
of humble origin. He entered the merchant service when a boy. He was
unknown till he had reached the age of thirty, when he had risen to the
command of a merchant vessel. Attacked by a powerful Salee rover, he
gallantly repulsed these Moorish pirates, and took his ship safe into
Cadiz. The heads of thirteen of the pirates he preserved, and delivered
them to the magistrates of the town, in presence of the custom-house
officers. The tidings of this strange incident reached Madrid, and the
King of Spain, Charles the Second, sent for the English captain,
received him with great honour, and wrote a letter on his behalf to our
King James the Second, who on his return to England gave him a ship.
This was his introduction to the British Navy, in which he served with
distinction in the reigns of William the Third and Queen Anne. But his
obscure origin is the point here under notice, and the following
traditional anecdote is preserved in Shropshire:--When a boy he was
left in charge of the house by his mother, who went out marketing. The
desire to go to sea, long cherished, was irresistible. He stole forth,
locking the cottage door after him, and hung the key on a hook in a tree
in the garden. Many years passed before he returned to the old place.
Though now out of his reach, for the tree had grown faster than he, the
key still hung on the hook. He left it there; and there it remained when
he came back as Rear-Admiral of the White. He then pointed it out to
his friends, and told the story. Once more his country required his
services, but his fame and the echo of his victories alone came over the
wave. The good town of Shrewsbury is proud to claim him as a son,

and remembers the key, hung by the banks of the Severn, near Benbow
House. Whatever basis of truth the story may have, its being told and
believed attests the fact of the humble birth and origin of Admiral
Benbow.
Another sailor boy, Hopson, in the early part of last century, rose to be
Admiral in the British Navy. Born at Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight, of
humblest parentage,