Types of Naval Officers | Page 4

their careers coincides with their tenure of subordinate
positions in the organisms of great fleets. With this in common, and
differentiating them from Howe and Jervis, the points of contrast are
marked. Saumarez preferred the ship-of-the-line, Pellew the frigate.
The choice of the one led to the duties of a division commander, that of
the other to the comparative independence of detached service, of the
partisan officer. In the one, love of the military side of his calling
predominated; the other was, before all, the seaman. The union of the
two perfects professional character.
The question may naturally be asked,--Why, among types of naval
officers, is there no mention, other than casual, of the name of Nelson?
The answer is simple. Among general officers, land and sea, the group
to which Nelson belongs defies exposition by a type, both because it is
small in aggregate numbers, and because the peculiar eminence of the
several members,--the eminence of genius,--so differentiates each from
his fellows that no one among them can be said to represent the others.
Each, in the supremacy of his achievement, stands alone,--alone, not
only regarded as towering above a brilliant surrounding of
distinguished followers, but alone even as contrasted with the other
great ones who in their own day had a like supremacy. Such do not in
fact form a class, because, though a certain community of ideas and
principles may be traced in their actions, their personalities and
methods bear each the stamp of originality in performance; and where
originality is found, classification ceases to apply. There is a company,
it may be, but not a class.
The last four biographies first appeared as contributions to the "Atlantic

Monthly," in 1893 and 1894. I desire to return to the proprietors my
thanks for their permission to republish. The original treatment has
been here considerably modified, as well as enlarged. I am also under
special obligation to Mr. Fleetwood Hugo Pellew, who gave me the
photograph of Lord Exmouth, with permission also to reproduce it. It
represents that great officer at the age most characteristic of his
particular professional distinction, as by me understood.
A T. MAHAN. OCTOBER, 1901.

CONTENTS
Page I Introductory.--Conditions of Naval Warfare at the Beginning of
the Eighteenth Century 3
II Progress of Naval Warfare during the Eighteenth Century Hawke:
The Spirit 77
III Progress of Naval Warfare during the Eighteenth Century
(Continued) Rodney: The Form 148
IV Howe: The General Officer, as Tactician 254
V Jervis: The General Officer, as Disciplinarian and Strategist 320
VI Saumarez: The Fleet Officer and Division Commander 382
VII Pellew: The Frigate Captain and Partisan Officer 428
* * * * *
Index 479

ILLUSTRATIONS
Edward, Lord Hawke Frontispiece From an engraving by W. Holl,

after the painting by Francis Cotes in the Naval Gallery at Greenwich
Hospital.
PAGE Plan of Byng's Action off Minorca, May 20, 1756 48
George Brydges, Lord Rodney 148 From an engraving by Edward
Finden, after the painting by W. Grimaldi.
Richard, Earl Howe 254 From a mezzotint engraving by R. Dunkarton,
after the painting by John Singleton Copley.
John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent 320 From an engraving by J. Cook, after
the painting by Sir William Beechey.
James, Lord De Saumarez 382 From an engraving by W. Greatbatch,
after a miniature in possession of the family.
Edward Pellew, Lord Exmouth 428 From the original painting in the
possession of Orr Ewing, Esq.

TYPES OF NAVAL OFFICERS
INTRODUCTORY
NAVAL WARFARE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY
The recent close of the nineteenth century has familiarized us with the
thought that such an epoch tends naturally to provoke an estimate of the
advance made in the various spheres of human activity during the
period which it terminates. Such a reckoning, however, is not a mere
matter of more and less, of comparison between the beginning and the
end, regardless of intermediate circumstances. The question involved is
one of an historical process, of cause and effect; of an evolution,
probably marked, as such series of events commonly are, by certain
salient incidents, the way-marks of progress which show the road
traversed and the succession of stages through which the past has

become the present. Frequently, also, such development associates
itself not only with conspicuous events, but with the names of great
men, to whom, either by originality of genius or by favoring
opportunity, it has fallen to illustrate in action the changes which have
a more silent antecedent history in the experience and reflection of
mankind.
The development of naval warfare in the eighteenth century, its
advance in spirit and methods, is thus exemplified in certain striking
events, and yet more impressively is identified with the great names of
Hawke and Rodney. The period of nearly half a generation intervened
between their births, but