speed to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1674, when the expedition was fitted out to repress the boldness of the Barbary Corsairs, Sir John Narborough was appointed commander, and took young Shovel with him in his own ship. The confidence of mutual ability established between them must now have been considerable; for Shovel was selected by the Admiral for a mission to the Dey of Tripoli, in the main object of which, though he failed, yet from the judicious observations he made, and the accurate information he obtained, while resident among the barbarians, enabled him, upon his return, to lay before the commander a plan for the destruction of the hostile fleet. His description of the number and disposition of the ships, the strength of the forts, and the nature of the harbour, was so minute and masterly, that the project was approved of, and the projector instantly named the fittest person to carry it into execution. In conformity with his own views, he therefore proceeded at midnight, with the boats of the squadron, seized upon the guard pinnace, entered the mole, and, without the loss of a single man, burned four vessels of the largest size. This exploit added fresh brilliancy to his name, and upon the first vacancy he was promoted to the command of the Sapphire, a fourth-rate ship. With her he was dispatched, in 1679, under the command of Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, to the relief of Tangier, which was threatened by a formidable attack from the Moors. On the 8th of November, a desperate assault was made by the enemy to carry the place at one movement; and such was the force and fury of the charge, that Shovel was required to debark his men, and assist the troops on shore. This service was promptly rendered, and enforced with an example of the greatest bravery. The enemy were repulsed with a loss which deterred them from a second attack, and the armament returned victorious to England. Shovel, however, was severely wounded, and, by consequence, was prevented for some time after from any participation in the public service.

When, however, his health permitted him to rejoin the fleet, the war was still in a course of vigorous prosecution against the states of Barbary; and was soon farther signalized by his achievements. He took or destroyed several of their most powerful cruizers, and was very successful in interrupting the little commerce which these piratical states carried on. He returned

to England in the latter part of the year 1680; and James II., who then conducted the affairs of the navy without the assistance of a board of admiralty, thought so highly of his merit, that he immediately appointed him to the command of the Dover frigate. He continued in this ship till the Revolution, when he was appointed to the Edgar, a third-rate, and signalized himself so greatly in the battle of Bantry Bay, that King William conferred on him the honour of knighthood. Removing soon after into the Monk, of 60 guns, he was appointed commander of a small squadron, consisting of four ships of war, and five inferior vessels, which were directed to cruize up and down the channel, and off the coast of Ireland. On this service he met with considerable success, and intercepted many of the French supplies which were intended for the use of King James's army in Ireland.

In the following year he was commodore of the squadron which conveyed William to Ireland, and behaved so much to the satisfaction of his sovereign, that he was immediately afterwards raised to the rank of Rear-admiral of the Blue. Towards the close of the same year he assisted General Kirk in the reduction of Duncannon Castle, and in January following served as Rear admiral in the fleet which conveyed King William to Holland.

On his return he joined the grand fleet under Admiral Russel, and was ordered to look into Brest. Arrived off that harbour, he saw forty sail of merchant ships coming out, under the protection of three men of war. To deceive them, he hoisted French colours; and this stratagem had nearly proved successful, for the enemy did not discover their danger until they were almost close to the English squadron. The ships of war then took to flight and escaped; but seven or eight of the convoy were taken, and several others destroyed.

At the memorable battle off Cape la Hogue, Shovel carried his flag, as Rear-admiral of the Red, on board the Royal William, a new ship of 100 guns, and had his full share of the danger and honour of that glorious day. In 1694, he was second in command in the expedition to Cameret Bay; and afterwards, by the express desire of the King, had the chief management of an expedition against Dunkirk. But the attempt did not succeed; and he took care to demonstrate, that no fault lay in him; for he vent with a boat within the enemy's works, and so became an

eye witness of the impossibility of doing what his orders had di rected him to do. Upon his return home, therefore, he was perfectly well received, and continued to be employed as a man who would command success where it was possible, and omit nothing to retrieve a reverse when unavoidable.

During the following year he served in the squadron commanded by Lord Berkely, which bombarded St. Maloes, and exposed himself to every danger with the greatest personal intrepidity. He was employed also, under the same nobleman, in another expedition against Dunkirk, which likewise failed, owing, as the dispatches asserted, to the mistakes of the engineer. During the remainder of the war he continued to serve in various parts, but without meeting with any opportunity of adding to the honours he had already acquired.

On the accession of Queen Anne, by whom Sir Cloudesly was held as highly in esteem, as he had been by her predecessor, he was advanced to the rank of Admiral of the White; and, in the autumn of 1702, was sent with a squadron of twenty sail, to reinforce Sir George Rooke, off Vigo. The place being taken before his arrival, and his services in that quarter thereby rendered unnecessary, he was charged to return to England with the disabled ships of the British fleet, and the captured vessels of the enemy. In the following year he was appointed commander-inchief on the Mediterranean station, and sailed from St. Helen's with a fleet, consisting of thirty-five English and twelve Dutch ships of the line. The object of this powerful armament was to assist the Cevenois, protestant inhabitants of Languedoc, who, being severely persecuted on account of their religion by Lewis XIV., had revolted from his authority, and implored the assistance of the maritime powers. Sir Cloudesly used every effort to afford them succour; but, finding his endeavours ineffectual, was obliged to return to England. He had the fortune, however, to capture a French fifty gun ship on his passage homewards.

In 1704, he served under Sir George Rooke, and was present at the taking of Gibraltar, in the action off Malaga, when he commanded the van of the combined fleets of England and Holland. On the 6th of January, 1705, he was appointed Rear-admiral of England; and, in the month of May following, sailed again as Commander-in-chief on the Mediterranean

station. His fleet consisted of twenty-nine sail of the line, besides frigates, fire-ships, bombs, &c.; and, on his arrival off Lisbon, he was joined by a squadron under Sir John Leake, and some Dutch ships of war, which made his whole force amount to forty-eight sail of the line. To prevent a junction between the squadrons lying at Toulon and Brest, he cruised awhile between Cape Spartel and Cadiz, and then returned to Lisbon. On the 22d of July, the King of Spain, Charles III., embarked on board the fleet, which immediately proceeded to the Mediterranean. They anchored in the Bay of Attea on the 11th of August, and the next day appeared before Barcelona. The land forces immediately debarked under the command of the Prince of Hesse, and the Earl of Peterborough; and the ships of war being hauled on shore, to co-operate with the army, the bombarding commenced with vigour, and continued until the 23d of September, when the governor capitulated. This service performed, Sir Cloudesly proceeded to England with part of the fleet, and left the remainder in the Mediterranean under the command of Sir John Leake.

During the following summer, Shovel resumed his command in the Mediterranean, and became involved in some disputes with the Portuguese ministry. The affair alluded to is involved in considerable obscurity, but the following is believed to be very nearly an accurate relation of it. Whilst he was at Lisbon, Sir Cloudesly ordered some of his ships to sea on a cruize, which were fired at, as they were passing down the Tagus, by the royal castle of Belam. The British admiral, highly incensed at this outrage, complained in severe terms to the ministers of the King of Portugal, who alleged, in excuse, that the matter originated in the mistake of the governor, who had orders to fire and detain a Genoese ship that had not discharged the port dues. The apology, however, was not admitted, because the ship alluded to was then in the harbour, and Shovel had great reason to suspect that one of the younger princes of the royal family of Portugal was concerned in the insult that was offered to his flag. He therefore gave public notice, that if such an insult was offered again to the British colours, he would not wait for instructions from home how to proceed, but would take immediate satisfaction from the mouth of his cannon.

Continuing to command on the Mediterranean station, he sailed, in 1707, to Toulon, to assist the operations of the Duke of Savoy and Prince Eugene, who had invested the arsenal by land. But the success of the military co-operations was partial. Had it been otherwise, Toulon would have been taken by the confederate forces, with upwards of forty sail of the line. The French made a most vigorous and successful sally on the 4th of August, the Allies were compelled to raise the siege, and the British fleet retired from before the port.

Leaving Sir Thomas Dilkes in the Mediterranean, with a squadron of thirteen ships of the line, he sailed homewards with the remainder of the fleet. On the 22d of October, the admiral struck soundings in 90 fathoms water, and, the wind then blowing strong from the S.S.W. with hazy weather, he made the signal for the fleet to bring to. At six in the evening he made sail again under his courses, from which it was conjectured that he believed he saw the Scilly light. Ere long he made the signals of danger, as did several other ships; but the melancholy guns were discharged in vain, for no ear heard the report. Soon after, the Association, of 90 guns, (Sir Cloudesly's ship,) struck upon the rocks, called the Bishop and his Clerks, or, as some accounts say, the Gilston rocks, and instantly went to pieces, when the admiral, and every soul on board, perished. One ship of 70 and another of 50 guns shared the same fate; and many others were in imminent danger, but escaped by great exertions of seamanship.

The body of the admiral was found under the rocks of St. Mary, a few days after his shipwreck, whence it was conveyed in a royal ship, with every indication of public sorrow and respect, to Plymouth, and ultimately forwarded to London. Here a public funeral and a national monument were decreed to his memory; of which the former was celebrated with considerable pomp, and the latter has been already described. He left behind him two daughters and his wife, who was also the widow of his early friend and patron Sir John Narborough. As his private life was highly estimable, and his public services eminently great, so was the melancholy prematurity of his death not only bewailed by his private friends, but also lamented by his country at large.