already serving. Only a few months before had come to its tragic close the career of Admiral John Byng, which, save in its more fortunate ending, his own was destined to resemble so nearly, and from which it had been well had he taken warning. In an age of which the essential savagery was but thinly hidden by a veneer of conventional refinement, the outcry against the luckless Byng for his failure to relieve Minorca was memorable for its exceptional ferocity, and his execution on the quarterdeck of his own flagship sent a thrill of horror through the civilised world, which the lapse of a century and a half has not availed to deaden. Boy though he was, Calder must have been familiar with Byng's melancholy story, and when, nearly fifty years later, he in his turn became the object of blind popular fury and stood to take his trial, it must have come back to him with peculiar horror.

Years of neglect had brought the Navy to a state of ineffioiency almost without parallel in our history, and for an insight into the conditions of life on board ship when Calder joined one has but to turn to the pages of Smollett, himself

once a ship's surgeon. The dark picture of the ignorance and brutality which prevailed on some of the ships, and which is depicted in 'Roderick Random,' would be almost incredible were it not amply confirmed by other sources, and that the novels of Fielding, the canvasses of Hogarth, portray a state of civilisation amongst landsmen almost equally barbarous. Yet not all the ships were bad nor all the commanders ignorant tyrants: against Oakum and Crampley fairly may be set Trunnion and Bowling, and the simplicity, the sterling worth, and surpassing honesty of the British seaman have no stouter champions than Smollett and Fielding themselves. A new order of naval officers was arising, men devoted to their profession, as earnest in study as they were courageous in action, and it was under men like these that, in the closing years of George II., were laid the foundations of the British Empire of to-day.

Like many another lad in those days, Calder began his career under the protection of a kinsman, his cousin Captain James Sayer, commanding the 64-gun ship Nassau, on which he spent four eventful years.2

The Seven Years' War was raging, and in every quarter of the globe fighting between England and France was in progress. Sailing in 1757, the Nassau formed one of a squadron destined for the capture of Louisburg, the famous fortress which barred the entrance to the St Lawrence, but which proved far too formidable for the forces available. Its reduction was therefore postponed till the following year, and the expedition returned to England. On her voyage home a gale struck the Nassau, carrying away her masts and so injuring her hull that only with difficulty was she kept afloat, to reach England with nine feet of water in her hold. Repaired and refitted, she was despatched the following year to assist in harrying the French settlements on the West Coast of Africa. At the outset all went well. St Louis in Senegal, though defended by ninety-two cannon, was captured almost without loss, Calder, as naval ensign, carrying the colours at its surrender; but before the island of Goree the expedition met with a severe reverse and was obliged to withdraw-a mishap avenged before the end of the year, when Goree was forced to capitulate to Commodore Keppel after a bombardment so furious that "the soldiers absolutely refused to stand any longer to their guns." They had served them to some purpose, for the casualties on the fleet were many, amongst those severely wounded being Calder, the nature of whose wound is not recorded. From Africa the

Nassau was sent to the West Indies, when, in the "annus mirabilis" of Minden and Quebec, 1759, she took part in the capture of Guadeloupe and in

an unsuccessful attack on Martinique, after which Calder left her to serve for a short time on the Superb, and then on the Dublin 74, being present

the capture of Dominica in 1761, and taking part in the assault by the naval brigade on the redoubts at the capture of Martinique in 1762, in which year he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Fifteen uneventful years followed the Peace of Fontainebleau (1763), and of Calder's career during this time there is but scant record. He is known to have served on the Essex 64, and on the outbreak of the war with France, following the revolt of the American Colonies, to have been transferred from the Terrible to the Victory, flagship of Admiral Keppel, commanding in the Channel. On her he was present at the drawn battle with the French under Comte d'Orvilliers near Ushant (27th July 1778),-a battle now almost forgotten, but once all too famous by reason of the misconduct of a portion of the British fleet and of the bitter reoriminations which ensued, ending in Keppel's trial and triumphant acquittal.

The following year witnessed both his promotion to the rank of Commander and his marriage to Amelia Bayfield, daughter of a county gentleman of Norfolk. It was a year of bitter humiliation for England, when to dis

aster abroad was added imminent danger of invasion at home. In August the fleets of France and Spain, numbering seventy sail-of-the-line, entered the Channel, threatening Plymouth, and spreading universal terror, so greatly did they outnumber the ships available to meet them; and it was during this time of danger that Calder, in command of a repeating frigate, first attracted notice by the dogged resolution with which he clung to his station when capture appeared almost inevitable. A year later he was promoted Captain, and in 1782, in command of the frigate Diana, took part in Lord Hood's famous relief of Gibraltar, a splendid feat of arms, carried out with triumphant success by thirty-eight ships in the face of fifty of the allies.

At the Peace of Versailles (1783) his ship, the frigate Thalia, was paid off, and it was not till seven years later, when war with Spain seemed imminent, that he was recalled to serve as flag-captain to Admiral Barrington on the Barfleur. The war was averted, and the ships commissioned to meet the emergency were paid off, whereupon Calder joined the Duke as flag-captain to his brother-in-law, Admiral Roddam, at Portsmouth, with whom he served until the outbreak of the French Revolution involved England in the war destined to rage, with one brief interval, for the next twenty years.

Early in 1794, in command of the Theseus 74, he joined the fleet under Lord Howe in the Channel, and in May

was detached with a squadron under Rear-Admiral Montagu with orders to escort East Indiamen to Finisterre, and then to cruise in the Bay of Biscay with the object of intercepting a huge convoy from America with supplies for the starving people of France. Thus it happened that Calder took no part in the victory of "The Glorious First of June," for Montagu, after recapturing some British and Dutch merchantmen from the French, sailed for Plymouth instead of rejoining Howe. Ordered back to his station, Montagu fell in with and chased into Brest eight of Villaret - Joyeuse's ships, to have himself to run for safety the next day before the remainder of the French fleet.

The following year, when Spain had ranged herself beside France and declared war against England and Sir John Jervis was despatched to the Mediterranean to prevent the junction of the allied fleets, he selected Calder to be his Captain of the Fleet, an appointment now more generally known as Chief of the Staff. It was a post of much responsibility, requiring high professional attainments, good judgment, and great tact, and that Calder was chosen to fill it proves how highly he was esteemed as a trustworthy and capable officer. In all the fleet there was no shrewder judge of character and of professional skill, none more exacting than Jervis, than whom none was less influenced by social prestige or political influence. Of Calder's merits as

a seaman Jervis speaks more than once in his letters, and after the defeat of the Spanish Fleet off Cape St Vincent (February 14, 1797) he chose him to convey to the Admiralty his despatch announcing the victory, a despatch remarkable for its brevity and its strange omissions. Of Nelson, to whose daring initiative in heading off the Spaniards the decisive character of the victory was due, of Collingwood who had 80 gallantly supported his Commodore, of Trowbridge, Parker, and many another officer who had well deserved a meed of praise, it made no mention; the only one named in it being Calder, and that merely as bearer of the despatch, who could supply any further details of the battle and of the state of the fleet that might be required, and who "by his able assistance greatly contributed to the public service." Although in a private letter to the First Lord, Jervis bore handsome testimony to the services of his officers, the fact that, in his public despatch, praise of Nelson was withheld was resented as an injustice, whilst its award to Calder, whose services, however meritorious, by their very nature could not be compared with those of the Commodore, was equally resented as favouritism, and to this feeling may be attributed the detraction and calumny of which Calder became the object, for it is with reference to his conduct at St Vincent that his reputation has been assailed most bitterly. The accusations brought against him have been repeated

sus

of

so often and with such precision of detail, as to necessitate an examination into their nature and their origin. It is asserted that he pected not without reason having urged Jervis not to fight, by pointing out the overwhelming strength of the Spanish fleet as the mist cleared and, one by one, the ships came into view, and that when reporting their numbers to the Admiral he was rebuffed by the words, "Enough, sir, no more of that! The die is cast, and if there are fifty sail I will go through them," an answer which so delighted Captain Hallowell, who was a passenger on the Victory, that he clapped the Admiral on the back, exclaiming, "That's right, Sir John, that's right. By God, we shall give them a d-d good licking!" To inform the Admiral of the enemy's strength as soon as it was ascertained was clearly Calder's duty as Captain of the Fleet, and that Jervis announced his intention to fight even fifty ships, although he himself had but fifteen, is possible; but the inference that Calder tried to dissuade his chief from fighting is as unjustifiable as the gratuitous humiliation of his chosen staff officer by the Admiral is improbable.

In a letter to Lady Hamilton, written immediately after the battle, Nelson mentions that he had been told that when he turned out of the line to attack the Spanish van, Calder said to Jervis "Sir, the Captain and the Culloden are separated from the rest of the fleet and