to promote nautical objects which appeared to me of importance.' Some of these, in addition to numerous experiments on the steam engine, were in connection with the problems of naval architecture, and from 1843 to 1848 he was chiefly occupied in the building and equipment of the Janus frigate, the lines, the engines, and the boilers of which were all designed by him. In this he had many difficulties to contend with. From the practical men he received none of the assistance on which he must necessarily have depended; and some of them thwarted his plans by such; measures as plugging the suction-pipe of the pumps. The ship's weights proved to have been miscalculated or exceeded, and she lay so low in the water as to be unseaworthy. Still, though the Janus herself was a failure, the improvement in her lines was acknowledged and adopted, and the screw-propeller rapidly came into general use.
But perhaps the invention which is most commonly associated with the name of Dundonald is the 'secret war plan,' the nature of which was never made public, though he repeatedly declared that it was capable of destroying any fleet or fortress in the world. He first proposed it as early as 1811, when it was referred to a secret committee, consisting of the Duke of York, Lord Keith, Lord Exmouth, and the two Congreves, who pronounced it to be infallible, irresistible, but inhuman. On this ground it was not adopted; but when the inventor entered the service of Chili he was pledged by the prince regent not to use it for any other country than his own. After his readmission to the English navy this secret plan was several times urged on the admiralty and the government, and was brought prominently into notice during the Russian war of 1854-6 ; but on every occasion it was put on one side as too terrible; and inhuman, though always with the clear admission that it was capable of producing , the results which Dundonald claimed for it.
In 1848 Dundonald was appointed commander-in-chief on the "West Indian and North American station, a command which he held for three years, during which time he submitted to the government several valuable reports on the condition and capabilities of the various colonies which he officially visited. He had no further employment, for it was decided not to use his 'secret plan ' against Cronstadt or Sebastopol, which he offered to reduce to ruins. He had become in course of seniority vice-admiral on 23 Nov. 1841, and admiral on 21 March 1851; on 23 Oct. 1864 he was nominated rear-admiral of the United Kingdom. On 22 May 1847 he had been reinstated in the order of the Bath, being gazetted on the 25th as a knight grand cross; but notwithstanding his repeated applications his banner was not replaced in Henry VII's Chapel, out of which it had been ignominiously kicked in 1814, till after his death, which took place on 31 Oct. 1860. During the last years of his life he had been occupied in preparing his 'Narrative of Services in the Liberation of Chili, Peru, and Brazil, from Spanish and Portuguese Domination' (8vo, 1859), and 'Autobiography of a Seaman' (2 vols. 8vo, 1860-1), which was brought to an abrupt termination by his death.
In 1812 he married Miss Katherine Corbett Barnes, a lady of good family, but not wealthy. The marriage gave great offence to his uncle Basil, a rich East India merchant, who consequently struck him out of his will. In writing of this long years afterwards he said: 'Without a particle of romance in my composition, my life has been one of the most romantic on record, and the circumstances of my marriage were not the least so.' Finding that his rich uncle was bent on his marrying an heiress, he prevailed on Miss Barnes to accompany him over the border, and they were secretly married at Annan. The secret was not long kept, and from that time his uncle ceased to acknowledge him. He seems never to have regretted the loss of his uncle's friendship or fortune, considering his wife 'a rich equivalent.' She survived him a few years, and died in 1865. Besides his eldest son, who succeeded him in the title, he left three other sons, one of whom, Arthur Auckland Leopold Pedro, now admiral, was in 1873-6 commander-in-chief in the Pacific.
Dundonald's very remarkable career, distinguished above all others by the attainment of great results with small means, has deservedly won for him a very high place in the roll of naval commanders. What he might have done has been argued from what he did, and he has thus been estimated as one of the greatest of our admirals, whose name must be ranked with those of Nelson, Hawke, Rodney, or Blake. It will, however, be noticed that his exploits, brilliant as they were, were those of a captain or partisan leader, not of an admiral. It is impossible to speak too highly of his daring yet cool courage, or of the quaint inventive genius which directed it; but it is equally impossible to assign him any place among the great masters of naval tactics, for the display of which he never had any opportunity. It is indeed noteworthy that during the whole course of his particularly active service he had no share in any general engagement. The terrible blow which fell on him in 1814 must be considered as having really raised his reputation by giving
