(7.) Page 285. Captain Edward Riou, Royal Navy (born 1762, killed in action 1801), was a (grandson of Etienne Riou, of Vernoux in Languedoc. His elder brother, Colonel Philip Riou of the Royal Artillery, died in 1817.
Notes.
The despatch of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, dated on board H.M.S. London, ofT Copenhagen Roads, 6th April 1801, said, “It is with the deepest concern I mention the loss of Captains Mosse and Riou, two very brave and gallant officers, and whose loss, as I am well informed, will be sensibly felt by the families they have left behind them — the former, a wife and children — the latter, an aged mother.” The report of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson, was addressed to Parker, and dated from H.M.S. Elephant, April 3d, “From the very intricate nature of the navigation, the Bellona and Russel unfortunately grounded, but (although not in the situation assigned them) yet so placed as to be of great service. The Agamemnon could not weather the shore of the Middle, and was obliged to anchor; but not the smallest blame can be attached to Captain Fancourt; it was an event to which all the ships were liable. These accidents prevented the extension of our line by the three ships before mentioned, who would (I am confident) have silenced the Crown Islands, the two outer ships in the harbour’s mouth, and prevented the heavy losses in the Defiance and Monarch, and which unhappily threw the gallant and good Captain Riou (to whom I had given the command of the frigates and sloops named in the margin,[1] to assist in the attack of the ships at the harbour’s mouth) under a very heavy fire; the consequence has been the death of Captain Riou, and many brave officers and men in the frigates and sloops.”
The joint-monument to Captains Mosse and Riou was executed by C. Rossi, R.A. The angelic supporters are intended to represent Victory and Fame (Smyth’s Biographical Illustrations of St Paul’s Cathedral, p. 53. The monument cost £4200 (id. p. 6).
(8.) Page 286. Admiral of the Fleet, James, Lord Gambier, G.C.B. (born 1756, died 1833), was a cadet of the Gambier family. See Chapter XXII., p. 251.
Note.
I have exposed Lord Dundonald’s cruel injustice to Gambier. It may be said that if Gambier was persecuted, so was Dundonald. The sufferings of the latter were of later date; and Lord Gambier never retaliated upon Dundonald, by joining in the persecution. Gambier always manifested a Christian spirit and dignified demeanour.
(9). Page 289. The Montresor family was well represented in the Army and Navy, the founder of the English families being Major James Gabriel Le Tresor, a refugee (born 1667, died 1723). His son was James Gabriel Montresor, and where I have spoken of “the brothers of the latter,” I ought to have said “the brothers of the latter, or second, James Gabriel.”
(10). Page 289. The Boileau family has been very largely represented in the Army and Navy.
Additional Names.
(11). Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, K.C.B., F.R.S., was the second son of Rev. Daniel Augustus Beaufort, LL.D., Vicar of Collon, county Louth, and formerly Minister of Navan, County Meath, author of “The Civil and Ecclesiastical Map of Ireland, and grandson of Archdeacon Beaufort (see chapter xxv.) Francis was born at Navan in 1774, and entered the Indian Navy as a midshipman in 1787. He was already a proficient in the sciences, and was appointed the custodier of the valuable instruments of his ship, the Vansittart — a charge to which he was so devoted, that when the ship was wrecked, he saved the instruments and abandoned his own property. Both in warfare and in surveying he highly distinguished
- ↑ Blanche, Alcmene, Dart, Arrow, Zephyr, and Otter.
