the Sardinians, after their defeat at Novara (March 23, 1849), and the pressure thus brought on Piedmont by land, were compelled to withdraw their ships, that the Austrian navy could show signs of life, and was able with the few ships they could fit out to close the blockade of Venice, which finally surrendered on the 22nd of August, 1849.
During the early part of this period of enforced inactivity, Tegetthoff was an ensign on board, one after the other, the brig "Montecuccoli," the brig "Trieste," and the frigate "Bellona," where, at best, he was but perfecting himself in habits of discipline, and in the knowledge of the internal economy of ships of war. He was afterwards aide-de-camp of Field-Marshal Martini, the then head of the navy, and went with him in his embassy to Naples; but returned in time to take his share of the blockading on board his old ship "Adria." After the peace he served on board the steamer "Maria Anna" in the Levant, and was present in the Peirasus during the English blockade of that port on account of the Don Pacifico affair, now almost forgotten, or remembered only by Dr. Dasent's clever skit.[1] He was promoted on June 4, 1851, to the rank of lieutenant of the second class; and on November 4, 1852, to the first class, in which grade he served again on board the "Montecuccoli" and the corvette "Carolina," and in 1854 was appointed to command the schooner "Elisabeth," from which shortly afterwards he was transferred to the steamer "Taurus."
These rapid changes speak of the disorganized and unsettled condition in which the Austrian navy was at the time. The ships were there, though in bad state, but the officers were very few, and seem to have been transferred from one to the other, either at the caprice of the authorities, or in accordance with the necessities of the dockyard. In command of the "Taurus," however, Tegetthoff remained for some time, employed, during the Crimean war, in a sort of police duty in the Sulina mouth of the Danube. This duty was neither pleasant nor easy; and Tegetthoff not only gained credit by the way in which he performed it, but was brought to the favorable notice of the archduke Maximilian.
After the general break-up in 1848, and the disappearance of the overwhelming Italian element, the navy seems to have become suddenly popular. Many officers from north Germany and Denmark were induced to take service under the Austrian flag. The command-in-chief was given to a Dane, Admiral Dahlerup, who is described as having some difficulty in accommodating himself to the very mixed materials put at his disposal — Old Austrian, north German, and Danish officers, merchant skippers, Germans, Slaves, Dalmatians, and Illyrians: to fuse them into one homogeneous whole was no easy task.
Numbers of cadets, too, came in, members of the best Austrian families, and among them, setting the example, the emperor's brother, the archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. After a short service in the subordinate ranks, the archduke was appointed, in 1854, rear-admiral and head of the navy. He was then only twenty-two: but his zeal compensated, to some extent, for his want of experience; and for the next ten years he devoted himself to the good of the service over which he really presided. Under his fostering care an excellent dockyard and arsenal were constructed and fortified at Pola. Many ships were built, amongst them a line-of-battle ship and three large frigates. One of these, the "Novara," was sent on a combined scientific and training expedition, a voyage round the world; and in 1857, also in the interests of navigation and the development of Austrian commerce, Tegetthoff was despatched, in company with the distinguished ornithologist, Dr. Heuglin, on a semi-official journey in. Egypt and Arabia; the object being to collect local .information which might throw new light on the project of cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Suez, with a possible view to take an early advantage of the canal, if it should be completed, and, amongst other things, to select a point suitable for a coaling station.
The two travelled up the Nile to Thebes, and from there, by caravan, to Kosseir, on
- ↑ Jest and Earnest, vol. ii., p. 110.
