April 19, 1757, and received the first rudiments of his education at that place, from whence he was placed under the care of a respectable tutor at Truro, in Cornwall. He entered the naval service at an early age, and in the spring of 1771; accompanied Captain Stott in the Juno frigate, to the Falkland Islands[1]. He afterwards went with the same officer in the Alarm frigate, to the Mediterranean; where some misunderstanding arising between Captain Stott, himself, and another Midshipman, the two latter were cruelly sent on shore at Marseilles, and obliged to return to England by land.
At the commencement of the war with our American colonies, Mr. Pellew joined the Blonde frigate, commanded by Captain Philomen Pownall[2], with whom he sailed to the relief of Quebec. He was afterwards removed into the Carleton schooner, and distinguished himself by his conduct in the battle fought on Lake Champlain, Oct. 11, 1776[3] Our officer then went with General Burgoyne’s army across the lakes, to effect a junction with the King’s forces at New York; and was, consequently, present at the Convention of Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777, when the British troops, reduced by the losses sustained in two bloody engagements, and hemmed in on all sides by the enemy, were under the humiliating necessity of surrendering to the rebel General Gates.
Mr. Pellew returned to England by the way of Quebec, and on his arrival was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. After serving some time in the Licorne, Captain Bellew, he joined the Apollo frigate, commanded by his old patron Captain Pownall, who was soon after killed in action with an enemy’s vessel on the Flemish coast[4]; on which occasion our officer
- ↑ The Juno was sent with two other vessels, the Hound and Florida, to take possession of the Falkland Islands, which had been discovered by the Hon. Captain Byron, Jan. 14, 1765.
- ↑ When Captain Pownall commanded a repeating frigate on the American station, his anticipation of the services to be performed was so very correct, that the Captains of the fleet complained to Lord Howe “that Pownall’s repeating signals were frequently at the top-mast cross-trees before the Admiral’s signal was at the mast-head,” whereas his duty was “to repeat the signal after an interval of half an hour, in the event of its not being answered in that time.”
- ↑ See Admiral John Schanck.
- ↑ The following is an account of the Apollo’s action, as given by Beat-
