"...your indefatigable zeal..."

[anteros_lmc]

Posting Duchess and the Devil screencaps over at following_sea reminded me of something else I've been meaning to post for ages. I've always been curious about Pellew's reaction to Hornblower's captivity and escape, and the utterly improbable reappearance of Archie several years after he'd presumably been given up for dead. How would he have responded to their absence and return? Alas the series gives us very little indication.

Several of the Indefatigable's historical midshipmen did actually get captured by the French while crewing prizes, though mercifully all where swiftly exchanged or managed to escape and return to their ship. We can only imagine what Pellew must have felt on learning that they had been captured, but one of their fellow midshipmen, Nicholas Pateshall, lamented their fate in a letter to his brother:

The most valuable of our prizes which I mentioned in my last was retaken by a French privateer within 5 miles of Falmouth in which I lost a worthy messmate and two other midshipmen.

There is one letter from Pellew however, written in direct response to a former prisoner of war, Donat Henchy O'Brien. O'Brien was captured while serving as a master's mate aboard the Hussar frigate, which was wrecked off the Saints in 1803, while carrying despatches from Pellew. Thus began five years of imprisonment at Charlemont, Verdun and the notorious citadelle of Bitche. O'Brien was not a man to be contained though, he managed to escape, or in his own words “went on the tramp”, three times and during his second failed solitary attempt survived a gruelling month on the run along the banks of the Rhine in the depth of winter. O’Brian finally got away with three companions after descending the ramparts of Bitche and walking half the length of Europe from Lorraine to Trieste. After the war, O'Brian wrote an account of his experiences called My Adventures During The Late War: An account of his shipwreck, captivity, and escape from France, after undergoing a series of sufferings which lasted for nearly five years. Following publication, O'Brien sent a copy of his narrative to Pellew who responded with the following letter.

London, 14th May, 1825
My Dear Sir

I found on my table, on my return home, your kind note and your Narrative. I feel very much obliged to you for both, but particularly for the latter, which I shall preserve well bound, that my grandchildren may read and admire your manly and unconquerable spirit,—your indefatigable zeal and perseverance; giving a noble example to their young minds of what a British officer can do for the honour of his country and his own.

Accept my sincere and cordial thanks, and believe me, my very sincere good wishes will ever attend you.

I have the honour to be,
      My dear Sir,

Most faithfully and much yours,
Exmouth.

I love the fact that Pellew refers to O'Brian's "indefatigable zeal" and I like to think that he would have responded to Archie's attempts to escape in similar terms.

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I love how Pellew writes. He is so succinct and so clear. Not a word wasted.

And he is, of course right.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The thing I love about Pellew's letters is that he always sounds sincere. Which is no mean feat when you consider the thousands he wrote every year.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

A wonderfully understated letter there.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, many of Pellew's letters have that quality, understated but genuinely sincere.

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

He could and did write florid and lengthy prose but many of his letters to individuals ( as against admiralty officials ) are just so - understated but thoughtful and often very insightful.

Makes one think of the many other letters which were out there - and those untold stories ....

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I love this letter for so many reasons. Sadly it's not included in the version of O'Brien's memoir that I've just got, I suspect it only appeared in later editions. That does nothing to detract from the words and the sentiments though.

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

and I suspect indefatigable was always a preferred adjective :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Always :)