Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/245

 squadron under Rear-admiral Meese which sacked Petit-Goave; was with Nevell off Havana, and accompanied him to Virginia, whence, after the vice-admiral's death, she returned to England. Early in the voyage the ship lost her rudder; she was very weak-handed, many of her men sick, and thus, one dark night in November, as she made the coast of Ireland, she struck on a rock, and was for some time in imminent danger. ‘Not knowing where we were,’ wrote Griffith, ‘and having no boat or any other ways of saving a man, I thought I could not do too much to save the king's ship and all our lives; and then, with my cane in one hand, and a case knife in the other, to cut down their hammocks, did rouse up as many men as I could, and with God's assistance got her off, and next day into Baltimore, and after to Spithead.’ There a complaint was laid against him for, among other things, not ‘carrying a due discipline in his majesty's ship, for beating the officers, and for running up and down the deck with a case knife in his hand,’ and, being tried on these charges, was found guilty and suspended during the pleasure of the admiralty. During the peace he took command of a merchant ship to the Mediterranean, and in the beginning of 1702, his suspension having been taken off, he was appointed to the Bridgwater, which he commanded on the coast of Ireland and in the Irish Sea for the next three years. During 1705 he was employed on impress service, and in the beginning of 1706 was appointed to the Swiftsure, in which, in company with the Warspite, he sailed from Plymouth on 19 Feb. 1706-7, in charge of a convoy of thirty-three merchant ships bound for Lisbon. On 22 Feb. they fell in with a squadron of seventeen French ships of war, many of them large; and Griffith, after consulting his officers, decided that it was hopeless to resist such an enormous superiority of force. The convoy crowded sail and made off before the wind, scattering as they went. Many of the merchant ships were captured, but the rest and the two men-of-war got safely to Lisbon. It is stated by Charnock that Griffith's conduct on this occasion was inquired into by a court-martial held at Lisbon. There is no official record of any such court-martial; and probably an explanation to the admiral, Sir George Byng, was all that was called for. In any case, he was held free from blame; and, in the Swiftsure, went on to Gibraltar, and thence into the Mediterranean, where he joined the fleet under Sir [q. v.], and took part in the operations at Toulon; returning to England in October, when the Association and other ships of the fleet were lost among the Scilly Islands (Swiftsure's Log). During the winter Griffith had temporarily command of the Essex, cruising in the Channel with Sir John Leake, but in February resumed the command of the Swiftsure, in which he was stationed as senior officer in the Downs. On 25 March 1708, being off Dunkirk with a squadron of four ships of the line, they sighted an enemy's squadron of fourteen sail, one with an admiral's flag at the main. ‘They drew into line of battle, and by reason of their number and strength, we kept our wind, and in the night lost sight of them’ (Griffith to Burchett, 26 March). The next day the squadron returned to the Downs in order to report the affair to the prince; but some weeks after, in consequence of a letter which was published in the ‘Gazette’ (25-9 April), Griffith was ordered to be tried by court-martial. He was tried accordingly on 10 May, and, on a full examination into the circumstances, was acquitted, ‘the matter of fact contained in the letter’ being pronounced ‘false and groundless’ (Minutes of the Court-Martial). Griffith continued in the Swiftsure till July, when he was appointed to the Captain, in which, the following April, he took out a convoy to Lisbon, and went thence to the Mediterranean with Sir [q. v.]

On his return to England in the summer of 1710 he was appointed to the Boyne, which he commanded on the home station and in the Mediterranean for the next three years. He had no further service, and died on 7 Aug. 1719. Nothing is known of his family.



GRIFFITH, RICHARD (d. 1788), author, was elder son of Edward Griffith, by his wife Abigail, third daughter of Sir William Handcock, recorder of Dublin. His grandfather, Richard Griffith, was rector of Coleraine and dean of Ross. The family, originally of Penrhyn, Carnarvonshire, settled in Ireland in the reign of James I. Griffith received little regular education, but at an early age showed literary tastes. If he be identical with the Richard Griffith who became a scholar of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1719 (B.A. 1721, and M.A. 1724), he must have been born about 1704—ten years earlier than the date commonly assigned. He tried to earn a living as a farmer, residing at Maiden Hall, co. Kilkenny. After a long engagement he married, about 1752, Elizabeth Griffith, who