Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/253

 :: Costa, the coloured plates of shells are of considerable beauty, and the book is a monument of careful study and enthusiasm.

The following are Montagu's minor contributions to science. For the Linnean Society he wrote: ‘Observations on British Quadrupeds, Birds, and Fishes’ (vii. 274); ‘On the Horseshoe Bats and the Barbastelle’ (ix. 162); ‘On three rare Species of British Birds’ (iv. 35); ‘On Falco cyaneus and pygargus’ (ix. 182); ‘On some rare Marine British Shells’ (xi. 2, 179); ‘On the Black Stork’ (xiii. 19); ‘On remarkable Marine Animals discovered on the South Coast of Devon’ (vii. 61, ix. 81, xi. 1); and ‘On Five British Species of Terebella’ (xii. 2, 340). For the Wernerian Society he wrote: ‘On some rare British Fishes’ (i. 79); ‘On the Gannet’ (i. 176); ‘On Fasciola in Poultry’ (i. 194); ‘On British Sponges’ (ii. 67); ‘On Fishes taken in South Devon’ (ii. 413); ‘On a supposed new Species of Dolphin’ (iii. 75).

 MONTAGU, GEORGE (1750–1829), admiral, second son of Admiral  [q. v.], and brother of Captain [q. v.], and of (1755–1799) [q. v.], was born on 12 Dec. 1750. In 1763 he entered the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, and was thence appointed to the Preston with Captain [q. v.], going out to the Jamaica station with the flag of Rear-admiral William Parry. In the Preston he continued for three years, was afterwards in the Levant with Captain Gardner, and returned to England in 1770. He passed his examination on 2 Oct. 1770, and on 14 Jan. 1771 was promoted to be lieutenant of the Marlborough. In February he was moved into the Captain, going out to North America as the flagship of his father. The latter on 9 April 1773 made him commander in the Kingfisher sloop, and on 15 April 1774 (Pay-book of the Fowey) he was posted to the Fowey. In her he continued on the North-American station during the early years of the war of independence, actively co-operating with the army in the embarkation at Boston in March, and in the reduction of New York in October 1776. Shortly after he returned to England in bad health. From 1777 to 1779 he commanded the Romney, as flag-captain to his father at Newfoundland. On his return he was appointed to the 32-gun frigate Pearl, in which, cruising near the Azores, he captured the Spanish frigate Santa Monica, of equal force, on 14 Sept. 1779. In December the Pearl sailed with the fleet under Sir [q. v.], and assisted in the capture of the Caracas convoy; but having sprung her foremast, was ordered home with the prizes. She was afterwards sent out to North America, and on 30 Sept. 1780, while on a cruise off the Bermudas, captured the Espérance, a frigate built privateer of 32 guns. In the action off Cape Henry, on 16 March 1781 [see ], she acted as repeating frigate. She was not with the fleet on 5 Sept. [see ], but joined it, still off Cape Henry, on the 14th, and was left to keep watch on the movements of the French till the 25th, when she sailed for New York. On 19 Oct. she sailed again with the fleet, and on the 23rd was stationed ahead as a look-out (Pearl's Loy). She returned to England in 1782.

In the armament of 1790 Montagu was appointed to the Hector of 74 guns, and, continuing to command her, went out to the Leeward Islands in 1793 with Rear-admiral Gardner, and thence to Jamaica, to convoy the homeward-bound trade. He was afterwards with the squadron in the Downs, under the orders of Rear-admiral Macbride, till 12 April 1794, when he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and, hoisting his flag in the Hector, joined the grand fleet under Lord Howe [see ]. On 4 May he was detached, with a squadron of six sail of the line, to convoy a large fleet of merchant ships as far as Cape Finisterre. His further orders were to cruise to the westward till 20 May, in the hope of meeting the French provision convoy daily expected from America. The convoy, however, did not arrive at that time, and Montagu, after making several important captures, returned to Plymouth on 30 May. He had extended his cruise for several days beyond the prescribed limit, but had not been able to communicate with Howe. On 2 June he received orders from the admiralty to put to sea again with every available ship, and to cruise off Brest in order to intercept the French provision fleet. On the 3rd the Audacious came in with news of the partial action of 28 May; but Montagu, having no other orders, put to sea on 4 June with nine sail of the line. On the evening of the 8th he chased a French squadron of eight ships into Brest, and at daybreak on the 9th found a French fleet of nineteen ships of the line a few miles to the westward of him. Though several of these were under jurymasts, or in