Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/419

 merchantmen. Blake pursued him, took two of his ships, drove one ashore, and forced others to take refuge in Cartagena, where they were wrecked (2–5 Nov. 1650). Rupert succeeded in reaching Toulon with two ships and a prize (, History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, i. 331–9;, iii. 313–23; Report on the Duke of Portland's Manuscripts. i. 511, 531, 536).

At Toulon Rupert refitted his fleet, and, increasing its number to five ships, sailed to the Azores, intending to go to the West Indies, and make Barbados his headquarters. He captured indiscriminately English and Spanish ships, treating the Spaniards as allies of the English, and selling the captured goods to the Portuguese at Madeira. But his sailors, now little better than pirates, compelled him to linger at the Azores in hope of further captures (July–December 1651), and during the stay his flagship, the Constant Reformation, was lost, with most of its crew, and one of his smaller vessels, the Loyal Subject, was driven on shore. The next spring he cruised off the coast of Guinea and the Cape de Verde islands, entering the Gambia, where he took several Spanish prizes, and was wounded in a fight with the natives. Off the Cape de Verde islands his fleet was further diminished by the loss of the Revenge through the mutiny of its crew. He did not arrive in the West Indies till the summer of 1652, about six months after Sir George Ayscue had reduced Barbados to obedience to the parliament. There he captured or destroyed a few small English ships at Nevis and St. Christopher's, but the Defiance, which bore his brother Prince Maurice, was lost, with all its crew, in a storm off the Virgin Islands (September 1652), and the Honest Seaman was also cast away. In March 1653 Rupert returned to France, putting in at Paimbœuf with his own ship, the Swallow, and a few prizes (, iii. 324–88; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1651–2, p. 308).

Charles II received his cousin with the greatest cordiality, sent his own coach to meet him, and made him master of the horse. ‘I am so surprised with joy at your safe arrival in these parts,’ wrote the king, ‘that I cannot tell you how great it is, nor can I consider any misfortunes or accidents which have happened now I know your person is in safety’ (, iii. 419). Hyde wrote with equal warmth, and the queen's faction were not less friendly. Rupert was ill for some time at Paris from a flux contracted by the hardships of the voyage, and in June 1653 was nearly drowned when bathing in the Seine (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 161, 173). It was proposed to raise a fleet of privateers under his command to take advantage of the war between England and the Dutch, but Rupert's ships were too unseaworthy to be so utilised (ib. iii. 164, 167, 184). Still more disappointing to the exiled court was the small amount of prize-money the prince had brought home. The pecuniary results of the voyage had been as small as the political. Moreover, the French authorities obstructed the sale of the prize-goods, and obliged Rupert to sell the guns of the Swallow at a low rate to the French government. At the same time, his accounts gave great dissatisfaction. Hyde complained not only that they were very insufficient, but that the prince contrived to make the king his debtor for the expenses of the cruise, claiming not only all the prize-money, which came to 14,000l., but half the proceeds of the sale of the guns (ib. iii. 176, 200, 224, 231;, Diary, ed. 1879, iv. 286, 288; Rebellion, xiv. 78).

The political intrigues of the exiled court widened the breach. Rupert had fallen once more under the influence of Sir Edward Herbert—now lord-keeper—and was hand and glove with Lord Jermyn, Lord Gerard, and the faction who wished to overthrow Hyde. Finding his efforts unavailing, he threw up his post of master of the horse, telling the king ‘that he was resolved to look after his own affairs in Germany, and first to visit his brother in the palatinate, and require what was due from him for his appanage, and then to go to the emperor to receive the money that was due to him upon the treaty of Munster’ (, Rebellion, xiv. 69, 90; Clarendon State Papers, iii. 177, 191, 233, 236, 245). He left Paris in June 1654, and spent the next six years in Germany. Occasional notices of his movements are contained in the news-letters of Secretary Thurloe's German agents (Thurloe State Papers, ii. 405, 514, 580, 644). In 1655 he proposed to enter the service of the Duke of Modena, but the negotiations fell through (ib. iii. 591, 683;, Royal Letters, pp. 193–200, 266). In the winter of 1659 he is said to have entered the imperial service, and to have led in the capture of the Swedish intrenchments at Warnemünde on 10 March 1660 (Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, xxix. 745).

At the Restoration Rupert returned to England (October 1660), and was well received by Charles II, who granted him an annuity of 4,000l. a year (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660–1 pp. 305, 355, 1661–2 p. 334).