Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/82

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

s. m. JAX. ss, 1905.

Macao aboard of us they acquainted me that

their Commander Clipperton had left me designedly (as I have before related), that they went directly to Guam, one of the Ladron Islands, where they were very well refreshed and supply'd with pro- visions Capt. Clipperton weigh* d with his ship

in order to attack a ship of 20 guns from Manila who had lain quietly in the road with them all the time till now. in approaching her, he ran his ship upon the rocks, and soon found the enemy was prepar'd for him, for they had raised two batteries of half the ships guns to receive him. I am almost ashamed to relate this man's behaviour in this skirmish ; but as I think he deserves to be exposed I shall divulge it in the manner I receiv'd it from his chief Officers, who talk'd of it publickly at Canton; for Clipperton perceiving his case desperate, and the loss of his ship past redemption to all appearance, had recourse to his case of brandy for a supply of spirits to animate him in makinga vigorous defence ; but he took so abundantly of that intoxicating cordial, that he in an instant became dead drunk, and tumbled on the deck, and snor'd out his time in a beastly manner, whilst his first Lieutenant. Davidson undertook the command of the ship, which he bravely executed till he was kill'd : he was succeeded by Capt. Cook, their second Lieu- tenant, who made a handsome resistance, and got the ship afloat again after she had lain on the rocks 48 hours, all which time Clipperton had been lost between sleeping and drinking as fast as he waked, so that he did not recover himself till they were out at sea, and then by his impertinent questions and behaviour sufficiently convinced them that he knew nothing of what had pass'd during their engagement, c., which lasted two days and two nights."

Capt. Shelvocke died in the parish of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, according to the Administration Act Book, 1743, of the Prero- gative Court of Canterbury, i.e., in his son's official residence in Lombard Street, on 4 December, 1742, aged sixty-seven, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Deptford. Near his tomb was placed a tablet to the memory of his wife Susanna, daughter of Capt. Richard Strutton, of Deptford ; she had died in 1711. He did not leave a will.

His only son, also George Shelvocke, was born about 1702, and as a stripling of seven- teen accompanied his father on his voyage round the world. The implacable Be tag h contemptuously refers to him as " Georgy " and as " an interloper." " He knew nothing of sea affairs," continues the irascible captain of marines,

"or indeed of any thing else that was commendable or manly. His imployment at London was to dangle after the women, and gossip at the tea-table ; and aboard us, his whole business was to thrust himself into all society, overhear every thing that was said, then go and tell his father : so that he was more fit for aboarding school than a ship of war. Yet had this insignificant fellow a dividend of 660 pound out of one prize, in prejudice to many honest brave men, destroy'd, lost and begger'd at the captain's pleasure."

It would be interesting to know whether the younger Shelvocke deigned to notice this tirade in his edition of his father's ' Voyage/ published in 1757, but I have not met with a copy. He was well educated and did some respectable literary work, including a trans- lation of Casimir Simienowicz's ' The Great Art of Artillery,' published by J. Tonson in 1729. The translation was made from the French version a copy of the Latin original being unprocurable and was undertaken purely by the encouragement of Col. Arm- strong, Surveyor-General of H.M.'s Ordnance. From 1742 until his death in 1760 he was Secretary to the General Post Office, Lombard Street, with a salary of 2001. a year. He was elected F.K.S. 10 March, 1743, and F.S.A. 2 February, 1744. On 26 May, 1758, he married at Greenwich, as her second husband, a lady whom he described in his will, dated 28 April, 1754, as " my loving cousin Mary Jackson, widow, now living with me." He died suddenly in one of the official apart- ments of the General Post Office 12 March, 1760, aged fifty-eight, and by his desire was buried with his father at Deptford. The inscriptions on their tombs are given in Hasted's ' Kent,' edit. Drake, vol. i. (all un- fortunately published).

His widow did not long survive, as she died 24 July, 1761, aged fifty-four, at her house at Knightsbridge, and was buried in Westminster Abbey (see 'Registers,' edit. J. L. Chester, p. 398). In her will she men- tions " my dear Mr. Shelvocke's picture drawn by Mr. Hymer" (probably Highmore). By her first husband she had a son, Charles Jack- son, who was Comptroller at the Foreign Office, General Post Office, and was living, as late as 1793, at Tooting ; and a daughter Mary, who married, 22 May, 1758, Benjamin Cooke, Mus.Doc., organist of Westminster Abbey, and died 19 March, 1784.

GORDON GOODWIN.

WOOD'S 'ATH. OXON.,' ED. BLISS:

SIR W. RALEGH.

AMONGST a number of MSS. penes me, that formerly belonged to J. Payne Collier, is a letter dated 22 August, 1851, addressed to him by Dr. Bliss, and written apparently for the purpose of assisting him in the collection of materials for his papers on the life and character of Sir W. Ralegh. These papers were read at meetings of the Society of Antiquaries, and were printed in the Arckcea- logia, vols. xxxiv. and xxxv. The letter contains so much of interest; as to warrant its transcription in extenso :