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Historical Note
Admiral the
Honourable Sir Henry Keppel, G.C.B., O.M. D.C.L. (1809 - 1904)
Sir Henry
Keppel was invested as a Knight Grand Cross Order of the Bath (G.C.B.).
He held the office of Groom-in-Waiting to HM Queen Victoria between 1859
and 1860. Principal naval aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria.
He was decorated with the Order of Merit (O.M.). Admiral of the Fleet.
He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws (D.C.L.).
Keppel was a son of the 4th earl of
Albemarle and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Lord de Clifford. He
entered the navy from the old naval academy of Portsmouth in 1822. His
family connections secured him rapid promotion, at a time when the rise
of less fortunate officers was very slow. He became lieutenant in 1829
and commander in 1833. His first command was largely passed on the coast
of Spain, which was then in the midst of the convulsions of the Carlist
War. Captain Keppel had already made himself known as a good seaman. He
was engaged with the squadron stationed on the west coast of Africa to
suppress the slave trade. In 1837 he was promoted post captain, and
appointed in 1841 to the service in China and against the Malay pirates,
a service which he repeated in 1847, when in command of H.M.S. Mæander.
The story of his two commands was told by himself in two publications,
The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the Suppression of
Piracy (1846), and in A Visit to the Indian Archipelago in H.M.S.
Mæander
(1853). The substance of these books was afterwards incorporated into
his autobiography, which was published in 1899 under the title A
Sailors Life under four Sovereigns. In 1853 he was appointed to the
command of the St Jeanne d'Arc, a ship of 101 guns, for service in the
Crimean War. First posted to the Baltic Feet, he was subsequently sent
with other "Baltickers" to the Black Sea. But he had no opportunity to
distinguish himself at sea in that struggle, as can be seen in these
letter where he expresses his frustration at not being able to get into
the fight. Later, as Captain of the Rodney and commander of the naval
brigade he landed to co-operate in the siege of Sevastopol, he was more
fortunate, and he had an honorable share in the latter days of the siege
and reduction of the fortress. After the Crimean War he was again sent
out to China, this time in command of the Raleigh, as commodore to serve
under Sir M. Seymour. The Raleigh was lost on an uncharted rock near
Hong Kong, but three small vessels were named to act as her tenders, and
Commodore Keppel commanded in them, and with the crew of the Raleigh, in
the action with the Chinese at Fatshan Creek (June 1, 1857). He was
honorably acquitted for the loss of the Raleigh, and was named to the
command of the Alligator, which be held until his promotion to
rear-admiral. For his share in the action at Fatshan Creek he was made
K.C.B. The prevalence of peace gave Sir Henry Keppel no further chance
of active service, but he held successive commands until his retirement
from the active list in 1879, two years after he attained the rank of
Admiral of the Fleet. Admiral Sir Henry Keppel was a close friend of the
Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and entertained him at his home "the
Cottage" at Bishopstoke.
Keppel's command, the HMS St. Jean D'Acre, was named for the great
Syrian coastal fortress assaulted and captured by the Royal Navy in
1840. HMS St. Jean D'Acre was originally ordered as a pure sailing ship
in 1844 but never begun and cancelled the following year. Re-ordered
with auxiliary steam power in February 1851, she was laid down at
Devonport that June and launched in March 1853 at a cost of GBP107,561.
A large two-decker measured at 3,253 tons, she was 238 feet long with a
55 1/2 foot beam and mounted 101 guns of varying calibre, notably
36-8in. muzzle loaders on her lower deck. Fitted with 600hp Penn
engines, she achieved just over 11 knots on her trials and became a
highly regarded ship throughout her career. Initially attached to the
'Western Squadron', she then enjoyed the rare distinction of serving
with both the Baltic and Black Sea fleets in 1855 during the two quite
separate phases of the Crimean War. Her final overseas posting was to
the Mediterranean Fleet (1859-61) and went homeward bound in February
1861 under Captain Thompson. Thereafter paid off and laid up in reserve,
she was sold to Castle's ship breakers in 1875.
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Text of
Letters:
March 5th 1855
My dear Giffard
It is our fate to remain here, you will have the fun when the time comes
- will you if you have an opportunity to be kind enough to pick or buy
me a pork or two if you can procure such a thing. Out here we hear no
news -
Very truly yours
Henry Keppel
Off Sebastopol, February Friday 17th 1855
My dear Giffard,
Thank you for your kind letter, how glad you must be to have your ship
to yourself and .... as I am, to be clear of old Christie and Chad
(Barum Lumpus and Zed). I am afraid however that we Heavies are not
likely to find much more to do in these seas than we had in the Baltic
but there is a comfort and consolation in being under a Chief (Chief of
Black Sea Fleet - Lord Edmund Lyons) in which one feels every confidence
- I hinted to him about Anapa but he did not seem to think it
practicable and I believe he was there himself once looking at it with
watering mouth - Princess Royal has arrived but I am not aware of any
other Baltickers coming this way - Here we are as you left the place and
although the Frenchmen are anxious for the assault I cannot conceive
that much can be done until the army are in a position to invest both
sides and then the Screw Liners ought to enter the Harbour at any price
but you frigates will for the present have all the fun - Wishing you
every success Believe me my dear Giffard
Very truly yours,
Henry Keppel
Notes:
1]
A week later the French failed in their assault of Sevastopol.
2]
The Princess Royal was a 91-gun screw-propelled second-rate, launched
1853 and sold in 1872.
3]
The Leopard (Captain Giffard's ship) was a wooden-hulled paddle frigate,
launched 1850 and sold 1867.
4]
Anapa is the northernmost Russian resort area on the coast of the Black
Sea. The rocky shore, practically vertical in the south part of the
Krasnodar region, finally becomes a white sandy beach at the Anapa cape
spreading in a curve for 25 miles. This was a potential landing site for
an alternative front in the Crimean War and that is why Admiral Sir
Edmund Lyons mouth watered as he was in close consultation with General
Ragland about the landing operations.
5]
"Christie" was the Superintendent of Transports, Captain Christie. His
main responsibility was to get the ships into the harbour and unload
them.
This is very pair of two Very Fine letters and one envelope on
embossed St. Jean d'Acre stationary from a
prominent Captain of the Crimean War who went on to become Admiral of
the Fleet before he retired. They are loaded with Crimean War content as
he is frustrated by the lack of naval action for the "Heavies" and is
envious of the frigates inshore action as he writes a favourite captain in his fleet,
Captain Giffard aboard the Leopard.
Keppel's Naval Commands -
1834 - 1838 - Commander in Childers, Mediterranean, then Cape of
Good Hope
1841 - 1844 - Captain in Dido, East Indies (including the first
Anglo-Chinese war and Sir James Brooke's campaign for the suppression of
Borneo piracy)
1847 - 1851 - Captain in Mæander, East Indies (again cooperating
with Brooke), then Australia and the Pacific
May 1853 to July 1855 - Captain in St Jean d'Acre (from
commissioning at Plymouth), Western squadron, then (May 1854) the Baltic
and (1855) the Black Sea during the Crimean War
July 1855 to January 1856 Captain in Rodney, Mediterranean, in
command of the Naval Brigade ashore in the Crimea where he won fame.
January 1856 to September 1856 Captain in Colossus, in charge of
a division of gunboats
September 1856 to April 1857 Commodore in Raleigh, second in
command, East Indies and China, (including 2nd Anglo-Chinese War) (until
wrecked near Macaw when the ship struck an uncharted rock; all saved)
May 1857 to August 1858 Hoisted his broad pennant in the
chartered river steamer Hong Kong for operations in the Canton River
February 1860 to February 1861 Commander-in-chief, Cape of Good
Hope and west coast of Africa (but rapidly transferred to the Brazilian
command, and then recalled after an affair with the wife of the Cape
governor, Sir George Grey on the voyage out
January 1867 to July 1869 Commander-in-chief, China (flag in
Rodney)
November 1872 to November 1875 Commander-in-chief, Devonport
5 August 1877 Admiral of the Fleet
1878 Appointed Naval Aide de Camp to Queen Victoria
14 June 1879 Retired Admiral of the Fleet
Singapore's Keppel Bay, the country's primary deepwater harbor was
discovered by Admiral Sir Henry Keppel, the harbour provided a sheltered
location for the establishment of the British Empire's colonial outpost
in the country.
Keppel was the author of:
A Visit to the Indian Archipelago in H.M. Ship Mæander
A Sailors Life under Four Sovereigns - 3 Volumes of Memoirs
The Expedition to Borneo of H.M. Dido for the Suppression of Piracy
Offered by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd. |
