Blake

The man himself was exceptional

This Naval History continues on from: "Peace Maker"

Robert Blake's position in our survey is most important, though less clear-cut than those of Monk and Rupert. These were obviously "Fighters" in the old, wide sense-men who were prepared to place their swords at the disposal of their respective masters upon whichever element they were needed.

They were among the last of the Old. But in some respects Blake was the first of the New. To complicate matters further, there was a distinct hint of "seaman" in him. So we may in him find some traces of both "Natural Reserves," and even certain features of that new "R.N." group whose story is yet to be told.

Blake was no "gentleman" like Monk, who came of good land-owning Devonian breed: still less of royal blood like Rupert. He was of "merchant" stock, like Hawkins; and like him, of the Middle Class, his father being a business man of Bridgewater-Bristol district.

Again, because he was no "gentleman" (in the Elizabethan sense) he was by birth no "fighting-leader" of the old school. He was of a much more modern type-a man whose path through life was not ordained for him by birth. He could, and he did, look about to decide what he would be-a comparatively modern thing to do.

It is doubtful whether either Drake or Grenville could have done it; and certainly Prince Rupert could not. Blake's career was decided in the end by himself: fate and the times would intervene, but on the threshold of life he had the choice, and that was the great thing.

Peace Maker

Blake chose his own profession

He did not chose a military life. Many have wrongly assumed that he did because, when he first comes into their somewhat restricted view of the stage called History, he is seen to be stepping from the command of a regiment in the New Model Army on to the quarterdeck of a flagship, there to take up a high command in the New Model Navy.

But his chosen profession, while his choice was still his own, was very different. It was that of a scholar: and, in pursuit of it, he went up to Oxford, and stayed there for nearly ten years, intending to settle down to a life of study. But circumstances ordained otherwise.

His father, a business man, died, and the business, just then in 1626, was in the throws of the Great Slump, demanded his full attention; and more so as Robert, was the eldest child of an immense family, he had now to assume the responsibility of being the head.

Merchant and Seaman

In his second phase he became a merchant, and remained one, for at least seventeen years. What exactly he did during this long period is wrapt in a good deal of mystery. He has managed to dissapear completely from the eye of the modern historian.

But though we are deprived of detailed knowledge, there cannot be much doubt as to the general nature of his activities. It is now commonly admitted that he was often at sea, possibly conducting his own business.

In difficult times it was the natural course for him to take, for he must have realized, as the Hawkinses did before him, that no one else will mind one's own business with quite the same zeal as one does himself.

This explanation of the strange gap in Blake's biography also goes far to explain that other much-debated problem-how Cromwell came to select him for the Sea Command in 1649.

After his dissapearance

When Blake reappears he is following another profession altogether. He is a Member of Parliment, sitting for his home town of Bridgewater in the Short Parliment of 1640. But this need mean nothing more that that he was recognized locally as a man of substance and of good repute.

Two years later the Civil War broke out. A man in Blakes position was forced to take sides, and out of knowledge of his mind and outlook-which was Puritan at its best-gives every reason to suppose that he did not find the decision a hard one.

He now took up arms. But certain facts must be kept in mind. He was already forty-three years of age; he was-and, so far as we know, always had been-a man of peace: a scholar, a merchant (a sea-going one) and, to some extent a politician. Neither by instinct nor profession was he in any way a soldier.

He took up arms because, in conscience, he had to, and he served "for the duration." Does this record make a soldier out of him? Certainly not, in any professional sense. His career bears no sort of resemblance to that of Monk or Marlborough, Wolf or Wellington, Haig or Montgomery.

Why he was not a professional soldier

He was no more a professional soldier than are tens of thousands of businessmen working at this moment in the City and elsewhere: men who fought in 1914-and again in 1939-and in later conflicts had to make a choice not dissimilar from his, and who became temporary soldiers "for the duration," reverting thereafter to their former ways of life.

Here the parallel holds: for he too reverted, when the Civil War was over, to his earlier occupations, including membership of Parliment-where he had to resign his commission. He did not take part in the brief Second Civil War.

He fought for three years, and he had already been back in "civil life" for nearly three years when the eagle eye of Cromwell picked him out for the new and outstandingly important sea-job, and sent him, along with fellow colonels Edward Popham and Richard Deane, to a joint-command of the new fleet with the title of "General-at-Sea."

Cromwell knew what he was doing

Why did Cromwell chose Blake? It was a brilliant choice, but it was not a shot in the dark. First, his field of choice was strictly limited. Only a small percentage of Englishmen could consent to serve with him, and of that percentage comparitively few were of "leader" type.

In Blake's case, whether he came from the "natural leader" class or not would not matter to Cromwell, since he had the evidence of his own experience that Blake could lead men: and that he could fight well. But there was more in it than that.

A fighting leader might prove adequate to command a regiment or a ship. But in all ages, for commands higher than these other qualifications are required-natural intelligence, education, some knowledge of the world, general reliability and, above all, common sense.

All these qualities Cromwell must have seen in Blake, and a combination of them was rare even in so talented a body as the New Model Army. Then, to clinch matters, Cromwell must have known for certain that Blake had a good working knowledge of ships: not knowledge of fighting them-but knowledge of handling them.

He had to take a risk that an intelligent and forceful man who was a good and proven fighting-land-leader, and an experienced sailor as well, would also prove a good fighting-sea-leader.

Blake was, much less of an "outside chance" than many have supposed. It was a good bet, and Cromwell won it. Blake was a success: an unqualified success. His record as a fleet commander is as fine as any Englishman's before or snce.

R.N.R or first Naval Officer

The fact that his case has been brought up for discussion at this point of the story shows that here he is regarded as neither. We prefer to view him in the light of "R.N.V.R." But this point is open to argument, for there are features in his case which invite his inclusion in any of these three categories.

(1) He might be classed with Drake and Hawkins because, like them, he was of the "merchant" breed, because he was a competent seaman, that is why he was picked for his maritime competence. But he is not classed here with the R.N.R. because his whole career shows that, he was not a seaman, at least in the sense that Drake was.

At the time of his appointment the management of ships had, not been his main business in life. Nor was his upbringing and the general cast of his mind and thought in the least like that of Drake or Hawkins.

Blake was an educated-and a cultured-man, with a wider field of intellectual experience and a broader mental outlook. If Drake be likened to a magnificent single-suit at Bridge, then Blake is a powerul and well-balanced No-Trumper.

Blake's Service was different

(2) His main claim to be regarded as of the "R.N." variety rest upon (a) his relative permanence in the fighting sea-service, and (b) his general performance therein, which certainly has a very modern look about it.

(a) He may not have served much longer than Drake did, in time, in what we should now consider an "R.N." capacity. The real difference between the services of these two men lies in their nature. Drakes was sparodic, with intervals of months and even years between the parts of it.

But Blake's was consecutive: he did not begin till late in life, but, having begun, did not stop till the day of his death. He certainly possessed that most Characteristic feature of the modern R.N. officer-continuity of service. This, it is freely admitted, makes him more of an "R.N." type than Drake was.

But continuity is not everything. Blake in no way fulfils the requirements of the Royal Naval Officer. He was certainly no "whole-time professional man who rises through the ranks." He fails to qualify on both the essential points raised.

For all the contiuity of his later years, he spent only a small portion of his whole life in that Service, having first followed several other professions, some for much longer periods. Contrast his life with that of Nelson's-one who certainly was a Royal Navy officer in the modern sense-and the difference is clear enough.

Nelso began his naval career as a midshipman at the age of 12, and, rising steadily through the ranks, and commanded fleets before he died at the age of 47, having at no time adorned another profession.

But Blake began his naval career at the age of 50, and closed it at 58, having been several other things first. He did not rise through the ranks; since in his day there were no ranks to rise by.

Blake's naval career began as a Flag Officer in joint command of England's main fleet. Had a modern officer with twenty times the talent of Blake, such a thing could not happen except in dreamland. Yet none will deny that there is something very modern about Blake's performance.

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Lord Clarendon's Report

Lord Clarendon, quoted: "He took himself wholly to sea; and qickly made himself signal there. He was the first man that declined the old track...

He dispised those Rules which had long been in Practice, to keep his Ship and his Men out of danger; which had been held in former times a point of great Ability and Circumspection; as if the principle Art requisite in the Captain of a Ship had been; to be sure to come home again...

He was the first that infused that proportion of Courage into the Sea-men, by making them see by experience, what mighty things they could do, if they were resolved. He taught them to fight in Fire as well as in Water; and though hath been well-imitated and followed, he was the first that gave the Example of that kind of Naval Courage, and bold and resolute achivements."

Faced then with such an epitaph-and from an opponents pen-may we dare deny Blake's claim to that proud title of "the First Naval Officer"? When on the day of his death there was no such person.

He was of the old type himself, though he lived to become, in his finest hour, the inspiration and the pattern of all who followed. Let us then amend the title and call him "The Pattern of the Naval Officer"; But let us set him where he belongs historically, in the order of evolution, his logical place is in the ranks of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

The man himself was exceptional; but so was the occasion. The Permanent National Maritime Fighting Force had just arrived, Blake, Monk and Rupert, stepped into the breach, to hold it until the whole-time professional officer personel should arrive to relieve them.

Had there been such a body in existence, with a lifetime of training and tradition behind it, it is morally certain that Blake, an elderly man with no naval experience at all, would never have been chosen for such a post. He was fortunate that there were no such people about.

The continuation of this Naval History will be: "Impermanence to Permanent"

Blake Impermanence to Permanent

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