Sir John Jervis

Battle at Cape St. Vincent 1797

This Naval History continues on from: "Richard Howe"

John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent

A potrait of a young Captain John Jervis by Francis Cotes, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery Nickname Old Jarvie.

Place of birth Meaford Hall, Staffordshire Place of death Rochetts, Brentwood, Essex. Resting place Stone, Staffordshire.

Allegiance: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Service/branch Royal Navy Years of service 1749–1807

Richaed Howe

Rank: Admiral of the Fleet

HMS Scorpion

HMS Albany

HMS Gosport

HMS Alarm

HMS Kent

HMS Foudroyant

Commander-in-Chief Leeward Islands

Commander-in-chief Mediterranean Fleet

Commander-in-Chief Channel Fleet

First Lord of the Admiralty

Seven Years' War

Battle of Quebec

American War of Independence

Battle of Ushant

Battle of Cape Spartel

French Revolutionary Wars

Invasion of Guadeloupe (1794)

Battle of Cape St Vincent

Napoleonic Wars

Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis

1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, born 9th January 1735, died 14 March 1823 aged 88, he was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Earl St Vincent served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into the 19th.

He was an active commander during the Seven Year's War, American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. He is best known for his victory at the 1797 Battle of Cape Saint Vincent, from which he earned his titles, and as a patron of Horatio Nelson.

Jervis was also recognised by both political and military contemporaries as a fine administrator and naval reformer. As Commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean, between 1795 and 1799 he introduced a series of severe standing orders to avert mutinous actions.

He applied those orders to both seamen and officers alike, a policy that made him a controversial figure. He took his disciplinarian system of command with him when he took command of the Channel Fleet in 1799.

In 1801, as First Lord of the Admiralty he introduced a number of reforms that, though unpopular at the time, made the Navy more efficient and more self sufficient. He introduced innovations including block making machinery at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard.

St Vincent was known for his generosity to officers he considered worthy of reward and his swift and often harsh punishment of those to those he felt deserved it.

Jervis' entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by P. K. Crimmin describes his contribution to history: "His importance lies in his being the organizer of victories; the creator of well-equipped, highly efficient fleets; and in training a school of officers as professional, energetic, and devoted to the service as himself."

Battle of St. Vincent

Sir John Jervis - or Earl St. Vincent, as he was created in reward for his great victory - was to carry on the work. Early in 1797, during the dark hours of British history, Britain's position was far from good, and public morale, was at a low ebb. But all was not lost.

The Spaniards and the Dutch were up in arms against us, as well as the French; we had been forced to evacuate the seas of the Mediterranean altogether, but we still held on to the Rock and port of Giraltar. And we were expecting an imminent invasion, of Ireland or England.

Jervis, Commander-in-Chief of the evicted Mediterranean fleet, was dangerously weak in ships, having suffered a tragic list of set-backs at the hands of fortune, the weather and short-sighted subordinates.

The Spanish fleet he knew, had orders for a formation at Brest with the French, and it was with a view to stopping this at all costs that he was cruising in the dead month of February off Cape St. Vincent.

It was here that, on the 14th, he sighted the main Spanish fleet. It had already emerged from the Straits and, while making for Cadiz, it had been blown far out into the Atlantic. They might easily have passed him if he had proceeded north.

But Orders Were Orders

The Spanish Admiral Cordova had been told to put in at Cadiz en route for Brest, and due east for Cadiz, with the wind astern, he was going when Jervis found him. He had 27 ships of the line with him: good ships too, as most of the Spaniards were, but not in good order, since they had not recovered from the blow that had forced them out to sea.

Besides, the rearships lagged, so there was a distinct gap in their fleet, with nine ships in front of it, and eighteen behind. And into the gap sailed Jervis, due south in line ahead. He had fifteen ships with him, but he felt that Britain should have her victory, and the sooner the better.

He cut through without much difficulty, the leading ships of the main Spanish group sheering off northwards, to avoid collision and to attempt to regain contact by coming round behind the British, while the main Spanish force took a southerly course, attempting to engage the British.

Jervis Wanted the Spanish Kept Seperated

He did not want to draw right away and so allow the severed enemy to re-unite, so he gave the order to remain sailing in the same line-ahead formation but in the opposite direction; due north.

This he hoped, would have the effect of keeping the two parts of the Spanish fleet apart. The exact moment to make the move was hard to judge from the "Victory," Jervis's flagship.

If he turned too soon, the main force of the Spaniards to leeward of him would be able to beat to windward and rejoin the rest: if he delayed too long, his rear would draw clear of the enemy, or allow them a free run into Cadiz.

The "Captain" 74 guns, with Commodore Nelson commanding, was the last ship but two in the British line; near enough to the rear, that is to be able to make a far better appreciation of events than was possible to the Commander-in-Chief in the "Victory."

To Nelson it was instantly clear that the leading British ship would arrive too late to keep the gap open. But Nelson possessed in the highest degree three capital qualities; an outstanding tactical sense, an amazing capacity for quick thinking, and supreme moral courage.

He Needed Them All Now

Without waiting for an order he wore out of the line and, passing between the ship astern of him and the last British ship of all, he stood north, the way he had come, to hold the gap open until the leading ships arrived.

It was clearly the best thing to be done, but the decision had to be made on the instant, and the risk he would be taking; even in 1797, was enormous.

For, in the presence of the enemy, he, in a "private" ship, would be leaving the line without orders: leaving it, in the direction remote from the enemy! As an act of tactical skill and inititive it was great: as an act of moral courage it was exceptional.

At any date earlier in the eighteenth-century, it would have been unthinkable: even Nelson would not have dared, to leave the line towards the enemy. And this fact is a true measure of our advance in the tactical field.

It also showed how stone dead were the old conventions, and how far we had gone in restoring freedom of action to the man of true initiative. For not only did his bold action succeed, he also received instantaneous credit and universal praise; even from a disciplinarian as Jervis himself.

It is recorded that when, after the battle was over, Nelson went on board the "victory," he arrived in a state of considerable trepidation, not sure whether he would be praised or broken.

But all was well. The fierce little Admiral, we are told, embraced his gallant junior, and thanked him publicly for his outstanding contribution to the victory. "If you do such a thing again, I will not charge you too."

He Had Every Cause To Do So

What would have happened but for Nelson's bold move it is not of course possible to tell. But what did happen is easily told. Sailing northwards into the fast-closing gap, the intrepid Commodore engaged seven ships, three of them of over one hundred guns each, with his single 74 gunner.

He held them till the leading British ship came up, followed by the rearmost ship which, as soon as he saw what was happening, Jervis signalled to leave the line and join the "Captain." That rearmost ship was the "Excellent," commanded by Captain Cuthbert Collingwood, Nelson's especial friend, the foremost gunnery expert of the day.

It is not mere chance that the gunnery school of the British Navy is to this day called H.M.S. Excellent. This trio then held-on until the "Victory" and the rest arrived; then the battle raged furiously.

"Held-on" is Possbly Misleading

Since it implies a defensive role. There was never anything of the defensive about Nelson's fighting, and, having brought on the melee which he sought, he employed the time profitably, first by engaging, and badly shaking, the "Santissima Trinidad" of 130 guns and reputed to be the largest ship in the world, a four decker.

Then by boarding and capturing the "San Nicolas," of 80 guns; and then, without setting foot on his own ship again, proceeding to board the "San Josef," a three decker of 112 guns. It is without doubt that Nelson's Sea-Soldiers played their part.

Since the Marines passed into the Admiralty in 1755, They had formed between a quarter and a fifth of a sailing-ship's company. However some ships had soldiers from the Army, to make up the numbers.

John Jervis ordered that every morning the Marines would parade on the quarter-deck, and if a band was present, with the Marines Band playing. And the White Ensign was to be raised on all Royal Nay Ships.

To preserve discipline he ordered all Marines to be permanently armed and to be excused all other ships duties; their quarters were positioned between the Officers and the unruly Seamen.

Their reputation for complete trustworthiness and exceptional loyalty, made them most suitable for the boarding and entry of enemy ships, where they proved their courage beyound any uncertainty.

John Jervis said: "There never was any appeal made to them for honour, courage or loyalty that they did not more than realize my expectations. If ever the hour of real danger should come to England, The Royal Marines will be found the country's sheet-anchor.

From a man world-famed for being particularly difficult to please, such a tribute is indeed unique.

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Collingwood's Share in the Fighting

He too forced two Spaniards to surrender, though one of them, also a 112-guned ship, rehoisted her colours, only to be retaken a little later by the "Victory."

Some alledged that the flagship herself, the great four decker "Santissima Trinidad," surrendered too, and then thought better of it. In any case she was dismasted, and, became unable to fight. But she escaped.

The engagement ended with that melee, for darkness came early; and the enemy escaped under it, and they refused to renew the action. Jervis had won his essential victory. And it was a very gallant and timely affair.

It was no mean achievement to attack a fleet nearly twice as large as your own, take from it four prizes-two of them First-Rates; and perhaps more important still, prick the bubble of the Spanish threat.

The immensely powerful fleet of Spain had been defeated and discredited by the much smaller force of Jervis largely because, in every respect except material strength, the British fleet was markedly superior.

The Port and Rock of Gibraltar

In 1797, Jervis set himself the task of improving the dockyards and the defences of Gibraltar. After the Battle of the Nile the dockyards, under Jervis' watchful eye, managed to successfully repair most of the fleet.

Lady Lavinia Bingham, wife of Earl Spencer wrote to St Vincent to congratulate him for having provided the necessary tools for Nelson to have achieved the victory he did at the Nile. "Never did disinterested zeal and friendship meet with a brighter reward than yours has reaped in this victory of your gallant friend."

Nelson commented that he had "never beheld a fleet equal to Sir John Jervis'" Having had great difficulty supplying the fleet with fresh water the Admiral arranged for large tanks to be built in Gibraltar.

On 14 February 1799 St Vincent was created admiral of the white. Constant service and approaching old age meant that the admiral became increasingly unwell. Despite his failing health, St Vincent was reluctant to relinquish command and the Board reluctant to supersede him.

By 17 June 1799 he had no choice but to resign his command and return to England. During his time ashore the Earl lived in Rochetts, Essex with his wife.

The continuation of this Naval History will be: "Mutiny"

Sir John Jervis Mutiny

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