|William Loney RN - Background|
|Home-Loney-Background-The Royal Navy|
W.L. Clowes on the 1840 Syrian Campaign
The causes leading up to the employment of the Navy on the coast of Syria in 1840 may now be glanced at. On September 14th, 1829, the Ottoman Porte had unwillingly signed the treaty of Adrianople with Russia; and, early in the following year, she had been obliged to recognise the independence of Greece, and to see the suzerainty of Algier pass from her to France. During many centuries the Sultan had experienced no harder blows from fortune; and during many centuries he had never been less able to resist the attacks and aggressions of foreign or nominally dependent states; for, in 1826, he had abolished his ancient corps of Janissaries, and begun to reorganise his military system; and, amid the troubles and distractions of the succeeding years, he had not had opportunity to provide himself with a new army.
It was while he was still thus almost powerless that Mehemet Ali, his greatest vassal, bethought himself of seizing the moment for casting off allegiance and winning the independence of Egypt. Mehemet Ali had a good army, trained by ex-officers of the French Empire, plenty of arms and supplies, and a fleet which, though manned chiefly by fellahs, who were no match for the best European seamen, was well built, after French designs, and officered, to a large extent, by Frenchmen. Sultan Mahmoud had no naval force so effective.
In 1832, accordingly, Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali, invaded Syria, and gained striking and repeated victories, until the Sultan, fearful of losing Constantinople itself, called in the aid of the Russians, who landed an army in Anatolia, and induced Ibrahim to stay his advance. Great Britain and France thereupon put pressure upon Mahmoud to patch up a settlement with his rebellious vassal; and the Sultan, convinced for the moment that Russia was his only friend, threw himself into the arms of the Tsar by signing the treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi, and determined to await a more favourable occasion for reducing Egypt to full obedience.
But Egypt was not content to wait. Fresh difficulties soon arose between the Porte and Mehemet Ali. This time, while Great Britain, as well as Russia, supported Turkey, France gave encouragement to Egypt. Hostilities recommenced; and, on June 29th, 1839, the Turkish army was badly defeated at Nesib. On July 1st Mahmoud died, leaving the throne to Abdul Medjid, a boy of sixteen. To increase the already serious troubles of Turkey, its main fleet, sent to sea to watch the movements of the Egyptians, deserted in a body, and joined the rebels at Alexandria. It was felt in London that, in order to prevent Abdul from becoming a mere dependent of Russia, some countenance must be shown him in his misfortunes; and, in consequence, negotiations on the subject were opened with France, the result being that an Anglo-French fleet of observation, under Admiral Sir Robert Stopford and Rear-Admiral Lalande, was presently anchored in Besika Bay. But France would go no further; and when, on July 15th, 1840, Great Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, by treaty, signed at London, engaged with the Sultan to bring his vassal to reason, France not only held aloof, but also assumed a sulky and threatening attitude, making vast preparations by land and sea, as if to oppose the Powers, and bringing Europe within measurable distance of a general war. Happily France was ultimately so wise as to reconsider her position, and, ere the end of the following year, to rejoin the European concert.
In the meanwhile the four Powers offered Mehemet Ali that if, within a given time, he would evacuate Arabia, Syria, Crete, and other possessions of the Porte which he had occupied, and would make certain additional concessions, he should be made hereditary viceroy of Egypt, and might hold St. Jean d'Acre and some other territories during his life. If not, he would be deprived of all his dominions; and the four Powers would execute the sentence. He was allowed ten days wherein to make up his mind upon some of the proposals, and ten days more wherein to decide as to the rest of them.
The ultimatum appears to have been delivered on August 9th, at Alexandria, where the Cyclops, 6, paddle, Captain Horatio Thomas Austin, was directed to await the return of a reply. In the harbour lay the Egyptian fleet, and the Turkish squadron which had deserted. Mehemet Ali declared on the 16th that what he had won by the sword he would maintain by the sword, and that he would not withdraw his troops at the bidding of anyone; yet, further grace having been formally allowed him, it was not deemed fair to commence active operations so long as any part of the term of grace remained unexpired; and the Cyclops stayed on at Alexandria to afford to the last a locus penitentiae to the hot-headed viceroy. In the meantime, however, Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, wrote on August 8th, from the Princess Charlotte, 104, off Mytilene, to Captain Charles Napier, C.B., of the Powerful, 84, who was off the coast of Karamania, directing him to hoist a broad (blue) pennant as Commodore of the third class, and, taking under his orders, besides the Powerful, the Ganges, 84, Thunderer, 84, Edinburgh, 72, Castor, 36, and Gorgon, 6, paddle, to proceed to Beyrout. Napier received the dispatch on August 10th, and, two days later, anchored before the town.
Beyrout was chosen because it was on the flank of the Egyptian advance; because it was the best port in the neighbourhood of the Lebanon, the semi-independent inhabitants of which, under their own chief, the Emir Beschir, had recently rebelled against Mehemet Ali; and because it was hoped to support and utilise the mountaineers against the invader. Beyrout itself, however, was occupied by about 11,000 men of the Egyptian army, and by about 4000 Turkish soldiers, who had been landed from the deserting fleet. In military command was Suleiman Pasha, a very capable French renegade, who had served under the first Napoleon. His camp lay outside, and to the northward of, the town, the seaward defences of which, consisting chiefly of three forts, were too old to be of any serious value. Stopford, with the major part of the Mediterranean fleet, remained for the time in the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles, firstly as a protection to Constantinople against a coup de main by Mehemet Ali, secondly as a guard against possible French interference, and thirdly as convoy for a Turkish squadron of men-of-war and transports, which was assembling to proceed to Cyprus and Syria under Captain Baldwin Wake Walker, R.N., who had taken service as an admiral with Turkey. It had been determined among the Powers that the naval part of the task of carrying out the decision of the signatories should be entrusted to Great Britain and Austria-Hungary; and, accordingly, a small but well-found Austrian division presently joined Stopford, and put itself under his orders.
The brief campaign which followed was a remarkable illustration of the military importance of command of the sea. On shore was a triumphant and, upon the whole, formidable army of 70,000 or 80,000 men, pressing northwards. At Alexandria was a large but by no means efficient Egyptian fleet, which, had the sea been open to it, could have accompanied the left wing of the advancing army, protected it, and supplied it. But the sea was not open to it. The less numerous yet much more efficient fleet under Stopford not only terrorised the Egyptians into remaining under the forts of Alexandria, or captured such vessels as ventured out, but also struck blow after blow on the flank of Mehemet Ali's communications, landed and supported troops there, and, in less than two months, so imperilled the conquering army of Egypt that the rebellious viceroy was glad to make terms.
Napier, as has been said, anchored off Beyrout on August 12th. He placed his ships in such positions as best to cover the seaward forts and the Egyptian camp. He also opened communications with the governor of the place, with the commander of the revolted Turkish troops, who were supposed to be anxious to return to their allegiance, with the British consul in the town, and with the Emir Beschir, chief of the Lebanon. But, as the twenty days' grace had not expired, he did not feel at liberty to take decided action, although, more than once, he unwisely made threats that he would do so, and thus, perhaps, by non-performance of them, encouraged resistance. He did, however, detain several vessels that were proceeding up the coast with supplies, and, among others, a fine Egyptian frigate, armed en flute, and bound for Scanderoon. She was taken by the Castor. A general blockade of Syria and Egypt was also declared. Napier utilised the days of delay by making reconnaissances in the Gorgon at various points where it seemed possible to land troops, and by visiting Walker Bay, who was then at Cyprus. He was joined, off Beyrout, by the Magicienne, 24, paddle, on August 19th, the Wasp, 16, on August 30th, the Revenge, 76, on August 31st, and later by the Benbow, 72, Pique, 36, etc., ere, on September 7th, the Cyclops arrived with definite news of the rejection of the ultimatum, and heralded the approach of the main body of the allied fleets, which appeared on September 9th. On September 1st, too, there reached Beyrout a small British force of artillery and engineers under Colonel Sir Charles Felix Smith, R.E., who was ill at the time, and who was unable, for several weeks afterwards, to assume, as had been intended, the command of the shore operations.
Napier had always a great repugnance to serving under anyone's orders; and he knew, of course, that on the arrival of Stopford, that distinguished officer would be supreme afloat. Recollecting with pleasure his own military experiences in the Peninsula, and, later, in Portugal, where he did the work of general as well as of admiral, and taking advantage of Smith's illness, he came to the extraordinary decision that, rather than be a junior afloat, he would, if possible, be in supreme command ashore; and, with that end in view, he induced Stopford to allow him provisionally to take Smith's place, "as no enemy was likely to be met with" where he was going. Stopford, perhaps, was not sorry to get rid of his brave, but excitable and excentric subordinate. Napier, on the other hand, had no idea of going where there was no enemy, and had very vivid dreams of again distinguishing himself as a soldier. So well did he play his cards that he was permitted to land immediately after the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief. He remained on shore for a month, and, as will be seen, rendered good service.
By the morning of September 9th, thirty-three British, Austrian, and Turkish warships, besides French and American neutrals, and numerous transports, were visible from Beyrout; and in the afternoon all of them lay at anchor before the town. That evening the Turkish troops and British Marines were put on board steamers, and, on the following morning, were moved in an ostentatious manner to the southward, the Egyptians marching along the coast to prevent them from disembarking, and being occasionally shelled by the ships. But as soon as the sea-breeze fairly set in, the landing force was rapidly carried to D'jounie Bay, about nine miles to the northward, and there put ashore without opposition, the Powerful, Revenge, Thunderer, Pique, Castor, Carysfort, Daphne, Wasp, and three Turkish vessels being at hand to protect it in case of need. Napier's composite army, consisting ultimately of British, Austrians, Turks, and local natives, entrenched itself. It lay in a good position, as the only road between it and Beyrout passed round a projecting point two miles south of the camp, and was completely exposed to the guns of the Revenge, which anchored off it. During these and the following days, Beyrout was frequently bombarded by the fleet, and its walls and defences were demolished; but no serious effort was made to take the town, as the army was not then ready to occupy it.
The first serious fighting of the campaign occurred on September llth at D'jebel (otherwise Gebail), a small fort or castle to the northward, whither the Carysfort, Dido, and Cyclops were detached, under Captain Henry Byam Martin, with a landing-party of 220 Marines and 150 armed mountaineers. The position, which was held by 300 Albanians in Egyptian pay, was bombarded by the ships for about an hour; and then 100 of the Marines, under Captain Charles Robinson, R.M., and as many natives, were put ashore to storm it. Unfortunately the gallant Marines, when within thirty yards of the fort, came unexpectedly upon a crenelled outwork, which had a deep ditch in front of it, and which was completely screened from the ships; and they were received with so deadly a musketry fire that five of the party were killed, and eighteen wounded. Robinson, after vainly trying to find another way into the fort, had no option but to withdraw. As the party, which was accompanied by Captain Horatio Thomas Austin, was retiring, it was perceived that a British flag had been left behind, flying from a garden wall where it had been placed as a signal. Lieutenant Sidney Grenfell, and a seaman named Macdonald, of the Cyclops, volunteered to return and rescue it; and, amid cheers from the ships, safely accomplished their purpose. In spite of their temporary success, the Albanians abandoned the place during the following night; and it was immediately occupied, whereupon large numbers of natives flocked to it to obtain arms. On September 15th, the Hastings, Carysfort, and Cyclops captured Batroun without much trouble. On the 17th, under direction of Captain Edward Collier, Caiffa, and, on the 24th, Tyre (otherwise Tsour), were similarly taken, no loss being suffered by the Castor and Pique, the only two British ships employed. But an attack upon Tortosa, on September 26th, by the Benbow, Carysfort, Zebra, and landing-parties, was disastrous and unsuccessful, though it brought credit to many engaged, and especially to Lieutenants Edward Philips Charlewood, and Lewis Maitland, and Midshipmen John Charles Dalrymple Hay, and William Houston Stewart, who showed great gallantry. The attacking boats ran upon a reef under fire, and could not be got off until eight of their people had been killed and eighteen wounded.
Ere this, Stopford had more than once shown an inclination to recall Napier to the legitimate work of a naval officer, and to leave the conduct of the army in the capable hands of Selim Pasha, Omar Bey, General Jochmus, and Lieut.-Colonel William Walker, R.M. But Napier always over-persuaded his good-natured chief, and, after winning a little action on the Nahr-el-Kelb on September 24th, and taking 400 prisoners, dined on the following day with Sir Robert, and induced him to entrust his subordinate with the direction of an attack on Sidon by land and sea, the Commodore promising to do the business, and to return within forty-eight hours. For this expedition the Thunderer, Gorgon, Cyclops, Wasp, Stromboli, Hydra, Guerriera (Austrian), and Gulfideh (Turkish) were told off, with a landing force of 750 British Marines under Captains Arthur Morrison, R.M., and James Whylock, R.M., 100 Austrians, and 500 Turks.
Sidon was protected by a moderately strong fort and citadel, and a line of wall, held by 2700 men. It was the main depot for the southern division of the Egyptian army, and was full of stores and ammunition. Having been in vain summoned, it was bombarded by the ships for about half an hour. Captain Horatio Thomas Austin then landed with the Turks, but was so hotly received that it was clear that the spirit of the garrison had not been shaken. The bombardment was therefore renewed for a time; and, when the wall had been breached, Napier himself, at the head of part of the Marines, tried to storm it. He failed; but succeeded in breaking in at another point, whence, skirting the eastern wall as far as the upper gate, which he burst open, he seized the citadel. At about the same time Captain W.H. Henderson, of the Gorgon, had made a successful assault elsewhere. Upon the whole, the slaughter was not heavy, nor were the losses on the attacking side very serious. The whole garrison was captured; and half of it was embarked, and so speedily despatched, that it reached Stopford off Beyrout the same evening. Napier rejoined the Admiral off D'jounie well within the stipulated forty-eight hours. There were numerous acts of individual gallantry, Midshipman James Hunt, of the Stromboli, and Midshipman Domenico Chinca, of the Guerriera, being especially mentioned for the rivalry which each displayed to be the first to plant the colours of his nation on the walls. The bravery of Mate Arthur Cumming (Cyclops), was also noticed in dispatches, where, too, the services of Captains Henderson and Austin, Commanders R.S. Robinson, W.J. Williams, and G. Mansel, and Captains (R.M.) Morrison and Whylock met with various meeds of praise.
During all this time there was frequent firing at Beyrout, though, for the reasons already given, no attempt was made to occupy the place. On October 2nd, however, an Egyptian deserter who reached the Hastings, reported that the commander ashore had laid a train across a bridge to the eastern fort, where lay a great quantity of powder, and was ready to blow it up at any moment. The man offered to guide a party to cut the train and seize the ammunition; and Commander Henry Worth, upon volunteering for the hazardous service, found no lack of men to join him. He pulled in in a boat of the Hastings, covered by the launch and pinnace of the Edinburgh, and, landing on the bridge in face of a heavy musketry fire, cut the train, re-embarked again, again landed, forced a way into the fort, thence threw sixty or seventy barrels of powder into the sea, and brought away twenty others. Later in the day, he made a second attempt and brought away some more. It was a most brilliant exploit, which, in after times, would have won a Victoria Cross. Nor, all things considered, was the loss severe. Midshipman ----- Luscombe, of the Hastings, was killed, and three seamen and the Egyptian guide were wounded.
A little later it was determined by the Admiral and Commodore to capture Beyrout by a concerted movement. On October 8th, part of Napier's troops, under General Jochmus, occupied Kornet Sherouan (otherwise Ornagacuan), with a view to the commencement of a movement for intercepting the retreat of Suleiman Pasha. Napier himself went to Kornet Sherouan, on the following day, after having written overnight to quiet Sir Robert Stopford's apprehensions concerning his subordinate's rashness. The Princess Charlotte returned from D'jounie to Beyrout; two other vessels took up their station ready to land troops in St. George's Bay; and the Bellerophon lay near the mouth of the Dog River with orders to prepare to cover the retreat of the army. The enemy attacked, with some temporary success, but was driven back. On October 10th, deterred by the movements threatening their rear, the Egyptians evacuated Beyrout; and Napier received from Stopford notes apprising him that Sir Charles Felix Smith had at length arrived to take command of the army, and ordering the Commodore to retire. Instead of retiring, Napier advanced, attacking the enemy in front with a force led by Master Edward John Phillips Pearn, and endeavouring to turn his right with a smaller force under Lieutenant Robert Duncan (Powerful). Napier found not Suleiman but Ibrahim Pasha himself in his front; both movements were checked; and, when reinforcements were sent for, Izzet Pasha, who had been left at Kornet Sherouan, declined to send them. At that difficult moment the situation was undoubtedly saved by the mad and infectious bravery of the Commodore, who led his staff on what was practically a forlorn hope, carried the first position in his front, and then, literally driving his troops onwards, rushed the next position, turned Ibrahim out pell-mell, took 700 prisoners, and so won the battle of Boharsef. His victory probably saved him from being brought before a court-martial for direct and deliberate disobedience to orders. In spite of his victory, there should have been a court of inquiry, if nothing further. But Stopford, one of the most kind-hearted and forgiving of men, wrote a letter of generous praise to his subordinate, and declined to assert himself in any way. Napier then returned to his duties afloat. Next day part of the Egyptian army surrendered, Suleiman, however, getting away with 300 horse.
Napier had already reconnoitred St. Jean d'Acre, and had been fired at. He reconnoitred again in the early days of October, going thither in a steamer, and sounding in front of the works, which were very strong towards the sea, and mounted 130 guns, and about 30 mortars. The fortress had been in the occupation of the Egyptians since 1837, and it had since been continually strengthened; but it was still far from what Ibrahim Pasha's engineers had intended to make it. Sir Robert Stopford, if we may believe the accounts of Napier and Elliot, showed some unwillingness to attack it without orders; but at length there came definite instructions from the Admiralty; and, in accordance with them, on October 31st, the fleet, which still lay off Beyrout, was directed to take on board a large force of troops, and to prepare for sea. On the same evening it sailed, the ships, British, Austrian and Turkish, including eight of the line, five frigates, five steamers, and two brigs.
The steamers - which, it should be noted, first convincingly demonstrated their great utility in this war - preceded the squadron, and summoned Acre to surrender. The rest of the expedition, detained by light winds, did not anchor off the place until the evening of November 2nd. "The town," says Elliot, "is low, standing on an angle presenting two faces to the sea, both walled and covered with cannon - in one place a double tier." After further soundings had been made under cover of the darkness, it was decided that it would be difficult to take the ships close enough in to breach the walls within a reasonable time. It was therefore determined to open a general bombardment of the town.
On the morning of the 3rd, the breeze was so light that nothing could be done until about ten o'clock, when, a wind springing up, the ships weighed, and stood for their assigned stations. Stopford kept his flag flying in the Princess Charlotte, but went on board the Phoenix, so as to be able better to superintend operations, and to move to any point where his presence might be desirable. The Powerful led in, and was followed in order by the Princess Charlotte, Thunderer, Bellerophon, and Revenge. Behind this first division came the second, led by the Turkish admiral (Captain Baldwin Wake Walker, R.N.), and consisting of that gallant officer's own ship, followed by the Benbow, Edinburgh, Pique, Castor, Hazard, Carysfort, Talbot, Wasp, and the three Austrian and two remaining Turkish vessels. The first division made its slow way to the western, and the second to the southern face of the fortress. The positions taken up by the various ships will be seen on reference to the plan overleaf. They did not, for the most part, reach them until two o'clock.
The advance was greeted with a few dropping shots from the batteries; but no reply was made until the ships were near their assigned stations, and about to anchor by the stern with another anchor ahead. The fire then became general, and, within a few minutes, waxed furious. The smoke began to hang even before the ships actually anchored; and thus the defenders, who had wrongly supposed that their enemy would not venture inside the shoal, were deceived as to the exact stations of the ships, and gave their guns too great an elevation. This fact materially lessened the damage and loss suffered by the fleet, and caused most of the shot that found billets to take effect aloft. Indeed, so confident were the Egyptians that Stopford would lie outside the shoal that, says Elliot, they had "built up the lower part of the embrasures with stones and sandbags for protection ; so that they could not depress" their guns" again, and were so enveloped in their own smoke, as well as ours blowing right in their faces, that they scarcely ever got a sight of us, and never knew where they fired."
The Allies had midshipmen at their mast-heads to direct and correct the aim, and, whenever the smoke grew too thick, desisted for a short time. Yet the bombardment went on with very little relaxation for nearly three hours. A most frightful explosion then flung half the town into the air, and shook every ship to her keel, the concussion knocking down the seamen at their guns half a mile away. The grand magazine had blown up, killing, it is believed, upwards of 1200 people, and absolutely wrecking a space of about 60,000 square yards. This awful catastrophe sounded the fate of the town, the firing from which thereafter weakened, though a few guns were gallantly worked until the last. Towards sunset Stopford signalled to discontinue the action. Napier, however, who already, in consequence of a shift of wind, had taken up a position different from the one assigned to the Powerful in the original plan of attack, was, as usual, a law unto himself, and persisted with an intermittent fire until the Flag-Lieutenant brought him orders to withdraw. He then had to get a steamer to tow him out of gunshot. His action on this occasion brought on unpleasant friction with the Commander-in-Chief, and led the Commodore to demand a court-martial, which was very properly refused.
The Egyptian loss was heavy, even leaving out that caused by the explosion. About three hundred people were killed in the batteries, and nearly all the guns on the sea face were disabled. The fleet suffered very little except aloft, and had but 14 British, and 4 Turks killed, and 42 wounded. The result would have been very different, and probably very disastrous, if the Egyptians had not blocked up their embrasures, and made false assumptions as to the probable positions of the ships, and if the explosion of the main magazine had not deprived them of most of their powder. On the day after the action, a smaller accidental explosion killed a number of Turks and a Marine, and wounded Captain Edward Collier, of the Castor, and the Chaplain of the Princess Charlotte.
Soon after midnight Captain Walker observed that the enemy was evacuating the town, and sent word to that effect to Stopford and Napier. Early on the 4th, therefore, the troops, and some Austrian marines were landed, and, uniting with 5000 men who had marched down from Beyrout, took quiet possession of the place, and detached a strong force in pursuit of the Egyptians, who fled to the southward. The Pique, joined presently by the Stromboli, was left off the fortress, which was garrisoned by Sir Charles Smith with 3000 Turks, and 250 Marines under Lieut.-Colonel Walker; and it was determined to detach Napier to take command off Alexandria. After watering at Beyrout, he quitted that port for the purpose on November 15th, and, on the 21st, joined the Rodney, Revenge, Vanguard, Cambridge, Carysfort, and Medea on his station. There, with characteristic independence, and without any official authority, he entered into negotiations with Mehemet Ali, first using as his emissary Captain Sir Thomas Mansel [Clowes is in error here; the captain of Rodney was Robert Maunsell], of the Rodney, an old friend of the Pasha's, and then himself entering Alexandria in the Medea, and meeting Mehemet. The result was that on November 27th a convention was signed, in virtue of which it was engaged that Ibrahim Pasha should evacuate Syria, and that, contingent upon the guarantee to Mehemet of the hereditary government of Egypt, the Ottoman fleet should be restored. Napier, even before the convention was actually signed, wrote to the Admiralty a letter beginning: "I do not know whether I have done right or not in settling the Eastern question," and, to his wife, "You have seen me a Lord High Admiral, a Commodore, and a General. I have now turned a Negotiator, and have made peace with Mahomet Ali. ... I shall either be hung by the Government, or made a Bishop." On November 28th, a gale drove the squadron from off Alexandria, and ultimately caused several ships, including the Powerful, to seek shelter, in a more or less disabled condition, in Marmorice Bay, where, on December 9th, Stopford, in the Princess Charlotte, also dropped anchor. This gale, on December 2nd, caused the wreck, off Mount Carmel, of the Zebra, 16, Commander Robert Fanshawe Stopford [no; Robert Fanshawe Stopford had been succeeded by John James Stopford on 23 february 1840], and the loss of several of her people.
The Porte, the British Ambassador at Constantinople, Sir Robert Stopford, and Sir Charles Smith, all disapproved strongly of Napier's action, and denied his right to take such a course; but the four Powers had already, on November 14th, made up their minds that, if he should prove tractable, Mehemet Ali should be dealt with much as Napier had dealt with him; and ultimately the Convention, with slight modifications, was ratified, Napier, who had just previously been made a Commodore of the first (red) class, getting a K.C.B. dated December 4th, 1840, and, later, being thanked by Lord Palmerston for his management of affairs at Alexandria, whither he was sent to see to the carrying out of the Convention, with his broad pennant in the Carysfort.
Among the numerous honours and promotions conferred upon naval officers in respect of their services during the Syrian campaign of 1840 may be mentioned:-
To be K.C.B., Captain Charles Napier, C.B.
To be C.B., Captains Sir Baldwin Wake Walker (Hon.); Charles John Austen; Hon. William Waldegrave; Maurice Frederick Fitzhardinge Berkeley; Edward Collier; William Wilmott Henderson; Arthur Fanshawe; Houston Stewart; Edward Boxer; Henry Byam Martin; Henry John Codrington; William Honyman Henderson; Horatio Thomas Austin; and Lieut.-Col. William Walker, R.M.
In addition, ten Commanders were posted, and three noted for promotion upon becoming qualified; and great numbers of Lieutenants and Mates were advanced a step in rank.