This was the first decisive frigate action of the War of the French Revolution, and in consequence great was the enthusiasm aroused.  Lord Howe wrote to Pellew, “The manner in which you have taken the enemy’s ship will set an example for the war.”  In truth, however, while admitting the soundness of Pellew’s judgment in adopting the course he did, the actual demand upon his personal skill was less, and in so far the credit due therefore less, than in the second successful frigate action, in the following October, in which Sir James Saumarez commanded.  Not only was the French vessel’s superiority in force more marked in the latter instance, but Saumarez’s ship there met with an accident similar in character to that which befell the Cleopatre, from the consequences of which she was extricated by his masterly seamanship.  Still, it may with fairness be argued that, as the one action from its attendant circumstances evidenced the individual skill of the commander, so the other testified to the antecedent preparation and efficiency of the crew, which are always to be attributed to the care of the captain, especially under the conditions of Pellew’s enlistments.  Both captains fully deserved the reward of knighthood bestowed upon their success.  Israel Pellew was promoted to post-captain.

During the first three years of this war British commerce in the neighborhood of the Channel suffered most severely from French cruisers.  The latter resumed the methods of Jean Bart and other celebrated privateers of the days of Louis XIV.; the essence of which was to prey upon the enemy’s commerce, not by single vessels, but by small squadrons of from five to seven.  Cruisers so combined, acting in mutual support, were far more efficient than the same number acting separately.  Spreading like a fan, they commanded a wider expanse than a ship alone; if danger arose, they concentrated for mutual support; did opportunity offer, the work was cut out and distributed, thus insuring by co-operation more thorough results.  At the suggestion of Sir Edward Pellew, the British Admiralty determined to oppose to these organized depredators a similar system.  Groups of crack frigates were constituted, and sent to cruise within the limits of the Channel Fleet, but independent of its admiral.  In these Pellew served for the next five years, much of the time as squadron commander; to him a period of incessant, untiring activity, and illustrated by many brilliant and exciting incidents, for which the limits of this sketch afford no space.

There are, however, two episodes in which he was so distinctly the central figure that they demand at least a brief narration.  In January, 1796, while his ship was repairing, a large East Indiaman, the Dutton, carrying some six hundred troops and passengers, was by a series of mishaps driven ashore on the beach of Plymouth, then an unprotected sound.  As she struck, all her masts went overboard, and she lay broadside to the waves, pounding heavily as they