Royal Naval Biography/Low, John M'Arthur
JOHN M‘ARTHUR LOW, Esq.
[Commander.]
On the 8th Feb. 1817; this officer forwarded to the Admiralty a memorial, of which the following are extracts:–
“To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain.
“The Memorial of Lieutenant John M‘Arthur Low, late acting commander of H.M. sloop Cameleon,
“Humbly Sheweth,
“That your memorialist has been upwards of eighteen years engaged in a constant course of active service in his Majesty’s navy, as midshipman, lieutenant, and acting commander; having in the early part served on the coast of Africa and among the West India islands, and during the last fourteen years in the East Indies.
“That, during ten years of the above time, viz. from Dec. 1798, until Jan. 1809, he served as midshipman in H.M. ships Magnanime, Lapwing, Albion, and Culloden; under Captains Taylor, Rotheram, and Ferrier, and the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew.
“That, during the next seven years, viz. from Jan. 1809, at which time he was appointed acting lieutenant, until Jan. 1816, when he was appointed acting commander of H.M. sloop Cameleon, he served in his Majesty’s ships Arrogant, Minden, Theban, and Revolutionnaire; with Captains Flint, Reynolds, Hoare, Skene, Woolcombe, and Leslie; and part of the time in Sir Samuel Hood’s flag-ship.[1]
“Further, that for a considerable part of the last period, your memorialist had acting orders to command H.M. ships Arrogant and Minden; also the governments of the forts at Anjer and Marrack, in the island of Java; having previously been engaged in the reduction of Siringan, the defence of the temporary establishment at St. Nicholas’s Point; and he was likewise, under Captain Hoare, zealously, arduously, and usefully employed in conciliating the Bantamese, supporting the cause of Achmet, Pangorang of Bantam, and procuring, through his power and influence in that kingdom, supplies for the naval and military forces employed in the Java expedition.
“That, in Sept. 1810, when your memorialist was appointed to command the Minden (74), at Bombay, that ship was intended to carry the flag of Vice-Admiral Drury, then commander-in-chief; the Russell, his flag-ship, being found unserviceable. The Minden’s speedy equipment became, therefore, a matter of great importance, connected with the other preparations for the subjugation of Java and its dependencies; but all the ships of the squadron that could be rendered effective, being then required off the Mauritius, your memorialist was left without the assistance of any officers or seamen, notwithstanding which, on the Admiral’s return from the Isle of France, in January following, to such a state of forwardness had the ship been brought by your memorialist’s own resources, and the help of some Lascars, hired at his own risk, with a few men impressed from India ships, that she was ready for sea, and actually sailed in two days after the flag-captain, with the crew of the Russell transferred. The exertions of your memorialist on this occasion were thought so meritorious, that he was continued in the ship, as one of her lieutenants, to be promoted if an opportunity offered; but the fair prospects of your memorialist were suddenly darkened by the lamented death of Vice-Admiral Drury.
“That, in June, 1812, your memorialist, having returned to England, second lieutenant of the Minden, after serving ten years in India, had the honor of submitting to Lord Viscount Melville his claims for promotion, and therewith produced various documents relative to conduct, character, abilities, and services; those claims were considered so just and weighty, that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were, in consequence, graciously pleased to recommend your memorialist to Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, for promotion. He was accordingly sent back to the East Indies, as lieutenant of the same ship (Minden) in which he had, previous to his return home, served nearly two years in that capacity; she being destined to bear the flag of Sir Samuel Hood.
“That the constitution of your memorialist being materially injured by the length of his former services in that unfavourable climate, but particularly by sufferings and exposure on the Java expedition, he, on returning again to that station in 1812, became an unhappy victim to every disease with which Europeans are assailed; and although the severity and well-known nature of his complaints, with the repeated injunctions of friends, and the advice of medical men, pressed strongly for his removal to a more temperate latitude, or to his native land, yet your memorialist, under a thorough conviction that whenever it came to his turn on the Admiralty list, and a vacancy offered, the purpose for which he was sent to India would be answered: and also considering, that in case of returning to England, or quitting the station, he might afterwards, on preferring claims for promotion, be regarded as one who had by such act thwarted the good intentions of the Admiralty towards him, he continued faithfully to serve, and patiently to suffer.
“That, having arrived at the head of the list for promotions, after thus long serving and suffering, in anxious expectation of advancement in a profession to which he is, and ever has been, zealously and entirely devoted, your memorialist was appointed, by Commodore Sayer, acting commander of H.M. sloop Cameleon, at Bombay; and that he was subjected to very serious expenses in joining the said vessel, from the necessity of quitting his former ship, the Revolutionnaire, in the Straits of Malacca, and waiting two months at Pulo-Penang and Madras, before his appointment was received, and opportunity to join the Cameleon offered; also expences in purchasing a chronometer, books, charts, and sundry equipments for his cabin and table, amounting to more than triple his pay during the time he commanded the Cameleon.
“That your memorialist, on a fair consideration of all circumstances, was led to consider himself a commander in H.M. navy, from the day he was appointed to the Cameleon, or rather that the confirmation of his appointment, like every one by which it had been preceded, would be a mere matter of course: for, if any known fact had justified his entertaining and expressing a doubt on the subject, he would have been provided with such recommendations and testimonials, from the different governments of India, as well as from men in high public situations, as would probably have superseded the necessity of troubling your Lordships with this memorial, and saved him from, that severe and inexpressible anguish of mind to which he has been exposed by the disappointment of those hopes which he had every reason, at one time, to flatter himself were well founded.
“That your memorialist, in proof of his disinterested zeal for the public service, begs leave to advert to one circumstance which occurred soon after he had been appointed to the Cameleon, and which gained him not only the commendations of his superior as well as brother officers on the station, but also the approbation of Earl Moira and the Supreme Council at Calcutta. In April 1816, H.M. sloop Challenger having arrived at Madras, with 600,000 dollars on board, consigned to the government of Bengal, and treasure to a great amount for the merchants of Calcutta, and the senior officer being under the necessity of detaining the said sloop, that her commander might sit as a member of a court-martial then about to be assembled for the trial of Captain Robert O’Brien,[2] your memorialist volunteered to receive on board the Cameleon all the treasure in the Challenger, and convey the whole to its destination, without benefit or participation whatever for freight-money allowed by Government, or the East India Company, which he accordingly executed, as appears by the correspondence herewith produced.
“That your memorialist, although never wounded in battle, has received severe hurts in the service, having had his collar-bone broken by an accident on board the Albion, and his right leg broken, in erecting sheers on board the Arrogant, at Bombay; your memorialist being then charged with the duty of equipping the said ship for the purpose of masting the Minden, at the time she was ready to be launched.
“That your memorialist, from such long servitude in the East Indies, has been of late years afflicted with a chronic disease of the liver, and is at this time in a state of extreme debility, owing to a severe attack with which he was seized on his arrival at Portsmouth. Without trespassing further on your Lordships’ time, he refers them to three certificates transmitted herewith, from Dr. Wright (physician at Haslar), Mr. Morrison (acting surgeon of the Cameleon), and Mr. Rowe (surgeon at Portsmouth).
“Your memorialist, therefore, humbly trusts your Lordships will take all the circumstances of his services and claims for promotion into your favourable consideration; and your memorialist, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
(Signed)“John M‘Arthur Low.”
Six days after the date of the above memorial, a letter was laid before the Board of Admiralty, signed by George Spain, of East Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, accusing Lieutenant Low of tyrannical conduct, and indirectly charging him with murder; in consequence of which representation he was officially informed that their Lordships could not “hold out hopes to him of early promotion.”
On the 10th April 1817, a court-martial was assembled in Portsmouth harbour, to investigate the serious charges thus exhibited against Lieutenant Low. The first of the only two witnessess called by his accuser, although seven had been summoned, and were in attendance, was Mr. Robert Morrison, late acting surgeon of the Cameleon, who deposed that he had attended the punishment of George L. Spain, junior,[3] for theft, drunkenness, and other offences, on the 14th June 1816; that the young man denied being guilty of theft, but acknowledged that he had drank part of some wine stolen from his commander’s cabin lockers, by the person doing duty as clerk; who, so far from attempting to exculpate himself, or to implicate Spain, candidly avowed his own criminality, and, as far as his testimony went, completely exonerated the other culprit. This witness also deposed, that Spain appeared rather dejected after his punishment; and that he believed he had deserted from the Cameleon, in Simon’s Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 6th Sept. 1816, until informed that his body was discovered floating alongside of the Horatio frigate on the morning of the 19th, the very day the Cameleon quitted that anchorage. On Mr. Morrison’s cross examination, however, it appeared, that he had not reported the punishment (fifty-five lashes) as severe at the time of its infliction, and that Spain was not in consequence put on the sick list; that he had not been put on it subsequently for any affection of the mind; that he knew not of any harshness or cruelty towards him practised by acting Commander Low; and that the clerk’s confession of guilt, and acquittal of Spain, was after the latter had been punished.
The evidence of the prosecutor’s other witness, Lieutenant David Bolton, went to shew, that several persons were examined in the presence of Spain and the clerk, prior to the punishment, and proved that they had been drinking together in the commander’s cabin; that Spain was punished for theft and other offences; and that he confessed himself, in part, guilty.
William Willett, private marine, one of the few witnesses called by Lieutenant Low, deposed, that Spain had confessed to him his share in the robbery, offered to replace the wine stolen, and bribe him to conceal the fact. He accurately described the state of the commander’s cabin, on the morning after the robbery; and was not very delicate in speaking of the effects which the claret had apparently produced on the stomachs of the parties concerned in the theft. His testimony went farther to shew that Spain was not harshly treated after his punishment, that he joined in the amusements of the crew, and took the part of Serjeant Kite, in a play called the Recruiting Officer; that every body believed he had deserted at the Cape; and that the greatest part of his effects were either smuggled on shore, sold for grog, or otherwise disposed of, previous to his desertion. This witness distinctly proved every circumstance stated by Lieutenant Low in his defence, and went to a much greater extent. The sentence delivered was as follows:
“The Court is of opinion, that the charges of cruel and tyrannical conduct to George L. Spain have not been proved against Lieutenant John M‘Arthur Low, but that the information upon which the prosecutor grounded the complaints, stated in his letters to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, was totally unfounded; and doth adjudge the said Lieutenant John M‘Arthur Low to be most fully acquitted thereof: and the said Lieutenant John M‘Arthur Low is hereby fully acquitted accordingly.”
This officer was advanced to the rank of commander, Jan. 20th, 1818. His brother, Archibald, is a solicitor at Portsea; and he has a sister married to Mr. George Rowe, surgeon R.N., now practising at Chelsea.
- ↑ His promotion to the rank of lieutenant took place May 4th, 1810.
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part II. p. 881, et seq.
- ↑ Son of complainant.