117
800Years IrishPolitical, Literary&MilitaryHistory - 15thApril2014
321 SIRCLOUDSELEYSHOVELL
A signed set of orders fromSirCloudesleyShovell toCapt. JohnBaker, Commander ofH.M.S.Monmouth, 30thAugust 1703,
written aboardhis flagshipH.M.S. Triumph,ALS and a list of admirals 1757.
SirCloudslyShovellwas the senior commander of theBritsih fleet in theMediterannean alliedwith theDutch, during the
War of the Spanish succession.
In an attempt to come to the aidof theCamisards of theCevennes Languedoc, Frenchprotestants in revolt against LuisXIV, Ad-
miral Shovell, in spiteof thedangerouswartimeconditions, posedby thebaysofNorbonneandLyons, detached twowarships, the
Monmouth and theFlanborogh, to land supplied andmoney to theCamisards, supportedbymarines.
The present lot is the order, written in a clerk’s hand, fromAdmiral Shovell toCaptainBakes of theMonmouth for landing close
toMaguelonne, signedby theAdmiral, theexecutiondependedona signal from theAdmiral’s flag shipTriumph. In theevent the
signalwasnever given, as Shovell assessed theproposed landingon sand inhospitable coast tobeunwarranted risk theCamisards
were left to their unpleasant fate.
At this time itwas considered incorrect policy for anymonarchy to supplyhelp to a rebellion against another ‘anointed’monarch
so this abortive landing remained a concealedobjectiveof Britishpolicy.
This immediate and actual document of a little known episode inBritishnaval history is of the upmost rarityAdmiral Shovell’s
fleetwaswreckedon its return toEnglandon the Scilly Isleswhichprompted thequest for a reliable calculationof Longitude.
€800 - 1200
