Admiral Byng: His Rise and Execution

• Admiral Byng: His Rise and Execution by Chris Ware!
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Bad news travels fast. The French were eager to publicize their victory over the vaunted British navy. Byng reached Gibraltar, offloaded his wounded and awaited reinforcements to take back for the relief of Minorca.

Admiral Byng: His Rise and Execution

However, before he was able to disembark, a ship arrived from England with orders to relieve him of his command and escort him back to England. Back in England, he was placed into custody to await court martial. Byng was completely unprepared for the situation that awaited him on his return. Unbeknownst to him rival factions in government were fighting amongst themselves seeking to pin blame for the loss of this important naval outpost. Byng ended up being the scapegoat and the victim of a virulent campaign waged in the press in which he was depicted as a coward, if not an outright agent of the French.

Much of this press was orchestrated by the government, and Byng was unable to counter it since he was en route for much of the time it was conducted. One of the more grotesque disservices that the politicians did to Byng in his absence was to publish a heavily redacted version of a dispatch he sent to the admiralty.

Admiral Byng: His Rise and Execution

Through careful editing they made it seem as though Byng was proud of running away. Later his proponents published the complete dispatch, but by then the damage was done and Byng was despised by a populace whipped into a furor by the politicians orchestrating the campaign to shift blame on Byng. Ware does not claim that Byng made all the right decisions, merely that Byng was not dishonorable in his actions.

However, this did not mean that those out of power did not still wield influence, or were any less eager to shift the blame for the catastrophe. Every Person in the fleet, who though Cowardice, Negligence or Disaffection, shall forbear to pursue the Chace of any Enemy, Pirate or Rebel, beaten or flying; or shall not relieve or assist a known Friend in view to the utmost of his Power; being convicted of any such Offense by the Sentence of a Court Martial, shall suffer Death.

And so, after a few unsuccessful attempts to forestall his execution with pleas for leniency some of which probably did more harm than good , Byng was executed by a firing squad on HMS Monarch in Portsmouth harbor. What can be said with certainty is that John Byng was an honourable man in every sense of that word, and both in his life and the manner of his death he bore testament to that fact. Check here to Subscribe to notifications for new posts. Notify me of follow-up comments via e-mail.

Admiral Byng : his rise and execution / Chris Ware. - Version details - Trove

What Would The Founders Think? Feb 11, Jerome rated it really liked it. A quick, well-researched biography of the unfortunate Admiral Byng.

The difficulties of signaling and the complexity of the instructions made it difficult for naval officers to command a large number of ships. These fears prompted the British to send Byng and a force of troops to Fort St. A concise and solid biography. Brian rated it it was ok Jan 03, Ed rated it really liked it Mar 30, Kara marked it as to-read Dec 06, Matt marked it as to-read Jul 09, Wikimedia Italia added it Dec 31, Katie Gordon marked it as to-read Jan 05, Mayee marked it as to-read Sep 02, Check copyright status Cite this Title Admiral Byng: Subjects Byng, John, Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography.

Admiral Byng His Rise and Execution by Chris Ware

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