Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PLATES IN VOLUME XXXI
- PREFACE TO THE THIRTY-FIRST VOLUME
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ADMIRAL ROBERT BLAKE
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ALEXANDER FRASER, ESQ. REAR-ADMIRAL OF THE WHITE SQUADRON
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF SIR GEORGE YOUNG, KNT. ADMIRAL OF THE WHITE
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF JAMES ALEXANDER GORDON, CAPTAIN R. N.
- INDEX
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ADMIRAL ROBERT BLAKE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- PLATES IN VOLUME XXXI
- PREFACE TO THE THIRTY-FIRST VOLUME
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ADMIRAL ROBERT BLAKE
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF ALEXANDER FRASER, ESQ. REAR-ADMIRAL OF THE WHITE SQUADRON
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF SIR GEORGE YOUNG, KNT. ADMIRAL OF THE WHITE
- BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF JAMES ALEXANDER GORDON, CAPTAIN R. N.
- INDEX
Summary
—“Thy name
Was heard in thunder through the affrighted snores
Of pale Iberia, of submissive Gaul,
And Tagus trembling to his utmost source.
O! ever faithful, vigilant, and brave,
Thou bold asserter of Britannia's fame,
Unconquerable Blake.”
—Glover.At a time when the nation is engaged in a war with an enemy, whose insults, ravages, and barbarities, have long called for vengeance, an account of such English commanders as have merited the acknowledgments of posterity, by extending the power, and raising the honour of their country, seems to be no improper entertainment for our readers. We shall, therefore, attempt a succinct narration of the life and actions of Admiral Blake; in which we have nothing farther in view, than to do justice to his bravery and conduct, without intending any parallel between his achievements and those of our present admirals.
Robert Blake was born at Bridgwater, in Somersetshire, in August, 1598, his father being a merchant of that place, who had acquired a considerable fortune by the Spanish trade. Of his earliest years we have no accounts and therefore can amuse the reader with none of those prognostics of his future actions, so often met with in memoirs.
In 1615 he entered into the University of Oxford, where he continued till 1623, though without being much countenanced or caressed by his superiors, for he was more than once disappointed in his endeavours after academical preferments.
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- The Naval ChronicleContaining a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects, pp. 1 - 88Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1814