Item #218096 An Enquiry into the Conduct of Captain M[osty]N. Being remarks on the minutes of the Court-Martial ... By a Sea Officer. Royal Navy, Edward Vernon.

An Enquiry into the Conduct of Captain M[osty]N. Being remarks on the minutes of the Court-Martial ... By a Sea Officer.

London: for W. Webb, 1745.

Price: $225.00


About the item

First edition. [2], 29, [1] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Disbound, but sewing intact. Title a bit soiled, but clean overall. Goldsmith No. 8197.

Item #218096

According to the DNB, "In December 1743 [Captain Savage] Mostyn was appointed to the Suffolk, which was, on 24 February 1744, one of the fleet with Sir John Norris off Dungeness. In April he was moved to the Hampton Court, one of four ships which, on 6 January 1745, fell in with two French ships of the line off Ushant. Two of the English ships, the Captain and the Sunderland, parted company. The Hampton Court and Dreadnought continued the chase; but, although Mostyn's ship came up with the French, it could not engage without the assistance of the Dreadnought, and the two Frenchmen got safely into Brest."

Mostyn was brought up for court martial and acquitted, but his conduct became an object of popular and official scorn -- this heavily critical pamphlet is usually attributed to Admiral Vernon.