Edward Vernon

Admiral "Old Grogg" Vernon

Edward Vernon (born November 12, 1684 at Westminster , † October 30, 1757 in Nacton , Suffolk ) was Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy and a member of the British Parliament .

Early career

Vernon was the second son of the later editor of the London Gazette , James Vernon (1646-1727), and Mary Bruck († 1715). James Vernon was initially the private secretary of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth , and became Secretary of State (1697-1702) after the Glorious Revolution . Edward attended Westminster School from 1692 to 1700 , where he studied mathematics, astronomy, and classical languages.

Vernon's career in the Royal Navy began on May 10, 1700 as a volunteer or " King's Letter Boy " aboard the Shrewsbury (Captain Benjamin Hoskins ), Sir George Rooke's flagship . He was captain in January 1706 . Between 1708 and 1712 Vernon completed his first missions in the Caribbean and after the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War in December 1718 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British naval units stationed in Jamaica . In this capacity, he and his squadron cruised between the north coast of Jamaica and the Windward Passage to protect British merchant ships . In June 1721 he returned to England from his command.

Controversial member of parliament and ascent to national hero

In 1722 Vernon won the seat of Penryn, Cornwall , in the British Parliament. The exact reference to Penryn is unclear, but his father James Vernon (baptized 1646, † 1727) had already held this seat several times. In 1726 and 1727 Vernon took part in operations in the Baltic Sea under Admiral Charles Wager and John Norris and after the death of King George I returned to England, where he again entered Parliament for Penryn. His criticism of the British War Office, accompanied by flaming rhetoric, made him many enemies. His argument that the death of Admiral Francis Hosier and the losses of the British West India Squadron in 1726 were avoidable was particularly controversial . In 1732 he received an official reprimand for his remarks in a speech about the French fortifications in Dunkirk .

Even before the outbreak of the War of Jenkins' Ear , Vernon applied for command of the British naval forces in the Caribbean. Soon after arriving in Port Royal, the British naval base in Jamaica, in October 1739, Vernon won his most significant victory. On November 20, 1739, he succeeded in destroying all Spanish military installations in Puerto Belo in what is now Panama and thus conquering one of the most important intermediate stations of the Spanish silver fleet . Although all further attacks by the British expeditionary force on Spanish bases in the Caribbean failed in the years up to 1742, Vernon was able to consolidate his fame as a British national hero through a clever information policy. Numerous commemorative medals minted in his honor and above all the naming of the Dublin and London streets " Portobello Road " remind us of Vernon's most important victory.

Special attention deserves the unsuccessful attempt by Vernon with 186 ships and 30,000 men, at least 60 ships larger than the Spanish fleet of Philip II in the attempt to invade England, the important port city of Cartagena de Indias, which is well fortified in contrast to Portobelo ( today Colombia), which was defended by the severely war-damaged Spanish admiral Blas de Lezo . Convinced that the capture would succeed, Vernon had already had coins minted on which the Spanish admiral surrendered kneeling in front of Vernon. Vernon's defeat at Cartagena secured the Spanish Crown's naval rule in the Caribbean for another 20 years.

During his time in the West Indies, Vernon made the acquaintance of Lawrence Washington , the half-brother of George Washington . Lawrence took part in the 1741 War of Jenkins' Ear in the Caribbean as an officer on the flagship Vernons . Lawrence Washington later named his country estate Mount Vernon after the British Vice Admiral.

End of military career and death

After his return to England Vernon moved again - this time for Ipswich - in the British Parliament. From then on, Vernon commented on various aspects of naval warfare in numerous articles, letters and parliamentary speeches. He advocated better conditions on the ships of the British fleet and better treatment for sailors. His critical attitude towards the Admiralty prematurely ended his military career in December 1745. He was a member of parliament until his death in 1757.

Old Grog

The common ration of rum on ships of the British Navy often led to drunkenness and indiscipline among the crew in Vernon's time. Vernon therefore only let his sailors drink the rum diluted with water. Sugar and lime juice were later added to the drink. Vernon's nickname was "Old Grog" because he usually wore a warm cloak made of grogram , a coarse fabric made of silk and wool. According to a modern legend, this name was soon carried over to the new drink, which has been known as grog ever since . However, this legend is now considered refuted. In the Royal Navy, “grog” was part of the daily ration of ships until 1970 .

Publications

• Original papers relating to the expedition to Carthagena, Cuba and Panama (1744)
• Admiral V ---- n's opinion upon the present state of the British navy (1744)
• A specimen of naked truth from a British sailor: a sincere wellwisher to the honor and prosperity of the present royal family and his country (1746)
• Seasonable advice from an honest sailor to whom it might have concerned, for the service of the C --- n and C ----- y (1746)
• Original letters to an honest sailor (1748)

literature

• [Anonymous]: The Life of Admiral Vernon by an Impartial Hand . Fuller, London 1758.
• William F. Vernon: Ver-non semper viret. Memorial of Admiral Vernon; from contemporary authorities . Self-published, London 1861.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Petra Foede: How Bismarck got hold of the herring. Culinary legends. Kein & Aber, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-0369-5268-0 , pp. 95–98.