Preface

Summary

This volume of The Rodney Papers, the second of a projected three-vol- ume edition of the admiral's papers, covers the admiral's life from the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763 until August 1780. During these years, Rodney, through a lavish lifestyle and a habit of gambling, squandered his fortune and fell into the clutches of moneylenders. This led him to at- tempt, without success, to recoup his finances by becoming in 1770 the commander-in-chief of the squadron at Jamaica. Upon his return from the West Indies, having by then no Parliamentary immunity, Rodney was Forced to flee to Paris to escape his creditors. Only the goodwill and money of a French nobleman, Duc de Biron, enabled a pennyless Rodney to leave Paris in 1778, just days before the beginning of the war between britain and france. In 1779 the British government, desperate for the services of an admiral who could fight and win battles, appointed Rodney commander-in-chief of the squadron in the leeward islands. On his pas- sage to the West indies Rodney fought and won the moonlight battle against the spanish and successfully relieved Gibraltar. Once in the West indies, during 1780 Rodney fought several indecisive battles, in the course of a skilful defensive campaign against superior French forces, before sailing for North America at the onset of the hurricane season. During the years 1763–1780 Rodney plunged from being a Member of Parliament, a successful admiral and the Governor of Greenwich Hospital to a debtor's exile in France only to rise again and become a victorious admiral and a national hero.

The selection of documents in this volume of The Rodney Papers deals with Rodney's career during the years following the end of the seven years War and the start of the American War. The documents cover the relief of Gibraltar and the 1780 campaign in the Leeward Islands. The present edition attempts to elucidate the role of Rodney in the military and political events of the 18th century as well as to present his views on naval affairs and on the workings of the navy as an institution. The materi- als for this volume come from the National Archives of the United Kingdom, the British Library, the New-York Historical Society and the William Clements Library of the University of Michigan.