Beschreibung
London: Printed by A. Strahan, and sold by J. Butterworth, Law Book-Seller, Fleet Street, 1813, Fourth Edition. Half leather binding, with gilt titles to light brown labels, six raised bands, and marbled boards. Augustus Phillimore, Captain RN, bookplate to the front paste down. INCOMPLETE - lacking pages 455 to 458 in Volume I. Admiral Sir Augustus Phillimore KCB FRGS (1822-1897) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. He is credited with first proposing the creation of a modern naval dockyard in Gibraltar. "In this edition much new matter has been introduced, and various improvements made, by a new arrangement of the text, as well as in the Appendixes to both volumes" (preface); it also includes the Mutiny Acts for 1812-13. McArthur entered the Royal Navy in 1778, as assistant clerk on board HMS Eagle on the North American station. When Eagle came home McArthur was moved into the cutter HMS Rattlesnake, and on 22 March 1779 was promoted to be purser of her, for his gallantry in boarding a French privateer in an engagement of the American Revolutionary War off Le Havre on 14 March. In November Rattlesnake lent her small assistance to HMS Tartar in capturing the Spanish frigate Santa Margarita; and, when the prize was commissioned for the Royal Navy, McArthur was promoted to be her purser. During the war McArthur was often on duty, observing signals. In 1790, on his own account, he proposed a new code of signals to the Admiralty, which caught the attention of Lord Hood, then First Sea Lord, and when in the Russian armament of 1791, he hoisted his flag in command, he made McArthur his secretary. He hoped to try out McArthur's signals; but there was an issue about introducing a new code to supersede that of Lord Howe, and McArthur is said to have recast his, remodelling it on the basis of Howe's. After approval by Howe, it was tested and used in the experimental cruise of 1792. While the new code was then adopted, Sir Home Popham's had generally taken over by the middle of the next decade. By 1799 McArthur was claiming to be the real author of the code known by the name of Lord Howe, but may have only seen it into print. In 1793, when Hood went out as commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, McArthur was again his secretary, being appointed also purser of HMS Victory. His duties at this time were complex: correspondence in three foreign languages, interpreter, and as Hood's representative in disbursements of public money, both to the British forces and to those of the allies. For some time there was no English commissary-general, and he had to act in that capacity. He was also prize agent for the fleet; his duties as purser of Victory were performed by a deputy. When Hood, after returning to England, was ordered to strike his flag, McArthur went back to the Mediterranean as simple purser of Victory. As soon as the ship joined the fleet, Rear-Admiral Robert Man hoisted his flag on board, and in the action of 14 July 1795 (see Battle of Hyères Islands) McArthur volunteered to observe the signals, in place of the admiral's secretary. He was later secretary to Sir Hyde Parker, and returned to England with him early in 1796. In 1803, when Lord Nelson was going out to the Mediterranean, he offered to take McArthur as his secretary. McArthur, however, declined, because Lord Hood's accounts were being audited. This was perhaps a pretext, however, since he was by then committed to writing. On 22 July 1806 the university of Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of LL.D. He was at this time living in London, in York Place, Portman Square. Later he settled at Hayfield near Warblington in Hampshire, where he died 29 July 1840. Approximately 8 ½ inches tall. Provenance: Augustus Phillimore s copy of this work. Condition Report Externally Spine good condition gilt titles to light brown labels, six raised bands, blind decoration to the compartments. Joints good condition sound, rubbed. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1664485529829
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