CRAWFORD, Abraham.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Reminiscences of a Naval Officer, during the Late War. First edition, scarce, this attractive copy in its smart original navy-blue cloth binding is apparently the only one currently on the market. Although "the opening pages are touched by the verbosity of the early Victorians … read on. Quickly, the veneer is torn away by the vigour of his memories, springing from the past like boarders with cutlass, pistol and boarding-pike" (Pocock, p. vii).Born in Lismore, County Waterford, Crawford (1785-1869) entered the navy in 1800 as a first class volunteer on board HMS Diamond "in which he assisted in the capture of many of the enemy's ships, armed and otherwise" (O'Byrne). He transferred to the Immortalité and Clyde frigates, under Admiral Owen, as a midshipman "and appears to have been almost daily in action from June 1802 until Aug. 1806, with detachments of the Boulogne flotilla". With Duckworth on the Royal George at the forcing of the Dardanelles in 1807, Crawford was present at the destruction of a Turkish squadron off Point Pesquies.Promoted lieutenant in the Sultan, he was involved in frequent cutting out operations in the Gulf of Genoa, taking part in the pursuit of the French ships of the line Robuste and Lion in 1809. In 1810-11 he served under Admiral Carew in the blockade of Toulon and support of the Catalonian insurgents on the coast, being present at the siege of Tarragona. Promoted commander in 1815 he was given command of the Grasshopper on the West India Station,

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