Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Early Years
- 2 Rainier and the Royal Navy
- 3 Rainier, the East India Company, and the King's Civil Servants in India
- 4 Communications and Intelligence — Its Sources and Uses
- 5 The Geography and Protection of Maritime Trade
- 6 The Defence and Expansion of Britain's Eastern Empire
- 7 Maintaining the Squadron at Sea
- Conclusion: ‘Removing the Cloud’
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
- Worlds of the East India Company
2 - Rainier and the Royal Navy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Early Years
- 2 Rainier and the Royal Navy
- 3 Rainier, the East India Company, and the King's Civil Servants in India
- 4 Communications and Intelligence — Its Sources and Uses
- 5 The Geography and Protection of Maritime Trade
- 6 The Defence and Expansion of Britain's Eastern Empire
- 7 Maintaining the Squadron at Sea
- Conclusion: ‘Removing the Cloud’
- Epilogue
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
- Worlds of the East India Company
Summary
‘The Board could not comply with your request to be relieved.’
Rainier was first and foremost a naval officer and without the active support of the various departments of the Royal Navy he could not be successful and he would be recalled. If he were able to manage both upwards and downwards he would keep a maximum of independence. Any orders he received would be at least three months out of date and might not be appropriate to the actual conditions in which he found himself. How he communicated with London and how far he told the Admiralty what he was doing, rather than asking what he should do, would be important in deciding his future.
The Admiralty
Once on station, for the first time in his career, Rainier had an independent command. He now had to communicate by letter with his direct superiors, officially the Board of Admiralty. His letters to Nepean, from March 1795 Stephens' successor as the Secretary to the Board, show a detailed mind much concerned with the need to maintain his ships at sea through effective administration. Rainier must have felt some comfort in communicating with the Admiralty, knowing Stephens was now a Board member. He had benefited from his influence since obtaining his commission in 1768, just before Stephens became MP for Sandwich for the first time.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- British Naval Power in the East, 1794-1805The Command of Admiral Peter Rainier, pp. 38 - 60Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013