Alligator (corvette)

The British warship Alligator, a corvette, came to Madeira in August 1828 to protect the British subjects living here, amid a well-founded fear that the political events of the time might force them to take refuge aboard a ship of their own nation. That protection proved unnecessary for the British subjects, but it served the governor and captain-general of this archipelago, Travassos Baldes, and other persons – which seems to have been the main purpose of the corvette’s visit to our harbour. Having capitulated to the invading forces that had landed at Machico (see Occupation of Madeira by the Miguelite troops), Travassos Valdez took refuge on the afternoon of 23 August 1828 aboard the corvette Alligator. He was accompanied by his wife, six children, two servants and other persons, among them some of the highest social standing in Madeira.

An interesting correspondence passed between M. G. Canning, commander of the Alligator, and Vice-Admiral Fonseca de Sousa Prego, commander of the Miguelite (supporter of the absolutist King Miguel) squadron, and José Maria Monteiro, governor and captain-general. In it the representatives of Miguel I demanded the immediate surrender of the refugees aboard that ship, but the British commander flatly refused.

After several meetings between the British consul in Funchal, Henrique Veitch, and Governor José Maria Monteiro, the matter was settled as set out in the following passage of the letter which the consul addressed to the said governor and captain-general: ‘In consequence of the wish Your Excellency has expressed that the refugees aboard the frigate Alligator should leave this port as soon as possible, and of the conference I had with Your Excellency a few days ago on this subject, I, in agreement with Captain Canning, have chartered, on account of the government of His Britannic Majesty, the English brig Jane. As a transport commanded by a naval officer, she is to sail tomorrow, the 6th of this month, taking the said refugees on board out of sight of land and beyond the range of the batteries, and to proceed with them directly to Plymouth’.

On 6 September 1828, that is, 15 days after the Alligator had taken Travassos Valdez and the other political refugees on board, she weighed anchor from our harbour and set course for England. On the high seas the refugees were transferred to the brig Jane, which headed for St Ives, a small seaport on the coast of Great Britain, arriving there on 18 September after a voyage of 12 days. We give below the complete list of the persons who left Madeira on the Alligator and landed at St Ives. The list was first published in the 5th volume of the work of the Baron of São Clemente, but it is known to few:

José Lúcio Travassos Valdez, former governor of Madeira and later Count of Bonfim, his wife, six children, the eldest of whom was 14, and two servants; Luís Godinho Valdez, the governor’s brother and aide-de-camp; João do Carvalhal, later Count of Carvalhal; the corregedor (royal district magistrate) Dr José Duarte Machado Ferraz; the juiz de fora (crown-appointed judge from outside the district) Dr Manuel Ferreira de Seabra da Mota e Silva; Lieutenant-Colonel Filipe Joaquim Aciaioly; Captain Joaquim Carlos Fernandes de Couto; the dean of Funchal Cathedral (Sé), Januário Vicente Camacho; Canon Sebastião Casimiro de Vasconcelos; Colonel Francisco Manuel Patrone; Lieutenant-Colonel António Fernandes Camacho; Major Joaquim Guilherme da Costa; Captain Pedro Cipriano de Ornelas; Major Luís António Figueiroa; Major Jerónimo Martins Salgado; the militia colonel J. A. Freitas Albuquerque; the sergeant-major (sargento-mor, a field officer ranking as major) Francisco Moniz Escórcio; the volunteers of Dom Pedro, Luís Sauvaire and Luís Monteiro; Captain João de Betencourt; Lieutenant António José Gonçalves de Ornelas; Júlio da Câmara Leme; the ordinary judge (juiz ordinário, locally elected lay judge) António Joaquim Moderno; Friar António das Dores, provincial of the Franciscans; Domingos Alexandre da Silva; Miguel Ferreira Jardim; and Vicente de Sousa, servant of João do Carvalhal.

Three days before Madeira surrendered to the Miguelist troops, a number of officers had arrived in Funchal from England, sent by the Count of Palmela to help Governor Travassos Valdez in the resistance he was preparing against the absolutist forces. After three days ashore and fifteen days aboard the corvette Alligator, these officers went on to England and landed at St Ives with the other émigrés. They were Lieutenant-Colonel João Schwalbach; Major Francisco Xavier da Silva Pereira, later Count of Antas; Captain Tomás Carcy de Araújo; the Madeiran captain and professor at the Naval Academy (Academia de Marinha) António Aloísio Jervis de Atouguia, later Viscount of Atouguia; Lieutenant Francisco José da Mota; the Madeiran second lieutenant Dom Diogo da Câmara Leme; Lieutenant Francisco de Paula Lima; and the quartermaster-sergeant (furriel) Francisco Pacheco Guimarães.

The corvette Alligator did not accompany the Jane and returned to Funchal. On 24 September the commander of the Alligator, M. G. Canning, drowned while bathing in the tank (irrigation reservoir) of a quinta (country estate) belonging to a fellow countryman on the outskirts of Funchal. He was the son of the well-known English statesman Canning.