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Pellew spent all his career in the shadow of his more dashing elder brother, the famous frigate captain Edward Pellew, and even at Trafalgar he was not able to escape from his reputation. His ship, hmsConqueror, arrived in the thick of the fighting just as Villeneuve, in the Bucentaure, surrendered. Pellew sent his captain of Marines, James Atcherly, in a boat to receive the French admiral’s submission. ‘It is a satisfaction to me that it is to so fortunate an officer as Sir Edward Pellew that I have surrendered,’ remarked the courteous Villeneuve. ‘It is his brother, sir,’ replied an embarrassed Atcherly. ‘His brother! What, are there two of them? Helas!’
The third son of Samuel Humphrey Pellew, Israel was born on 25 August 1758 and went to sea in 1771, becoming a lieutenant in 1779. He was promoted commander in 1790 and served with his elder brother in the frigate hmsNymphe when she captured the French Cléopâtre on 18 June 1793. For his part in this action, he was made a post captain.
He then had a rapid series of commands, before finally being appointed to the fine new battleship hmsConqueror (74) in April 1804, succeeding one of Nelson’s closest professional friends, Thomas Louis, as her captain. In her, he joined Nelson in the Mediterranean in September 1804 and took part in every stage of the Trafalgar campaign, including the chase to the West Indies and back in the summer of 1805.
At Trafalgar, the Conqueror was fifth in Nelson’s line and Pellew first positioned her off the Bucentaure’s quarter, forcing the already badly-damaged French flagship to surrender. Not wishing to waste time with the formal ceremony, Pellew sent Atcherly to receive Villeneuve’s sword, and moved on to assist the Neptune in her attack on the massive Santissima Trinidad. When she, in turn, surrendered, Pellew moved on once more and took part in the attack on the French ship L’Intrepide under Captain Infernet. Pellew and his men had thus contributed to the capture of three enemy ships – a record matched by few others in the British fleet. Pellew himself had been thrown to the deck and momentarily stunned by the wind of a passing shot and, although he quickly recovered, he discovered later that he had received a permanent injury. However, he did not report himself wounded and so did not appear on the official casualty list.
After the battle, Pellew attempted to take the Bucentaure in tow, putting a party of sailors on board under the command of Lieutenant Richard Spear – they were captured when the French ship went ashore off Cadiz in the great storm that followed the battle. Pellew received the naval gold medal and a sword from the Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund, and the Conqueror received a new figurehead. The head of her old one had been shot away and the crew petitioned that it should be replaced with a bust of Nelson, which was duly done in Plymouth Dockyard. Pellew continued in command of her until 1808, stationed off Cadiz and Lisbon.
Promoted rear admiral in 1810, he served in the Mediterranean as captain of the fleet when his elder brother became commander-in-chief, but he never commanded a fleet in his own right and did not serve at sea again after 1816. He was created KCB in 1815 and reached the rank of full admiral in 1830. He died on 19 July 1832 and was buried at Charles Church, in Plymouth.