In January 1787, a young naval lieutenant named Edward Pellew made a choice that would define his character forever. While a prison ship sank in Plymouth Harbor with hundreds of convicts chained below deck, every sailor abandoned ship—except one. Pellew dove into the freezing water again and again, smashing chains with an axe, saving lives that society had already condemned. This wasn’t his duty. There were no medals waiting. Just a choice between walking away or risking everything for people the world had forgotten.
This is the untold story of Admiral Edward Pellew, First Viscount Exmouth—the man his fellow officers called the most naturally gifted seaman who ever lived, yet whose name has been almost completely erased from history. While Nelson became a legend, Pellew quietly revolutionized naval warfare, won dozens of impossible battles, and commanded the most successful ships in the Royal Navy.
In this deep-dive documentary, discover how a younger son from a struggling Cornish family became one of Britain’s greatest admirals through sheer skill and moral courage. From his legendary frigate duels in the 1790s, where he perfected tactics that would define naval warfare for generations, to the night he attacked a 74-gun ship of the line with just two frigates and won—Pellew’s career reads like an adventure novel, except every word is true.
But his greatest achievement came at age 59, when most men were retired. In 1816, the British government sent Pellew to end the centuries-old Barbary slave trade that had enslaved hundreds of thousands of Europeans. When diplomacy failed, Pellew did the impossible: he took his fleet into the heavily-fortified harbor of Algiers and bombarded the city for nine hours straight in one of the most intense naval actions ever fought. The result? Over 3,000 enslaved people walked free, and the Barbary slave trade ended forever.
This is the story of brilliant seamanship, humanitarian courage, and tactical genius. This is the story of the admiral who changed naval warfare but was forgotten by history. Until now.
Welcome to British History. This is the Edward Pellew story you never knew you needed to hear.
KEY TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – The Prison Ship Rescue: How Pellew Became a Legend (1787)
18:45 – The Night He Defeated a Ship of the Line: The Droits de l’Homme Battle (1797)
42:30 – Planning the Impossible: Preparing to Attack Algiers (1816)
56:12 – Nine Hours of Hell: The Bombardment That Freed 3,000 Slaves
Credit to : British History