Annotation:Commodore Howe's Ramble
COMMODORE HOWE'S RAMBLE. English, Country Dance Tune and Jig. G Major ('A' part) & B Flat Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody first appeared in John Hinton's Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure (London, 1758), followed by its printing by R. Baldwin in London Magazine, or The Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer (London, April, 1759, p. 213). The title probably refers to an action in the Seven Years War when, in 1758, a British expedition commanded by Commodore Howe of the Royal Navy and General Bligh of the army, attacked Cherbourg, an important seaport in northwestern France. Disembarking troops, the British destroyed the harbor, the protecting forts, and many of the French ships. Not finished, the British proceeded south along the French coast to St. Cast, with troops set ashore near St. Malo in Brittany, south of Cherbourg. It was there that they French under the Duc d'Aiguillon met them with a countering force of 15,000 troops, forcing the British to withdraw. There was a sharp rearguard action by 1,500 men under General Dury, during which he was wounded. Dury drowned trying to swim towards his ship.
