When St. Vincent's health was restored in the following year he took the command of the Channel fleet, into which he introduced his own rigid system of discipline to the bitter anger of the captains. But his method was fully justified by the fact that he was able to maintain the blockade of Brest for 121 days with his fleet. In 1801 he became first lord and held the office till Pitt returned to power in 1803. His administration is famous in the history of the navy, for he now applied himself to the very necessary task of reforming the corruptions of the dockyards.
Naturally he was fiercely attacked in and out of parliament. His peremptory character led him to do the right thing with the maximum of dictation at Whitehall as on the quarter-deck of his flagship. He also gave an opening to his critics by devoting himself so wholly to the reform of the dockyards that he neglected the preparation of the fleet for war. He would not recognize the possibility that the peace of Amiens would not last. Pitt made himself the mouthpiece of St. Vincent's enemies, mainly because he considered him as a dangerous member of the party which was weakening the position of England in the face of Napoleon. When Pitt's second ministry was formed in 1803, St. Vincent refused to take the command of the Channel fleet at his request. Af ter Pitt's death he resumed the duty with the temporary rank of admiral of the fleet in 1806, but held it only till the following year. After 1810 he retired to his house at Rochetts in Essex.
The rank of admiral of the fleet was conferred on him in 1821 on the coronation of George IV., and he died on March 14, 1823. Lord St. Vincent married his cousin Martha Parker, who died childless in 1816. There is a monument to him in St. Paul's Cathedral, and portraits of him at different periods of his life are numerous. The earldom granted to Jervis became extinct on his. death, but a viscounty, created for him in i8o1, passed by special remainder to Edward Jervis Ricketts (1767-1857), the second son of his sister Mary who had married William Henry Ricketts, of Longwood, Hampshire. The 2nd viscount took the name of Jervis, and the title is still held by his descendants. (D. H.) The Life by J. S. Tucker (2 vols.), whose father had been the admiral's secretary (marred by excessive eulogy). See W. N. Anson, Life of John Jervis, Admiral Lord St. Vincent (1913) ; also W. L. Clowes, The Royal Navy . . . vol. iv. The life by Captain Brenton is rather inaccurate. The Naval Career of Admiral John Markham contains an account of the reforms in the navy. His administrations produced a swarm of pamphlets. Many mentions of him will be found in the correspondence of Nelson.