A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Frankling, Felix

1719186A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Frankling, FelixWilliam Richard O'Byrne

FRANKLING. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 21; h-p., 33.)

Felix Frankling entered the Navy, 14 Aug. 1793, as A.B., on board the Falcon sloop, Capt. Jas. Bissett, of which vessel, stationed in the Channel and North Sea, he became Midshipman 17 Dec. following. After serving for some time off Newfoundland, as Midshipman of the Active 38, Capt. Thos. Wolley, he accompanied that officer, as Master’s Mate of the Arethusa 38, to the West Indies; where he appears to have assisted at the reduction of Ste. Lucie in May, 1796, also in quelling an insurrection among the inhabitants of St. Vincent and Grenada, and at the capture of Trinidad in 1797. On 10 Aug. in the latter year he further aided in taking La Gaieté corvette, of 20 guns. He obtained a Lieutenancy, 1 March, 1800, in the Tromp armée en flûte, Capt. Terence O’Neill, which vessel he subsequently commanded for a short time as a prison-ship at one of the Leeward islands. At the commencement of the peace of Amiens we find him serving in the Hornet, Capt. John Nash. He next held an appointment for 10 months in the Sea Fencibles at Southampton; was then employed from May, 1804, to Nov. 1807, on board the Amelia and Thalia frigates, Capts. Lord Proby and Jas. Walker, in the West Indies, East Indies, and North America; and, on the date last mentioned, assumed command of a Signal station, which he retained until 16 March, 1816. Having been on half-pay since that period, he at length accepted the rank of Retired Commander, on the Junior List, 7 Jan. 1833. His promotion to the Senior List took place 2 Sept. 1844.

Commander Frankling has a daughter married to Chas. Stark, Esq., Mathematical Instructor in H.M.S. Excellent.