A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Reynolds, William

1900072A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Reynolds, WilliamWilliam Richard O'Byrne

REYNOLDS. (Lieut., 1812. f-p., 13; h-p., 30.)

William Reynolds entered the Navy, 19 May, 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Amelia frigate, Capt. Lord Proby, and sailed soon afterwards for the West Indies. In the following Oct. he joined the Centaur 74, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Sam. Hood, under whom (deducting a few weeks passed in the summer of 1811 on board the Tigre 74, Capt. Benj. Hallowell) he continued employed in the Hibernia 120 and Illustrious 74, on the Home, Baltic, and East India stations, until made Lieutenant, 16 April, 1812, into the Modeste 36, Capt. Hon. Geo. Elliot. While attached to the Centaur he assisted, in company with the Maes and Monarch 74’s, at the capture, 25 Sept. 1806, of four heavy French frigates from Rochefort, on which occasion Sir S. Hood lost his arm. He also, in Aug. and Sept. 1807, accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen – beheld, in Dec. of the same year, the surrender of Madeira – aided, in conjunction with the Implacable 74, at the taking, 26 Aug. 1808, in sight of the whole Russian fleet near Rogerswick, of the 74-gun ship Sewolod, at the close of a furious conflict, in which the Centaur lost 3 killed and 27 wounded, and the enemy 180 killed and wounded – and took part, in Aug. 1809, in the attack upon Walcheren. In Aug. 1812 Lieut. Reynolds rejoined the Illustrious, and from 8 of the following month until 1 Oct. 1816 he was further employed in the East Indies on board the Volage 22, Capts. Hon. Donald Hugh Mackay, Sam. Leslie John Allen, and Joseph Drury, and, as First-Lieutenant, in the Acorn 20, Capt. Joseph Prior. In the Volage he contributed, in 1813, to the capture of the piratical settlement of Sambas, in Borneo and assisted in the operations which led to the restoration of the Sultan of Palembang. Since he left the Acorn he has been on half-pay. Agent – J. Hinxman.