A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Steele, Elmes
STEELE. (Retired Commander, 1838. f-p., 13; h-p., 36.)
Elmes Steele entered the Navy, in March, 1798, as A.B., on board the Triton 32, Capt. John Gore, under whom, after visiting the Mediterranean, he assisted, 18 Oct. 1799, at the capture, off Cape Finisterre, of the Santa Brigida Spanish frigate of 36 guns and 300 men, laden with treasure to an enormous amount. In the course of 180O he became Midshipman of the Cambridge 74, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Pasley at Plymouth, and Atlas 98, Capt. Theophilus Jones, attached to the Channel fleet; and in Hov. 1802, having left the Atlas in the preceding May, he was nominated Master’s Mate of the Caroline 36, Capt. Benj. Wm. Page. During the passage of that ship to the East Indies he was placed on board a prize and sent home. On his arrival he joined the Castor 32, Capt. Edw. Brace, stationed in the Downs. He was nominated, early in 1805, Acting-Lieutenant of the Aimable 32, Capt. Wm. Bolton; was officially promoted 26 March in that year; and between Aug. following and Dec. 1812 was employed on the coast of North America, off Boulogne and the north coast of Spain, and in the North Sea and Mediterranean, in the Mercury 28, Capt. Chas. Pelly, Leopard 50, Capt. Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, Glommen sloop, Capt. Chas. Pickford, Arethusa 38, Capt. Robt. Mends, Horatio 38, Capt. John Chas. Woolcombe, Menelaus 38, Capt. Sir Peter Parker, and Barfleur 98, Capt. Sir Edw. Berry. He was on board the Leopard, we believe, when she compelled, 22 June, 1807, the U.S. frigate Chesapeake to surrender, after an engagement occasioned by a refusal on the part of the latter to permit the British to search her for deserters. On 20 March, 1809, a party of seamen under the orders of Lieut. Steele, who was then serving in the Arethusa, destroyed the guns at Baignio, a place on the coast of France, and captured a vessel there laden with Merino wool;[1] while Lieut. Fennel, of the Royal Marines, accompanied by Mr. Elliott, the Purser, and a boat’s crew, ascended a mountain and destroyed the signal-posts. He accepted his present rank 25 April, 1838. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 584.