and Bedford and Audacious 74’s, all commanded by Capt. Davidge Gould. In the Cyclops he assisted at the reduction of Bastia in May, 1795; and in the Bedford he fought in Hotham’s actions 14 March and 13 July, 1795. On his return to England in 1796 as Master’s Mate in the Camel store-ship, Capt. Edw. Rotheram, he was received on board the Eurus 32, Capt. Jas. Ross, stationed in the North Sea; and on 24 Dec. in the same year he was made Lieutenant into the Serpent sloop, Capt. Rich. Buckoll. From 5 Jan. to 5 July, 1797, we find him employed on a second visit to the coast of Africa. During that period he aided in taking a felucca which had been despatched from Cadiz for the purpose of apprizing the South American trade of the commencement of hostilities between France and Spain. He afterwards cruized off Havre under the orders of Sir Rich. John Strachan, and contributed to the capture, among other vessels, of a French transport laden with naval stores. On 6 Jan. 1798 the Serpent again sailed for the coast of Africa; where, on the death of Capt. Buckoll in the following April, Mr. Roberts, who had been all along her First-Lieutenant, constituted himself his successor. As there was however a Commodore on the coast, the Admiralty did not consider the death vacancy properly filled, and therefore did not confirm it. After the remains of his late Commander had been interred at James Fort, Accra, Mr. Roberts collected a large and valuable fleet of merchantmen, chiefly bound to Surinam. He was the first officer, we are informed, who had ever conducted a convoy thither, two others having missed the land, while he, on the contrary, made it to a mile by lunar observations. After this he ran down to Jamaica, and there received from Sir Hyde Parker an order to act as Commander of the Serpent – an appointment which the Admiralty sanctioned 23 July, 1798. In the ensuing year Capt. Roberts, whose health had become much impaired, was sent home as whipper-in to a fleet of 113 West Indiamen, under the protection of the Regulus 44, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Rich. Rodney Bligh, who soon parted company in a storm, and was not seen by the Serpent until the third day after her arrival in the Downs. Eight or ten of the merchant-vessels also parted company when outside the windward passages; but all the others were kept together and conducted safely into port by Capt. Roberts, who had occasionally to chase away the enemy’s privateers. Continuing in the Serpent until Nov. 1801, he was actively employed until then in affording protection to the trade on the Irish station; where he once fell in with, and used every effort to get alongside of, a frigate-built privateer, pierced for 36 guns and apparently full of men, but was frustrated by the darkness of night and the superiority of sailing in the enemy. On the renewal of hostilities in 1803 Capt. Roberts was one of the first appointed to raise Sea Fencibles in Ireland; and he remained on that service until it was abolished in 1810. Unable afterwards to procure employment, he accepted, 10 Sept. 1840, the rank he now holds.
Capt. Roberts is Receiver of the Leper Hospital Estate in the co. and city of Waterford. He married, 25 June, 1804, Catherine, daughter of Major Jas. Hackett, of Tipperary, a gentleman who succeeded to an estate in that co. which had been upwards of 800 years in the family. He has issue 11 children, one of whom, Catherine, became the wife, in May, 1843, of Capt. Jonas Pasley Hardy, of the 68th Regt.
ROBERTS. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 12;[1] h-p., 32.)
William Roberts was born in Aug. 1782.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 April, 1803, as A.B., on board the Netley schooner, Lieut.-Commanders Lawrence, Rich. Harward, Wm. Autridge, Askew, and Wm. Carr. In the course of the same year the Netley assisted at the capture of Ste. Lucie, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berhice; in June, 1805, she was in escort of a convoy of 15 sail which fell into the hands of Admiral Villeneuve;[2] in 1806 she communicated to Capt. Kenneth M‘Kenzie of the Carysfort 28, at anchor off St. Christopher’s, information which prevented a fleet of between one and two hundred homeward-bound merchantmen from being taken or destroyed by an enemy’s squadron then almost in sight; and on 17 Dec. 1806 she was captured and taken into Guadeloupe by the French frigate Thétis and brig Sylphe. In Jan. 1807, having regained his liberty, Mr. Roberts, who had attained the rating of Midshipman, was again placed under the orders of Lieut. Carr on board the Netley brig, in which vessel he remained in the West Indies until reduced to the necessity of invaliding in June, 1808. In the two Netleys he saw much boat-service; as he subsequently did, while employed as Master’s Mate, between Dec. 1808 and Sept. 1814, on the Baltic and Mediterranean stations, in the Phoebe 36, Capts. Hassard Stackpoole and Jas. Hillyar, Vanguard 74, Capt. Henry Rich. Glynn, and Malta 80, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Benj. Hallowell. In the latter ship he was engaged in many operations on the coast of Catalonia; where he witnessed Sir John Moore’s investment of Tarragona and the evacuation of the Fort of St. Philippe in the Col de Balaguer. On leaving the Malta he became Acting-Lieutenant of the Alcmène 38, Capt. Jeremiah Coghlan; in which frigate, also stationed in the Mediterranean, he continued until 10 months after his official promotion 2 Feb. 1815. In May of that year he was present at the surrender of Naples. He has since had temporary command (he served from 13 Feb. to 6 Aug. 1838 in the Dasher) of various packets on the Falmouth station, and appears, in the whole, to have made as many as 15 voyages.
ROBERTS. (Retired Captain, 1845. f-p., 13; h-p., 37.)
William Pender Roberts is a distant relative of Lieut. Chas. Paynter, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 Oct. 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the St. Albans 64, Capt. Fras. Pender, in which ship we find him, until Dec. 1800, employed on the Halifax station. Between Sept. 1801 and Aug. 1807 he served at Home and off Cadiz in the Hercule 74, Capt. Wm. Luke, Diamond 38, Capt. Thos. Elphinstone, Salvador del Mundo, Capt. John Dilkes, Lively 38, Capt. Graham Eden Hamond, Plantagenet 74, Queen 98, Royal Sovereign 100, Ocean 98, and Queen again, all commanded by Capt. Pender, and Morgiana sloop, Capt. Wm. Landless. He was nominated Midshipman of the Hercule 2 Dec. 1801; was ordered to act as Lieutenant in the Queen about Aug. 1805; and was confirmed in the Ocean 5 Feb. 1806. He was present, we believe, in the Lively at the capture of three Spanish frigates laden with treasure, and the destruction of a fourth, off Cape St. Mary, 5 Oct. 1804. His appointments, after he left the Morgiana, were – 4 Sept. 1807, to the Talbot sloop, Capt. Hon. Alex. Jones, with whom he served on the coast of Portugal – and, 29 Feb. and 1 June, 1808, to the Courageux 74, Capt. Jas. Bissett, and Ariel sloop, Capts. Thos. White and Dan. Ross. In the latter vessel he served in the Baltic until advanced to the rank of Commander 21 March, 1812. Not having been further employed, he accepted his present rank 27 March, 1845.
Capt. Roberts, who is a Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Cornwall, was elected Mayor for Penryn in Sept. 1822. He married, in 1819, Harriet, second daughter of Capt. Rowland, of Penzance. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
