sent Lieut. Geo. Sayer, R.N.; and uncle of Lieut. Henry Belsey, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 27 Dec. 1779, as Midshipman, on board the Aurora 28, Capt. Jas. Cumming, with whom, after serving in the Channel, he removed to the Assurance and Confederate, hoth on the North American station. Joining next, in Oct. 1781, the Anson 64, Capts. Wm. Blair and Hon. John Rodney, he fought in that ship, and was wounded, in the famous action with the Comte de Grasse 12 April, 1782. He was subsequently employed, for seven years, on the Home and Halifax stations, the latter part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the Assistance 50, Commodore Sir Chas. Douglas, Scipio 64, Capt. Skeffington Lutwidge, Orion, Cumberland, and Arrogant 74’s, Capts. Sir Hyde Parker, John M‘Bride, and John Harvey, and Adamant 50, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Hughes. On the occasion of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 23 Aug. 1790, he obtained command of the Chatham armed schooner. In that vessel, in which he continued until Aug. 1793, he was engaged in protecting the trade and fisheries along the coast of Nova Scotia, in the Bay of Fundy, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and, in the winter-time, in conveying the mails between Halifax, Boston, and New York. This latter service had been deemed, from the severity of the weather, impracticable. In Dec. 1793 Mr. Sayer was appointed First-Lieutenant of the Charon 44, Capt. Geo. Countess, at whose particular request he was allowed to follow him, in a similar capacity, into the Pegasus 28, Daedalus 32, and Ethalion 38. In the Charon he bore a part in Lord Howe’s action, 1 June, 1794; in the Daedalus he visited the coasts of Africa and the West Indies, and was on board when nearly the whole of the officers and many of the crew were swept away by yellow fever; and in the Ethalion he assisted, while cruizing on the coast of Ireland, at the capture, 12 Oct. 1798, of the French 40-gun frigate La Bellone, after a sharp conflict and a trifling loss to the British.[1] He was placed in charge of the prize, and, as a reward for the bravery and zeal he had displayed, was promoted, 10 Nov. following, to the rank of Commander. His succeeding appointments were – in 1799, to the Royal Admiral troop-ship, in which he accompanied the expedition to the Helder – in 1800, to the Ulysses armée en flûte, on the Mediterranean station, where, in the following year, his Egyptian services procured him the Turkish gold medal – in Aug. 1803 (after 16 months of half-pay), to the Sea Fencibles on the coast of Kent – and, 1 Feb. 1809, to the Raleigh 18. In Feb. 1810 he captured, off Beachy Head, La Modeste French lugger privateer of 4 guns, pierced for 18, and 43 men. On 23 May following, being in company, off the Skawe, with the Alban and Princess of Wales cutters, he engaged seven Danish gun-vessels, one of which was blown up, and the others obliged to disperse, greatly damaged;[2] and on 2 Nov. in the same year he captured the Admiral Neil Suul Danish privateer schooner of 10 guns (pierced for 16) and 28 men, and retook a valuable American ship from St. Petersburg bound to London. Twelve days prior to the occurrence of the two last-mentioned events he had been advanced, 21 Oct. 1810, to Post-rank. His last appointment was to the Antelope 50, in which ship he served as Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral John Harvey in the West Indies from 22 Aug. 1815 until paid off in April, 1819. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 17 Feb. 1837.
Capt. Sayer married, in 1799, a daughter of Wm. Lawrence, Esq., Storekeeper of the Ordnance at Plymouth. His only surviving son, Wm. Lawrence Sayer, is a First-Lieutenant R.M. (1840). His two eldest died of yellow fever while serving with their father on board the Antelope.
SAYER. (Lieut., 1809. f-p., 13; h-p., 31.)
George Sayer is cousin of the late Capt. Geo. Sayer, R.N. He lost a brother under Sir John Moore at Corunna.
This officer entered the Navy, 11 Oct. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Cerberus 32, Capt. Wm. Selby, employed at first off Guernsey and then in the West Indies, where he was wounded by a musket-ball in the leg while serving as Midshipman in the boats under Lieut. Wm. Coote, and was highly extolled for his unsurpassable gallantry at the cutting-out, on the night of 2 Jan. 1807, of two of the enemy’s vessels, defended by a most tremendous fire from the batteries, near Pearl Rock, Martinique, which killed 2 men and wounded 10.[3] He was in consequence presented with a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund. After assisting at the reduction of the islands of Marie-Galante and Deseada he removed, in July, 1808, to the Audacious 74, Capts. Thos. Le Marchant Gosselin and Patrick Campbell; under the former of whom we find him escorting Sir John Moore’s army to the shores of Portugal and aiding, in Jan. 1809, at its embarkation at Corunna. In Oct. 1809, at which period he had been for six months employed in the Baltic in the Victory 100, flag-ship of Sir Jas. Saumarez, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Tartar 32, Capt. Joseph Baker. To that frigate he was confirmed 11 Nov. following; and he was subsequently appointed – 8 Sept. 1810 (six months after he had invalided from the Tartar) to the Bedford 74, Capt. Jas. Walker, also in the North Sea – 7 April, 1812, again to the Victory, in which ship he remained until the ensuing Dec. – 4 May and 30 Dec. 1813, to the Christian VII. 80 and Zealous 74, Capts. Ball, Boys, and Anderson, employed in the North Sea and Channel, and also on the coast of North America, whence he returned about Jan. 1815 – and, 4 April, 1824, to the Britannia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Jas. Saumarez at Plymouth. He has been on half-pay since April, 1825.
Lieut. Sayer married, 8 April, 1828, Roberta, daughter of the late Robt. Carwing, Esq., of Sandwich.
SAYER. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 16; h-p., 25.)
Robert Richard Sayer is son of the late Thos. Sayer, Esq., of the High Wood, co. Hereford.
This officer entered the Navy, in May, 1806, as a Volunteer, on board the Belleisle 74, Capt. Wm. Hargood, under whom he went in pursuit of Jerome Buonaparte to the coast of America, and witnessed, 14 Sept. following, the destruction, off Cape Henry, of the French 74-gun ship Impétueux. Being discharged from the Belleisle in Nov. 1806, he was next, from 6 Oct. 1808 until 25 July, 1817, employed on the East India station, as Midshipman, Master’s Mate, and Lieutenant, in the Cornelia 32, Capt. Henry Folkes Edgell, Caroline 36, Capt. Sir Christopher Cole, Modeste 36, Capt. Hon. Geo. Elliot, and Hecate 16 and Volage 22, Capts. Joseph Drury, Henry Warde (Acting), and John Reynolds. He assisted in the Cornelia at the capture of the Isle of France; in the Caroline, at the reductioa of Java; in the boats of the Modeste, at the capture of a Malay pirate; and in the Hecate, at the destruction of the piratical settlement of Sambas, in Borneo. He was created a Lieutenant, while serving in the Volage, 8 June, 1815. His last appointments were – in Dec. 1822, to the Jupiter 50 and Clio 18, Capts. Geo. Augustus Westphal and Chas. Strangways, both fitting out – 11 March and 23 June, 1823, and 21 Aug. 1825, to the Isis 50, Spartiate 76, and Wellesley 74, all commanded by Capt. Gordon Thos. Falcon, the two latter as flag-ships to Sir Geo. Eyre and Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy on the coast of South America and in an expedition to Lisbon – 18 July, 1828 (17 months after he had left the Wellesley), to the Victory 104, bearing the flag of Sir Robt. Stopford at Portsmouth, where he had charge for some time of the Speedy cutter – 17 Feb. 1829, as First, to the Seringapatam 46, Capt. Hon. Wm. Waldegrave, employed among the South Sea Islands – 14 Sept. 1830, to the acting-command, in consequence of the death of Capt. Arthur Batt Bingham, of the Thetis frigate – between the following Nov. and May, 1831,
