Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, and, 13 Nov. 1821, to the charge of a station in the Coast Guard. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
SKEKEL. (Captain, 1825. f-p., 21; h-p. 31.)
John Skekel was born in March, 1779, at Mortlake, co. Banff.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 Dec. 1795, as A.B., on board the Thisbe 28, Capt. John Okes Hardy, with whom he served until the end of 1802, at Halifax and on the Home station, in the same vessel, and as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Assistance 50, St. Albans 64, and Achille 74. On the breaking out of the war in 1803 he sailed with Capt. Hardy in the Courageux 74, for the West Indies, where, in June of the same year, he acted as Lieutenant at the reduction of Ste. Lucie. Being confirmed, 21 Feb. 1804, into the Pandora 44, Capt. John Nash, he accompanied the expedition against Surinam; and was actively employed during the operations which preceded the surrender of that colony with the flotilla in the Commewyne river. He had been previously, in the boats, engaged in preventing supplies from being thrown into Martinique; and had been, 13 March, present at the cutting out, close to Pearl Rock, of the Mosambique privateer of 10 18-pounder carronades. His appointments, after he left the Pandora, were – 15 Oct. 1804, to the Hero 74, Capt. Hon. Alan Hyde Gardner, under whom he fought in Sir Robt. Calder’s action, was wounded in Sir Rich. Strachan’s[1] (for which he received a donation from the Patriotic Society), and witnessed the capture, 13 March, 1806, of the Marengo 80, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule – 23 May, 1807, to the Ville de Paris 110, flag-ship of Lord Gardner in the Channel – 2 June, 1808, to the Bellerophon 74, bearing the flag at first of Hon. A. H. Gardner in the Channel, and commanded next by Capt. Sam. Warren as a private ship on the Baltic station, where, in common with the others employed, he received the approbation of the Admiralty for his conduct in the boats of a squadron at the brilliant cutting out, off Percola Point, 7 July, 1809, of the Russian gun-boats alluded to in our memoir of Capt. Chas. Allen[2] – and 23 July, 1810, and 11 April, 1811, to the Formidable 98, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, and Dictator 64, Capt. Williams, also in the Baltic. On 28 June, 1811, he was confirmed a Commander (a fortnight after he had been ordered to act as such) in the Fly sloop of 16 guns; from which vessel he exchanged soon afterwards into the Gluckstadt 18. In her he was overtaken on his passage home with convoy by a violent storm; and, to avoid foundering, he was obliged to part with all his guns. The Gluckstadt being paid off in Nov. 1811, he was next appointed – 26 Aug. 1812, to the Bold 14, fitting for the North American station, where he was wrecked during a strong north-east gale, near the north end of Prince Edward’s Island, while proceeding with convoy up the St. Lawrence, 27 Sept. 1813 – 7 June, 1814, to the Plover 18, employed until Nov. 1816 on the Newfoundland station – and 30 May, 1823, to the Ordinary at Plymouth. He attained Post-rank 27 May, 1825; and accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Skekel married, in July, 1835, Louisa Madalina Hughes, of York Street, Portman Square, London.
SKENE. (Lieut., 1820. f-p., 12; h-p., 27.)
Alexander Motz Skene entered the Navy, 9 Jan. 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Guerrière 40, Capt. Alex. Skene, under whom he was for two years employed in that frigate and in the Hussar 38, on the West India, Halifax, and Home stations. He was present, in the Hussar, in the expedition to the Walcheren. After serving for nine months In the Implacable 74, Capt. Geo. Cockburn, in which ship he made a voyage to Vera Cruz and assisted at the defence of Cadiz, he returned home with the latter officer in the spring of 1811 in the Druid 32. In Jan. 1812 he entered the Royal Naval College; on leaving that institution in Sept. 1814 he became in succession attached to the Prince 98, Capt. Geo. Fowke, Iphigenia 42, Capt. Andrew King, Ruby 64, Capt. Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, and Albion and Northumberland 74’s, flag-ships of Sir Geo. Cockburn. In the Northumberland he escorted Napoleon Buonaparte to St. Helena. On his return he was received on board the Bulwark 74, bearing the flag of Sir Chas. Rowley in the river Medway; and he was next, from Sept. 1816 until promoted to his present rank, 26 Dec. 1820, employed in the Surly 10, Lieut.-Commander John Hill, Ramillies 74, flag-ship at Leith of Sir Wm. Johnstone Hope, Isabella hired sloop, Capt. John Ross, Bulwark again, Capt. Sam. Warren, and Griper brig, Lieut.-Commander Matthew Liddon. He has since been on half-pay. He left England, in 1818, in the Isabella, for the purpose of exploring Baffin Bay and of inquiring into the probability of a North-West Passage; and in the Griper he accompanied the present Sir Wm. Edw. Parry in 1819 on another voyage of discovery to the Polar regions. The expedition having on that occasion penetrated to long. 113° 54' 43", within the Arctic Circle, he became thereby entitled to a portion of a Parliamentary reward of 5000l. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.
SKENE. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 30.)
James Skene entered the Navy, in 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Favourite 18, Capt. Nairne, lying at Sheerness; and in 1808 joined the Puissant 74, Capt. Irvine, at Spithead. After cruizing in the West Indies and on the coast of North America in the Guerrière 40, Capt. Alex. Skene, he followed that officer in 1809 into the Hussar 38, and in the course of the same year accompanied, as Midshipman, the expedition to the Walcheren. From 1810 until 1812 he served, chiefly on the Home station, in the Seine 36, Capts. David Atkins and John Hatley, and Inconstant 36, Capt. Edw. W. C. R. Owen. He was then employed for upwards of a year and a half in the Minden and Illustrious 74’s, flag-ships (both commanded by Capt. A. Skene) of Sir Sam. Hood in the East Indies; on his return whence we find him serving for a year under Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane in the Asia 74 and Tonnant 80, on the North American station. While there he was very actively employed against the enemy. in the boats and on shore, and was present in the attack upon New Orleans. On 27 March, 1815 (the day after he had passed his examination), he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Wolverene 16, Capt. Geo. Guy Burton; and while in that vessel, in which he continued until the following Aug., he was officially promoted to a commission bearing date 25 April in the same year. His last appointments were – 19 Sept. 1822 and 18 Jan. 1823 to the Impregnable 104 and Britannia 120, both commanded by Capt. Skene, and each bearing the flag of Sir A. Cochrane at Plymouth. He has been on half-pay since April, 1824. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
SKENE, formerly Smith. (Commander, 1846.)
John McDowall Skene is son of Capt. John Skene, R.N., C.B. (1813), who acted as Master of the Egmont 74, Capt. John Sutton, in the action off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797, was First-Lieutenant of the Africa 64, Capt. Henry Digby, at the battle of Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805, commanded the Beagle sloop at the reduction of St. Sebastian in 1813, and died in 1833 at Bin Rook, Cardy, Forfar, N.B. Commander Skene, whose father’s name was originally Smith, assumed his present surname on inheriting property in Scotland in 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 Nov. 1825, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Ganges 74, Capt. Patrick Campbell, lying at Portsmouth. Removing with Capt. Campbell in March, 1827, to the Ocean 80, he sailed in that ship in Feb. 1828 for Lisbon in escort
