on board the Swiftsure 74, Capt. Wm. Geo. Rutherford, lying at Portsmouth. He joined next the Namur 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thos. Wells at the Nore; and, in the capacity of Midshipman, the Ariadne 20, Capt. Arthur Farquhar, and Bucephalus troop-ship, Capt. Chas. Pelly. In the latter vessel he accompanied the expeditious to the Walcheren and against the Isle of France. On leaving her he joined, as Master’s Mate, in Jan. 1811, the Barracouta 18, Capt. Wm. Fitzwilliam Owen; of which vessel, after assisting in the Illustrious 74, Commodore Wm. Robt. Broughton, at the reduction of Java, he was nominated, 1 Jan. 1812, Acting-Lieutenant. In the ensuing April (his commission bears date 9 of the month last mentioned) he went back to the Illustrious. He returned to England in Aug. 1813 with Capt. Barrington Reynolds in his former ship the Bucephalus; and was lastly, from Jan. 1814 until Dec. 1815, employed, on the North America and West India station, in the Newcastle 50, Capts. Lord Geo. Stuart and Sam. Roberts.
TYSSEN. (Lieutenant, 1832.)
John Tyssen passed his examination in 1831; and attained the rank of Lieutenant 30 March, 1832. His succeeding appointments were – 25 June, 1834, to the Tribune 24, Capt. Jas. Tomkinson, in the Mediterranean – 16 Dec. 1836, to the Stag 46, Capt. Thos. Ball Sulivan, fitting for South America – 18 Nov. 1839, to the command of the Sparrow ketch, on the same station, whence he returned in 1842 – and in 1843 and 1846 to that of the Montreal schooner and Mohawk steamer of 60 horse-power on Lakes Erie and Huron. He has been on half-pay since Aug. 1848.
TYTE. (Retired Commander, 1840. f-p., 14; h-p., 40.)
Robert William Tyte entered the Navy, 19 Feb. 1793, as Ordinary, on board the Iris 32, Capt. Geo. Lumsdaine; and on 13 May following was present in a severe action with the Citoyenne Française French frigate, productive of a loss to the British of 4 men killed and 32 wounded, and to the enemy of 15 killed and 37 wounded. From March, 1794, until transferred, in April, 1800, to the Tigre 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, he served, part of the time as Midshipman, in the Theseus 74, commanded, amongst others, by Capts. Robt. Calder, Herbert Browell, John Aylmer, and Ralph Willet Miller. In July, 1797, he accompanied (under the flag of Sir Horatio Nelson) the expedition to Teneriffe; and on 1 Aug. 1798 he was present at the battle of the Nile. In the Tigre he shared in Sir Sidney Smith’s operations in Egypt and assisted at the defence of St. Jean d’Acre. From 29 June until 7 Oct. 1801, he served off the latter place and again on the coast of Egypt, as Acting-Lieutenant and Commander, in La Dangereuse: he was confirmed a Lieutenant 22 April, 1802; and was afterwards employed – from 14 May, 1803, until 23 Sept. 1804, in command, off the coast of Kent and Suffolk, of gun-vessel No. 1 – from 25 May until 27 Sept. 1805, in the Romulus 36, Capt. Thos. Burton, off the Naze – and from 28 Sept. 1805 until 31 Aug. 1806, and from 6 Sept. 1811 until 7 June, 1814, in command of the Desperate gun-vessel and Glory, off Boulogne and in the river Medway. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 18 Dec. 1823; and placed on the list of Retired Commanders 30 June, 1840. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
U.
UMFREVILLE. (Commander, 1838. f-p., 35; h-p., 7.)
Samuel Charles Umfreville was born 8 June, 1794.
This officer entered the Navy, 10 Jan. 1805, as Sec.-cl. Boy, on board the Malta 84, Capts. Edw. Buller and Wm. Shields; and on 22 July following was present in Sir Robert Calder’s action with the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Finisterre. He sailed afterwards for the Mediterranean; where he served, chiefly at the blockade of Toulon, until transferred, in Aug. 1808, as Midshipman (a rating he had attained in Aug. 1806) to the Montagu 74, Capts. Rich. Hussey Moubray and John Halliday. While in that ship he was frequently engaged in boat-skirmishes with the enemy, and was afforded an opportunity of assisting, in April, 1810, at the reduction of Santa Maura. On his return to England in May, 1811, he joined, as a Supernumerary, the Aquilon 32, Capt. Wm. Bowles, at Sheerness; he passed his examination in the ensuing July; and in Sept. of the same year he was received on board the Amelia of 48 guns, Capt. Hon. Fred. Paul Irby. Proceeding in her, as Master’s Mate, to the coast of Africa, he there, in July, 1812, witnessed the destruction of the town of Winnebah; the natives at which place had treacherously seized and murdered the governor of a fort, by which they had been often themselves protected, and which the British simultaneously demolished. On 7 Feb. 1813, at 7h. 45m. p.m., being off the Iles de Los, the Amelia, with an emaciated crew on board of 300 men, came to close action with a French frigate, L’Aréthuse,[1] of 44 guns (24-pounders on her maindeck) and 340 men in the full vigour of health; and maintained it with an interval until 11h. 21m.; when the combatants separated, the enemy with a loss of 105 men killed and wounded, the British of 141 killed and wounded. After the conflict had been raging for about two hours, Capt. Irby having been obliged by a severe wound in the elbow to quit the deck, the First and Second Lieutenants being killed, and the crew falling fast, it was recommended by the Master and the Third-Lieutenant, as the Amelia’s fire too had at the moment ceased, that her colours should be hauled down. Scarcely had this suggestion been made to the Captain, when the Third-Lieutenant, in ascending the quarter-deck ladder, was himself added to the number of the slain. Just then Capt. Irby, with his arm in a sling, came on deck, and mentioned the advice he had received – advice which was at the same time repeated by the Master, who stated that a fresh ship was in sight, coming up on the Amelia’s lee-quarter, and that a renewal of the fight would but involve a useless sacrifice of life. At this juncture Mr. Umfreville, stepping forward, promised that, if the Captain would allow him again to man the guns and resume the action, the ship should never strike, but “should go down first.” Being told by Capt. Irby to do his best, he set to work accordingly, and had the honour of fighting L’Aréthuse for upwards of an hour, until indeed, at the time above stated, the enemy, in the words of the official letter, “bore up.” Although he was thus the means of supporting the credit of the British flag, and of preserving to the Navy one of its finest frigates,[2] Mr. Umfreville’s gallant conduct was not, that we are aware (and as it assuredly ought to have been), reported; nor was he alluded to, in his Captain’s narrative, in other terms than as a “deserving and valuable officer.”[3] He continued in command, as Acting-Lieutenant, of the Amelia (deducting a few days that it was held by Lieut. Reeve, an officer invalided from the Kangaroo sloop) until she arrived at Spithead 22 March, 1813. On 25 of that month, as he had been the only passed Midshipman in the action, he was officially promoted. His next appointment was, 14 March, 1814, to the Fly 16, Capts. Sir Wm. Geo. Parker and John Baldwin; in which vessel we find him, 18 July, 1815, present, in company with a squadron under the orders of Capt. Chas. Malcolm, at the cutting-out, from the harbour of Corrijou, near Abervrach, on the coast of Bretagne, of an armed cutter, a praam brig, and a gun-vessel, together
