Sam. Pym and Sir Michael Seymour in the Hannibal 74, on the coast of France; and a second time with Sir P. Malcolm in the Royal Oak, and, as Flag-Lieutenant, in the Tartarus 20 and Newcastle 60, on the coast of North America, in the Scheldt, and at St. Helena. In the Donegal he was present, 15 Nov. 1810, in an attack made on two French frigates, the Amazone and Eliza as they lay aground under the protection of several strong batteries in the neighbourhood of Cherbourg; and in the Royal Oak he accompanied the expedition against New Orleans. While at St. Helena in the Newcastle he was nominated, 20 Sept. 1816, Acting-Commander of the Griffon sloop; which vessel he paid off 12 Sept. 1818. Since that period he has not been afloat. His commission as Commander bears date 20 Aug. 1817. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
WROOT. (Commander, 1827. f-p., 23; h-p., 24.)
Michael Milsom Wroot was born at Whitgift, near Howden, co. York.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 March, 1800, as Midshipman, on board the Requin brig, Lieut.-Commanders Fred. Thesiger and Sam. Fowell; and in the early part of 1801 was wrecked on a sunken rock in Quiberon Bay. He served during the next 18 months in the Channel and West Indies in the Magnificent 74, Capts. Philip Turner Bover and John Giffard; in Feb. and Dec. 1803, and May, 1807, he joined in succession, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, the Ranger sloop, Capt. Chas. Coote, Terrible 74, Capt. Lord Henry Paulet, and Ocean 98, flag-ship of Lord Collingwood; and from 19 June in the year last mentioned until June, 1810, he was again employed in the Terrible, as Acting-Lieutenant and Lieutenant, commission dated 21 Nov. 1807. His subsequent appointments were – 34 Sept. 1810, to the Zephyr sloop, Capts. Fras. Geo. Dickins and Thos. Cuthbert Hichens, in the Downs – 22 Feb. and 3 March, 1812, to the Hannibal and Royal Oak 74’s, flag-ships of Rear-Admirals Lord Amelius Beauclerk and Pulteney Malcolm on the Home and North American stations – 30 Dec. 1815, after six months of half-pay, to the Active 46, Capt. Philip Carteret, in the West Indies, whence he returned in Dec. 1816 – 29 May, 1818, for about three years, to the Superb 78, Capts. Chas. Ekins and Thos. White, with the latter of whom he sailed, under the broad pendant of Sir Thos. Masterman Hardy, for the coast of Brazil – 12 Dec. 1823, to the Bulwark 76, Capt. Thos. Dundas, at Plymouth – and next, to the Blanche 46 and Ocean 80, as Flag-Lieutenant to Lord Amelius Beauclerk, whom he accompanied to the coast of Portugal. While in the Royal Oak he witnessed the operations against Washington, Baltimore, and Alexandria. Previously, too, to sharing in the attack upon New Orleans, where he served on shore with the naval brigade under Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge,[1] he took command of her boats and, in unison with those of a squadron under the orders of Capt. Nicholas Lockyer, assisted, 14 Dec. 1814, at the capture, on Lake Borgne, of a flotilla of five American gun-vessels under Commodore Jones, whose resistance was protracted until the British had sustained a loss of 17 men killed and 77 wounded. On 11 May, 1827, being then at Lisbon, he was promoted to the rank of Commander into the Spartiate 76, Capt. Fred. Warren; and at the commencement of the following July he was appointed Governor of the forts at the entrance of the Tagus, garrisoned by British marines, the duties attached to which office he continued to discharge until the presence of the army under Lieut.-General Sir W. H. Clinton, sent out to protect Portugal from invasion, was no longer requisite. He returned home in the Spartiate in May, 1828; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Wroot married, in 1832, Harriet, daughter of the late Capt. John Wentworth Holland, R.N.
WYATT. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 13; h-p., 31.)
Henry Benjamin Wyatt, born 15 Nov. 1786, at Blackbrook, in the parish of Weeford, co. Stafford, is fourth son of the late Benj. Wyatt, Esq., of Lime Grove, near Bangor, Carnarvonshire; and brother of Capt. S. Wyatt, of the Royal Artillery. His father was elder brother of Jas. Wyatt, Surveyor-General of the Board of Works and private Architect to George III.; and uncle of the late Sir Jeffry Wyatville.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 April, 1803, as Midshipman, on board the Unicorn 32, Capt. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman. After escorting convoy to and from Elsineure, cruizing for some time off the coast of Norway, and assisting at the blockade of the Dutch fleet in the Texel, he sailed, in Dec. 1804, with another convoy for the West Indies. On 26 May, 1805, he served in one of four boats, under the command of Lieut. Henry Smith Wilson, at the capture, after a pull of many hours, and in the face of a strong opposition, of the Tape-à-bord French privateer, mounting 4 6-pounder8, with a complement of 46 well-armed men. In the following Oct. he aided in making prize, near Bermuda, of a Spanish letter-of-marque; and when off French Guyana in April, 1806, he was often, again in the boats, engaged in pursuing the enemy’s vessels under a fire from their batteries. In May of the latter year the Unicorn was ordered home in company with the Amelia, Princess Charlotte, and Pheasant, and a merchant-fleet consisting of 91 sail; the whole of which were anchored in safety at Plymouth in the following July. During the passage the British had encountered four French frigates; but these the men-of-war had succeeded in putting to flight. In Jan. 1807 we find Mr. Wyatt, then in the Rio de la Plata, employed with the boats in protecting the debarkation of the troops previously to the attack upon Monte Video. On the day on which that city was stormed he was in command of the ship’s launch. After Lieut.-General Whitelock’s unfortunate attempt upon Buenos Ayres he returned to England. He went subsequently to Madeira in pursuit of a French squadron from Rochefort, and thence again accompanied convoy to the West Indies. He took part also in a variety of boat-operations on the north coast of Spain, assisted in embarking the army after the battle of Corunna, was present, 4 April, 1809, in a severe encounter with the enemy’s flotilla near Oléron, in which a Lieutenant and one man were killed, and witnessed the celebrated attack made by Lord Cochrane on the French shipping in Aix Roads. He left the Unicorn at sea 25 May, 1809; passed his examination 7 June following; was made Lieutenant, 3 July in the same year, into the Magnet 14, Capt. John Smith (a), part of the force employed in the expedition to the Walcheren; and was afterwards, 20 March, 1810, and 6 March and 18 Dec. 1811, appointed to the Ruby 64, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Manley Dixon in the Baltic, and Tremendous and Audacious 74’s, Capts. Robt. Campbell and Thos. Baker. While in the Ruby he was often in action with the Danish gun-boats in the Baltic; on one occasion he cut out, in her gig, a merchant-vessel under a heavy fire from the batteries at Bornholm. In the Cumberland, which ship he left in Aug. 1815, he was employed in the Channel, the West Indies, and North Sea, and at the Cape of Good Hope. He was promoted to the rank he now holds 18 Sept. in the year last mentioned; and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Wyatt married, 25 Aug. 1836, Miss Bennett, of Appley, near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight; and has issue two daughters.
WYBERGH. (Commander, 1824. f-p., 12; h-p., 29.)
Peter Wybergh was born in 1794, and died about the commencement of 1849. He was sixth and youngest son of the late Thos. Wybergh, Esq., of Clifton Hall, co. Westmoreland, by Isabella, eldest daughter of John Hartley, Esq., of Whitehaven. The ancient family of which he was a member
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1815, p. 451, where every praise is declared to be his due.
