160
CAIGER—CALDECOT.
Protector surveying-vessel, Capt. Wm. Hewett, Donegal 76, Capt. Sir Jahleel Brenton, Hermes steam-packet, Lieut.-Commander Andrew Kennedy, Gloucester again, Capt. Henry Coffin, and Messenger steam-packet, Lieut.-Commander Benj. Aplin. Having passed his examination, 3 Aug. 1831, he was soon afterwards appointed Mate of the Flamer, another steam-packet, Lieut.-Commander Richard Bastard, with whom he served, also in the Mediterranean, until Jan. 1834. In Oct. following he joined the Excellent, Capt. Thos. Hastings, gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, where his professional attainments, after the usual course of study, were acknowledged by a first-class certificate. He next served for upwards of two years as Gunnery-Mate of the Asia 84, Capt. Wm. Fisher, again in the Mediterranean, and, on 28 June, 1838, was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant. His following appointments were – 17 Oct. 1838, as Gunnery-Lieutenant, to the Excellent – 9 May, 1839, to the Blenheim 72, Capt. Sir Humphrey Le Fleming Senhouse, in the Channel – 10 Aug. 1839, to the Excellent again – and, 2 Oct. 1841, to the Queen 110, fitting for the flag of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen. In honour of Her Majesty’s visit to the latter ship, previously to her final departure for the Mediterranean, Commander Caffin was advanced to the rank he now holds, 7 March, 1842. He has been in command, since 26 Nov. 1845, of the Scourge steam-sloop, attached to the Channel squadron.
Commander Caffin (who was a student at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth from May to Dec. 1842) is the officer who was nominated by the Admiralty to act as Joint Commissioner with Lieut.-Col. Chalmer, R.A., in the investigation of Capt. Warner’s celebrated “Long Range” and “Invisible Shells.” In Feb. 1845, he was, in conjunction with Capts. Henry John Codrington and John Robb, sent out in the Black Eagle on an experimental cruize with the royal steam-yacht Victoria and Albert and Rattler (screw) steamer, for the purpose of reporting on the capabilities of those vessels. He married, 21 Sept. 1843, Fanny Brouncker, youngest daughter of Wm. Atfield, Esq., of Cosham House, Hants, by whom he has issue one son.
CAIGER. (Commander, 1827. f-p.,17; h-p., 30.)
Herbert Caiger was born 15 Sept. 1786.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 Aug. 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hind 28, Capt. Joseph Larcom, from which ship, after serving for some time in the West Indies and North America, and attending the expedition to Egypt in 1801, he was paid off, 23 Sept. 1802. He then, with Rear-Admiral Collingwood, joined in succession, as Midshipman, the Venerable, Colossus, and Culloden 74’s, and Prince 98, employed at the blockade of Brest; and, on returning to the Venerable, Capt. John Hunter, suffered shipwreck, in Torbay, on the night of 24 Nov. 1804. After that event Mr. Caiger became attached, as Master’s Mate, to the Isis 50, flagship, at Newfoundland, of his friend Sir Erasmus Gower, by whom he was promoted, immediately after passing his examination, to the rank of Lieutenant, as a reward for general good conduct, 13 Dec. 1806. We soon afterwards find him appointed, 4 Feb. 1807, to the Crocodile 22, Capt. Geo. Edm. Byron Bettesworth, stationed at Quebec, and 2 Feb. 1808, under the same officer, to the Tartar 32. On the death of Capt. Bettesworth, who was killed, 15 May following, at the commencement of a severe action, which lasted for an hour and a half, between the Tartar, who lay becalmed in the midst of a narrow rocky strait, off Bergen, on the coast of Norway, and a Danish flotilla, consisting of an armed schooner and five Danish gun-boats, the command devolved upon Lieut. Caiger, who ultimately succeeded in rescuing the ship from her critical position, and conducting her, although much cut up, into the open sea, after sinking one of the enemy’s vessels and routing the remainder. While subsequently serving with Capt. Joseph Baker, he was very actively engaged in affording protection to the convoys passing through the Belt, and, independently of the capture of several merchantmen, assisted in taking, 3 Nov. 1808, the Danish privateer Naargske Gutten, of 7 guns and 36 men. On 25 Aug. 1809, Mr. Caiger was appointed First-Lieutenant of the Unicorn 32, Capts. Alex. Robt. Kerr, Geo. Burgoyne Salt, and Sam. Geo. Pechell, with whom, severally, he continued, until paid off, 6 Oct. 1814. During that period he was much employed In preventing supplies for the French fleet in Brest being sent alongshore from Bordeaux. He contributed also, in Feb. and April, 1810, and March and April, 1813, to the capture of Le Gascon privateer, of 16 guns and 113 men, L’Esperance (formerly H.M. 22-gun ship Laurel), La Miquelonnaise privateer, of 18 guns and 130 men, and the Hebe, American letter-of-marque (formerly H.M. schooner Laura), of 2 guns and 15 men; took, on one occasion, in command of the boats, with the loss of 2 men killed, a large brig, which had taken shelter under the batteries of Belleisle; was likewise employed on the north coast of Spain in aid of the patriots, as well as in the blockade of the Texel and along the shores of Norway; and was lastly engaged in conveying different branches of the Royal Family to and from the Continent. Lieut. Caiger’s next appointment was, 21 Aug. 1824, as Senior, to the Atholl 28, Capt. Jas. Arthur Murray, under whom he appears to have released, on the western coast of Africa, many hundreds of the natives from bondage, and, after serving at Rangoon during the close of the Burmese War, to have aided in the suppression of piracy on the eastern coast of Africa. On his return to Portsmouth in Oct. 1827, he found that he had been at length promoted to the rank of Commander, by commission dated 11 May, 1827, and appointed to the Java 52, flag-ship in the East Indies, which, however, in consequence of the Atholl’s early departure from that station, he never joined. He has since been on half-pay.
CALDECOT. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 14; h-p., 25.)
Charles Caldecot is second son of the late Thos. Caldecot, Esq., of Hollow Lodge, co. Lincoln.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 July, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Repulse 74, Capts. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge and John Halliday, under the former of whom he attended the expedition to the Walcheren in Aug. 1809, and, under the latter, aided, as Midshipman, in gallantly driving back to the Road of Toulon the three French frigates Pomone, Pénélope, and Adrienne, when in pursuit of the British 18-gun brig-sloop Philomel, 30 Aug. 1810. He removed with Capt. Halliday, in Feb. 1811, to the Montagu 74; served afterwards, for short periods, in the Namur 74, flag-ship, at the Nore, of Hon. Henry Edwin Stanhope, and Egmont 74, Capt. Joseph Bingham; then, in June, 1811, rejoined his former Captain, Rear-Admiral Legge, in the Revenge 74, employed at the siege of Cadiz; and, in Nov. 1812, became attached to the Iphigenia 36, Capt. Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew; on subsequently accompanying whom into the Resistance 38, we find him serving with the boats of a squadron at the storming, 5 Oct. 1813, of the batteries of D’Anzo, in the Mediterranean, and capture of a convoy of 29 vessels anchored for protection under the walls. Mr. Caldecot was next employed for twelve months in the Badger of 10 guns, and on 23 Dec. 1814, within a month of passing his examination, was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant. His subsequent appointments appear to have been – 13 May, 1815, to the Falmouth 20, Capts. Geo. Wm. Henry Knight, Robt. Worgan Geo. Festing, and Geo. Fred. Rich, from which ship, after an intermediate servitude on the St. Helena and Irish stations, he was paid off, 26 March, 1819 – and, 13 March, 1824, as First-Lieutenant, to the Cyréne 20, Capts. Percy Grace and Alex. Campbell. In command of the boats of the latter vessel he was for several weeks occupied in hostile operations against the pirates in the Straits of Malacca. He ex-
