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CAPEL—CARD—CARDEN.

Esq., by Caroline, eldest daughter of Henry, first Earl of Uxbridge; next brother of the Earl of Essex; and nephew of Lieut-General Hon. Thos. Edw. Capel, and of Vice-Admiral Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel, K.C.B.

This officer passed his examination in 1827; obtained his first commission 8 July in the same year; and was subsequently appointed, 29 May, 1828, to the Semiramis 24, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Chas. Paget, on the Irish station, and, 15 Sept. 1829, to the Talavera 74, Capt. Hugh Pigot, employed on the Coast Blockade. He was advanced to his present rank 25 May, 1831; served as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard from 6 June, 1833, until 1836; and has since been on half-pay. Commander Capel married, 10 Dec. 1832, Caroline, second daughter of the late Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Chas. Paget, K.C.B. , sister of Capt. Chas. Henry Paget, R.N., and niece of the Marquess of Anglesey, by whom he has issue.



CAPEL, K.C.B. (Vice-Admiral of the Red, 1837. f-p., 28; h-p., 37.)

The Honourable Sir Thomas Bladen Capel, born 25 Aug. 1776, is youngest son of William, fourth Earl of Essex, by his second wife, Harriet, daughter of Col. Thos. Bladen; brother of Lieut.General Hon. Thos. Edw. Capel; and uncle of the present Earl of Essex, and of Commander A. H. C. Capel, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 22 March, 1782, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Phaeton 38, Capt. Waldegrave, on the books of which ship he was borne until April, 1783. He ultimately embarked, 12 April, 1792, on board the Assistance 50, Capt. Mansfield, stationed off Newfoundland; there became Midshipman, 1 March, 1793, of the Syren 32, Capt. John Manley; and was afterwards successively employed, with Capt. Manley, in the Apollo 28, and, with Lord Hugh Seymour, in the Leviathan 74 and Sans Pareil 80, of which latter ship, after participating, 23 July, 1795, in Lord Bridport’s action, he was appointed, 16 May, 1796, an Acting-Lieutenant. On 5 April, 1797, we find Mr. Capel officially promoted into the Cambrian 40, Capt. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge, employed, similarly with the three ships last named, on the Home station; and next appointed, 12 April, 1798, to the Vanguard 74, flag-ship of Sir Horatio Nelson, by whom, in acknowledgment of his services as Signal-Lieutenant at the battle of the Nile, he was advanced, 4 Aug. 1798, to the command of the Mutine of 16 guns, and sent home in charge of a duplicate of the despatches, and of the sword of M. Blanquet, the Senior French officer surviving.[1] His commission was confirmed by the Admiralty, 20 Oct. following, and his elevation to Post-rank effected, while in command of the Alecto sloop at Spithead, 27 Dec. in the same year. Capt. Capel’s ensuing appointments, until Oct. 1814, appear to have been – 5 Jan. 1799, to the Arab 22, on the West India station – 19 July, 1800, to the Meleager 32, in which he had the misfortune to be wrecked on the Triangle Rocks, in the Gulf of Mexico, 9 June, 1801 – 21 May, 1802, to the Révolutionnaire 38, lying at Spithead – 24 Aug. 1802, to the Phoebe 36, on the Mediterranean station, where, during Nelson’s pursuit of the combined fleets to the West Indies, he was left with 5 frigates and 2 bombs to cover Sardinia, Sicily, and the route to Egypt, from any troops that might be sent to land in those places; after which service he shared in the battle of Trafalgar, and at its close saved from destruction, by his extraordinary exertions, the prizeship-of-the-line Swiftsure[2] – 27 Dec. 1805, to the Endymion 40, in which he conveyed the British Ambassador to and from Constantinople, and lost, during the hostile operations carried on at the Dardanells, where he acted a conspicuous part, and distinguished himself by his zealous attention and assiduity, 3 men killed and 10 wounded[3] – and, 14 Dec. 1811, to La Hogue 74, stationed latterly on the north coast of America, where we find him in command of a small squadron blockading the enemy’s frigates in New London, and sharing generally in the warfare vdth the United States. On 15 Dec. 1821, Capt. Capel, who had been nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815, assumed command of the Royal George yacht, in which, and in the Apollo, another royal yacht, he remained until advanced, 27 May, 1825, to the rank of Rear-Admiral. He was constituted a K.C.B. 20 Feb. 1832; and, from 30 May, 1834, until July, 1837, commanded in chief on the East India station, with his flag in the Winchester 50. He has since been on half-pay. The rank of Vice-Admiral had been conferred on him 10 Jan. 1837.

Sir T. B. Capel was one of the officers who sat on the court-martial appointed, in Dec. 1805, to try Sir Robt. Calder for his conduct on 22 of the previous July.

He married, 10 May, 1816, Harriet Catherine, only daughter of Fras. Geo. Smyth, Esq. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.



CARD. (One of the Junior Lieutenants.)

William John Royle Card entered the Navy 19 Dec. 1833; passed his examination 5 Feb. 1840; served for some time, in 1842-3, as Mate, on board the Grecian 16, Capt. Wm. Smyth, at the Cape of Good Hope; obtained his commission 20 Oct. 1843; and joined, 20 Dec. following, the Hyacinth 18, Capt. Fras. Scott, employed successively on the African, and North America and West India stations. He was dismissed from the latter vessel and placed at the bottom of the List of Lieutenants, by sentence of court-martial, early in 1845; but since 30 of the following Aug. has been employed in the Kingfisher 12, Capts. Chas. Foreman Brown and Fred. Wilmot Horton, on the coast of Africa.



CARDEN. (Rear-Admiral of the Red, 1840. f-p., 23; h-p., 36.)

John Surman Carden, horn 15 Aug. 1771, is eldest son of Major Garden, of the Irish family of Templemore (who died from the effects of the wounds he had received when combating the enemies of his country during the first American war), by Miss Surman, of Teddington, near Tewkesbury, co. Gloucester.

This officer entered the Navy, 28 May, 1788, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Edgar 74, Capt. Chas. Thompson, bearing the flag in the Channel of Rear-Admiral Leveson Gower; became Midshipman, in 1790, of the Perseverance frigate, Capt. Isaac Smith, on the East India station; and, in 1793, joined the Marlborough 74, Capt. Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, of which ship, after experiencing a severe injury in Lord Howe’s memorable action, he was created a Lieutenant, 24 July, 1794. His subsequent appointments, in the latter capacity, appear to have been, between March, 1795, and Aug. 1798, to the Formidable and Barfleur 98’s, Capts. Hon. G. C. Berkeley and Jas. Rich. Dacres – to the Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Thompson – and, as First, to the Fisgard of 46 guns and 281 men, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, all on the Home station. Mr. Garden’s steady good conduct, on 20 Oct. in the latter year, at the capture – after a close and obstinate conflict of great length, a loss to the Fisgard of 10 killed and 26 wounded, and to the enemy of 54 killed and 61 wounded – of the French frigate L’Immortalité of 12 guns and 580 men, was rewarded with a Commander’s commission, dated 23 of the same month. [4] On 13 July, 1799, he joined the Sheerness 44, armée en flûte, and, until he invalided in March, 1803, was successively employed in attending the expedition to the Holder, where he commanded a division of boats at the debarkation of the army, in co-operating with the French royalists in La Vendée and

  1. In his despatch to the Admiralty announcing the victory of the Nile, Nelson alludes to Capt. Capel as a “most excellent officer,” and recommends him to their Lordships’ notice. – Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 916.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1805, p. 1481.
  3. Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 595.
  4. Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 1012.