182
CAWLEY—CERJAT—CHADS.
in the East Indies, Mr. Cawley was confirmed, 16 Aug. 1800, to a Lieutenancy in the Daedalus 32, Capt. Henry Lidgbird Ball. While in the subsequent command of a gun-boat at the blockade of Batavia, he was principally instrumental to the destruction of the dockyard, arsenal, and public works, as well as of 6 armed and 10 merchant vessels, at that place; after which he aided, in the Straits of Banca, in taking one and sinking five of a flotilla of 60 piratical proas, at the termination of an action, in which, by the explosion of the powder-magazine, his sight was seriously injured. His next appointments’ were – 31 Jan. 1804, to the San Josef 110, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Chas. Cotton, in the Channel; and, 6 Sept. 1805, to the Courageux 74, Capt. Jas. Bissett, under whom he beheld the capture, 13 March, 1806, of the French ship Marengo of 80 guns, bearing the flag of Admiral Linois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule. He afterwards, as First Lieutenant, joined – in Feb. 1808, the Talbot sloop, Capt. Hon. Alex. Jones, off the coast of Portugal – 30 June, 1809, the Inconstant 36, Capt. Edw. Stirling Dickson, at the Cape of Good Hope – in Feb. and Dec. 1813, the Magicienne and Pomone frigates, in which, under Capts. Hon. Wm. Gordon and Philip Carteret, he assisted at the capture of St. Sebastian – and, 25 July, 1814, the Valiant 74, on the South American station, where, during the absence of the Captain, Zachary Mudge, he suppressed a dangerous mutiny of the crew. We should have mentioned that Lieut. Cawley, when in the Talbot and Inconstant, won considerable credit by the able manner in which he rescued those ships from destruction when they had taken the ground on a reef of rocks, the one near Lisbon, the other in Saldanha Bay. The Valiant having been paid off in Aug. 1815, he remained unemployed until appointed, 20 Nov. 1821, to command the Grecian cutter, of 10 guns, on the West India station. In March, 1823, we find him destroying a noted piratical schooner, mounting 8 heavy guns, together with 3 gun-boats, carrying in the whole 120 men, of whom 50 were killed; after which he performed an important service in heaving H.M. sloop Scout from off a reef of rocks on which she had struck; and for his conduct, on 5 Nov. following, in personally saving, with the boats of the Grecian, in spite of a Tremendous surf, 21 British subjects, who had been wrecked on a desert rock in the Gulf of Mexico, received the thanks of the Royal Humane Society. He was promoted to the rank of Commander on paying off the Grecian, 11 May, 1825; and, on 18 July, 1837, was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital.
Commander Cawley, in 1818, constructed a lifeboat, the great value of which was fully attested by Sir John Ross in his first visit to the Arctic regions. He also suggested to the Admiralty a plan for watering the town of Port Royal, Jamaica, the dockyard, and shipping, at one-third of the present annual expense; and to information afforded by him is the whale-fishery indebted for its extension from the Equator north to Japan. Another proposal, submitted by him to the Board, was for instantaneously acquainting the man at the wheel or officer of the watch with the sudden appearance of water in any part of the ship. He married, first, in 1803, Miss Ann Blackmore, by whom, who died in 1832, he had six sons and five daughters; and, secondly, Elizabeth Bragg, by whom he has left a son and daughter – making, with the former, 13 children, all living. His eldest son, John, is a Lieutenant R.N.; four other sons are in the Hon.E.I.C.’s service; and a fifth was lately employed in China as Master’s-Assistant of the Agincourt 72.
CAWLEY. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
John Cawley is eldest son of the late Commander John Cawley, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 7 Feb. 1822, on board the Grecian cutter, then commanded by his father, under whom he particularly distinguished himself in the piratical engagement alluded to in our preceding memoir. He served as Midshipman of the Genoa 74, Capt. Walter Bathurst, at the battle of Navarin, 20 Oct. 1827; and, in the following year, was on board the Grasshopper sloop at the capture, in the West Indies, of two slave-vessels carrying 500 negroes. He passed his examination 6 May, 1829; invalided home from South America in 1833, in consequence of the loss of an eye, and of injuries which procured him a pension of 2s. 6d. a day; joined, in the early part of 1845, the Canopus 84, Capt. Fairfax Moresby, employed as an evolutionary ship; obtained his commission on 25 June in the same year; and since 25 April, 1846, has been employed in the Imaum 72, Commodore Dan. Pring, receiving-ship at Port Royal, Jamaica.
CERJAT. (Lieutenant, 1846.)
Charles Thomas William George Cerjat passed his examination 27 July, 1840; served for some time on the East India station as Mate of the Clio 16, Capt. Edw. Norwich Troubridge; was for two years and a half employed at Portsmouth on board the Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings; became attached, 21 Dec. 1844, to the Firebrand steam-frigate, Capt. Jas. Hope, stationed on the S.E. coast of America; and, on 4 May, 1846, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed Additional of the Vernon 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Sam. Hood Inglefield.
CHADS. (Commander, 1845.)
Henry Chads entered the Navy 2 Aug. 1832; passed his examination 4 Sept. 1839; was promoted, from the Endymion 44, Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Grey, into the Nimrod 20, Capt. Fred. Henry Hastings Glasse, on the East India station, 14 June, 1841; was there transferred, 28 Feb. 1843, as Senior Lieutenant, to the Harlequin 16, Capt. Hon. Geo. Fowler Hastings; and in the following year was severely wounded when in command of that vessel’s boats in a desperate encounter with pirates on the coast of Sumatra. He was advanced, on being paid off, to his present rank, 31 Jan. 1845; and has been in command, since 21 April, 1846, of the Styx steam-sloop, on the coast of Africa.
CHADS, C.B. (Captain, 1825. f-p., 27; h-p., 20.)
Henry Ducie Chads is eldest son of Capt. Henry Chads, R.N., who died 10 Oct. 1799.
This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth 25 Oct. 1800; and embarked, in Sept. 1803, as A.B., on board the Excellent 74, Capt. Frank Sotheron, in which he attained the rating of Midshipman in Aug. 1804, and served, until Aug. 1806, on the Mediterranean station, where he latterly contributed to the defence of Gaeta and the capture of Capri. After an intermediate attachment, on the Home station, to the Zealand 64, Capt. Robt. Hall, and Polyphemus 64, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Geo. Murray, be was promoted, 5 Nov. 1806, into the Illustrious 74, Capts. Wm. Shield and Wm. Robt. Broughton, employed at the blockade of Cadiz; and, in July, 1808, joined the Iphigenia 36, Capt. Henry Lambert, with whom he went to Quebec, and then to India. Passing over many events of minor importance, although fraught with danger, in which Lieut. Chads bore an active part, we find him, in July, 1810, receiving the public thanks of Lieut.-Col. Keating for his conduct at the landing of the troops previous to the conquest of Isle Bourbon; and, on being subsequently lent, with the Iphigenia’s launch and cutter, to the Sirius 36, Capt. Sam. Pym, particularly distinguishing himself at the capture, 13 Aug. following, of l’Ile de la Passe, the key to Grand Port in the Isle of France, on which occasion, Lieut. Geo. R. Norman [errata 1], the leading officer, having been killed in the onset, he succeeded to the command of the storming party, and had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy fly on all sides.[1] In the course of the same month he assumed a share in a series of
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1811, p. 261.
