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CHALONER—CHAMBERLAIN.
gallant but unfortunate operations, which, by the 28th, terminated in the self-destruction of the British frigates Sirius, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Sam. Pym, and Magicienne, the capture of the Nereide, and the surrender to a powerful French squadron of the Iphigenia herself, after incurring an individual loss of at least 5 men killed and 13 wounded, at the entrance of Port Sud-Est. From the date last mentioned, Lieut. Chads remained subject to all the horrors of a dreadful captivity, until released at the subsequent reduction of the Mauritius, when he was re-appointed First of the Iphigenia, Capt. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild, with whom he returned to England, and was paid off in May, 1811. On 6 Dec. ensuing he became attached to the Semiramis 36, Capt. Chas. Richardson, employed off Cork and in the Channel; and, on 17 Aug. following, rejoined Capt. Lambert, as his Senior Lieutenant, in the Java, of 46 guns and a crew of 397 raw and inefficient men, in which ship, with Lieut.-General Thos. Hislop, the newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief at Bombay, on board, and two East Indiamen in escort, he sailed from Spithead 12 Nov. Being off the coast of Brazil on 29 Dec, the Java, whose anomalous crew had by this time been reduced to 377 men, fell in and came to close action with the powerful and ably-equipped American ship Constitution, of 55 guns and a complement of 480 veterans. After a desperate struggle of three hours and forty minutes, in the midst of which, Capt. Lambert being mortally wounded, the command devolved upon Lieut. Chads, the Java, having had 22 ¦ men killed and 102 wounded, and being withal reduced to the state of a sinking hulk, was forced to strike to her comparatively giant antagonist, but not until she had also inflicted a very serious loss.[1] It is scarcely needful here to add that Lieut. Chads and the whole of his surviving officers and men were most honourably acquitted by a court-martial (which, on their return home, in April, 1813, assembled to try them for the loss of their ship) of all blame in that disaster : the former personally obtained the highest encomiums for his “zeal, ability, and bravery,” and was most deservedly rewarded, by commission dated 28 May, 1813, with the command of the Columbia sloop of war. He afterwards signalized himself at the reduction of Guadeloupe in 1815,[2] and, on 24 Nov. in that year, was paid off. We next find Capt. Chads appointed, 22 Nov. 1823, to the Arachne 18, in which he proceeded to India, and there, on his own responsibility, joined in the expedition against Rangoon under Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell, to whom, by his wonderful exertions, he rendered, as Commander-in-Chief for a considerable time of the flotilla on the river Irawady, the most conspicuous and effective cooperation; insomuch, indeed, that he was advanced to Post-rank 25 July, 1825; confirmed in the command of the Alligator of 28 guns, 27 April, 1826; and nominated a C.B. 26 Dec. following; besides calling forth the thanks of the Supreme Government in India, and the praise of the House of Commons at home.[3] Having finally affixed his signature, as Senior Naval Officer and Civil Commissioner, to the treaty of peace concluded with the Burmese, he conveyed the first instalment of the indemnification money paid by them, from Yandaboo to Calcutta; and then, returning to Plymouth, paid the Alligator off, 3 Jan. 1827. He subsequently, from 2 Jan. 1834 until the close of 1837, and from 20 Aug. 1841 until the summer of 1845, commanded, on the East India station, the Andromache 28, and Cambrian 36; in the former of which, when in company with the Imogene, Capt. Price Blackwood, he forced the passage of the Boca Tigris, in China, 7 and 9 Sept. 1834. He has been employed, since 28 Aug. 1845, as Captain-Superintendent of the Royal Naval College, and Captain of the Excellent gunnery-ship.
Capt. Chads married, 26 Nov. 1815, Elizabeth Townshend, eldest daughter of John Pook, Esq., of Fareham, co. Hants, by whom he has issue.
CHALONER. (ommander, 1845.)
Thomas Chaloner, born 6 Feb. 1815, is youngest son of the late Robt. Chaloner, Esq., of Gainsborough, co. York (a gentleman of ancient Welsh extraction), by Frances Laura, daughter of Thomas, first Lord Dundas; brother of Wm. Chaloner, Esq., who was lost at sea while proceeding to join his regiment at Halifax; nephew of the late Rear-Admiral Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, C.B., and, by marriage, of the present Earl Fitzwilliam; grand-nephew of the late Admiral Sir Elias Harvey, G.C.B.; and first-cousin of the present Earl of Zetland.
This officer entered the Navy 5 Aug. 1827; and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, in compliment to the memory of his uncle, Rear-Admiral Hon. G. H. L. Dundas, 17 Nov. 1834. He was afterwards appointed – 26 March, 1835, to the Dublin 50, Capts. Chas. Hope and Geo. Wickens Willes, flag-ship of Sir Graham Eden Hamond, in South America – 18 April, 1836, to the Harrier 18, Capt. Wm. Henry Hallowell Carew, on the same station – and, 18 Nov. 1839, and 14 July, 1841, as First Lieutenant to the Wanderer 16, Capt. Hon. Joseph Denman, and Bittern 16, Capts. Hon. B. C. F. P. Cary and Edm. Peel, both actively employed in suppressing the slave-trade on the coast of Africa. He attained his present rank 24 March, 1845, and, since 10 Nov. 1846, has been in command of the Siren 16, on the coast of Africa.
CHAMBERLAIN. (Lieutenant, 1809. f-p., 25; h-p., 22.)
William Browne Chamberlain entered the Navy, 8 Dec. 1800, as Ordinary, on board the Monmouth 64, Capt. Geo. Hart, flag-ship afterwards, on the Home station, of Rear-Admiral Thos. Macnamara Russell, in which he attained the rating of Midshipman 1 Aug. 1801, and continued to serve until Nov. 1804. During that period he was at first employed in cruizing off the coast of Holland; then sailed with troops for Egypt, where he assisted at the capture of Alexandria in March, 1801; and, on the renewal of hostilities, took part in the blockade of Toulon. We next find him in succession attached, for a short while as Supernumerary -Midshipman, to the Royal William, flag-ship of Admiral Montagu, at Spithead, and, for upwards of two years, as Master’s Mate, to the Aurora 28, Capt. John Wentworth Loring, at Bermuda, and Milan 38, Capt. Sir Robt. Laurie, at Halifax. On 11 June, 1807, within three months of passing, Mr. Chamberlain joined, as Acting-Lieutenant, the Bellona 74, Capt. John Erskine Douglas, stationed in Chesapeake Bay; from which ship he was transferred, in a similar capacity, 1 June, 1808, to the Aeolus 32, Capts. Lord Wm. Fitzroy and Lord Jas. Townshend. He obtained his official promotion 27 Jan. 1809; and, after assisting at the ensuing reduction of Martinique, and serving for four years on the coast of North America, returned to Portsmouth, where he was paid off in Sept. 1813. He was subsequently employed in the Ordinary at the latter place from 18 March, 1830, until the same date in 1833; and, on 25 Sept. 1837, was appointed to the Quarantine Establishment at Standgate Creek. He is now on half-pay.
He is married and has issue. His son William, Midshipman of H.M. steamer Firefly, died of yellow fever at Barbadoes, 17 June, 1835, at the age of 17.
CHAMBERLAIN. (Commander, 1844.)
William Charles Chamberlain, born 21 April, 1818, is eldest son of the late Sir Henry Chamberlain, Bart., H.M. Chargé d’Affaires and Consul General at Rio de Janeiro, by his second wife, Anne Eugenia, daughter of Wm. Morgan, Esq., of London; half-brother of the present Sir Henry Chamberlain, Bart., an officer in the Royal Artillery; and brother-in-law of Capt. Hon. Chas. Orlando Bridgeman, R.N.
