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COLLINS.
quence of ill health, 9 Sept. 1820 – and, 21 May, 1822, to the Espiègle 18, employed at the Cape of Good Hope. Capt. Collier, who had been on half-pay since his attainment of Post-rank, 26 Dec. 1822, accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
He married, 26 June, 1816, Harriet, daughter of Robt. Nicholas, Esq., of Ashton Keynes, co. Wilts, and first-cousin, maternally, of the present Sir Robt. Russell Frankland, Bart., as also of Rear-Admiral Wm. Bowles, and of Capts. E. A. and C. C. Frankland, R.N. His son, George Baring Browne, is a Lieutenant R.N. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
COLLINS. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 16; h-p., 37.)
Edward Collins entered the Navy, 16 March, 1794, as Midshipman, on board the Ganges 74, Capts. Wm. Truscott, Lancelot Skynner, Fras. Laforey, and Robt. M‘Douall; under the first of whom he was wounded, while assisting at the capture, 30 Oct. following, of the French 24-gun ship Le Jacobin. On his return from the West Indies in May, 1797, where he had served on shore at the reduction of Ste. Lucie, he cruized for three years on the Home station in the Révolutionnaire 38, Capts. Fras. Cole and Thos. Twysden. He then, for a few months, joined, as a Supernumerary, the Cambridge 80, flag-ship at Plymouth of Sir Thos. Pasley; and after an equally brief servitude in the Agincourt 64, bearing the flag at Newfoundland of Sir Chas. Morice Pole, was confirmed a Lieutenant, 1 Dec. 1800, in the Concorde 36, Capt. Robt. Barton. Having been paid off early in 1802, Mr. Collins was next appointed, 3 May, 1803, to the Phoenix 36, Capt. Thos. Baker, on the coast of Spain; subsequently to which he served, from 20 Feb. 1805 to 16 May, 1806, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Thos. Graves, in the Foudroyant 80. He again officiated in a similar capacity under Sir Edw. Buller, in the Résolue, at Portsmouth, from 30 Nov. 1809, to 1 Nov. 1813; and assuming, in Jan. 1814, the like post on board the Porcupine 22, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Chas. Vinicombe Penrose, took a conspicuous part in the various operations then in progress on the north coast of Spain.[1] He further held the acting command in the Gironde, for a short time, of the Martial sloop; and was officially promoted to the rank he now holds 15 June 1814. Since that period Commander Collins has been on half-pay.
COLLINS. (Lieut., 1828. f-p., 33; h-p., 2.)
Francis Collins was born, 5 Aug. 1795, in co. Dublin.
This officer entered the Navy, 19 Jan. 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Furieuse 36, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, in which ship he shortly afterwards sailed with convoy for the Mediterranean; where, besides assisting at the blockade of Toulon and the conquest of the island of Ponza, he served in the boats at the capture, 4 Oct. 1813, with a loss to the British of 12 men killed and wounded, of a large convoy, protected by the galling fire of two gun-vessels and several batteries in the harbour of Marinelo; and on that occasion was awarded the rating of Midshipman, and placed in charge of one of the prizes. He also, we believe, witnessed the capture of Via Reggio, and the unsuccessful attack on Leghorn; was at the occupation of Santa Maria, and of the enemy’s other forts in the Gulf of Spezia; and assisted at the reduction of Genoa and its dependencies in March and April, 1814. When afterwards in America, Mr. Collins successively cruized in Penobscot Bay with a tender under his orders, but, falling ultimately into the hands of the enemy, was detained, a prisoner en parole until the termination of hostilities. He then rejoined the Furieuse, and, returning home, was paid off in June, 1815. We next find him serving, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, on board the Spencer 74, Cambrian 40, Doterel 16, and Hope 10, and, having passed his examination 4 March, 1818, employed, from 3 Oct. in that year until 7 Nov. 1823, in the Severn 40, and Ramillies 74, on the Home station. Until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 22 Sept. 1828, he appears to have been further employed as Mate, chiefly in the Mediterranean, of the Weasel 18, Britannia 120, Ramillies again, and Rattlesnake and Alacrity sloops. After an additional servitude in the Pelican 18, and Hyperion Coast Blockade ship, Mr. Collins obtained, 4 April, 1831, his present appointment in the Coast Guard.
He married, 17 Nov. 1834, Hannah, second daughter of Henry Wm. Baylee, Esq., of Larne, co. Antrim, and has issue three sons and as many daughters.
COLLINS. (Lieut., 1813. f-p., 21; h-p., 20.)
Henry Collins, born 3 April, 1792, is son of the late Geo. Collins, Esq., Clerk of the Cheque at Priddy Hard Magazine, near Gosport, Hants, a descendant of Capt. Greenville Collins, R.N., Hydrographer to William III.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 March, 1806, as Third-cl. Boy, on board the Quebec 32, Capt. Geo. McKinley, with whom, after three months of active servitude on the North Sea station, he removed to the Lively 38; and, until wrecked in Aug. 1810, participated, as Midshipman, in various boat and other operations on the river Tagus, was much employed in surveying, and beheld the fall of Vigo. Joining, in Nov. 1810, as Master’s Mate, the Unite 36, Capts. Patrick Campbell and Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, he assisted, near Elba, at the capture, 31 March, 1811, of the 20-gun store-ship Dromadaire; and, on 1 May following, took part in a very gallant action of an hour and a half in Sagone Bay, where the Unite, in conjunction with the Pomone 38, and Scout 18, effectually destroyed the two armed store-ships Giraffe and Nourrice, each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, and protected by a 5-gun battery, a martello tower, and a body of about 200 regular troops. On 4 July in the same year Mr. Collins further contributed, in the boats, under Lieut. Joseph Wm. Crabb, to the capture, beneath a shower of grape from a battery at Port Hercules on the Roman coast, of the armed and vigorously defended brig St. François de Paule;[2] and in the course of the same day he assisted Capt. A. W. J. Clifford, of the Cephalus, in very spiritedly cutting out three merchant-vessels from between Civita Vecchia and the mouth of the Tiber. We soon afterwards find him transferred in succession to the San Josef 110, and Vigo 74, flag-ships of Sir Chas. Cotton and Rear-Admiral Jas. Nicoll Morris in the Channel and Baltic. For his conduct on the latter station, particularly in placing pilots on board three Russian men-of-war during a hard gale, and his exertions as Acting-Lieutenant in the Nord Adler, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Crown, Commander-in-Chief of a division of his Imperial Majesty’s fleet, then on its passage to England, to which he had been lent for the purpose of interpreting the signals of a British squadron also in company, Mr. Collins, who conveyed the despatches to the Admiralty announcing their arrival in port, was confirmed in his new rank by commission dated 1 Jan. 1813. On next joining, 28 June following, the Forth 40, Capt. Sir Wm. Bolton, in which frigate he remained until paid off 2 Sept. 1815, the subject of this sketch arduously served in the Scheldt; accompanied Sir Edw. Codrington to Bermuda, and Hon. Henry Hotham to New London; and, while at the blockade of New York, successfully commanded the boats at the taking of several letters-of-marque, and also assisted at the hard-wrought capture, 19 Sept. 1814, of the Regent privateer brig, of 5 guns and 35 men. From Sept. 1818, to March, 1819, and from Feb. 1826, to Nov. 1828, he was next very usefully employed in the Coast Blockade as a Supernumerary Lieutenant of the Severn 40, Capt. Wm. McCulloch, and Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye. For some time prior to Oct. 1830, he held a command in the Coast Guard, and, on the occasion of one or two
