248
CROUCH—CROWDY—CROZIEE.
artillery guns, he was severely wounded (in three places), as were 16 others, out of a crew of 24; and on that occasion he displayed great presence of mind in rescuing his party from the peril to which they had thus hecome exposed.[1] He had previously served on shore at the capture of Chapoo.[2] The Blonde being paid off in March, 1843; Lieut. Crouch, on 31 of that month, joined the Camperdown 104, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Brace at Sheerness, in which ship he continued until promoted to his present rank, 25 Oct. following. He has been in successive command, since 13 May, 1846, of the Gorgon and Devastation steam-vessels, on the S.E. coast of America and coast of Africa.
CROUCH. (Commander, 1821. f-p., 26; h-p., 23.)
Edward Thomas Crouch died in Dec. 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, 16 June, 1798, as A.B., on board the Royal Oak 74, Capt. Thos. Rowe, lying at Portsmouth, where he attained the rating of Midshipman 16 Dec. 1799. He became attached, in June, 1801, to the Malta 80, Capt. Albemarle Bertie, employed on Channel service; was wrecked, while afterwards serving on board the Apollo 36, Capt. John Wm. Taylor Dixon, off the coast of Portugal, 1 April, 1804; then joined the Puissant 74, Capt. John Irwin, guard-ship at Spithead; was appointed, 19 March, 1805, Sub-Lieutenant of the Growler gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander Jonas Rose; and, on 7 May following, obtained a full Lieutenancy in the Warrior 74, Capts. Sam. Hood Linzee, Michael Seymour, and John Wm. Spranger. Rejoining Capt. Seymour, 13 June, 1807, in the Amethyst, of 42 guns and 261 men, Mr. Crouch won the official praise of that gallant Commander by his admirable exertions at the capture, 11 Nov. 1808, off L’Orient, of the French frigate La Thetis, of 44 guns and 436 men, including troops, which was boarded and carried at the close of a furious contest of more than three hours, in which the British lost 19 men killed and 51 wounded, and the enemy 135 killed and 102 wounded.[3] On 6 April, 1809, he also took part in a severe intermittent action of about four hours, which terminated in the capture, with a loss to the Amethyst of 8 men killed and 37 wounded, of another of the enemy’s frigates, Le Niemen, of 46 guns and 339 men, of whom 47 were slain and 73 wounded. After attending the expedition to Flushing, Mr. Crouch, in Sept. 1809, accompanied Capt. Seymour, as First-Lieutenant, into his prize, the Niemen, which had been added to the British Navy as a 38-gun frigate; and, on 13 April, 1812, he again followed him, in a similar capacity, into the Hannibal 74. While cruizing off Cherbourg, in March, 1814, we further discover him assisting at the capture, and conducting as Prize-Master into Portsmouth, the 40-gun frigate Sultane. From 10 Sept. 1818, until his attainment of Commander’s rank, 19 July, 1821, Lieut. Crouch served, with Sir M. Seymour and Capt. Thos. Harvey, as Senior of the Northumberland 78, guard-ship in the river Medway; after which he held a command in the Coast Guard from 1825 until 1828; and officiated as Secretary, in 1833-4, to his friend Sir M. Seymour, then Commander-in-Chief on the South American station, and, from the early part of 1842, until 18 Jan. 1844, to Sir Edw. Brace, Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. He died Superintendent of the Packet service at Southampton, to which he had been but just appointed.
He married, 4 Dec. 1814, the only daughter of Capt. Rich. Runwa Bowyer (1798), who died 11 Feb. 1823; and has left, with other issue, a son, the present Commander Edw. Crouch, R.N. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
CROWDY. (Captain, 1834. f-p., 19; h-p., 29.)
Charles Crowdy, born in March, 1786, at Highworth, co. Wilts, is son of a gentleman who for many years practised as a solicitor at that place.
This officer entered the Navy, 7 Sept. 1799, as Ordinary, on board La Décade frigate, Capt. Jas. Wallace, fitting for the West Indies, whence he came home with the same Captain, in Sept. 1800, as Midshipman of the Brunswick 74. On next joining the Ganges 74, Capt. Thos. Fras. Fremantle, he officiated as Aide-de-Camp to that officer at the battle of Copenhagen 2 April, 1801; after which he became attached, in 1805-6, to the Urania 38, Capt. Hon. Chas. Herbert, with whom he visited Quebec, and to the Hibernia 110, flag-ship in the Channel of Earl St. Vincent. On 17 March, 1806, we find him promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Hazard 18, Capt. Chas. Dilkes, stationed off the coast of France, where he took part in several cutting-out affairs, and on the last of those occasions received a gun-shot wound through the arm, which procured him a gratuity of 50l. from the Patriotic Fund. Between Dec. 1807, and July, 1814, Mr. Crowdy further served, on the Mediterranean, East India, and Home stations, on board the Pilot 18, Capt. Hon. Wm. Walpole, Bittern 18, Capt. Thos. Ussher, Cornelia 32, Capt. Henry Folkes Edgell, Diomede 50, Capt. Hugh Cook, Stirling Castle and Bellerophon 74’s, both commanded by Capt. Augustus Brine, and Rippon 74, Capt. Sir Christ. Cole. In the latter ship he witnessed the capture, 21 Oct. 1813, of the French 40-gun frigate Le Weser, and, in Feb. following, of a Spanish treasure-ship. Until advanced to the rank of Commander, 25 March, 1824, his next appointments were – 20 March, 1822, to the Bulwark 76, flag-ship at the Nore of Sir Benj. Hallowell – and, 12 Dec. 1823, to the Maidstone 42, Capt. Chas. Bullen, on the African station. He afterwards commanded, from 29 Dec. 1825, until 1829, the Badger sloop, in the North Sea. Since his attainment of Post-rank, 13 Jan. 1834, he has not been afloat.
Capt. Crowdy is Senior of 1834. He married, in 1816, the only daughter of the late John C. Lewis, Esq., of Westbury, near Bristol, and niece of Chas. Lewis, Esq., of St. Pierre Park, near Chepstow, by whom he has issue. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
CROZIER. (Captain, 1841. f-p., 28; h-p., 9.)
Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier was born at Banbridge, co. Down, Ireland.
This officer entered the Navy, 12 June, 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hamadryad 36, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines; and on removing with the latter, as Midshipman, in June, 1812, to the Briton 38, took his departure for the Pacific. After a further attachment of nearly two years to the Meander 38, Capts. John Bastard and Arthur Fanshawe, lying in the river Thames, and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship at Portsmouth of Sir Edw. Thornbrough, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, in 1818, as Mate (having passed his examination in Feb. 1817) of the Doterel 18, Capt. Gore. On his return to England in 1821 Mr. Crozier was appointed to the Fury discovery-ship, Capt. Wm. Edw. Parry; in which, and the Hecla, we find him accompanying that officer in the two successive expeditions that sailed from this country for the purpose of ascertaining the existence of a North-West passage; 8 May, 1821, and 8 May, 1824. For his services on the last occasion he was rewarded with a Lieutenant’s commission, dated 2 March, 1826; subsequently to which he rejoined the Hecla, and, becoming a third time the associate of Capt. Parry, left Deptford on another exploratory voyage to the Arctic regions 25 March, 1827. On the Hecla being brought to an anchor, 20 June following, in Treurenburg Bay, lat. 79° 55' 20" N., long. 16° 48' 45" E., Mr. Crozier accompanied his enterprising Captain, who then set out with two sledge-boats on a further progress to the northward across the ice, as far as Walden Island, where they parted company, the former retracing his steps towards the ship. The expedition ultimately returning to the Thames in Oct. 1827, the subject of this memoir was next appointed, 26 April, 1831, to the Stag 46, Capts. Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge
