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DRAKE—DRANE.
viously, joined the Coast Blockade, in which he continued, as Admiralty Mate in succession of the Severn and Ramillies, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Hugh Pigot – of which ships he occasionally commanded the tenders – until Nov. 1827. For his conduct, towards the close of 1821, in swimming with a line through a heavy surf, and saving the life of a Dutch officer who had been wrecked in the Jonge Martha, Mr. Drake, as did his assistants, Messrs. H. S. Burniston and J. Burnett, received a gold medal from the King of the Netherlands, valued at 25 ducats, and also a resolution of thanks from the Royal Humane Society. He soon afterwards contributed to the preservation of the Julia French ship, and of the whole of her crew, a service for which he obtained the thanks of the Board of Admiralty. On leaving the Ramillies, Mr. Drake next joined the Asia 84, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Codrington in the Mediterranean, where he became Acting-Lieutenant of the Revenge 74, Capt. Norborne Thompson. He was confirmed, 5 June, 1828, into the Wolf 18, Capt. Geo. Hayes, but invalided home in the following Oct. He has since been on half-pay.
DRAKE. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 15; h-p., 3.)
Thomas George Drake, born 7 April, 1816, is second son of Colonel Thos. Drake, of Amersham, co. Bucks, late Deputy Quarter-Master General in the Mediterranean, by Elizabeth Sarah, eldest daughter of John Fane, Esq., LL.D,, of Wormsley, co. Oxford, many years M.P. for that shire. He is nephew of Rear-Admiral Fras. Wm. Fane, who died 28 March, 1844; and is maternally descended from the Earls of Westmoreland and Macclesfield.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College in the summer of 1829; and embarked, 24 June, 1831, on board the Alfred 50, Capt. Robt. Maunsell; in which ship, and the Volage 28, Capt. Geo. Bohun Martin, he served for several years on the Mediterranean station. Having passed his examination in Aug. 1835, he next, in March, 1836, joined the Cornwallis 74, Capt. Robt. Worgan Geo. Festing; but, removing soon to the Imogene, Capt. Henry Wm. Bruce, sailed for South America. In consequence of a severe injury received on that station, he returned to England in July, 1837, and on his recovery, in the following Oct., was appointed Senior Mate of the Hyacinth 18, Capt. Wm. Warren, fitting for the East Indies. In Dec. 1838, several months previously to which he had assumed the duties of Lieutenant, Mr. Drake was sent in command of the Hyacinth’s pinnace and cutter, and of three gun-boats belonging to the Indian navy, to blockade the port of Quedah, where he continued for four months, by the end of which period, owing to continual exposure in an open boat, his health had become much impaired. Being then ordered to China, we find him bearing an active part in all the hostilities of which that country was shortly made the seat. He assisted, among the other operations of the war, in a very gallant attack made by the Volage, Hyacinth, and other vessels, upon the Chinese position near Macao, in Aug. 1840 – was at the storming of Chuenpee, 7 Jan. 1841 – served in the boats at the capture of several rafts and of the last fort protecting the approaches to the city of Canton, 13 March[1] – was similarly employed at the capture of that city on 18 of the same month[2] – and, during the second series of hostilities against it, was engaged in the boats of the Cruizer 16, Capt. Henry Wells Giffard (to which vessel he had been removed), at the destruction, 26 May, of the whole line of defences extending about two miles from the British factory.[3] In July, 1841, prior to the arrival of the intelligence of his official promotion, which had taken place on 8 of the previous June, Mr. Drake was promoted by Sir Gordon Bremer to a Lieutenancy in the sloop last mentioned; in which we subsequently find him present at the storming of the batteries and defences of Amoy, the recapture of Chusan, and the assault on the fortified heights and citadel of Chinghae. Being next appointed, 22 Jan. 1842, to the Cornwallis 72, flagship of Sir Wm. Parker, he further witnessed, in the course of that year, the defeat of the enemy at Chapoo, Woosung, and Chin-Kiang-Foo, and was present at the pacification of Nanking. He returned to England, an invalid, in March, 1843, and remained in consequence on half-pay until appointed, 7 July following, to the Modeste 18, Capt. Thos. Baillie, fitting for the Pacific. Since his last promotion, 12 Jan. 1846, Commander Drake has been unemployed.
DRAKE. (Retired Commander, 1841. f-p., 22; h-p., 34.)
William Edmond Drake entered the Navy, 22 June, 1791, as Captain’s Servant, on board the London 90, Capt. Geo. Blagden Westcott, bearing the flag in the Channel of Rear-Admiral Sam. Cranston Goodall, whom, after a servitude of 18 mouths in the Tisiphone sloop, Capt. Anthony Hunt, he rejoined as Midshipman, in June, 1793, on board the Princess Royal 98. While in that ship he appears to have been warmly engaged with the enemy during the ensuing occupation of Toulon; after which he co-operated in the reduction of Corsica, and was present in Hotham’s actions of 14 March and 13 July, 1795. On the paying off of the Princess Royal in the autumn of 1796, Mr. Drake joined the Royal George 100, bearing the flag of Lord Bridport, in which he beheld the great mutiny at Spithead. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 14 Nov. 1797, in La Légère sloop, Capt. Cornelius Quinton, on the West India station, whence he returned with convoy, in 1799, on board the Valiant 74, Capt. John Cochet. Until the peace, we next find him serving, principally on the Home station, in the Ruby 64, and Resolution 74, both commanded by Capt. Alan Hyde Gardner. He was subsequently appointed – 4 June, 1803, again to the Ruby 64, then flag-ship in the North Sea of Rear-Admiral Edw. Thornbrough – 6 Sept. 1804, to the command of the Albion cutter, off the coast of France – 8 Oct. 1807, to the charge of a Signal station on the island of Jersey – 19 Nov. 1808, to the Diomede 50, as Flag-Lieutenant, off Guernsey, to Rear-Admiral d’Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon, whom he successively accompanied into the Albacore sloop and Phoenix frigate – and, 5 March, 1810, to the command of the Sandwich hired lugger, on the same station, where he captured, 15 June, 1812, Le Courageux French privateer, of 2 guns and 24 men. This officer, who left the Sandwich in March, 1814, and has not since been afloat, became a Retired Commander on the Junior List 15 Dec. 1830 – and on the Senior, 16 Feb. 1841.
DRANE. (Lieut., 1809. f-p., 12; h-p., 35.)
Thomas Drane, born 20 Sept. 1787, at Exmouth, is son of the late Lieut. Robt. Drane, R.N. (1778). This officer entered the Navy, 20 Aug. 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Captain 74, Capts. Sir Rich. John Strachan and Chas. Boyles; as Midshipman of which vessel he beheld the destruction, 17 Nov. following, of the Réolaise French corvette, of 16 guns, under the batteries of the Morbihan. He subsequently proceeded to the West Indies, and, on his return from that station in the Vengeance 74, Capt. Geo. Duff, rejoined Sir Rich. Strachan, in July, 1802, on board the Donegal 74. After cruizing for some time off Cadiz, where he assisted at the capture, 25 Nov. 1804, of the Spanish frigate Amfitrite, of 44 guns, Mr. Drane successively accompanied the same officer into the Renown 74 and Caesar 80; in the latter of which ships we find him present at the capture of the four French line-of-battle ships escaped from Trafalgar, 4 Nov. 1805. Becoming Acting-Lieutenant of the Caesar, 3 Oct. 1806, Mr. Drane contributed in that capacity, under the flag of the Hon. Robt. Stopford, to the destruction, in 1809, of three French fri-
