Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/32

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

18

APLIN—APPLEBY.

Hood, of four other of the enemy’s frigates, two of which, La Gloire 46, and L’Infatigable 44, struck to the Mars, off Rochefort, 25 Sept. 1806; and accompanied the expedition to Copenhagen in Aug. and Sept. 1807. After a subsequent attachment of three years to the Volontaire 38, Capt. Chas. Bullen, Atlas 98, flag-ship of Vice- Admiral John Child Purvis, and Goldfinch and Pheasant sloops, Capts. Arden Adderley and John Palmer, in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Spain, Mr. Aplin was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 16 May, 1811. His succeeding appointments were, on the North America, West India, and Home stations – 5 Sept. 1811, to the Reindeer 18, Capts. Peter John Douglas, John Geo. Boss, and Wm. Manners – 15 Aug. 1814, to the Armide 38, Capts. Fras. Temple and Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge – 15 Aug. 1814, to the Redwing 16, Capt. Thos. Young – 20 Jan. 1816, to the Rivoli 71, Capt. Chas. Ogle – 17 April, 1819, to the Hind, Capt. Sir Chas. Burrard – 26 July, 1821, to the Coast Guard – and, 25 Oct. 1822, 11 Jan. 1827, and 24 May, 1830, to the command of the Swan cutter, Skylark brig, and Messenger steamer, which latter vessel he left in 1832. Mr. Aplin, since 3 Dec. 1842, has been in command of the Acheron steam-sloop, on the Mediterranean station. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.



APLIN. (Captain, 1826. f-p., 13; h-p., 33.)

John George Aplin, born 23 April, 1790, at Berwick-upon-Tweed, is second son of the late Peter Aplin, Esq., Admiral of the White; brother of Lieut. Benj. Aplin, R.N.; grand-nephew of Christ. D’Oyly, Esq., M.P., Comptroller-General of Accounts during Lord North’s administration; and brother-in-law of Lieut. Orlando Orlebar, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 9 March, 1801, as a Volunteer, on board the Eurydice 24, Capt. Walter Bathurst, with whom, on arriving with the ratification of the Peace of Amiens in the East Indies, he removed, as Midshipman, to the Terpsichore 32, and there, on the renewal of hostilities, came into frequent collision with the enemy. On 15 Aug. 1805, being off St. Denis, Isle of Bourbon, he assisted in one of three boats sent into that port for the purpose of cutting out the French corvette La Turburette a service which was completely effected, although, fully prepared for the attack, the enemy had sheltered their vessel within pistol-shot distance of several heavy batteries, whose fire, as well as that of a neighbouring ship, played on the British with destructive effect. In the execution of this very spirited affair, one boat was sunk, another cut down to the water’s edge, and the tow-rope. of the remaining one cut three times. Mr. Aplin, in common with the other officers employed on the occasion, received the personal thanks of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Edw. Pellew, whom, after a further servitude -with Capt. Bathurst in the Pitt 36, he joined, in Aug. 1807, on board the Culloden 74. He had not been many days, however, in the latter ship before he was appointed Acting-Lieutenant of the Psyche frigate, from which he appears to have been transferred in a similar capacity to the Arrogant 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Dawson. Being compelled to invalid, from the effects of long employment in the East Indies, soon after his official promotion, which took place 13 Feb. 1808, Mr. Aplin remained on half-pay until 1810, in the course of which year, and the following, he successively joined the San Josef 110, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Cotton, and Armide 33, Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn, on the Mediterranean and Home stations. In May, 1813, he assumed command of the Arrow schooner, of 12 guns, in which vessel he shortly afterwards attacked a convoy under the protection of two batteries near Quimper, where he drove a brig and several other vessels on shore. He also perforqied a similar service under the batteries of Quiberon, at which place he captured the Marie Antoinette and Vierge Marie, and succeeded in destroying a third vessel. Anchoring subsequently under the batteries close to the harbour of Mer de Fife, in the Ile de Ré, Mr. Aplin skilfully managed, under the guise of an American privateer, so thoroughly to deceive the authorities, that his boats were enabled during the night to enter the port and, without creating the slightest suspicion or alarm, to bring out the largest of the enemy’s vessels, Le Bon Samaritan. In the course of the same year he was actively employed under Sir Geo. Ralph Collier, at the siege of St. Sebastian; and he next conducted the blockade of Santona in a manner so efficient, that, although the enemy possessed in that port a corvette, a schooner, and two gun-hoats, they were unable to capture any ot the numerous British vessels constantly passing. From the period of his advancement to the rank of Commander, 12 March, 1814, Capt. Aplin remained on half-pay until 13 Dec. 1823, when he at length succeeded in obtaining an appointment to the Grasshopper 18. Proceeding in that sloop to Newfoundland, he there assumed command of a small squadron, and acquired the high approbation of Sir Willoughby Thos. Lake, the Commander-in-Chief, and of the Board of Admiralty, for the able and zealous manner in which he discharged several extra-ofilcial duties which afterwards devolved upon him in consequence of the abolition of the civil departments of the Navy, and of the absence of the governor of the island. He was promoted to Post-rank 28 Jan. 1826, and, not being able to procure further employment, accepted the Retirement, 1 Oct. 1846.

Capt. Aplin married, in 1816, Anne Elizabeth, youngest daughter of the late Vice-Admiral D’Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, and sister-in-law of Capt. Henry Prescott, R.N., C.B. By that lady he has issue three sons, of whom the eldest is a Lieutenant in H.M. 28th regiment, and the second a Midshipman, R.N. Agents – Collier and Snee.



APPLEBY. (Capt., 1838. f-p., 284 h-p., 14.)

John Frederick Appleby, born 18 Nov. 1795, belongs to the family of Appleby of Soberton, in Hampshire (formerly of Thirsk, or Blaik Hamilton), and is son of John Appleby, Esq., an agriculturist of that place.

This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Queen 98, Capt. Fras. Pender, bearing the flag, off Cadiz, of Rear- Admiral John Knight, with whom he continued to serve, in the same ship, and the Guerrier, until April, 1806. During the latter part of that period he saw a good deal of boat service, and was much employed, as Midshipman, in affording protection to the numerous convoys passing through the Gut of Gibraltar. Until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 10 Feb. 1815, he was subsequently employed, chiefly on the Home and Mediterranean stations, in the San Josef 110, successive flag-ship of Sir Chas. Cotton and Sir Jas. Saumarez, Minstrel 18, Capts. John Hollinworth, Ralph Randolph Wormeley, and John Campbell, Wizard 16, Capt. John Bowker, San Josef again, bearing the flag of Sir Chas. Cotton, Derwent 18, Capt. Geo. Manners Sutton, Dromedary store-ship, Master-Commander Sam. Perkins Pritchard, Bristol armeé en flûte, Capt. Geo. Wyndham, Akbar 60, Capts. Archibald Dickson and Chas. Bullen, and Puissant 74, Capt. Benj. Wm. Page. While in the Minstrel, Mr. Appleby assisted at the capture, in the Adriatic, of the national schooner Ortenzia, pierced for 16, but carrying only 10 guns, 16 July, 1808; and, on 10 Dec. 1813 [errata 1], served with the boats of a squadron under Capt. Fras. Wm. Fane, at the destruction of a large convoy, protected by two batteries in the mole of Palamos, where, out of 600 British officers and men, upwards of 200 were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. As Acting-Lieutenant of the Bristol, we find him serving in the boats at the capture of La Petite Louise privateer, and also present at the siege of Tarragona, in June, 1813. His appointments, subsequently to his promotion, were – 3 May, 1815, to the Nimrod 18, Capt. Geo. Hilton, employed for the purpose of intercepting Napoleon Buonaparte after the battle of Waterloo – and, in July, 1817, and Jan. 1824, to the Queen Charlotte and Victory, bearing the flags, at Portsmouth, of Sir Edw. Thornbrough, Sir Geo. Camp-

  1. Correction: 10 Dec. 1813 should be amended to 13 Dec. 1810 : detail