353
FERGUSON—FERNANDES—FERRAR.
April, 1806, Mr. Ferguson became Flag-Lieutenant to Lord Collingwood in the Ocean 98, from which ship he removed, in Feb. 1808, to the Endymion 40, Capt. Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel. While afterwards serving in the Atlas 98, under the flag of Rear-Admiral John Child Purvis, he obtained a Commander’s commission dated 27 Dec. 1808. Capt. Ferguson – who subsequently commanded the Pylades sloop, in the Mediterranean, from 11 April, 1809, until April, 1812, and captured, 14 Dec. 1809, L’Aigle privateer, of 10 guns, 4 swivels, and 80 men – was promoted to Post-rank 6 June, 1814, and appointed, 14 Dec. following, to the Spey 20, on the Channel station. He has been on half-pay since Sept. 1815.
Capt. Ferguson is Deputy-Lieutenant for Banff and Aberdeenshire, for the former of which places he sat in Parliament in 1833 and 1835. He married, first, 26 May, 1812, Elizabeth Holcombe, only daughter and heiress of John Woodhouse, Esq., of Aramstone House and Yatton Court, co. Hereford; and secondly, in April, 1825, the Hon. Elizabeth Jane Rowley, sister of the late and aunt of the present Lord Langford. Agents – Hallett and Ilobinson.
FERGUSON. (Captain, 1817. f-p., 18; h-p., 33.xx)
John Macpherson Ferguson is a younger son of the late celebrated Dr. Adam Ferguson, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, by Miss Burnet, of Aberdeenshire, niece of Dr. Joseph Black, Chemical Professor in the above institution.
This officer entered the Navy, in Dec. 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Caesar 80, Capts. Chas. Edmund Nugent, Roddam Home, and Sir Jas. Saumarez, employed for three years at the blockade of Brest. He removed as Midshipman, in April, 1800, to La Loire 38, Capt, Jas. Newman Newman; served next, in the Aurora 28, Capt. Micajah Malbon, and Victory 100, bearing the flag of Lord Nelson; and, on 13 Jan. 1804, was confirmed to a Lieutenancy in the Superb 74, Capt. Rich. Goodwin Keats, under whom, after pursuing the combined fleets of France and Spain from the Mediterranean to the West Indies, he assisted in Sir John Duckworth’s action off St. Domingo, 6 Feb. 1806. Being appointed, on 20 Oct. in the latter year, to the Redwing 18, Capt. Thos. Ussher, stationed in the Straits of Gibraltar, Mr. Ferguson, who continued in that vessel for a period of 20 months as her First-Lieutenant, bore a conspicuous part in a multitude of very dashing exploits. On 20 April, 1807, he ably supported Capt. Ussher in a spirited engagement with a division of Spanish gun-boats and several batteries near Cabritta Point; and, on 7 Sept. following, he commanded the boats and displayed much gallantry in an attempt made to destroy several vessels, under a most galling fire from the town of Calassel. The day after the latter event he obtained the highest praise of his Captain for his bravery in boarding a polacre ship whose yard-arms nearly touched the castle of Benidorme, and for his conduct throughout a stiff action which terminated in the destruction, near Jovosa, of three privateers, mounting altogether 20 guns. On 7 May, 1808, he further contributed, by his unsurpassably cool and determined conduct, to the utter defeat of seven armed vessels, carrying in the aggregate 22 guns and 271 men, of whom 240 were killed, drowned, or taken prisoners;[1] subsequently to which he again commanded the boats at the capture and destruction, on 1 June, of a mistico and two feluccas in the Bay of Bolonia, where he also landed with Capt. Ussher, stormed a battery, and blew up the magazine.[2] Being rewarded for these services with a second promotal commission, dated 13 July, 1808, Capt. Ferguson, on 22 Oct. 1810, obtained command of the Pandora 18, which sloop – the captor on 31 Dec. following of Le Chasseur privateer, of 16 guns and 36 men – he had the misfortune to lose on the Skawe reef, off the coast of Jutland, 13 Feb. 1811. In consequence of this misadventure he became a prisoner for some time in the hands of the Danes. His next appointment appears to have been, 27 Aug. 1815, to the Nimrod 18, on the Leith station, where he continued until posted, 1 Jan. 1817. He afterwards commanded the Mersey 26, in South America, from 24 April, 1823, until 1827. His acceptance of the Retirement took place 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Ferguson married, 22 March, 1836, Elizabeth Lander, youngest daughter of the late Geo. Guild, Esq., and grand-daughter of the late Dr. Colin Lander, by whom he has issue one son.
FERNANDES. (Retired Commander, 1838. f-p., 13; h-p., 44.)
Donald Fernandes entered the Navy, 17 July, 1790, as Midshipman, on board the Assistance, Capt. Lord Cranstoun, and, after visiting Gibraltar, successively joined the Alfred, guard-ship in the River Medway, Capts. Thos. West and John Bazely, and Edgar and Thunderer 74’s, both commanded by Capt. Albemarle Bertie, under whom, in the latter ship, he served as Master’s Mate in the actions of Howe and Bridport, 1 June, 1794, and 23 June, 1795. Towards the close of 1795 he accompanied Sir John Jervis to the Mediterranean as Acting-Lieutenant of the Lively frigate; and on arriving on that station he became similarly attached, 4 April and 11 Aug. 1796, to the St. George 98, Capt. Shuldham Peard, and Blenheim 74, Capt. Thos. Lenox Frederick, to which ship he was confirmed 9 Feb. 1797. On 14 of the latter month Mr. Fernandes bore a part in the action off Cape St. Vincent. From March, 1797, in the course of which year he was also much engaged with the Spanish gun-boats and batteries near Cadiz, until the peace of 1802, he served in the Victory 100, Capts. Thos. Sotheby and Wm. Cuming, London and Princess Royal 98’s, both flag-ships of Rear-Admiral Frederick, Centaur 74, Capt. John Markham, and Malta 80, Capt. A. Bertie. For a few months in 1803 he commanded the Speedwell brig on the Home station, and on 5 Aug. 1806, he obtained a short-lived, we believe, employment in the Sea Fencibles. Since he left the latter service. Commander Fernandes, who accepted his present rank 21 Dec. 1838, has been on half-pay. He obtained the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 3 Aug. 1837.
FERRAR. (Lieut., 1827. f-p., 35; h-p., 0.)
William Augustus Ferrar was born 6 Feb. 1797, in Dublin.
This officer entered the Navy 26 Jan. 1812, on board the Narcissus 32, Capt. Hon. Fred. Wm. Aylmer; on removing from which frigate to the Armide 38, he experienced, as Midshipman, a skirmish with the batteries of Brest. After a servitude of some months in the Dublin 74, Leonidas 38, and Fortunée 36, he eventually rejoined Capt. Aylmer in the Pactolus 38; and while in that frigate, besides escorting the Duke of Cambridge to Cuxhaven, and his late Majesty to the Scheldt, he assisted in a rocket-boat at, among other detached services, the bombardment of Stonington, in Aug. 1814. On 9 Dec. in the latter year, the Pactolus having captured the Postboy, an American schooner of 80 tons burthen, Mr. Ferrar was placed in charge of the prize, and sent to Bermuda. During the passage, however, the Postboy in a violent gale was totally dismasted, and, becoming water-logged, remained in that condition for a whole week, with the inextricable corpses of four suffocated seamen lying in a state of putrefaction in the fore-cabin. Mr. Ferrar and his only two companions at length contrived to bale the water out and commit the bodies to the deep, but it was not until after 40 days of protracted and awful suffering that they fell in with and were rescued by
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 735.
- ↑ The total losses ot the Redwing on the occasions we have alluded to amounted to 7 men killed and 21 wounded [errata 1].
