tie’s intention of resuming the blockade of Port Louis. His advancement to the rank of Commander took place 12 Feb. 1811. After nearly 12 months of half-pay Capt. Laugharne was next, 6 Feb. 1812, appointed to the Alert sloop (formerly a Newcastle oollier), mounting 14 18-pounder carronades and 2 long sixes, with a complement of 86 men. On 13 of the ensuing Aug. this vessel, at the time in search of the U.S. ship Hornet fell in with and most gallantly bore down upon the Essex frigate, of 46 guns and 328 men, by whom, however, she was in 15 minutes unfortunately taken captive, with seven feet water in her hold and three of her men wounded. By a court-martial which, on 8 of the proximate Oct., assembled at Newfoundland, Capt. Laugharne was of course most honourably acquitted of all blame in the loss of his ship. His last appointment afloat was to the Achates 18, in which sloop he cruized in the Channel until Nov. 1815. He became an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard in Nov. 1823, and on 4 April, 1832, as a reward for his exertions in that service, he was advanced to Post-rank. He has since been on half-pay.
Capt. Laugharne has had his skuJll severely fractured and trepanned in two places – the first time through a fall in a gale of wind when Midshipman of the Theseus 74, in Aug. 1802; and the second, in the same part of the head, when cutting out, with the Unicorn’s boats, in July, 1808, an armed schooner from the harbour of St. Sebastian, on the north coast of Spain. On the latter occasion he also lost a great portion of the upper jaw. Among the numerous other boat affairs in which Capt. Laugharne took part, we may instance his capture of a French national schooner when in command of the boats of the Boadicea. In consideration of his wounds he is allowed a pension of 91l. 5s. He married, in Feb. 1820, Mary Amelia, eldest surviving daughter of Sir Stewkely Shuckburgh, Bart., of Shuckburgh Park, co. Warwick, by whom he has issue two children.
LAUGHARNE. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 16; h-p., 33.)
William Laugharne, born 21 Dec. 1785, at Poole, co. Dorset, is son of the late Capt. Thos. Laugharne, R.N., and nephew of the late Vice-Admiral John Laugharne. His only brother, Lieut. Thos. Laugharne, perished in the Jaseur brig when crossing the Bay of Bengal, on his way to China, in Aug. 1809.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 Jan. 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Barfleur 98, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, with whom he removed as Midshipman, in the following Sept., to the Foudroyant 80, commanded afterwards by Capts. Wm. Brown, Thos. Masterman Hardy, and Sir Edw. Berry. While in the latter ship, besides witnessing the surrender of Naples, we find him, while at the blockade of Malta, assisting at the capture, 18 Feb. 1800, of Le Généreux 74, and Ville de Marseilles armed store-ship, and on 31 March, after a desperate conflict, in which the Foudroyant (then in company with the Lion 64, and Penelope 36) sustained a loss of 8 men killed and 64 wounded, of Le Guillaume Tell, of 84 guns and 1000 men, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Decrès. From Nov. 1800 until April, 1802, Mr. Laugharne further served with Sir Edw. Berry and Capt. Henry Hill in the Princess Charlotte 38, and Ruby 64, in the Mediterranean and in the North Sea and Baltic. He then, in the Concorde 36, Capts. Robt. Barton and John Wood, proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, where, in Feb. 1803, he joined the Tremendous 74, Capt. John Osborne. In March, 1805, being at the time in the Culloden 74, flag-ship in the East Indies of Sir Edw. Pellew, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Cornwallis frigate, Capt. Wm. Jones Lye. Being confirmed, 14 Nov. 1806, into the Russell 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Wm. O’Brien Drury, he was present in that ship at the ensuing destruction of the Dutch force in Batavia Roads. His subsequent appointments were – 27 Sept. 1809, to the Rattlesnake 18, Capt. Jas. John Gordon Bremer, with whom he returned to England – 2 Nov. 1810, to the Southampton 32, Capts. Edwards Lloyd Graham and Jas. Lucas Yeo, stationed in the Channel – 31 Jan. 1811, to the Alcmène 38, Capt. E. L. Graham, in which frigate he again went to the Mediterranean – and, 3 Dec. 1813 and 19 July, 1814, to the Trident 64, and Swiftsure 74, as Flag-Lieutenant at Malta to his uncle Rear-Admiral Laugharne. He was advanced to his present rank 23 Sept. 1814, and has since been on half-pay.
Commander Laugharne married, first, in Nov. 1818, Louisa, daughter of Retired Commander Peter Tait (1800); and secondly, in June, 1825, Mary Emilia, daughter of the late Sam. Rawlings, Esq., of Charlton, co. Kent.
LAURIE, Bart., K.C.B. (Admiral of the Blue, 1846. f-p., 30; h-p., 37.)
Sir Robert Laurie, born 25 May, 1764, is son of the late Lieut.-General Sir Robt. Laurie, Bart., Knight-Marshal of Scotland, and for upwards of 30 years J.P. for co. Dumfries, by Mary Elizabeth, daughter of the sixth Lord Ruthven, and niece of the Earl of Bute. He succeeded his father as sixth baronet in 1804.
This officer entered the Navy, 24 April, 1780, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Surprize, Capt. Sam. Reeve, in which ship, and, as Midshipman, in the Crown, he served with the same officer on the Newfoundland and Home stations until the autumn of 1783. He afterwards, until confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant 12 Nov. 1790, served at Newfoundland and Jamaica, part of the time as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Salisbury 50, flag-ship of Admiral Campbell, Edgar 74, Capt. Adam Duncan, Expedition and Europa, bearing each the broad pendant of Commodore Alan Gardner, and Alert sloop, Capt. Geo. Burden. In Jan. 1793 he rejoined Commodore (then Rear-Admiral) Gardner, on board the Queen 98, in which ship he fought and was wounded in Lord Howe’s action 1 June, 1794.[1] Being made Commander, 25 June, 1795, into the Zephyr sloop, Capt. Laurie was for some time employed in that vessel on the North Sea station, whence he ultimately returned to the West Indies, capturing on his passage out, 8 Jan. 1797, La Réfléchie, French privateer of 12 guns and 67 men, and assisting, on his arrival, at the reduction of Trinidad. On 17 July in the same year Capt. Laurie was advanced to Post-rank. His next appointment, we therefore find, was to a frigate, the Andromache 32, the command of which he retained, on the West India and American stations, from Nov. 1798 until Feb. 1804. On one occasion during that period, 22 March, 1801, while cruizing off Punta de Mulas, on the north-east coast of the island of Cuba, in company with the Cleopatra 32, Capt. Israel Pellew, he took charge of the boats of both ships for the purpose of capturing or destroying 25 Spanish vessels, richly laden, and lying at anchor in the bay of Levita under the protection of three armed galleys or gun-vessels, armed with long 24 and 18 pounders. Soon after midnight the boats arrived within gunshot of the galleys, and were received, quite unexpectedly, with a heavy and destructive fire of grape, langridge, and musketry. In spite of this opposition the British gallantly pushed on, and boarded several vessels, but from the heavy loss they sustained (9 killed and 12 wounded) were only able to bring off one of the galleys. Obtaining command, 9 July, 1804, of the Cleopatra, of 38 guns and 200 men. Sir Robt. Laurie continued in that frigate until 17 Feb. 1805; on which date he had the misfortune to be captured, after a brilliant and self-sought action of nearly three hours and a loss to his own ship of 20 killed and 38 wounded, by La Ville de Milan, of 46 guns and 350 men, 10 of whom appear to have been slain. The latter frigate being however so shattered in the combat as to be scarcely able to protect herself, the two, on falling in, six days afterwards, with the 50-gun ship Lean-
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1794, p. 557.
