months employed in the Mediterranean as Master’s Mate of the San Josef 110, flag-ship of Rear-Admirals Edw. Jas. Foote and Sir Rich. King; and, after a further attachment to the Puissant 74, Capt. Benj. Wm. Page, at Spithead, and, as Admiralty-Mate, to the Statira 38, Capt. Spelman Swaine, in which ship he accompanied the expedition against New Orleans, and was wrecked on a rock off the island of Cuba, 26 Feb. 1815, he was awarded a commission dated 17 of that month. His appointments have since been – 6 June, 1815, for three months, to the Puissant, commanded as before – 3 July, 1816, for an equally brief period, to the Belzebub bomb, Capts. Wm. Kempthorne and Fred. Thos. Michell, part of the force employed at the bombardment of Algiers – 17 Jan. 1817, to the Alban 12, Capt. Hugh Patton, which vessel, employed for some time off Holyhead, was paid off in Oct. 1818 – and, 26 April, 1825, to the command, which he still retains, of a station in the Coast Guard.
MORRITT. (Commander, 1845.)
George Morritt entered the Navy 21 Aug. 1816; passed his examination in 1823; and obtained his first commission 10 Jan. 1837. His succeeding appointments were – 12 Jan. and 20 April, 1837, as Additional-Lieutenant, to the Melville and Hastings 74’s, flag-ships of Hon. Sir Chas. Paget and Sir Wm. Hall Gage on the North America and West India and Lisbon stations – 7 Sept. 1837 and 1 Oct. 1840, to the Minden 72 and Howe 120, Capts. Alex. Renton Sharpe and Thos. Forrest, both attached to the force in the Mediterranean – and, 6 Dec. 1843, as Senior, to the Vestal 26, Capt. Chas. Talbot, fitting for the East Indies. For his conduct in command of the barge belonging to the latter ship, at the capture and destruction, 19 Aug. 1845, of Maloodoo, a strong fortification in the possession of Scheriff Osman, a rebel Borneo chieftain, he was promoted to the rank of Commander by commission dated back to the day of the achievement.[1] He has been employed, since 30 June, 1847, as an Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
MORSHEAD. (Lieut., 1836. f-p., 21; h-p., 5.)
John Morshead was born in 1806.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 Nov. 1821, as a Volunteer, on board the Iphigenia 42, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Mends on the coast of Africa; where, on following his chief, as Midshipman, into the Owen Glendower 42, he served on shore at Cape Coast Castle, during the Ashantee war. In the spring of 1825, a few months after he had returned to England and been received on board the Prince Regent 120, flag-ship at Chatham of Sir Benj. Hallowell, he again sailed for the coast of Africa in the Redwing 18, Capt, Douglas Chas. Clavering; and, on his arrival, was transferred to the Maidstone 42, Commodore Chas. Bullen. Invaliding home in Dec. of the same year, he next joined in succession – in March, 1826, the Britannia 120, Capt. Philip Pipon, lying at Plymouth – between Feb. 1828 and June, 1830, the Erebus and Infernal bombs, Capts. Geo. Haye, Edm. Wm. Gilbert, and Brunswick Popham, both in the Mediterranean – and, in June, 1831, the Imogene, Capt. Price Blackwood, whom he accompanied, first to the East Indies, and then to China, where, in Sept. 1834, he commanded a division of guns at the forcing of the passage of the Boca Tigris. He returned to England in Aug. 1835; and on 24 May, 1836, nearly eight years after he had passed his examination, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. His appointments have since been – in 1836-7, to the Dublin 50, Harrier 18, and Blonde 42, Capts. Chas. Eden, Wm. Henry Hallowell Carew, and Sir Fras. Mason, all on the South American stations, whence he returned in Nov. 1837 – 21 July, 1838, to the Hastings 74, Capts. Fras. Erskine Loch and John Lawrence, under the latter of whom, during the Syrian war, he was employed in the boats in a successful attempt to remove a quantity of powder from the castle of Beyrout[2] – 6 Nov. 1843 (he had left the Hastings in Feb. 1842), to the Albion 90, Capt. Nicholas Lockyer, from which ship, employed on the Home station, he invalided in Sept. 1845 – and, 19 Nov. 1846, as Additional, to the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir John Louis, Admiral-Superintendent at Plymouth, where he is at present serving.
MORSHEAD, C.B. (Captain, 1842.)
William Henry Anderson Morshead entered the Navy 4 Sept. 1823; passed his examination in 1830; and obtained his first commission 21 Sept. 1832. His succeeding appointments were – 2 April, 1833, as Additional-Lieutenant, to the St. Vincent 120, Capt. Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, in the Mediterranean – 29 July following, and 30 May and 16 Dec. 1834, to the Malabar 74, Capts. Hon. Josceline Percy and Henry Shovell Marsham, Talavera 74, Capt. Edw. Chetham, and Edinburgh 74, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, on the same station, whence he returned in the early part of 1837 – 28 Sept. in the latter year, as Senior, to the Favourite 18, Capt. Walter Croker, whom he accompanied to the East Indies – and, 1 June, 1838, in a similar capacity, to the Hyacinth 18, Capt. Wm. Warren. On 13 and 18 March, 1841, we find him commanding the boats of the latter vessel at the capture of the last fort protecting the approaches to Canton, and also of the city itself.[3] During the second series of operations against it, it was his lot to be slightly wounded, and to perform service which gained him the public mention of Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse.[4] Being rewarded with the rank of Commander 8 June, 1841, and appointed, 16 Oct. following, to the Columbine 16, he further distinguished himself by the manner in which, with his own boats and those of the Hon. Co.’s war-steamer Queen, he destroyed a large number of fire-junks intended for the destruction of Her Majesty’s shipping in the neighbourhood of Ningpo, 10 March, 1842.[5] In the course of the same year he participated in the attacks upon Chapoo and Woosung, and in the operations on the Yang-tse-Kiang.[6] For these services he was recompensed with a Post-commission dated 23 Dec. 1842, and, the next day, with the Companionship of the Bath. He paid the Columbine off in the early part of 1843, and has not been since employed. Agent – John P. Muspratt.
MORTIMER. (Lieut., 1813. f-p., 12; h-p., 30.)
George Mortimer, born 16 Dec. 1792, at Bideford, co. Devon, is son of the late Commander John Mortimer, R.N. (1797); and brother of the late Lieut. Mortimer and nephew of the late Major Mortimer, both of the R.M. Another uncle, Mr. Porrett, was Ordnance Storekeeper at the Tower; as was also a cousin, bearing the same name.
This officer (whose name had been previously borne as a Supernumerary on the books of the Caesar 80, Capt. Sir Rich. John Strachan, Nimble 14, Lieut.-Commander Thos. Delafons, and Audacious 74, and Barfleur 98, which latter ship, commanded by Capt. Geo. Martin, formed part of the force under Admiral Hon. Wm. Cornwallis when he pursued the French fleet close in with Brest harbour) became Midshipman, in the summer of 1805, of the Warrior 74, Capts. Sam. Hood Linzee, Michael Seymour, and John Wm. Spranger, with whom he continued employed in the Channel and Mediterranean until Feb. 1811. Towards the close of the former year, having fallen in with the Victory at sea, he assisted in towing that ship, with the body of Lord Nelson on board, into Spithead. In 1809 he co-operated in the reduction of the islands of Ischia, Procida, Zante, Cephalonia, and Cerigo; and he next commanded a mortar-boat at the defence of Sicily. In 1811 (in the course of which year he successively removed to the San Juan and
