Phaeton 38 and Pearl 32, Capts. Jas. Nicoll Morris and Sam. Jas. Ballard, both in the Mediterranean; next, in Nov. 1801, the Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh, lying at Spithead; and, in Jan. 1802, the Medusa 32, Capt. John Gore, again in the Mediterranean; where, in Dec. 1803, he was received by Lord Nelson, on promotion, on board the Victory 100. In that ship, in which he was confirmed a Lieutenant 20 July, 1804, he united in two unsuccessful pursuits after the French fleet. In the spring of 1805 he removed to the Hydra 38, Capt. Geo. Mundy, also in the Mediterranean; and on 22 Jan. 1806 he was promoted to the rank of Commander. His next appointment was, 18 April in the latter year, to the Minorca 18; in which vessel we find him engaged in maintaining a communication between the naval forces off Cadiz and Gibraltar, and involved in occasional skirmishes with the enemy in the Straits. He succeeded while in her in making prize, among other vessels, of a Spanish privateer Nostra Señora del Carmen alias La Caridad of 2 guns, 2 swivels, and 35 men, and a royal packet from Tangier bound to Tarifa. Attaining Post-rank 16 Feb. 1807, he assumed command, in May, 1808, of the Thames 32, then on her passage home from the Mediterranean; whither, after that ship had been refitted, he again proceeded. On 25 July, 1810, Capt. Waldegrave, with the assistance of the Weasel and Pilot brigs, and of their boats, effected the capture and destruction, under the batteries of Amantea, of a convoy of 31 vessels, laden with provisions and stores for the enemy’s army at Scylla, together with seven large gun-boats and five armed scampavias;[1] an event which materially tended to prevent Murat’s contemplated invasion of Sicily. Capt. Waldegrave was afterwards intrusted with a mission to Mehemet Ali, the Pacha of Egypt, and concluded the first treaty effected with that remarkable character. His conduct in this instance, as it had done at Amantea, procured him the thanks of the Commander in-Chief and of the Board of Admiralty. On 5 Oct. 1810 the boats of the Thames and Éclair brig cut out 10 transports collected near Agricoli, in the Gulf of Salerno; and on 16 June, 1811, a detachment, landed from the former ship and the Cephalus sloop-of-war, destroyed the same number of armed feluccas, on the beach, near Cetraro. To mark their approbation of his continuous exertions the Admiralty had, on 15 March in the latter year, appointed Capt. Waldegrave to the Volontaire 38; which ship he joined in the ensuing July. At first he was employed in watching the Toulon fleet during the absence of Sir Edw. Pellew and the line-of-battle ships under his orders. While so stationed, and in company with the Perlen 38, he was pursued, 22 Nov. 1811, by three French ships of the line and two frigates; from whom the British vessels, after a running fight which lasted several hours, contrived to accomplish a gallant escape. He was subsequently, after having refitted in England, employed on the coast of Spain; and his boats, as detailed in our memoirs of the officers who commanded them, engaged, with those of other ships, in capturing and destroying large numbers of the enemy’s vessels. On 4 March, 1815, he took the Aspasia, American letter-of-marque, of 3 guns and 25 men. He continued in the Volontaire until the close of 1815; and has since been on half-pay. On 4 June in the year last mentioned he was nominated a C.B.; and from 5 Sept. 1831 until advanced to Flag-rank, 23 Nov. 1841, he filled the appointment of Naval Aide-de-Camp to his late and her present Majesty.
Lord Radstock, since the peace, has been energetically employed in watching over and ministering, in his public and private capacity, to the wants and comforts of the poorer and more distressed members of the profession. He married, 7 Aug. 1823, Esther Caroline, youngest daughter of Jas. Puget, Esq., of Totteridge, co. Hants, by whom he has issue one son and two daughters.
RAINIER. (Lieutenant, 1844.)
Charles Rainier is brother of Lieut. Peter Rainier, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy 26 Aug. 1830; passed his examination 7 June, 1837; served on the Pacific, Portsmouth, and Mediterranean stations, as Mate, in the President 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross, St. Vincent 120, bearing the flag of Sir Chas. Rowley, and Tyne 26, Capt. Wm. Nugent Glascock; and obtained his commission 24 Feb. 1844. His succeeding appointments were – 6 March, 1844, as Additional Lieutenant, to the Formidable 84, Capt. Sir Chas. Sullivan, in the Mediterranean – 12 May following, again in the latter capacity, to the Tyne – 15 Sept. 1845 still as Additional (after a few months of half-pay) to the Penelope steam-frigate, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Wm. Jones on the coast of Africa – and 3 March, 1846, to the Styx steam-sloop of 280 horse-power, Capt. Henry Chads, with whom he returned to England from the station last named in 1848.
RAINIER. (Lieut., 1821. f-p., 14; h-p., 23.)
John Rainier, born 12 July, 1797, is son of the late John Rainier, Esq., Banker, of Hackney, co. Middlesex; nephew of the late Admirals Peter Rainier and Jas. Vashon, the former of whom commanded in chief in the East Indies as Commodore and Rear and Vice-Admiral from 1794 until 1804; and uncle of Lieuts. Charles and Peter Rainier, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 Nov. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Désirée 36, Capts. Arthur Farquhar and Wm. Woolridge. Under the former he served at the blockade of the Texel, cruized among the Western Islands, was actively employed in the rivers Elbe and Weser, and assisted, as Midshipman, at the reduction, in Dec. 1813 and Jan. 1814, of Cuxhaven and Gluckstadt. During the siege of the latter place he was engaged on shore in the batteries and officiated as an Aide-de-Camp between Capt. Farquhar and the Swedish General Baron de Boyé. On one occasion he was ordered to cross the river (Elbe) at a very wide part with despatches from the Crown Prince of Sweden for the British Government. The weather being memorably inclement, and the passage occupying 15 hours, he was so dreadfully frost-bitten in the feet that he has never ceased to feel the effects. In May, 1814, he again joined Capt. Farquhar on board the Liverpool 40; in which ship he escorted convoy to Quebec, cruized on the American station, and aided at the blockade of the Ile de Bourbon. On her return to England, in the spring of 1816, the Liverpool took the ground at the foot of Shakspeare’s Cliff, near Dover, and was not rescued from her perilous position until all her masts and spars had been cut away, and her guns, provisions, and stores thrown overboard. After serving for 17 months on the St. Helena station in the Newcastle 60, flag-ship of Sir Pulteney Malcolm, and for two years and six months in the Channel and Mediterranean, in the Liffey 50, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, Mr. Rainier was nominated, 14 Dec. 1820, Acting-Lieutenant of the Vengeur 74, Capt. Fred. Lewis Maitland; to which ship, also attached to the force in the Mediterranean, he was confirmed 9 Jan. 1821. In the Liffey he was for a short time in attendance on the Prince Regent; and in the Vengeur he escorted the King of Naples to Leghorn. He returned to England in April, 1821; and was afterwards appointed – 7 Jan. 1824, to the Ramillies 74, Coast Blockade ship, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, lying in the Downs – 20 Dec. 1825, to the Java 52, flag-ship of Sir Wm. Hall Gage in the East Indies – 18 Jan. 1827, to the Boadicea 46, Capt. John Wilson, with whom he came home in Aug. of the same year – and 4 Nov. 1830 and 18 April, 1831, as First, to the Racehorse and Hyacinth of 18 guns each, Capts. Chas. Hamlyn Williams and Wm. Oldrey, both in the West Indies. In May, 1831, so serious had grown the consequences of the injury he had sus-
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1857.
