RAMSHAY. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 16; h-p., 33.)
George Rodney Ramshay was born 7 May, 1782.
This officer entered the Navy, 29 May, 1798, as L.M., on board the Northumberland 74, Capt. Geo. Martin, in which ship he served, while holding the ratings of Midshipman and Master’s Mate, at the blockade of Malta and in the operations of 1801 in Egypt. In July of the latter year he was precipitated accidentally into the coal-hold, a distance of 18 or 19 feet, and, a wine-pipe falling on him, his head was cut and his right ankle flattened. Owing to this misadventure he was for three or four weeks on the doctor’s list. On leaving the Northumberland, he joined, in Sept. 1802, the Leda 38, Capt. Robt. Honyman, attached to the force in the North Sea. In July, 1803, he was again placed under the orders of Capt. Martin, on board the Colossus 74, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Collingwood in the Channel; where, in the course of 1804, he followed Capt. Martin into the Glory and Barfleur 98’s. On 1 March, 1804, having ascended into the rigging of the Colossus for the purpose of assisting the crew, he again fell, injured the small of his back, and fractured his skull. He was unable to speak, in consequence, for nine days, and for 45 was incapable of performing his duty. On 26 Jan. 1805 he became Acting-Lieutenant of the Eugénie 16, Capt. Chas. Webb; on 18 Nov. following, Sub-Lieutenant of the Trompeuse 18, Capt. Wm. Brooking Dolling; and on 29 Aug. 1807, full Lieutenant of his old ship, the Colossus, then commanded, in the Mediterranean, by Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris. The Eugénie took out Mungo Park, the traveller, to the coast of Guinea, and proceeded with him 270 miles up the Gambia; the Trompeuse was stationed off Boulogne. In April, 1808, Mr. Ramshay rejoined his patron, at that time Rear-Admiral Martin, on board the Canopus 80, in which ship, bearing the flag afterwards of Rear-Admiral Chas. Boyles, he continued until Feb. 1812 to serve in the Mediterranean; on which station we find him, from the following July until July, 1814, eimployed in the Prince of Wales 98, Capt. John Erskine Douglas. He accepted his present rank 11 Jan. 1844.
The effects of the injuries sustained by Commander Ramshay in the Colossus continue to this day. He married, 21 Dec. 1822, and has issue seven children.
RANDALL. (Lieut., 1806. f-p., 17; h-p., 33.)
Daniel White Randall was born 2 Dec. 1784, at Weymouth, in Dorsetshire.
This officer entered the Navy, 20 March, 1797, as Midshipman, on board the Audacious 74, Capt. Davidge Gould, employed at first off Cadiz. After sharing in the battle of the Nile, 1 Aug. 1798, he was sent to Lisbon in Le Conquérant 74, one of the ships taken on the occasion. He subsequently, between Feb. 1799 and Oct. 1802, served in the Channel and North Sea in the Brilliant and Penelope frigates, both commanded by Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, Diamond 38, Capt. Edw. Grifflthj Irresistible 74, Capt. Wm. Bligh, and, as Admiralty- Midshipman, in the Fortunée frigate, Capt. John Ferrier. The Diamond was twice nearly lost – the first time by accidentally catching fire while preparing to engage two frigates whom she had been blockading in L’Orient; the Second, by striking upon a pointed rock, near Quiberon, a part of which, weighing about two tons, was found, on her return to Plymouth, sticking to her bottom, and was for many years preserved as a curiosity in the Dockyard. The Fortunée, while conveying 300 Hanoverian troops home, was cast away, in Oct. 1802, in a heavy gale, at the entrance of the Texel. Ten days after she had been dismasted, deserted, and all but buried in the sand, she was got off by dint of great exertion and restored to the service. In Nov. 1802 Mr. Randall was received on board La Loire 38, Capt. Fred. Levris Maitland, stationed on the coast of Ireland; and on 30 Sept. 1805, after having cruised for 18 months in the Channel, in the Moucheron 16, Capt. Jas. Hawes, and Montagu 74, Capt. Robt. Waller Otway, he was appointed Sub-Lieutenant of the Wrangler gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander John Bentinck Pettet, in the Downs. While in the latter vessel he received instructions to fit out and command a gun and rocket boat intended to co-operate in an attack (frustrated by adverse weather when on the eve of execution) on the Boulogne flotilla. He was made full Lieutenant 22 Jan. 1806, and subsequently appointed – 2 March, 1806, to the Avenger 18, Capt. Thos. White, at Newfoundland – 11 July, 1807, and 21 July, 1809, to the Espiègle 16 and Jalouse 18, both commanded by Capt. Henry Gage Morris on the Irish station – 17 July, 1812, after 15 months of half-pay, to the Christian VII. 80, Capt. Henry Lidgbird Ball, in the North Sea – and, in July, 1813, to the Echo sloop, Capt. Thos. Percival. In the Avenger, on his passage home with convoy in 1807 from Newfoundland, he witnessed the loss of Le Hazard of 14 guns and 50 men, a privateer, which, in running foul of the Avenger, was so much damaged that she went down head foremost. When Senior, in Jan. 1810, of the Jalouse, we find him gallantly assisting in the boats of that vessel and of the Phoenix frigate at the boarding and capture, under a heavy fire of grape and musketry, of Le Charles privateer of 14 guns and 90 men, after a row of four hours in the Atlantic, which had left the men-of-war hull down.[1] In 1813 he proceeded in the Echo to the West Indies in escort of a convoy of 283 sail, and in company with the Minden 74; Ister 36, and Talbot sloop. He was paid off in Sept. 1815, and has not been since afloat.
RANDALL. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 35; h-p., 6.)
Henry Randall entered the Navy, 14 June, 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Ganges 74, Capt. Peter Halkett, employed on the coast of Portugal. From Sept. 1808 until wrecked on the Haak Sands, near the Texel, and taken prisoner, 28 Jan. 1812, he served with Capts. Geo. Fras. Seymour and John Joyce in the Pallas 32 and Manilla 36. In the Pallas he witnessed the destruction of the French shipping in Aix Roads in April, 1809, and accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren. On his restoration to liberty in 1814 he joined the Prince 98, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Bickerton at Spithead; and in Aug. 1815, at which period he had been stationed for three months off Havre de Grace in the Euryalus 42, Capts. Chas. Napier and Thos. Huskisson, he was presented with a commission bearing date 22 Feb. in that year. He was afterwards, from 5 June, 1820, until advanced to the rank of Commander, 5 Jan. 1846, employed in the Coast Guard. His exertions during that period in saving lives from shipwrecked vessels were the means of procuring him a gold medal and boat from the Royal Humane Society. He is now on half-pay.
RANDOLPH. (Captain, 1827. f-p., 13; h-p., 28.)
Charles Grenville Randolph entered the Navy, in May, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Enterprise tender, lying in the river Thames; and from June following until Feb. 1811 was employed, chiefly in the capacity of Midshipman, in the Donegal 74, Capt. Pulteney Malcolm. He escorted Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army, in consequence, from Cork to Portugal in 1808 – witnessed the destruction, 24 Feb. 1809, of three French frigates under the batteries of Sable d’Olonne – was present, in the ensuing April, at Lord Cochrane’s destruction of the enemy’s shipping in Basque Roads – and on 15 Nov. 1810 assisted in an attack made by Capt. Chas. Grant of the Diana on the two French frigates Amazone and Eliza, protected by the fire of several strong batteries near Cherbourg. After serving for three years and a half on the Mediterranean and Home stations, in the Hotspur 36, Capt. Hon. Josceline Percy, Thisbe
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 178.
