war. His post commission, however, was dated back to the day on which la Cygne was destroyed, Dec. 13, 1808.
From this period we lose sight of Captain Collier until his appointment to the Cyane 22, about Sept. 1810. In Dec. following he witnessed the destruction of l’Elize French frigate, which had run on shore to the northward of Tatihon island, when attempting to escape from la Hogue[1]. From Oct. 1812 until Aug. 1815, he commanded the Grampus of 50 guns, principally on foreign service.
Captain Collier was nominated a C.B. Dec. 8, 1815; and appointed to the Liverpool frigate, fitting for the East India station, Feb. 11, 1818. The following account of the manner in which he was employed is taken from “Brenton’s Naval History,” Vol. V, p. 265 et seq.:
“The pirates of the Persian Gulf having forgotten the chastisement inflicted on them by Captain Wainwright[2], began again, after a lapse of nine years, to follow their former practices. The government of Bombay fitted out an expedition to destroy them; and Major-General Sir William Grant Keir was intrusted with the command of the troops, Captain F. A. Collier, of H.M.S. the Liverpool, conducted the naval part, followed by two sloops of war, some Bombay marine and transports.
“Rear-Admiral Sir Richard King, who was commander-in-chief in the East Indies at that period, had given such orders to Captain Collier, as had completely met the whole exigencies of the case. The most perfect harmony prevailed, as it ever should, between the army, navy, and civil service: 4928 tons of transport shipping; were employed on the expedition, containing a body of 3000 troops. * * * * Ras-al-Khyma, the principal resort and head-quarters of these free-booters, was again taken, the fortifications destroyed, and all their vessels burnt or sunk. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, as well as the government of India, expressed themselves highly satisfied with the conduct of Captain Collier, and the Commanders Loch and Walpole, of the Eden and Curlew sloops[3].
The Liverpool being bought at Bombay by a Persian prince, for the purpose of protecting the trade against any future pirates, her captain, officers, and crew were transferred to the Ganges, a new teak-built ship of the line, in which they arrived at Spithead, Oct. 6, 1822. The subject of this memoir
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 301.
- ↑ See Memoir of Samuel Leslie, Esq. a Post-Captain of 1812.
- ↑ Captain Loch was made post in 1814.
