Engineers; the second was first Lieutenant of the Magnet sloop, which foundered with all her crew on the passage to America, in Sept, 1812; the youngest was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, Sept. 5, 1816.
Residence.– Send Lodge, Shetland.
SIR BENJAMIN HALLOWELL,
Vice-Admiral of the White; Commander-in-Chief in the River Medway; Knight Commander of the most honorable Military Order of the Bath, and of the Neapolitan Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit.
This officer is the son of a gentleman who was the last surviving Commissioner of the American Board of Customs, and died at York, in Upper Canada, Mar. 28, 1799. He entered the naval service at an early age, and was made a Lieutenant by Sir Samuel (afterwards Viscount) Hood, on the 31st. Aug. 1781, five days previous to the partial action off the Chesapeake; on which occasion his ship, the Alcide, of 74 guns, commanded by the late Admiral Sir Charles Thompson, sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 18 wounded.
Soon after this event, Sir Samuel Hood returned with his squadron to the West Indies[1], and Lieutenant Hallowell was subsequently removed into the Alfred, another 74, which ship formed part of the fleet under the orders of the same gallant Commander, when attacked by the Count de Grasse at the anchorage in Basseterre Road, Jan. 25 and 26, 1782[2]. In the battle of the 9th, and glorious victory of the 12th April following, the Alfred was attached to the red division of Sir George Rodney’s fleet, and sustained a loss of 12 men killed,
- ↑ Sir Samuel Hood had been entrusted with the command at the Leeward Islands on the departure of Sir George B. Rodney for England, in the month of July preceding; but soon after receiving intelligence, that the Count de Grasse had proceeded with a powerful fleet to the coast of America, he lost not a moment in following him thither, and on the 31st Aug. formed a junction with Rear-Admiral Graves, off Sandy Hook. The action that ensued between the British and French fleets we have already noticed at p. 133.
- ↑ The operations of the British fleet during the siege, and after the capture of St. Christopher’s, form an epoch in the proud annals of the British navy, and will be found detailed in our memoir of Retired Captain John N. Inglefield.
