RICHARD THOMAS, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1805.]
This officer is the brother of Dr. Charles Thomas, Physician to the Devonport and Stonehouse Public Dispensary. He was born at Saltash in Cornwall, entered the royal navy at an early age, and served as Midshipman from June 1790 till Jan. 1797, on board the Cumberland 74, commanded by Captain John M‘Bride; Blanche frigate, Captain Robert Murray; Nautilus sloop of war, Lord Henry Paulet; and Boyne and Victory three-deckers, bearing the flag of Sir John Jervis, whose patronage he obtained by his gallant conduct at the storming of Fort Royal, Martinique, Mar. 20, 1794, an event already described at p. 859 of our first volume[1]. We next find Mr. Thomas serving as a Lieutenant on board the Excellent 74, commanded by Captain Cuthbert Collingwood, in the battle off Cape St. Vincent, which took place a very few weeks after his promotion[2]. On that glorious occasion the Excellent is acknowledged by Nelson to have taken a very distinguished share, and to have rendered him the most effectual support in the hottest part of the battle, as will be seen by the following laconic note, which he addressed to her commander, and an extract from his own account of the transactions in which he himself was personally engaged[3]:–
“Dear Collingwood! – A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
- ↑ The Cumberland formed part of the squadron sent to the West Indies, under Rear-Admiral Cornish, during the Spanish armament in 1790. The Nautilus assisted at the capture of Tobago, April 15, 1793; and at the reduction of Martinique and St. Lucia, in 1794. The Boyne was destroyed by fire, at Spithead, May 1, 1795. See vol. I. pp. 59, 514, and 19; also vol. II. part I. p. 83.
- ↑ See memoir of Earl St. Vincent, in vol. I.
- ↑ The document alluded to is given at full length in vol. I. at p. 774, et seq.
him on that renowned occasion, In the succeeding reign he rendered himself formidable to the Barbary corsairs, and greatly enhanced his reputation by compelling the piratical states of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, to conclude a peace, equally humiliating to them, and honorable to the cause of humanity. He obtained an Irish barony in 1718, and died Aug. 18, 1720. Captain Aylmer’s father was his great-grandson.
