Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v4p2.djvu/66

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
commanders.
53


THOMAS ROBERT BRIGSTOCKE, Esq.
[Commander.]

Was wounded while serving as midshipman on board the Eurotas 38, Captain (now Sir John) Phillimore, in action with la Clorinde, French frigate, Feb. 25th, 1814[1]. He passed his examination in June following; obtained his first commission on the 29th Nov. in the same year; became flag-lieutenant to Admiral Sir George Campbell, at Portsmouth, Feb. 18th, 1818; and was promoted to his present rank Jan. 31st, 1821. He has since been employed as inspecting commander of the Coast Guard at Calbourne, Isle of Wight.



JOHN SAMUEL WILLES JOHNSON, Esq.
[Commander.]

Eldest son of the Rev. Charles Johnson, Prebendary of Wells, rector of South Stoke, near Bath, and vicar of South Brent and Berrow, co. Somerset, by Miss Willes, daughter of the late Archdeacon of Wells, and grand-daughter of the late Bishop of Bath and Wells[2].

This officer was born at South Stoke, July 3d, 1793; and entered the royal navy in the beginning of Feb. 1807, as midshipman on board the Vestal 28, Captain Edwards Lloyd Graham, under whom he served, for nearly two years, off Boulogne, in the North Sea, at the Azores, and on the Newfoundland station.

On the 15th Nov. 1809, the Vestal recaptured two English merchantmen – one a ship, named the Fortitude, laden with cotton and hides, from Brazil bound to Liverpool; the other a brig, laden with fish and oil, from Newfoundland to Jersey. On the 19th of the same month, being in lat. 45° 40' N., long. 10° 36' W., she fell in with two large frigates, two corvettes, and one brig, steering N.W., wind about east. After keeping company with them about two hours, during which

  1. See Suppl. Part I. pp. 245–249.
  2. Commander Johnson’s paternal grandfather was a London banker. His aunt is the lady of Admiral Sir Davidge Gould, G.C.B.