2244810Royal Naval Biography — Ferris, AbelJohn Marshall


ABEL FERRIS, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1811.]

Was made a lieutenant April 22, 1709; and advanced to the rank of commander Oct. 10, 1807. On the 10th May, 1808, being then in command of the Wizard, a brig mounting fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two long sixes, with a complement of 95 officers, men, and boys, on the Mediterranean station, he fought a gallant, though indecisive action, with la Requin, a French brig similarly armed, but manned with 110 persons. The details of this affair will be found in James’s Nav. Hist. Vol. V. pp. 70-74.

Lord Collingwood, in order to evince his opinion of the conduct of Captain Ferris, appointed him, at the earliest possible period, to the command of the Royal Sovereign, a first rate; but his post commission was not confirmed by the Admiralty until April 18, 1811. In Aug. 1808, Captain Ferris assisted at the capture of a French gun-vessel and fourteen coasting traders, between Leghorn and Genoa[1].

This officer obtained the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital, Dec. 10, 1825.



  1. See Nav. Chron. v. 21, p. 74, et seq.