A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hewes, Thomas Oldacres
HEWES. (Retired Captain, 1842. f.p., 16; h-p., 37.)
Thomas Oldacres Hewes entered the Navy, 2 Sept. 1794, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Ruby 64, Capts. Hon. Henry Edwin Stanhope, John Wm. Spranger, and Jacob Waller, in which ship he was present, as Midshipman, at the detention of five Dutchmen-of-war, and of a large convoy, in Plymouth Sound, 19 Jan. 1795 – also at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope – and, on 17 Aug. 1796, at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. From Aug. 1797, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 15 Oct. 1800, Mr. Hewes served, chiefly with Capt. Stanhope, although likewise with Sir Erasmus Gower and Capt. Geo. Murray, in the Neptune 98, and Achille 74, on the Home station. He was then employed for upwards of three years on board the Snake sloop, Capts. John Mason Lewis, Chas. Tinling, and Wm. Roberts, in the Channel, off the coast of Africa, and in the West Indies; after which he served, until Oct. 1808, with Capt. Zachary Mudge, in the Blanche and Phoenix frigates, on the Jamaica station, and again in the Channel. While in the former of those vessels Mr. Hewes, on 19 July, 1805, participated, as First Lieutenant, in an action of 45 minutes, which terminated in her surrender, after a loss of 8 men killed and 15 wounded, and when on the verge of sinking, to a powerful French squadron, consisting of La Topaze frigate, of 44 guns and 410 men, one ship of 22 guns and 236 men, a corvette of 18 guns and 213 men, and a brig of 16 guns and 123 men. His last appointments were – 10 April, 1809, to the Heroine 32, Capt. Hood Hanway Christian, part of the Walcheren expeditionary armament, and one of the 10 frigates which, under Lord Wm. Stuart, forced the passage between Flushing and Cadsand – and, 2 March, 1810, as First, to the Edgar 74, Capt. Stephen Poyntz. On 7 of the following July he took command of the boats of the Edgar and Dictator, and captured three Danish row gun-boats, each mounting 1 long gun and 4 brass howitzers, with a complement of 28 men – an exploit which so won the approbation of Rear-Admiral Manley Dixon that to one of the prizes he gave the name of Hewes. The British on the occasion sustained a loss of 1 man killed and 3 wounded; the enemy, who were under the protection of a fire of guns and musketry from the shore near Granna, of 6 men killed and 16 wounded.[1] Lieut. Hewes, who left the Edgar in Dec. 1810, acquired the rank of Commander 1 Aug. 1811, and accepted that he now holds 10 Feb. 1842.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1162.