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A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Palmer, George

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1863226A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Palmer, GeorgeWilliam Richard O'Byrne

PALMER. (Commander, 1840. f-p., 25; h-p., 17.)

George Palmer entered the Navy, 22 Jan. 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Pluto sloop, Capt. Rich. Gaire Janvrin, employed on the Home station; where, and in the Baltic, he continued employed, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Royal William, Capt. John Irwin, Pandora 18, Capts. R. G. Janvrin and John Macpherson Ferguson, Namur 74, Capt. Shepheard, and Briseis 10, Capts. Chas. Thurlow Smith and John Boss, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 20 Nov. 1812. In the Pandora he assisted at the capture, 31 Dec. 1810, of Le Chasseur privateer of 16 guns and 36 men; and while in the Briseis he served, 29 June, 1812, in the pinnace belonging to that vessel, containing 18 men, under the orders of Lieut. Thos. Jones, at the cutting-out from Pillau Roads the (lately British) merchant ship Urania, mounting 6 carriage-guns and 4 swivels, in the possession of some French troops, who, notwithstanding a spirited resistance, were driven off the decks into their boats, which were on the opposite side, with no greater loss to the assailants than one man killed and himself slightly wounded.[1] Being re-appointed to the Briseis in Sept. 1813, Lieut. Palmer continued attached to that sloop (with the exception, of an interval between Oct. 1814 and May, 1815, occasioned by ill health), under the command of Capts. Wm. Rush Jackson and Geo. Domett, until Jan. 1816. His last appointments were – 12 Sept. 1825, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye – 5 April, 1831 (on the latter service being abolished), to the Coast Guard – 11 Oct. 1834, to the command of the Skylark Revenue-vessel – and, 26 Sept. 1837, again to the charge (which he retained until advanced, as a reward for his services, to the rank he now holds 1 Jan. 1840) of a station in the Coast Guard. Commander Palmer is Senior of 1840.


  1. Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 1364. – Mr. James, in his ‘Naval History,’ has erroneously attributed the part borne in the affair by the subject of the present narrative to Mr. Wm. Palmer.