Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/360

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

346

FAIRMAN—FAIRWEATHER—FALCON.

quently appointed First-Lieutenant, on the Newfoundland and Home stations – 11 June, 1808, of the Jamaica 24, Capt. Arthur Lysaght – 20 Feb. 1811, of the Wolverene 18, Capt. Chas. Kerr – and, 26 Aug. 1812, of the Cherokee 10, Capts. Wm. Ramage and Thos. Smith, which vessel (having been superseded from her 4 Feb. 1815) he rejoined 4 Jan. 1816. Commander Fairless, who had been on half-pay since 21 April, 1817, accepted his present rank 10 April, 1843.



FAIRMAN. (Commander, 1846.)

Alfred Nelson Fairman entered the Navy 11 April, 1818; passed his examination in 1825; and obtained his first commission 4 Sept. 1829. He was subsequently appointed – 13 July, 1830, to the Raleigh 18, Capt. Abraham Mills Hawkins, in the Mediterranean – 25 April, 1836, to the Coast Guard – 11 Sept. 1838, to the Actaeon 26, Capt. Robt. Russell, on the South American station – and, 2 July, 1844, as First-Lieutenant, to the Warspite 50, Capt. Provo Wm. Parry Wallis. He returned home from the Mediterranean in 1845; was next selected, on 16 Jan. 1816, to fill the post of First-Lieutenant on board the Queen 110, successive flag-ship on the Home station of Sir John West and Sir Gordon Bremer; and, on 9 Nov. 1846, assumed the rank of Commander. He has since been on half-pay.



FAIRWEATHER. (Retired Commander, 1840. f-p., 29; h-p., 36.)

John Fairweather entered the Navy, 6 July, 1782, as A.B., on board the Speedy 14, Capt. John Young, on the Home station; served afterwards for five years in the West Indies as Quarter-Master of the Europa 50, flag-ship of Admirals Gambier and Tnnes; was then successively appointed Midshipman of the Dictator 60, Capt. Rich. Rodney Bligh, and Britannia 100, flag-ship in the Mediterranean of Vice- Admiral Hotham; and after a further servitude of two years on the latter station as Acting-Master of the Tisiphone 18, Commodore Sam. Hood Linzee, and Juno 32, Capt. Lord Amelius Beauclerk, became Master’s Mate, and then Acting-Lieutenant, of the Dryad 36, commanded by the last-mentioned officer, and also by Capt. Pulling, who, in May, 1796, sent him home in charge of L’Aveille, a national cutter taken from the French[1] on the coast of Ireland. Being confirmed, 8 June, 1797, into the Hazard, of 24 or 26 guns, Capts. Alex. Ruddach and Wm. Butterfield, he assisted in that vessel at the capture, 12 Aug. 1798, of Le Neptune French national ship, of 20 guns, having on board 270 troops, which did not surrender until after an obstinate conflict of an hour and fifty minutes, during which the enemy had upwards of 20 men killed and wounded, and the British not more than 6 men wounded. His able assistance and good conduct on the latter occasion, as indeed on all others, procured him a strong recommendation from his Captain, Butterfield, who declared him worthy of his warmest encomiums.[2] With the exception of a short interval in 1802-3, Mr. Fairweather next served, from 26 Sept. 1799 until March, 1805, on board the Canada 74, Capt. Hon. Michael De Courcy, Polyphemus 64, Capt. Geo. Lumsdaine, and Fortunée 40, and Majestic 74, both commanded by Lord A. Beauclerk, and all employed on the Home station. He then officiated for three years as Agent for Transports afloat; and, on 11 July, 1808, was appointed to the charge of a Signal station in the island of Jersey. Mr. Fairweather, who has been on half-pay since 7 June, 1814, became a Retired Commander on the Junior List 26 Nov. 1830, and on the Senior 18 March, 1840.



FALCON. (Captain, 1813. f-p., 32; h-p., 21.)

Gordon Thomas Falcon entered the Navy, in 1794, as A.B., on board the Sheerness, Capt. Wm. Geo. Fairfax, flag-ship in the Channel of Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey, but soon attained the rating of Midshipman, and accompanied the former officer into the Repulse and Venerable 74’s, the latter bearing the flag of Admiral Duncan, whom, after participating in the battle off Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797, he followed into the Kent 74; during his attachment to which ship he appears to have been lent, for three months in 1798, as Acting-Lieutenant, to the Champion 20, Capt. Henry Raper. In May and Sept. 1799 he successively joined, in the same capacity, the Busy 18, and Hyaena frigate, Capts. John Acworth Ommanney and David Lloyd; and, on 15 May, 1800, he was confirmed into the Wright armed-ship, Capt. Thos. Campbell. His subsequent appointments as Lieutenant were, on the West India, North America, and Lisbon stations – 23 Aug. 1800, to the Andromeda 32 Capts. Jas. Bradby and Edw. Durnford King – 9 June, 1802, and 21 July, 1803, to the Cambrian 40, and Leander 50, flag-ships of Sir Andrew Mitchell – and, in 1806-8-9, to the Leopard 50, Barfleur 98, Ganges 78, and Barfleur again, bearing each the flag of Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley. While in the Leander Mr. Falcon assisted, under Capt. John Talbot, at the capture, 23 Feb. 1805, of La Ville de Milan French frigate, of 46 guns, and the simultaneous re-capture of her prize, the Cleopatra 32; and, when with Capt. Salusbury Pryce Humphreys in the Leopard, he was one of the officers sent to search the United States’ frigate Chesapeake for deserters, after that vessel had struck her colours, 22 March, 1807 22 March, 1807 [errata 1]. On 8 March, 1811, while acting as Captain of the Macedonian 38, he was made Commander into the Melpomene troop-ship. Attaining Post-rank 29 Oct. 1813, he soon afterwards joined the Leander 50, and, on 14 March, 1814, obtained command of the Cyane, of 32 guns and 171 men. After a furious action off Madeira, in which, besides being much cut to pieces, she sustained a loss of 6 men killed and 13 wounded, the latter vessel, together with her consort, the Levant, of 20 guns and 131 men, was unfortunately captured by the American ship Constitution, of 54 guns and 469 men, 20 Feb. 1815. Capt. Falcon consequently became a prisoner of war, but, peace soon restoring him to liberty, he returned home, and was afterwards appointed – 24 June, 1817, to the Tyne 26, in which vessel, in Oct. 1820, he brought from South America to England specie to the amount of nearly 700,000l. – 1 March, 1823, to the Isis 50, lying at Chatham – 23 June, 1823, and 21 Aug. 1825, to the Spartiate 76, and Wellesley 74, flag-ships of Sir Geo. Eyre, on the South American station – and, 1 May, 1833, and 5 Sept. 1835, to the San Josef 110, and Royal Adelaide 104, bearing each the flag of Sir Wm. Hargood, Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth, where he continued until paid off, 30 April, 1836. Since 17 Feb. 1845 he has been employed as Captain of the Royal Sovereign yacht, and Superintendent of the Dockyard at Pembroke.

Capt. Falcon married, 7 Oct. 1834, Louisa, widow of the late Capt. Cursham, and daughter of the late Rich. Meyrick, Esq., of Runkton, co. Sussex, by whom he has issue. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



FALCON. (Commander, 1846.)

Maxwell Falcon entered the Navy 5 May, 1825; passed his examination in 1831; and was promoted to a Lieutenancy, 23 March, 1840, in the Electra 18, Capt. Edw. Reeves Philip Mainwaring, on the South American station. He there removed, 25 Feb. 1841, to the President 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross, and from 29 April, 1843, until the receipt of his second promotal commission, bearing date 11 Jan. 1846, served in the East Indies on board the Castor 36, Capt. Chas. Graham. His advancement to the rank of Commander was made a reward for his conduct in command of a breaching battery in an attack made upon a rebel New-Zealand chief named Kawiti; whose strongly-fortified pah, situated many miles inland, was stormed on the date last mentioned, after several days of labour and fatigue, and tri-

  1. Correction: 22 March, 1807 should be amended to 22 June, 1807 : detail

  1. Vide Gaz. 1796, p. 449.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 814.