Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/493

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HAWKER—HAWKEY—HAWKINS.
479

raltar, and commanding her boats at the very spirited capture, 21 Sept. 1801, of a Spanish privateer called the Sparrow, carrying 2 4-pounders, 2 brass swivels, and 31 men,[1] he visited the shores of Egypt – 30 June, 1803, to the command of the Swift cutter, employed off Martinique and Jamaica – and, 22 Aug. in the same year, again as First, to the Bellerophon 74, Capt. John Loring. He was promoted, on 29 of the latter month, to the command of the Port Mahon brig, also on the Jamaica station, where he was shortly afterwards transferred to the Mignonne. Attaining Post-rank, 6 June, 1804, he joined, on 15 of the following month, the Theseus 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres; from which ship, after experiencing a very dreadful hurricane, he removed, in the next Dec, to the Tartar 32. In that vessel Capt. Hawker cruized for nearly two years in the West Indies and off the coast of America, and captured, on 9 June, 1806 (in company with the Bacchus cutter), L’Observateur, French national brig, of 18 guns and 104 men.[2] The Tartar being then ordered to England, in consequence of the damages she had sustained in a recent hurricane, he exchanged into the Melampus 36; in which frigate we find him, in Jan. 1809, convoying a fleet of transports from Halifax to Barbadoes; and, on 16 of that month, capturing Le Colibri, a French brig-of-war mounting 16 guns, with a complement of 92 men, having on board 570 barrels of flour and a large quantity of gunpowder for the relief of St. Domingo.[3] On 14 of the ensuing Dec. he intercepted Le Beauharnais, of 16 guns and 109 men, laden with flour and warlike stores, from Bayonne bound to Guadeloupe;[4] after assisting at the reduction of which island, and capturing, in company with the Driver sloop-of-war, La Fantôme, French letter-of-marque, pierced for 20 guns, with a complement of 74 men, he returned to the Halifax station, where he continued until Jan. 1812. From 6 March, 1813, to Dec. 1815, he appears to have next commanded the Bellerophon 74, and Salisbury 58, bearing each the flag of Sir Rich. Goodwin Keats at Newfoundland; on his passage whither in the former ship he captured Le Génie French privateer, of 16 guns and 73 men. His last appointments were, 30 April, 1827, and 7 Sept. 1829, to the Britannia and St. Vincent 120’s, flag-ships at Plymouth of the Earl of Northesk. He went on half-pay 30 April, 1830; and attained Flag-rank 10 Jan. 1837.

The Rear-Admiral is married, and has issue.



HAWKER. (Commander, 1846.)

Henry Samuel Hawker obtained his first commission 6 March, 1838; and then joined for a short period the Pearl 20, Capt. Lord Clarence Edw. Paget, lying at Sheerness. He was afterwards appointed – 14 Aug. 1839, to the Edinburgh 72, Capt. Wm. Wilmott Henderson, in which ship (besides commanding her launch and covering in a very excellent manner a party who had landed for the purpose of destroying a train which had been laid between the town and one of the castles at Beyrout containing 200 barrels of gunpowder[5]) he witnessed the fall of St. Jean d’Acre, 3 Nov. 1840 – 7 Sept. 1841, to the Aigle 24, Capt. Lord C. E. Paget, on the Mediterranean station – and, 11 Dec. 1845, to the Sampson steam-frigate, Capt. Thos. Henderson, attached to the force in South America, whence he came home in the spring of 1846. He was promoted to his present rank on 9 of the following Nov., and is now on half-pay. Agents – Messrs. Oramanney.



HAWKEY. (Lieutenant, 1843.)

Charles Hawkey entered the Navy 31 Aug. 1831; passed his examination 4 June, 1838; and, we are informed, served as Mate on board the Stromboli steam-vessel, Capt. Woodford John Williams, in the operations of 1840 against Beyrout, Sidon, and Acre. He afterwards rejoined the latter vessel when she was commanded by Capt. Wm. Louis; and, obtaining a commission 20 Nov. 1843, was next appointed, 27 Dec. following, to the Hegate steam-sloop, Capt. Jas. Paterson Bower, employed, until 1845, in the execution of various particular services. He has been successively attached, since 13 April, 1846, to the Retribution steam-frigate, and Vengeance 74, both commanded by Capt. Stephen Lushington.

Lieut. Hawkey married, 9 June, 1844, the Hon. Christabella De Moleyns, eldest daughter of Lord Ventry. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



HAWKINS. (Capt., 1835. f-p., 25; h-p., 24.)

Abraham Mills Hawkins, born at Kingsbridge, co. Devon, is second son of Rich. Hawkins, Esq., of that place, and enumerates amongst his ancestors the celebrated Sir John Hawkins, who was knighted for the conspicuous part he had enacted, as Rear-Admiral, in the defeat of the Spanish Armada; and Sir Rich. Hawkins, his son, an officer also distinguished in the naval annals of those days. Queen Elizabeth, in consideration of the important services rendered to his country by Sir John Hawkins, granted honourable augmentations to the family arms, which are still borne by Capt. Hawkins.

This officer entered the Navy, 23 March, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Barfleur 98, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, employed in the Channel and off Cadiz; and in Jan. 1799 became Midshipman of the Prince 98, bearing the flag of Sir Roger Curtis, whom he soon accompanied to the Cape of Good Hope in the Lancaster 64. He there removed for a few months in 1800 to the Rattlesnake, Capt. Roger Curtis, but afterwards rejoined the Lancaster, and continued to serve in that ship until Nov. 1803. He was then transferred to the Trident 64, flag-ship of Admiral Rainier on the East India station; where, from July, 1804, until his return to England towards the close of 1806 in the Woolwich armée en flûte, Capt. Fras. Beaufort, he was further employed, as Acting-Lieutenant, on board the Victor sloop, Capt. Jas. Johnstone, Sheerness 44, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart (under whom he was wrecked, in a, gale of wind, off Trincomalee, 7 Jan. 1805), Psyche frigate, Capt. Wm. Woolridge, and Duncan 38, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart. On being officially promoted, 11 June, 1807, Mr. Hawkins was appointed to the Aimable 32, in which frigate, and the Horatio 38, both commanded by the last-mentioned officer, he served on the North Sea station, principally as First-Lieutenant, until Sept. 1812. While in the former ship he assisted at the capture, on 3 Feb. 1809, of L’Iris French national ship, pierced for 32 guns, but mounting only 24, after a short running-fight in which the latter sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 8 wounded, and the Aimable (besides being materially damaged in her masts, spars, sails, and rigging) of 2 wounded; and in the course of the following July we find him earning the thanks of his Captain for his indefatigable exertions at the reduction of the batteries of Cuxhaven and Bremerlehe, and the expulsion of the enemy from Gessendorf. On 2 Aug. 1812, being then in the Horatio, he took command of four boats belonging to that ship, and, in a manner indescribably gallant, succeeded, at the end of a most sanguinary combat, in which the assailants suffered a loss of 9 men killed and 16 wounded, and their opponents of 10 killed and 13 wounded, in capturing a Danish schooner and cutter, mounting 10 guns between them, lying at anchor in a position of extraordinary strength near a village on an arm of the sea, 35 miles inland, on the coast of Norway.[6] He unfortunately, however, received a severe wound in the right hand while advancing to the attack, and another in the left arm when in the act of boarding; in consideration whereof he was awarded a pension of 150l., and presented with a gratuity from the Patriotic Society. The valour of his exploit was also acknowledged by a Commander’s commission dated

  1. Vide Gaz. 1801, p. 1339.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 952.
  3. Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 362.
  4. Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 176.
  5. Vide Gaz. 1840, p. 2609.
  6. Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 1710.