A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Vidal, Richard Emeric
VIDAL. (Commander, 1830. f-p., 19; h-p., 29.)
Richard Emeric Vidal is brother of Capt. A. T. E. Vidal, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 May, 1799, as L.M., on board the Princess guard-ship at Waterford, Lieut.-Commander Rich. Dorrill. From Sept. 1800 until May, 1801 he cruized on the coast of Ireland in the Glenmore 44, Capts. Geo. Duff and John Talbot; and in Aug. of the latter year he became Midshipman of the Vengeance 74, commanded by his former Captain, Duff. In her, besides witnessing the mutiny in Bantry Bay, he served at the blockade of Brest and Rochefort, and visited the West Indies. Joining next, in July, 1802, the Glatton 50, Capt. Jas. Colnett, he made a voyage in that ship round the world. On his return to England he removed, in Nov. 1803, to the Seaflower 14, commanded by the present Rear-Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen, under whom he sailed soon afterwards for the East Indies, and was there for a long time employed as Master’s Mate and Acting-Master, chiefly on surveying service. The following copy of a testimonial, given to him by his Commander, will exhibit the creditable manner in which he comported himself during the period to which it refers:– “This is to certify my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that Mr. Richard Emeric Vidal served on board H.M. brig Seaflower, as my second in command, in the years 1804, 5, 6, 7, and that during that time his conduct marked him as extremely diligent, attentive, and obedient, greatly emulous of professional excellence, and, on the whole, as a very promising young officer. In the course of the said service in the Seaflower he was captured in an attempt to cut out a French privateer from the road of St. Denis, in the Isle of Bourbon, with the loss of one-half of the men under his command, on which occasion he evinced the most noble devotedness, spirit, and enterprise, being himself wounded, and was in consequence promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by Sir Edw. Pellew (then our Commander-in-Chief in India), on his liberation from French prison in the Isle of France in 1808.” On 15 July, 1806, we may add, Mr. Vidal cut out from the island of Rodriguez Le Charles, a French national ketch. His release from captivity took place 29 Feb. 1808; in the following March and June he joined the Russel and Culloden 74’s, flag-ships of Rear-Admirals Wm. O’Brien Drury and Sir Edw. Pellew; and on 24 Oct. in the same year he was nominated, as above stated, Acting-Lieutenant of the Cornwallis 50, Capt. Wm. Augustus Montagu. His services in that ship, to which he was confirmed 10 July, 1809, are thus described in a testimonial bearing the signature of Capt. Montagu, and presented to him in Nov. 1821, when applying for the appointment therein alluded to:– “This is to certify that Lieutenant R. E. Vidal served under my command, on board H.M.S. Cornwallis, from Oct. 1808 until July, 1810; and that during that period frequent opportunities, asunder mentioned, occurred ofproving his professional talent and devotedness. First, that at the time the Madras army was in a state of insubordination, I was deputed by the Governor on a most delicate mission to the northern Circars, and, having occasion to leave Lieut. Vidal at Masulipatam for information, which he obtained, he followed me in an open boat upwards of 100 miles to communicate the same. Secondly, he commanded the boats and seamen in a successful attack on the port of Poulo Combo (island of Celebes), which, after a determined resistance, was taken and ultimately destroyed. Thirdly, on the jolly-boat boarding a Malay proa, the Malays rushing on the boat’s crew (all boys), they jumped overboard, leaving Lieut. Vidal the only person on board, who was himself (so deserted) obliged to follow them: he succeeded in regaining the boat, and, picking up the people, re-attacked the proa, and took her. Fourthly, on 1 Feb. 1810, with three boats under his charge, he cut out at mid-day, from under the batteries of Manippa, a vessel loaded with supplies destined to Amboyna.[1] Fifthly, on 16 Feb. he landed as Senior officer, with 225 seamen and marines belonging to H.M. ships Dover, Cornwallis, and Samarang, to attack Amboyna, which place was ultimately taken; after its reduction Lieut. Vidal was sent with the despatches of its surrender to Madras in the Mandarin (prize) Dutch sloop-of-war. Sixthly, Lieut, Vidal, on his discharge from the Cornwallis, acted as Agent of Transports, and landed with the first division of boats at the reduction of the Isle of France. As I commanded the Naval battalion on that occasion, I feel myself authorized to bear testimony to the facts. In every service in which Lieut. Vidal was employed during the time he served under my command he gave fresh cause for commendation and increase of confidence; and as it appears the object of his ambition is to be employed in the Revenue-servlce, I may venture to recommend him as admirably calculated for that or any other service where activity and enterprise are called for.” Mr. Vidal, after his return from the West Indies, was employed – from Jan. 1812 until Jan. 1814, in the Asia 74, Capt. Geo. Scott, on the Channel and West India stations – from 5 Nov. 1814 until 7 Oct. 1815, as First-Lieutenant, in the Griffon 14, Capt. Geo. Hewson, in the Channel – from Nov. 1822 until Jan. 1826, in command of the Eagle Revenue-cruizer – and, from 2 Feb. 1827 until 26 Oct. 1828, again as Senior, in the Eden 26, Capt. W. F. Owen, on the coast of Africa. He attained the rank he now holds 22 July, 1830.
Commander Vidal was present during the war at the capture of 18 armed and 68 merchant vessels, and at the re-capture of 14 and the destruction of 12 sail. He is married, and has issue three sons and two daughters. Agent – John Chippendale.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 1487.