A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Sulivan, Bartholomew James
SULIVAN. (Captain, 1845. f-p., 18; h-p., 6.)
Bartholomew James Sulivan is son of Capt. Thos. B. Sulivan, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy 4 Sept. 1823; passed his examination in 1829; obtained his first commission 3 April, 1830; served from 25 June, 1831, until the close of 1836,, in the Beagle surveying-vessel, Capt. Robt. FitzRoy, on the South American station; was appointed to the command, 30 Nov. 1837, of the Pincher schooner, at Chatham; and from 12 April, 1838, until 1839, was again employed in South America in command of the Arrow ketch. He attained the rank of Commander 14 May, 1841; served in that capacity in the Philomel surveying-vessel, on the S.E. coast of America, from 2 April, 1842, until paid off on his return to England in 1846; and since 10 Dec. 1847 has had his name borne as a Supernumerary-Captain, for surveying-service, on the books of the Victory 104, flag-ship at Portsmouth. His promotion to Post-rank, which was effected in March, 1846, by a commission dated back to 18 Nov. 1845, was made a reward for the conduct he had displayed in command of the southern division of the ships engaged in the battle of the Parana; where the combined squadrons of France and Spain, after a hard day’s fighting, destroyed four heavy batteries belonging to General Rosas at Punta Obligado, also a schooner-of-war mounting 6 guns, and 24 vessels chained across the river. “I should be unmindful,” writes Capt. Chas. Hotham, the Senior British officer present on the occasion, in his official report of the proceedings addressed to the Commander-in-Chief, “of the ability and continued zeal of Commander B. Sulivan, did I not bring him particularly to your notice; by his exertions we were furnished with a chart, which enabled us to complete our arrangements for the attack.”[1]
Capt. Sulivan is married, and has issue.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1846, pp. 815, 861.