Capt. Hon. Courtenay Boyle, Santa Teresa frigate, Capt. Campbell, Lutine, Hon. Capt. Dundas, and Pomone 40, Capt. Edw. Leveson Gower. In the Sybille he was for nearly 12 months First-Lieutenant; in the Cobmorant and Santa Teresa he was present at the attack upon Genoa, and at the blockade and reduction of Malta; and in the Pomone, besides aiding at the defence of Porto Ferrajo, he contributed to the capture, 3 Aug. 1801, of the Carrère of 40 guns and 320 men, and, 2 Sept. following, of the frigates Succès and Bravoure. The Carrère did not surrender until a stiff action of 10 minutes had occasioned her antagonist a loss of 2 men killed and 4 wounded. From the Pomone Lieut. Simpson removed to the Kent 74, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Bickerton in the Mediterranean, where he was nominated, in the course of 1802, Acting-Commander of the Tourterelle 30. As he was, however, called upon to act as Captain of the Kent, he did not join that vessel until the early part of 1803; on 19 April in which year his promotion was confirmed. In Aug. 1803, having returned home with the 63rd Regiment, he hoisted the flag of Lord Gardner at Cork. He was subsequently ordered to the river Clyde, where he commanded the Tourterelle as a guard-ship, until appointed, 20 May, 1805, on the application of Lord Nelson, to the Wasp 18. On 28 Aug. following, Capt. Simpson, who had been sent under the orders of Capt. Stephen Poyntz, of the Melampus 36, to watch the Passage du Raz, found himself in the midst of the celebrated Rochefort squadron, consisting of five two-deckers, two frigates, and two brigs; and his capture appeared so inevitable to Capt. Poyntz, that that officer reported such to have taken place the next day to the Commander-in-Chief, Hon. Wm. Cornwallis. The French Admiral’s ship approached so near that she actually fired a shot over the Wasp; between whom and a frigate and brig a running-action was maintained from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., when the squadron hauled to the wind and left her. On the 29th she was again surrounded by the enemy, and the frigate and brig, as before, commenced a fire which lasted until the appearance of H.M.S. Niobe and another induced them and the rest of the French ships to haul their wind in a state of such confusion that several men were lost overboard. Although the Wasp was sawed in every part to facilitate her sailing, and had only her two stern-chase guns remaining, she increased the dismay on board the French brig by attempting to cut her off in the face of her companions. Superiority of sailing, however, on the part of the latter saved her. For the conspicuous gallantry he displayed on these occasions Capt. Simpson obtained the high approbation of the Admiralty, and received the public thanks of the Commander-in-Chief, who held out to him an assurance of early promotion. In this he was unfortunately disappointed, neither he nor his First-Lieutenant meeting any reward, although his recommendations, as regarded the rest of the officers and crew, were attended to. After commanding the Star sloop for about two years and 10 months on the Downs and North American stations, he acquired command, in July, 1808, of the Wolverene; in which vessel we find him, in Feb. 1809, co-operating in the attack upon Martinique, where he destroyed two forts and captured two brigs pierced for 16 guns. On his arrival home, with a strong letter of recommendation from Sir Alex. Cochrane to Lord Mulgrave, he was immediately (we believe in the Gorée) ordered on promotion to Halifax. He was there in consequence nominated, 6 Sept. 1809, Acting- Captain of the Furieuse 36. In that ship, to which he was confirmed 12 Dec. following, he continued until July, 1810. In March, 1812, he assumed command, pro tem., of the Chatham 74, in the Channel : and from April following until Oct. 1813, he served on the North American and West India stations in the Coquette 20. When in that vessel off Demerara he fought for 20 minutes a close action with the American schooner-privateer General Armstrong of 19 guns, including 1 long 18-pounder, which for two hours previously had been playing on the Coquette. It then falling calm, the privateer, by the aid of her sweeps, escaped, with a loss, out of 140 men, of 10 killed and 17 wounded. The Coquette had 2 men killed and 2 wounded. On her engaged side she was covered with langridge; and her masts, as well as those of her opponent, were much damaged. In July, 1815, Capt. Simpson was appointed to the Rochfort 80, but this ship he never joined. He was admitted into the Royal Hospital at Greenwich 1 April, 1842. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
SIMPSON. (Capt., 1846. f-p., 21; h-p., 23.)
John Simpson (b) entered the Navy, 8 Nov. 1803, as Midshipman, on board the Trial cutter, Lieut.-Commander Edw. Nugent, lying in the river Thames. Removing, in Feb. 1804, to the Acheron of 8 24-pounder carronades, 2 bombs, and 67 men, Capt. Arthur Farquhar, he sailed in that vessel for the Mediterranean, where he took part, 4 Feb. 1805, and was wounded, in a long and sanguinary action which terminated in the capture of that vessel and of her consort, the Arrow, of 28 32-pounder carronades and 132 men, by the French frigates Hortense of 48, and Incorruptible of 42 guns. The loss of the Acheron on this occasion amounted to 3 men killed and 8 wounded, and of the Arrow to 13 killed and 27 wounded. On being exchanged, Mr. Simpson, who had been detained a prisoner for about two months at Malaga, was received in succession, in the course of the same year, on board the Amazon 38, Capt. Wm. Parker, Royal Sovereign 100, and Victory 100, flag-ships of Sir Rich. Bickerton and Lord Nelson, Camel store-ship, Capt. Thos. Garth, Amphitrite frigate, Capt. Hon. Courtenay Boyle, and Bellona 74, Capts. Chas. Dudley Pater and John Erskine Douglas. Proceeding in the latter ship to North America he there, 14 Sept. 1806, assisted at the destruction, off Cape Henry, of the French 74 L’Impetueux. After having for some time blockaded an enemy’s squadron in the Chesapeake, he was transferred, in Nov. 1808, to the Cuttle schooner, Lieut.-Commander Thos. Bury; in which vessel we find him, in Feb. 1809, co-operating in the reduction of Martinique. He subsequently, in command of the Cuttle’s jolly-boat, with only 4 men, captured a notorious piratical schooner. On arriving with his prize at Halifax he joined, in Jan. 1810, in the capacity of Master’s Mate, the Swiftsure 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Borlase Warren; by whom (having passed his examination in Nov. 1809) he was placed in command, 17 Aug. following, with the rank of Acting-Lieutenant, of the Bream schooner of 4 guns – an appointment which the Admiralty confirmed 14 Dec. 1811. While in the Bream, in which vessel he remained until Oct. 1812, Mr. Simpson carried specie to St. John’s, Newfoundland, was frozen up at Louisburg, Cape Breton, where his health suffered materially, and on 9 Aug. 1812, effected the capture, off Shelburne, despite an obstinate resistance of 20 minutes, of the U.S. schooner Pythagoras, of 3 guns and 35 men. After cruizing with activity on the coast of North America in the Statira 38, Capt. Hassard Stackpoole, into which frigate he had volunteered with the whole of the Bream’s crew, he invalided home in 1813 with a constitution much impaired. He had been previously ordered to join the Sylph sloop-of-war, but had not been able to do so. Until this period, deducting the short time he was a prisoner, Mr. Simpson does not appear to have been altogether one month on shore. His succeeding appointments were – in Jan. 1823 and May, 1824, to the command of the Sprightly and Dove cutters in the Channel – 26 Aug. 1825, to the Perseus receiving-ship off the Tower, Capt. Jas. Couch, with whom he continued until May, 1827 – 22 June, 1829, to the command, which he retained until Aug. 1832, of the Minx schooner of 3 guns – and 9 July, 1838, to that of the Weazle brig, of 10 guns, on the Mediterranean station. In the Minx he was employed in the West Indies and in South America in watching British interests. Being at Omoa when attacked and taken during the civil war in 1832, he landed
