of Don Miguel, and was employed in her off the Morea during the evacuation of Greece by the Egyptian army. He served next in the Briton and Stag of 46 guns each, Capts. John Duff Markland and Nich. Lockyer; and while in the latter ship he was engaged as Mate (he had passed his examination in June, 1832) in blockading the Scheldt pending the siege of Antwerp by the French in 1833-4. From 1835 until 1839 he was stationed in the West Indies for the suppressing of slavery, in the Nimrod 20, Capt. John Fraser; and for his subsequent services in the Magicienne 24, Capt. Fred. Thos. Michell, on the coast of Syria, particularly in sounding in a 4-oared gig and obtaining the correct depth of water along the whole sea face of the batteries of St. Jean d’Acre prior to the bombardment, he was promoted, 5 Nov. 1840, to the rank of Lieutenant. His subsequent appointments were – 15 Dec. 1840, 9 April, 1841, and 19 Jan. 1842, to the Princess Charlotte 104, flag-ship of Sir Robt. Stopford, Stromboli steamer, Capts. Woodford John Williams and Wm. Louis, and Ganges 84, Capt. Barrington Reynolds, all in the Mediterranean, whence he returned to England and was paid off in April, 1842 – 1 Aug. in the latter year, to the Resistance 42, troop-ship, Capt. Chas. Geo. Edw. Patey – and 1 July, 1843, to the Penelope steam-frigate of 650 horse-power, fitting for the broad pendant of Commodore Wm. Jones, Commander-in-Chief on the west coast of Africa. Of the latter vessel, which was indefatigably employed in the suppression of the slave-trade, he soon became First-Lieutenant. Being intrusted with the command of her boats on every occasion of importance, he was present in them at the destruction of Tombocorro and Minna and of all the towns and factories up the Gallinas river. In Oct. 1844 he took one slaver and destroyed another in the bay of Cacongo; on which occasion 4 of the enemy were shot. At the dying request of Commodore Jones, and as a reward both for his services during that officer’s long illness and for the state of discipline in which he paid the Penelope off, he was promoted, 26 May, 1846, to the rank of Commander. Since 21 June, 1848, he has been employed in the Coast Guard.
SKINLEY. (Lieutenant, 1817.)
John Skinley entered the Navy, we believe, in 1804, as A.B., on board the Egyptienne 40, Capt. Hon. Chas. Elphinstone Fleeming, employed in cruizing among the Western Islands. From June, 1806, until Nov. 1813 he served, the chief part of the time as Captain of the forecastle, in the Theseus and Poictiers 74’s, Capts. Geo. Hope and John Poo Beresford, in the Channel and North Sea, and also on the Halifax station; where he then, and in June, 1815, became Master’s Mate of the Maidstone 42, Capts. Geo. Burdett, Alex. Gordon, and Wm. Skipsey, and Akbar 50, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Edw. Griffith. Of the latter ship he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant 28 June, 1816. He was officially promoted 12 Feb. 1817, and has not been since afloat.
One of his sons is married to the eldest daughter of Lieut. Chas. Hill, R.N.
SKINNER. (Commander, 1828. f-p., 21; h-p., 15.)
Arthur Macgregor Skinner, born 17 April, 1799, is son of the late Courtland Macgregor, of Belfast, a veteran officer who entered the Army at an early age and retired as Captain of the 70th Regt.; and grandson of Benj. Skinner, who was Attorney-General and Speaker of the House of Assembly in New Jersey when the war of independence broke out in America, and who thereby lost a large landed property, on which he had raised three battalions and, having headed them in person had been granted the rank and allowances of a Brigadier-General. His maternal grandfather, Capt. Macartney, R.N. (whose son, Jas. Macartney, was afterwards lost with Sir Hyde Parker in the Cato 50), was killed in command of the Princess Amelia 80, in the action off the Doggerbank, 5 Aug. 1781. One of his uncles, J. P. Skinner, was a Major-General in the Army; and another, John Skinner, a Commander, R.N. Most of his family have died in the service of their country. This officer entered the Navy, 9 June, 1811, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hannibal 74, Capt. Wm. King, bearing the flag off the Texel of the late Sir Philip Chas. Durham; with whom (deducting a short time passed in April, 1812, on board the Royal William at Spithead) he continued employed in the Christian VII. 80, and Bulwark and Venerable 74’s, until transferred, in July, 1814, to the Barrosa 36, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch. He was stationed, in the Bulwark, in Basque Roads; and on his passage, in the Venerable, to the West Indies, be was present as Midshipman (a rating he had attained on board the Bulwark) at the capture, with trifling loss on the part of the British, of the French 40-gun frigates Iphigénie and Alcmène, which surrendered (the former after considerable resistance) on 16 and 20 Jan. 1814. On leaving the Barrosa, in which ship he had assisted at the capture of five American schooners and one slaver, he went back, in Jan. 1815, to the Venerable. He returned to England shortly afterwards in the Pique 36, Capt. Hon. Anthony Maitland, and on his arrival in the ensuing April was paid off. In Dec. of the same year he again joined the Pique, still commanded by Capt. Maitland; with whom he removed, early in 1816, to the Glasgow 50. In that ship, part of the force engaged at the bombardment of Algiers, he served in the Mediterranean, with the intermission of a year (between Oct. 1816 and Oct. 1817) until Oct. 1820. He was then (he had passed his examination 2 June, 1819) received on board the Rochfort 80, flag-ship of Sir Graham Moore, but came home in Feb. 1821 in the Glasgow, and was afterwards, from the following April until March, 1824, when he invalided, employed on the Home and East India stations in the Bulwark 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Gore and Sir Benj. Hallowell, Royal Sovereign yacht, Capts. Sir Edw. W. C. K. Owen and Sir Chas. Adam, Bulwark again, and Liffey 50, Commodore Chas. Grant. Of the latter ship, which he joined in Nov. 1821, he was confirmed a Lieutenant, nearly eight months after he had been ordered to act as such, 22 Oct. 1823. He served subsequently from 24 Oct. 1826 until advanced to his present rank, 9 Sept. 1828, in the Pyramus 42, Capt. Geo. Rose Sartorius; and from 7 July, 1840, until 1847, as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard.
From Dec. 1833 until June, 1840, Commander Skinner was a Police Magistrate at Belfast. While serving in 1819 in the Glasgow his arm was badly fractured by a man falling upon him from aloft. In consideration of this he was allowed, until promoted, to enjoy the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
SKIPSEY. (Rear-Admiral of the Red, 1837.)
William Skipsey died 18 March, 1846, at Brighton, in his 90th year.
This officer entered the Navy, 16 Aug. 1769, on board the Quebec frigate, Capt. Fras. Reynolds, stationed in the West Indies, where, and on the coast of Africa, he served from 1770 until 1773 in the Lynx, Capt. Salter, and Weasel sloop, Capt. Geo. Young. In 1774 he joined the Ramillies 74, guard-ship at Chatham, Capt. Evans; and, on 7 April, 1778, after having been for three years employed on the coast of North America as Midshipman in the Senegal sloop, Capt.Wm. Duddingstone, he was made Lieutenant into the Berwick 74, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore K. Stewart. In that ship he fought, 27 July following, in Keppel’s action with the Comte d’Orvilliers, witnessed the hurricane of 1780, and was wounded in the engagement between Sir Hyde Parker and Admiral Zoutman off the Doggerbank 5 Aug. 1781 His next appointments were – 18 Nov. 1781, to the Goliath 74, Capt. Sir Hyde Parker, employed in the
