SPENCER. (Lieut., 1806. f-p., 43; h-p., 8.)
Samuel Spencer entered the Navy, 9 Nov. 1796, as A.B., on the Prevoyante, Capts. Chas. Wemyss and John Seater, stationed on the coast of North America. In the following Aug. he attained the rating of Midshipman; and in April, 1800, he removed to the Active frigate, Capt. Dacres. After serving for three years and four months in that ship in the Channel and Mediterranean, he became Master’s Mate, in Aug. 1803, of the Maidstone 32, Capt. Hon. Geo. Elliot, under whom he was wounded while in pursuit of a French privateer. We believe he was also, 11 July, 1804, present in the boats at the cutting-out affair detailed in our memoir of Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker. In the course of the ensuing month he joined the Victory 100, flag-ship of Lord Nelson; and in her, on his return from pursuing the combined squadrons to the West Indies, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing in the glories of Trafalgar. He served subsequently, from Nov. 1805 until April, 1806, in the Queen 98, bearing the flag of Lord Collingwood off Cadiz; and on 18 Oct. in the latter year he was made Lieutenant into the Prince of Wales 98, flag-ship of Sir Jas. Saumarez in the Channel. From July to Sept. 1807 he cruized off Ferroll in the Achille 74, Capt. Sir Rich. King; during the next two years he filled an appointment in the Impress; he then, in Oct. 1809, joined the Rinaldo 10, Capt. Jas. Anderson, on the Downs station; and from March, 1810, until Jan. 1818, and again from July, 1823, until the close of 1837, he was employed in the Transport Service; in which, we are informed, he was present at Algiers. Since 10 June, 1839, he has been officiating as Admiralty Agent on board a contract mail steam-vessel.
Lieut. Spencer was left a widower 1 July, 1835. Agents – Collier and Ince.
SPETTIGUE. (Commander, 1838.)
Coryndon Spettigue died about the commencement of 1847.
This officer entered the Navy 20 April, 1812; passed his examination in 1819; obtained his first commission 17 March, 1826; served from 6 Nov. 1832 until 1837 in the Revenge 78, Capts. Hon. Donald Hugh Mackay and Wm. Elliott, on the Lisbon and Mediterranean stations; and from 25 July in the latter year until promoted to the rank of Commander 27 Dec. 1838, was employed as First-Lieutenant, at Home, again off Lisbon, and in North America and the West Indies, in the Edinburgh 72, Capt. Wm. Wilmott Henderson. He filled an appointment in the Coast Guard from 23 June, 1840, until 1845.
SPIERS. (Lieutenant, 1811.)
William Spiers entered the Navy, 4 Feb. 1804, as Ordinary, on board the Conqueror 74, Capt. Israel Pellew, employed in the Channel and Mediterranean. Removing, in July, 1805, to the Canopus 80, Capts. Fras. Wm. Austen, Thos. Geo. Shortland, and Chas. Inglis, he fought in that ship, as Midshipman, under the flag of Sir Thos. Louis, in the action off St. Domingo 6 Feb. 1806, and was Master’s Mate of her at the passage of the Dardanells and in the expedition to Egypt in 1807. He co-operated also in the capture, in June, 1809, of the islands of Ischia and Procida; assisted in causing the self-destruction of the ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion off Cape Cette 26 Oct. following; and, besides contributing to the annihilation of a gun-boat fiotilla on the coast of Italy, assisted, as Acting-Lieutenant, in the defence of Messina against the French in 1810. He subsequently acted for three months as Lieutenant in the Termagant 18, Capt. Henry Evelyn Pitfield Sturt; and on 3 Jan. 181 1 he was confirmed into the Leyden 64, Capt. Edw. Chetham. In the course of the same year we find him serving off Cadiz in the Columbine 18, Capts. Wm. Shepheard and Geo. Augustus Westphal; and, in Feb. and Nov. 1813, appointed to the Minos 12 and Cornwall 74, Capts. Jas. Aberdour and Edw. W. C. B. Owen, on the Newfoundland and North Sea stations. While in the latter ship, in which he continued until April, 1814, he landed at the head of a division of seamen on the island of South Beveland, and was publicly thanked for the conduct he displayed. Since he left the Cornwall he has been on half-pay.
SPONG. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 21; h-p., 16.)
George Spong was born in 1796. He is nephew of the late gallant Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield, R.N.[1]
This officer entered the Navy, 18 Feb. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Bellerophon 74, Capt. Sam. Warren, with whom, after having served off Flushing, he removed as Midshipman, in Aug. of the same year, to the President 38, and sailed for the East Indies, where he was actively employed, in the boats and otherwise, at the reduction of Java. On leaving the President, which ship had been latterly commanded by Capt. Fras. Mason, he was a second time, in June, 1813, placed under the orders of Capt. Warren in the Blenheim 74. In her and in the Castor 32, Capt. Chas. Dilkes, he was for about two years and three months stationed in the Mediterranean. He served next, between Dec. 1815 and March, 1817, at Chatham in the Bulwark 74,, Capt. Geo. M‘Kinley, and Arrogant hospital-ship, Lieut.-Commander Jas. James; and in July, 1819, at which period he had been again, for 12 months, employed in the East Indies in the Minden 74, flag-ship of Sir Rich. King, and Topaze frigate, Capt. John Rich. Lumley, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Liverpool 50, Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier; under whom we find him accompanying an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, and assisting, in Jan. 1820, at the capture of Ras-al-Khyma, their principal stronghold, and the destruction of its fortifications and shipping. He was in consequence confirmed a Lieutenant by a commission bearing date 7 of the month last mentioned; but owing to the severe exertion he had undergone, added to the effects of the climate, he was obliged, shortly afterwards, to invalid, and at his own expense. His subsequent appointments were – 30 Nov. 1822, to the Egeria 28, Capt. John Toup Nicolas, at Sheerness – 21 Feb. 1823, to the Fly 18, Capts. Edw. Curzon and Wm. Fanshawe Martin, in South America – 11 May, 1825, to the Prince Regent 120, flag-ship of Sir Robt. Moorsom in the river Medway, where he remained until 1827 – 1 1 Oct. 1834, for a few months, to the Coast Guard – 19 Aug. 1841, to the Poictiers 72, guard-ship at Chatham, Capt. Wm. Henry Shirreff, with whom he continued for rather more than three years – and 8 March, 1845, and 23 April, 1846, to the command of the Speedy cutter and Ardent steam-sloop, the former employed on particular service, the latter in the Mediterranean. He was advanced to his present rank 9 Nov. 1846.
In 1835 Commander Spong received, at the recommendation of Lord Auckland, the appointment of Stipendiary Magistrate in the West Indies, with the distinct assurance from his Lordship that his claims to promotion would be thereby strengthened. Owing to the apprenticeship-system he was under the necessity of returning to England two years sooner than he had anticipated, but not until he had lost the chance, which the Brevet accorded on the
- ↑ While commanding the Andromache 32, Capt. Mansfield had three sharp encounters with the enemy – the first time on 31 Jan. 1797, when, in a mistaken engagement of 40 minutes with an Algerine of similar force, 66 of whose people were killed and 50 wounded, the British sustained a loss of 3 men killed and 6 wounded; the second, in an action fought in the same year, off Cadiz, between the Andromache and three British ships on the one side, and a Spanish 74 on the other; and the third, in an affair with some Spanish gun-boats near the batteries of Algeciras, in which the Andromache, while in escort of a convoy, had 4 men killed and 19 wounded. He afterwards, in the Dryad 36, took a small Swedish frigate, the Ulla Fersen, a step rendered necessary by opposition the latter had offered to being detained. He commanded the Minotaur 74, at the battle of Trafalgar, and in the expedition of 1807 against Copenhagen.
