Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Victory 104, flag-ship at Portsmouth of Hon. Sir Robt. Stopford; and from 1832 until April, 1846, was almost uninterruptedly employed in the Mediterranean, as Midshipman, Mate (he passed his examination 27 Jan. 1835), and Lieutenant (commission dated 15 Oct. 1841), in the Mastiff and Beacon suryeying-vessels, both commanded by the present Capt. Thos. Graves. On 26 Oct. 1837 he plunged overboard from the Beacon, and at great risk saved the life of a marine, Samuel Turner, who, while scraping the side of the ship, had accidentally fallen into the sea. In a public letter to the Commander-in-Chief Capt. Graves, after detailing this occurrence, says, “His (Mr. Spratt’s) conduct with me during a servitude of upwards of five years having been invariably most exemplary, and his being also most indefatigable and attentive, as well as a valuable assistant in the particular service in which we are employed, will, I trust, lead you to consider his case worthy of the consideration of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.” On the occasion of Mr. Spratt’s advancement to the rank of Lieutenant, Capt. W. A. B. Hamilton, then Private Secretary to Lord Haddington, observes, in a note addressed to his father. Commander Spratt, “His Lordship directs me to make known to you the great satisfaction it has afforded him to recommend to the Board for this promotion a young officer so highly spoken of as your son has been, both by Capt. Beaufort, Hydrographer of the Admiralty, and Capt. Graves.” “Your eldest son,” writes the present Sir Wm. Parker in 1846, “now five years a Lieutenant in the surveying-service, stands decidedly high in that branch of his profession.” From 1 March, 1847, until April, 1848, Mr. Spratt commanded the Volage 22, surveying-vessel, again in the Mediterranean.
In 1838 the Lieutenant communicated to the Geographical Society some ‘Remarks on the Supposed Situation of Minoa and Nissea;’ and in 1846 he published a volume of ‘Travels in Ancient Lycia.’ He married, 27 Feb. 1844, Sophia, only daughter of Edw. Price, Esq., by whom he has issue.
SPREAD. (Commander, 1798)
John Matthias Spread was born 22 March, 1765, and died in 1847.
This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1777, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Carysfort 28, Capt. Robt. Fanshawe, under whom he served for upwards of two years in North America and the West Indies in the same vessel and in the Monmouth 64. In the latter ship he fought as Midshipman, in July, 1779, in Byron’s action with the Comte d’Estaing. After cruizing for some months on the coast of Ireland in the Nemesis 28, Capt. Rich. Rodney Bligh, he returned, in 1782, to the West Indies in the Success 32, Capt. Chas. Morice Pole, and continued to serve on that station as Acting-Lieutenant, from 1783 until 1785, in the Preston 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Rowley, Jamaica and Ariel sloops, Capts. Manley Dixon and Jas. Norman, and Ulysses 44, Capt. Edw. O’Brien. He was next, in 1790, received as Midshipman on board the Queen Charlotte 100, flagship of Lord Howe at Spithead; and on 3 Nov. in the same year he was officially promoted. His succeeding appointments were – 3 Dec. 1792, to the Hermione 32, Capt. John Hills, part of the force employed at the reduction of St. Domingo – 1 Sept. 1794, to the Europa 50, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral John Ford, in which ship he returned to England – 4 Sept. and 22 Nov. 1795, and 24 Feb. 1796, to the Prince George and Glory 98’s, and Thunderer 74, flag-ships of Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian, with whom, after having encountered two terrific gales, which each time compelled the Admiral to return to port, he again sailed for the West Indies – and, 15 Nov. 1796, to the Queen 98, bearing the flag there of Sir Hyde Parker. While serving in the ship last mentioned Mr. Spread took command of her boats and of those of a squadron. and succeeded in destroying a privateer schooner and in retaking an American brig, her prize.[1] On 21 June, 1798, he was ordered to act as Captain of La Prompte 20, on the Bahama station, where he remained until he joined, in March, 1799, the Rattler sloop, to the command of which vessel he had been promoted by a commission bearing the same date as his Acting Post order, 21 June, 1798. In her he made prize of a French privateer of 10 guns and 42 men and of a Spanish gun-vessel, and was for some time previously to his return to England, in July, 1802, employed off Honduras, the resident settlers at which place presented him on his departure with an address expressive of their acknowledgments for “the most honourable, disinterested, and praiseworthy manner in which he had discharged the duties of his station,” and for the “humanity to which they were chiefly indebted for subsistence at a time of the most alarming scarcity.” While employed, in 1804, in the Sea Fencibles on the coast of Ireland, Commander Spread was appointed to the Elk sloop, but the effects of long service in the West Indies (13 or 14 years) had so impaired his health that he was not only unable to join, but was ultimately deprived of the sight of both eyes. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 6 Dec. 1833.
He was married, and has left issue.
SPRIGG. (Commander, 1844. f-p., 16; h-p., 6.)
George Sprigg entered the Navy, 22 Nov. 1825, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Doterel 18, Capts. Henry Edwards and Wm. Alex. Baillie Hamilton, in which vessel, and in the Grasshopper 18, Capt. Courtenay Edm. Wm. Boyle, he was for about two years employed on the coast of North America. He served next, from 1827 until 1832, in the Channel as Midshipman and Mate (he passed his examination in May of the latter year) in the Briton 46, Capt. Hon. Wm. Gordon, and Hermes steamer, Lieut.-Commander Andrew King; and after having been further employed on the West India and Home stations, in the capacity last mentioned, in the Serpent 16, Capt. John Chas. Symonds, and Hastings 72, Capt. Fras. Erskine Loch, he was promoted, 24 May, 1839, to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed, 4 July following. Additional of the Melville 72, flag-ship of Hon. Geo. Elliot on the coast of Africa, where, and on the coast of Brazil, he held command, from 15 Dec. 1839 until 1842, and from 16 Sept. 1843 until the early part of 1844, of the Brisk 3 and Curlew 10. In those vessels he had the good fortune to capture, independently of numerous small craft, as many as 15 slavers, carrying in the whole upwards of 1400 negroes. He was promoted in consequence to his present rank 19 Dec. 1844. His last appointment was, 3 Feb. 1846, to the command, which he retained until paid off in the summer of 1847, of the Ferret 8, again on the African coast. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
SPURIN. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 24; h-p., 23.)
John Spurin entered the Navy, in March, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Atlas 98, Capt. Theophilus Jones, attached to the Channel fleet. That ship being paid off in April, 1802, he joined next, 24 Aug. 1804, the Mediator frigate, Capts. Sir Thos. Livingstone, John Seater, Wm. Furlong Wise, Jas. Rich. Dacres, and Geo. Reynolds, employed on the Home and West India stations, where he served, from Dec. 1807 until Feb. 1813, in the Bellerophon 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Bertie, Racoon sloop, Capts. Jas. Welsh and Wm. Black, and Lyra 10, Capt. Robt. Bloye. In the Mediator he assisted in taking, in the early part of 1807, the fort of Samana, St. Domingo, a notorious nest for privateers; and in the Lyra he actively co-operated, in the capacity of Master’s Mate, with the patriots on the north coast of Spain. From Feb. 1813 until April, 1814, he served in the Mediterranean in the Perseus 22, Capt. Edw. Henry A’Court; and from
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1757, p. 377.
