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BOWIE—BOWKER.
Smith, Mr. Bowers, in Sept. 1815, was sent to London to enter men for that sloop, in effecting which object he expended from his private resources, in the payment of advances necessary to induce them to join, the sum, we believe, of 60l., no part of which was ever returned to him, He was subsequently employed for four months at Shields, also in successfully cruizing against the smugglers, and for a short time in command of a sailing galley off Flushing. H« was superseded from the Alert at his own request in July, 1816, and in Jan. 1832 was appointed to the command of the Dreadnought, seamen’s hospital ship, off Greenwich. On his resignation of the latter situation in 1837, in consequence of severe family afflictions and infirmities engendered by his former services, Lieut. Bowers received as a reward for his “uniform zeal and diligence in forwarding the interests of the charity,” a unanimous vote of thanks from the committee, accompanied by a gratuity of 50l. For an account of the adventurous portion of this officer’s career between the years 1816 and 1832, as well as for a more minute detail of the occurrences of his professional life, we refer our readers to his ‘Naval Adventures,’ an autobiographical work of considerable interest.
Lieut. Bowers was an officer of acknowledged zeal and ability. He married, in May, 1832, Caroline, daughter of Thos. Barford, Esq., of Stratford, co. Essex, and by that lady, who died 25 April, 1843, has left issue a son and daughter.
BOWIE. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 44; h-p., 0.)
John Bowie entered the Navy, 13 March, 1803, as A.B., on board the Ferreter gun-brig, Lieut.Commandep Henry Weir, in which vessel he served, the last two years as Second Master, until Feb. 1807, on the North Sea station, where he assisted in beating off two French man-of-war brigs of very superior force. He was next employed, until Dec. 1809, as Master and Acting Sub-Lieutenant in the Linnet brig, Lieut.-Commander John Treacey, under whom he contributed to the capture, 16 Jan. and 30 Aug- 1808, in spite of considerable resistance, of the privateers Le Courier, of 18 guns and 60 men, and Foudroyant of 10 guns and 25 men; and further attended the expedition to the Walcheren, He subsequently officiated as Master and Acting-Lieutenant, for two years, of the Recruit 18, Capts. Murray, John Cookesley, and Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, employed in the Channel and off Newfoundland; and from Nov. 1811, until Dec. 1813, during which period (on 20 July, 1812) he was confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant, appears to have been very actively engaged in gun-boat co-operations with the patriots on the coast of Spain, particularly at the defence of Cadiz and Tarifa – on the shores also of Catalonia, where he commanded a division of the flotilla, and was present at the siege of Tarragona – and in various affairs up the river Ebro, which terminated in his being severely wounded and his gun-boat blown up. Mr. Bowie was next, in 1813-15, appointed, in succession, to the Malta 84, Royal Sovereign 100, and Tonnant 80, flag-ships on the Mediterranean, Channel, and Cork stations of Sir Benj. Hallowell. He removed to the command, 13 May, 1817, of the Minerva, and subsequently to that of the Kite, Revenue cruizers; and from 31 Oct- 1820, until the attainment of his present rank, 9 Nov. 1846, filled the appointment of Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. Agent – J. Hinxman.
BOWKER. (Captain, 1811. f-p., 31; h-p., 31.)
John Bowker, born 1 Dec. 1770, and descended from an old Norman family distinguished during the Crusades, is second son of the late Robt. Bowker, Esq., of Queen’s County, Ireland, by a daughter of Thos. Cosby, Esq., of Vicarstown. He is a near relative of the late Phillips Cosby, Esq., Admiral of the White; and cousin of the present Thos. Phillips Cosby, Esq., of Stradbally Hall, Queen’s County, a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant.
This officer entered the Navy, 3 Aug. 1785, as A.B., on board the Trusty 50, bearing the broad pendant in the Mediterranean of Commodore P. Costly, and shortly afterwards attained the rating of Midshipman, He removed, in 1788, to the Ferret sloop-of-war, commanded on the latter station by Capts. Davidge Gould, Wm. Swaffield, and Hon. Robt. Stopford; served subsequently in 1790-1, as Master’s Mate, in the Gibraltar 80, Capt. Sam. Cranston Goodall, and London 98, bearing the flag of the same officer in the Channel; then proceeded to the West Indies in the Proserpine frigate, Capt. James Alms; in 1792 rejoined his relative. Rear-Admiral Cosby, in the St. George 98, at Plymouth; and on ultimately accompanying him to the Mediterranean in the Windsor Castle 98, served in command of a party of seamen at the occupation of Toulon, and was promoted, 10 July, 1794, into the St. Fiorenzo frigate, Capts. Sir Chas. Hamilton and Henry Inman. His next appointment was, 8 Dec. 1794, to the Mars, of 82 guns and 634 men, Capts, Sir Chas. Cotton, Alex. Hood, and John Manley, in which ship we find him employed, latterly as First-Lieutenant, until March, 1799. He was in consequence present in Cornwallis’s celebrated retreat of 16 and 17 June, 1795, when the Mars, being the sternmost ship, bore the brunt of the enemy’s attack; and he assisted, under Capt. Hood, at the capture, 21 April, 1798, L’Hercule, of 78 guns and 680 men. At the close of the desperate and sanguinary conflict which led to the latter event, wherein, for the space of an hour, the yards of the two ships were locked together, and muzzle touched muzzle, Mr. Bowker, then Second-Lieutenant, was the officer who, of his own accord, the Captain being mortally wounded and the First-Lieutenant absent from the quarter-deck, gallantly headed a party of boarders, and, springing into the main-chains of L’Hercule, succeeded in taking possession of that ship, although unexpectedly opposed by the First and Second French Captains and about 60 men, who had treacherously rallied and resumed their arms. In effecting this service, however, he unfortunately, while in the act of making a thrust at the latter officer, slipped and fell from the quarter to the orlop deck, a misadventure which occasioned him a loss of three teeth and a contusion in the right knee.[1] His ensuing appointments were – 28 March, 1799, 27 Nov. 1800, and 8 June, 1803 – to the Prince and Prince George 98’s, and, as First-Lieutenant, to the San Josef 110, all bearing the flag in the Channel of his friend Sir C. Cotton, by whom, in the autumn of 1806, he was placed in command of the Atalante brig. In that vessel, after taking or destroying eight of a French coasting convoy of 12 sail, and singly preventing by a ruse-de-guerre several of the enemy’s men-of-war from leaving Basque Roads, Lieut. Bowker, owing to the ignorance of the pilots, unhappily got aground, in Feb. 1807, and remained exposed to a heavy fire of great guns and musketry, until luckily rescued from off the wreck, with his ship’s company, by the arrival of two British frigates. His advancement to the rank of Commander being confirmed on 23 of the following month, he was successively appointed – on the same date, to the Epervier brig, on the West India station, whence his health obliged him to invalid in Jan. 1808 – 8 Aug. 1809, to the Aetna bomb, part of the naval force employed in the expedition to the Scheldt under Sir Rich. John Strachan, whose thanks he received in public orders, conjointly with the other participating officers, for silencing the batteries of Doel and covering the retreat of the advanced squadron of frigates – 3 Sept. 1810, after assisting in the defence of Cadiz, to the Wizard 16, attached to the fleet in the Mediterranean – and, 24 Feb. 1811, as Acting-Captain, to the San Josef, flag-ship of his patron Sir Chas. Cotton, in which he returned home. From the date of his Post-commission, 16 Aug. 1811, Capt. Bowker remained on half-pay, until nominated, 12 Feb. 1817, Flag-Captain, in the Sir Francis Drake of 46 guns, to
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 842.
