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BOXER—BOYACK.
tion, whence he was superseded on advancement to his present rank, 23 June, 1823. He became an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard in July, 1824; served, from 23 Feb. 1827, until July, 1830, as Flag-Captain at Halifax to Sir Chas. Ogle, in the Hussar 46; and, from 3 Aug. 1837, until Aug. 1841, commanded the Pique 36, on the North America, West India, and Mediterranean stations. For his services on the coast of Syria in 1840 – where, by the unceasing gallantry of his exertions, he proved of material assistance in the operations against Caiffa, Jaffa, and Tsour, and where, with Capt. Henry John Codrington, he so excellently superintended, prior to the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre, the sounding and buoying-off of the channels leading to the batteries, as to enable the ships to go in without risk of getting ashore – Capt. Boxer was nominated, 18 Dec. in the same year, a C.B., and presented, in common with the other officers of his rank employed, with the Turkish gold medal.[1] He was appointed, 24 Aug. 1843, Resident Agent for Transports and Harbour-Master at Quebec, where he still continues.
Capt. Boxer, whose wife died 25 Jan. 1826, has, with other issue, an eldest son, James Fuller, Master R.N., married to Matilda Mary, eldest daughter of T. Sturdee, Esq., of the Naval Yard at Portsmouth; and a third son, Edward, married, in 1843, to Eleanor, daughter of the late Lieut.-Colonel Payne, Royal Artillery. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
BOXER. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 17; h-p., 36.)
James Boxer, a native of Dover, is brother of Capt. Edw. Boxer, R.N., and of the late Commander Wm. Boxer, R.N. (1823), who died in the early part of 1842.
This officer entered the Navy, 14 April, 1794, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Diamond 38, Capt. Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, with whom he took part, as Midshipman, in the capture and destruction of the French national ships La Révolutionnaire of 44, L’Assemblée Nationale of 22, and L’Etourdie of 16 guns, Independently of many other dashing affairs and the hazardous service of reconnoitering Brest. On 18 April, 1796, he was in the boats with the gallant Sir Sidney when they were driven with a captured privateer far up the river Seine by the strength of the current, and there taken by the enemy, after an obstinate resistance. Regaining his liberty, however, in the following Aug., he rejoined the Diamond, at that time commanded by Sir Rich. John Strachan, with whom we find him serving off Cherbourg and Havre de Grace until again placed, 7 Aug. 1798, under the orders of Sir W. S. Smith, in the Tigre 80. Previously to the siege of St. Jean d’Acre, in 1799, Mr. Boxer, then Master’s Mate, was detached, in charge of the prize galliot Marianne, to examine minutely the coast east of Alexandria; and, at the investment of the former place by the French, he was very actively employed in command of a gun-boat, particularly on 1 May, in repelling the fourth desperate assault made by the enemy, and on one or two other occasions, when in the conveyance of despatches, he beat off vessels of superior force. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant, 14 Nov. 1800, he next, in 1801, accompanied the expedition to Egypt; and, for his services throughout the whole of the campaign, as Commander of the Tigre’s launch, was presented with the Turkish gold medal. Lieut. Boxer, whose ensuing appointment was, 12 March, 1803, to the Antelope 50, bearing the broad pendant in the North Sea of his friend Sir W. S. Smith, subsequently, on 31 March, 1804, led a division of boats, and was wounded, in a gallant and successful attack on a guard-vessel, the 'Schrik', of 6 guns and 94 men; after which he commanded, from Aug. in the same year until March, 1806, the Courier hired cutter, off Boulogne, Ushant, and Rochefort; and then became First of the Pompée 74, flag-ship in the Mediterranean of his patron, who, in Dec. of the latter year, appointed him to the Bergère sloop of war. In a few months he returned to the Pompée, and after participating, under the immediate orders of Vice-Admiral Hon. Hen. Edwin Stanhope, in the bombardment of Copenhagen, was promoted by the Admiralty to the rank of Commander 13 Oct. 1807. On 7 Nov. 1808, Capt, Boxer was appointed to the Skylark 16, in which sloop he was sent, preparatory to the Walcheren expedition, to ascertain the strength of the enemy’s defences at Flushing. On a later date, 10 Nov. 1811, he had the good fortune, in company with the Locust gun-brig, to capture one, carrying 4 guns and 60 men, and destroy another, of a flotilla of 12 gun-vessels, under a heavy fire of four hours from the enemy’s batteries and musketry near Calais,[2] The Skylark being unfortunately wrecked near Boulogne on 3 May, 1812, he next joined, on 15 Feb. 1814, the Albacore sloop, at Rio Janeiro, where he became Acting-Captain, 22 April following, of the Aquilon 32. He was officially posted on his return to England, by commission dated 19 July in the same year; and on 1 Oct. 1846, was placed upon the half-pay of retirement. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
BOXER. (Lieutenant, 1840.)
James Michael Boxer entered the Navy 29 Dec. 1827; passed his examination 6 Jan. 1836; and, for his services on the coast of Syria, where he beheld the capture of St. Jean d’Acre, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 4 Nov. 1840. He was subsequently appointed, 15 Dec. 1840, to the Vesuvius steamer, Capt. Thos. Henderson, in the Mediterranean – 8 Sept. 1841, as Additional, to the Niagara 20, Capt. Williams Sandom, on the Lakes of Canada, whence he returned in the spring of 1842 – and, 16 Dec. 1843, in the same capacity, to the Illustrious 72, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Adam on the North America and West India station. Lieut. Boxer has been on half-pay since the autumn of 1844.
He married, in 1839, Miss Elizabeth Kington, of Deal, co. Kent. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
BOYACK. (Lieut., 1804. f-p., 19; h-p., 33.)
Alexander Boyack entered the Navy, 18 April, 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Ambuscade 82, Capt. Geo. Duff, attached to the fleet in the North Sea; served, from March, 1796, to Sept. 1801, (in June of which year he passed his examination,) as Midshipman, under the same officer and Capt. John Talbot, in the Glenmore 36, employed on the former and Irish stations; and then proceeded with Capt. Duff, in the Vengeance 74, to the West Indies, where Rear-Admiral John Thos. Duckworth promoted him, from the Leviathan 74, to be Acting-Lieutenant of the Theseus 74, Capt. John Bligh, 23 June, 1802. After participating in the chase of Le Duquesne 74, and Oiseau schooner (both ultimately captured) – in the cutting out also of from 12 to 15 merchant vessels at Jeremie and Aux Cayes, St. Domingo – and in the reduction of Port Dauphin, where Fort Labouque was silenced, the guns brought off, and La Sagesse, of 28 guns, taken, Mr. Boyack was detached, in command of a prize schooner, Les Deux Amis, with orders to “sink, burn, and destroy” everything hostile that fell in his way. Before, however, he had captured more than one vessel, he was sent home with prisoners in charge of the Mars transport, where, soon after his arrival, he received, 3 May, 1804, an Admiralty commission appointing him to the Warrior 74, Capt. Wm. Bligh, engaged in blockading the Rochefort squadron. He next, on 6 March, 1805, joined the Prospero bomb, Capt. Jones, employed in watching the Boulogne flotilla, but was removed on 21 May following to the command of the Dove cutter, in which, on 5 Aug. in the same year, he had the misfortune to be captured, while on his passage to Malta, by La Gloire French frigate. He remained in painful captivity from that
