WESTBROOK. (Lieutenant, 1826.)
George Frederick Westbrook entered the Navy 1 Feb. 1809; passed his examination in 1817; and was made Lieutenant, 26 July, 1826, into the Bustard 10, Capt. Wilhams Sandom, on the Jamaica station. His appointments since he left that vessel have been – 25 Jan. 1827, to the Coast Blockade, in which service he remained, with his name on the books of the Ramillies 74 and Hyperion 42, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Wm. Jas. Mingaye, until it was abolished in the early part of 1831 – 4 Sept. 1832, to the Coast Guard – 22 March, 1844, and 18 June, 1845, to the Tartar and Defence Revenue-cruizers – 20 Nov. 1846, again to the Coast Guard – and 29 Jan. 1847 and 18 Jan. 1848, to the Ranger and Stag Revenue-vessels, in the latter of which he is now serving.
Lieut. Westbrook is the inventor of a “Peril Indicator,” the object of which is to denote the approach of ground to ships and steamers. The apparatus is fitted to the keel of a vessel, and consists of two bars having a downward projection of 10 feet. The instant these bars, which are fitted aft as well as forward, touch the ground they spring up level with the keel and ring a large bell in the engine-room, which is the signal for the engineer at once to reverse the engines.
WESTERN. (Lieutenant, 1837.)
George Western is son of James Western, Esq., of 7, Great James Street, Bedford Row, London, and cousin of Commander R. R. Western, R.N.
This officer, passed his examination in 1832, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 1 Dec. 1837. His appointments have since been – 2 Dec. 1837, as Additional, to the Princess Charlotte 104, flag-ship of Hon. Sir Robt. Stopford in the Mediterranean – 25 July, 1838, to the Barham 50, Capt. Armar Lowry Corry, on the same station – 26 April, 1839, again as Additional, to the Niagara 20, Capt. Williams Sandom, on the Lakes of Canada – 7 June, 1842, in a similar capacity, to the Illustrious 72, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Adam, and 17 Sept. 1842, to the Volage 26, Capt. Sir Wm. Dickson, both on. the North America and West India station – 22 Nov. 1844 (he had left the Yolage in the summer, of 1843) and 5 Jan. 1846; as Senior, to the Firefly steam-surveying vessel, and Gladiator steam-firigate, Capts. Fred. Wm. Beechey and John Robb, on the coast of Ireland and in the Channel – and, 17 Nov. 1846 and 8 Aug. 1848, to the command of the Jackal steamer of 150-horse power, and Spy brigantine, the former employed on the Home, Lisbon, and Mediterranean stations, the latter on the coast of Africa, where he is now serving.
WESTERN. (Commander, 1846.)
Richard Roger Western is youngest son, by Mary, daughter of Thos. Burch, Esq., of the island of Bermuda, of Rear-Admiral Thos. Western, K.T.S., of Tattingstone Place, co. Suffolk, who commanded the Tamar 38, at the capture of the French frigate Républicaine of 32 guns, 26 Aug. 1799, assisted in 1807, when Captain of the London 98, in escorting the Royal Family, of Portugal in its flight to the Brazils, and died in Dec. 1814. He is brother of Lieut. Geo. Edw. Western, R.N., who died in 1825, of Major Maximilian Jas. Western of the 64th Regt., and of Capt. Wm. Chas. Western of the 32nd Madras Infantry; and cousin of Lieut. Geo. Western, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy 13 Nov. 1829; obtained his first commission 11 June, 1841; and irom 21 Aug. following until within a short period o£ his promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 9 Nov. 1846, was employed in the Pique 36, Capts. Henry. Forbes and Hon. Montagu Stopford, on the North America and West India station.
WESTPHAL, Kt. (Captain, 1819. f-p., 21; h-p., 28.)
Sir George Augustus Westphal was born 27 March, 1785. He is brother of Capt. Philip Westphal, R.N.; and is of high German extraction, being a descendant of the ancient Counts Von Westphal. His grandfather was a Judge of one of the Imperial Courts of Judicature; and his great-uncle, a dignitary of the Hanoverian Church, was Preceptor to H.R.H. the late Duke of Kent.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1798 (under the auspices of the Duke of Kent), as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Porcupine 24, Capt. Andrew Fitzherbert Evans; in which vessel and in the Echo and Tisiphone sloops, Capts. John Serrall and John Thompson, he continued to serve as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, alternately on the North American, Home, and West India stations, until Jan. 1803. Joining, in the ensuing March, the Amphion 32, Capt. Thos. Masterman Hardy, he sailed in that frigate for the Mediterranean with Lord Nelson; whom, on.their arrival, he followed into the Victory 100. In her, after pursuing the combined fleets of France and Spain, to the West Indies and back, he fought at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805; on which occasion, being severely wounded in the head, he was laid in the cockpit by the side of his dying chief.[1] He served subsequently with Capt. Fras. Pender in the Ocean 98, .and with Lord St Vincent in the Caledonia 120,. the latter stationed off Brest; and on 15 Aug. 1806 he was made Lieutenant into the Demerara sloop, Capt. Wm. Paterson, in the West Indies. In 1807, while returning to England as an invalid in the Highlander a merchant-ship, mounting 12 carronades, with a crew of 35 men, he was again badly wounded and captured by the French privateer L’Alert of 20 guns and 140 men, despite a very spirited resistance of three hours and twenty minutes, during which the British, commanded by himself, sustained a loss of 5 killed and 7 wounded,. and the enemy (who were repulsed in three attempts to board, but succeeded in the fourth) also of many killed and wounded. He was taken to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, and placed in close confinement on board a prison-ship. He ultimately, however, succeeded in effecting his escape with three others in a boat, in which, after enduring many hardships, he was picked up by an American merchant-schooner from Guadeloupe bound to New York. This vessel was detained on the following day by an English privateer and carried to Antigua; whence Mr. Westphal returned to England in the Venus frigate. On his arrival he was appointed, in succession, 27 June and 5 Oct. 1807, to. the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Albemarle Bertie, in the Channel, and to the Neptune 98, Capt. Sir Thos. Williams. In the latter ship he went in pursuit, in 1808, of a French squadron to the West Indies. On again proceeding thither he became First-Lieutenant, 8 Nov. in the same year, of the Belleisle 74, Commodore Geo. Cockburn under whom we find him, in the early part of 1809, serving on shore at the reduction of Martinique. On the return home of the Belleisle with the surrendered Governor and garrison, she was sent to join the expedition under Sir Rich. Strachan in the Scheldt. During the attack upon Flushing Mr. Westphal; who had been placed in command of a subdivision of the flotilla, was on one occasion, for 52 -hours under fire from the enemy’s batteries, and had two of his gun-boats sunk. The Belleisle being paid off in Oct. 1809, he rejoined his friend Cockburn shortly- afterwards as his First-Lieutenant in the Implacable 74, and, in, the early part of 1810, sailed for Quiberon Bay with the Baron de Kolli, a foreigner, who had undertaken to liberate Ferdinand VII. of Spain from his confinement at Valençay. This personage Mr. Westphal himself landed in a boat at night, in a heavy gale and a boisterous sea, close under the convent of St. Gildas. Had the enterprise succeeded he was to have been at once advanced to Post-rank: it failed, however, and he was disappointed. Uniting next in the defence of Cadiz, he aided, while so employed, in expelling the French from Moguer (a town on the Huebla river) and the adjacent coast; and in so effectual a manner, indeed, that in his official re-
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1805, p. 1484.
