256
DABINE—DACRE—DACRES.
carronades and 31 men.[1] – and, 23 April, 1813, to the Medway 74, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Tyler at the Cape of Good Hope. He has been on haif-pay since 2 April, 1816.
Lieut. Cutler at present fills the post of British Vice-Consul at Bordeaux. He married, 27 Sept. 1827, Clara Eliza, youngest daughter of the late John Chas. Lucena, Esq., Consul-General from the court of Portugal.
D.
DABINE. (Lieut., 1812. f-p., 41; h-p., 6.)
Thomas Dymock Jones Dabine was born at Glastonbury, co. Somerset.
This officer entered the Navy 29 Oct. 1800, as L.M., on board the Russell 74, Capts. Herbert Sawyer and Wm. Cuming, one of Lord Nelson’s victorious fleet in the battle off Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801; after which he joined the Puissant 74, guard-ship at Spithead, and became, 11 June, 1804, Midshipman of the Princess Royal 98, Capts. H. Sawyer and Robt. Carthew Reynolds, employed on the Home station. Removing, as Master’s Mate, in April, 1807, to the Procris 18, Capts. Eras. Beauman and Jas. Murray Gordon, he attended the expedition against Copenhagen under Lord Gambier, and subsequently proceeded to the East Indies, where he passed his examination in May, 1809, and was promoted, from his old ship the Russell, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Wm. O’Brien Drury, to the Acting First-Lieutenancy, 25 Sept. following, of the Samarang 20, Capt. Rich. Spencer. After assisting, 19 Feb. 1810, at the capture of Amboyna, Mr. Dabine was transferred to the scp (afterwards Akbar) 50, Capts. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild and Henry Drury, in time to command a detachment of seamen at the reduction of the Mauritius, and further aid at the taking of Java; off which island he captured, 21 Sept. 1811, with three of the Akbar’s boats under his orders, the French schooner Marie, carrying 2 twelve-pounder carronades, 24 stand of arms, and 12 men. His commission as Lieutenant being confirmed 8 May, 1812, he was afterwards, until placed on half-pay, in Oct. 1816, appointed – 1 Nov. 1812, to the Raven 16, Capts. Geo. Gustavus Lennock and Edw. Lloyd, in the North Sea – 11 May, 1815, to the command of the Telegraph Station at New Cross – and, 13 Sept. 1815, and 11 Aug. 1816, to the Esk 20, Capt. G. G. Lennock, and Royalist 16, Capt. Geo. Bennet Allen, on the Jamaica station. Since Sept. 1820, Lieut. Dabine has been almost uninterruptedly employed in the Coast Guard.
He married Miss F. Carpenter, of Bridport, co. Dorset, and has six children. Agents – Messrs. Ommauney.
DACRE. (Lieut., 1809. f-p., 15; h-p., 33.)
George Hall Dacre entered the Navy, in March, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Phoenix 36, Capt. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, and, on proceeding to the Mediterranean, assisted at the capture, 3 Aug. and 2 Sept. 1801, of the French frigates Carrière, Succès, and Bravoure. He next joined the Minerve, of 48 guns, Capt. Jahleel Brenton, and was a Midshipman on board that vessel when she took the ground under the batteries of Cherbourg, and was compelled, after a sanguinary but ineffectual resistance of several hours, to strike her colours, 2 July, 1803. On regaining his liberty in May, 1809, Mr. Dacre became attached to the Cretan brig, Capt. Chas. Fred. Payne, then in the Mediterranean, and on 10 July following, having returned to Sheerness, he was officially promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He was subsequently appointed, on the Home station – 12 July, 1809, to the Beaver 10, Capt. Edw. O’Brien Drury – 14 Jan. 1811, to the Alexandria 32, Capt. Robt. Cathcart – and, 26 April, 1814, to the Havock 12, Capt. Geo. Truscott. Since Sept. 1615, he has been on half-pay. Agents – Holmes and Folkard.
DACRES. (Rear-Admiral of the Red, 1838. f-p., 23; h-p., 28.)
James Richard Dacres is only surviving son of the late Jas. Rich. Dacres, Esq., Vice-Admiral of the Red,[2] by Miss Eleanor Blandford Pearce, of Cambridge; nephew of the late Vice-Admiral Sir Rich. Dacres, G.C.H.; and first-cousin of Capt. Sidney Colpoys Dacres, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Sceptre 64, commanded by his father, Capt. J. R. Dacres, with whom we find him also, in 1797, serving in the Barfleur 98. From Aug. 1800, until the receipt of his first commission, which bears date 15 Nov. 1804, he further officiated, chiefly on the Home station, as Midshipman of the Impétueux 74, Capt. Sir Edw. Pellew, Clyde 38, Capt. Chas. Cunningham, Centaur 74, Capt. Bendall Robt. Littlehales, Excellent 74, Capt. Nash, Boadicea 38, Capt. John Maitland, and Culloden 74, Capt. Barrington Dacres. During that period he attended, when in the Impétueux, the expedition against Ferrol in Aug. 1800, and was present, in the Boadicea, in a short action with the French 74-gun ship Duguay Trouin, 29 Aug. 1803. After performing the duties, for seven months, of Flag-Lieutenant in the Theseus and Hercule 74’s, to his father, then Commander-in-Chief on the Jamaica station, Mr. Dacres was promoted, 5 July, 1805, to the command of the Elk sloop, from which he appears to have been posted, 14 Jan. 1806, into the Bacchante, of 24 guns. On 14 Feb. 1807, he captured, off the island of St. Domingo, the French national schooner Dauphin, of 3 guns and 71 men; and he then, associating himself with Capt.Wm. Furlong Wise, of the Mediator 32, succeeded by a well-conducted stratagem in approaching, through a most difficult navigation, the fort of Samana, a notorious nest for privateers, which, after a cannonade of four hours, and a loss to the British of 2 men killed and 16 wounded, was ultimately stormed and carried with great gallantry by the boats of the two ships under Lieuts. Henry Loraine Baker, John Norton, and Shaw.[3] On his return to England in the Mediator, Capt. Dacres, in Dec. 1807, was placed on half-pay; and from that period we do not again find him afloat until appointed, 16 March, 1811, to the Guerrière, an old worn-out frigate, carrying 48 guns, yielding a broadside weight of 517 lbs., and 244 men. On 19 Aug. 1812, being on her way to Halifax after a very long cruize, this vessel encountered and came to close action with the United States ship Constitution, of 56 guns, throwing a broadside weight of 768 lbs., and 460 men. After nobly struggling with her huge antagonist for nearly an hour and three quarters, the Guerrière, having lost 15 men killed and 63 wounded, and being rendered quite ungovernable, with the loss of all her masts, was at length obliged to surrender – in so shattered a condition, indeed, that on the following morning she was set on fire, and blown up.[4] The Constitution’s loss on the occasion amounted to at least 7 men killed and as many wounded. Among the badly wounded on board the Guerrière was her gallant defender, Capt. Dacres himself, who received a musket-ball in the back, while standing on the starboard forecastle hammocks animating his crew, but who could
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 2192. Three Danish luggers, of 2 guns each, came out to support Le Pilotin, but retreated on the advance of the British.
- ↑ Vice-Admiral Dacres, born in Feb. 1749, was eldest son of Richard Dacres, Esq., Secretary to the garrison of Gibraltar. He entered the Navy in 1762; eminently distinguished himself in command of the Carleton schooner in the memorable action on Lake Champlain in 1776; was with Commodore Ford at the capture of Port-au-Prince; participated, as Captain of the Barfleur 98, in Lord Bridport’s and Sir John Jervis’ actions of 23 June, 1795, and 14 Feb. 1797; held a command, afterwards, at Plymouth; and was for four years, from 1804 to 1808, Commander-in-Chief on the Jamaica station. The Vice-Admiral died in Jan. 1830, worn out by length of service and the baneful effects of a West India climate.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 533.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 2038.
