Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/280

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266

DAVIES.

in Holy Orders : he has left, by the second, with two daughters, five sons, all of whom are in the army.



DAVIES. (Lieutenant, 1845)

Alexander Bonthrone Davies passed his examination 2 Nov. 1833; obtained an appointment in the Coast Guard 4 Aug. 1841; was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 9 Dec. 1845; and, since 18 of the same month, has been employed in the Daring 12, Capts. Henry Jas. Matson and Wm. Peel, on the North America and West India station.



DAVIES. (Lieutenant, 1808.)

Arthur Davies entered the Navy, 1 June, 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the St. Fiorenzo 40, Capts. Chas. Wm. Paterson and Joseph Bingham, employed at the blockade of Havre de Grace, and also in the East Indies, where he served, from May, 1803 to Jan. 1807, with the present Sir Josiah Coghill, as Midshipman, in the Rattlesnake sloop and La Concorde frigate, and, for the next three years, with Rear-Admirals Sir Edw. Pellew and Wm. O’Brien Drury, in the Culloden and Russel 74’s, of which latter ship he was created a Lieutenant 27 Dec. 1808. He returned home with convoy in the Belliqueux 64, Capt. Geo. Byng, in 1811; and was subsequently appointed – 12 Aug. 1812, to the Lyra 10, Capt. Robt. Bloye, on the north coast of Spain – 25 Jan. 1813, to the Hamadryad 36, Capt. Edw. Chetham, under whom he witnessed the capture, 12 Dec. 1814, of the Abigail Danish national cutter, and afterwards served on the Newfoundland station – and, 30 May, 1815, as Second, to the Brazen 18, Capt. Jas. Stirling. He invalided home from the West Indies in Sept. 1816; and was next appointed, 26 April, 1823, to the Water Guard Service, in which he continued for some time. Lieut. Davies is at present employed as Emigration Agent at Hobart Town.

He married, 6 May, 1824, Elizabeth, second daughter of the late Geo. Matcham, Esq., of Ashford Lodge, co. Sussex, sister-in-law of Lieutenants, in the Navy, John Bendyshe and H. W. Mason, as likewise of the late Capt. Edw. Blanckley, R.N., and niece of the immortal Nelson. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.



DAVIES. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 16; h-p., 25.)

David Gam Davies entered the Navy, in Jan. 1806, on board the Pompée 74, Capt. Rich. Dacres, flag-ship in succession of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith and of the Hon. Edwin Henry Stanhope; in which he assisted in various operations on the coast of Italy in 1806, including the sieges of Gaeta and Scylla, and the taking of Capri and Fort Licosa, and accompanied, in 1807, the expeditions to the Dardanells and Copenhagen. From March, 1808, to July, 1810, he next served, as Midshipman, in the Puissant 38, Capts. Adam Mackenzie and Schomborg, on the Brazilian station; after which he joined, in Feb. 1811, the Southampton of 38 guns and 212 men, Capt. Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo, and, on 3 Feb. 1812, assisted at the capture of the Haytian frigate Améthyste of 44 guns and 700 men, at the close of a sharp contest, in which the enemy had 105 men killed and 120 wounded, and the British only 1 man killed and 10 wounded. The Southampton, after making prize of the United States’ brig Vixen of 14 guns, was eventually wrecked, on a reef of rocks, near Conception Island, 27 Nov. 1812. In May, 1813, Mr. Davies rejoined Sir Sidney Smith in the Hibernia 120, on the Mediterranean station, where he remained until the receipt of his commission 1 March, 1815. He was subsequently from 23 Aug. 1824 until 1826, employed on the Coast Blockade, as Lieut, of the Ramillies 74 and Hyperion 42, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Wm. Jas. Mingaye; and, on 28 Dec. 1841, was appointed Admiralty Agent in a contract mail steam-vessel Lieut. Davies, since 7 Feb. 1843, has been officiating as Agent of the Arabian emigration transport. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



DAVIES. (Commander, 1842.)

George Davies was born in the parish of St. Cuthbert, Wells, co. Somerset.

This officer entered the Navy, 23 June, 1813, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Ajax 74, Capts. Robt. Waller Otway and Geo. Mundy. In that ship he assisted, while at the siege of St. Sebastian, in taking the island of Sta. Clara, and was present, as Midshipman, at the blockade of Rochefort and of Toulon, the surrender of Marseilles, and the capture of a vast number of the enemy’s armed and other vessels. Joining next the Queen Charlotte 100, bearing the flag of Lord Exmouth, he took part in the bombardment of Algiers, 27 Aug. 1816; and on that occasion he particularly attracted the notice of his Commander-in-Chief, whose orders he was throughout employed in conveying to the different ships of the fleet. The boat he commanded was frequently under the necessity of being partially re-manned, in consequence of the great loss of her crew in killed and wounded. In Sept. 1817, Mr. Davies, who for the last twelve months had been unable to procure employment, rejoined Lord Exmouth in the Impregnable 104, on that officer hoisting his flag as Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth; shortly after which he proceeded to St. Helena in the Sappho 18, Capt. Jas. Hanway Plumridge. He subsequently, in 1821, became attached to the Seringapatam 46, Capt. Sam. Warren, in the boats of which ship he appears to have assisted at the capture and destruction of various piratical vessels in the West Indies. On his removal, in Jan. 1824, to the Naiad 46, Capt. Hon. Robt. Cavendish Spencer, then in the Mediterranean, he contributed to the utter defeat, on 31 of the month, of the Tripoli, Algerine corvette of 18 guns and 100 men; and, on the night of 23 May following, he aided in the boats, under Lieut. Michael Quin, at the brilliant destruction of a 16-gun brig, moored in a position of extraordinary strength alongside the walls of the fortress of Bona, in which were a garrison of about 400 soldiers, who, from cannon and musket, kept up a tremendous fire, almost perpendicularly, on the deck. He afterwards, in charge of the ship’s barge, brought out a piratical mistico from the island of Hydra; and, on rejoining the Seringapatam, Capt. Chas. Sotheby, frequently landed, at the head of a division of seamen, in order to cooperate with the marines of that ship and of the Revenge in their hostilities against the pirates of other Greek settlements in the Archipelago. Having been promoted, for his gallantry at Bona, to the rank of Lieutenant 1 June, 1826, five years previously to which he had passed his examination, Mr. Davies, early in 1827, returned to England on board the Sybille 48, Capt. Sir Sam. John Brooke Pechell. Between 13 Dec. 1828 and 1831, he farther served in the West Indies, as First-Lieutenant of the Ranger 28, Capt. Wm. Walpole, Sparrowhawk 18, Capt. Thos. Gill, and Mersey 26, Capt. Geo. Wm. Conway Courtenay. On 6 July, 1832, he was appointed to a station in the Coast Guard, which he resigned on being nominated to the command, 28 Nov. 1836, of the Tartar Revenue-cutter. At the expiration of his servitude in the latter vessel he returned to the Coast Guard, 27 March, 1840, and continued in that service (in which, and in the Tartar, he was so successful as to effect the capture of not fewer than 15 notorious smuggling vessels, besides making numerous other seizures and many valuable salvages) until 1 Jan. 1842, when he was promoted to his present rank. Since 3 July, 1843, he has been re-employed in the Coast Guard as an Inspecting Commander. The generous exertions of this officer in often hazarding his life for the preservation of his fellow creatures, by jumping overboard and otherwise, have been so conspicuous as to have obtained for him six medals from the Royal Humane Society and the National Shipwreck Institution. King Louis Philippe, in acknowledg-