Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/33

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

19

APPLEBY—APREECE—APTHORP—ARABIN.

bell, Sir Jas. Hawkins Whitshed, Sir Geo. Martin, and Sir Robt. Stopford. During the whole period of his being borne on the books of those two ships, a term of eleven years and one month, Mr. Appleby commanded the Linnet and Scorpion tenders, and rendered much valuable service to the Revenue. Being advanced to the rank of Commander 28 Aug. 1828, he afterwards, from 1 March, 1831, until April, 1836, and from 29 March, 1837, until promoted to Post-rank, 29 Jan. 1838, served in the Coast Guard. Since the latter date he has been on half-pay.

Capt. Appleby married, 14, Nov. 1827, Ellen, eldest daughter of Wm. Osborn, Esq., of Leominster, near Arundel, Sussex. Agents – Messrs. . Stilwell.



APPLEBY. (Retired Commander, 1840. f-p., 12; h-p., 43.)

Young Appleby entered the Navy, 18 Nov. 1792, as Boatswain’s Servant, on board the Alfred 74, Capt. John Bazeley. After sharing in Lord Howe’s action, 1 June, 1794, he joined the Blenheim 98, Capt. Thos. Lenox Frederick, and while under that officer was present in Hotham’s skirmish with the French fleet, 13 July, 1795, and lost a leg in the battle fought off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797. He then became attached in succession to the Cambridge 80, flag-ship of Sir Rich. King, Haerlem 64, Capt. Geo. Burlton, Cambridge again, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Pasley, Romulus 36, Capt. John Culverhouse, and Royal William, flag-ship of Admiral Milbanke. Obtaining a commission, dated 4 Dec. 1799, he next served, from Aug. 1800, to April, 1802, in the Actaeon 44, Capt. Philip Hire, attached to the Impress service at Liverpool, and, from 20 June, 1803, until 27 Oct. 1806, had command of a Signal station on the coast of Dorsetshire. On one occasion, when in a boat belonging to the Actaeon, with only three men, he entered a vessel having 200 sailors on board, of whom he brought away 17, and drove 30 over the sides. During his semaphoric command, Mr. Appleby volunteered, on another occasion, to attack at noonday, with only 27 fencibles, a French privateer carrying 14 guns and about 80 men. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 22 Sept. 1806, and, on 7 Jan. 1840, accepted the rank he now holds.

Commander Appleby married, 4 Nov. 1803, and has issue one son.



APREECE. (Retired Commander, 1840. f-p., 16; h-p., 32.)

William Apreece entered the Navy, in Jan. 1799, as a Volunteer, on board the Venerable 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Geo. Fairfax, and, on 2 July following, was present in an attack made by Rear-Admiral Chas. Morice Pole on a Spanish squadron lying in Aix Roads. Between 1801 and the date of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, 22 Jan. 1806, he served as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, on the West India, Home, and Africa stations, of the Courageux 74, Capts. Bowen and Thos. Sotheby, Windsor Castle and Leander, flag-ships of Sir Andrew Mitchell, Camel store-ship, Capt. Thos. Garth, Eugenie, Capt. Chas. Webb, Eclipse gun-brig, Lieut.Commander Geo. Price, and Arab 22, Capt. Keith Maxwell. He then joined the Excellent 74, Capt. John West, fitting at Portsmouth, and on being next appointed to the Blanche 38, Capt. Sir Thos. Lavie, was wrecked, and taken prisoner, off Ushant, 4 March, 1807. From that period Mr. Apreece was detained in captivity until the conclusion of hostilities. Unable to procure further employment, he at length, on 10 July, 1840, retired With the rank of Commander. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



APTHORP. (Lieutenant, 1845.)

Shirley Apthorp passed his examination 1 June, 1836. For the space of five years he served as Mate, chiefly on the Mediterranean and Africa stations, on board the Alecto steamer, Lieut.-Commander Wm. Hoseason, Thunderer 84, Capt. Dan. Pring, Hydra steam-sloop, Capt. Horatio Beauman Young, Rapid 10, Lieut.-Commander Edw. Chas. Earle, and Alert sloop, Capt. Chas. John Bosanquet. On obtaining his commission, 24 March, 1845, he joined the Penelope steam-frigate, Commodore Wm. Jones, also employed off the coast of Africa. Since 19 Deo. 1845, Mr. Apthorp has been attached to the Tortoise store-ship, at Ascension, Capt. Arthur Morrell.



ARABIN. (Captain, 1823. f-p., 20; h-p., 28.)

Septimus Arabin, descended from one of the oldest families of Provence, in France, a branch of which settled in England at the period of the Revolution in 1688, is son of the late Henry Arabin, Esq., by Ann Grant, of the Grants of Ballendallack. One of his brothers, George, died a Captain in H.M. 54th regiment; another, Frederick, became a Captain in the Royal Artillery; and a third, Augustus, died a Lieutenant, R.N. (1815), in Sept. 1839.

This officer entered the Navy, 27 April, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Tigre 80, Capt., afterwards Rear-Admiral, Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, under whom, with the exception of a few months during the peace, he continued to serve, in the same ship, and in the Antelope 50, and Pompée 74, until the summer of 1807. During the latter part of the war he appears to have been much employed in co-operation with the Turks on the coast of Syria; and we subsequently find him, on the renewal of hostilities, coming into frequent collision with the enemy in the Channel and North Sea, particularly on 24 March, 1804, when he acquired the public thanks of Sir Sidney Smith for the gallant and judicious manner in which, after, every officer senior to himself had been wounded, he boarded, in the Antelope’s boats, and carried, although he had been exposed for 45 minutes, to a heavy fire, a Dutch armed schuyt, moored at the entrance of the East Scheldt, and in every way prepared, for an obstinate resistance. On his removal, as Master’s Mate, in 1806, to the Pompée, Mr. Ajabin was invested by his patron with the command of a Sicilian armed vessel, in which he conveyed the first supply of ammunition to Gaeta, during its siege by the French. He assisted also in disarming the coasts of Naples and Calabria, from the gulf of Salerno to Scylla; and was present at the capture of the latter fortress. Attending afterwards the expedition to the Dardanells, he there witnessed, in the capacity of Acting-Lieutenant, Sir Sidney Smith’s destruction of a Turkish squadron, and for his gallantry in cutting out a gun-boat, and the assistance he afforded in consummating the destruction of a battery of 31 guns, was a second time publicly thanked by Sir Sidney, and formed one of the only two Lieutenants whose names were mentioned in Sir John Duckworth’s first despatch.[1] During the operations against Copenhagen in Aug. and Sept. 1807, Mr. Arabin, who still continued to serve in the Pompée, under the flag of Hon. Henry Edwin Stanhope, commanded a division of boats at the landing of the army, took part in many smart encounters with the enemy’s flotilla, and, in acknowledgment of his services throughout, was personally presented by the above officer to Lord Gambler, and earnestly recommended for promotion. In the mean time, however, he had been officially promoted into the Pompée by commission, dated 4 Aug. 1807. His subsequent appointments were – 6 Feb. 1808, to the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Sir W. S. Smith, in South America – 5 Feb. 1810, to the Theseus 74, Capt. Wm. Prowse, stationed in the North Sea – and, in the course of 1812, to the Tremendous 74, and Hibernia 110, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir W. S. Smith, in the Mediterranean. After witnessing Sir Edw. Pellew’s two partial actions with the French fleet off Toulon, he was promoted to the rank of Commander 27 July, 1814; but, unsuccessful in his applications for employment, remained on half-pay from that period until 2 July, 1821, when he at length obtained an appointment to the Argus 18, on the Halifax station. Acquiring Post-rank 20 March, 1823, Capt. Arabin next, on 23 Dec. 1825,

  1. Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 595.