354
FERRIS—FESTING.
a merchant schooner.[1] Soon after his providential deliverance he rejoined the Pactolus, still commanded by Capt. Aylmer, under whom, in July, 1815, for the purpose of co-operating with the royalists, he assisted in forcing the passage of the Gironde, and in effecting the reduction of several strong batteries. Accompanying the same officer into the Severn 40, he took part, and was severely wounded in the left arm and side, in the battle of Algiers, 27 Aug. 1816; after which event he successively joined the Heron 18, Ramillies 74, Ganges 84, Victory 104, and Hyperion 42. He ultimately, having passed in 1820, obtained a commission dated 29 Oct. 1827, and, being re-appointed to the Hyperion, 22 Jan. 1828, continued, as a Supernumerary-Lieutenant of that ship, to be employed on the Coast Blockade, until transferred, 16 March, 1831, to the Coast Guard. He was removed, 23 Feb. 1842, to an Agency in a contract mail steamer, in which vessel he appears to have been charged with important despatches from the British Minister at Lisbon to Lord Aberdeen. He was, however, obliged, in consequence of ill health, to resign his new appointment towards the close of the same year; and since that period he has again been employed in the Coast Guard.
Lieut. Ferrar’s long servitude and severe sufferings have so shattered his health as to have rendered him unfit for service afloat. He is married, and has issue two daughters.
FERRIS. (Rear-Admiral, 1846. f-p., 17; h-p., 37.)
Abel Ferris, born 12 Dec. 1776, is son of the late Abel Ferris, Esq.
This officer entered the Navy, 22 Feb. 1793, as Midshipman, on board the Thalia 36, Capt. Rich. Grindall, whom, after witnessing the Astraea’s capture, 10 April, 1795, of the French frigate La Gloire, he followed, as Master’s Mate, into the Irresistible 74, one of Lord Bridport’s fleet in the ensuing action with the French off Ile de Groix. He next served for short periods in La Nymphe 36, Capt. Geo. Losack, Atlas 98, Capt. Edm. Dod, and Carnatic 74, Capt. R. Grindall; and, then joining the Colossus 74, was present in that ship, under Capt. Geo. Murray, in the battle off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797, and in her boats in various encounters with the Cadiz flotilla. On the Colossus being lost off Scilly, 10 Dec. 1798, Mr. Ferris became attached to the Puissant receiving-ship at Spithead, from which, on 22 April, 1799, he was promoted to a Lieutenancy in the Voltigeur 18, Capt. Thos. Geo. Shortland. Returning home from the Newfoundland station at the peace of Amiens, he subsequently, on 19 April, 1803, rejoined Capt. Grindall on board the Prince 98; and after participating in the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, he successively accompanied Lord Collingwood into the Queen and Ocean 98’s. In the Wizard sloop, of 16 guns and 95 men, to the command of which he was promoted 10 Oct. 1807, Capt. Ferris fell in with, on 10 May, 1808, and chased for 88 hours, the French brig-corvette Le Requin, of 18 guns [errata 1] and 110 men, until at length the latter vessel, after having run a distance of 369 miles, and been once beaten in a well-fought action of an hour and a half, which cost the Wizard a loss of 1 man killed and 5 wounded, sought refuge in the neutral port of Tunis. Being subsequently stationed off the coast of Italy, in company with the Kent 74, the Wizard within a short period assisted at the capture and destruction of 23 of the enemy’s coasting vessels – nearly annihilated their trade – was in constant action with gun-boats and batteries – and on 1 Aug. towed and judiciously covered the approach of the boats in an attack made upon a convoy at Noli, a service more fully detailed in our memoir of Commander Wm. Chasman.[2] She also, on one occasion, captured a privateer mounting 8 guns, with a complement of 59 men. From 22 Nov. 1809, until confirmed to Post-rank 18 April, 1811, the subject of this sketch acted as Captain, in the Mediterranean, of the Royal Sovereign 100, Tigre 74, Volontaire 38, San Josef 110, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Cotton, and Euryalus 36. He was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 10 Dec. 1825, and awarded his present rank 1 Oct. 1846.
The Rear-Admiral married, 22 June, 1811, Elizabeth, third daughter of Wm. Schollar, Esq., Mayor of Weymouth, co. Dorset.
FERRIS. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 17; h-p., 29.)
Thomas Ferris entered the Navy, 20 Feb. 1801, as a Boy, on board the Edgar 74, Capt. Edw. Buller, with whom, and Capt. Jas. Wallis, he afterwards served, in the Achille 74, on the Channel and Irish stations, latterly as Midshipman, until May, 1802. From the following Sept. until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 19 Oct. 1807, we find him employed under Sir Rich. John Strachan in the Donegal and Renown 74’s, and in the Caesar 80. He assisted during that period in the Donegal’s capture, in 1804, of the Spanish 44-gun frigate Amfitrite, and of a ship with a cargo on board worth 200,000l., and was present, in the Caesar, at the capture, 4 Nov. 1805, of the four line-of-battle ships escaped from Trafalgar, as also, we believe, at the destruction, 14 Sept. 1806, off Cape Henry, of the 74-gun ship Impétueux. Rejoining, 8 March, 1808, the Donegal, then commanded by Capt. Pulteney Malcolm, Mr. Ferris escorted, in the following summer, Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army from Cork to Portugal – was present at the destruction, 24 Feb. 1809, of three French frigates under the batteries of Sable d’Olonne – witnessed the ensuing discomfiture of the French shipping in Aix Roads – and assisted in an attack made by Capt. Chas. Grant, of the Diana, on the two French frigates Amazone and Eliza, protected by the fire of several strong batteries, near Cherbourg, 15 Nov. 1810. After a further servitude of a few months with Capt. Malcolm in the Royal Oak 74, he was appointed, 3 March, 1812, to the Hannibal 74, Capt. Sir Michael Seymour; and while in that ship he contributed to the capture, 26 March, 1814, of La Sultane, of 44 guns and 330 men. On leaving the Hannibal he became First-Lieutenant, 5 Sept. 1814, of the Tanais 38, Capt. Joseph James, in which frigate he served, on the Irish and Jamaica stations, until his return home in March, 1816. He then took up his commission as Commander, having been advanced to that rank on 20 Sept. 1815. With the exception of an appointment in the Coast Guard, which he held from 6 July, 1830, until the year 1833, he has since been on half-pay.
FESTING, K.H. (Commander, 1826. f-p., 21; h-p., 22.)
Benjamin Morton Festing, born in April, 1794, at Andover, co. Hants, is fifth son of the late Commander Henry Festing, R.N.; and brother of Rear-Admiral R. W. G. Festing, R.N., C.B.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 May, 1805, as Midshipman, on board the Prince 98, commanded by his uncle, Capt. Rich. Grindall, and, from the close of the same year, until the receipt of his first commission, 19 Feb. 1812, served, on the Mediterranean station, in the Queen 98, flag-ship of Lord Collingwood, Niger 32, Capt. Jas. Billyar, Ocean 98, bearing also the flag of the above nobleman, Kingfisher 18, Capt. Ewell Tritton, Fame 74, Capt. Abel Ferris, Thais 20, Capt. Isaac Ferrieres, and Christian VII. 80, and Caledonia 120, flag-ships of Sir Edw. Pellew. He then joined the Eagle 74, Capt. Chas. Rowley, and on 17 Sept. 1812, having succeeded Lieut. Augustus Cannon, who had been mortally wounded, in the command of the three barges of that ship, he creditably
