359
FISHER.
in the Wasp 16. Since his return from North America, in Sept. 1815, Commander Fisher has been on half-pay.
He now holds the appointment of Principal and Superintendent Harbour-Master of the Port of London. He is married, and has issue.
FISHER. (Commander, 1841.)
Peter Fisher is son of the late Capt. Peter Fisher, R.N., a veteran officer of distinction, who, at the period of his death, which took place 28 Aug. 1844, held the appointments of Superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard, Captain of Sandown Castle, and Magistrate both for the Cinque Ports and for co. Kent.[1] He is brother of Commander Thos. Fisher, R.N., and has two other brothers Lieutenants in the Army.
This officer entered the Navy 21 Dec. 1828; passed his examination in 1833; obtained his first commission 28 June, 1838; served for nearly three years in the Herald 26, Capt. Joseph Nias, by whom he was mentioned in the highest terms for his conduct, as Senior-Lieutenant of that ship, during the operations which led to the fall oi Canton, in May, 1841;[2] and, on 8 of the following June, was in consequence promoted to the rank he now holds. He has been employed, since 20 March, 1846, as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard.
He married, 19 March, 1846, Catherine Alicia, daughter of the late Thos. Backhouse, Esq., of Caldbeck, co. Cumberland.
FISHER. (Commander, 1841. f-p., 15; h-p., 8.)
Thomas Fisher is brother of Commander Peter Fisher, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy 30 Oct. 1824; passed his examination in 1830; acted as Lieutenant, from 17 May to 16 Dec. 1831, of the Success 28, Capt. Wm. Clarke Jervoise, on the East India station; and was officially promoted 28 Dec. 1833. His succeeding appointments were – 7 April, 1834, to the Hastings 74, flag-ship off Lisbon of Sir Wm. Hall Gage – 25 May, 1838, to the Tribune 24, Capt. Chas. Hamlyn Williams, on the same station – and, 13 Nov. 1839, to the Winchester 50, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Harvey in North America and the West Indies. He attained his present rank 23 Nov. 1841; and, since 13 June, 1845, has been in command of the Stromboli steam-sloop, on particular service.
Commander Fisher married, 8 April, 1847, Anne, eldest daughter of the late Major-Gen. Hamilton, C.B.
FISHER. (Captain, 1811. f-p., 22; h-p., 30.)
William Fisher, born 18 Nov. 1780, is second son of the late John Fisher, Esq., of Yarmouth, co. Norfolk.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 Aug. 1795, as Midshipman, on board the Squirrel 20, Capt. Geo. Parker, attached to the fleet in the North Sea. He served next, between June, 1796, and June, 1798, in L’Oiseau 36, Capt. Geo. Hopewell Stephens, and Tremendous 74, flag-ship at the Cape of Good Hope of Rear-Admiral Thos. Pringle, with whom he returned home in the Crescent 36; and then joined the Dragon 74, Capt. Geo. Campbell, employed successively in the Channel and Mediterranean. For his singular intrepidity, shortly afterwards, in leading the way aloft, followed by two seamen, when the foremast, during a violent storm, was badly sprung, and the ship in a critical situation, and cutting away the topmast, whereby the lower mast was preserved, Mr. Fisher had the honour of receiving the public thanks of his Captain. He subsequently, in the same ship, and the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Lord Keith, took part in the operations connected with the expedition to Egypt in 1801; after which he removed to the Santa Dorothea 42, Capt. Hugh Downman, and, on 3 Sept. in the same year, was promoted into the Irresistible 74, Capt. Wm. Bligh. His succeeding appointments, as Lieutenant, were – 26 Oct. 1801, to the Iris 32, Capts. Hon. Philip Wodehouse and David Atkins, on the North Sea station – 8 April, 1803, to the Canopus 80, bearing the flag off Toulon of his former Captain, Rear-Admiral Geo. Campbell – 2 April, 1805, to the Superb 74, Capt. Rich. Goodwin Keats, in which ship he accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies in pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain – and, 9 Oct. 1805, as First, to the Stately 64, Capt. Geo. Parker, in the North Sea. Capt. Fisher, having obtained his second commission 25 Sept. 1806, was next appointed, 25 Feb. and 18 June, 1807, to the Merlin 16, and Racehorse 18. In the latter vessel he captured in the Channel, 2 March, 1808, a French privateer, L’Amiral Ganteaume, of 4 guns and 28 men; was frequently engaged with the batteries off Cherbourg; and, on proceeding to the Cape, was actively employed, during the years 1809 and 10, off the Mauritius, and in exploring the Mozambique. On 10 Dec. 1810 he was nominated Acting-Captain of the Akbar 44, in which ship he convoyed the troops from the former place to Madras; and on 18 April, 1811, being at the time on his passage home in the Barbadoes frigate, Capt. Brian Hodgson, he was officially posted. Capt. Fisher remained thenceforward on half-pay until 14 Sept. 1815, between which period and Oct. 1817, when he invalided in consequence of a desperate attack of fever, we find him commanding the 20-gun ships Bann and Cherub on the coast of Guinea. While in the Bann, independently of other similar vessels, he captured, 5 March, 1816, by laying her alongside and boarding, after a long running fight, the slaver El Temerario, of 16 guns and 80 men; and, in the Cherub, after a desperate resistance, he took a large heavily-armed pirate-schooner. His next and last appointment was, 18 March, 1836, to the Asia 84, in which he served, on the Mediterranean station, until placed out of commission in May, 1841. During that period he was frequently engaged on important detached services, particularly in 1840, when he commanded the squadron, consisting of five line-of-battle ships and other smaller vessels, employed in blockading the powerful fleet assembled at Alexandria. After the British authorities and the British flag had been withdrawn from that place, Capt. Fisher, in pursuance of the peremptory instructions of H.M. Ambassador at Constantinople, performed the hazardous duty of landing alone, and personally conveying to Mehemet Ali the official announcement of his deposition. He also took upon himself the responsibility of keeping open our Indian mail communications through Egypt, and of suspending the mercantile part of the blockade. In the discharge of these and the numerous other very delicate offices which devolved upon him at that eventful epoch, he acquired the unqualified approbation of the Commander-in-Chief; the Turkish gold medal, sword, and diamond decoration were conferred on him; and, on 1 July, 1842, he was awarded the Good-Service Pension.
Capt. Fisher, while in the Cherub, suggested to the Admiralty the excellent plan, now in general adoption by our own and the French and Russian navies, of watering ships, for his subsequent completion of which, while on half-pay, he received from the board its official thanks, and a portion of his expenses.[3] He married, in May, 1810, Eliza-
- ↑ Capt. Fisher, whose servitude afloat embraced the long period of between 30 and 40 years, was present in four general actions at sea, and in many others on shore, was at the reduction of three large fortresses, assisted at the capture, besides innumerable smaller vessels, of fifteen line-of-battle ships, and received four wounds, from one of which he never perfectly recovered. During the peace he successively commanded the Wye 26, Ranger 28, Southampton 52, Calcutta 84, and Ocean 80. He died, as above, at the age of 63.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1841, p. 2510.
- ↑ When we reflect on the enormous mass of evil, moral and physical, which was inseparable from the system of watering a fleet during the war, the calamitous and everrecurring effects of which must be so vividly present in the recollections of the senior members of the profession, and compare it with the simple, efficacious, and inexpensive mode
