383
FURNEAUX—GABRIEL.
for some time of Commodore John Thos. Duckworth, in which frigate, after assisting at the capture of Demerara and Ste. Lucie, he was wrecked on the Morant Keys 27 Aug. 1796. Until advanced to the rank of Lieutenant, 7 Oct. 1801, he next successively served on board the Alfred 74, Capts. Thos. Drury and Thos. Totty, Scipio, Capt. Davies, Vanguard 74, flag-ship of Sir Horatio Nelson, Cruizer 18, Capt. Chas. Wollaston, Ardent 64, Capt. Thos. Bertie, and De Ruyter 64, Capt. Rich. Dacres. During that period he contributed to the capture of Trinidad, and, as aide-de-camp to Capt. Totty, commanded the seamen employed on shore in the unsuccessful attack on Puerto Rico in 1797 – was present in the Cruizer at the taking of six French privateers, carrying in the whole 68 guns and 282 men – and had charge of the Ardent’s signals in the action off Copenhagen, 2 April, 1801. In May, 1802, Mr. Furber, who had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 7 of the preceding Oct., joined the Blenheim 74, Capts. Thos. Graves and Wm. Ferris, stationed in the West Indies, where, with two of that ship’s boats under his orders, he boarded and carried, in a most spirited manner, after a pull of an hour and a half in the heat of the sun, and under a fire of grape and musquetry, La Fortunée French privateer, of 2 guns, 6 swivels, and 29 men, 15 Sept. 1803.[1] On 16 of the following Nov. we find him eliciting the warmest praise of Capt. Graves for his gallant conduct at the cutting out from the harbour of Marin, Martinique, not without mutual loss, of the Harmonie, a notorious privateer, of 8 guns and 66 men;[2] after which, on the night of 4 March, 1804, he further acquired the approbation of Capt. Ferris, and was severely wounded over the left eye in a dashing although unsuccessful attack made by him with two boats and 50 men on the French national and desperately-defended schooner Curieuse, lying chain-moored close under a fort at the town of St. Pierre, whose fire, conjointly with that from the shore, killed and wounded more than half of her brave assailants.[3] After acting for two months as Captain of the Blenheim, Mr. Furber, on 8 May, 1805, was appointed to the Flora 36, Capt. Loftus Otway Bland, as First Lieutenant of which frigate he again took command of two boats, and, on 25 Nov. 1806, succeeded by his exertions in capturing, off Oporto, after rowing for six hours, the Spanish privateer El Espedarte, of 6 guns, 6 swivels, and 41 men.[4] The Flora being unfortunately wrecked off the coast of Holland, 19 Jan. 1808, Mr. Furber, who had previously been in acting-command of that ship for the space of a month, was, on 12 of the following June, after a short captivity, appointed to the Cherokee 10, Capt. Rich. Arthur, with whom he continued until 10 Oct. in the same year, when he joined the Lively 38, Capt. Geo. M‘Kinley. In March, 1809 (having fitted out and ballasted a schooner for that purpose in four hours), he was sent home with the despatches relative to the fall of Vigo and Santiago, after delivering which he rejoined the Lively, and continued, as he had previously done, to officiate as her First Lieutenant until again wrecked, off Malta, in Aug. 1810. From 22 March, 1811, until 21 Feb. 1814, he subsequently served, also as Senior, on board the Elizabeth and Bellona 74’s, Capts. Edw. Leveson Gower and G. M‘Kinley, chiefly off the coasts of Portugal, France, and Spain. At length, on 1 Sept. 1824, after having held a Lieutenant’s commission for 23 years, 10 of which had been passed as First Lieutenant of frigates and line-of-battle ships, he was promoted, from the Isis 50, Capt. Thos. Forrest (to which ship he had been appointed 5 July, 1823), to the command, in consequence of a death vacancy, of the Helicon sloop. In that vessel he returned home from Carthagena in July, 1825, with Colonel Hamilton, the Senior Commissioner, on board, bringing at the same time the first treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Columbia. He was then paid off, and has not since been employed, In consideration of his gallantry at the capture of the Harmonie, Commander Furber, in 1804, was presented by the Patriotic Society with a sword valued at 50l. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
FURNEAUX. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
James Holmes Furneaux passed his examination 29 Aug. 1839; and served, as Mate, on board the Southampton 50, flag-ship at the Cape of Good Hope of Sir Edw. Durnford King, Excellent gunnery-ship at Portsmouth, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings, Mutine 12, Capt. Rich. Borough Crawford, fitting at Devonport, and Excellent again, Capts. Sir T. Hastings and Henry Ducie Chads. For a few months subsequent to his promotion, which took place 30 Dec. 1845, Mr. Furneaux was employed at the Cape of Good Hope, as Additional-Lieutenant of the President 50, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Jas. Rich. Dacres; and, since 3 Oct. 1846, he has been again serving with Capt. Chads in the Excellent.
FURNEAUX. (Capt., 1829. f-p., 17; h-p., 25.)
John Furneaux, born 27 April, 1793, at Swilly, Stoke Damerel, is third son of the late Rev. Jas. Furneaux; grandson of Jas. Furneaux, Esq., R.N., many years First-Lieutenant to Hon. Rich. Byron; and grand-nephew of Capt. Tobias Furneaux, R.N., who commanded the Adventure, and accompanied Capt. Cook.
This officer entered the Navy, 16 May, 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Acasta, 40, Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn, and, after sharing in the pursuit of Jerome Buonaparte, and participating in the action off St. Domingo, successively joined, as Midshipman, the Royal George 100, and San Josef 110, bearing each the flag of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, under whom, in the Royal George, he received a severe wound in the left jaw at the passage of the Dardanells, 19 Feb. 1807.[5] On quitting the San Josef, from which ship he had been for some time lent to the Amazon 38, Capt. Wm. Parker, Mr. Furneaux, in May, 1810, accompanied Sir John Duckworth, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief at Newfoundland, into the Antelope 50; and of that ship he was created a Lieutenant 13 June, 1812. After a servitude of 16 months in the Pomone 38, Capts. Eras. Wm. Fane and Philip Carteret, on the Home station, he obtained command, 19 July, 1814, of the Cephalus 18, in which sloop he co-operated with the Royalists on the coast of France, and up the Gironde, during the war of a Hundred Days, and was otherwise employed until paid off 24 Sept. 1815. His next appointment, we find, was, 26 May, 1818, to the Carron 20,[6] fitting for the East India station, where he was unfortunately wrecked, in the Bay of Bengal, and with difficulty saved, 6 July, 1820. On next assuming command, 15 Sept. 1825, of the Hind 20, Capt. Furneaux returned to India; whence he brought home the Andromeda, a new 46-gun frigate, towards the close of 1829 – on 16 March in which year he had, been promoted to Post-rank. He has not since been employed.
Capt. Furneaux, in consideration of the wound he received on board the Royal George, obtained a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
G.
GABRIEL, K.H. (Captain, 1831. f-p., 18; h-p., 35.)
James Wallace Gabriel, born 5 April, 1783, at Hamworth, co. Middlesex, is third son of the late Rev. Robt. Burd Gabriel, D.D., Rector of Haslington and Hamworth. His eldest brother, Burd, is a Colonel in the Army, a C.B. and K.H.; another, John, was a Major in the Hon.E.I.Co’s
