in each case to resign. At the commencement of the late war, being at the time in France for change of air, he was a second time made prisoner of war, and detained for a period of 14 months at Valenciennes, from which place he then had the fortune to contrive a flight. His next and last appointments were – in 1804-5, to the command of the Happy Return and Fly hired cutters, and Enchantress 10, on the Channel station – 29 March, 1806, to the Royal William, bearing the flag of Admiral Montagu at Spithead – and, 23 June, 1806, to the command of the Pigmy 14, which vessel, through the ignorance of her pilot, and at a moment when he himself was confined by illness to his bed, he lost, off Ile d’Oléron, 2 March, 1807. He remained thenceforward a captive in France until the peace of 1814. Unable afterwards to procure employment, our unlucky officer accepted the rank of Retired Commander on the Junior List 17 Jan. 1831; and on 19 March, 1835, he was promoted to the Senior List. Agent – J. Hinxman.
HIGGON. (Lieut., 1828. f-p., 28; h-p., 8.)
Henry Miller Higgon was born 22 Jan. 1796. This officer entered the Navy, 17 Aug. 1811, as Midshipman, on board the Abercromby 74, Capt. Wm. Chas. Fahie, stationed in the Channel; and was next, between Feb. 1814 and Sept. 1821, employed, chiefly in the West Indies, on board the Halcyon sloop, Capt. John Houlton Marshall, Ulysses 44, Capt. Thos. Browne, Larne 20, Capt. Abraham Lowe, and Sapphire 26, Capt. Henry Hart. He then joined the Bann 20, Capt. Chas. Phillips, and sailed for the western coast of Africa, where that vessel cruized with success against the slave-trade, and lost, when at Ascension in 1823, the greater part of her crew from the effects of the climate. In Oct. 1823 Mr. Higgon, who had passed his examination in Jan. 1818, and had for the last six months acted as First-Lieutenant, was superseded from the Bann; nor was he promoted until 6 April, 1828, by which period he had further served for four years and a half as (Admiralty) Midshipman, almost continuously on the African coast, in the Jasper 10, Capt. Alex. Dundas Young Arbuthnott, Blanche 46, Capt. Wm. Bowen Mends, Blonde 42, Capt. Lord Byron, and Sybille 48, Commodore Sir Fras. Augustus Collier. He returned to England in May, 1828, after having been fmrther attached for a few weeks to the North Star 28, Capt. Septimus Arabin; and, with the exception of a period of two years in 1840-2, has been employed in the Coast Guard since 7 Oct. 1833.
Lieut. Higgon, during his servitude afloat, was eight times attacked with yellow fever and once with cholera. His testimonials for character and conduct are of a very high order.
HIGGS. (Captain, 1846. f-p., 27; h-p., 24.)
William Henry Higgs entered the Navy, 1 Jan. 1796, as a Volunteer, on board the Daphne hired armed lugger, employed in keeping up a communication with the French Royalists on the coast of Normandy. From Sept. following until April, 1797, he served on the Jersey station, on board the Bravo 16, Capt. D’Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon; and he then became in succession Midshipman of the Monarch 74, Capt. John Elphinstone and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship of Lord Keith. In June, 1798, he joined the Maidstone frigate, Capt. Ross Donnelly, attached to the force in the West Indies, where, during a continuance of rather more than two years, he was thrice attacked by the yellow fever. Arriving in the Mediterranean, about the commencement of 1801, in the Chichester store-ship, Capt. John Stephens, Mr. Higgs was there received, first on board the Salamine brig, Capt. Thos. Briggs, and then in the Foudroyant 80, bearing the flag of Lord Keith, and, as Master’s Mate, in the Peterel sloop, Capts. Chas. Inglis and John Lambom. While in the latter vessel, which he left in March, 1802, he participated, as he likewise did in the Foudroyant, in the operations of the Egyptian campaign; but it was not until 7 May, 1804 (by which period he had further served, chiefly on the Home station, in the Cambridge 80, flagship of Sir Thos. Pasley, Hunter sloop, Capts. Geo. Jones and Sam. Hood Inglefield, Conqueror 74, Capt. Thos. Louis, and Monarch 74, bearing the flag of his friend Lord Keith), that he succeeded in obtaining his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. He then joined the Sulphur bomb, Capts. Donald M‘Leod and Matt. Forster, in which vessel he witnessed, 2 Oct. 1804, the celebrated “Catamaran” attack made upon the Boulogne flotilla; and he was next, it appears, appointed – in the course of the same month, to the Cygnet sloop, Capts. D. M‘Leod and Robt. Bell Campbell, with the latter of whom he again proceeded to the West Indies – in Aug. 1806, as First, to the Alligator 26, Capt. R. B. Campbell, in which ship he returned to England – in the spring of 1807, to the Barfleur 98, Capt. Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, employed in the Channel – and, in June of the same year, as Senior, to L’Espoir sloop, commanded, on the Mediterranean station, by Capts. Henry Hope, Robt. Mitford, and Hon. Robt. Cavendish Spencer, and occasionally, pro tempore, by himself. During nearly seven years of employment in L’Espoir, Mr. Higgs saw a great deal of active service in the Mediterranean, where he assisted, in 1809, at the reduction of the islands of Ischia and Procida; in April, 1810, at the capture and destruction of several Neapolitan vessels on the coast of Italy; and on 8 Aug. 1813, at the taking, in a gallant attack on the town of Cassis, near Toulon, of five land-batteries, three heavy gun-boats, and 25 sail of merchant-vessels. On 25 July, 1814, five months after he had left L’Espoir, the subject of this narrative, who had acquired the highest reputation for his ability and zeal as an officer, became First-Lieutenant to Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan, in the Glasgow 50, in which ship he cruized in the Western Ocean until paid off at Chatham, 1 Sept. 1815. He rejoined Capt. Duncan, 27 June, 1818, in a similar capacity, on board the Liffey 50; and on 11 Oct. 1819, after having made a voyage to the Mediterranean, he was at length promoted to the rank of Commander, in honour of the Prince Regent’s visit to that ship. His next and last appointments were – 11 June, 1831, to the Second-Captaincy of the Revenge 78, Capt. Jas. Hillyar, an appointment he was induced to resign on 20 of the same month – and, 5 Feb. 1839, as Additional-Commander, to the Royal Sovereign yacht, for the purpose of superintending the Packet Service at Pembroke, where he remained until June, 1845. His elevation to Post-rank took place 9 Nov. 1846.
We may here add that Capt. Higgs’ appointments to the Cygnet, Alligator, Espoir, Glasgow, and Liffey were all made at the especial request of their respective Captains. Agents – Collier and Snee.
HIGMAN. (Captain, 1817. f-p., 18; h-p., 35.)
Henry Higman entered the Navy, 28 Dec. 1794, as A.B., on board the Charon, hospital ship, Capt. Walter Locke, attached to the Channel fleet. In Sept. 1795, after having participated in Lord Bridport’s action, he removed, as Midshipman, to the Triumph 74, Capts. Sir Erasmus Gower, Wm. Essington, and Thos. Seccombe, with whom he served for upwards of four years in the Channel, North Sea, and Mediterranean, latterly under the flag of Rear-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. He consequently had an opportunity of sharing with Capt. Essington in the glories of Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797, on which occasion he performed the duties of Master’s Mate. On leaving the Triumph, Mr. Higman joined the Raisonnable 64, Capt. Chas. Boyles, at Chatham, for the purpose of awaiting a passage to the West Indies, where, on his arrival in the following June, in the Severn 44, Capt. John Whitby, he was received by Lord Hugh Seymour, to whom he had been recommended by Sir Erasmus Gower, on board his flag-ship the Sans Pareil 80. In Aug. of the same year – seven months,
