Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/598

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584
JOHNSON.

its abolition in March, 1831, has been employed in the Coast Guard.

Lieut. Joachim married, 23 Aug. 1832, Elizabeth, daughter of Thos. Beard, Esq.



JOHNSON. (Lieutenant, 1840.)

Charles Richardson Johnson entered the Navy 27 Oct. 1826; passed his examination in 1834; obtained his commission 19 Feb. 1840; and on 6 of the following March joined the Princess Charlotte 104, bearing the flag of Hon. Sir Robt. Stopford, to whom he officiated as Flag-Lieutenant for a few months at the commencement of 1841. During the operations on the coast of Syria he commanded the boats in the attack upon Gebail,[1] served a good deal on shore, assisted at the bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre, and, subsequently to the fall of that city, was contused by the explosion of a magazine. His appointments have since been – 11 May, 28 Aug., and 12 Nov. 1841, to the Ganges 84, Powerful 84, and Rodney 92, Capts. Harrington Reynolds, Geo. Mansel, and Robt. Maunsell, all in the Mediterranean – 17 Oct. 1842, to the Cambridge 78, Capt. Edw. Barnard, with whom he returned to England – 23 Feb. 1843, to the Coast Guard – 3 Sept. 1844, as First-Lieutenant, to the Éclair steam-sloop, Capt. Walter Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, fitting for the coast of Africa – 25 Jan. 1845, to the Ardent, another steamer, on the same station – 21 Nov. 1845, to the Trafalgar 120, Capt. John Neale Nott, attached to the Channel squadron – and, 29 June, 1846, to the command of the Comet steamer, of 80-horse power, in which he is now employed on particular service.

He married, at Malta, 17 Oct. 1842, Julia, daughter of Major-General Bredin, of the Royal Artillery, by whom he has issue.



JOHNSON. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 19; h-p., 34.)

Edward Johnson was born, 12 Oct. 1777, at Lame, co. Antrim.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 Jan. 1794, as A.B., on board the Boyne 98, Capt. Geo. Grey, bearing the flag of Sir John Jervis in the West Indies. During the operations connected with the ensuing reduction of Martinique he was successively employed in erecting batteries on shore previously to the bombardment of Fort Bourbon – in a gunboat under Lieut. T. Sparks at the bombardment of Fort Royal – and in personal command of a boat at the gallant cutting-out of the 28-gun frigate Bienvenue, the storming of Fort Royal, the debarkation of the troops at St. Pierre, and at the bringing out thence of the Avengeur sloop. On being transferred to the latter vessel, and placed under the command of Capt. Edw. Griffith, we find him affording assistance, as Midshipman, to the capture of Guadeloupe and Ste. Lucie. He came home with Capt. Griffith in the course of the same year in the Undaunted frigate, and was next, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 4 April, 1801, employed on the North Sea, Mediterranean, and Baltic stations, in the Asia 64, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thos. Pringle, Edgar 74, Capts. John M‘Dougall and Edw. Buller, and San Josef 110, and St. George 98, flag-ships of Lord Nelson, under whom he served as a volunteer on board the Elephant 74, in the action off Copenhagen. He then joined the Dart 20, Capts. John Ferris Devonshire and Wm. Bolton, with whom, it appears, he further served on the Home station until Sept. 1802. In Aug. 1805, after he had been for two years attached to the Sea Fencible service in Ireland, Lieut. Johnson obtained an appointment to the London 98, Capts. Sir Robt. Barlow, Robt. Rolles, Sir Harry Burrard Neale, and Edw. Oliver Osborn, under the third-named of whom he assisted, in company with the Amazon 38, at the capture, 13 March, 1806, of the French 80-gun ship Marengo bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule, after a long running fight, in which the London sustained a loss of 10 men killed and 22 wounded. On 11 of the following June he assumed command of the Magpie 8, in which vessel he continued until driven on shore, 19 Feb. 1807, during a violent gale, on the coast of France, where himself and the whole of his crew were made prisoners-of-war. Being honourably acquitted on his return from captivity, in 1814, of all blame in the disaster, he was in consequence promoted to the rank of Commander by commission dated 27 Aug. in that year; but he has not been since able to procure employment.

He married, in Aug. 1803, Sarah, second daughter of Hugh Mountford, Esq., of Belfast, co. Antrim, by whom, who died in 1823, he had issue two sons and four daughters, now living. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.



JOHNSON, F.R.S. (Captain, 1838. f-p., 13; h-p., 27.)

Edward John Johnson is youngest son of the late Rev. Henry Johnson, of Bywell, Northumberland.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 May, 1807, as Fst-cl. Vol., on board the Nassau 64, Capt. Robt. Campbell. In that ship he attended the ensuing expedition to Copenhagen, and (on her subsequent extrication from a mass of ice in which she had been blocked up during the whole winter) was present, 22 March, 1808, in company with the Stately 64, at the capture and destruction, on the coast of Zealand, of the Danish 74 Prindts Christian Frederic, after a running fight of great length and obstinacy, in which the Nassau sustained a loss of 2 men killed and 16 (including himself slightly) wounded.[2] The latter vessel being paid off in Nov. 1809, he was next, until June, 1815, employed, as Midshipman and Acting-Lieutenant, in the Solebay 32, Capt. Hon. Granville Leveson Proby, Malacca 36, Capt. Wm. Butterfield, Ethalion 36, Capt. Edm. Heywood, Endymion 44, Capt. Henry Hope, St. Domingo, Asia, and Tonnant, flag-ships of Sir John Borlase Warren and Sir Alex. Cochrane, and Dragon 74, Capt. Robt. Barrie, on the Home, Baltic, and North American stations. While in the Ethalion, Mr. Johnson served in various cutting-out affairs, and on more than one occasion was sent into port as prize-master; and, when in the Tonnant, we find him co-operating on shore in the attacks upon Washington and Baltimore, and employed in the boats during the expedition against New Orleans. Being presented, on leaving the Dragon as above, with a commission dated 28 Feb. 1815, he obtained, 16 May, 1818, an appointment to the Shamrock surveying-vessel, Capt. Martin White, with whom he did duty in the Channel and off the coast of Ireland until Feb. 1820. On 4 March, 1829, shortly after he had joined the William and Mary yacht. Commodore Sir John Chambers White, he was promoted to the command of the Britomart 10, in which vessel he remained, chiefly on the Lisbon station, until paid off in 1831. He was then ordered by the Admiralty to complete the survey of the Faeröe Islands – a service he had commenced at his own expense when last on half-pay. His advancement to the rank he now holds took place 27 Dec. 1838.

Capt. Johnson, in Oct. 1835, was appointed by the Admiralty to conduct certain magnetic experiments on iron steam-vessels in the river Shannon;[3] and on 10 May, 1836, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was nominated a member of the Magnetic Compass Committee of the Admiralty in 1838; and invested, 14 March, 1842, with the superintendence, which he still retains, of the Compass department of the Royal Navy. Agent – Fred. Dufaiar.



JOHNSON. (Commander, 1846.)

George Johnson entered the Navy, 13 Sept. 1824; passed his examination in 1831; was pro-

  1. Vide Gaz. 1840, p. 2253.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 536.
  3. He is the author of a paper on the above subject, published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society; and of articles in other scientific journals.