and Talavera Coast Blockade ships, Capt. Hugh Pigot – 11 July, 1832 (after 15 months of half-pay), as sole Lieutenant, to the Astraea 6, Capts. Wm. and Andrew King, on the Falmouth station – and 11 Sept. 1835, 22 Dec. 1836, and 24 July, 1838, to the successive command of the Plover, Pigeon, and Penguin, all Falmouth packets. He has been on half-pay since Nov. 1841.
He married, 1 June, 1840, the widow of Lieut. John Downey, R.N., formerly Commander of H.M. packet Briseis. Agents – Messrs. Chard.
LUCKRAFT, K.L.H., K.R.G. (Captain, 1838. f-p., 24; h-p., 24.)
Alfred Luckraft, born 2 April, 1792, is brother of the present Capt. William, and half-brother of the late Lieut. John Luckraft, R.N.
This officer, whose name had been borne since 25 July, 1799, on the books of the Monarch 74, Capt. Jas. Robt. Mosse, embarked in that ship in Jan. 1801, and on 2 of the following April was present, as Fst.-cl. Vol., in the action oif Copenhagen. After a servitude of 19 months in the Blenheim 74, bearing the flag of Sir Archibald Dickson, Oiseau frigate, Capt. Phillips, and Courageux 74, Capt. John Okes Hardy, he joined, in April, 1803, the Maes 74, Capts. John Sutton, Geo. Duff, Robt. Dudley Oliver, and Wm. Lukin. While in that ship, in which he soon attained the rating of Midshipman, we find him present and slightly wounded in the leg at the battle of Trafalgar 21 Oct. 1805[1] – contributing, next, to the capture, 28 July, 1806, of Le Rhin, of 44 guns and 318 men – assisting also, 25 Sept. in the same year, at the taking, by a force under Sir Sam. Hood, of four heavy French frigates, two of which, the Gloire 46 and Infatigable 44, struck to the Maes – and accompanying, in 1807, the expedition to Copenhagen. In consideration of the wound he received at Trafalgar he was presented with a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund. He became Sub-Lieutenant, in March, 1808, of the Steady gun-brig, Capt. Arthur Stow, and in the course of the same year sailed for South America, where, in Jan. and Feb. 1809, and May, 1810, he was in succession nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Agamemnon 64, Capt. Jonas Rose, Hyacinth 18, Capt. John Carter, and President 38, Capt. Adam Mackenzie. On his return to England he was confirmed, 3 Sept. 1810, to a Lieutenancy in the Bellerophon 74, bearing the flag in the North Sea of Rear-Admiral John Ferrier, with whom he continued to serve in the Scarborough 74 until May, 1814. From the following Sept. until Sept. 1815 we find him employed on the Home station as Senior of the Foxhound sloop, Capts. John Parish and Thos. Warrand. Being next, 4 Feb. 1828, appointed First to the Blonde 46, Capt. Edm. Lyons, he very highly distinguished himself, in Oct. of the same year, during the operations conducted, in unison with the French, against Morea Castle, the last stronghold of the Turks in the Peloponnesus. On that occasion, landing with a party of seamen, he assumed command, supported by the present Capt. Sidney Colpoys Dacres, of the central of five breaching batteries, named George the Fourth’s Battery. He remained in the trenches 12 days and nights, during the three last of which he worked his only 4 guns with such effect as to expend upwards of 1000 18-pound shot, and 6000 lbs. weight of powder. The greatness indeed of Lieut. Luckraft’s exertions not only procured a strong recommendation in his behalf from his own Commander-in-Chief Sir Pulteney Malcolm, hut had the effect of eliciting the loud praise of the French Admiral De Rigny, and of obtaining for him the insignia of the Legion of Honour and of the Redeemer of Greece.[2] His promotion to the rank of Commander did not, however, take place until 28 Oct. 1829; at which period he was invested with the command of the Procris sloop. He was afterwards appointed – 30 Nov. 1829, to the Camelion 10, attached to the force in the Mediterranean, whence he returned in March, 1830 – 20 June, 1831, to the Revenge 78, Capts. Jas. Hillyar and Donald Hugh Mackay, employed, until March, 1834, on the Lisbon station – and 13 July, 1835, to the Russell 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Henry Dillon, again in the Mediterranean. He was superseded from the latter ship on being advanced to his present rank 28 June, 1838, and has since been on half-pay.
During the late war Capt. Luckraft was never a single day on shore. He is married and has issue two sons and two daughters. One of his sons, Alfred, is a Lieutenant R.N.
LUCKRAFT. (Lieutenant, 1846.)
Alfred Luckraft is son of Capt. Alfred Luckraft, R.N.
This officer passed his examination 21 April, 1841; and from that period until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 15 Jan. 1846, was employed as Mate, on the Mediterranean, Home, Brazilian, and Pacific stations, in the Weasel 10, Capt. Wm. Edmondstone. Excellent gunnery-ship, Capt. Sir Thos. Hastings, and Frolic 16, Capts. Wm. Alex. Willis and Cospatriok Baillie Hamilton. He was then reappointed to the Frolic, in which vessel he returned to England and was paid off in 1847.
LUCKRAFT. (Lieutenant, 1845.)
Charles Maxwell Luckraft is son of the late Lieut. John Luckraft, R.N.
This officer passed his examination 8 June, 1837; and at the period of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place 28 May, 1845, had been serving for several years on the Mediterranean and Home stations, as Mate of the Cambridge 78, Capt. Edw. Barnard, Rodney 92, Capt. Robt. Maunsell, and Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir David Milne. He was then appointed to the Siren 16, Capt. Harry Edm. Edgell, fitting for the Mediterranean, where he is now serving as First of the Harlequin 12, Capt. John Moore.
LUCKRAFT. (Lieut., 1802. f-p., 18; h-p., 42.)
John Luckraft was born 23 April, 1775, at Milbrook, in Cornwall, and died in 1846. He was half-brother of the present Capts. Alfred and Wm. Luckraft, R.N. One of his own brothers, Adrian, died Purser of H.M.S. Wolverene in the West Indies in 1806; another, Frederick, also in the R.N., was drowned at sea; and a third, Robert, at one time in the Navy, died in civil service in the West Indies in 1823.
This officer entered the Navy, in Oct. 1786, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Leander 50, Capt. Sir Jas. Barkley, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore (afterwards Rear-Admiral) Herbert Sawyer, on the Halifax station, where, in the following year, that ship was nearly lost by striking on a sunken reef near Cape Despair. During the heaving-down process which was in consequence rendered necessary on her reaching port, Mr. Luckraft had the misfortune to lose the total use of the index finger of his left hand. The Leander being afterwards ordered to the Mediterranean, he continued in her on that station until April, 1791. He next, in July and Dec. 1793, joined the Fury 16, and Oiseau 36, Capts. Frank Sotheron and Robt. Murray, under whom he was for two years and seven months employed on the Home and Halifax stations. Becoming attached, in July, 1796, to La Nymphe 36, Capts. John Cooke and Percy Fraser, he assisted, as Midshipman of that vessel, at the capture, when in company with the San Fiorenzo 36, of the French frigates La Résistance of 48, and La Constance of 24 guns, 9 March, 1797. Being immediately appointed second in command of the former ship, he had the fortune to be the chief instrument of her preservation under circumstances of a very trying nature, in which he displayed so much ability that he was greeted with the high encomiums both of Capt. Cooke and the late Sir Harry Neale. In the following month Mr. Luckraft was present in the mutiny at Spithead. He was afterwards, in April,
