Campbell; and in the boats of that ship, in which he continued a period of nine months, he assisted, it appears, at the destruction of a convoy under the protection of the enemy’s batteries. He was made a Lieutenant, 4 Nov. 1809, into the Neptune 98, commanded in the West Indies by Sir Jas. Athol Wood, with whom he removed, in March, 1810, to the Pompée 80. In the ensuing Sept. he became Second Lieutenant of the Horatio 38, Capt. Lord Geo. Stuart, on the North Sea station; and on 2 Aug. 1812 we find him serving with four boats under Lieut. Abraham Mills Hawkins, whom he supported in the most spirited and able manner in a sanguinary combat, which terminated in the capture (with a loss to the British, out of about 80 officers and men, of 9 killed and 16 wounded, and to their opponents of 10 killed and 13 wounded) of a Danish schooner and cutter, carrying between them 10 6-pounders and 52 men, lying at anchor in a position of extraordinary strength near a village on an arm of the sea, 35 miles inland, on the coast of Norway.[1] So severely was Lieutenant Masters on the occasion wounded, that he for ever lost the use of his right hand, and was under the necessity of being sent to Yarmouth Hospital. His highly-praised gallantry and the sufferings he endured obtained him a pension of 91l. 5s. and a reward of 50 guineas from the Patriotic Fund. He has not, however, been since employed. Agents – Pettet and Newton.
MATHEWS. (Lieutenant, 1840.)
Edward Morrell Mathews died about the close of 1846, on board H.M.S. Iris. He was son of C. Mathews, Esq., of Wargrave, Henley-on-Thames.
This officer entered the Navy 16 Nov. 1828; passed his examination in 1834; and, after much creditable service, was made Lieutenant, 14 Oct. 1840, into the Modeste 18, Capts. Harry Eyres and Rundle Burges Watson, under whom, prior to the return of that ship to England in 1843, he took part, if we mistake not, in all the operations on the coast of China, including the storming of Chinghae.[2] His last appointment was, 19 Oct. 1843, to the Iris 26, Capt. Geo. Rodney Mundy, fitting for the East Indies, where, in July, 1846, on the occasion of an expedition conducted by Sir Thos. John Cochrane agamst the Sultan of Borneo, he took command of the 5th company of small-arm men, and assisted at the capture and destruction of the enemy’s forts and batteries up the river Brune.[3] In the course of the same month we find him, with 136 seamen belonging to the Iris and Royalist under his orders, accompanying Capt. Mundy and a detached force up different branches of the Borneo river, and then penetrating deep into the country, in a fruitless pursuit of the Sultan, supposed to be at a place called Damuan. During nearly the whole period of their march, which lasted several days, the British were under a torrent of rain, and were plunged knee-deep in swamp at every step. The exertions, however, of Lieut. Mathews throughout were such as to obtain him the thanks of Capt. Mundy.[4]
MATHEWS. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 27; h-p., 21.)
Robert Bates Mathews was born 5 June 1785 This officer entered the Navy, in Dec. 1799 as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Harpy 18, Capts. Henry Bazely and Wm. Birchall; under the former of whom, when in company with the Fairy 18 he took part, 6 Feb. 1800, in a very gallant action of an hour and three-quarters, which terminated in the Repulse, with a loss to the Harpy of 1 killed and 3 wounded, of the French frigate Pallas of 46 guns and 362 men. In the evening of the same day he was present in a second action, the upshot of which was the surrender of the Pallas to the above named sloops and their consorts, the Loire 38 Danae 20, and Railleur 16. At the commencement of 1801 Mr. Mathews became Midshipman of the Brunswick 74, Capt. Geo. Hopewell Stephens; and, on his return from the West Indies in 1802, he successively joined the Neptune 98, flag-ship of Admiral Milbanke at Spithead, and Apollo 36, Capt. John Wm. Taylor Dixon. In the latter vessel it was his misfortune to be wrecked, off the coast of Portugal, 1 April, 1804; on which occasion the Captain and 60 of the crew were lost; himself and the remainder being left for three days on the wreck without sustenance, and only partially clothed. So great was the shock to his constitution that he has never recovered its effects. Joining next, as Master’s Mate, the Mackerel 4, Lieut.-Commander R. Williams, he proceeded to Bermuda; where, in 1805, while in the act of protecting an American vessel, on the rocks, he received a wound which greatly weakened his right hand, and disabled its fore-finger. In 1806, having removed to the Mercury 28, Capt. Chas. Pelly, Mr. Mathews was placed in charge of a re-captured merchantman, which he carried in safety to Lisbon, although surrounded and chased on the passage by four Spanish privateers. His conduct indeed was such as to procure him mention in his Captain’s official letter to Sir Erasmus Gower, the Commander-in-Chief at Newfoundland. Having passed his examination, 5 June, 1806, and been intermediately employed in the Mediterranean on board the Colossus 74, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, and Royal Sovereign 100, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Edw. Thornbrough, Mr. Mathews was promoted, 4 May, 1810, to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Hibernian 110, which ship the state of his health, however, deprived him of the possibility of joining. He was afterwards employed – from July to Sept. 1811, in the Impregnable 98, in which ship he proceeded from Sheerness to Portsmouth – from 23 March, 1812, to 31 Jan. 1816, in command of the Signal Station at Barry’s Head, co. Cork – and from 14 Feb. 1820 until, we believe, 1831, in the Coast Guard. During the latter period he received a gold medal from the Royal National Shipwreck Institution, in acknowledgment of his exertions in having saved 31 persons from shipwreck. His resignation of his appointment was induced by extreme ill health; a complaint contracted in the Coast Guard having caused him to undergo two surgical operations. On leaving that service, however, he accepted the appointment of Harbour Master at Lowestoft, in Suffolk; the duties of which Office he continued to fill until Oct. 1843, when he relinquished it, in consequence of the sale of the navigation by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners.
Lieut. Mathews (who receives a pension of 4l. per annum for the wound he received at Bermuda) married Elizabeth, sister of Retired Commander Thos. Jager, by whom he had issue 12 children. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
MATHIAS. (Commander, 1837. f-p., 25; h-p., 12.)
Thomas Mathias entered the Navy, 19 Nov. 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Courageux 74, Capt. Philip Wilkinson, stationed in the Baltic; where, in May, 1813, 12 months after he had attained the rating of Midshipman, he removed to the Amphion 32, Capt. Jas. Pattison Stewart; under whom, in the following Dec, he assisted in reducing the islands of Schouwen and Tholen. Towards the close of 1814, after having visited Madeira, in the Bombay 74, Capt. Henry Bazely, he sailed for the East Indies in the Cornwallis 74 flag-ship of Sir Geo. Burlton. In Aug. 1818 (he had returned to England in Nov. 1816) he joined the Ontario 18, Capt. Geo. Gosling, lying at Plymouth; and he next, between Sept. in the same year and June, 1823, served, principally as Acting Second Master and Admiralty-Midshipman, in the Slaney 20, Capts. Donat Henchy O’Brien and Henry Stanhope, Nimrod sloop, Capt. Wm. Rochfort. Brazen 26, Capt. Geo. Wickens Willes, and Doris frigate, Capt. Fred. Edw. Vernon (now Harcourt). The Nimrod was employed in 1822 in sub-
