68
BEER—BELCHER.
under the first of whom he aided in capturing two privateers, and, on 23 May in the same year, participated, off the Skawe, in company with the Alban and Princess of Wales cutters, in the Raleigh’s engagement with seven Danish gun-vessels, one of which was blown up and the others dispersed with great loss. In Jan. 1812, Mr. Beer was appointed to the Garland 22, Capts. Wm. Huskisson and Rich. Plummer Davies, on the Jamaica station, where, on 10 April, 1813, he received an acting order as Lieutenant of the Shark 16, Capt. John Gore, to which sloop he was confirmed 10 Nov. following. He removed with Capt. Gore, 23 July, 1814, to the Emulous 16, but invalided home in Feb. 1815; and since that period has been on half-pay.
BEER. (Commander, 1825. f-p., 23; h-p., 26.)
Thomas Beer was born 18 Aug. 1787, at Stoke, near Plymouth.
This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Royal Sovereign 100, bearing the flag in the Channel of Sir Alan Gardner, and afterwards of Sir Hen. Harvey, under whom, latterly as Midshipman, he continued to serve until April, 1802. In May following he became attached to the Aurora 28, Capt. Micajah Malbon, on the Newfoundland station, and, in Dec. 1803, joined the Montagu 74, Capt. Robt. Waller Otway. During an employment of five years in the latter ship he was present, in 1805, in Admiral Comwallis’s attack on the French fleet close in with Brest harbour, when the Montagu exchanged fire with L’Alexandre, a French 80-gun ship; assisted at the evacuation of Scylla in 1808; and, subsequently, co-operated with the patriots on the coast of Catalonia. Mr. Beer, in Nov. 1808, removed to the Ocean 98, flag-ship in the Mediterranean of Lord Collingwood; became Acting-Lieutenant, 13 Jan. 1809, of the Warrior 74, Capt. John Wm. Spranger; participated, in Oct. following, in the reduction of Zante, Cephalonia, and their dependencies; received an Admiralty commission 4 May, 1810; and, on 23 April, 1811, was appointed to the Martin 18, Capts. John Evans and Humphrey Fleming Senhouse. With the latter officer he proceeded to North America, and, on 29 July, 1813, was on board the Martin during a critical action, when aground in Delaware Bay, with a flotilla of American gun-boats, 10 in number, who however ultimately retired without effecting any serious mischief. He next, on 4 Feb. 1814, assumed command of the Bream schooner in the Bay of Fundy, and there served until placed on half-pay in Sept. following. From 26 July, 1821, until his advancement to his present rank, 29 July, 1825, he continued, as Lieutenant of the Severn 50, and Supernumerary of the Ramillies 74, to be actively employed, on the Kentish coast, under Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, in the suppression of smuggling. He has not since held any official occupation.
BELCHER, Kt., C.B., F.R.A.S., F.G.S. (Capt., 1841. f-p., 28; h-p., 7.)
Sir Edward Belcher, born in 1799, is second son of Andrew Belcher, Esq., formerly of Roehampton; grandson of Wm. Belcher, Esq., Chief Justice, and afterwards Governor, of Halifax; and great-grandson of Jonathan Belcher, Esq., Governor of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey. This officer entered the Navy, 9 April, 1812, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Abercromby 74, Capt. Wm. Chas. Fahie, on the Home station; attained the rating of Midshipman 2 Dec. 1812; removed for a few weeks, in Feb. 1814, to the Salvador Del Mundo, Capt. Robt. Hall, employed at Plymouth; then became attached to the Bellerophon 74, flag-ship at Newfoundland of Sir Rich. Goodwin Keats; rejoined Capt. Fahie, in Jan. 1815, on board the Malta 84, part of the force subsequently engaged at the defence of Gaeta; was next, in Nov. following, transferred to the Superb 74, Capt. Chas. Ekins, with whom he fought at the battle of Algiers, 27 Aug. 1816; and afterwards, until the receipt of his first commission, bearing date 21 July, 1818, served in the Sybille 44, and Salisbury 50, flag-ships at Jamaica of Rear-Admirals Sir Home Popham and John Erskine Douglas, and Phaeton 46, Capt. Wm. Henry Dillon, at Portsmouth. On 11 March, 1819, Mr. Belcher was appointed to the Myrmidon sloop, Capt. Henry John Leeke, fitting for the African station, whence he invalided in April, 1820. He resumed his active duties, in Sept. 1821, on board the Salisbury, commanded at the time by Capt. Wm. Maude, with whom he served for three years on the Halifax station; and, on 18 April, 1825, he was selected to act as Assistant-Surveyor to Capt. Frederick Wm. Beechey, in the Blossom 24, then about to sail to Bering Strait on a voyage of discovery, the outlines of which have been given under the head of “Capt. Beechey.” His promotion to the rank of Commander took place 16 March, 1829, while serving on board the Southampton 52, flag-ship in the East Indies of Rear-Admiral Edw. W. C. R. Owen; after which we find him commanding, from 27 May, 1830, until 10 Sept. 1833, the Aetna surveying-vessel, on the coast of Africa, also in the River Douro for the protection of British property during the hostilities between Pedro and Miguel, and next in the Mediterranean – and, from 9 Nov. 1836, until 2 Aug. 1842, the Sulphur, another surveying-vessel, chiefly employed in South America and the East Indies. During the latter part of that period Capt. Belcher figured conspicuously in the various scenes connected with the war in China. On 7 Jan. 1841, he united in the vigorous operations put into force against the enemy’s forts at Chuenpee, and in the course of the same day he admirably effected the destruction, with the Nemesis and the boats of the Calliope, of 11 out of 13 war-junks.[1] He next, on 27 Feb., acquired the cordial thanks of Sir Gordon Bremer for the gallantry he displayed (the Sulphur being the leading ship) in an attack made by a squadron under Sir Thos. Herbert on the Chinese camp, fort, and ship Cambridge, mounting in the whole 98 guns, at their position below Whampoa Reach.[2] During the advance of the British on Canton, we find the Sulphur, in company with three of the Wellesley’s boats, destroying, on 2 March, near Whampoa, a masked battery, armed with 25 guns, and manned by about 250 chosen Tartar troops;[3] 11 days after which exploit her Captain again acquired much credit for his zeal at the capture of several rafts, and of the last fort protecting the approaches to Canton.[4]Capt. Belcher also distinguished himself by his great zeal at the ensuing reduction of that city, and indeed he appears to have been altogether indefatigable in the laborious duties of sounding and exploring the various inlets through which the ships were carried in their previous progress up the Canton River.[5] On 23 of the following May, at the onset of the operations which immediately preceded the second capture of the same city, Capt. Belcher, by a most spirited and judicious recoimaissance, established the practicability of effecting a landing of the troops at a point which had been previously selected by Sir Hugh Gough for that purpose. The value of his services on the occasion was warmly attested both by the last-mentioned officer and Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse.[6] On the same day he caused the self-destruction of 28 of the enemy’s vessels, and, having landed with a party at a mandarin temple at Tsingpoo, he spiked and threw into the sea 5 small guns.[7] In such high esteem were Capt. Belcher’s services held, that he was awarded a Post-commission 6 May, 1841, the decoration of a C.B. 14 Oct. following, and the honour of Knighthood 21 Jan. 1843. Having been in further command, since 18 Nov. 1842, of the Samarang 26, employed on surveying service in the East Indies, he at length returned home and was paid off in Jan. 1847. Sir Edw. Belcher’s well-known ‘Narrative of a
