squadron under his orders off the island of Sardinia, and made many captures. He was afterwards employed with the in-shore squadron at the blockade of Toulon; and on 20 July, 1810, while so stationed, he displayed a high degree of gallantry, and was in particular lauded for his promptitude and good judgment, in interposing the Ajax between the Shearwater brig and a pursuing French force, consisting of 6 sail of the line and 4 frigates, whom the bold front maintained by himself and his consorts, the Conqueror and Warspite 74’s and Euryalus frigate, induced to put back.[1] On 31 March, 1811, we find him effecting, in company with the Unité frigate, the capture, off the island of Elba, of Le Dromédaire store-ship of 800 tons and 20 guns, laden with 15,000 shot and shells and 90 tons of gunpowder. His health being much impaired, Capt. Otway returned in the course of the same year to England in the Cumberland 74, and from that period remained on half-pay until May, 1813. Being then re-appointed to the Ajax, he at first joined the Channel fleet; in the following autumn he was employed in covering the siege of St. Sebastian; he made prize, 17 March, 1814, off Scilly, of L’Alcyon, a French corvette of 16 guns and 120 men;[2] and he next convoyed a squadron of transports from Bordeaux to Quebec, having on board 5000 troops destined to reinforce the English army in Canada; where, it appears, he assisted in equipping the flotilla on Lake Champlain. Attaining Flag-rank 4 June, 1814, Rear-Admiral Otway was next, from 3 Aug. 1818 until 24 Nov. 1821, employed as Commander-in-Chief at Leith; prior to his relinquishment of which post he was presented with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, and entertained at a public dinner given by the noblemen and gentlemen of the club in St. Andrew’s Square, as a testimony of their respect for his public and private character. At the commencement of 1826 he was offered, but declined, the chief command in the East Indies. In June of the same year, however, he accepted the chief command on the South American station, where he remained until the summer of 1829. On 22 July, 1830, Sir Robt. Otway (he had been nominated a K.C.B. 8 June, 1826) attained the rank of Vice-Admiral; and on 15 Sept. 1831 he was raised to the dignity of a Baronet. His last appointment was to the chief command at the Nore, which he held from 23 Feb. 1837 until July, 1840. His promotion to the rank of full Admiral took place 23 Nov. 1841; and his investiture with the G.C.B. 8 May, 1845. He had been presented, while on the South American station, with the insignia of the Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross. In Dec. 1830 and July, 1837, he was successively appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber to his late and her present Majesty.
Sir Hobt. Waller Otway during the term of his career afloat had been not less than one hundred times engaged with the enemies of his country. He married, 15 Aug. 1801, Clementina, daughter and co-heir of Admiral John Holloway, of Wells, co. Somerset, by whom he has left issue three sons (the eldest, the present Sir Geo. Graham Otway, a Captain R.N.) and six daughters. His eldest son, Robt. Waller Otway, a Commander R.N. (1839), was killed by a fall from his horse in Hyde Park in May, 1840; and his second, Chas. Cooke Otway, holding the same rank, was lost in command of the Victor sloop during a hurricane in the West Indies in Sept. 1842. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.
OVEREND. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 13; h-p., 35.)
Henry Overend entered the Navy, 2 Aug. 1799, as Third-cl. Boy, on board the Cerberus 32, Capt. Jas. Macnamara; and on 20 of the following Oct., while cruizing off Ferrol, was present in a very gallant attack made by that ship on one of five Spanish frigates in escort of a large convoy. In July, 1803, soon after his return from a visit to the West Indies, he became Midshipman (a rating he had attained in Aug. 1801) of the Suffisante sloop, Capt. Gilbert Heathcote, lying at Plymouth; and he next, in Jan. 1804 and Nov. 1805, joined in succession the Franchise 36, and, as Master’s Mate, the Bacchante 20, Capts. Hon. John Murray, Randall Macdonnell, and Jas. Rich. Dacres, both on the Jamaica station; where, after a servitude of 12 months in the Veteran 64, Capt. Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, he was nominated, 3 Dec. 1807, Acting-Lieutenant of the Arethusa 38, Capt. Sir Chas. Brisbane. On the morning of 30 Aug. 1806, being then in the Bacchante, Mr. Overend served with the boats under Lieut. Geo. Norton at the cutting out of an armed brig and two armed feluccas, under a tremendous fire from them and from several batteries and field-pieces on the beach in the harbour of Santa Martha, on the Spanish Main.[3] On leaving the Arethusa, of which frigate he had been confirmed a Lieutenant 9 Jan. 1808, he followed Sir C. Brisbane, in Sept. of that year, into the Blake 74, commanded subsequently by Capt. Edw. Codrington in the Downs. His last appointments were – 16 June, 1809 (three months after he had left the Blake), to the Mermaid 32, Capt. Major Jacob Henniker, whom he accompanied with convoy to Quebec – 12 Jan. 1810, to the Grampus 50, Capt. Wm. Hanwell, in which ship he sailed with the trade for China – and 30 Nov. 1812, to the Primrose 18, Capt. Chas. Geo. Rodney Phillott, employed off Flushing. He went on half-pay in Aug. 1812; and accepted the rank he now holds 19 Oct. 1844.
OWEN. (Lieutenant, 1811. f-p., 22; h-p., 21.)
Bell Robert Owen entered the Navy, 8 April, 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Athénienne 64, Capt. Fras. Fayerman; with whom, on his return from a voyage to China, he removed, in Oct. 1805, to the Formidable 98. After a servitude of more than five years in that ship on the Channel, Mediterranean, and Baltic stations, latterly under the command of Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, and nearly the whole time as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, he was received as a Supernumerary, in March, 1811, on board the Stately 64, Capt. Edw. Stirling Dickson, employed at the defence of Cadiz. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 1 Aug. following, he was successively appointed in that capacity. – 6 Dec. in the same year, to the Tweed sloop, Capts. Thos. Edw. Symonds and Wm. Mather, in which vessel he served in the North Sea, visited the coast of Africa, and was wrecked, 5 Nov. 1813, in Shoal Bay, Newfoundland, where only 52 of the crew were saved – 11 May, 1816, for nearly eight months, to the Cadmus 10, Capt. John Gedge, again in the North Sea – and 3 April, 1827, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye. He left the latter service on its abolition in 1831; and, since 31 Dec. 1838, has been employed in the Coast Guard.
OWEN. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 14; h-p., 32.)
Charles Cunliffe Owen, the representative of the ancient family of Cunliffe of Wycoller, is eldest surviving son of the late Chas. Owen, Esq., in the commission of the peace for co. Middlesex. He is nephew of the late Henry Owen Cunliffe, Esq., of Wycoller Hall, Lancashire; and of Joseph Owen, Esq., Captain in H.M. 77th Regt., who was killed at the storming of Seringapatam in 1799.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 March, 1801, as Midshipman, on board the Vengeance 74, Capts. Geo. Mundy and Geo. Duff, in which ship he was for about sixteen months employed in the Baltic and West Indies. He served next, until 1806, in the Channel and Mediterranean, in the Venerable 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Collingwood, Niobe 40, Capt. Matthew Henry Scott, and Wizard sloop, Capt. Edm. Palmer; and he then in succession joined the Northumberland and Belleisle 74’s, flag-ships in the West Indies of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane; who, on 10 Aug. 1807, the very day he
