Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/86

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72

BENNET—BENNETT.

of the Achille 74. In that ship he served, latterly as Master’s Mate, under Capts. Sir Rich. King, Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and Aiskew Paffard Hollis, for upwards of nine years, during which period he appears to have been employed at the blockade of Ferrol and of Toulon, as also, for 18 months, of a French and Venetian squadron at Venice, besides assisting at the defence of Cadiz, and being ultimately, in 1814-15, after having convoyed a fleet of East Indiamen to a certain latitude, stationed at Rio Janeiro. He attained the rank of Lieutenant 8 Feb. 1815; was placed on half-pay 12 July following; and has not since been afloat.



BENNET. (Lieut., 1811. f-p., 24; h-p., 23.)

Martin Bennet was born 24 March, 1789.

This officer entered the Navy, 24 April, 1800, as a Boy, on board the Haughty gun-brig, Lieut.Commander Wm. Field, on the North Sea station, where, in Dec. 1801, he attained the rating of Midshipman in the Pylades 18, Capt. Wm. Boorder. We next find him, during an attachment of nearly six years to the Illustrious 74, Capts. Sir Chas. Hamilton, Michael Seymour, Wm. Sheild, Wm. Robt. Broughton, and Edw. Chetham, commanding a boat at the destruction of the French shipping in Basque Roads in April, 1809, and intrusted, in the ensuing expedition to the Walcheren, with the direction of two flat-bottomed boats and a cutter up the East Scheldt. Proceeding then to the West Indies in the Sceptre 74, Capt. Sam. Jas. Ballard, he witnessed the destruction, on 18 Dec. in the same year, of the French frigates Loire and Seine, in Anse la Barque, Guadeloupe, and on that occasion commanded the boats forming part of the force under Capt. Hugh Cameron, who was killed by his side, at the gallant storming of the fort by which they were protected. After serving for some months with Sir Alex. Cochrane in the Pompée 74, and Neptune 98, and witnessing in the former ship the reduction of Guadeloupe, Mr. Bennet rejoined the Sceptre, in the capacity of Acting-Lieutenant, 16 July, 1810. He was eventually, while employed on board the Barfleur 98, flagship in the Tagus of Hon. Geo. Cranfleld Berkeley, awarded a commission, dated 2 Nov. 1811; and on 18 of the following Dec. was appointed to the Elizabeth 74, Capt. Edw. Leveson Gower, stationed in the Mediterranean. He there, during the performance of much valuable service, came 17 times into conflict with the enemy, participated in the capture of the towns of Umago, Dignano, Fiumé, Porto Rea, Bocca Rea, Citta Nuova, and Rovigno, as also of the forts of Cantalazo and Cavo, and assisted at the blockade of Venice, Trieste, and Ragusa. At Umago he in part commanded the boats at the destruction of a 2-gun battery and the capture of 4 vessels, loaded with wine, that had been scuttled, 8 June, 1813; and on the occasion of the ensuing capture of Dignano he landed in charge of a party of seamen, and obtained great praise for his conduct.[1] From 15 June to 16 Aug. 1814, Mr. Bennet next officiated as Agent for Transports afloat; after which, on 1 Dec. in the same year, he became First of the Niobe troop-ship, Capt. Henry Collins Deacon, and co-operated in the reduction, in 1815, of Martinique and Guadeloupe. He left the Niobe 12 March, 1816, and since 17 April, 1838, has been employed in the Coast Guard.

Lieut. Bennet is married.



BENNETT. (Commander, 1826. f-p., 21; h-p., 13.)

James Cooper Bennett was born, 6 Jan. 1801, at Edinburgh.

This officer entered the Navy, 3 Jan. 1813, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Adamant 50, Capt. Matthew Buckle, bearing the flag at Leith of Rear-Admiral Wm. Albany Otway. Removing in March following to the Endymion, of 48 guns and 319 men, Capt. Henry Hope, he assisted at the blockade of New London, the expedition up the Penobscot, and the capture, 15 Jan. 1815, after a bnrilliant action of two hours and a half, in which the British lost 11 men killed and 14 wounded, and the enemy 35 killed and 70 wounded, of the American frigate President, of 56 guns and 465 men. Subsequently to the surrender of Buonaparte we find him proceeding to the East Indies, where, until the close of 1819, he served on board the Iphigenia 36, Capt. Andw. King, and Conway 26, Capt. Edw. Barnard, and contributed, in the boats of the latter ship and of the Eden, to the destruction, in the early part of that year, of some Arab pirates at Bahhreen, in the Persian Gulf. While next serving in the Sybille 44, flag-ship in the West Indies of Sir Chas. Rowley, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, by commission dated 22 Aug. 1821; but, prior to his return to England in 1823, he had the misfortune to lose an arm, in consequence of which accident he was eventually awarded, 24 Jan. 1824, the usual pension of 91l. 5s. In the course of the latter year Mr. Bennett, who had been employed for short periods in the Arachne 18, and Ramillies 74, again sailed for the West Indies in the Rattlesnake 28, Capt. Hugh Patton, and there joined the Isis 50, flag-ship of Sir Lawrence Wm. Halsted, by whom, after holding command of the Union, Renegade, and Speedwell schooners, he was, in 1826, placed in charge of the Magnificent, hospital and store-ship at Port Royal. He was officially promoted to his present rank on 26 Oct. in the same year, and then, enfeebled in health from the effects of long servitude in small vessels under a tropical sun, returned home. Since that period, unable to procure employment afloat, he has twice accepted the appointment of Inspecting Commander in the Coast Guard. On the first occasion he filled that post from 15 June, 1832, until 1835. His resumption of the office, which he still holds, took place 25 Feb. 1843.

Commander Bennett married, 28 July, 1831, Jane, third daughter of the late Jas. Law, Esq., of Elvingston, co. Haddington, N.B., and by that lady, who died in 1836, has three surviving children.



BENNETT. (Capt., 1828. f-p., 28; h-p., 22.)

Thomas Bennett, born 22 Feb. 1785, at Hereford, is nephew of Francis Bennett, Esq., Purser of the Nassau 64, who perished in that ship when wrecked on the coast of Holland, 14 Oct. 1799; and of Commander William Bennett, R.N. (1812), who died in 1819.

This officer entered the Navy, in March, 1797, as a Volunteer, on board the Monarch 74, Capt. John Elphinstone, flag-ship afterwards of Vice-Admiral Richard Onslow, under whom he fought and was wounded in the battle of Camperdown, 11 Oct. following. On leaving the Monarch, in which ship he had previously witnessed the mutiny at Spithead, Mr. Bennett successively joined the Nassau 64, Capts. Wm. Hargood and Geo. Tripp, guard-ship at the Nore, and, in the early part of 1798, the Amphion 32, Capt. Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett, employed on the North Sea, African, and West India stations. Among other achievements he assisted, while cruizing off the island of Jamaica in company with the Alarm 32, in effecting the capture, 25 Nov. 1799, of the Asturiana, Spanish letter-of-marque, mounting 28 guns, with a complement of 180 men; and for his zeal and activity on various occasions, but more especially in the boat-chase of a privateer off Port Royal, was ultimately, in 1801, transferred by the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Hugh Seymour, to his flag-ship, the Sans Pareil 80. The premature death, however, of the gallant Admiral depriving him of the immediate promotion he had been promised, Mr. Bennett did not obtain any advancement in his profession until Jan. 1802, when he appears to have been appointed Acting-Lieutenant, for a short time, of the Tartar 36, and Vanguard 74, both commanded by Capt. Jas. Walker. He returned home in the course of the same year on board the Cerberus 32, Capt. Jas. Macnamara; and on being re-appointed as Admiralty Midshipman, at the commencement of hostilities.

  1. Vide Gaz. 1813, p. 2010.