binson, lying at Woolwich; removed, in the following Sept., to the Zealand 64, Capt. Parr, flag-ship at the Nore; served, from Dec. in the same year, until July, 1802, part of the time as Midshipman, in the Resolution 74, Capts. Wm. Mitchell and Hon. Alan Hyde Gardner, on the Home and West India stations; and in March, 1803, joined the Antelope 50, Commodore Sir Wm. Sidney Smith. On 16 May, 1804, we find him present in a gallant attack made by a squadron under the orders of the latter officer upon a division of the enemy’s flotilla passing alongshore from Flushing to Ostend. Accompanying Sir W. S. Smith subsequently to the Mediterranean In the Pompée 74, he was there, 24 June 1806, nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Sirius 36, Capt. Wm. Prowse; to which vessel he was confirmed by the Admiralty 1 Sept. 1807. He returned home in May, 1808; and while next attached, between Aug. of that year and Dec. 1813, to the Achille 74, Capts. Sir Rich. King, John Hayes, Hon. Geo. Heneage Lawrence Dundas, and Aiskew Paffard Hollis, was employed in the Channel, in the expedition to the Walcheren and off the port of Cadiz, and in the Adriatic, where he aided in blockading the French and Venetian squadrons in Venice, consisting of three line-of-battle ships and a frigate ready for sea, and several of each class fitting in the arsenal. From May, 1815, to Jan. 1816, Lieut. Pierce was engaged at Cork in impressing and raising seamen for the service. He has since been on half-pay. Agents – Pettet and Newton.
PIERSON, Kt. (Captain, 1838. f-p., 22; h-p., 29.)
Sir William Henry Pierson was born in 1782. This officer entered the Navy, 27 May, 1796, as A.B., on board the Asia 64, Capt. Robt. Murray, bearing the flag of Admiral Vandeput, Commander-in-Chief in North America, where, in May, 1798, he attained the rating of Midshipman. In Dec. 1800 he removed to the Belleisle 72, Capts. Wm. Domett, Chas. Boyles, John Whitby, and Wm. Hargood; with the last-mentioned of whom, after cruizing with the Channel fleet, he proceeded to the Mediterranean, and next to the West Indies and back in pursuit of the combined squadrons of France and Spain. For his conduct as Master’s Mate in the action off Cape Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805, on which occasion he was wounded,[1] Mr. Pierson was promoted, 24 Dec. in that year, to a Lieutenancy in the Conqueror 74, Capts. Israel Pellew and Edw. Fellowes, employed both on the Home and Mediterranean stations; where, from April, 1810, until July, 1815, we find him in succession serving in the Northumberland 74, Capts. Wm. Hargood and Hon. Henry Hotham, Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Pellew, Menelaus 38, Capt. Sir Peter Parker, Ville de Paris 110, and Boyne 98, each under the orders of Capt. Geo. Burlton, Fylla 22, Capt. Wm. Shepheard, and Amphion 32, Capt. Jas. Pattison Stewart. While First of the Fylla, he was slightly wounded, as was a marine, at the capture, 30 Jan. 1814, of the French lugger privateer L’Inconnu of 15 guns (pierced for 20) and 109 men, 5 of whom were killed and 4 wounded,[2] He was often during the above period engaged in cutting out the enemy’s vessels, and in co-operating with the patriots on the coast of Catalonia. Between 30 March, 1824, and 16 Aug. 1825, Lieut. Pierson served, as Senior, on board the Wellesley 74, Capt. Graham Eden Hamond, stationed at first as a guard-ship at Portsmouth, and engaged next in conveying the present Lord Stuart de Rothesay to the Brazils; whence, in Dec. 1825, he returned home with Capt. Hamond in the Spartiate 76. Attaining the rank of Commander 27 March, 1826, he did not again go afloat until appointed, 11 June, 1836, to the Madagascar 46, Capt. Sir John Strutt Peyton, fitting for the West Indies. In the following Oct., while lying, prior to her final departure, in Kingstown, Dublin, the Madagascar was visited by the Lord-Lieutenant, the Marquis of Normanby; and Capt. Pierson on the occasion received the honour of knighthood. He was advanced to his present rank 28 June, 1838 – two months after the ship had been paid off; and has not been since employed.
Sir W. H. Pierson married, in July, 1826, Jane, daughter of Edw. Daun, Esq., of Warblington, co. Hants, by whom he has issue two sons and one daughter.
PIGOT. (Lieutenant, 1842.)
George Pigot died at the commencement of 1846.
This officer entered the Navy 26 July, 1827; passed his examination 1 Sept. 1835; served for some time in the Mediterranean as. Mate of the Acheron steamer, Capt. Andrew Kennedy; obtained his commission 7 Feb. 1842; and from 18 of that month until paid off in 1844 was employed in the East Indies on board the Vindictive 50, Capt. John Toup Nicolas.
PIGOT, K.C.B., K.C.H. (Vice-Admiral of the Blue, 1847. f-p., 35; h-p., 24.)
Sir Hugh Pigot is a near relative of Lieut.-General Sir Robt. Pigot, Bart. (who commanded the left wing of the British army at the battle of Bunker’s Hill, in North America, and was presented by George III. with the Colonelcy of the 38th regt., as a reward for his distinguished conduct on that occasion).
This officer entered the Navy, 1 May, 1788, on board the Salisbury 50, Capt. Erasmus Gower, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Elliot at Newfoundland, where he removed, in the course of the same year, to the Merlin sloop, Capt. Edw. Pakenham. After having served for three years at Home with Capt. Andrew Snape Douglas, as Midshipman, in the Southampton 32, and Goliath and Alcide guard-ships, he sailed in 1792 for the Mediterranean in the Romney 50, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Sam. Cranston Goodall, whom he accompanied, in May, 1793, into the Princess Royal 98. In 1794, subsequently to the evacuation of Toulon, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Berwick 74, Capt. Andrew Sutherland; but it was not until he had again, for a short period, performed the duties of Midshipman in the Princess Royal and in the Britannia 100, the flag-ship of Admiral Wm. Hotham, that he was officially promoted, 12 Nov. in the same year, into La Flêche sloop, Capts. Hon. Henry Hotham, Shuldham Peard, and Edwards. His next appointments were to the Gladiator, Capt. John Pakenham, Surprise 32, Capts. Ralph Willett Miller and Edw. Hamilton, Monarch 74, bearing the flag of Sir Rich. Onslow, and Aeolus, Capt. John Wm. Spranger. In those ships he served on the Mediterranean, Newfoundland, North Sea, Baltic, and Jamaica stations. Attaining the rank of Commander 29 April, 1802, he was employed in that capacity off Seaford, in the Speedy sloop, from 24 Aug. 1803 until made Post 8 May, 1804. His succeeding appointments were – 27 March, 1805, for three months, to the Dauntless, lying at Shereness – 7 Feb. and 28 June, 1806, to the Alligator 28 and Circe 32, both in the West Indies – towards the close of 1808, to the Captain 74 and Latona 38, on the same station – 1 Nov. 1810, to the Orpheus 36, in which ship he was for four years stationed in the West Indies and at Halifax – and, at the end of 1814, to the Diomede 50 and Nymphe 38, also on the coast of North America, whence he returned to England and was paid off in Aug. 1815. On 5 April, 1807, Capt. Pigot, then in the Circe, made prize of L’Austerlitz French privateer of 18 guns and 125 men. On 2 March, 1808, he took possession, in the same ship, of the island of Marie-Galante;[3] and on 31 Oct. following he captured in her, near Martinique, the Palineur national brig of 16 guns and 79 men, 7 of whom were killed and 8 wounded, with a loss to the Circe, occasioned by a battery on the Diamond Rock, of 2 men killed and wounded.[4]
