the Magnificent 74, commanded in the Channel by Capt. Geo. Eyre, we again, in May, 1807, find him joining his former Captain in the Alfred 74. Uniting in that ship with the force employed in the expedition against Copenhagen, he displayed much zeal at the debarkation of the troops, came likewise into frequent contact in her boats with the Danish gun-vessels and praams, and on the surrender of the enemy’s fleet aided in fitting out the 74-gun ship Syren. When subsequently on the Lisbon station Mr. Pitt was placed in command of the Alfred’s launch, fitted as a gun-boat, and was sent up the Mondego river to assist in landing a body of 300 marines. On the arrival of the troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley from England he was ordered on similar duty. During the battle of Vimiera he was employed in serving the army with ammunition, and after it in embarking the artillery captured. He was also present at the surrender of the Russian fleet in the Tagus. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 11 March, 1809, he served during the rest of the war in that capacity on board the Sceptre 74, Capts. Joseph Bingham and Sam. Jas. Ballard, Wellington 18, Capt. John M‘George (which vessel was sent to Laguira for the purpose of bringing General Bolivar to England), Royal Oak 74, Capts. Lord Amelius Beauclerk and Pulteney Malcolm, Quebec 32, Capt. Chas. Sibthorpe John Hawtayne, Mars 74, Capt. Henry Raper, and Laurel and Amelia 38’s, both commanded by Capt. Hon. Granville Leveson Proby, the former at the Cape of Good Hope. In the Sceptre, after having accompanied the expedition to the Scheldt (where he co-operated in the siege of Flushing, served with the flat-bottomed boats off Bathz, and participated in an attack made upon some Dutch gun-vessels), he again sailed for the West Indies, and was there, 18 Dec. 1809, present at the destruction of the French 40-gun frigates Loire and Seine, lying under the protection of several strong batteries in L’Ance la Barque, Guadeloupe. On 30 Jan. 1810 he landed on the latter island with a brigade of seamen and marines under the orders of Capt. Ballard, and continued acting in unison with the army until its final subjugation, the latter part of the time in command of the Sailors’ Battery. The Royal Oak formed part of the fleet under Lord Gambier at the destruction of the French shipping in Basque Roads. In her boats Mr. Pitt often attacked the enemy’s convoys on the French coast; as he also, when belonging to the Mars, appears to have done in the Baltic. From 1815 he remained on half-pay until appointed, 22 Dec. 1836, to the Victory 104, Capt. Thos. Searle, ordinary guard-ship at Portsmouth, where he soon succeeded to the post of First-Lieutenant. He has filled the office, since Dec. 1838, of Resident Agent of Transports at Leith.
All Lieut. Pitt’s certificates concur in proving him a most zealous, active, enterprising, intelligent, and excellent officer. Capt. Searle’s testimonial strongly recommends him to the notice of the Admiralty. He married, 6 Feb. 1817, Emma, second daughter of John Clarke, Esq., of Ealing, by whom he has issue two sons and one daughter.
PITT. (Lieutenant, 1814. f-p., 10; h-p., 31.)
William Pitt (b) was born 16 Oct. 1793. His brother, John Pitt, while serving as Midshipman in the East Indies in the Victor sloop, was placed in charge of a prize brig taken from the Dutch at Java, and never heard of afterwards.
This officer entered the Navy, 9 May, 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Howe store-ship, Capt. Edw. Killwick, and in July and Aug. following was received on board the Medusa 32, Capt. Hon. Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie, and Lion 64, Capt. Robt. Rolles. On his arrival in India he joined, in Oct. of the same year, the Blenheim 74, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Troubridge; on leaving which, in Jan. 1807, he became in succession attached, in the capacity of Midshipman, to the Dasher sloop, Capt. Augustus Montagu, Powerful 74, Capt. Robt. Plampin, Phaeton 38, Capts. Pownoll Bastard Pellew and Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew (under the latter of whom he co-operated in the reduction of Java in 1811), and Illustrious 74, bearing the broad pendant at first of Commodore Wm. Robt. Broughton, and the flag subsequently of Sir Sam. Hood. He returned home in Aug. 1813 in the Bucephalus 32, Capt. Barrington Reynolds; and after serving for a time in the Salvador del Mundo flag-ship at Plymouth of Admiral Wm. Domett, and Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Pellew in the Mediterranean (whither he proceeded in the Indus 74), Capt. Wm. Hall Gage, was made Lieutenant, 29 Jan. 1814, into the Rivoli 74, Capts. Graham Eden Hamond and Edw. Stirling Dickson. Under the latter officer he continued to serve in the Mediterranean until Feb. 1816, and assisted at the capture, 30 April, 1815, after a brave defence of 15 minutes, of the French frigate La Melpomène of 44 guns. He has since been on half-pay.
Lieut. Pitt is married.
PITTS, K.T.S. (Commander, 1830. f-p., 14; h-p., 25.)
Edward Pitts, born 7 Oct. 1795, is eldest surviving son of John Pitts, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandant of the Bridlington Light Infantry and Artillery from the commencement of the French Revolution until the year 1809, by Frances, eighth daughter of Jas. Heblethwayte, Esq., of Bridlington. His eldest brother, Thos. Jas. Heblethwayte Pitts, Captain and commanding officer of the Royal Engineers attached to the 4th division of the army in the Peninsula under Sir Lowry Cole, was killed in Feb. 1814; and his second, Wm. Pitts, was drowned in 1806 off Dungeness in one of the boats of the Pomone frigate, Capt. Robt. Barrie. His maternal uncle, Edw. St. Quintin Heblethwayte, First-Lieutenant of the Arrogant 74, having been mortally wounded in an action fought between that ship and the Victorious 74 on one side and six heavy French frigates under M. Sercey on the other, died and was buried at sea 21 Sept. 1796.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 May, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Leopard 50, Capt. Jas. Johnstone, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope; became Midshipman, in Sept. 1810, of the Vengeur 74, Capt. Thos. Brown, lying at Sheerness; and, from 10 Nov. following until Oct. 1815, was employed, again at the Cape and on the West India and Newfoundland stations, in the Galatea 42, Capt. Woodley Losack. While cruizing in the latter ship off Madagascar, in company with the Astrea and Phoebe, frigates about equal in force to the Galatea, and 18-gun brig Racehorse, we find him participating, 20 May, 1811, in a long and trying action with the French 40-gun frigates Rénomée, Clorinde, and Néréide, in which the Galatea, besides being much damaged in her hull, masts, and rigging, sustained a loss of 16 men killed and 46 wounded. He took up, on leaving the Galatea, a commission bearing date 7 March, 1815; and was subsequently appointed – 11 March, 1823, to the Windsor Castle 74, Capts. Chas. Dashwood, Hugh Downman, and Edw. Durnford King, on the Lisbon and Home stations – 15 Nov. 1825, as First, to the Nimrod 18, Capts. Rich. Pridham and Sam. Sparshott, attached to the force on the coast of Ireland, where he remained until that vessel, by the breaking of her anchor, was driven on the rocks in Holyhead Bay 17 Jan. 1827 – 4 Nov. 1828, in a similar capacity, to the Dispatch 18, Capt. Wm. Bohun Bowyer – and, on 10 of the same month, again as First, to the Ariadne 28, Capt. Fred. Marryat, employed on general service. He was advanced to his present rank 22 July, 1830; and has since been on half-pay.
In commemoration of John VI. of Portugal having taken shelter on board the Windsor Castle when off Lisbon in 1824, the order of the Tower and Sword was by that sovereign conferred upon the subject of the present narrative in common with the other officers of the ship. Commander Pitts was left a widower 16 Feb. 1847.
