and Rich. Curry. That ship being paid off in Sept. of the same year, he next, in July, 1803, joined the Lynx sloop, Capt. John Willoughby Marshall; under whom we find him while in pursuit of some French gun-vessels engaged in an action with the batteries in the neighbourhood of Boulogne. In Feb. 1804 he was received on board the Utrecht 64, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Montagu on the Downs station; where, on being lent in 1805 to the Fury bomb, Capt. John Telland, he took part in a rencontre with a large flotilla of praams and gun-boats off Dieppe. After again serving with Capt. Briggs in the North Sea and West Indies on board the Agincourt 64 and Orpheus 32, he was placed, about Nov. 1807, under the orders of Lieut. Geo. Ballard Vine in the Dolores, a prize schooner, in which he assisted in cutting out some vessels under the fire of a battery, and was wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico. In Sept. 1807, having suffered a rigorous captivity of 10 months among the Spaniards, he was exchanged and enabled to join the Wolf 18, Capt. Wm. Sumner Hall; under whom, previously to removing, in Jan. 1803, to the Arethusa 33, Capts. Chas. Brisbane and Robt. Mends, he fought in two sharp engagements with a flotilla of gun-boats on the Spanish main. On the arrival home of the Arethusa in Oct. 1808, he became attached, first to the Venus 32 and then to the Clorinde 40, both commanded by his friend Capt. Briggs. In the latter ship he proceeded as Master’s Mate to the East Indies; where, in May, 1810, he was nominated by Rear-Admiral Wm. O’Brien Drury, who had received him on board his flag-ship the Russell 74, Acting-Lieutenant of the Procris 18, commanded in succession by Capts. Robt. Maunsell and Chas. Tyler, for nearly three months by himself, and by Capts. Walter Forman, Nathaniel Norton, and Thos. Curzon. On 31 July, 1811, while Capt. Maunsell and his First-Lieutenant were engaged in the boats in effecting the capture and destruction of six well-disputed gun-boats on the coast of Java, Mr. Roberts, who had been left Senior officer on board, proved of utility in maintaining a covering fire from the Procris. He subsequently served on shore with a party of seamen at the bombardment and storming of Fort Cornells, and otherwise co-operated in the reduction of the island of Java. During the period he acted as Commander of the Procris (from 11 Dec. 1811 to 4 March, 1812) he had the gratification of receiving the personal approval of Commodore Broughton on the occasion of a visit of inspection made by him; and of saving the crew of the American ship Pekin wrecked on a rock in Sunda Strait. Under Capt. Forman Mr. Roberts, whose commission bears date 24 Oct. 1812, accompanied the expedition under Capt. Jas. Bowen of the Phoenix frigate against the pirates of Palambang in Borneo, from whom he aided in taking a number of batteries containing in the whole 101 pieces of cannon, together with the Sultan’s palace, defended by 140 more. In the course of the same year, 1812, he was present in an unsuccessful attack made on the piratical settlement of Sambas; but in June, 1813, he co-operated in a renewed and more fortunate attempt. His conduct throughout the very arduous duties connected therewith induced his Commander, Norton, to report him in very handsome terms to the senior officer, Capt. Geo. Sayer. He returned home with convoy in Aug. 1814; and was lastly, in 1826-7, employed in experimentally cruizing as First-Lieutenant in the Wolf 18, Capt. Geo. Hayes.
ROBERTS. (Retired Captain, 1845.)
Daniel Roberts entered the Navy, 30 July, 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Overyssel 64, Capt. John Bazely, stationed at the Nore. Continuing in that ship for a period of not more than four months, he next, in Aug. 1801, joined, for a few weeks, the Royal William, Capt. Fras. Pickmore, at Portsmouth. From June to Oct. 1802 he served as Midshipman on board the Blenheim, Capt. Philip Turner Bower; from June, 1803, to May, 1805, he was employed with much activity in the Euryalus 36, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood; and from Aug. in the latter year until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 12 July, 1809, he was stationed on the coast of France in the Penelope 36 and, as Master’s Mate, in the Illustrious 74, both commanded by Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton. After serving for rather more than two years on the Home and East India stations in the Phoenix 36,[1] Capt. Zachary Mudge, and Illustrious 74, bearing the broad pendant of his former Captain, Broughton (under whom he co-operated in the reduction of the island of Java), he was nominated, 30 Sept. 1811, Acting-Commander of the Barracouta sloop. That vessel, however, he never had an opportunity of joining. His promotion to the rank of Commander took place 16 May, 1812; and his last appointment, to the Hydra troop-ship, 15 Sept. 1815. In that ship he served on the Baltic, Newfoundland, Halifax, and West India stations.
He accepted his present rank 25 June, 1845. Agents – Holmes and Folkard.
ROBERTS. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 31.)
Duncan Roberts entered the Navy (into which he was impressed from the Merchant Service, wherein he held a very promising position), 25 Jan. 1806, as A.B., on board the Spencer 74, Capt. Hon. Robt. Stopford; and on 6 Feb. following was present in the action off St. Domingo. Removing, in July of the same year, to the Captain 74, Capts. Geo. Cockburn, Isaac Wolley, and Jas. Athol Wood, he assisted soon afterwards at the capture, by a squadron under Sir Thos. Louis, of the French frigate Le Président. While in escort, with one or two other ships-of-the-line, of a convoy of transports bound to Buenos Ayres, the Captain, towards the close of 1806, fell in with a French squadron, and was obliged to put into St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde Islands, where together with her consorts and charge she lay for four weeks blockaded. During that period one of the enemy’s vessels, a corvette of 26 guns, was attacked and captured by the British boats, in which Mr. Roberts, who held the rating of Quartermaster, was one of the persons present. In 1807 he accompanied, under Capt. Wolley, the expedition against Copenhagen. Pending the siege he landed with a party of seamen and assisted a few troops belonging to the 79th Regt. in capturing a small Danish battery. His conduct on this occasion was gallant and was reported as such by the conducting military officer, Capt. Cameron. Continuing in the Captain, Mr. Roberts further witnessed the surrender of Madeira, the reduction of Marie-Galante, Martinique, and other French islands, and the capture of the French 74-gun ship D’Haupoult. For special services rendered several months prior to the taking of Martinique he had been awarded the rating of Master’s Mate. He continued employed with Capt. Wood in that capacity on board the Neptune 98 and Pompée 74 in the West Indies and Bay of Biscay, and also in the Mediterranean (where he took part in several skirmishes with the French fleet and beheld the fall of Genoa), until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 15 Feb. 1815. He has since been on half-pay.
ROBERTS. (Lieutenant, 1841.)
Edward Forward Roberts entered the Navy (from the Royal Naval College) 26 June, 1828; passed his examination 13 April, 1833; and after having served for a time in the Mediterranean as Mate of the Inconstant 36, Capts. Dan. Pring and Fred. Thos. Michell, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 23 Nov. 1841. His appointments have since been – 9 Nov. 1843, to the Albion 90, Capt. Nich. Lockyer, on the Home station – 23 Nov. 1846, to the command, after a few months of half-pay, of the Myrmidon steamer of 150-horse power,
- ↑ He assisted in the boats of the Phoenix and Jalouse sloop, and behaved very gallantly, at the boarding and capture, 29; Jan. 1810, of Le Charles privateer of 14 guns and 90 men. – Vide Gaz. 1810, p. 178.
