portant duty, is deserving of every praise. The service was directed with great coolness and judgment, and executed in the most steady, zealous, and active manner. * * * * * *
“The necessary destruction of the William corvette[1] has deprived me of an opportunity of rewarding the services of Lieutenant Owen on this occasion; I therefore beg leave to recommend him and Lieutenant Groube, who were appointed to lead divisions on this service, to their lordships’ protection.”
On the 11th Dec. 1807, Lieutenant Owen assisted at the total annihilation of the Dutch naval force in the Eastern Seas[2]: his commission as a Commander bears date May 20, 1808. Some time afterwards, he had the misfortune to be taken prisoner, and carried to the Isle of France; from whence he was allowed to depart in a cartel, just before the conquest of that valuable colony in 1810.
Captain Owen’s next appointment was to the Barracouta of 18 guns, on the East India station; and he joined that vessel time enough to assist at the blockade of Batavia, preparatory to the invasion of Java. Whilst thus employed, one of his boats, with 8 men, under the command of acting Lieutenant George Tyrrell, was attacked by a piratical proa, having on board about 50 Malays, every one of whom was either killed or driven into the sea; Mr. Tyrrell then secured the vessel and carried her off to the Leda frigate, which had hove in sight just at the close of the desperate conflict[3].
On the arrival of the expedition under Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty and Commodore Broughton, the subject of this sketch was ordered to assist Captain Sayer, of the Leda, in directing the debarkation of the troops, at Chillingching; and he continued attached to the army until after the surrender of Batavia, Aug. 8, 1811[4]. His promotion to post rank took place on the 2d May, in the same year.
We next find Captain Owen commanding the Cornelia, a 32-gun frigate. On the 20th Nov. 1811, when escorting some transports from Batavia towards Bombay, he accidentally
- ↑ See Vol. I, Part I, p. 223.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part I, p. 404 et seq.
- ↑ Nav. Chron. v. 27, p. 198.
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 365.
