FREDERICK EDWARD VENABLES VERNON, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1814.]
Is a son of the Right Hon. Edward Venables Vernon, D.C.L. Lord Archbishop of York, Primate of England, and Lord High Almoner to the King, &c. &c. &c. by Lady Anne Leveson Gower, third daughter of Granville, first Marquis of Stafford. He is consequently descended from William de Vernon, sole proprietor of the town and district of Vernon, in Normandy, anno 1052, whose eldest son, Richard de Vernon, came over to England with William the Conqueror, in 1066. The Archbishop of York is the youngest son of the first Lord Vernon, and brother to the present peer.
Mr. Frederick Edward Venables Vernon entered the navy, in Feb. 1803, as midshipman on board the Calcutta 50, armée en flûte, Captain Daniel Woodriff, with whom he made a voyage round the world in the short space of 10 months and 3 days[1]. On his return home from New Holland and Brazil, in July, 1804, he joined the Latona 38, Captain Thomas Le Marchant Gosselyn, in which frigate he assisted at the capture of the Amphion Spanish privateer, of 12 guns and 70 men, Oct. 22, 1805. In the following year, he removed with the latter officer to the Audacious 74, and accompanied the squadron under Sir Richard J. Strachan to Barbadoes, in pursuit of Jerome Buonaparte and his companions[2].
Mr. Vernon next joined the Centaur 74, bearing the flag of the late Sir Samuel Hood, in which ship he continued until appointed lieutenant of the Implacable 74, Captain Thomas Byam Martin, on the Baltic station, April 29, 1809. Soon after his promotion to that rank, he was afforded an opportunity of distinguishing himself in a very signal manner, as will be seen by the following extracts of his captain’s official correspondence:–
