Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp3.djvu/45

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36
POST-CAPTAINS OF 1812.

chief , although he differed with him as to the practicability of his scheme. Captain Stewart subsequently displayed equal ardour when serving under Lord George Stuart at the capture of the islands of Schowen and Tholen[1]. On the 6th Mar. 1814, the boats of the Amphion made a gallant but unsuccessful attack upon some French armed vessels in the West Scheldt, lying under the immediate protection of Fort Lillo: their loss consisted of 3 killed and 16 wounded, including Lieutenant William Brydges Champion, a young officer of high character and great promise, mortally.

Captain Stewart was nominated a C.B., Dec. 8, 1815.

Agent.– J. Hinxman, Esq.



ROBERT MAUNSELL, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1812.]

This officer, a son of the Reverend Archdeacon Maunsell, was born at Limerick, in 1785. He entered the navy, as a midshipman on board the Mermaid 32, commanded by his relative, Captain (now Rear-Admiral) Robert Dudley Oliver, in 1709; and subsequently served under Captains Richard Hussey Moubray, and the Hon. George Elliot, in the Maidstone 32, on the Mediterranean station. On the 11th July, 1804, he received a very severe wound in the hip, while assisting at the destruction of about a dozen French settees, at la Vandour, near Toulon, by the boats of the latter frigate and her consorts, under the orders of Lieutenant John Thompson; and for his gallant conduct on that occasion, he was rewarded with a commission, dated Mar. 7, 1805, the day on which he completed his time[2]. From that period, he served on board the Princess Royal 98, in the Channel fleet, till his promotion to the rank of Commander, Mar. 8, 1808.

We next find Captain Maunsell commanding the Procris brig, on the East India station, where he destroyed the Dutch Company’s vessel Wagster, of 8 guns, 4 swivels, and 86 men, about July, 1810. At the commencement of the operations

  1. See Vol. II. Part II. p. 872 et seq.
  2. See Vol. I. Part II. p. 665*. N.B. Lieutenant Thompson was killed in the barge of the Melpomene frigate, Captain Sir Peter Parker, at the capture of a French armed settee, near Leghorn, July 4, 1806.