SAMUEL ROBERTS, Esq.
A Companion of the Moat Honorable Military Order of the Bath.
[Post-Captain of 1815.]
This officer is a native of Waterford, in Ireland. He entered the naval service at an early age, and was a midshipman of the Anson frigate, Captain Philip Charles Durham, in Sir John B. Warren’s action with Mons. Bompart, and at the capture of la Loire, Oct. 12 and 18, 1798[1].
Mr. Roberts subsequently joined la Volage 24, Captain the Hon. Philip Wodehouse, under whose command he proceeded to the Jamaica station, where he assisted in cutting out many of the enemy’s vessels; but at length had the misfortune to be severely wounded and taken prisoner. We next find him serving on board Sir John T. Duckworth’s flag-ship, the Leviathan 74, during the peace of Amiens. Immediately after the renewal of hostilities, he was placed by that officer under Captain Edmund Boger, of the Echo sloop of war. In 1804, he assisted at the capture of a French transport, full of troops; and a privateer, mounting 16 guns, with a complement of 50 men[2]. Five well-armed vessels, having on board 250 soldiers, were also captured by a single boat under his command, containing no more than 13 men, with cutlasses, muskets, and pistols. On another occasion, having been accidentally left ashore at Jamaica, and observing a privateer take possession of the Dorothy Foster, a valuable West India trader, he immediately embarked with some volunteer seamen in another merchant vessel, pursued the enemy, and, after an obstinate conflict, compelled him to surrender his prey. For this exploit he was rewarded with an order to act as lieutenant of the Echo.
Captain Boger subsequently gave Mr. Roberts the command of a tender, mounting one 12-pounder carronade and two 2-pounders, with a crew consisting of 21 men ; direct-
- ↑ See Vol. I. pp. 171 and 452.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part I. p. 155 et seq.
