conflict, in which most of the enemy’s crew were killed and all the remainder wounded; whilst on the part of the British four men were slain and twenty-two officers and men wounded, one of the former and three of the latter, in the boat commanded by Mr. Johnson, then master’s-mate, whose conduct was officially mentioned in terms of high commendation[1].
On the 8th Dec. 1813, Captain Graham having left the Alcmene, Mr. Johnson joined the Pylades sloop, Commander James Wemyss, under whom he continued to serve until the surrender of Genoa, April 18th, 1814, when he was ordered to act as lieutenant of the Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir Edward Pellew, commander-in-chief on the Mediterranean station, which appointment was confirmed by the Admiralty on the 18th May following. During the operations against that fortress, he was landed with a party of seamen commanded by Lieutenant John Bewick, whose head was shot off while standing close to him, just after possession had been taken of the enemy’s deserted batteries on the sea line, and their guns turned upon the city[2].
In 1815 and the following year. Lieutenant Johnson served on board Lord Exmouth’s flag-ships, the Boyne 98, and Queen Charlotte 108. In the former he accompanied his noble patron to Naples, Marseilles, and the Barbary States; in the latter he was present, and commanded the forecastle, at the memorable battle of Algiers[3]. On the 13th Sept. 1817, he was appointed flag-lieutenant to his lordship, then commander-in-chief at Plymouth, where he continued until promoted to his present rank, on the 6th Feb. 1821.
Commander Johnson married. May 14th, 1821, Eliza, only daughter of the late John De Windt, Esq. of the island of St. Croix, and of No. 74, Gloucester Place, London. In 1827, he published “A Journal of a Tour through parts of France, Italy, and Switzerland, in the years 1823–4,” One of his sisters is married to Captain George Gosling, R.N.
