Royal Naval Biography/Curry, Richard
RICHARD CURRY, Esq
[Post-Captain of 1802.]
This officer is a son of the late Thomas Curry, Esq. of Gosport, in Hampshire, of which county he was one of the most active, attentive, and zealous magistrates for more than twenty years. He was born in 1772, and placed on the books of the Amphitrite frigate, Mar. 22, 1780, but did not go afloat till Aug. 12, 1786, when he joined the Goliah 74, stationed as a guard-ship at Portsmouth. On the 21st Nov. following, he was removed into the Phaeton frigate, commanded by Capt. George Dawson (the officer alluded to at p. 22), with whom he served about two years on the Mediterranean station.
Mr. Curry rejoined the late Admiral Sir Archibald Dickson in the Goliah, Dec. 3, 1788; and subsequently accompanied Lieutenant (now Vice-Admiral) Han well, to Cork, Halifax, and Jamaica, in the Actaeon troop-ship. During the Spanish and Russian armaments, we find him serving on board the Royal George and Barfleur, three-deckers, bearing the flags of the Hon. Samuel Barrington and Rear-Admiral Jonathan Faulknor, the latter of whom had married his father’s sister. In July 1792, he joined the Iphigenia frigate, Captain Patrick Sinclair, employed on the Milford and Irish stations.
Towards the close of 1792, the French having opened the Scheldt, and declared the navigation of that river free, in violation of the treaties of Munster and Westphalia, which had been guaranteed by the British monarch, the Stadtholder of Holland claimed the assistance of England; and a small squadron, of which the Iphigenia formed a part, was accordingly sent thither, under the orders of Commodore Murray, to assist the Dutch in repelling their invaders; but soon obliged to return, in consequence of the rapid accumulation of ice. The Iphigenia afterwards cruised off Cherbourgh, and on the 16th Feb. 1793, captured l’Elizabeth French privateer, which proved to be the second armed vessel taken by the British in the revolutionary war. She was conducted to Portsmouth by the subject of this memoir.
On the 18th May following, Mr. Curry was removed into the Venus of 32 guns, commanded by his cousin, Captain Jonathan Faulknor, with whom he served as Midshipman, Master’s-Mate, and Lieutenant in that frigate and the Diana, till May 1795, during which period he assisted at the capture of the Sans Culottes French privateer, of 22 guns and 90 men; bore a part in the third action fought with the republicans at sea[1]; and was present at the destruction of several ships of war by the squadrons under Sir John B. Warren and Sir Edward Pellew. His first commission bears date March 19, 1794[2].
Lieutenant Curry’s next appointment was to the Sans Pareil, an 80-gun ship, bearing the flag of Lord Hugh Seymour, and commanded by Captain William Browell[3], under whom he served on the Channel station and cruising off the Western Islands till Nov. 1798, when he obtained the rank of Commander in the Fury bomb.
On the 26th Aug. 1799, the Fury bombarded a military post near the Helder point, and on the following morning assisted in covering the debarkation of the army under Sir Ralph Abercromby on the coast of Holland[4]. After the surrender of the Dutch squadron lying in the Texel, she accompanied Vice-Admiral Mitchell’s flotilla to the Zuyder Zee; on which occasion, the whole of her shot, shells, iron-ballast, guns, and spare stores, were put into schuyts in order to. lighten her; but such was the intricacy of the navigation, that she repeatedly got aground during her continuance on that harrassing service.
Previous to his return from the Zuyder Zee, Captain Curry assisted in removing a large quantity of naval stores from Medenblik; the dock-yard at which place, and two frigates, were destroyed by fire. This service was performed by Captains Carthew and Curry, who had barely time to retreat before the town was entered by a body of Dutch cavalry[5].
Captain Curry was subsequently employed in affording protection to the trade passing down Channel, and on secret service, under the orders of Captain d’Auvergne, Prince of Bouillion, the senior officer on the Guernsey and Jersey stations[6]. In the autumn of 1800, he accompanied a detachment of troop-ships to Quiberon Bay and Vigo; from whence he proceeded to Gibraltar, and joined the grand expedition assembled there under Lord Keith and Sir Ralph Abercromby, an account of whose movements will be found under the head of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane[7].
The debarkation of the British army on the coast of Egypt, having been effected under cover of the Fury, Tartarus, &c. &c. Captain Curry took a position for bombarding the castle of Aboukir, which at length surrendered on the 18th March 1801. In it were found 12 guns, abundance of ammunition, and a garrison of 190 men.
Anxious to maintain the character which the army had acquired in the battles of March 8, 13, and 21[8], Major-General Hutchinson, who had succeeded to the chief command on the death of Sir Ralph Abercromby, resolved on some offensive operations, which should harrass the enemy, and ameliorate the condition of his troops. A detachment under Colonel Spencer, with eight pieces of cannon and 4000 Turks, were accordingly sent to attack Rosetta; and after a distressing march across the desert, succeeded in obtaining possession of that place without much opposition. About the same period, Captain Curry received orders to join the combined flotilla on the Nile, where he was engaged in most active service till the surrender of Grand Cairo.
The castle of St. Julian, to which the French had retired from Rosetta, was defended by fifteen pieces of cannon, and four armed djerms were anchored under the walls. On the 16th April, it was attacked by a division of British and Turkish gun-boats, under the directions of Captain Curry in the Fury’s cutter. The firing commenced at 11h 30' A.M., and was immediately returned by the enemy on shore and afloat. At 1h 10' P.M. Captain Curry observing a French gun-vessel in flames, and drifting to the eastern bank of the river, forced his way past the castle, under a heavy discharge of grape and musketry, in order to save the crew. On boarding the djerm, he found four Arabs with their knives in readiness, anxiously searching for some concealed victim; but fortunately the Frenchmen had all escaped. He had scarcely quitted her again before she blew up, On presenting the pendant which he had struck to the Capitan Pacha, that chieftain expressed the strongest admiration of his conduct, and presented the cutter’s crew with a purse of forty sequins. At 6h A.M. on the 19th the castle surrendered, after an honorable defence. The prisoners taken on this occasion amounted to 268, of whom 160 had recently arrived from France; about 40 of the garrison had been killed and wounded during the siege. Several black females and a young Frenchwoman were found in the castle. Encouraged by this success, the allies determined to press their operations against the enemy in the interior; and with this determination, Major-General Hutchinson arrived in person at Rosetta on the 26th, having left Major-General Coote in command of the army before Alexandria.
Captain Curry had previously taken possession of a djerm, lying alongside the wharf at Rosetta, and added her to the flotilla by the name of the Betsy. In this vessel, armed with a 24-pounder carronade, he proceeded up the Nile; and putting on shore at Montubis, went from thence with Sir W. Sidney Smith, Captain James Hillyar, Colonel Bromley, and other officers, to make a reconnoissance inland. On their return they passed through Berimbal, a considerable village about nine or ten miles above Rosetta, and then along the banks of a canal said to form a communication between the river and Lake Bourlos, but which actually terminates at a place called Sowacanisara, or the Christian’s Well; about a quarter of a mile from which another canal commences arid runs into the lake. At Berimbal they were received by the inhabitants with apparently great joy, the women collecting in a body and setting up a noise somewhat similar to that made at an Irish wake, or rather of a number of English females scolding each other.
On the 26th April, Sir Sidney Smith, accompanied by Captains Morrison, Curry, and Hillyar, leaving their djerms at anchor abreast of Mencet el Mourcheé, proceeded with the armed flat boats and launches to Shimshara, and from the top of a mosque at that place discovered fourteen vessels, part of the enemy’s retreating flotilla, in the direction of Foua, a village then occupied by the republican troops. Returning to their djerms, they visited a sort of school, where girls are taught dancing, &c. to qualify them for the harems of their masters. These girls, called Almas, though described by M. Savary, in his romance concerning Egypt, as beautiful, elegant, and voluptuous, were found to be frightfully hideous, and ill dressed; their movements, instead of being graceful, were violent and disgusting; contortions of the body inspiring very different sensations from those they were intended to excite. Some little allowance, however, should be made for the effects of the brandy with which they had been treated by the English seamen, who, during their supper hour, had strolled thither, and shared their allowance with them.
The effective force of the allied armies now assembled in the neighbourhood of Rosetta, amounted to between 8000 and 9000 men. On the 27th, three companies of the Queen’s regiment were embarked on board the djerms, and conveyed to Etphiné, from whence the enemy’s advanced post was then distant about two miles[9].
On the 5th May, the combined force marched along the banks of the Nile to the neigbourhood of Derout, where they encamped in two lines, supported by the flotilla. On the following day, the enemy abandoned a very strong position at El Atph, having previously blown up several gun-boats, and obstructed the navigation by sinking others in a line between the east bank of the river and a small island, opposite El Atph, on which was found a battery of three guns. Captain Curry, who on a former occasion had met with a similar accident, fell overboard and was nearly drowned, whilst employed in removing this obstacle. On the 8th, he conveyed Colonel Stewart, Lord Blaney, the 89th regiment, and a party of dragoons, to the vicinity of Shurafia, at which place the allies were joined by 600 cavalry, sent from the Grand Vizier’s army at Belbeis: these troops were Syrians, almost naked, badly armed, miserably mounted, and totally undisciplined[10].
At 10 A.M. on the 9th May, Captain Curry, with four flats and three launches, commenced an attack on the enemy’s forts at Rahmanié, and continued in action with them till four P.M., when his division was relieved by the Turkish gun-boats. In this very creditable affair the British had 4 men, including Lieutenant Hobbes of the Delft, killed, and 7 wounded[11].
The capture of Rahmanié cut off all communication between the French armies at Grand Cairo and Alexandria, secured the command of the Nile, and contributed in a great degree to the final expulsion of the enemy from a country which they had invaded with a view of humbling Great Britain by seizing on her possessions in the East. Though repulsed, however, the republicans were not much weakened, the total number of prisoners taken being no more than 160, the greater part of the garrison having previously retreated[12].
Continuing their march towards Grand Cairo, the armies fell in with a French armed vessel and sixteen djerms, conveying wine, spirits, clothing, specie, and a reinforcement of troops to Rahmanié. Finding themselves thus unexpectedly opposed, the French soldiers instantly landed and fought with the Turkish advanced guard, till the arrival of an English detachment; when the survivors, 133 in number, surrendered. The transports and their escort were in the meantime taken by a part of the British flotilla. A number of females accompanying this convoy were immediately claimed by the Capitan Pacha, but he only succeeded in obtaining those of colour; the remainder, being Europeans, were protected by their captors till they could be restored to their husbands. On the 17th General Doyle’s brigade intercepted 550 camels, escorted by 560 troops, the whole of whom were made prisoners.
At ten A.M. on the 23d, the wind suddenly shifted from East to South, and the atmosphere was instantly darkened with a scorching mist. The ground in a short time resembled the floor of a furnace: every thing metallic, as arms, buttons, knives, &c., became burning hot; the poultry exposed to the air, and several camels died; respiration was difficult, and general lassitude prevailed. Happily, as night drew on, the sirocco ceased; for had the heat continued forty-eight hours, the effects would have been dreadful[13]. Seven days afterwards a whirlwind passed the flotilla, beat down a child and a dog on the banks of the river, and brought with it great quantities of corn, stubble, and rubbish.
On the 31st May, Captains Stevenson and Curry waited on the Capitan Pacha by appointment, and after much ceremony were each presented by him with several pieces of rich silk stuff, embroidered with gold in various patterns. On the 5th of the following month the latter officer received a handsome pelisse of camels’ hair lined with rich fur, as a mark of particular distinction, from the Grand Vizier. The armies had by this time advanced beyond Menouf, and were so sickly as to render the establishment of a hospital camp necessary.
The British marched again on the 7th June, and encamped near Chybrachahabeha, where intelligence was received that two regiments of infantry and 3000 seapoys had landed at Suez from India, and were crossing the desert in the direction of Grand Cairo. The flotilla arrived in sight of the pyramids, and anchored above Ucksaus on the morning of the 9th. At this place about 2000 Mamelukes formed part of the great camp, and for the first time pitched tents with regularity, agreeably to the wish and direction of the English commander-in-chief. The same day Captains Stevenson and Curry proceeded up the river to station the flats and launches as an advanced guard, after which they reconnoitred the Egyptian capital.
The 11th June was devoted to the construction of a bridge of boats, under the directions of Mr. Bray, carpenter of the Tigre. Whilst thus employed, 300 of the 86th regiment arrived from Suez, after one of the most painful marches ever accomplished; and during which 3 officers and 20 privates had perished with thirst.
June 19th, orders were issued for the march across the Nile on the next morning. The bridge, composed of sixty djerms, and about one hundred and eighty yards wide, being completed, someof the guns were passed across; but at eight P.M. counter orders were issued, the possession of Giza being considered indispensable. This change of movement rendering the delay of a day necessary, the Grand Vizier was instantly requested to stop the progress of his troops, but without effect, as they struck their tents at day-break on the 20th, and moved forward in the most tumultuous and disorderly manner, till within cannon-shot of Grand Cairo, when they thought proper again to pitch them. The British flotilla were in the mean time employed in landing and dragging up the Turkish heavy artillery, ammunition, &c., a service requiring uncommon exertions.
On the morning of the 21st General Hutchinson advanced within a mile and a half of Giza; and the Mamelukes, under Osman Bey, attacked and routed a body of French cavalry in front of that place. Their subsequent occupation of Sachatmickle, a village about 300 yards from the enemy’s works, obtained them the highest commendation.
Early on the 22d a flag of truce arrived from the French General Belliard, with proposals for a conference; and the next morning officers duly appointed by the different chiefs met under the trees near Giza, each attended by a guard of honor. On the 24th the outline of a capitulation was settled, and on the 26th the definitive articles were agreed to.
The surrender of Grand Cairo terminated the daring march which General Hutchinson had planned, and in which he had so resolutely persevered. By its conquest the fall of Alexandria was greatly accelerated, and the possession of Egypt secured. The intelligence of this important event was conveyed to Lord Keith, in Aboukir Bay, by Captain Curry, who went down the Nile in his cutter, carrying with him the strongest testimonials of his able, zealous, and gallant exertions, from the superior officers under whom he had so long served.
In consequence of those recommendations his Lordship was pleased to send Captain Curry home with his despatches, announcing the successes that had attended the British arms, and at the same time to point him out as an officer highly deserving of advancement. On his arrival at the Admiralty he was exceedingly well received by Earl St. Vincent, who ordered him the usual sum of 500l. as the bearer of such momentous intelligence, and gave him every assurance of promotion.
Captain Curry having re-joined the Fury at Malta, and afterwards visited Naples, was returning to England in that vessel when he received a post commission, dated Jan 7, 1802, appointing him to the Tigre of 74 guns; which ship he commanded from May till October of the same year, when she was paid off at Plymouth[14].
Oh the 13th April, 1803, Captain Curry was appointed to the Royal Sovereign of 100 guns; and after fitting her out, we find him commissioning the Prince George 98, from which ship he returned to the former in a very few days. Previous to her sailing from Spithead, the Royal Sovereign bore the flag of Admiral George Montagu for about three weeks. She afterwards proceeded to Plymouth, and there received orders to join the Channel fleet.
Captain Curry’s first cruise lasted twenty-five weeks; and the following order from the Hon. Admiral Cornwallis will serve to shew how a first rate ship of war was employed by that gallant veteran during his rigid, we may say unparalleled blockade of Brest, and how much the system of naval warfare had changed since the days of Hawke and Keppel:
“Memo.– While Rear-Admiral Collingwood and the ships with him are at an anchor off the Black Rocks, the Royal Sovereign is to cruise, as nearly as possible, in the passage de l’Iroise, without those ships; and when the Rear-Admiral, upon a change of wind, comes out, the Royal Sovereign is to join, and be considered attached to that squadron, taking care at all times to keep clear of any danger from the shore.
Captain Curry continued to serve under the orders of Admiral Cornwallis till Jan. 1804, when the Royal Sovereign having returned to Plymouth with the loss of her main-topmast and main-yard, was selected to carry a flag, and he in consequence came on shore for a longer period than he had yet been since August 1786. In April 1805 he was appointed pro tempore to the Tribune frigate, stationed off Cherbourg, where he remained watching la Minerve[16] till the month of July following.
His next appointment was, in Jan. 1806, to the Roebuck of 44 guns, in which ship and the Solebay frigate he served as Flag-Captain to Admirals Billy Douglas, Lord Gardner, and Robert Murray, successively commanders-in-chief at North Yarmouth, till the cessation of hostilities in 1814. During the occasional absence of Lord Gardner, owing to the ill health of his lady, and the necessity of attending his parliamentary duties, the whole of the port duty, together with the direction of the squadron, devolved upon Captain Curry, who, during a residence of more than eight years at that place, was universally esteemed and respected. He has ever since been on half pay.
Captain Curry married, Jan. 18, 1804, Eliza, youngest daughter of Daniel Blachford, Esq., of Lower Tooting, in the county of Surrey, by whom he has eleven children now living.
Agents.– Messrs. Cooke, Halford, and Son.
- ↑ On the 27th May, 1793, the Venus fell in with and engaged la Semillante of 44 guns, which ship was on the point of surrendering when another under French colours appeared in sight to leeward, and enabled her to escape. She returned to Brest in a dreadfully shattered state, and entered that harbour with five feet water in her hold. A British military officer, who happened to be there at the time, reported her to have lost 12 men, including the first and second Captains, killed, and 20 wounded. The Venus also suffered very considerably in her hull, masts, sails, and rigging; and sustained a loss of 2 men slain, and 20, including Mr. Wolfe, the Master, wounded.
- ↑ He removed from the Venus to the Diana, April 10, 1794.
- ↑ Captain Browell married one of his cousins, see p. 92.
- ↑ See Vol. I. p. 415.
- ↑ The Fury was the last ship of war but one that left the Texel on its evacuation.
- ↑ The celebrated General Georges, and a number of emigrants, were landed on the French coast from the Fury.
- ↑ See Vol. I, note † at 259, et seq. and note *, at p. 313..
- ↑ See p. 384, et seq.
- ↑ No stronger proof of the friendly disposition of the natives towards their deliverers will be required, when we state that Sir W. Sidney Smith and his associates were not only allowed to enter the mosques at Shimshara and Etphiné, but even to do so without uncovering their feet. Refreshments were brought to them at the former, and the enterprising Commodore displayed his vane on the top of the latter.
- ↑ Captain Morrison, of the Thisbe, walking by himself on the morning of the 8th, was seized by half a dozen Arabs, who, mistaking him for a Frenchman, stripped off his cloaths, and were on the point of putting him to death, when fortunately some Turks coming that way claimed him as an ally, and obtained restitution of his apparel, watch, and other property.
- ↑ Captain James Stevenson, of the Europa troop-ship, was at this period in command of the flotilla, but remained at a place called Mehallet Malik, to regulate the disposition of the Turkish gun-boats, and the djerms under his orders, only one of which (the Betsy) was called to Captain Curry’s assistance, and she was soon obliged to retire in consequence of her carronade upsetting on the tenth discharge. Captain Stevenson died on his passage from Leith to Aberdeen, May 10, 1818.
- ↑ At 9 P.M. on the 9th May, Captain Curry, with two flats and four launches, pushed past the French batteries, and anchored on the Delta side, four miles above Rahmanié. About four o’clock the next morning, observing the fugitives on the banks of the river, he placed his division about mid channel, arid by a well-directed fire compelled them to file off towards the desert with considerable loss. They were subsequently attacked and defeated by the Grand Vizier, whose troops exulted greatly in having tor the first time obtained a victory without the aid of Christian dogs.
- ↑ Thermometer under cover 115° to 120°.
- ↑ It should be observed that Captain Curry, in common with his brother officers, was twice honored with the thanks of Parliament during the revolutionary war, viz. for his services during the campaigns in Holland and Egypt.
- ↑ Hawke’s greatest glory was the pursuit of an enemy upon their own coast. In his time it was an almost invariable custom to tack and stand off the moment the French land was discovered. Keppel, in a letter dated twenty-seven leagues from Ushant, assigns as a reason for his not following the foe, that he did not like to chase on a lee-shore. He would hardly have given such an order as the above to a cutter, much less to a 3-decker.
- ↑ See p. 266.