ALEXANDER RENTON SHARPE, Esq.

A Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath. BROTHER Of Lieutenant-General Matthew Sharpe, and formerly an officer in the army. His first naval commission bears date Dec. 8, 1806; and he appears to have been advanced to the rank of commander, Mar. 25, 1809.

On the 1st May, 1811, Captain Sharpe, then in the Scout brig, assisted at the destruction of two French store-ships and an armed transport, all laden with ship-timber, a battery of 4 guns and 1 mortar, and a martello tower, in Sagone bay, Corsica; on which occasion his first Lieutenant (William Neame), boatswain, and 1 man were wounded. The official account of this affair will be found at p. 724, et seq. of Vol. II. Part II.

Captain Sharpe's promotion to post rank took place Jan. 22, 1813; and from that period we find him commanding the Hyacinth 24, principally on the Mediterranean and South American stations, till towards the end of 1818. He was nominated a C. B. Dec. 8, 1815. Agents.-Messrs. Maude and Co.

HON. ROBERT RODNEY.

FOURTH Son of George, second Lord Rodney, by Anne, daughter of the Hon. Thomas Harley, son of Edward, third Earl of Oxford. He was born May 14, 1786; made lieutenant Aug. 15, 1806; and advanced to the rank of commander early in 1811. His post commission bears date Feb. 22, 1813.

Captain Rodney married, July 20, 1819, Anne, youngest daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Dennett, of Lock Ashurst, co. Sussex, Esq. He became a widower Feb. 24, 1824; and died, in command of the Dryad frigate, July 20, 1826.

ROBERT MITFORD, Esq.

WAS made lieutenant in Jan. 1802; commander Feb. 16, 1807; and post-captain Mar. 31, 1813. He commanded the Espoir brig, of 18 guns, at the capture of the islands of Ischia and Procida, in 1809*; and on the 4th April, 1810, his boats assisted at the destruction of two settees, laden with oil, near the town of Castiglione † : a few days afterwards, they also helped to destroy two sloops, with cargoes, in the bay of Naples.

On the 25th of the same month, the Espoir arrived off Terrecino, in company with the Spartan and Success frigates, commanded by Captains Jahleel Brenton, and John Ayscough. Four square-rigged vessels and several feluccas being discovered there at anchor under a castle, the boats of the squadron were immediately detached to attack them, and Captain Mitford, "with great energy and judgment," ran in and sounded under the various batteries. Shortly afterwards the Spartan and her consorts brought up, and commenced a brisk cannonade; while the boats, under the orders of Lieutenants William Augustus Baumgardt, and George Rose Sartorious, in the face of a heavy fire, gallantly boarded a ship mounting 6 guns, which was obstinately defended by her crew; they also obtained possession of three barks, and brought off their four prizes with no greater loss than one man killed and two seamen wounded.

Captain Mitford subsequently commanded the Minstrel 24, on the Mediterranean station.

Agents.-Messrs. Chard.

HENDERSON BAIN, Esq.

WAS made lieutenant in Jan. 1800; promoted to the command of the Harpy sloop, on the Cape of Good Hope station, Mar. 29, 1811; and posted into the Lion 64, flag

ship of Rear-Admiral (now Sir Charles) Tyler, April 6, 1813. The Harpy assisted at the reduction of Java, in 1811.

Captain Bain married, April 3, 1821, Sarah, eldest daughter of the Rev. W. Haggitt, Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital.

RICHARD SPEAR, Esq.

WAS originally a banker's clerk at Dublin. He entered the naval service under the auspices of the first Lord Gardner, and was subsequently patronized by the Marquis of Hastings. We first find him serving as lieutenant of the Conqueror 74, Captain (now Sir Israel) Pellew, at the glorious battle of Trafalgar.

After that tremendous conflict Lieutenant Spear was en-trusted with the charge of the Bucentaure 80, (Mons. Villeneuve's late flag-ship) in which he was wrecked, on the 22d Oct. at the entrance of Cadiz bay. His promotion to the rank of commander took place Dec. 24, 1805.

On the 2d Sept. 1811, Captain Spear, then in the Chanticleer brig of 10 guns, was attacked, and nearly captured, by a Danish squadron. The very gallant defence made by his consort, Lieutenant Richard William Simmonds, of the Manly gun-brig, will be seen by the following extracts of a letter from that officer to Sir Henry Edwin Stanhope, the commander-in-chief at Sheerness; dated Christiansand, Norway, Sept. 4:

"We exchanged numbers with the Chanticleer at 5-30 P. M. on the 1st instant, Drommels bearing N. W.. by W., distant about 12 leagues, when she made our signal to pass within hail, which I accordingly complied with, and after waiting on Captain Spear, having no surgeon on board the Manly, and both vessels being bound to one port, I thought it prudent, through his advice, to remain in company with the Chanticleer that night, for the purpose of her surgeon visiting my sick people the next morning, Captain Spear informing me, at the same time, he meant to sail along the coast during the night: the superior sailing of the Chanticleer occasioned me to carry a press of sail, against a heavy head-sea, to keep her company.

"At 1 A. M. she was a long way a-head; and at 2, I observed three strange sail close to her, but could not now discover which was the Chan

ticleer. Í then made the private night signal, which was answered in that› direction; and the four vessels being right a-head, I continued my course, endeavouring to come up with them, as I was certain the Chanticleer must be one. About 3-30 I observed a firing amongst them, which gave me suspicion that the three strangers must be enemy's vessels; and conceiving from their superior force the Chanticleer must be in a very perilous situation, I was determined, whatever might be the consequence, not to forsake her, but to share the same fate, and continued under all sail, using every exertion in my power to close with them for her assistance: being confident, from the appearance of the strangers, that their force was more than double ours, both in guns and men, I only thought of selling the Manly as dear as possible, in her support. I could not, however, distinguish which was the Chanticleer, till after I had received the fire of two of the enemy's vessels, which I found to be three Danish brigs of war. I then perceived the Chanticleer to be abaft my larboard beam, making sail from the enemy. The largest brig now tacked to close the Manly: I hauled to the wind, and tacked, with our head to the eastward, to join the Chanticleer, if possible; but she still kept her course, steering from the enemy, and seemed to decline, on her part, to renew the action. I had, however, by this time, for her support, placed the Manly in a situation where it was impossible to avoid it, and the largest of the enemy's brigs, which afterwards proved to be the Loland, coming up on our starboard beam, we received her whole broadside, which did us considerable damage. We instantly returned it, when an action commenced, and continued within musket-shot for the space of 2 hours and 25 minutes, when the other two brigs, which had now left off chasing the Chanticleer, returned to support the Loland, and were within musket-shot, the one endeavouring to take her station on our larboard bow, the other to supply the place of the Loland, who now tacked, and placed herself on our starboard quarter, keeping up a constant fire; nor was it in the smallest degree possible for us to prevent these manœuvres on the part of the enemy, owing to their superior sailing, and we being completely disabled, our head-sails having been all shot away about the beginning of the action, and afterwards our standing and running rigging, with all the other sails entirely cut to pieces; our masts and bowsprit being badly wounded in several places, and 4 guns dismounted as the fire of all three brigs would have been opened upon us at a very small distance, within the space of 5 minutes, they still continuing to close, and our force consisting of only 37 men and 5 boys; the brig being in a crippled state and quite unmanageable, I conceived it would only have been vain presumption on my part, and a cruel sacrifice of the lives of my brave little crew, to have pretended further resistance against three heavy vessels, each of which, as it afterwards proved, mounted 18 long 18-pounders, especially when there was not the smallest hopes of any assistance, or possibility of escape. I was, therefore, reluctantly compelled to submit to their superior force; and although our loss in men was very trifling, having only I killed and 3 wounded, yet, from the length

of time we were exposed to their fire, and the shattered state of the brig at the close of the action, I have to thank the Almighty no more of them fell. The Loland has also suffered considerably; but of their damages and loss of men they avoid letting us gain the least information. The Loland has to get a thorough repair, and is this day getting out her foremast."

The Loland, Captain H. P. Holm, had on board three Lieutenants and 125 men: the other Danish brigs were the Alsen and Samsoe, commanded by first Lieutenants Lutkin and Grothschilling, each having 123 officers and men. The Manly had only ten 18-pounder carronades, and 2 long sixes. Her brave defender was most honorably acquitted by a courtmartial, at Sheerness, Jan. 6, 1812; and is still a lieutenant. The commander of the Chanticleer obtained post rank, May 3, 1813.

Captain Spear married, in 1809, Anne Maria, only daughter of John Walter, Esq. naval contractor at North Yarmouth.

CLEMENT MILWARD, Esq.

WAS made lieutenant in July, 1800; commander June 14, 1809; and post-captain, into the Herald of 20 guns, May 28, 1813. In the course of the latter year he captured a French vessel laden with wine, silks, &c.; an American with a cargo of cotton and sugar; two others laden with sundries, and one in ballast.

This is the officer alluded to at p. 716 of Vol. I. Part II. from whom the late Lord Camelford took the pistol with which he shot Lieutenant Charles Peterson, of H. M. S. Perdrix, at Antigua, Jan. 13, 1798. Mr. Milward was then acting lieutenant of the Favorite sloop, under his lordship's temporary command. The evidence given by him at the court-martial afterwards assembled to try Lord Camelford will be found in the Naval Chronicle, vol. xxii. pp. 309-312, 317, 483, and 490.

Agents.-Messrs. Cooke, Halford & Son.