A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Austen, Francis William
AUSTEN, K.C.B.. (Vice-Admiral of the Red, 1838. f-p., 27; h-p., 34.)
Sir Francis William Austen, born 23 April, 1774, at Steventon, co. Hants, is son of the late Rev. Geo. Austen, Rector of Steventon, by Cassandra, youngest daughter of the Rev. Thos. Leigh, formerly Rector of Harpsden, co. Oxford; and brother of Rear-Admiral C. J. Austen, R.N., C.B.
This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy 15 April, 1786; and (having attracted the particular notice of the Lords of the Admiralty by the closeness of his application, and been in consequence marked out for early promotion) embarked, 23 Dec. 1788, as a Volunteer, on board the Perseverance frigate, Capt. Isaac Smith, in which he proceeded to the East Indies, and there successively joined, as Midshipman, the Crown 64, and Minerva 38, bearing each the broad pendant of Hon. Wm. Comwallis. Obtaining his first commission, 28 Dec. 1792, he afterwards served, on the Home station, chiefly as Senior Lieutenant, in the Despatch armed brig. Lark sloop, Andromeda 32, Prince George and Glory 98’s, Shannon, Triton, and Seahorse frigates, and London 98, under Capts. John Whitby, Thos. Le Marchant Gosselin, Josias Rowley, Wm. Ogilvy, Thos. Sotheby, Wm. Taylor, Jas. Bowen, Alex. Fraser, John Gore, Edw. Jas. Foote, and John Child Purvis, until promoted to the command, 3 Feb. 1799, of the Peterel sloop, of 24 guns, including 8 carronades, and 120 men. He had, during that period, escorted the Princess Caroline of Brunswick from Cuxhaven to England, assisted at the evacuation of Ostend and Nieuport, and been present in Sir Hugh Christian’s celebrated hurricanes. While in command of the Peterel, Capt. Austen, among numerous other services which exposed him to a constant fire from the enemy’s batteries, effected the capture and destruction of upwards of forty vessels of various descriptions; and, on 19 June, 1799, participated in Lord Keith’s capture of a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Perrée. On 21 March, 1800, he inexpressibly signalised himself in an encounter off Marseilles with three French national vessels, two of which (the one of 14, the other of 6 guns) he drove on the rocks, and succeeded, although close in shore, and within point-blank shot of two batteries, in capturing the third, La Ligurienne, a brig of 16 guns and 104 men, after a running fight of an hour and a half, the whole being accomplished without the loss of a man to the Peterel, 30 of whose crew, with the First Lieutenant and gunner, were at the time absent in prizes.[1] At the blockade of Genoa, in May following, Capt. Austen displayed his wonted energy; and, for the zeal he evinced in resolutely maintaining for a considerable period a position within less than three miles of the Mole head, received the thanks of Lord Keith. The Peterel shortly afterwards joined Sir Sidney Smith’s squadron on the coast of Egypt, and, on 13 Aug. following, had the good fortune to prevent a Turkish line-of-battle ship, of 80 guns, aground near the island of Aboukir, and totally dismasted, from falling into the hands of the French, 300 of whom had already commenced the work of plunder, but were driven off, and their prize set on fire. The Capitan Pacha, not long afterwards, testified the sense he entertained of the performance by presenting Capt. Austen with a handsome sabre and pelisse. In October of the same year (having been promoted to Post-rank on 13 of the previous May in consequence of the action off Marseilles) the subject of this memoir resigned the command of the Peterel, and returned home, where, on 29 Aug. 1801, he became Flag-Captain, in the Neptune 98, to his patron, Vice-Admiral Jas. Gambler, with whom he served until Oct. 1802. At the renewal of hostilities in 1803, we find him employed at Ramsgate in raising a body of Sea Fencibles, the command of which he retained until appointed, 7 May, 1804, to the Leopard 50, flag-ship off Boulogne of the late Sir Thos. Louis. On subsequently accompanying the same officer into the Canopus 80, he shared in Lord Nelson’s celebrated pursuit of the combined squadrons to the West Indies, and, for the part he eventually bore in the action off St. Domingo, was presented with a gold medal, the thanks, in common with others, of both Houses of Parliament, and a vase, worth 100l, from the Patriotic Society at Lloyd’s. In June, 1806, Capt. Austen went on half-pay; but obtaining an appointment, 23 March, 1807, to the St. Albans 64, he continued to serve in that ship until 22 Sept. 1810. During that period he escorted a division of transports, with a reinforcement of 2000 troops, to the coast of Portugal, where they arrived on the eve of the battle of Vimeira – afterwards superintended the debarkation at Portsmouth of the remains of Sir John Moore’s army – and afforded protection, to and from the East, to several large convoys of Indiamen. For his gallant exertions, in the autumn of 1809, in bringing to a successful issue a dispute with the Chinese, he was honoured with the approval of the Admiralty, and was presented by the East India Company with the sum of 1000 guineas. On 3 Dec. 1810, he became, a second time, Flag-Captain to Lord Gambler, in the Caledonia 120, and was stationed off the coast of France during the continuance of that officer’s command. From 9 July, 1811, until 7 May, 1814, he commanded the Elephant 74, and was employed with Admiral Young’s fleet in the North Sea; also in cruizing off the Western Islands with the Phoebe and Hermes under his orders; and finally on the Baltic station, where he captured the American privateer Sword Fish, of 12 guns and 82 men. Capt. Austen was nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815; and a Colonel of Marines (in the Woolwich division) 27 May, 1825. He became a Rear-Admiral 22 July, 1830; a K.C.B. 28 Feb. 1837; and a Vice-Admiral 28 June, 1838. He has held the chief command, since 27 Dec. 1844, on the North America and West India station, with his flag in the Vindictive 50.
Sir Fras. Wm. Austen married, first, in July, 1806, Mary, eldest daughter of John Gibson, Esq., of Ramsgate; and, secondly, in July, 1828, Martha, eldest daughter of the Rev. Noyes Lloyd, formerly Rector of Enbourne, Berks. He was again left a widower in Jan. 1843. By his first marriage, the Vice-Admiral has surviving issue, with three daughters, five sons, of whom the eldest and the fourth, Francis William and Herbert Grey, are both in the Navy – the one a Commander, the other a Lieutenant.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 443.