A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Barker, William Collins
BARKER. (Lieut., 1802. f-p., 23; h-p., 29.)
William Collins Barker, born 20 July, 1779, is brother of Lieut. John Barker, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 March, 1795, as L.M., on board the Alcmene 32, Capt. Wm. Brown, attached to the fleet in the North Sea. On 13 May, 1796, having been transferred as Midshipman to the Salisbury 50, Capt. Wm. Mitchell, he was wrecked, on Isle la Vache, St. Domingo; but he continued to serve, on the Jamaica station, until Oct. 1800, in the Queen 98, flag-ship of Sir Hyde Parker, and during that period was much employed in the boats, and was twice wounded. On his subsequent removal to the Wasp 16, Capt. Chas. Bullen, we find Mr. Barker landing, as Acting-Master of that vessel, and effecting the destruction of a native town in Cape Bay, Sierra Leone, where 1000 of the enemy were killed and 3000 wounded. Shortly after the latter event, which took place in Dec. 1801, he obtained an order to act as Lieutenant of the Wasp, and, on 25 March, 1802, he was confirmed in that rank by the Admiralty. The Wasp being paid off in the following August, Mr. Barker was next, from 25 May, 1803, to 16 April, 1806, employed on the river Thames, under the orders of Capt. Richbell, in raising seamen for the service. He then, for 10 years, commanded the Enterprize, receiving-ship off the Tower; and, on 12 Feb. 1814, when the late Custom-house was consumed by fire, he proved the great instrument, through his own exertions and those of his ship’s company (as appears by the ‘Times’ newspaper of 17 of that month, and the Wharfingers’ Memorial to the Admiralty of 12 April following), of saving from otherwise inevitable destruction the warehouses belonging to the Crown on Brewer and Galley Quays, &c., and the vast amount of property there deposited. For a few months in 1817, at the request of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, he afterwards held charge of the Batavier, lying at Blaockwall, for the superintendence of foreign seamen. He next, from 4 May, 1818, until 6 July, 1821, commanded the Perseus receiving-ship at Deptford; but was then superseded by Capt. Jas. Couch, with whom however he continued to serve until the following Sept. He has since been on half-pay.
Lieut. Barker married in Nov. 1803, and has issue five children.