A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Bates, Henry Andrew
BATES. (Lieutenant, 1814.)
Henry Andrew Bates was born 30 Nov. 1788. This officer entered the Navy, 10 Sept. 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Starling gun-brig, Lieut-Commander John Guyon, on the North Sea station, where he was present in an attack on the enemy’s flotilla off Flushing, in which the Starling was very severely damaged, and had several men wounded. In Oct. 1804, he joined the Beagle sloop, Capts. Jas. Burn, Geo. Digby, and Fras. Newcombe, under whom he continued to serve, chiefly in the Mediterranean, until Oct. 1809, and during that period contributed to the capture, on various occasions, of a large number of Spanish vessels, of considerable value, ultimately producing to every man engaged the sum of 500l. In 1806 Mr. Bates, who had attained the rating of Midshipman, was taken prisoner by the crew of a vessel in which he had been placed as prize-master, carried to Catalonia, and there detained until, on being exchanged after a lapse of six months, he was enabled to rejoin the Beagle. On a subsequent occasion, while in the act of boarding a Genoese xebec, which the latter vessel had driven on shore near Cape Palos, he was knocked overboard by a spent musket-ball, but was happily rescued, and sent in charge of the captured vessel to Oran, on the coast of Barbary; on arriving in the vicinity of which town, he had the good fortune to save the fort of Marselquivir from falling into the hands of the Arabs. Returning, in 1808, to the Downs, Mr. Bates assisted at the capture of four heavy privateers, a service for which, conjointly with the rest of the officers and crew, he received the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief. He was thrice also, about the same period, intrusted with the hazardous duty of landing secret papers on the coast of France; and, in April, 1809, having escorted Col. Congreve, with 12 fire-ships, to the Basque Roads, was there employed throughout the whole of Lord Cochrane’s operations. During the subsequent expedition to the Scheldt, he took, while in command of the launch belonging to the Salsette 38, Capt. Walter Bathurst, a Dutch gun-vessel, mounting, besides 4 brass howitzers, 1 long twenty-four and 2 long nine-pounders, with a crew of 30 men; and was present in the attack on the fortresses of Bathz and Williamstadt. We next, from 20 Nov. 1810, until March, 1811, find Mr. Bates serving as Acting-Lieutenant in the Undaunted 38, Capts. Geo. M‘Kenzie and Rich. Thomas, and after that period, for a few months in the same capaocity, and then as Master’s Mate, on hoard the Fame 74, Capt. Wm. Bathurst, engaged on the coast of Catalonia; where, on his transference, 5 June, 1812, to the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew, he was employed, in command of a body of pike-men, in co-operating with the army under Lord Wm. Bentinck, and in assisting at the capture, in June, 1813, of the Col de Balaguer. He soon afterwards, with a detachment under Capts. Coghlan and Thos. Ussher, aided in reducing a small town on the coast of France, and, at the capture of a convoy anchored near it, was wounded in the wrist in an unsuccessful attempt to hoard a gun-boat. On 13 April, 1814, he witnessed the surrender of Genoa; and, on 18 of the same month, Sir Edw. Pellew, to mark the estimation in which he held his services, having given him an acting-order as Lieutenant of the Caledonia, placed him in command of her tender, the Thistle lugger, of 10 guns and 50 men, and despatched him to the Dey of Algiers, with intelligence of the continental peace. On Mr. Bates’ paying off the Thistle, in Sept. following, his patron took him in person to the Admiralty, procured for him his commission, dated 20th of the same month, and was the means of his immediate appointment to the Akbar 50, Capt. Chas. Bullen, on the coast of North America; where he removed, 29 Oct. 1815, as First-Lieutenant, to the Arab 16, Capt. Henry Jane, and continued until a short time previously to his being paid off, 19 July, 1816. He has since, we believe, been continually employed, either in charge of a Revenue-vessel or in the Coast Guard, in which service he is at present officiating as an Inspecting-Commander.
He married, 14 Jan. 1815, Miss Isabella Innis, by whom he has issue five children.