A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Blenkarne, William
BLENKARNE. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 12; h-p., 31.)
William Blenkarne entered the Navy, in Nov. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Harpy 18, Capt. Edmund Heywood, employed in watching the Boulogne flotilla; and after a short attachment, towards the close of 1805, to the Royal William, bearing the flag at Portsmouth of Sir Isaac Coffin, became Midshipman of the Audacious 74, in which ship he proceeded to the West Indies. He subsequently joined the Dictator 64, Capt. Jas. Macnamara, in the North Sea, and under the same officer, in the Edgar 74, witnessed the embarkation of the Marquis de la Romana’s army from Nyeborg, 11 Aug. 1808. In March, 1810, Mr. Blenkarne removed to the Berwick 74, also commanded by Capt. Macnamara, and in that ship, on 24 March, 1811, he assisted in chasing a large French frigate, L’Amazone, among the rocks near Barfleur, where she was in consequence burnt by her own crew. On Capt. Edw. Brace succeeding to the command of the Berwick, we find him participating, in April, 1814, in the operations which led to the reduction of Genoa, and further present at the surrender of Gaeta, 8 Aug, 1815. A few weeks after the battle of Algiers, on which occasion, 27 Aug. 1816, he fought as Master’s Mate of the Impregnable 104, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral David Milne, Mr. Blenkarne was presented with a commission dated back to 20 March, 1815. He has not since been employed.