A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Blois, John Ralph
BLOIS. (Commander, 1821. f-p., 23; h-p., 17.)
John Ralph Blois is second son of Sir Chas. Blois, Bart., of Grundisburgh and Coxfield Halls, co. Suffolk, by Clara, daughter of Jocelyn Price, Esq., of Camblesworth Hall, co. York; and brother-in-law of Lord Huntingfield.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 July, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Colossus 74, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, attached to the force in the Mediterranean, where, and on the Home station, he afterwards served, as Midshipman, in the Royal Sovereign and San Josef, flag-ships of Sir Edw. Thornbrough and Sir Chas. Cotton, Furieuse 36, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, Repulse 74, Capt. Richard Hussey Moubray, Bacchus, Capt. Wm. Hill, Berwick 74, Capt. Edw. Brace, and Impregnable 104, flag-ship of Sir Josias Rowley. He assisted, while in the Furieuse, at the capture of the island of Ponza and of the town of Via Reggio, as also in the unsuccessful attack upon Leghorn, in 1813; and, in the Berwick, he witnessed the surrender of Gaeta, in Aug. 1815. Having been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 6 March in the latter year, Mr. Blois was next in that capacity appointed – 6 Feb. 1816, to the Meander 38, Capts. John Bastard and Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon, under the latter of whom he narrowly escaped shipwreck, near Orfordness, in Dec. of the same year – and, 3 July, 1818, to the Euryalus 42, Capt. Thos. Huskisson, stationed in the West Indies. He there assumed the acting-command, 30 Dec. 1820, of the Nautilus 18, in which sloop he continued until confirmed into the Bann, 6 March, 1821. He subsequently officiated, from 18 Jan. 1823, until the spring of 1832, as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard, but since the latter date has been on half-pay. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.