A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Briggs, Francis
BRIGGS. (Retired Commander, 1837. f-p., 16; h-p., 34.)
Francis Briggs, born 18 May, 1784, is nephew, maternally, of the late Sir Boss Donnelly, K.C.B., Admiral of the Blue, who died, 30 Sept. 1840, in his 77th year; and first cousin of the Dowager Lady Audley.
This officer entered the Navy, 11 Aug. 1797, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Vestal 28, Capt. Chas. White, on the North Sea station; served from May, 1798, to Aug. 1803, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Maidstone and Narcissus 32-gnn frigates, commanded by his uncle, Capt. Ross Donnelly, in the West Indies, Channel, and Mediterranean; passed his examination in Sept. 1803; was immediately appointed by Lord Nelson Acting-Lieutenant of the Halcyon 18, Capt. Henry Whitmarsh Pearse; and received his official promotion by commission dated 8 May, 1804. While First-Lieutenant of the last-mentioned vessel, he was present in various engagements with the gun-boats in the Gut of Gibraltar; assisted at the capture, 20 Sept. 1804, of L’Esperance French privateer, of 10 guns and 54 men; retook, when in charge of one of the Halcyon’s boats, a brig which had just before been captured by a privateer; contributed, after the battle of Maida, to the destruction of the enemy’s batteries along the coast of Calabria, where, vpith a party of seamen under his orders, he served on shore at the reduction of Reggio; drove on shore several merchant-vessels when in command of a gunboat in the Faro of Messina; acquired credit and was wounded by a splinter in the arm, 13 Dec. 1806, in an action, fought with great spirit for three hours, between the Halcyon, singly, and three Spanish national vessels of far superior force, which terminated in the capture of one of the latter, the Neptuno corvette, of 14 guns and 72 men; received in consequence a pecuniary reward from the Patriotic Fund, but no promotion, although recommended by his Captain;[1] and on subsequently attending the expedition to Copenhagen, in Aug. and Sept. 1807, witnessed the bombardment of that city and seizure of the Danish fleet. Lieut. Briggs’s next appointment was, in March, 1808, to the Invincible 74, Capts. R. Donnelly and Chas. Adam, in the Mediterranean, from which ship he was detached in command of a gun-vessel to assist at the defence of Cadiz, where the latter was unfortunately sunk by a shell falling into her while engaging the batteries. In Oct. 1812, he joined the Merope 16, commanded by Capts. Edw. Flinn, – Roberts, and ultimately, for two months, by himself, on the east coast of Spain. He was placed on half-pay in Dec. 1813; remained unemployed from that period; and accepted his present rank 25 Jan. 1837.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 52.