A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Bullen, Joseph
BULLEN. (Admiral of the White, 1841. f-p., 28; h-p., 45.)
Joseph Bullen, born 14 April, 1761, is second son of the late Rev. John Bullen, Rector of Kennet, co. Cambridge, and of Rushmoor-cum-Newburn, co. Suffolk.
This officer entered the Navy, in Nov. 1774, as Midshipman, on board the Pallas 36, Capt. Hon. Wm. Cornwallis, with whom he continued to serve, in the 50-gun ships Isis, Bristol, and Chatham, and 64-gun ship Lion, on the coasts of Africa and North America, and in the West Indies, until 1779. During that period he was present, in the Isis, at the attacks on Red-Bank and Mud-Fort, in Oct. and Nov. 1777; and, as Master’s Mate of the Lion, took part, 6 July, 1779, in the action between Vice-Admiral Hon. John Byron and the Comte d’Estaing off Granada, on which occasion the latter ship was fearfully out up, and endured a loss of 21 killed and 30 wounded. Mr. Bullen, who had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 6 March, 1778, shortly afterwards joined the Hinchinbroke[1] 28, Capt. Horatio Nelson, whom he accompanied, in 1780, in the armament against Fort St. Juan, on the Spanish Main.[2] He then returned to the Lion, commanded, as at first, by Capt. Cornwallis, and, ultimately, by Capts. Wm. Fowkes [errata 1] and Pigot; and, on being lent to the Prince George 90, Capt. John Williams, he participated, as officer in charge of half the middle gundeck, in Rodney’s victory over the Comte de Grasse, 12 April, 1782, after a glorious conflict, in which the Prince George occupied a very conspicuous position, and had 9 men killed and 20 wounded. As Lieutenant, Mr. Bullen’s subsequent appointments were – 2 May, 1785, and 6 July, 1786, to the Carnatic and Bombay Castle 74’s, guardships at Plymouth, both commanded by Capt. Anthony Jas. Pye Molloy – 16 June, 1790, to the Monarch 74, Capt. Peter Rainier, fitting at Spithead for the East Indies – 6 Feb. 1793, to the Agamemnon 64, Capt. Horatio Nelson, actively employed in the Mediterranean – and, 11 Sept. following, to the Victory 100, flag-ship of Lord Hood at Toulon. At the defence of the latter place against the revolutionists he held for three weeks the volunteered command of Fort Mulgrave, where the bursting of a 36-pounder killed and wounded every one present except himself and Capt. Walter Serocold. On 20 Nov. 1793, Mr. Bullen’s exertions were rewarded by his promotion to the command of the Mulette 20, but, the latter vessel being absent, he was appointed Acting-Captain of the Proselyte frigate. In that ship, with the view of rescuing 300 Spanish and Neapolitan troops, who would otherwise inevitably have fallen into the hands of the French, he was the last, when Toulon was evacuated, to quit the harbour; and so impracticable had his escape, in consequence of this voluntary act of humanity, been considered, that Lord Hood, in the despatches he was about to send home, had actually returned the Proselyte as lost. During the early part of the siege of Bastia, in March, 1794, Capt. Bullen served as a Volunteer under Capt. Serocold, who had superseded him in the Proselyte, out of which ship they were both burnt by red-hot shot, and, towards the close of the operations, he commanded an advanced battery. His services throughout were reported by Nelson in the highest possible terms. He invalided in July of the same year, and was afterwards, in the course of 1796, appointed, as a Volunteer, to the Santa Margaritta, of 40 guns and 237 men, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, and, as Commander and Acting-Captain, to the Scourge sloop, and Alexander 74 – in the first of which ships he assisted in the management of the main-deck guns, and distinguished himself by his meritorious conduct, at the recapture, on 8 June, near Waterford, of the Tamise, of 40 guns and 306 men, of whom 32 were killed and 19 wounded, while of the British only 2 were slain and 3 wounded, after a close and gallant action of 20 minutes.[3] Capt. Bullen, who was advanced to Post-rank 24 Nov. 1796, subsequently commanded, for want of ability to procure a ship, the Lynn Regis district of Sea Fencibles, from 26 Sept. 1804, until the disbandment of that corps in 1810. He has since been on half-pay. He became a Rear-Admiral 28 Aug. 1819 – a Vice-Admiral 12 Nov. 1840 – and a full Admiral 23 Nov. 1841.
Admiral Bullen married, in 1801, Margaret Ann, only daughter of the late W. Seafe, Esq., of the Leages, co. Durham, barrister-at-law. Agent – J. Hinxman.
BULLEN. (Admiral of the White, 1841.)
Joseph Bullen. The Hinchinbroke, in the expedition to Fort St. Juan, lost, out of a crew of 235 men, all but 27, in the short space of six weeks, owing to the unhealthiness of the climate.