A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Carden, John Surman
CARDEN. (Rear-Admiral of the Red, 1840. f-p., 23; h-p., 36.)
John Surman Carden, horn 15 Aug. 1771, is eldest son of Major Garden, of the Irish family of Templemore (who died from the effects of the wounds he had received when combating the enemies of his country during the first American war), by Miss Surman, of Teddington, near Tewkesbury, co. Gloucester.
This officer entered the Navy, 28 May, 1788, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Edgar 74, Capt. Chas. Thompson, bearing the flag in the Channel of Rear-Admiral Leveson Gower; became Midshipman, in 1790, of the Perseverance frigate, Capt. Isaac Smith, on the East India station; and, in 1793, joined the Marlborough 74, Capt. Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley, of which ship, after experiencing a severe injury in Lord Howe’s memorable action, he was created a Lieutenant, 24 July, 1794. His subsequent appointments, in the latter capacity, appear to have been, between March, 1795, and Aug. 1798, to the Formidable and Barfleur 98’s, Capts. Hon. G. C. Berkeley and Jas. Rich. Dacres – to the Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship of Sir Chas. Thompson – and, as First, to the Fisgard of 46 guns and 281 men, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, all on the Home station. Mr. Garden’s steady good conduct, on 20 Oct. in the latter year, at the capture – after a close and obstinate conflict of great length, a loss to the Fisgard of 10 killed and 26 wounded, and to the enemy of 54 killed and 61 wounded – of the French frigate L’Immortalité of 12 guns and 580 men, was rewarded with a Commander’s commission, dated 23 of the same month. [1] On 13 July, 1799, he joined the Sheerness 44, armée en flûte, and, until he invalided in March, 1803, was successively employed in attending the expedition to the Holder, where he commanded a division of boats at the debarkation of the army, in co-operating with the French royalists in La Vendée and with the British army in Egypt, and subsequently in the East Indies, where he rendered the most effective assistance in quelling the fire which, in Feb. 1803, nearly consumed the city of Bombay. After an employment of twelve months in the Firth of Tay District of Sea Fencibles, Capt. Garden assumed command, 21 Dec. 1804, of the Moselle brig, from which vessel, after intermediately serving in the North Sea, creditably at the blockade of Cadiz,[2] and in the Mediterranean, he was advanced, 22 Jan. 1806, to Post-rank. His subsequent appointments afloat were – 15 Aug. 1808, to the Ville de Paris 110, one of the ships employed in embarking the troops after the battle of Corunna, on which occasion his exertions were unremitting [3] – 11 April, 1809, to the Ocean 98, in which he returned to England – 9 June, 1810, to the Maes 74, stationed in the Baltic and off Lisbon – and, 5 April, 1811, to the Macedonian of 48 guns, giving 528 lbs. in broadside weight of metal, and 254 men. On 25 Oct. 1812, he brought to close action, and – after a glorious resistance of two hours and ten minutes, which reduced the Macedonian to a helpless wreck, and occasioned her a loss of 36 men lulled and 68 wounded – was taken by the American ship United States of 56 guns, yielding a broadside weight of 864 lbs., and 474 men, of whom the killed and severely wounded do not appear to have exceeded the united amount of 12.[4] Capt. Garden, who, we should state, had previously been in frequent and very warm collision with the batteries on the coast of France, was afterwards, on 31 May, 1813, most honourably acquitted, by a court-martial which had assembled at Bermuda, of all blame in the unavoidable surrender of his frigate, and was, together with the whole of his officers and ship’s company, extolled in the highest manner “for his firm and most determined courage, resolution, and coolness, in every instance throughout the action.” His valour and heroism became the universal theme: Parliament soon resounded with his praises; and, among other marks of respect, he was honoured with the freedom of the cities of Worcester and Gloucester, and of the borough of Tewkesbury. Capt. Garden was lastly, in 1825, appointed to command the Ordinary at Sheerness; and, on 17 Aug. 1840, he was made a Rear-Admiral. He is at present on half-pay. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.