A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Collins, Edward
COLLINS. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 16; h-p., 37.)
Edward Collins entered the Navy, 16 March, 1794, as Midshipman, on board the Ganges 74, Capts. Wm. Truscott, Lancelot Skynner, Fras. Laforey, and Robt. M‘Douall; under the first of whom he was wounded, while assisting at the capture, 30 Oct. following, of the French 24-gun ship Le Jacobin. On his return from the West Indies in May, 1797, where he had served on shore at the reduction of Ste. Lucie, he cruized for three years on the Home station in the Révolutionnaire 38, Capts. Fras. Cole and Thos. Twysden. He then, for a few months, joined, as a Supernumerary, the Cambridge 80, flag-ship at Plymouth of Sir Thos. Pasley; and after an equally brief servitude in the Agincourt 64, bearing the flag at Newfoundland of Sir Chas. Morice Pole, was confirmed a Lieutenant, 1 Dec. 1800, in the Concorde 36, Capt. Robt. Barton. Having been paid off early in 1802, Mr. Collins was next appointed, 3 May, 1803, to the Phoenix 36, Capt. Thos. Baker, on the coast of Spain; subsequently to which he served, from 20 Feb. 1805 to 16 May, 1806, as Flag-Lieutenant to Sir Thos. Graves, in the Foudroyant 80. He again officiated in a similar capacity under Sir Edw. Buller, in the Résolue, at Portsmouth, from 30 Nov. 1809, to 1 Nov. 1813; and assuming, in Jan. 1814, the like post on board the Porcupine 22, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Chas. Vinicombe Penrose, took a conspicuous part in the various operations then in progress on the north coast of Spain.[1] He further held the acting command in the Gironde, for a short time, of the Martial sloop; and was officially promoted to the rank he now holds 15 June 1814. Since that period Commander Collins has been on half-pay.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, pp. 506, 618.