A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Croker, Charles
CROKER. (Commander, 1825. f-p., 17; h-p., 25.)
Charles Croker is sixth son of the late Edw. Croker, Esq., of Ballynagarde, co. Limerick, by Margaret Anne, youngest daughter of Rich. Hare, Esq., and sister of William, first Earl of Listowel. He is brother of Lieut.-Colonels Rich, and Wm. Croker, and of the late Albert Croker, who died First-Lieutenant of the Cambrian frigate in Jan. 1826.
This officer entered the Navy, 23 July, 1805, as Fst-cl. Vol., on board the Topaze 38, Capt. Willoughby Thos. Lake, on the Cork station; removed, with the same Captain, in Feb. 1807, as Midshipman, to the Gibraltar 80, part of the Channel fleet; and, in April following, joined the Alceste 38, Capt. Murray Maxwell, in the Mediterranean. He was present in Dec. of the same year at the surrender of Madeira to the British; served as a Volunteer in the boats, with Lieut. Allan Stewart, at the capture, 4 April, 1808, of seven Spanish tartans, under the very muzzles of the guns in the batteries at Rota; contributed to the destruction of several vessels and martello-towers on the coast of Italy in May, 1809; witnessed, in June of the same year, the reduction of the islands of Ischia and Procida; landed, while in company with the Belle Poule 38, and aided in destroying, 5 May, 1811, a French national brig lying in the harbour of Parenza, and defended by a galling cross-fire from two batteries;[1] and, independently of other important and hazardous services, bore a part, 29 Nov. 1811, in an action of 2 hours and 20 minutes, fought with consummate gallantry, between the Alceste and the Active 38, on one side, and the French 40-gun frigates Pauline and Pomone on the other, which terminated in the capture, of the Pomone and escape of the Pauline after a loss had been occasioned to the Alceste of 7 men killed and 13 wounded. Returning home in the autumn of 1812, Mr. Croker joined the Clarence 74, Capt. Henry Vansittart; and, while next commanding a gun-boat on Lake Ontario, he was created a Lieutenant 17 Dec. 1814. He invalided home in March, 1815; and was subsequently appointed – 8 Aug. 1818, to the Redwing 18, fitting for the St. Helena station – 14 Sept. 1821, to the Carnation 18, Capt. John Edw. Walcott, in which sloop he proceeded to Jamaica – and, 19 Feb. 1824, as First Lieutenant, to the Icarus 10, Capt. John Geo. Graham. On 20 Aug. following Mr. Croker took command of a hired Spanish launch and of the boats of the Icarus, and was officially praised for the judicious and spirited manner in which he captured, off the Havana, a large piratical schooner called the Diableto, mounting 6 guns, and manned with about 50 men.[2] He was promoted, 4 Oct. 1825, to the command of the Bellette 18; and, since his return to England in 1826, has been unemployed.
He married, in 1830, Miss M. Crowe, of Byblix, co. Cork, and has issue.