A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Fleming, Richard Howell
FLEMING, K.F.M., K.M.L. (Commander, 1816. f-p., 25; h-p., 29.)
Richard Howell Fleming, born about 1789, at Bratton Fleming, co. Devon, is a scion of the good old stock of Fleming, being a descendant of Rich. Fleming, of Braunton, in that shire, who was created Baron of Slane in 1112.
This officer entered the Navy, in April, 1793, as a Volunteer, on board the Solebay 32, Capts. Wm. Hancock Kelly and Henry Wm. Bayntun, stationed in the West Indies; where he assisted at the reduction, in 1794, of all the French West India islands, and received a musket-shot in his right hip after the recapture of Guadeloupe by the French. From the early part of 1796, until Oct. 1798, when he invalided on account of a hurt in his knee, we find him employed in the Romney 50, bearing the flag of Sir Jas. Wallace, in which ship, besides twice visiting Newfoundland, he actively cruized on the Home station, and witnessed the capture, 10 March, 1796, of La Bonne Citoyenne French ship of 20 guns. In June, 1800, after an intermediate servitude in an East and West Indiaman, he re-erabarked on board the Empress Mary store-ship, Master-Commander John Luard, with whom he did duty, on the Jamaica and Mediterranean stations, until paid off at the close of 1802; from which period, until 12 July, 1804, he occupied himself in the Revenue department of the Navy. Joining, then, the Culloden 74, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Pellew, he again sailed for India, where, until his return home in the autumn of 1807, he became successively attached, as Midshipman, to the Howe 36, Capts. John Duar and Edw. Ratsey, Cornwallis 50, Capt. Johnson, and Harrier 18, and Sir Edward Hughes 38, both commanded by Capt. Edw. Ratsey. On one occasion, while in the Howe, Mr. Fleming had the misfortune in a fall to receive a severe contusion in the head, and so badly to injure his left hand that he has never since been able to straighten its fingers; and, on another, he won the admiration of Capt. Johnson and of the whole crew of the Cornwallis by his intrepidity in ascending aloft (at a time when the consternation induced by a typhoon of the most terrific kind had paralysed every other person on board) and cutting adrift the tattered sails – a service which it was acknowledged on all hands proved the salvation of the ship. Being appointed Master’s Mate, on his return to England, of the York 74, Capt. Robt. Barton, he made another trip to the West Indies; on his passage whither he assisted in taking possession of Madeira. As Acting-Lieutenant of the same ship, to which rank he was advanced by Sir Alex. Cochrane 14 Dec. 1808, Mr. Fleming subsequently served on shore in command of a division of 100 seamen at the reduction of Martinique. He was also present at the taking of the Saintes and of the 74-gun ship D’Haupoult; and on his return to Europe he accompanied the expedition to the Walcheren. His appointment to the York being confirmed by commission dated 26 Sept. 1809, he next proceeded to the Mediterranean. After a continued servitude on that station in the Conqueror and Ajax 74’s, Capts. Edw. Fellowes and Sir Robt. Laurie, he was invested by Sir Edw. Pellew with the command, in Jan. 1812, of the Pylades alias Carlotta gun-brig; but it must not pass unrecorded, that while in the {{sc|Conqueror} he effected the destruction, in noon-day, of an armed vessel, Chained from her masts to the shore, at Aras, in the Gulf of Genoa, where the opposition he encountered killed 2 and wounded 9 of the men who were employed in three boats tinder his orders. The Carlotta, while Mr. Fleming was in her, captured several small vessels, including a French privateer, and partook of various services on the coasts of Tuscany and Genoa. Having paid his gun-brig off in Feb. 1815, the Lieutenant, on 25 of the following month, joined the Impregnable 98, bearing the flag of Sir Josias Rowley; from which ship, after the surrender of Naples, he was removed to the command of the Joseppa Neapolitan sloop-of-war, and sent in charge of the despatches announcing that event to King Ferdinand at Messina, by whom he was intrusted with an official communication for Lord Exmouth and Prince Leopold. He next co-operated in the siege of Gaeta; and then, being superseded in the command of the Joseppa, returned to the Impregnable, and continued in her until placed out of commission towards the close of 1815. Mr. Fleming’s last appointment, as Lieutenant, appears to have been, 3 July, 1816, to the Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship of Lord Exmouth, in which he shortly afterwards sailed on the memorable expedition against Algiers. On arriving at Gibraltar he assumed command of the Invincible battery-ship, armed with a 68 and a 24-pounder; and on the glorious 27th Aug., having taken up a position under the stem of the Queen Charlotte, he continued to fire until every cartridge on board had been expended and none more were to be procured. Ere the conflict was over, Mr. Fleming won distinction by the gallant manner in which he volunteered and blew up an ordnance-sloop, charged with 143 barrels of powder, close under the semicircular battery to the northward of the lighthouse. So tremendous was the explosion that its shock destroyed every water-pipe in the town.[1] Mr. Fleming’s services on the occasion were acknowledged by his promotion to the rank of Commander on 17 of the following Sept. With the exception of a nine months’ charge (dating from 21 June, 1842) of the Packet Service at Weymouth, and a command, of nearly three years and a half (from 28 March, 1843, until Aug. 1846) of the Ocean 80, guard-ship at Sheerness, he has since been on half-pay.
For his services at Naples, Commander Fleming was invested by the King of the Two Sicilies with the insignia of the order of St. Ferdinand and Merit; and for those he rendered at Algiers, he was presented with the Sardinian order of St. Maurice and Lazare, as well as with the order of St. Louis, and a medallion of Lord Exmouth, transmitted to him through Sir Sidney Smith by the Anti-Piratical Society at Paris. Being of an ingenious turn of mind, he has originated a large number of inventions and improvements in matters connected with his profession. He also lays claim to having suggested the use, as it at present exists, of the Archimedean screw. He married, 8 Jan. 1821, Eliza, daughter of the late Philip George, Esq., Alderman of the city of Bristol; and has issue a son and daughter. Agent – W. H. B. Barwis.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1816, p. 1790.