A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hawes, Edward
HAWES. (Commander, 1828. f-p., 20; h-p., 19.)
Edward Hawes entered the Navy, 15 July, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Alonzo sloop, Capt. Wm. Buckley Hunt, fitting at Deptford. In the following month he removed with the same officer to the Britomart 10, and in that vessel (with the exception of an attachment of a few months in 1813-14 .to the Orion 74, Capt. Sir Arch. Collingwood Dickson) he continued to serve, latterly with the present Capt. Robt. Riddell Carre, until Oct. 1816. During that period Mr. Hawes, who at the early age even of 13 was intrusted with the charge of a prize, attended as Midshipman the expedition to the Scheldt, and saw a vast deal of active service on the North Sea and Baltic stations. Among the numerous detached operations in which he bore an active and prominent part, we may enumerate the destruction of several privateers and gun-vessels, in the Vlie Passage, in May, 1810; the proximate cutting out, by two of the Britomart’s boats, of L’Intrépide privateer of about 8 guns and 40 men, from under the fire of an enemy’s battery, and within sight of several armed ships; and the boarding and carrying, off Heligoland, 17 July, 1812, of L’Eole, another privateer, pierced for 14, but carrying only 6 guns, with a complement of 31 men, which vessel did not surrender until she had sustained a loss of 2 slain and 7 wounded, and had killed 3 and wounded 10 of the crews belonging to the British boats. In the summer of 1811 we find Mr. Hawes, while in the execution of his duty, receiving so severe an injury in the right eye that its effects have since nearly deprived him of the sight. For his subsequent services, as Master’s Mate, at the battle of Algiers he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by commission dated 16 Sept. 1816; and he was afterwards appointed – 1 Nov. 1821, to the Andromache frigate, bearing the broad pendants at the Cape of Good Hope of Commodores Joseph Nourse and Constantine Richard Moorsom – 6 Oct. 1825, to the Beagle 10, Capt. Pringle Stokes, attached to the force in South America, whence he invalided in Aug. 1826 – and 9 March, 1827, as Senior, to the Weasel 10, Capts. John Burnet Dundas, and Hon. Wm. Wellesley, on the Mediterranean station. While under Commodore Moorsom Mr. Hawes was despatched from the Cape in charge of the York, a small tender of only 30 tons, for the purpose of ascertaining the fate of a party who had gone some time before to form a settlement on the east coast of Africa, and who had not since been heard of. By dint of steady perseverance, and the exercise of the most seamanlike conduct, he overcame the obstacles offered to his progress by a succession of south-east gales, accompanied by heavy seas and strong currents, and contrived, in his mere epitome of a ship, fully to carry out the object of his mission – having the good fortune ultimately to find those of whom he had been sent in quest at Port Natal, where, owing to the loss of their vessel, they had been cut off from all means of communication. The York then returned to the Cape, which she reached in safety, long after every hope had disappeared of her having been able to survive the tempestuous weather she had encountered. The Andromache was at the time on the eve of sailing for England, and the vacancy supposed to have been occasioned by the death of Mr. Hawes had actually been filled up. On 18 Aug. 1828 our officer was promoted to the command of the Philomel 10, in which sloop he served in the Mediterranean until paid off, 15 June, 1829. From the latter date he appears to have remained unemployed until 23 April, 1842, when we find him receiving the appointment of Principal Agent for Transports in China; the harassing, and in some cases the delicate duties attached to which office (until the transport shipping had been all finally disposed of) he continued to discharge, with a zeal for the service, and a degree of activity, prudence, and judgment, that elicited the warmest thanks of his Commander-in-Chief, Sir Thos. John Cochrane. He returned to England in Sept. 1843, and since 21 May, 1844, has been Superintendent of the Packet Service at Portpatrick, with his name on the books of the Royal Sovereign yacht.
Commander Hawes married, 6 Oct. 1829, Mary Ann Cornelius, daughter of his old Captain, Wm. Buckley Hunt, who died in Nov. 1812, by whom he has issue five children. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.