A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Helby, John Hasler
HELBY. (Commander, 1847. f-p., 38; h-p., 2.)
John Hasler Helby entered the Navy, 1 June, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Success 32, Capt. John Ayscough; during an attachment of nearly four years to which frigate he cruized off Havre de Grace, attended the expedition of Dec. 1807 to Madeira, afforded protection for some time to the Greenland fisheries, assisted in 1809 at the reduction of Ischia and Procida, and co-operated, as Midshipman, in the defence of Sicily against the threatened invasion of Murat. He also, among other boat-services, contributed, 4 April, 1810, to the destruction, with a loss to the British of 2 men killed, of two vessels laden with oil, and protected by a heavy fire of great guns and musketry, on the beach, near Castiglione; and, on 25 of the same month, he assisted at the capture of an armed ship and three barks, under the castle of Terracina. On the Success being ordered to England in 1811, Mr. Helby volunteered to continue in the Mediterranean, and he was therefore received on board the Cerberus 32, Capts. Henry Whitby and Thos. Garth. By those officers he appears to have been again employed on many cutting-out affairs, some of them of a very dashing nature, on the coasts of Corfu and Italy. On one occasion, however, while absent in a prize, he had the misfortune to be wrecked on the Calabrian shore, and taken prisoner, although he was happily not detained beyond a period of three months. He ultimately, in July, 1814, returned to England and was paid off, but, before he had been many weeks at home, he again sailed for the Mediterranean, in the Phoenix 36, Capt. Chas. John Austen; under whom, after having been very actively employed, in particular at the port of Pavos, where he had served in the boats in a sharp action which had preceded the capture of two pirate vessels, he was once more wrecked, near Smyrna, 20 Feb. 1816. On the occurrence of the latter catastrophe, Mr. Helby, we find, distinguished himself in an especial manner by his daring conduct in swimming on shore through a violent surf with a hauling-line, for the purpose of receiving a hawser to save the ship’s company. Volunteering again to remain in the Mediterranean, our officer there became successively attached to the Boyne 98, and Queen Charlotte 100, both flagships of Lord Exmouth, whose favourable notice he had the good fortune to attract by the extreme gallantry of his behaviour at the ensuing battle of Algiers. Towards the close of 1816 he joined the Conqueror 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Robt. Plampin at St. Helena, where, on 19 Sept 1818, he was appointed Acting-Lieutenant of the Eurydice 24, Capt. Robt. Wauchope. He was however, superseded in the next December, and in a fortnight afterwards was compelled from the state of his health to invalid. In May, 1819, he obtained an appointment, as Admiralty-Midshipman, to the Albion 74, commanded at Portsmouth by Capt. Rich. Raggett, with whom he continued until Sept. 1821, when he was nominated to a similar rating in the Iphigenia 42, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Robt. Mends on the coast of Africa. He was there again, on 4 March, 1822, appointed an Acting-Lieutenant of the Pheasant 18, Capt. Douglas Chas. Clavering, to which sloop the Admiralty at length confirmed him on 1 of the following July. Since his return to England in Feb. 1823, Mr. Helby’s appointments appear to have been – 19 Oct. 1824, and 5 March, 1825, as a Supernumerary-Lieutenant, to the Ramillies and Hyperion, Capts. Wm. M-Culloch and Wm. Jas. Mingaye, employed on the Coast Blockade – 5 Nov. 1828, to the Coast Guard – 18 March and 20 May, 1835, to the successive command of the Hound and Camelion Revenue-vessels – and, 15 June, 1838, again to the Coast Guard, in which he continued until advanced to the rank he now holds 1 Jan. 1847.
Lieut. Helby is married, and has issue.