A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Herbert, Thomas
HERBERT, K.C.B. (Captain, 1822. f-p., 20; h-p., 24.)
Sir Thomas Herbert, born in Feb. 1793, is son of the late Rich. T. Herbert, Esq., of Cahernan, co. Kerry, where the Herbert family has been seated since the reign of Charles II. Among the early ancestors of Sir Thomas we discover the name of Sir Rich. Herbert, of Coldbrook, who, with his brother William, Earl of Pembroke, was beheaded at Banbury, the day after the battle of “Danes Moor,” 26 July, 1469.
This officer entered the Navy, 23 July, 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Excellent 74, Capt. Frank Sotheron, and, on proceeding to the Mediterranean, was there invested with the rating of Midshipman 1 Jan. 1804. After assisting at the defence of Gaeta and the capture of Capri, he removed to the Blonde 38, Capt. Volant Vashon Ballard, whom he accompanied to the West Indies, on which station we find him witnessing the reduction, in Dec. 1807, of the Danish West India Islands, and contributing to the capture of five privateers, carrying in the whole 58 guns and 515 men. On 1 Aug. 1809, as a reward for the conduct he had in particular exhibited as prize-master of L’Alert of 20 guns and 149 men, Mr. Herbert, on the recommendation of his Captain, was nominated by Sir Alex. Cochrane to a Lieutenancy in his flag-ship the Neptune 98. Being officially promoted on It) of the following Oct., he was next, between March, 1810, and June, 1814, employed, as a Lieutenant, in the Pompée 74, Capt. Sir Jas. Athol Wood, on the West India, Home, and Mediterranean stations. He then became First of the Euryalus 36, Capt. Chas, Napier, in which frigate he served until the close of the American war, and obtained the official mention of Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon for the ability and the conspicuous exertions he displayed throughout the operations on the river Potomac, including the capture of Fort Washington, and of the city of Alexandria.[1] On 19 Oct. 1814, Mr. Herbert, who by that period had been upwards of 20 times engaged with the enemy, in cutting-out affairs and otherwise, and had been thrice wounded, was advanced to the rank of Commander. He did not, however, take up his commission until Feb. 1815; from which period he appears to have remained on half-pay until 6 Sept. 1821. He then obtained an appointment to the Icarus 10, fitting for the Jamaica station, where he removed, 6 May, 1822, to the Carnation 18, and was posted, 25 Nov. following, to a death vacancy in the Tamar 26. Continuing to serve in the latter vessel until paid off in Aug. 1823, Capt. Herbert succeeded during that period in destroying three piratical vessels on the coasts of Cuba and Yucatan. On 10 Nov. 1837, not having been afloat for a period of 14 years, he was next appointed to the Calliope 26, and ordered to the Brazils. Until the arrival there from the Pacific of Commodore Thos. Ball Sulivan, Capt. Herbert, we find, conducted in person the duties of Senior Officer. He was subsequently directed to assume the command of the naval force in the Rio de la Plata for the protection of the British interests at Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, during the blockade of the former place by a French squadron; and, while in discharge of the duties which were thus imposed upon him, he had the satisfaction of being twice officially assured of the entire approbation of the Admiralty at his proceedings. In Jan. 1840 Capt. Herbert went round Cape Horn, and joined Rear-Admiral Chas. Bayne Hodgson Ross at Valparaiso, whence, in the ensuing June, he sailed for China via St. Bernardin’s Passage, encountering en route, while among the Philippine Islands, a typhoon, which the Calliope was only enabled to survive through the extreme exertions of her officers and crew. Arriving in the Canton river on 10 Oct., Capt. Herbert immediately assumed, and, until the advent of Rear-Admiral Hon. Geo. Eliot on 20 Nov., retained, the command of the blockading force. The important nature of his services, as one of the chief actors in the scenes of hostility that followed, demands our particular attention. On 7 Jan. 1841, having been placed by the Rear-Admiral in charge of the advanced squadron off the Boca Tigris, he conducted the attack made on the enemy’s forts at Chuenpee, where were annihilated 11 powerful junks, the flower of the Chinese navy;[2] and on 23 Feb., being at the time on board the Nemesis, he effected the destruction of a 20-gun battery at the back of the island of Anunghoy.[3] Three days after the latter event we find him, in the Calliope, heading the operations against the celebrated Bogue Forts, and on the 27th (with the Calliope, Herald 26, Alligator 26, Modeste 18, Sulphur 8, and Nemesis and Madagascar steamers, under his orders), attacking the enemy’s camp, fort, and ship Cambridge, bearing the Chinese admiral’s flag, at their position below Whampoa Beach, where 98 guns were on the whole destroyed.[4] After capturing, on 13 March, the last fort protective of the approaches to Canton, Capt. Herbert’s squadron advanced towards the city, and on the 18th attacked all the batteries and flotilla in its immediate vicinity; the former of which, in the course of two hours and a half, were in succession destroyed, and the latter either burnt or dispersed; thus enabling the British to plant the Union-Jack on the walls of the factory, and placing totally in their power the huge capital of Quang-tong.[5] On the renewal, in the following May, of the hostilities against Canton, the Chinese, on the night of 21 of that month, made a vigorous attack, with fire-rafts and armed boats, and from several masked and newly raised batteries, on the British shipping there located, and still commanded by Capt. Herbert. They were, however, totally defeated, and on the next day their batteries were dismantled, and their floating armament ruined. On 26 the water-defences between the Factories and Howqua’s fort, mounting 64 guns, were levelled, and forcible possession taken of their naval arsenal and warjunks.[6] In the month of June Capt. Herbert, who until then had directed, as we have stated, the movements of the advanced squadron on the Canton river, succeeded, owing to the death of Sir Humphrey Fleming Senhouse, to the command of the whole force employed on that stream. On the arrival, a few weeks afterwards, of Rear-Admiral Sir Wm. Parker, as Commander-in-Chief, he was removed to the Blenheim 72; in which ship, in the course of the following Aug. and Oct., he assisted, with great distinction, at the capture of Amoy, the retaking of Chusan, and the reduction of Chinghae.[7] On the latter occasion, after the necessary breachings had been accomplished, he landed in command of the light column of attack, consisting of a body of upwards of 700 seamen, marines, and troops, and stormed and carried the citadel, situated on the left bank of the Tinghae river; while the General, Sir Hugh Gough, with the land forces, made himself equally master of the extensive and formidable works on the right bank. Capt. Herbert, who was next present at the surrender of Ningpo, and subsequently accompanied several reconnoitring parties up the Tinghae, returned to Hong-Kong from off Ningpo and Chusan in Feb. 1842, and resumed command of the squadron in the Canton river. In the month of July he left Hong-Kong in a steamer, for the Yang-tse-Kiang, for the purpose of visiting Nanking, where he remained until H.M. Plenipotentiary, in Oct., took leave of the Imperial Commissioner. Sir Thos. Herbert, whose brilliancy of service had been rewarded, 14 Oct. 1841, with the dignity of a K.C.B.,[8] returned to England by the Cape of Good Hope – thus accomplishing a circumnavigation of the globe – and paid the Blenheim off in March, 1843. Since 11 Jan. 1847 he has been employed on the south-east coast of America, with a broad pendant in the Raleigh 50.
Sir Thos. Herbert, a Magistrate and Deputy-Lieutenant for Kerry, was High Sheriff for that co. in 1829.