A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hewson, Maurice
HEWSON. (Lieut., 1809. f-p., 18; h-p., 33.)
Maurice Hewson, born 5 Nov. 1786, is youngest brother of Capt. Geo. Hewson, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 27 May, 1796, as A.B., on board the Savage sloop, Capt. Geo. Winckworth, in which vessel, and in the Overyssel 64, bearing each the flag of Admiral Peyton, he served for twelve months in the Downs, latterly as Midshipman. He was then obliged to invalid from an attack of fever, and, when afterwards on his passage to Ireland in a merchant-vessel, he was captured by one of the enemy’s row-boats and taken to Calais, whence, however, through the generous interference of the Prussian Consul, who claimed him as a relative, he was soon allowed to return home. Re-embarking, 18 March, 1798, on board the Nemesis 28, Capts. Robt. Dudley Oliver and Thos. Baker, he made a voyage with convoy to Quebec, and was for some time employed in watching the movements of the enemy off Boulogne and Calais. On his subsequent rejunction of Capt. Oliver in the Mermaid 32, we find him visiting the Mediterranean, where, after many months of active boat and other service off Toulon, and assisting at the capture of La Cruelle French brig of war, he accompanied Lord Hutchinson, the Conqueror of Egypt, to various places in Sicily and Naples. On the return of the Mermaid with that nobleman to England, Mr. Hewson, who for sixteen months had held the rating of Master’s Mate, was received on board the Diamond 38, Capt. Thos. Elphinstone, with whom he served on the Home station until shortly after the renewal of hostilities, when he was sent into port in charge of a prize. While next awaiting off Brest, in the Pickle schooner, Lieut.-Commander John Richards Lapenotiere, an opportunity (which, however, never presented itself) of rejoining the Diamond, he was at times intrusted with the sole management of that vessel, and often commanded her boats in operations against the enemy’s coasting trade – a species of service in which he so attracted the attention of Rear-Admiral Collingwood as to obtain from him a promise of early recommendation to the Admiralty. On the evening of 4 Sept. 1803, the boats of the Emerald frigate having been placed under his orders by direction of the Admiral, for the purpose of procuring intelligence from Brest in regard to a report then afloat of a counter-revolution at Paris, Mr. Hewson, while the rest of his force took the direction of Ushant, landed with one boat’s crew on a projecting rock in Le Goulet passage. While engaged in reconnoitring his position, the keepers whom he had left in charge of the boat deserted with it, and, being thus cut off from all chance of escape, he had no alternative but to surrender himself and his men as prisoners of war. After five years of captivity, during which he had once escaped from Verdun, but had been recaptured, and had undergone all the sufferings that tyranny could suggest and barbarity enforce, he contrived, in company with the present Capt. Donat Henchy O’Brien and two others, to effect a miraculous flight from the renowned fortress of Bitche – the details of which have been published by the latter gentleman. On ultimately arriving at Trieste, after having traversed on foot more than 3000 miles of country, and been exposed for a month to a series of the most trying privations, Mr. Hewson and his companions, in Nov., 1808 [errata 1], contrived to get on board a boat belonging to the Amphion frigate, Capt. Wm. Hoste, which had been sent inshore on the look-out under the command of Lieut. Geo. Matthew Jones. Previously, however, to reaching the ship, it was his fortune to participate in a desperate attack made by that officer on two powerful vessels, whose successful resistance killed 2 and wounded 5 of the boat’s crew. Lieuts. Jones and O’Brien being among the latter, the command of the boat was thereupon conferred on Mr. Hewson, who soon afterwards obtained a passage in the Spider [errata 2] to Malta, where he eventually, in Jan. 1809, joined Lord Collingwood on board the Ocean 98. On 11 of the following April (having passed his examination 25 Jan. 1803) he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Magnificent 74, Capt. Geo. Eyre – an appointment which received the sanction of the Admiralty by a commission dated 15 July in the same year. When again off Malta, during a violent gale which occurred soon after he had taken up his quarters on board the last-mentioned ship, Mr. Hewson was intrusted by his Captain, who happened to be a total stranger to the harbour of Valetta, with the sole duty of conducting her into port. In Oct. 1809 we find him contributing to the reduction of Zante, Cephalonia, &c.; and in March and April, 1810, serving on shore in command of the naval brigade during nearly the whole of the arduous operations which preceded the fall of Sta. Maura. Owing to the paucity of officers on board the Magnificent he was recalled a few hours only previous to the surrender of the fortress – a circumstance which had the mortifying effect of precluding his name from appearing as it otherwise would in the Gazette announcing the conquest. While subsequently attached, between July, 1812, and June, 1814, to the Clarence 74, Capt. Henry Vansittart, he was very actively employed off the coast of France, and on one occasion, when in command of the boats, he displayed so much skill and gallantry in an affair with a powerful division of the enemy’s gun-vessels, that on his return to the ship the Captain on the quarter-deck presented him, in testimony of his regard, with a sword which had been given to himself on his first going to sea. He was frequently also sent on shore with flags of truce for the purpose of sounding the loyalty of the authorities, and of inducing them to join the standard of Louis XVIII.; and in every instance he had the satisfaction of seeing his exertions crowned with the most flattering and complete success. The only other appointment which Mr. Hewson was ever able to procure was, on 29 May, 1815, to the Prometheus sloop, Capt. Wm. Bateman Dashwood, which vessel, on Napoleon Buonaparte’s surrender, formed part of his escort into Plymouth. He left her 9 Sept. 1815.
Lieut. Hewson, we believe, was the very first person who established the practicability of a double-engine to the purposes of steam navigation, as he was also to navigate a steam-vessel on the Atlantic. He married Anna, daughter of John Hunt, Esq., of Dublin, Barrister-at-law.