A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Higman, Henry
HIGMAN. (Captain, 1817. f-p., 18; h-p., 35.)
Henry Higman entered the Navy, 28 Dec. 1794, as A.B., on board the Charon, hospital ship, Capt. Walter Locke, attached to the Channel fleet. In Sept. 1795, after having participated in Lord Bridport’s action, he removed, as Midshipman, to the Triumph 74, Capts. Sir Erasmus Gower, Wm. Essington, and Thos. Seccombe, with whom he served for upwards of four years in the Channel, North Sea, and Mediterranean, latterly under the flag of Rear-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. He consequently had an opportunity of sharing with Capt. Essington in the glories of Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797, on which occasion he performed the duties of Master’s Mate. On leaving the Triumph, Mr. Higman joined the Raisonnable 64, Capt. Chas. Boyles, at Chatham, for the purpose of awaiting a passage to the West Indies, where, on his arrival in the following June, in the Severn 44, Capt. John Whitby, he was received by Lord Hugh Seymour, to whom he had been recommended by Sir Erasmus Gower, on board his flag-ship the Sans Pareil 80. In Aug. of the same year – seven months, indeed, before he had passed his examination – he was appointed Acting-Lieutenant of the Calypso sloop, Capts. Joseph Baker and Robt. Barrie, on the Jamaica station; and in Dec. 1801 he joined, in a similar capacity, the Goliath 74, to which ship, commanded at first by Capt. Wm. Essington, and afterwards by Capts. Chas. Brisbane and Robt. Barton, he was in the end confirmed by commission dated 3 Sept. 1803. Mr. Higman (who on 28 June in the latter year had contributed, while in escort of a homeward-bound convoy, to the capture of La Mignonne French corvette, of 16 guns and 80 men) subsequently took command of the boats of the Goliath, and in a very seamanlike manner brought out a gun-brig from under a most destructive fire of the batteries at Sable d’Olonne, on the coast of France. Being next, on 28 May, 1805, allowed, on the application of Capt. Brisbane, to rejoin that officer, as his First-Lieutenant, in the Arethusa 38, he assisted, in company with the Anson 44, at the capture, 23 Aug. 1806, near the Havana, after a spirited action, in which the Arethusa had 2 men killed and 32 wounded, of the Pomona Spanish frigate, of 38 guns and 347 men, laden with specie and merchandize, and defended by a castle mounting 11 36-pounders, and a flotilla of 10 gun-boats, all of which were destroyed. A slight wound received by Mr. Higman on the occasion procured him a pecuniary grant from the Patriotic Society.[1] He was promoted, as a reward for the share he had borne at the brilliant reduction of Curaçoa, to the rank of Commander, 23 Feb. 1807; subsequently to which we find him joining – 18 Aug. 1809, the Rattler 16, on the Newfoundland station – 13 Jan. 1810, the Gluckstadt 18, employed in the conveyance of despatches to and from Gottenborg and Heligoland – 11 Feb. 1811, the Fly 16, which vessel, through the obstinacy of her pilots (although Capt. Higman’s exertions were so great as to elicit the plaudits of the subsequent court-martial), was lost on a reef near the island of Anholt 29 Feb. 1812 – and, 6 Dec. 1813, the Brisk 16. In the latter sloop he served for some time on the Irish station, where he contrived by stratagem to recapture a prize belonging to the American privateer Prince de Neufchâtel. He then proceeded with convoy to the coast of Africa, on which station he cruized for nearly twelve months, and took four slavers having between 700 and 800 negroes on board. Owing, however, to a suspension in the payment of the ordinary bounty, neither the officers nor crew of the Brisk (the first vessel that felt the effects of the regulation) received any reward for their exertions; and in consequence Capt. Higman was deprived of nearly 4000l. He was paid off 31 Aug. 1815, but it was not until 1 Jan. 1817 that he was advanced to Post-rank. Unable from that period to procure employment, he at length, on 1 Oct. 1846, accepted the half-pay of Retirement.
Capt. Higman is a widower with five sons, the eldest of whom, a Midshipman R.N., was lately serving with Capt. Glascock on board the Tyne 26. Agent – J. Hinxman.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 1535.