A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Holbrook, Charles
HOLBROOK. (Commander, 1842. f-p., 19; h-p., 22.)
Charles Holbrook, born in 1795, is brother of Commander Thos. Holbrook, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 Aug. 1806, as Midshipman, on board the Vestal 28, Capt. Edwards Lloyd Graham, with whom, after witnessing the first trial made with the Congreve rockets against the Boulogne flotilla, and being very actively employed on the Home and Newfoundland stations, he removed, in May, 1810, to the Pallas 32, commanded subsequently by Capt. Geo. Paris Monke. Previously, however, to joining that frigate we find him assisting, in particular, at the capture, 19 Nov. 1809, of L’Intrepide, French brig-of-war, pierced for 20 guns. He afterwards, during a cruize off the Naze of Norway, contributed, in the boats of the Pallas, to the capture of four Danish privateers. Of one of these, which had offered a spirited resistance, Mr. Holbrook was constituted Prize-Master, and sent with her into Leith. On his passage he encountered a severe gale, and, as his vessel was minus an anchor, he found himself under the necessity, when in the Frith of Forth, of supplying its place with two of her guns. The Pallas being wrecked off St. Abb’s Head, 18 Dec. 1810, he was next, in Jan. and Feb. 1811, received on board the Southampton 32, and Alcmène 38, commanded by his friend Capt. Graham. On arriving in the Adriatic Mr. Holbrook there saw much detached service; and on one occasion, 22 May, 1812, he was present in a most gallant but sanguinary attabk made by four boats under Lieut. Edw. Saurin upon an enemy’s convoy, the result of which was the capture of one of their principal vessels, after nearly the whole of the crew had been either killed or wounded. The slaughter on the part of the British was likewise dreadful – the pinnace alone sustaining a loss of at least 20 officers and men killed and wounded. Among the latter was Mr. Holbrook, who received a shot through the body, and suffered in consequence a protracted illness of four months. On being eventually transferred with Capt. Graham to the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Lord Exmouth, he shared in the partial action fought with the French fleet off Toulon 13 Feb. 1814; and during the ensuing siege of Genoa he was employed with a battering-party on shore. After serving for a few months at Plymouth on board the Prince Frederick receiving-ship, and Malta 84, Capts. Rich. Pridham and Wm. Chas. Fahie, he was presented with a commission dated 16 Feb. 1815. In the summer of 1827 Lieut. Holbrook joined the Blonde 46, Capt. Hon. Wm. Gordon, from which frigate, after cruizing for a short time in the Atlantic, he was transferred to the command of the Cockburn schooner, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Robt. Barrie on the Canadian Lakes where he continued for the long period of seven years, during 18 months of which, owing to the absence of the latter officer in England, he had the supreme direction of naval affairs. He ultimately in Sept. 1834, returned home, in consequence of the establishment on the lakes being broken up; but it was not until after a lapse of another seven years namely, on 7 Feb. 1842, that he succeeded in obtaining the rank of Commander. During the three years immediately preceding that event he had been further employed on board the San Josef 110 bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Fred. Warren, Admiral-Superintendent at Plymouth. In 1839, during the conflagration which broke out in the dockyard at that place, his exertions proved of pre-eminent utility – the preservation, indeed, of two line-of-battle ships, the Minden and Canopus, being alone attributable, as officially asserted to. the energetic conduct he displayed, and to the judgement with which he placed and used the engines of which he had charge. His promotion was at length conferred upon him in consideration of his having been in command of the state barge in which the King of Prussia embarked at Woolwich on the occasion of His Majesty’s departure from England. He has since been on half-pay.
In reference to the wound Commander Holbrook received while belonging to the Alcmène, it may be further remarked, as indicative of its severity, that the ball entered before the left shoulder, passing under the shoulder-blade and out at the spine, and injuring, in its course, the clavicle bone – that, four years afterwards, the wound broke out afresh, and many pieces of bone were extracted from it – that an extraneous substance, frequently productive of pain, has been, in consequence, deposited in his left breast – and that the free use of his left arm has been lastingly affected. Not only has he never received any pay or remuneration for his sufferings, but even was his application refused for the repayment of his surgical expenses. Commander Holbrook is married, and has numerous issue.