A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hughes, William James
HUGHES. (Retired Captain, 1840. f-p., 16; h-p., 36.)
William James Hughes, born 15 Aug. 1783, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, is son of Mr. Hughes, who died Builder of the Naval Yard at that place. His eldest brother died Purser of a line-of-battle ship; and two others, also deceased, were Lieutenants in the R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 16 April, 1795, as A.B., on board L’Espérance 18, of which sloop, commanded on the Halifax station by Capt. Jonas Rose, he became Midshipman 10 June, 1796. Removing, in June of the following year, to the Rover 18, Capt. Geo. Irvine, he assisted, under that officer, at the capture of Le Jean Bart, a noted privateer, and continued with him until wrecked, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Aug. 1798. He then joined the Asia 74, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Vandeput, from which ship he was transferred, in Oct. 1799, to the Cleopatra 32, Capt. Israel Pellew. He was afterwards detached in charge of a prize-schooner, and when in the Gulf of Mexico had the misfortune to be captured by a Spanish letter-of-marque. On being retaken by the Acasta frigate, he was received, in April, 1801, on board the Sans Pareil 80, flag-ship at Jamaica of Lord Hugh Seymour; who, on 31 Aug. following, appointed him Lieutenant of the Tisiphone sloop, Capts. John Hayes and John Thompson – an act which the Admiralty confirmed 24 Feb. 1802. Soon after the renewal of hostilities, being at the time on leave of absence at Halifax, Mr. Hughes took a passage for England on board the Lady Hobart. That vessel having, three days subsequently to her departure, effected the capture of a French fishing-schooner, he volunteered, with five others, to navigate her into Liverpool, and he accordingly went on board, leaving all his effects, for better security, in the Lady Hobart. The latter, however, was unluckily wrecked, the very next morning, on an island of ice, and he thus, as he had before done in the Rover and the Cleopatra’s prize, lost everything he possessed. Reaching England in safety, he was appointed, 12 Aug. 1803, to the Scourge 18, Capt. Wm. Woolridge; as Senior Lieutenant of which vessel we find him, with 2 boats and 20 men, distinguishing himself at the boarding and recapture, in Jan. 1804, of a large English ship, of 20 men, mounting 8 guns, and lying close under the batteries in the Vlie Passage.[1] He invalided in March, 1804, but was appointed, for a short time in the same year, to the Swift 18, Capt. John Wright, and on 2 July, 1806, to the command of the Phosphorus fire-brig, of 4 12-pounder carronades and 24 men. On 14 of the ensuing Aug., Lieut. Hughes displayed a very high degree of valour in beating off a French lugger privateer, L’Elize, mounting about 12 guns, with a crew of between 70 and 80 men, after a brave and determined action on the part of the British of an hour and 10 minutes; 45 minutes of which period the enemy, who attempted to carry the Phosphorus by boarding, lay close alongside. Among the wounded on the occasion, eight in number, was Lieut. Hughes himself.[2] The gallantry of his exploit, indeed, was so fully appreciated, that, besides attracting the notice of H.R.H. the Duke of Kent and eliciting a letter of approbation from the Lords of the Admiralty, it obtained for him a sword from the Patriotic Society valued at 100l., also the same sum in money, and, more than all, a Commander’s commission dated 25 Sept. 1806. His subsequent appointments were – 11 June, 1807, to the office of Agent for Prisoners of War and Transports at Jamaica – 4 July, 1808, to the command of the Ephira 10, in the North Sea and Downs, on which stations he continued until May, 1809 – 19 March, 1813, to the duties of Transport Agent in a secret expedition to the Baltic under Rear-Admiral Hope – 21 May, 1813, to act as Port-Admiral at Carlskrona – and in Sept. 1813 (after having brought a body of Russian seamen from Kronstadt to England), to the Governorship of the Naval Hospital at Halifax. The latter appointment he accepted under the impression that it was a permanent one; an error he only discovered in June, 1816, when he was superseded, and found that it had only served to debar him from such chance as the war might have afforded of his obtaining further promotion. Unable to procure re-employment, he suffered his name to be added to the list of Retired Captains 10 Sept. 1840.
Capt. Hughes, in consideration of his wound, which was in the left hand and considered equivalent to the loss of a limb, obtained a pension of 150l. 2 Dec. 1815. He married, 7 March, 1804, Elizabeth Frances, daughter of the late Thos, Clay, Esq., a merchant in London, and grand-daughter of the late Capt. Adler, in the Swedish service; by whom he has issue 10 children. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.