A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hurst, George
HURST, K.W. (Lieut.,1810. f-p., 17; h-p., 32.)
George Hurst entered the Navy, in Dec. 1798, as Ordinary, on board the Diana 38, commanded at Cork by Capts. Jonathan Faulknor and Alex. Fraser; proceeded to Lisbon, towards the close of 1799, as Midshipman of the Impregnable 98, Capt. J. Faulknor; and, from Oct. 1799, until June, 1802, served, on the Home station, in the Glory 98, Capt. Thos. Wells, and Achille 74, Capts. Sir Edw. Buller and John Okes Hardy. He then accompanied Capt. Hardy into the Courageux 74, in the boats of which ship he assisted at the reduction of Ste. Lucie in 1803; and he was subsequently, until July, 1807, employed, in the Channel, and off Cork and Cadiz, in the Britannia 100, Captain (afterwards Rear-Admiral) the Earl of Northesk, Virginie 38, Capt. Edw. Brace, and Atlas 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral John Child Purvis. The next three years were passed by Mr. Hurst, as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Illustrious 74, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, Minorca 18, Capt. Phipps Hornby, and Excellent and Bombay 74’s, Capts. John West and Wm. Cuming, chiefly on the Mediterranean station. In Nov. 1808 we find him serving on shore in command of a party of the Excellent’s seamen, and uniting in the defence of Rosas, a citadel on the north-eastern extremity of Spain. Being confirmed 4 Dec. 1810, and appointed a few days afterwards to the Guadeloupe of 16 guns and 102 men, Capts. Joseph Swabey Tetley, Geo. Rose Sartorius, and Arthur Stow, he served in that vessel, on 27 June, 1811, in a close and spirited action of an hour and 35 minutes, fought by her, off the town of Vendre, with the French corvette Tactique of 18 guns and at least 150 men, and armed xebec Guêpe of 8 guns and 65 or 70 men; both of whom were in the end beaten off with great slaughter to themselves, and with a loss to the British (who for some time had been simultaneously opposed by the fire of two heavy batteries) of 1 man killed and 12 or 13 wounded. On 9 Nov. 1813 Mr. Hurst commanded the boats of the Guadeloupe, in conjunction with those of the Undaunted, and distinguished himself by the gallant manner in which he aided at the capture of a vigorously defended tower, 30 feet high, together with several batteries in the harbour of Port Nouvelle, where lay 7 French vessels, whose destruction was fully effected.[1] After further contributing, in the boats of the same sloop and of the Salsette frigate, to the capture of a French privateer in the Archipelago, he removed, 24 Nov. 1813, to the Ganymede 20, Capts. John Brett Purvis and Wm. M‘Culloch, with whom he served, as First-Lieutenant, in the Mediterranean and at Bermuda, until 5 Aug. 1815. He was next employed, in a like capacity, from. 15 Oct. 1832 until he invalided in March, 1833, on board the Rhadamanthus steamer, Capt. Geo. Evans, with whom, during that period, he served in the North Sea, and made a voyage to Lisbon. He has not since been afloat.
Lieut. Hurst was appointed a Naval Knight of Windsor in 1838.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 124.