A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Hutchison, William (b)
HUTCHISON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 10; h-p., 31.)
William Hutchison (b), born 26 May, 1793, in Dublin, is youngest son of the late Ephraim Hutchison, Esq. (great-grandson of an officer who served as Major of Cavalry at the battle of the Boyne, and to whose family King William III. made a grant of the extensive district of Cooliskrane, otherwise Quinsborough, in the Barony of Ophaly, in co. Kildare, free from quit and crown rent), by Elizabeth, daughter of Redmond Morres, Esq., a King’s Counsel, and for many years M.P. for the city of Dublin in the Irish Parliament, and sister of the first Viscount Frankfort de Montmorency.
This officer entered the Navy, in Sept. 1806, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Delight 16, Capt. Philip Cosby Handfield, and in the course of the following year was employed as Midshipman in scouring the Calabrian shore, and destroying the enemy’s coasting-trade. On 30 Jan. 1808, the Delight, in an endeavour to re-capture four Sicilian gun-boats, unfortunately took the ground near Reggio, and was obliged to surrender, after losing, from an exposure of 15 hours to a galling fire from the enemy’s batteries and troops, two-thirds of her crew, together with her Commander and Capt. Thos. Secombe of the Glatton, who was serving on board at the time. Escaping in .the boats, Mr. Hutchison got on board the Bittern sloop, from which, in a short period, he was transferred to the Malta 84, Capt. Wm. Shield. In May of the same year, he again joined a sloop named the Delight, commanded by Capt. John Brett Purvis, with whom he remained until Jan. 1810, when he was received on board the Atlas 74, bearing the flag off Cadiz of Rear-Admiral John Child Purvis. After assisting in the boats of the latter ship at the defence of Fort Matagorda, Mr. Hutchison removed to the Apollo 38, Capts. Bridges Watkinson Taylor and Edwards Lloyd Graham, to which frigate he continued attached, in the capacities of Master’s Mate and Acting-Lieutenant, until June, 1814 – a period of rather more than four years. On 29 Jan. and 3 Feb. 1813, we find him serving with credit at the reduction of the islands of Augusta[1] and Curzola; and on 28 of the following May uniting in a brilliant attack made by four of the boats belonging to the Apollo and Cerberus, under Lieuts. John Wm. Montagu and Wm. Henry Nares, upon a convoy, protected by 11 gun-boats, near Otranto, where the cliffs were covered with French troops. Upon this occasion, Mr. Hutchison, who commanded the Apollo’s gig, and had only seven men with him, actually boarded and carried a gun-vessel mounting one 12 and two 4-pounders, with a complement of 40 men, besides similarly making prize of four armed merchantmen.[2] In the month of June he further assisted at the capture of a gun-boat mounting 2 long guns, and the driving of another vessel on shore.[3] He attained his present rank 18 Feb. 1815, nearly three years after he had passed his examination; and was next, from 6 of the following May until 30 Nov. 1816, employed on the Channel and West India stations, in the Plumper, Briseis, and Sabine sloops, Capts. Geo. Domett and Geo. Campbell. He has since been on half-pay.
Lieut. Hutchison has for many years filled, with pre-eminent zeal and spirit, the post of Harbour-Master at Kingstown, Dublin. His exertions in the preservation of life at different periods have been of a singularly humane and intrepid character. The first instance of the kind was on 23 April, 1818, when he was the means of saving H.M. sloop Pandora from destruction, during a violent gale and tremendous sea, by his voluntary efforts and example in manning a life-boat for the purpose of enabling pilots to be put on board – a service which procured him the approbation of the Admiralty, and the sum of 100l. from the Navy Office. The heroic manner in which he afterwards, under the most awful circumstances, rescued the crews of the schooner Curwin of Carlisle, and the brigs Ellen of Liverpool and Duke of Maryport, was such as to obtain the thanks of the Ballast-Office at Dublin, the presentation from the Corporation of a piece of plate of the value of 50 guineas, a recommendation in his favour to the Admiralty from the Viceroy of Ireland, the Duke of Northumberland, and the gold medallion of the London Shipwreck Institution. On 25 Jan. 1838, during a heavy gale from the east, he received a very severe wound, which totally deprived him of the sight of one eye, while in the act of bringing to anchor an Indiaman which he had boarded outside the harbour. The Lieutenant married, 25 Nov. 1818, Elizabeth, daughter of the late John Knox, of Warringsford, co. Down, by whom he has issue six sons and four daughters.