A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Johnston, Charles Alexander
JOHNSTON. (Commander, 1844. f-p., 31; h-p., 13.)
Charles Alexander Johnston is son of Lieut. Chas. Johnston, R.N., who died in 1804.
This officer entered the Navy, 18 Aug. 1803, as Sec.-cl. Vol., on board the Tribune 36, Capts. Geo. Henry Towry and Rich. Henry Alex. Bennett, in which ship he assisted at the capture and destruction of several of the enemy’s vessels, came frequently into contact with the Cherbourg batteries while employed in blockading the Minerve frigate in that port, and contributed at the commencement of the war with Spain to the capture of four ships laden with specie and colonial produce. Becoming Midshipman, in Sept. 1805, of the Agamemnon 64, Capts. Sir Edw. Berry and Jonas Rose, he had an opportunity of sharing in the battles fought off Cape Trafalgar and St. Domingo, of witnessing the capture of a national corvette (La Lutine) and two schooners, and (independently of a participation in various particular services) of attending the expedition to Copenhagen. On arriving with the Danish prizes at Spithead, Mr. Johnston was under the necessity of entering Haslar Hospital, in consequence of a severe injury he had received in the foot. On 20 June, 1809, having rejoined the Agamemnon, he had the misfortune to be wrecked in the Rio de la Plata; whereupon he was received on board the Foudroyant 80, flag-ship of Hon. Michael De Courcy, who retained him under his orders on the South American station until Nov. 1812. The next three years were passed by Mr. Johnston in the Baltic, West Indies, Channel, and Mediterranean, on board the Vigo 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Jas. Nicoll Morris, Benbow 74, Capt. Rich. Harrison Pearson, Snap 12, Capt Geo. King, and Pompée 74, Capt. Sir Jas. Athol Wood. On his passage to the West Indies in the Benbow he was placed in charge of an American prize, and sent with her to Barbadoes. In Sept. 1815 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant by commission ante-dated to 8 Feb. in the same year; but he did not again procure employment until 8 Feb. 1825, when he joined the Coast Blockade, a service to which he continued attached, as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies and Talavera 74’s, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch, Hugh Pigot, and David Colby, until transferred to the Coast Guard, 18 April, 1831. He twice during that period elicited the special approbation of the Lords of the Admiralty and of H.R.H. the Lord High Admiral – the first time, for the singularly gallant manner in which, with only 3 seamen, he compelled a gang of 150 armed smugglers to retreat, leaving behind them 1 of their number a prisoner, whose apprehension led to the complete suppression of the rest; and the second, for his successful intrepidity in capturing, in a small galley, with not more than 4 hands,in spite of a desperate resistance, the French lugger La Jeune Rosalie of 13 men, and two tub-boats. These exploits indeed were so highly estimated both by Capt. Pigot and by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Poo Beresford, that they each recommended him for promotion. This, however, did not take place until 5 Jan. 1844, when, after having been employed in the Coast Guard for a further period of nearly thirteen years, and been instrumental to the seizure of 60 vessels and boats, with their crews, he was at length invested with the rank of Commander. He has since been on half-pay.