A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Loch, Francis Erskine
LOCH. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 27; h-p., 21.)
Francis Erskine Loch, born in April, 1788, is youngest son of Geo. Loch, Esq., of Drylaw, co. Edinburgh, by Mary, daughter of John Adam, Esq., of Blair, co. Kinross, sister of the Right Hon. Wm. Adam, Lord Chief Commissioner of the Scotch Jury Court, and aunt of the present Vice-Admiral Sir Chas. Adam, K.C.B., Governor of Greenwich Hospital. Capt. Loch (whose grandmother was herself the grand-daughter of David, fourth Earl of Buchan) is uncle of Capt. Granville Gower Loch, R.N., and of Lieut. Geo. John Loch, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 Sept. 1799, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Queen Charlotte 100, Capt. Andrew Todd, bearing the flag of Lord Keith; and on 17 of the following March narrowly escaped involvement in the destruction of that ship, being on board when she took fire in Leghorn Roads. After he had further served with Lord Keith, as Midshipman, in the Audacious and Minotaur 74’s, and Foudroyant 80, and had assisted in the Minotaur at the blockade of Genoa, he removed to the Mondovi 14, Capt. John Stewart. While under that officer he landed as his Aide-de-camp at the island of Rhodes for the purpose of accelerating the fitting out of the numerous gunboats intended for the conveyance of troops to Egypt; was employed in a boat at the debarkation in Aboukir Bay; assisted in cutting out a Greek vessel from under the guns of the castle at that place; was present in the battles of 13 and 21 March; and was for a long time again Aide-de-camp to his Captain on Lake Mareotis. In the course of the same year Mr. Loch successively joined the Africaine and Pearl frigates; the former commanded by Capt. Stewart, and the latter by Capt. Sam. Jas. Ballard; under whom, while at the blockade of Malta, he beheld the capture of Le Carrère, of 40 guns, and was serving on shore with the seamen and marines belonging to Sir John Borlase Warren’s squadron when they were repulsed at Porto Ferrajo. On leaving the Pearl, in Nov. 1801, he returned, as Signal-Midshipman, to the Foudroyant, Still on the Mediterranean station, whence, in 1802, he came home in the Princess Augusta yacht, Capt. Hon. Geo. Grey. Being discharged, in May, 1803, into La Chiffonne 36, commanded by his cousin, Capt. Adam, he cruized with much success in that ship in the North Sea and Channel until the summer of 1805; on 10 June in which year La Chiffonne (the Falcon sloop, Clinker gun-brig, and Frances armed-cutter in company) drove on shore under the batteries of Fécamp a division of the French flotilla, consisting of two corvettes and 15 gun-vessels, carrying in all 51 guns, 4 8-inch mortars, and 3 field-pieces, accompanied by 14 transports. In Dec. 1805, after he had been for a short time stationed with Capt. Adam off the mouth of the Scheldt in the Resistance 38, Mr. Loch was nominated Sub-Lieutenant of the Seagull 16, Capt. Robt. Cathcart. His appointments in the capacity of Lieutenant, a rank he attained 22 Jan. 1806, were, it appears – 5 Aug. 1806, to the Diadem 64, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Chas. Stirling – 11 Aug. 1808, to the Semiramis 36, Capts. Wm. Granger and Chas. Richardson – 8 May, 1811, to the Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Sir Edw. Pellew – and, in 1812, to the San Josef 110, and Queen Charlotte 100, bearing each the flag of Lord Keith. During the operations of 1807 in the Rio de la Plata, Mr. Loch, then in the Diadem, commanded a party of seamen attached to the guns under Brigadier-General Auchmuty and Lieut.General Whitelocke at the capture of Monte Video and in the unsuccessful attack upon Buenos Ayres. On the fall of the former place he was intrusted with the charge of 60 prizes taken in the harbour, many of them vessels-of-war. When in the Semiramis, in 1808, we find him escorting to Corunna Mr. Frere, the British Minister, together with the patriot general the Marquis de la Romana; and, on his appointment to the Caledonia, participating in a skirmish between the British and French fleets off Cape Sepet. While Flag-Lieutenant in 1812 of the Queen Charlotte, he was sent in the hired-cutter Fanny to reconnoitre Brest Roads; and so well did he carry out his instructions, that he succeeded in making a sketch of the position of each of the enemy’s vessels; not however without much peril, as the Fanny was at first nearly sunk by the batteries in Le Goulet, and next all but captured by a ship of the line. As a reward for this service, Mr. Loch was, in Oct. 1812, invested by Lord Keith with the acting-command of the Rover sloop, and ordered to cruize between Ushant and Ile de Bas, where he forced an armed convoy to seek protection among the rocks. Prior to his official promotion to the rank of Commander, which took place 6 Jan. 1813, he had the fortune to capture the Experiment American letter-of-marque, of 6 guns and 17 men, laden with cotton and rice, from Charlestown bound to Bourdeaux – the first vessel of .the kind that had attempted a voyage to Europe since the declaration of war. On then leaving the Rover (although he had been in her so short a period) the officers and crew united in presenting him with an elegant sword, accompanied by an equally handsome complimentary address. Being next appointed, 16 Aug. 1813, to the Sparrow 16, Capt. Loch was for some time stationed at the mouth of the river Bidasoa; and on 10 of the following Nov., while Lord Wellington’s army was forcing the French lines along the coast to St. Jean de Luz, we find him assisting in a naval demonstration in the rear of Socoa, where the Sparrow sustained some slight damage in her hull and sails, and had 1 man wounded.[1] On 26 March, 1814, the latter vessel, when off Brest, fell in during thick weather with the two French frigates Etoile and Sultane; in closely reconnoitring which she sustained further injury, and had her Master killed and 1 man wounded. The Hebrus 36 heaving in sight while she was so engaged, and the Hannibal 74 soon joining in the chase, the enemy’s ships were fortunately both captured. Capt. Loch’s conduct in this affair procured him the thanks of the Admiralty. In the ensuing summer the Sparrow was employed in bringing to England some of the Generals (among whom were the famous Barclay de Tolly and Hetman Platoff) attached to the suites of the Allied Sovereigns. On the occasion of the grand naval review her Captain was directed by the Admiral of the Fleet to superintend the procession of boats which attended the embarkation of the Prince Regent and his royal visitors on board the Impregnable. He was then despatched to Genoa, in convoy of several transports with Sardinians discharged from the British army; and on 29 Sept. 1814, as soon as he had accomplished the mission, he was made Post into the Minstrel 26. In that ship, which he paid off in Dec. 1815, Capt. Loch was employed, during the war of a hundred days, in conveying arms and ammunition to the adherents of the Due d’Angouleme on the coast of Spain; and in blockading, previously to the surrender of the island of Elba, the harbour of Porto Ferrajo, where lay the French frigate Alcmène and several gun-boats. Obtaining command, 21 March, 1818, of the Eden 26, he equipped and sailed for the East Indies, and on his arrival on that station was appointed, 16 Oct., Senior officer in the Persian Gulf, in which capacity he contrived to capture or destroy nine piratical vessels. In Nov. 1819 he became second in command of an expedition sent under the orders of Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier to act against the headquarters and principal resort of the freebooters at Ras-al-Khyma. At the commencement of the operations Capt. Loch conducted the debarkation of the troops, 3000 in number; and he then, landing in person, performed the duties of Beach-Master, and served in one of the breaching batteries. When the bulk of the armament returned, he remained with Major Colebrook to arrange any difierences that might afterwards arise. His conduct throughout the whole proceedings, we may add, afforded the highest satisfaction both to the Admiralty and to the Government of India.[2] The Eden being paid off in Aug. 1821, Capt. Loch did not again go afloat until Jan. 1838; on 31 of which month he received an appointment to the Hastings 72. In the following April that ship took the Earl of Durham to Quebec. On her return to England she sailed, in the early part of Oct., for the Mediterranean with the Queen Dowager, whom, after visiting Gibraltar, Naples, Messina, and Syracuse, she landed at Malta on 1 Dec. In April, 1839, Capt. Loch again had the honour of receiving Her Majesty on board, and of being ordered to conduct her to England, where, having been driven back to Palermo by stress of weather, and having touched on his passage at Lisbon and Vigo, he arrived 24 May. His health obliging him almost immediately to invalid, he was appointed, 19 Sept. following, to the Victory 104, ordinary guard-ship at Portsmouth. Since Sept. 1841, about which period he left the Victory, he has been Superintendent of Quarantine at Standgate Creek, in the river Medway.
On 4 May, 1847, Capt. Loch was appointed a Naval Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty. He married, 17 June, 1822, Jesse, daughter of Major Robertson, Barraok-Master-General for North Britain, and niece of General Robertson, of Lawyers, Perthshire, N.B., and by that lady has several children, of whom two are in the Bombay Cavalry and one in the Royal Navy. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.