A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Martin, William
MARTIN. (Commander, 1821. f-p., 17; h-p., 31.)
William Martin, born 3 Dec. 1783, at Glanmire, co. Cork, is third son of the late Thos. Martin, Esq., of Springmount, near that place, who, as a Magistrate and the Commander of a corps of Yeomanry, rendered good service in the rebellion of 1798. One of his brothers, an officer in the 19th Light Dragoons, was for a long time employed in India as Aide-de-Camp to Lord Lake.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 Oct. 1799, under the auspices of General Myers, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Dryad 36, Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield, with whom he served until transferred, in June, 1802, to the Hercule 74, Capt. Solomon Ferris, lying at Portsmouth; assisting, during that period, at the capture of Le Premier Consul privateer, of 14 guns (pierced for 24) and 150 men, and of a Swedish frigate mounting 34 guns. Rejoining Capt. Mansfield, in 1803, on board the Minotaur 74, he witnessed the surrender, on 28 May in that year, of La Franchise French frigate of 36 guns, and was present in the same ship in the battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct. 1805. On Aug. 1806, at which period he was serving with Lord Collingwood in the Ocean 98, Mr. Martin was made Lieutenant to the Saturn 74, Capt. Lord Amelius Beauclerk, under whom he was for nearly 18 months employed in the Mediterranean. His succeeding appointments were – 18 Jan. 1808, to the Lion 64, Capt. Henry Heathcote, in command of the launch of which ship he succeeded, in the vicinity of Manilla, in defeating five large piratical boats, carrying between them 20 small guns and about 200 men, after a desperate action of two hours, in which himself and the greater part of his crew, only 20 in number, were wounded – 20 March, 1810, to the Magnet sloop, Capt. John Smith (a), stationed, for the protection of the trade, off Heligoland and the German rivers – 13 Dec. 1810, to the Aboukir 74, Capt. Geo. Parker, employed in the blockade of Flushing – 11 Feb. 1812, to the Calliope 10, Capt. John McKerlie, lying at Chatham – 16 April following, to the Ardent 64, armée en flûte Capt. Geo. Bell, under whom, after conveying troops to Bermuda, he was nearly lost in an awful gale in the Bay of Biscay, during which his presence of mind and courage were most conspicuous, leading him aloft when no other person on board could be found to attempt it – 3 March, 1813, to the Albion 74, Capt. John Ferris Devonshire, fitting for service on the coast of North America – 29 Jan. 1814, as First-Lieutenant, to the Sceptre 74, in which ship, commanded by the same officer, he returned home in time to participate in the grand naval review held at Spithead – 29 July, 1818, in a similar capacity, to the Créole 36, Capt. Wm. Bateman Dashwood, with whom he proceeded to the Rio de la Plata, where his nautical skill in a great measure saved the ship from wreck – 8 Jan. 1819 (on the latter vessel receiving the broad pendant of Commodore Wm. Bowles, although he had been given by the Admiralty to understand that he was not to have been superseded), to the Amphion 32, Capt. W. B. Dashwood, a leaky old vessel, whose hand-pumps were obliged to be kept going during the whole of her passage home – and, 18 Nov. 1819, to the command (six months after the Amphion had been paid off) of the Clinker gun-brig. While in that vessel on the Newfoundland station, Lieut. Martin was in discharge, from Oct. 1820 to April, 1821, of the important duties of Surrogate at Harbour Grace, where his impartial administration of justice in more than 300 cases that came before him for adjudication, gave so much satisfaction, that on his departure he was presented with a most flattering address signed by all the principal inhabitants. In the following summer he was ordered by Sir Chas. Hamilton, Governor of Newfoundland, to explore the Grand Esquimaux Inlet, and then to proceed to the northward in order to find out and communicate with the different stations of the Moravian missionaries on the coast of Labrador. These instructions he carried into effect in a complete and most successful manner. His conduct on arriving among the missionaries, after encountering many dangers and hardships, was such as to endear him greatly to them, and to elicit the earnest thanks of the “Church of the United Brethren” in England. His advent took place during their jubilee-year; and the occasion was the first of their having been visited by a man-of-war. He returned home in May, 1822, having been advanced to his present rank on 19 of the previous July; and has not been since able to procure employment.
Commander Martin married first, in 1816, the daughter of Robt. Henning, Esq., of Compton Bishop, co. Somerset; and (that lady dying in 1825), secondly, 19 Feb. 1829, at Bristol, Anna Maria, eldest daughter of B. O. Donnoghue, Esq. By his first wife he has issue.