A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Mathews, Robert Bates
MATHEWS. (Lieut., 1810. f-p., 27; h-p., 21.)
Robert Bates Mathews was born 5 June 1785 This officer entered the Navy, in Dec. 1799 as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Harpy 18, Capts. Henry Bazely and Wm. Birchall; under the former of whom, when in company with the Fairy 18 he took part, 6 Feb. 1800, in a very gallant action of an hour and three-quarters, which terminated in the Repulse, with a loss to the Harpy of 1 killed and 3 wounded, of the French frigate Pallas of 46 guns and 362 men. In the evening of the same day he was present in a second action, the upshot of which was the surrender of the Pallas to the above named sloops and their consorts, the Loire 38 Danae 20, and Railleur 16. At the commencement of 1801 Mr. Mathews became Midshipman of the Brunswick 74, Capt. Geo. Hopewell Stephens; and, on his return from the West Indies in 1802, he successively joined the Neptune 98, flag-ship of Admiral Milbanke at Spithead, and Apollo 36, Capt. John Wm. Taylor Dixon. In the latter vessel it was his misfortune to be wrecked, off the coast of Portugal, 1 April, 1804; on which occasion the Captain and 60 of the crew were lost; himself and the remainder being left for three days on the wreck without sustenance, and only partially clothed. So great was the shock to his constitution that he has never recovered its effects. Joining next, as Master’s Mate, the Mackerel 4, Lieut.-Commander R. Williams, he proceeded to Bermuda; where, in 1805, while in the act of protecting an American vessel, on the rocks, he received a wound which greatly weakened his right hand, and disabled its fore-finger. In 1806, having removed to the Mercury 28, Capt. Chas. Pelly, Mr. Mathews was placed in charge of a re-captured merchantman, which he carried in safety to Lisbon, although surrounded and chased on the passage by four Spanish privateers. His conduct indeed was such as to procure him mention in his Captain’s official letter to Sir Erasmus Gower, the Commander-in-Chief at Newfoundland. Having passed his examination, 5 June, 1806, and been intermediately employed in the Mediterranean on board the Colossus 74, Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, and Royal Sovereign 100, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Edw. Thornbrough, Mr. Mathews was promoted, 4 May, 1810, to the rank of Lieutenant, and appointed to the Hibernian 110, which ship the state of his health, however, deprived him of the possibility of joining. He was afterwards employed – from July to Sept. 1811, in the Impregnable 98, in which ship he proceeded from Sheerness to Portsmouth – from 23 March, 1812, to 31 Jan. 1816, in command of the Signal Station at Barry’s Head, co. Cork – and from 14 Feb. 1820 until, we believe, 1831, in the Coast Guard. During the latter period he received a gold medal from the Royal National Shipwreck Institution, in acknowledgment of his exertions in having saved 31 persons from shipwreck. His resignation of his appointment was induced by extreme ill health; a complaint contracted in the Coast Guard having caused him to undergo two surgical operations. On leaving that service, however, he accepted the appointment of Harbour Master at Lowestoft, in Suffolk; the duties of which Office he continued to fill until Oct. 1843, when he relinquished it, in consequence of the sale of the navigation by the Exchequer Loan Commissioners.
Lieut. Mathews (who receives a pension of 4l. per annum for the wound he received at Bermuda) married Elizabeth, sister of Retired Commander Thos. Jager, by whom he had issue 12 children. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.