A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Mitchell, Spalding
MITCHELL. (Retired Commander, 1838. f-p., 17; h-p., 34.)
Spalding Mitchell entered the Navy, 28 Nov. 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Harpy sloop, Capt. Henry Bazely, on the Home station; where, from July, 1797, until May, 1801, he served with Capt. Fras. Fayerman in the Beaulieu 40 and Terrible 74, and with Capt. Stephen Poyntz again in the Beaulieu; in which ship, under the former officer, he fought as Midshipman in the action off Camperdown 11 Oct. 1797. Being nominated in March, 1803, Master’s Mate (after a servitude of eight months as Admiralty-Midshipman in the Sirius frigate, Capt. Wm. Prowse) of the Malta 80, Capt. Edward Buller, he served in that ship in Sir Robt. Calder’s action with the combined fleets of France and Spain, 22 July, 1805. He became Sub-Lieutenant, 21 Sept. following, of the Sprightly cutter, Lieut.-Commander Sam. Gordon; and, being awarded a full Lieutenant’s commission, 22 Jan. 1806, was next, from 14 April in that year until 18 July, 1810, employed, in that capacity, in the Charwell sloop, Capts. Philip Dumaresq, Edwin Henry Chamberlayne, Robt. Lisle Coulson, Hon. Wm. Gordon, and Henry Thompson. He was in consequence present in the operations of 1807 against Monte Video and Buenos Ayres; he also, in 1809, being at the time First-Lieutenant, took command of the boats, and brought off a vessel which the Charwell had driven ashore on the Ile de Bourbon; and in the course of the same year he had the misfortune to be severely wounded by the explosion of a powder-horn while in the act of pointing a gun for the purpose of covering the retreat of a party that had been sent on shore for water in the neighbourhood of St. Denis. In consideration of his sufferings the Patriotic Society voted him a gratuity. His last appointments were, 15 March, 1811, and 2 July, 1813, to the Sceptre and Marlborough 74’s, Capts. Sam. Jas. Holland, Thos. Harvey, and Robt. Honyman, on the North American and West India stations. When Second-Lieutenant of the former ship in 1812, he jumped overboard and saved the life of a seaman. He was paid otf from the Marlborough in March, 1814; and accepted his present rank 13 Oct. 1838.