A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Moorman, Richard (a)
MOORMAN, K.F.M. (Commander, 1814 f-p 15; h-p., 34.)
Richard Moorman (a), born 22 July, 1784 is uncle of Commander Richard Moorman (b), R.N. One of his brothers was killed on board the Monarch 74, Vice-Admiral Onslow’s flag-ship, in the action off Camperdown, 11 Oct. 1797, and was buried with the honours of war at Minster Church, near Sheerness, where a monument was erected to his memory by his brother officers. A brother-in-law of the Commander was killed in action while defending H.M. packet Montagu, of 6 guns and 30 men, against the American privateer Globe, of 16 guns and 160 men, which vessel was in the end beaten off.
This officer entered the Navy, 25 May, 1798, as Midshipman, on board the Monarch 74, Capt. Edw. O’Brien, bearing the flag of Sir Rich. Onslow in the North Sea. In Nov. 1800 he joined the Révolutionnaire 38, Capt. Thos. Twysden, on the Cork station; and he next, from Sept. 1801 until Feb. 1806, served, chiefly in the capacity of Mate, on board the Donegal 74, Capts. Sir Rich. John Strachan and Pulteney Malcolm. He assisted during that period at the capture, in 1804, of the Spanish 44-gun frigate Amfitrite, and of a ship with a cargo on board worth 200,000l. – accompanied Lord Nelson in pursuit of the combined fleets to the West Indies and back in 1805 – contributed, in the same year, to the capture of El Rayo, of 100 guns, one of the ships previously defeated at Trafalgar – and participated in the victory gained by Sir John Thos. Duckworth off St. Domingo, 6 Feb. 1806. On 14 of the latter month, as a reward for the conduct he had exhibited in the recent action, he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of Le Jupiter 74, Capt. Chas. Gill, one of the ships taken from the French; and in the ensuing months of July and Feb. he was successively appointed Midshipman, on promotion, of the Royal George 100, and Ocean 98, flag-ships in the Mediterranean of Sir J. T. Duckworth and Lord Collingwood. He was confirmed a Lieutenant, 14 April, 1807, in the Queen 98, bearing the flag, also in the Mediterranean, of Rear-Admiral Geo. Martin, whom, in the course of the same year, he followed into the Canopus 80. He afterwards commanded the boats of a squadron at the capture of a French flotilla of 12 gun-boats from Gaeta, bound to Naples; and in Oct. 1809 joined in the pursuit which led to the self-destruction, off Cette, of the French ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion. He also, in June, 1809 [errata 1], commanded the flotilla employed at the taking of Ischia and Procida. Being appointed Senior Lieutenant, in April, 1810, of the Termagant 18, Capts. Henry Evelyn Pitfield Sturt, Rich. Buck, Chas. Squire, and Gawen Wm. Hamilton, he commanded the boats of that sloop, and received a musket-ball in the body, in a cutting-out affair during the defence of Messina against the French. For this service he was created a Knight of the Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit by the King of the Two Sicilies, was presented with a gratuity from the Patriotic Fund, and was awarded a pension, subsequently increased to 150l. per annum. During his stay in the Termagant, of which he held for three months the acting command, he succeeded in one morning (22 July, 1812) in cutting out two privateers, one of which was L’Intrepide, of 3 guns and 40 men, taken near Malaga. He invalided home in Sept. 1812, and afterwards commanded the transports at the embarkation of the British army at Bourdeaux. Since his promotion to the rank of Commander, 15 June, 1814, he has been on half-pay.
Commander Moorman has been four times wounded. He married, 12 April, 1820, Miss Catherine Hill Millett, and by that lady has issue one son and three daughters. The son, a Midshipman R.N., was lately serving in the West Indies on board the Spartan 26, Capt. Hon. C. G. J. B. Elliot. Agents – Pettet and Newton.