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A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Moriarty, Redmond

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1843247A Naval Biographical Dictionary — Moriarty, RedmondWilliam Richard O'Byrne

MORIARTY. (Lieut., 1812. f-p., 15; h-p., 28.)

Redmond Moriarty is the eldest brother of Commander Wm. Moriarty, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 27 May, 1804, as Midshipman, on board the Romulus 36, Capt. Thos. Burton, stationed in the North Sea. In Aug. 1806 he removed to the Ardent 64, Capt. Geo. Eyre, with whom, in the course of the same year, he proceeded, in the Magnificent 74, to the Mediterranean, where, besides serving at the blockade of Cadiz, Toulon, and Corfu, he assisted at the defence of Rosas in Nov. 1808, united in the reduction of Zante, Cephalonia, &c., in Oct. 1809, and was employed on shore in co-operation with the army at the taking of Sta. Maura in March, 1810. Removing in May, 1811, to the Active, of 46 guns, Capt. Jas. Alex. Gordon, he served in the boats of that ship, four in number, at the capture and destruction, 27 July following, of 28 sail of merchantmen, defended, in a creek of the island of Ragosniza, by three gun-vessels and a body of 300 troops;[1] as a reward for his conduct on which occasion he was nominated, 1 Sept. in the same year, Acting-Lieutenant of the Active. On 29 of the ensuing Nov. we find him sharing in a hard-fought action of an hour and a half, which, in rendering the latter ship captor of the Pomone, of 44 guns and 332 men, 50 of whom were killed and wounded, produced a loss to her of 8 killed and 27 wounded, including Capt. Gordon (whose warmest praise he had the fortune to elicit), and the First and Second Lieutenants.[2] After saving a boat’s crew from being drowned, Mr. Moriarty, officiating at the time as Third Lieutenant, was placed in charge of the prize, and, although she was in a nearly sinking state, he succeeded in carrying her safe into Lissa (where he received the thanks of Capt. Murray Maxwell, the Senior officer on the station), and thence to Malta. He was confirmed a Lieutenant 7 Jan. 1812; and was subsequently appointed – in the course of the same year, to the command of No. 5 gun-boat, in which he was for upwards of two years employed at the defence of Cadiz, and between that port and Gibraltar – 27 Sept. 1814, for passage home, to the Edinburgh 74, Capt. John Lampen Manley – 6 Dec. following, to the Rover sloop, Capt. Wm. Henry Bruce, with whom he served on the Brazilian, West India, and Home stations until Sept. 1815 – and, 8 June, 1824, to the Coast Blockade, in which he remained as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74, and Hyperion 42, Capts. Wm. M‘Culloch and Wm. Jas. Mingaye, until compelled by illness to resign in 1828. He has not been since employed.

He married, first, Dorcas Helena, daughter of Major Edw. Orpen, of Killowen, co. Kerry; and, secondly, Rachael Ann, daughter of John Mayberry, Esq., of Green Lane, in the same co. By his first marriage he has issue a son and daughter; and, by his last, a daughter. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.


  1. Vide Gaz. 1811, p. 2193.
  2. Vide Gaz. 1812, p. 566.