A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Morrell, Arthur
MORRELL. (Commander, 1823. f-p., 24; h-p., 22.)
Arthur Morrell is son of the late Lieut. Morrell, R.N.; and brother of the late Commander John Arthur Morrell, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 6 Aug. 1801, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Doris 38, Capts. Chas. Brisbane and Wm. Cumberland, with whom he served in the Channel until June, 1802 – latterly in the capacity of Midshipman. Joining, in the ensuing August, La Pique 36, also commanded by Capt. Cumberland, he proceeded to the West Indies, where he continued uninterruptedly employed for a period of nine years in the same ship and in the Suffisante, Capt. Henry Laroche, Redbridge 12, Lieut.-Commander Edw. Burt, Polyphemus 64, Capt. Wm. Pryce Cumby, flag-ship for some time of Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Sam. Rowley, Avon 18, Capt. Henry Tillieux Fraser, Sparrow sloop, Capts. Edw. Burt, Joshua Ricketts Rowley, Edmund Denman, and Joseph Needham Tayler, Thalia 36, Capt. Jas. Giles Vashon, and Elk sloop, Capt. Clement Milward. Independently of numerous boat services performed during that period, and many engagements fought with privateers, he witnessed, in La Pique, in 1803, the evacuation of Aux Cayes and of other places in St. Domingo, and also the surrender, with the remains of General Rochambeau’s army from Cape François on board, of the three French frigates Surveillante, Vertu, and Clorinde – the last mentioned of which he assisted in conducting, under the present Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, to Jamaica. In the following year he took part, likewise in La Pique, in the unsuccessful attack upon Curaçoa. In the Redbridge, of which vessel he was Master’s Mate, he was wrecked off Nassau, New Providence, 4 Nov. 1806; and, when holding the same post on board the Polyphemus, he commanded the pinnace belonging to that ship at the capture of the French schooner Calibre. After acting for three months as Lieutenant of the Avon, he was confirmed, 28 July, 1809, into the Sparrow. Having paid off the Elk as Senior Lieutenant at the close of 1811, he was next in succession appointed – 3 Feb. 1812, to the Ocean 98, Capt. Robt. Plampin, attached to the force off Toulon, and, as First Lieutenant – 13 Nov. following, to the Termagant sloop, Capts. John Lampen Manley and Chas. Shaw, stationed at first in the Mediterranean (where he beheld the fall of Genoa), and afterwards in the East Indies, whence he returned to England and was paid off in Oct. 1816 – 14 Jan. 1818, to the Dorothea hired-ship, Capt. David Buchan, whom he accompanied on a perilous voyage of discovery to the neighbourhood of Spltzbergen (vide note, p. 67) – 19 Jan. 1820 (the Dorothea had been put out of commission in Nov. 1818), to the Révolutionnaire 46, Capt. Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew, in which ship he was for about two years and a half employed In the Mediterranean – and, 11 Nov. 1822, to the Tartar 42, Capt. Thos. Brown, fitting for South America. While In the Révolutionnaire, Mr. Morrell, with her barge and pinnace under his orders, succeeded, on the night of 18 May, 1821, in effecting the capture, in the harbour of St. Jean, in the gulf of Patras, of two Greek pirate-boats, after a hard struggle, in which his party sustained a loss of 1 man killed and 3 slightly wounded. He himself received several sabre-cuts in the face; but he was not advanced to the rank of Commander until 18 April, 1823. He had then, as we have shown, been eight years First-Lieutenant of various ships. His next appointment, it appears, was, 2 June, 1841, after 18 years of solicitation, to the Calcutta 84, Capts. Sir Sam. Roberts and Geo. Fred. Rich; of which ship, stationed in the Mediterranean, we find him, during the illness of the former officer, acting for a short time as Captain. The Calcutta being paid off in the latter part of 1842, he obtained, 25 May, 1843, command of the Espoir 10, equipping for the coast of Africa; where it was his fortune to make prize of two slave-vessels, one of them laden with 546 negroes. From the Espoir Commander Morrell was transferred, 6 Dec. 1844, to the Tortoise store-ship, and nominated Governor of Ascension. Although the latter appointment, we understand, had been conferred upon him as a permanence, he was superseded without compensation, in Nov. 1846, by an officer holding Post-rank. He came home in command of the Hydra steam-sloop at the commencement of 1847, and has since been on half-pay. He married, 6 Feb. 1820, a daughter of Mr. Wm. Reid, First Pay-Clerk for Wages at Devonport Dockyard, and by that lady has issue. Agents – Messrs. Chard.