A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Otway, Robert
OTWAY. (Commander, 1837. f-p., 13; h-p., 29.)
Robert Otway entered the Navy, 10 Jan. 1805, as Midshipman, on board the Pallas 32, Capt. Lord Cochrane. Under that gallant officer he assisted, in March, 1805, at the capture of a galleon, Il Fortuna, laden with specie to the amount of 150,000l., and with merchandize of nearly equal value; he witnessed also, in May, 1806, the destruction of the semaphores along the French coast; and, in the course of the same month, he was present, under a heavy fire from the batteries on Ile d’Aix, in a single-handed attack made by the Pallas on the French 40-gun frigate La Minerve, in company with three 18-gun brigs. On the latter occasion the British ship, while preparing to board, unfortunately ran foul of her opponent, and by the tremendous shock was reduced to a complete wreck. Between June, 1806, and Feb. 1812, Mr. Otway was successively employed, on the West India and Home stations, part of the time as Master’s Mate, in the Northumberland and Belleisle 74’s, both flagships of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, Ethalion 36, Capt. Wm. Chas. Fahie, Belleisle again, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Geo. Cockburn, Neptune 98, Capt. W. C. Fahie, Abercromby 74, Capt. Sir Jas. Athol Wood, Dragon 74, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Laforey, Wanderer sloop, Capt. Frank Gore Willock, Dragon a second time, Nayaden frigate, Capt. Robt. Merrick Fowler, Helena sloop, Capt. Henry Montresor, and again in the Dragon. In the Ethalion we find him aiding, as Master’s Mate, at the reduction, in Dec. 1807, of the Danish islands of St. Thomas and Ste. Croix; and in the Belleisle, in 1809, at the capture of Martinique and Flushing. He was confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant (after having acted for three months as such in the Demerara, Capt. W. Smith, on the West India station) 14 May, 1812; and was subsequently appointed – for a few months in 1813, to the Boyne 98 and Ville de Paris 110, flag-ships of Sir Harry Burrard Neale in the Channel – 17 Sept. 1822, to the Bulwark 76, Capt. Thos. Dundas, lying at Plymouth, where he remained upwards of 12 months – 22 July, 1830, to the command (which he retained until the close of 1833) of the Echo steam-vessel – and, 23 April, 1836, to the command (with his name on the books of the William and Mary yacht) of the Comet, another steamer. As an especial mark of the approbation entertained by the Admiralty of his services in the Echo and Comet on the coasts of Spain and Portugal during the civil war, he was advanced to his present rank 6 Jan. 1837. He has since been on half-pay.
In 1838 Commander Otway published ‘An Elementary Treatise on Steam.’ He is married and has issue. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.