A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Owen, Bell Robert
OWEN. (Lieutenant, 1811. f-p., 22; h-p., 21.)
Bell Robert Owen entered the Navy, 8 April, 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Athénienne 64, Capt. Fras. Fayerman; with whom, on his return from a voyage to China, he removed, in Oct. 1805, to the Formidable 98. After a servitude of more than five years in that ship on the Channel, Mediterranean, and Baltic stations, latterly under the command of Capt. Jas. Nicoll Morris, and nearly the whole time as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, he was received as a Supernumerary, in March, 1811, on board the Stately 64, Capt. Edw. Stirling Dickson, employed at the defence of Cadiz. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 1 Aug. following, he was successively appointed in that capacity. – 6 Dec. in the same year, to the Tweed sloop, Capts. Thos. Edw. Symonds and Wm. Mather, in which vessel he served in the North Sea, visited the coast of Africa, and was wrecked, 5 Nov. 1813, in Shoal Bay, Newfoundland, where only 52 of the crew were saved – 11 May, 1816, for nearly eight months, to the Cadmus 10, Capt. John Gedge, again in the North Sea – and 3 April, 1827, to the Coast Blockade, as Supernumerary of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye. He left the latter service on its abolition in 1831; and, since 31 Dec. 1838, has been employed in the Coast Guard.