A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Parsons, William
PARSONS. (Retired Commander, 1836. f-p., 20; h-p., 40.)
William Parsons died in 1846. He was uncle of the present Lieuts. John and Wm. Parsons, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1787, as Fst.-cl. Boy, on board the Diligente, Capt. Anthony Hunt, lying at Portsmouth. After serving for two years with Capt. Sir Fras. Hartwell in the Bellona 74, and for a short time with Capt. Geo. Brisac in the Scourge sloop, which vessel was compelled to throw part of her guns overboard in a gale of wind off Cape Clear, he became, in 1792, Midshipman of the Terrible 74, Capt. Skeffington Lutwidge, under whom we find him, in the following year, present at the occupation of Toulon. On next joining the Modeste frigate, Capt. Thos. Byam Martin, he assisted at the reduction, in 1794, of the island of Corsica; after which he removed to the Proserpine 28, Capt. Alex. Fraser, and was on board that vessel when she took the ground on the Haak Sands, and was obliged, before she could be hove off, to have her mainmast cut away and every moveable thing thrown overboard. He was made Lieutenant, 18 Feb. 1796, into the Venus 32, Capt. Thos. Graves, at Newfoundland; and was afterwards appointed – 6 Feb. 1797, to the Shark sloop, Capts. John O’Brien and Fred. Warren, on the same station – 25 Jan. 1799, to the Venerable 74, Capt. Sir Wm. Geo. Fairfax, attached to the Channel fleet – in March, 1801, as Senior, to the Druid frigate, Capt. Chas. Apthorp, under whom he partook of the ensuing operations in Egypt – 21 March, 1804 (after two years of half-pay), to the Chichester 44, Capt. Joseph Spear, on the Home station – 16 Aug. 1805, to the Favorite 18, Capt. John Davie, on the coast of Africa – 29 May, 1806, for six months, to the Courageux 74, Capt. Jas. Bissett, in which ship he visited the West Indies and North America – and, in Nov. 1807, to the Sea Fencibles in Ireland. Mr. Parsons was serving on board the Venus when the French Admiral Richery appeared off St. John’s, Newfoundland; where, in expectation that the enemy would land, he was intrusted with a command on shore. When Senior of the Favorite he distinguished himself, 28 Dec. 1805, by his zeal and perseverance, at the capture, after an action of 20 minutes, of Le Général Blanchard French privateer, of 16 guns and 130 men, 11 of whom were killed and 25 wounded;[1] and on 6 of the following month he was in the same vessel when taken by a French squadron under M. L’Hermite. He was immediately, however, sent in a cartel to England; during the whole period of his passage whither, two months and two days, he was limited, with the rest, to half a pint of water a-day. He left the Sea Fencibles, on the occasion of the corps being disbanded in 1810, and was not afterwards employed. He accepted the rank of Retired Commander on the Junior List 26 Nov. 1830: and on the Senior 1 Dec. 1836.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1806, p. 448.