A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pasco, John
PASCO. (Rear-Admiral of the Blue, 1847. f-p., 32; h-p., 31.)
John Pasco was born 20 Dec. 1774.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 June, 1784, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Druid 32, Capts. Geo. Anson Byron and Joseph Ellison, lying at Plymouth. In 1786 he joined the Pegasus 28, commanded by H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, with whom he served for about 12 months in the West Indies and on the coast of North America. He then became attached to the Impregnable 98, flagship at Plymouth of Admiral Graves, and to the Penelope 32, Capt. John Linzee, on the Halifax station; and he was next, between 1790 and 1795, employed as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, principally in the Channel and West Indies, on board the Syren 32, Capt. John Manley, Orion 74, Capt. John Thos. Duckworth, London 98, Capt. Rich. Goodwin Keats, Caesar 80, Capt. Anthony Jas. Pye Molloy, Orion again, Capt. J. T. Duckworth, Minotaur 74, and Aimable 32, flagships of Admirals John Macbride and Sir John Laforey, and Beaulieu 38, Capt. Francis Laforey. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 15 July, 1795, he was subsequently appointed in that capacity – in 1795-6, to the Majestic 74, flag-ship of Sir J. Laforey, again to the Beaulieu, Capt. Lancelot Skynner, and to the Minotaur 74, Capt. Thos. Louis, all in the West Indies – 27 Sept. 1796, to the Raisonnable 64, Capt. Chas. Boyles, employed at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Channel – 27 Dec. 1799, as First, to the Immortalité 36, Capts. Hon. Henry Hotham and Edw. W. C. R. Owen, on the latter station – and 7 April, 1803 (after six months of half-pay) to the Victors 100, flag-ship of Lord Nelson. When Senior Lieutenant, in 1796, of the Beaulieu, Mr. Pasco landed with a battalion of seamen, and assisted at the reduction of Ste. Lucie; and in 1801, at which period he belonged to the Immortalité, he volunteered and was appointed to cut out from Camaret Bay the French corvette La Chevrette, but was prevented from carrying his plans into execution by the circumstance of his ship being ordered on a cruize before the weather had proved sufficiently favourable. The glory of achieving the exploit fell in consequence to the lot, as is well known, of the late Capt. Keith Maxwell. On his passage to the Mediterranean in May, 1803, JMr. Pasco, then in the Victory, contributed to the capture of the French 32-gun frigate Embuscade. He afterwards went in pursuit of the combined squadrons to the West Indies; and on his return he shared, 21 Oct. 1805, in the battle of Trafalgar. It being Lord Nelson’s practice to make the officer first on his list for promotion do the duty of Signal-Officer, and the Junior that of First-Lieutenant, Mr. Pasco, although Senior of the Victory in the action, was obliged to submit to the regulation enforced by his Lordship, through whose death he in consequence lost that promotion to which his rank entitled him. He had thus the mortification of only receiving a Commander’s commission, dated 24 Dec. 1805; while Mr. Quilliam, the Sixth-Lieutenant, was at once advanced to Post-rank. During the battle he had the misfortune to be very severely wounded by a grape-shot in the right side and arm;[1] for which he now receives a pension of 250l. per annum, besides having at the time obtained a grant from the Patriotic Fund.[2] After he left the Victory, Capt. Pasco remained on half-pay until May, 1808. He then at length succeeded in procuring command of the Mediator 32; in which vessel he served for three months off Cadiz and Lisbon. In the following Nov. he joined the Hindostan 50, armée en flûte, fitting for a voyage to New South Wales; on his return whence he was appointed, in Nov. 1810, to the Tartarus 20. In that ship, in which he was made Post by commission bearing date 3 April, 1811, Capt. Pasco continued employed, on the Channel, American, and Cork stations, until May, 1815. In the ensuing June he assumed command, at Lisbon, of the Rota 38; and he next, from 20 Aug. 1815 until paid off 2 Sept. 1818, served in the Lee 20, on the Channel station; where he made prize of several smuggling vessels. On 18 March, 1846, he was admitted into the Royal Hospital at Greenwich; but, resigning the appointment almost immediately, he was placed, 1 April following, in command of his old ship the Victory, stationed at Portsmouth. He had been previously, 19 Feb. 1842, selected as a recipient for the Captain’s Good Service Pension. He attained his present rank 22 Sept. 1847.
Rear-Admiral Pasco married, first, 1 Sept. 1805, Rebecca, daughter of J. L. Penfold, Esq., of the Royal Dockyard at Plymouth; and, secondly, 22 July, 1843, Eliza, relict of Capt. John Weaver, R.M. (1826). By his first wife he had issue three sons and two daughters. Of the former, the eldest, William, is a Commander, and the second, Crauford, a Lieutenant, in the R.N. The youngest son, George Magrath Ley Pasco, was a Second Lieutenant, R.M. (1841). One of the Rear-Admiral’s daughters is married to Capt. J. B. B. M‘Hardy, R.N.; the other to Lieut. H. M. Kinsman, R.N. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1805, p. 1484.
- ↑ In conveying the memorable injunction to the fleet, “England expects every man to do his duty,” the word “England” was substituted for “Nelson,” at the suggestion of Lieut. Pasco. That officer having remarked to Lord Nelson that, as it would take some time to spell the word “Nelson,” it might be better to say “England,” which was in the vocabulary, his Lordship replied, “Right, right; make it England!”