A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pateshall, Nicholas Lechmere
PATESHALL. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 19; h-p., 33.)
Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall, born 13 Sept. 1782, is fourth son of the late Edm. Pateshall, Esq., of Allensmore House, co. Hereford, by Ann, daughter and heiress of Wm. Burnam, Esq., of Wellington Court, in the same co.; and brother of Capt. Edwyn Sandys Pateshall, Hon.E.I.Co.’s service, who died at Ceylon in 1819.
This officer entered the Navy, in Aug. 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Indefatigable 46, Capt. Sir Edw. Pellew, with whom he continued to serve, in the same frigate and in the Impétueux 78, on the Home and Mediterranean stations, until June, 1801, the greater part of the time as Midshipman and Master’s Mate. In the former ship he assisted, in April, 1796, at the capture of a fleet of French merchantmen, the destruction of La Volage of 26, and the further capture of L’Unité of 38 guns and 255 men, and, after a chase of 15 hours and a close action of an hour and 45 minutes, of La Virginie of 44 guns and 340 men. He was also, on 13 Jan. 1797, present, in company with the Amazon 36, in a very gallant engagement of 10 hours, which terminated in the destruction, with a loss to the Indefatigable of 19 men wounded, of the French 74-gun ship Les Droits de L’Homme. The Impétueux formed part, in June and Aug. 1800, of the expeditions to Quiberon and Ferrol. At Quiberon, where he was wounded in blowing up a battery, Mr. Pateshall was actively employed with the boats of the squadron, and at Ferrol he landed with the naval brigade. During the term of his attachment to the Indefatigable and Impétueux he contributed to the capture and destruction, including the vessels already mentioned, of as many as 20 ships of war, carrying in the whole, we are informed, 468 guns and 3937 men.[1] In June and Sept. 1801 we find him successively joining the Robust 74, Capt. Wm. Henry Jervis, and Ville de Paris 110; of which latter ship, bearing the flag in the Channel of Hon. Wm. Cornwallis, he was created a Lieutenant 20 Nov. in the same year. His succeeding appointments were – 6 Nov. 1802 (after six months of half-pay) to the Calcutta 50, Capt. Dan. WoodrifF, with whom he visited Botany Bay, and circumnavigated the globe – 6 Sept. 1804, again to the Ville de Paris, still bearing the flag of Hon. Wm. Cornwallis – 12 June, 1806, as Senior, to the Kent 74, Capt. Thos. Rogers, under whom, during a servitude of three years and nine months, he was frequently employed in the cutting-out of convoys in the Mediterranean – in Nov. 1809, to the Hyperion 36, Capt. Thos. Chas. Brodie, in which ship he proceeded to the West Indies – 2 March, 1810, to the Sappho 18, Capt. Thos. Graves, on that station – and, 8 July following, to the Polyphemus 64, as Flag-Lieutenant at Jamaica to Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Sam. Rowley. On 24 July, 1811, he was advanced to the command of the Shark sloop; from which vessel, in the ensuing Oct., he was transferred to the Acting-Captaincy of the Polyphemus, then bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Jas. Giles Vashon. Returning to England in the course of the following month, he was subsequently, 7 Oct. 1813 and 7 June, 1814, appointed to the Adder 12 and Jaseur 16, stationed chiefly on the coast of Korth America; where he was made Post, 18 Feb. 1815, into the Carron 20. He paid that ship off, on her arrival home from the West Indies, in Aug. 1816; and did not afterwards go afloat. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Pateshall, we understand, has filled the office of Mayor of Hereford.
- ↑ Among them were L’Insolente and (Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 898) La Cerbère, captured, as detailed in our Memoirs of Rear-Admiral McKerlie and Commander Paddon. He commanded one of the boats of the Viper cutter on the latter occasion, and was afterwards placed in charge of the prize.