A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Patey, Joseph

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PATEY. (Commander, 1815. f-p., 22; h-p., 35.)

Joseph Patey, born 20 Sept. 1780, is brother of Retired Commander Chas. Patey, R.N.; and uncle of Lieut. Geo. Edw. Patey, R.N.

This officer entered the Navy, 1 June, 1790, as Gunner’s Servant, on board the Royal Sovereign 100, bearing the flag in the Channel of Lord Hood, with whom he remained until the following Dec. Re-embarking, in July, 1793, on board the Porcupine 24, commanded by Capt. Manley Dixon, he successively followed that officer, as Midshipman, in June, 1795, and July, 1797, into the Espion 38 and Lion 64. In the Espion he assisted at the capture, in the North Sea, 14 Feb. 1797, of Le Buonaparte French privateer of 17 guns and 110 men. On 15 July, 1798, being off Carthagena, he took part in a brilliant action between the Lion and four Spanish frigates of 42 guns each, which terminated in the surrender of one of the latter, the Santa Dorothea;^[1] and when subsequently in company with the Foudroyant 80 and Penelope 36 at the blockade of Malta, he was present as Acting-First-Lieutenant, and rendered the greatest possible assistance to his Captain, at the capture, 31 March, 1800, of the French 80-gun ship Guillaume Tell, after a tremendous conflict productive of a loss to the Lion of 8 men killed and 38 wounded.^[2] On leaving the Lion, which had been latterly commanded by Lord Wm. Stuart, he was again, in July, 1800, placed under the orders of Capt. Dixon on board Le Généreux 74; in which ship, in the course of the ensuing Aug. and Sept., we find him present, still as Acting-Lieutenant, at the capture of La Diane of 42 guns, and the surrender of the island of Malta. He continued in Le Généreux under Capt. Velterers Cornewall Berkeley until within a few weeks of his confirmation in the rank of Lieutenant, 6 Sept. 1802.^[3] His succeeding appointments were – 14 Sept. 1803, to the Crescent frigate, Capts. Lord Wm. Stuart and Jas. Carthew, employed in the North Sea, off the Western Islands, and in the Channel – in Nov. 1807, to the acting command, for a short time, of the Railleur 18, in the North Sea – 30 May, 1808, and 22 April, 1809, to the Royal George 100 and San Josef 110, flag-ships in the Channel of Sir John Thos. Duckworth – in July, 1809, to the Ruby 64, as Flag-Lieutenant in the Baltic to his former Captain, then Rear-Admiral Dixon, whom he accompanied, in the same capacity, into the Vigo^[4] and Montagu 74’s, the latter on the South American station – 22 Sept. 1812, to the acting command of the Benjamin, in which vessel (a corvette borrowed from the Brazilian Government) he remained for three months – at the expiration of that time, to the Montagu and Indefatigable, again as Flag-Lieutenant to Admiral Dixon – and in the early part of 1814 to the acting command, in succession, of the Ceres and Aquilon frigates, and Albacore 18. In the latter vessel it was Commander Patey’s good fortune, in Dec. 1814, to chase the True-Blooded Yankee, a mischievous privateer of 18 guns, into St. Salvador, where he kept her closely blockaded until she was sold to defray the expenses of her stay. He was thus the means of saving two of the king’s packets from capture, as well as many valuable merchantmen. He was officially promoted to the rank he now holds 19 July, 1815; and with the exception of a few months in 1835, from Feb. to Sept., during which he officiated as Supernumerary-Commander of the San Josef 110, flag-ship of Sir Wm. Hargood at Plymouth, has since been on half-pay.

Commander Patey, including the occasion above alluded to, has been thrice wounded. In March, 1841, he was admitted into the Royal Hospital at Greenwich. He married, 31 Jan. 1803, Miss Grigg, by whom he has two daughters living; the younger of whom became the wife, in March, 1841, of Thos. Corral, Esq., Surgeon R.N. (1841). A son of the Commander died on the coast of North America while serving under the flag of Sir Chas. Ogle.

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1. Although slightly wounded in the shoulder, Mr. Patey would not leave his quarters, but from first to last was particularly active. – Vide Gaz. 1798, p. 880.
2. Vide Gaz. 1800, p. 575.
3. Mr. Patey had passed his examination in 1799, but, his certificate being mislaid at the Admiralty, he was compelled to undergo a second probatory ordeal, which, however, he was not afforded an opportunity of doing until his return from the Mediterranean in Aug. 1802. He lost, in consequence, the promotion which would otherwise have been his reward for the part he acted at the capture of Le Guillaume Tell. We may here add, that in April, 1799, the Lyon made prize, off Alexandria, of the Chasseur, a corvette of 16 guns.
4. While borne on the books of the Vigo he acted for a brief period as Commander of the Fly 16.