A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Patten, Frederick
PATTEN. (Commander, 1837. f-p., 25; h-p., 8.)
Frederick Patten entered the Navy, 31 Jan. 1814, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Royal Sovereign 100, Capts. Thos. Gordon Caulfeild and Chas. Thurlow Smith, stationed in the Mediterranean; where, in the course of the same year, he followed the latter officer, as Midshipman, into the Duncan 74, and also into the Undaunted 38; in which frigate he witnessed, in 18l5, the capture of the Tremiti Islands. In Feb. 1816, three months after he had left the Undaunted, he joined the Ramillies 74, bearing the flag of Sir Wm. Johnstone Hope on the Leith station; and he was next, between Nov. 1818 and the date of his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant 19 July, 1822, employed in South America, at Plymouth, and in the Mediterranean, on board the Vengeur 74, Capt. Fred. Lewis Maitland, Blossom 24, Capt. Fred. Edw. Vernon (now Harcourt). Impregnable 104, flag-ship of Lord Exmouth, Chanticleer sloop, Capt. the Earl of Huntingdon, and Revolutionnaire 46, Capt. Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew. His succeeding appointments were – 16 , Oct. 1822, to the Cambrian 48, Capt. Gawen Wm. Hamilton, also in the Mediterranean, whence he returned in July, 1824 – in March, 1825, to the Ranger 28, Capt. Lord Henry Fred. Thynne, fitting for South America – 24 June, 1828, for a few months, to the Gloucester 74, Capt. Henry Stuart, lying at Sheerness – 26 June, 1830, as First, to the Gannet 18, Capt. Mark Halpen Sweny, on the West India station – 30 July, 1832, in a similar capacity (after a brief interval of half-pay), to the Blonde 46, Capt. John Duff Markland, attached to the force off Lisbon – and, 14 July, 1833 (the latter ship having been put out of commission in the preceding Jan.), to the command, which he retained for three years, of the Rapid 10, in South America. On 10 Jan. 1837, as a reward for the manner in which, during his servitude in the Rapid, he had discharged various responsible duties, he was promoted, on the recommendation of Sir Graham Eden Hamond, the Commander-in-Chief, to the rank he at present holds. We may here mention that he had twice when belonging to the Cambrian, and once when in the Briton, jumped overboard and succeeded in saying life. His last appointments were – 13 Aug. 1838, to the Coast Guard, in which service he continued until the early part of 1843 – and, 7 Sept. 1844, to the command of the Osprey 12. While in that vessel he was on several occasions intrusted with the command of squadrons of sloops varying from four to seven in number. Towards the close of 1845, in consequence of the unsettled state of New Zealand, Commander Patten was selected by Sir Thos. John Cochrane, Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, to act as senior officer on that station, in which capacity he continued to officiate until the arrival of Capt. Chas. Graham in the Castor 36. He remained, however, at New Zealand, engaged with success in the performance of many delicate and arduous services, until at length unavoidably wrecked, in March, 1846, on the western, part of the coast at a place called False Hokianga, which had never been surveyed. Determined upon saving all that they could from the ship, Commander Patten and his crew remained for two months in the vicinity of the spot on which the, catastrophe had occurred, and then commenced a march of 110 miles overland to the opposite side of the island, where, at the expiration of five days, during which, with but three days’ provisions, they had traversed, through rivers and forests, an almost unknown country, in the most inclement weather, they embarked on board H.M. sloop Racehorse.[1] On his arrival home in Dec. 1846, Commander Patten had the satisfaction of not only receiving the full acquittal of a court-martial for the loss of his ship, but of being complimented for the exertions he had made on the disastrous occasion. He is now on half-pay.
He married, 3 April, 1829, Alicia Cavendish, daughter of Wm. Hillier, Esq., of Boley Hill, Rochester.
- ↑ The fatigue endured by Commander Patten revived the painful effects of a serious injury he had sustained when on duty in the Rapid.