A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Patterson, William
PATTERSON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 11; h-p., 32.)
William Patterson entered the Navy, 1 July, 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Monmouth 64, Capt. Geo. Hart, bearing the flag in Yarmouth Roads of Rear-Admiral Thos. Macnamara Russell. In May, 1805, nine months after he had attained the rating of Midshipman, he removed to the Stately 64, Capt. Geo. Parker; under whom we find him, when in company with the Nassau 64, present, 22 March, 1808, at the capture, off the coast of Zealand, of the Danish 74-gun ship Prindts Christian Frederic, whose surrender was accomplished at the close of an obstinate running fight in which the Stately sustained a loss of 4 men killed and 28 wounded. Following Capt. Parker, in the ensuing May, into the Aboukir 74, he accompanied in that ship the expedition of 1809 to the Walcheren. He afterwards, in Sept. 1811, joined the Hannibal 74, and, in the course of 1812-13, the Christian VII., Bulwark, and Venerable 74’s, all bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Philip Chas. Durham. In the Hannibal and Christian VII. he was successively employed in the Baltic, Channel, and North Sea; in the Bulwark, of which ship he was for a short time Acting-Lieutenant, he served in Basque Roads; and in the Venerable, on his passage to the Leeward Islands, he contributed, in company with the Cyane sloop, to the well-resisted capture, 16 and 20 Jan. 1814, of the French 40-gun frigates Iphigénie and Alcmène. On the latter being added,to the British Navy under the name Palma, Mr. Patterson, by virtue of an order dated 28 Feb. 1814, was nominated one of her Acting-Lieutenants. He was confirmed a Lieutenant 21 Feb. 1815, but has not been since employed.