A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Payne, Charles Frederick
PAYNE. (Captain, 1814. f-p., 21; h-p. 33.)
Charles Frederick Payne, born in 1779, at Weymouth, co. Dorset, is son of the late Rev. Sam. Payne, Rector of Weymouth, Wyke, and Portland; and brother of Retired Commander Wm. Payne, R.N. This officer entered the Navy, 1 March, 1793, as L.M., on board the Culloden 74, Capts. Sir Thos. Rich, Isaac Schomberg, and Thos. Troubridge; in which ship, on his return from a voyage to the West Indies, we find him present as Midshipman in the battle of 1 June, 1794. On subsequently joining the London 98, he served, under the flag of Sir John Colpoys, in Lord Bridport’s action with the French fleet off Ile de Groix 23 June, 1795. In the course of 1797 he was transferred in succession to the Révolutionnaire 38 and Nymphe 36, Capts. Fras. Cole and Percy Fraser; and on 18 April, 1799, after having acted for some time as Lieutenant in the latter frigate, he was confirmed into the Cambridge 74; bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Pasley at Plymouth. On his removal, in the following Nov., to L’Aimable 32, Capt. Henry Raper, he sailed in company with the Glenmore 44 and a fleet of merchantmen for the West Indies. On 17 Dec, having fallen in with La Sirène, a heavy French frigate, La Bergère corvette, and the Calcutta an extra East-Indiaman, which the enemy had just captured, L’Aimable, while the Glenmore was engaged in re-capturing and retaining possession of the Indianman, went in pursuit of the men-of-war, with whom, although they contrived in the end to make off, she maintained for 35 minutes a very spirited action. Some time afterwards Lieut. Payne was sent into Aguada Bay, Puerto Rico, for the purpose of cutting out a large schooner at anchor there. On the vessel being boarded, the enemy, who had just before discharged a broadside of grape, jumped out of her and made good their escape. The British, however, had scarcely commenced towing their prize when a heavy fire from a battery on shore was opened upon them, which killed and wounded almost every man in the barge. The other boats not being able to make any progress with the schooner, she was in consequence abandoned; it being the next day ascertained that she had been secured to the shore by hawsers under water. On leaving L’Aimable in April, 1801, Lieut. Payne assumed command of the Tromp at Martinique; he next, from Aug. in the same year until Aug. 1802, served, likewise in the West Indies, on board the Gaiété, Capts. Fanshawe and Briggs; and in April, 1803, and March, 1806, he became Senior of the Immortalité and Clyde frigates, both commanded by the present Sir Edw. Wm. Campbell Rich Owen. During his servitude in the Immortalité he assisted at the bombardment of Dieppe and St. Valery-en-Caux 14 Sept. 1803;[1] and on that and other occasions displayed so much merit that he was the constant theme of his Captain’s praise. Independently of being slightly wounded at the boarding and capture of one of the enemy’s vessels, we may mention that he commanded a division of rocket-boats sent in to attempt the destruction of the tower and flotilla at Boulogne, also one of the store-ships ordered to be sunk at the entrance of the harbour at that place, and, 2 Oct. 1804, one of the principal explosion vessels employed in a renewed attack upon the flotilla there stationed.[2] In an action fought on 23 of the latter month with the enemy’s flotilla between Capes Blanc Nez and Gris Nez, Mr. Payne, although ill, stuck to his quarters, and by his zealous exertions attracted much attention.[3] Attaining the rank of Commander 26 Dec. 1806, he was in that capacity appointed to the Adelphi rocket-ship, and, after 12 months of half-pay, to the Cretan 16. In the Adelphi, we understand, he passed the Dardanells with Sir John Thos. Duckworth in Feb. 1807; and in the Cretan, to which vessel he was appointed 26 Sept. 1809, he was highly eulogised for the manner in which he led a squadron of frigates and sloops through the Wielinge Passage, past the fortifications of Flushing and Breskens, to a safe anchorage off Cadsand. On leaving the Cretan, Capt. Payne (who had captured in her, 28 Oct. 1810, the Neptune Danish privateer of 5 guns and 24 men) was promoted, 7 June, 1814, to Post-rank. In the following Dec. he proceeded to the Canadian lakes, for the purpose of assuming command of the St. Lawrence 98 as Flag-Captain to Sir Edw. W. C. E. Owen, then on the eve of opening a campaign against the American Commodore Chauncey. The intelligence of peace, however, arriving before the ice had broken up, he was ordered to superintend the dismantling of the squadron and the placing of their stores and guns in a state of readiness for immediate use. He returned to England in Dec. 1815; and, not having been since afloat, was induced, 1 Oct. 1846, to accept the Retirement.
Capt. Payne married in July, 1817, and has issue seven children.