A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Peake, Charles
PEAKE. (Lieutenant, 1814. f-p., 10; h-p., 30.)
Charles Peakewas born 25 July, 1793, and died 2 Jan. 1847.
This officer entered the Navy, 26 Jan. 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Vestal 28, Capt. Edwards Lloyd Graham; under whom, until paid off in April, 1810, he was constantly employed in the Channel and North Sea, among the Western Islands, and at Newfoundland. He assisted during that period at the capture, with a large number of merchant-vessels, of L’Intrépide privateer of 20 guns and 125 men, and was on several occasions intrusted with the charge of a prize. In May, 1810, he became Midshipman (a rating he had attained in June, 1809) of the Pallas 32, commanded at first by Capt. Graham, and subsequently by Capts. Pringle Stoddart and Geo. Paris Monke. In command of one of the boats belonging to that ship Mr. Peake, while cruizing on the coast of Norway, assisted in taking, at one time, two Danish privateers, mounting respectively 6 and 5 guns; and, at another, two Danish cutters. The Pallas being wrecked off St. Abb’s Head 18 Dec. 1810, he again, in the following Feb., joined Capt. Graham on board the Alcmène 38, fitting for the Mediterranean station, where he was soon afforded an opportunity of participating in much detached service. On 22 May, 1812, in particular, we find him (the Alcmène being at the time on a cruize to the Adriatic) present, in command of the Captain’s 6-oared gig, in a most gallant but sanguinary attack made by four boats, under Lieut. Edw. Saurin, upon an enemy’s armed convoy, the result of which was the capture of one of their principal vessels, after nearly the whole of the crew had been either killed or wounded. The slaughter on the part of the British was likewise dreadful – the pinnace alone sustaining a loss of at least 20 officers and men killed and wounded. Mr. Peake afterwards assisted at the cutting out of a vessel from under a battery; at the capture of a French national schooner, La Flêche, of 12 guns; and at the further cutting out, on the coast of Corsica, of two polacres and a xebec. On leaving the Alcmène, which ship had been latterly commanded by Capt. Jeremiah Coghlan, he was received, 6 March, 1814, on board the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew, by whom, after witnessing the fall of Genoa, he was nominated, 27 April in the same year, Acting-Lieutenant of a 74-gun ship of that name, commanded by Capt. Arthur Stow. On 1 July following his promotion was confirmed. He went on half-pay in Nov. 1814; and was next, 3 July, 1818, appointed to the Euryalus 42, Capts. Thos. Huskisson and Wilson Braddyll Bigland. On 27 Sept. 1820, having risen to the post of First-Lieutenant, Mr. Peake was appointed by the former officer, who had become Commodore on the Jamaica station, to the command of the Bann sloop, rendered vacant by the death of Capt. Stow of the Tamar, and the removal to that ship of the commander of the Bann. On the arrival, however, of the latter vessel at Halifax, Rear-Admiral Griffith, the Commander-in-Chief, also thought proper to fill up the vacancy. This fact being communicated to the Commodore, he forthwith wrote to the Admiralty, requesting that their Lordships would not suffer him to be deprived of the patronage which so justly belonged to him, the vacancy having occurred while the Tamar was within the limits of his station. Unwilling to grant the request, the Board superseded all the appointments that had taken place, and gave the command of the Tamar to an officer then in England; at the same time paying off the sloop he commanded, in order to avoid promoting either of the Lieutenants selected by the Commodore and Rear-Admiral. Mr. Peake subsequently commanded the Euryalus for a short period; and on the paying off of that ship in Aug. 1821 was presented by the crew with a handsome silver vase and cover, together with a sword and belt, as a testimony of their “gratitude and esteem.” Unsuccessful in his endeavours to procure employment, he remained thenceforward on half-pay.
The Lieutenant,[1] whose wife, Margaret Peake, had died 3 May, 1840, has left issue a son (educated at the Royal Naval School) and a daughter.
- ↑ He was the author of several popular works, and a contributor to many of the periodicals of the day.