A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pearne, William George
PEARNE. (Lieut., 1824. f-p., 37; h-p., 2.)
William George Pearne was born 12 May, 1795.
This officer entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Erebus 18, Capt. Wm. Autridge, stationed in the Baltic; where, in June, 1812, he became Midshipman of the Dictator 64, Capt. Jas. Pattison Stewart. In 1809 a prize-sloop of which he had charge was run over in a snowstorm, on her passage from Carlskrona to Hull, by a timber-laden brig, and immediately went down, barely allowing him to effect his escape; and in 1811, while acting as Master of another prize, he had the misfortune to be captured by four Danish gun-boats on the coast of Norway; in consequence whereof he was detained a prisoner for a period of nearly 12 months, and underwent great privations. On leaving the Dictator in Oct. 1812, he joined the Pelican 18, Capts. John Fordyce Maples and Thos. Mansell; in which vessel, and in the Saturn 56, Capts. Jas. Nash and Thos. Brown, Ferret 14, Capt. Jas. Stirling, and Erne 20, Capt. Hon. Wm. John Napier, we find him, until Aug. 1815, employed on the West India, American, and Home stations. While attached to the Saturn, Mr. Pearne assisted at the blockade of New York, and was frequently sent with prizes into port; and when in the Ferret he contributed to the capture, 18 July, 1815, of an armed cutter, a praam-brig, and a gun-vessel, together with a convoy reposing under the protection of a fort, which the British destroyed, in the harbour of Corrijou – an exploit detailed in our memoir of Vice-Admiral Sir Chas. Malcolm. With his name, from Aug. 1815 until Aug. 1818, on the books of the Rochfort 74, Capt. Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson, Mr. Pearne was actively employed as Master’s Mate in a variety of tenders and boats in the protection of the revenue. On one occasion he possessed himself, off the Start, of a smuggler, the Charles, of Morlaix, having on board a hundred tubs of contraband spirits. After a servitude of two years and eight months on the Channel and Irish stations, as Admiralty-Midshipman in the Pigmy cutter, Lieut.-Commander Wentworth Parsons Croke, as Second-Master in the Falmouth 20, Capt. Henry Theodosius Browne Collier, and again as Admiralty-Midshipman in the Spencer 74, flagship of Sir Josias Rowley, he was appointed, 31 May, 1821, Chief Mate of the Vandeleur Revenue-cruizer, Lieut.-Commander Chas. Fred. Napier. In the following Nov., the Vandeleur being at the time at anchor in a disabled state off Kilrush, Mr. Pearne, acting upon information he had received, proceeded with the crew to a place called Kilkee, 13 miles distant, where he arrived in time to seize a boat with 13 bales of tobacco and a chest of tea belonging to a smuggling lugger. Another part of the cargo, amounting to 437 bales, was afterwards landed on the island of Arran, and secreted in caves underground. These being, however, discovered through the exertions of Mr. Pearne, he succeeded with only 24 men, in capturing the whole of the property, notwithstanding that several hundred persons had assembled for the purpose of rescuing it. He had the gratification in consequence of receiving a flattering letter of approbation from the Commander-in-Chief, Sir J. Rowley. After having had command for a long time of the Vandeleur owing to the illness of Lieut. Napier, he was promoted to his present rank 21 Jan. 1824. His appointments have since been – 21 Oct. 1826 and 19 Feb. 1830, to the Ramillies and Talavera Coast Blockade ships, both commanded by Capt. Hugh Pigot – 15 April, 1831, to the Coast Guard at Walmer, in Kent – 11 Oct. 1834, to the command of the Dove Revenue-cruizer – and 26 Sept. 1837, again to the Coast Guard, in which service he still continues. In command of the Antelope, tender to the Ramillies, he piloted a Russian squadron from the Texel to the Downs in Aug. 1827; and in the Dove he had the good fortune to make prize, among other vessels, of a yawl, a schooner of 65 tons, a sloop of 39 tons, and a Cawsand boat of 20 tons. His efforts in staying the progress of a fire which broke out on one occasion in the citadel at Plymouth obtained for him the thanks of Sir Willoughby Cotton, who at the time held command of that place.
Lieut. Pearne married, in May, 1827, Julia Edgecombe, daughter of the late Lieut. John Luckraft, R.N., by whom he has issue a son and three daughters.