A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pelly, Richard Wilson
PELLY. (Commander, 1844.)
Richard Wilson Pelly, born 1 Nov. 1814, is fifth son of Sir John Henry Pelly, Bart., of Upton, co. Essex, by Emma, sixth daughter of Henry Boulton, Esq., of Thorncroft, co. Surrey; and nephew of the late Capt. Chas. Pelly, R.N.[1]
This officer entered the Navy 27 June, 1828; obtained his first commission 20 July, 1836; and was afterwards appointed – 5 Oct. 1836, as Additional-Lieutenant, to the Winchester 52, flag-ship of Hon. Sir Thos. Bladen Capel in the East Indies – 20 June, 1837, to the Victor 16, Capt. Rich. Crozier, on the same station, whence he returned in 1839 – and, 30 Jan. 1840, to the Andromache 26, Capt. Robt. Lambert Baynes, at the Cape of Good Hope. He was advanced to the rank he now holds 10 Feb. 1844, nearly 12 months after the Andromache had been paid off. His last appointment was to the Rose 18, which vessel he commanded on the North America and West India station from 13 Dec. 1844, until put out of commission at the close of 1846.
PELLY. (Commander, 1844.)
Richard Wilson Pelly, during his command of the Rose, performed good and valuable service. While stationed for some time in the Gulf of Florida, he had the good fortune, without a blow, to settle a formidable rebellion in the islands of Magdalene; and when senior officer at the blockade of Vera Cruz, on the outbreak of the war between Mexico and the United States, he made such important arrangements with the contending parties as to secure for the royal mail steamers advantages not usual in cases of blockade. For his able and judicious conduct he obtained the high approbation of his Commander-in-Chief, Sir Fras. Wm. Austen, and of the Board of Admiralty, and received very flattering testimonials from the merchants and the British Minister at Mexico. At a period, too, when hostilities were daily expected to take place between Great Britain and the United States, he contrived by an admirable stroke of diplomacy (although three frigates, two large steamers, four corvettes, and several smaller vessels belonging to the latter power were on the station) to procure the removal to the Havana of two large steamers lying up the river Alvarado, which had been built and armed for the Mexican Government, and which, in the event of a rupture, would in all probability have been seized and turned against us by the Americans. The situation in which Commander Pelly was at this juncture placed was responsible in the extreme, inasmuch as the least indiscretion on his part might of itself have led to a collision between the two countries.[2] He was subsequently joined by the Vesuvius sloop and the Endymion 44; yet, although the Captains of those vessels, Geo. Wm. Douglas O’Callaghan and Geo. Robt. Lambert, were each senior to himself, the state of their health was such that he had the duty still to perform. So afflicted with sickness was the crew of the Vesuvius, that it was found necessary, soon after her arrival, to send her for a change of climate to Halifax; but her engineers having been carried off by fever, and her coals being nearly all expended, a formidable obstacle presented itself. In this emergency Commander Pelly was induced to apply for aid to the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company; and as he had been the means not long before of procuring for the latter certain privileges already noticed, his request was forthwith acceded to, and the public service thereby materially benefited. During the many months that he was on the Mexican station, although his own health suffered from the anxiety to which he was exposed, that of his crew, owing to the sanitary measures he adopted, was preserved. Previously to embarking in the service we have here detailed, the Commander had been employed in protecting the fisheries in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in a manner that had gained the approval of the Commander-in-Chief.
- ↑ Capt. Chas. Pelly was wounded, when a Lieutenant, in a sanguinary attack, made in Aug. 1801, on the French invasion flotilla. In March, 1804, at which time he commanded the Beaver 14, he served with the boats of that vessel and the Scorpion 18, under Capt. Geo. Nicholas Hardinge, at the cutting out, in the Vlie passage, after a most spirited and determined conflict, of the Dutch brig Atalante of 16 long 12-pounders and 76 men. When Captain of the Bucephalus 36, he co-operated in the reduction of the island of Java in 1811, and displayed much gallantry in pursuing for several days the French 40-gun frigates Nymphe and Méduse.
- ↑ So pleased was Her Majesty’s Minister, Mr. Chas. Bankhead, at the whole of Commander Pelly’s conduct, that he acknowledged that the latter had left nothing for him to do.