A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Phillott, Charles George Rodney

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PHILLOTT. (Captain, 1818. f-p., 24; h-p., 29.)

Charles George Rodney Phillott entered the Navy, 27 Jan. 1794, as Captain’s Servant, on board the Vanguard 74, Capt. John Stanhope, then on the eve of her departure for the West Indies; and was afterwards, until advanced to the rank of Lieutenant, 1 July, 1801, employed on various stations in the Avenger sloop, Capt. Chas. Ogle, Ruby 64, Capt. Henry Edwin Stanhope, America 64, Commodore John Blanket, Neptune 98, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Erasmus Gower, Achille 74, Capts. H. E. Stanhope and Geo. Murray, and Agincourt 64, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Chas. Morice Pole. As Midshipman of the Ruby, we find him present at the detention of five Dutch men-of-war, together with a large convoy, in Plymouth Sound, 19 Jan. 1795; and, in the course of the same year, assisting at the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope. In the America he witnessed the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay, 17 Aug. 1796. On the occasion of his promotion, as above, Mr. Phillott joined the Terror bomb, Capt. Sam. Campbell Rowley, with whom he continued cruizing in the Baltic until the close of the following Oct. Being next, 31 Aug. 1802, appointed to the Amphion 32, Capts. Thos. Masterman Hardy, Sam. Sutton, and Wm. Hoste, he sailed in that ship for the Mediterranean, in the early part of 1803, with the flag on board of Lord Nelson, and was afterwards afforded an opportunity of participating, more or less prominently, in a train of valuable and distinguished services. On 5 Oct. 1804 he contributed to the capture of three Spanish frigates, and the destruction of a fourth, off Cape St. Mary; in the summer of 1805 he accompanied Lord Nelson to the West Indies and back, in pursuit of the combined squadrons of France and Spain; he assisted, in the following Nov., at the defeat, although supported by the fire of an immense battery, of a division of about 30 Spanish gun-boats, which had come out of Algeciras in the hope of capturing a British convoy; and in the summer of 1806 he was present at the debarkation of the troops immediately prior to the battle of Maida, as also at the capture of the town of Reggio, and of the important fortress of Cotrone, with all its stores and magazines, and upwards of 600 troops. He next, 12 May, 1808, shared in a very spirited engagement of many hours with several heavy batteries in the Bay of Rosas, in an attempt to cut out the French frigate-built 800-ton store-ship Baleine, mounting from 26 to 30 guns, with a crew of 150 men. In command, 8 Feb. 1809, of the boats of the Amphion and Redwing, he landed on the island of Melida, in the Gulf of Venice, brought off 3 guns, and destroyed two large stores of oil and wine.^[1] He also, 23 April following, with a division of the boats of the Amphion, Spartan, and Mercury under his orders, behaved in an exemplary manner at the capture of 13 valuable merchantmen lying in the mole of Pesaro;^[2] and, on 27 Aug. in the same year, he signalized himself by his gallant attack on the strong fort of Cortelazzo, near Trieste, which he stormed and carried at the head of a detachment of 70 officers, seamen, and marines – occasioning the simultaneous surrender, within sight of an Italian squadron off Venice, of six of the enemy’s gun-boats, and a convoy of merchant-trabaccolos anchored for protection under its walls.^[3] In Jan. 1810, having been rewarded for his conspicuous conduct on the latter occasion by a commission bearing date the same day, Capt. Phillott left the Amphion; and, on 25 Oct. following, assumed command of the Primrose 18, in which vessel, besides accompanying Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke with a body of troops to Lisbon, he served in the Scheldt and North Sea, twice escorted convoy to North America, and was for some time stationed on the coast of Spain.^[4] He was engaged also in conveying troops from the river Garonne to Bermuda; and on 25 Aug. 1814 he effected the destruction, off the Savannah river, of the American privateer Pike, of 13 guns and a complement of 85 men, 47 of whom were on board.^[5] In Feb. 1815, in command of a division of boats belonging to the squadron under Sir Geo. Cockburn at Cumberland Island on the coast of Georgia, he proceeded up St. Mary’s river to a considerable distance for the purpose of surprising a detachment of the enemy; but finding the attempt impracticable, and having been for many hours exposed to a galling fire from the heights along both banks of the stream, during which 3 men were killed and 15 wounded, including himself, in five places, by a rifleball and buck-shot, he found it imperative on him to return. On their way back, the boats behaved with the greatest coolness and order.^[6] In Aug. 1815 the Primrose was paid off. She was, however, immediately re-commissioned, on the peace establishment, by Capt. Phillott, who continued to command her, on the Jamaica station, until again paid off, 19 Dec. 1818. His promotion to Post-rank took place on 7 of that month. He accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.

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1. Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 622.
2. Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1257.
3. Vide Gaz. 1809, p. 1906.
4. The following is taken from Marshall’s ‘Naval Biography,’ Supplement, Part IV., pp. 193-5:– “On the 12th of March, 1814, being then in lat. 43" 16' N., long. 10° 56' W., he discovered and made sail after a strange brig on his lee bow, running nearly before the wind. Observing that she altered her course to avoid him, that she frequently yawed about as the Primrose approached (with a large red ensign at the peak), and that she had neither lower studding-sail nor royals set, he supposed her to be an English vessel in the hands of a prize crew. Unfortunately her real character was not discovered nor even suspected, until after much mischief had been done. It may here be as well to state that the stranger was a King’s Packet named the Duke of Marlborough, commanded by Capt. John Bull, and employed in conveying a mail from Falmouth to Lisbon. On observing the Primrose bear up and make sail, Capt. Bull suspected her to be an American cruizer, and made the private signal, in order to ascertain whether she was an enemy or not; the end on position of the two brigs, however, together with their distance from each other, and the circumstances of his flags being only half the established size, prevented the possibility of making it out, At 7 55 P.M., it being then too dark for flags of any size to be distinguished, the Packet, after an ineffectual attempt to make the private night-signal, opened her stern chasers (long brass nines), shot away most of the supposed American’s headgear, including jib and flying jib-stays, and continued firing them with considerable precision for about 20 minutes. The Primrose then ranged up on her larboard quarter and hailed three times, but was only answered by as many single guns, followed by a whole broadside. Upon this Capt. Phillott gave her a gun or two, and endeavoured to lay her on board, but his head-braces being shot away, he failed in the attempt, and some little time elapsed before he could again overtake her. The Primrose then commenced firing in earnest. The Packet was, of course, soon silenced, and upon her being once more hailed the painful truth came out. Her damages proved to be of a very serious nature; two 32-pound shot had passed through just below the water’s edge. She had between three and four feet water in her hold, and the leak was fast increasing; her masts were much injured, and her standing and running rigging nearly all cut away. Her loss consisted of two passengers killed and ten or twelve other persons wounded. The Primrose had one man slain, her Master (Mr. Andrew Leach), one petty officer and twelve men wounded; but, with the exception of a shot in the mainmast, and her sails been much cut by those fired at her during the chase, she sustained no other damage than what has been stated above.”
5. Vide Gaz. 1814, p. 2123.
6. Vide Gaz. 1815, p. 871.