A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pinto, Thomas
PINTO. (Retired Captain, 1840. f-p., 14; h-p., 38.)
Thomas Pinto was born 5 March, 1772.
This officer entered the Navy, 5 Sept. 1795, as A.B., on board the Powerful 74, Capt. Wm. O’Brien Drury, lying at Spithead; and in the course of the same year joined the Magicienne 32, Capt. Geo. Martin, under whom, deducting a short time passed in 1798 on board the Pallas troop-ship, Capt. Joseph Edmonds, he continued to serve as Midshipman and Master’s Mate for about six years in the Irresistible and Northumberland 74’s. In the Irresistible he fought in the action off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797 -, and on 26 April following contributed, in company with the Emerald 36, to the capture, after a smart contest of an hour, of the Ninfa and Santa Elena Spanish frigates, which had been pursued into Conil Bay, near Cape Trafalgar. In the Northumberland he witnessed the capture of the 74-gun ship Le Généreux and frigate La Diane, assisted at the blockade of Malta, and participated in the operations of 1801 in Egypt. After further serving on the Mediterranean and Home stations in the Foudroyant 80, flag-ship of Lord Keith, Africaine 38, Capt. Thos. Manby, and Colossus 74 and Glory 98, both commanded by Capt. Geo. Martin, as Acting-Lieutenant in the Favorite sloop, Capt. Wm. Williams Foote, and again as Master’s Mate in the Glory, under the flag of Sir John Orde, he was officially promoted, 20 Feb. 1805, into the Agamemnon 64, Capts. John Harvey, Sir Edw. Berry, and Jonas Rose, part of the force employed in the actions off Capes Finisterre and Trafalgar and the island of St. Domingo, 22 July and 21 Oct. 1805, and 6 Feb. 1806. On 8 Dec. 1807, four months after he had been removed to the Ulysses 44, Capt. Christopher John Williams Nesham, he was nominated Acting-Commander of the Dart sloop on the West India station, where he was confirmed by commission dated 9 Feb. 1808; and next, towards the close of the same year, appointed to the Neptune 98, flag-ship of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, and Achates 14. The latter vessel he had the misfortune to lose in Feb. 1810. He accepted his present rank 10 Sept. 1840. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.