A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Pitts, Edward
PITTS, K.T.S. (Commander, 1830. f-p., 14; h-p., 25.)
Edward Pitts, born 7 Oct. 1795, is eldest surviving son of John Pitts, Esq., Lieutenant-Colonel and Commandant of the Bridlington Light Infantry and Artillery from the commencement of the French Revolution until the year 1809, by Frances, eighth daughter of Jas. Heblethwayte, Esq., of Bridlington. His eldest brother, Thos. Jas. Heblethwayte Pitts, Captain and commanding officer of the Royal Engineers attached to the 4th division of the army in the Peninsula under Sir Lowry Cole, was killed in Feb. 1814; and his second, Wm. Pitts, was drowned in 1806 off Dungeness in one of the boats of the Pomone frigate, Capt. Robt. Barrie. His maternal uncle, Edw. St. Quintin Heblethwayte, First-Lieutenant of the Arrogant 74, having been mortally wounded in an action fought between that ship and the Victorious 74 on one side and six heavy French frigates under M. Sercey on the other, died and was buried at sea 21 Sept. 1796.
This officer entered the Navy, 4 May, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Leopard 50, Capt. Jas. Johnstone, bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Albemarle Bertie at the Cape of Good Hope; became Midshipman, in Sept. 1810, of the Vengeur 74, Capt. Thos. Brown, lying at Sheerness; and, from 10 Nov. following until Oct. 1815, was employed, again at the Cape and on the West India and Newfoundland stations, in the Galatea 42, Capt. Woodley Losack. While cruizing in the latter ship off Madagascar, in company with the Astrea and Phoebe, frigates about equal in force to the Galatea, and 18-gun brig Racehorse, we find him participating, 20 May, 1811, in a long and trying action with the French 40-gun frigates Rénomée, Clorinde, and Néréide, in which the Galatea, besides being much damaged in her hull, masts, and rigging, sustained a loss of 16 men killed and 46 wounded. He took up, on leaving the Galatea, a commission bearing date 7 March, 1815; and was subsequently appointed – 11 March, 1823, to the Windsor Castle 74, Capts. Chas. Dashwood, Hugh Downman, and Edw. Durnford King, on the Lisbon and Home stations – 15 Nov. 1825, as First, to the Nimrod 18, Capts. Rich. Pridham and Sam. Sparshott, attached to the force on the coast of Ireland, where he remained until that vessel, by the breaking of her anchor, was driven on the rocks in Holyhead Bay 17 Jan. 1827 – 4 Nov. 1828, in a similar capacity, to the Dispatch 18, Capt. Wm. Bohun Bowyer – and, on 10 of the same month, again as First, to the Ariadne 28, Capt. Fred. Marryat, employed on general service. He was advanced to his present rank 22 July, 1830; and has since been on half-pay.
In commemoration of John VI. of Portugal having taken shelter on board the Windsor Castle when off Lisbon in 1824, the order of the Tower and Sword was by that sovereign conferred upon the subject of the present narrative in common with the other officers of the ship. Commander Pitts was left a widower 16 Feb. 1847.