A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Prescott, Henry

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PRESCOTT, C.B. (Rear-Admiral of the Blue, 1847. f-p., 22; h-p., 29.)

Henry Prescott, born 4 May, 1783, at Kew Green, co. Surrey, is only surviving son of Admiral Isaac Prescott,^[1] by a daughter of the late Rev. Rich. Walter, Chaplain of the Centurion, with Commodore Anson, during his expedition to the South Seas, and author of ‘Anson’s Voyage.’ His only brother, an officer in the Hon.E.I.Co.’s service, was drowned on his passage home in 1806.

This officer entered the Navy, 16 Feb. 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Formidable 98, Capts. Hon. Geo. Cranfield Berkeley and John Irwin, stationed in the Channel, where he attained the rating of Midshipman in April, 1797, and in the spring of 1798 followed Sir Chas. Thompson (whose flag had been latterly flying on board the Formidable) into the Queen Charlotte 100. Proceeding, in 1799, to the Mediterranean, in the Penelope 36, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, he there, while at the blockade of Malta, assisted, 31 March, 1800, at the hardwrought capture of Le Guillaume Tell of 84 guns and 1000 men. He afterwards took part in the operations of 1801 in Egypt; and on 17 Feb. 1802, at which period he was serving with Lord Keith in the Foudroyant 80, was nominated Acting Lieutenant of the Vincejo brig, Capt. Jas. Prevost. Being confirmed a Lieutenant by commission dated 28 April, 1802, he was subsequently appointed, in that capacity – 26 April, 1803, to the Unicorn 32, Capt. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman, in the North Sea – 14 Dec. 1804, to the Aeolus 32, Capt. Lord Wm. FitzRoy, under whom he fought in Sir Rich. Strachan’s action with the four line-of-battle ships escaped from Trafalgar 4 Nov. 1805 – and, in the course of 1805, to the Lord Eldon, Capt. Whinyates, Ajax 74, Capt. Hon. H. Blackwood, and Ocean 98, flag-ship of Lord Collingwood, all in the Mediterranean. On 4 Feb. 1808 he was made Commander into the Weasel brig, of 18 guns. On 1 April following, being off Sardinia, he fell in with a French fleet, consisting of 10 sail of the line, three frigates, one brig, and a store-ship, and on the next day, having closely reconnoitred it, proceeded with the intelligence to Lord Collingwood, who was at the time cruizing, with a more powerful force, near Sicily. Adverse winds, unfortunately, however, deprived the Admiral of an opportunity of preventing the enemy from effecting their arrival at Toulon. While employed, subsequently, on the coast of Naples, Capt. Prescott proved of material obstruction to the trade passing along shore. In one instance he obliged a French brig of 20 guns to seek refuge under the land batteries; and although he adopted every manoenvre that gallantry could suggest to entice her out, his efforts were of no avail, notwithstanding that 11 Neapolitan gun-boats were in readiness to support her. On 8 Sept. 1808 we find him contributing to the capture of four large gunboats and 34 coasting-vessels, assembled at Diamante, near the Gulf of Policastro, which place he had blockaded with much perseverance until the arrival from Sicily of a force sufficient to attack them.^[2] On 27 Oct. 1809 he made prize of Le Veloce, French letter of marque, of 4 guns and 83 men; and on 25 Dec. in the same year he enforced the surrender, after a chase of nine hours and a brave resistance of an hour and a-half, of L’Eol, polacre-rigged privateer, of 14 guns, pierced for 20, and 140 men, 5 of whom were killed and 9 wounded, with a loss to the British of only 1 man killed and 1 wounded. Between the date last mentioned and June, 1810, the Weasel was employed cruizing off Sardinia, on which station she took and re-captured 17 vessels, including, among the former, L’Ippolite French schooner privateer, of 5 guns and 78 men. She next aided in the defence of Sicily, and while on that service came into frequent contact with the flotilla equipped by Murat for the invasion of the island. On 25 July, 1810, having, in company with the Thames 32 and Pilot 18, induced a convoy of 31 vessels,^[3] protected by seven large gunboats and five scampavias, to haul themselves on the beach close to the town of Amantea, in a position that caused them to be flanked by two small batteries, Capt. Prescott, after the crews had been put to flight, pushed off with his boats, and, sustained by those of the two other ships, captured and destroyed the whole. In the execution of this service he was exposed to a very galling fire from the enemy, who had not only thrown up an embankment outside the vessels to prevent their being got off, but also within them to afford shelter to the numerous troops collected, who, when driven from their entrenchments, still afforded great annoyance from the walls of the town.^[4] Two days subsequently to this achievement Capt. Prescott again landed at Amantea, supported by a detachment of marines from the Cumberland 74; and after destroying several vessels, succeeded in bringing off a gun, under a heavy fire of musketry, by which three of his men were wounded. In the course of the following month he was twice engaged with convoys passing alongshore, and captured six vessels, two of which, an armed xebec and a gunboat, he was obliged to abandon in consequence of a sudden shift of wind, and of the Weasel’s mainyard being shot away, whereby it became impossible for her to tow them out from under a battery, in which a large body of French troops had assembled for their protection. The Weasel on this occasion had 6 of her people wounded, one of them mortally. In Feb. 1811, having been rewarded for his conduct at Amantea by a commission dated 25 July, 1810, Capt. Prescott left the Weasel. His next appointments were – 7 Aug. 1811, to the Fylla 20, on the Guernsey and Jersey station – 3 June, 1813, to the Eridanus 36, employed in the Bay of Biscay, where he cruized until April, 1815 – and 6 April, 1821, to the Aurora 46. In the latter frigate he was at first stationed as senior officer on the coast of Brazil; and afterwards for 18 months in a similar capacity in the Pacific. While there in 1822 the Congress of Peru having ordered a forced contribution on the commerce of Lima, the British proportion of which amounted to nearly 200,000 dollars, he not only remonstrated, but took, such decided and effectual measures that the iniquitous exaction was abandoned. As a mark of their respect and gratitude for his exertions the British merchants at Lima voted the sum of 1500 dollars for the purpose of purchasing him a testimonial. In Feb. 1825 he returned with a large freight to England, and was paid off. He attained his present rank 24 April, 1847; was selected shortly afterwards to fill a seat at the Board of Admiralty; and since 15 Dec. in the same year has been employed as Admiral Superintendent at Portsmouth. He had been nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815; and awarded the Captain’s Good Service Pension 1 April, 1844.

Rear-Admiral Prescott was appointed, in Sept. 1834, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Newfoundland and its dependencies. He retained the post until 1841. He married, 5 July, 1815, Mary Anne Charlotte, eldest daughter of Vice-Admiral D’Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon, and sister-in-law of Capt. John Geo. Aplin, R.N. His eldest son, the Rev. J. P. Prescott, is married to a daughter of the late Capt. Parke, R.N.

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1. Attaining Post-rank 8 April, 1778, Admiral Prescott, in the course of the same year, commanded the Queen 98 in the action between Keppel and d’Orvilliers. In 1781 he was stationed at Newfoundland in the Mercury 28. He became a Rear-Admiral 1 June, 1795, a Vice-Admiral 14 Feb. 1799, and a full Admiral 9 Nov. 1805. He died an Admiral of the Red.
2. Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 1677, and Gaz. 1809, p. 4.
3. Laden with provisions for Murat’s army at Scylla.
4. Vide Gaz. 1808, p. 1859.