A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Ramsay, William
RAMSAY. (Captain, 1838. f-p., 24; h-p., 14.)
William Ramsay, born in July, 1796, is youngest surviving son of Sir Alex. Ramsay, Bart.
This officer entered the Navy, 17 Aug. 1809, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Veteran 64, Lieut.-Commander Marshall, lying in Portsmouth Harbour. He was next, from Feb. 1810 until May, 1814, employed in the Adriatic in the Eagle 74, Capt. Chas. Rowley; and from the latter date until April, 1816, on the American and Cape of Good Hope stations, in the Liverpool 40, Capt. Arthur Farquhar. As Midshipman of the Eagle, we find him present at the capture of Fiumé, Trieste, and other places. The Liverpool, on her passage home from the Cape, took the ground at the foot of Shakspeare’s Cliff, near Dover,, and was not rescued from her perilous position until all her masts and spars had been cut away, and her guns, provisions, and stores thrown overboard. From July, 1816, until June, 1821, Mr. Ramsay was employed at St. Helena, as’ Master’s Mate and Admiralty Midshipman, in the Eurydice 24, Capt. Robt. Wauchope, Blossom 24, Capt. Fred. Edw. Vernon (now Harcourt), and Vigo 74, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Robt. Lambert. He was then nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Brazen 26, Capt. Wm. Shepheard, in which vessel (the appointment being confirmed by commission dated 8 Sept. in the same year) he continued employed on the Cork station until Jan. 1823. He subsequently joined – 27 Dec. 1824, the Albion 74, Capts. Sir Wm. Hoste and John Acworth Ommanney, under the latter of whom he fought at Navarin 20 Oct. 1827 – 13 May, 1829, the Atholl 28, Capts. Alex. Gordon and Edw. Webb, of which vessel, employed on the coast of Africa, he became First- Lieutenant – and, in Feb. 1830, the Dryad 42, Capt. John Hayes, on the same station. While attached to the two ships last mentioned, Lieut. Ramsay was entrusted with the command of the Black Joke tender, mounting 1 pivot long 18-pounder and 1 carronade of the same calibre, with a complement of 44 officers and men. In that vessel, on 25 April, 1831, he fell in with, and, after a long action, boarded and carried the Marinerito a beautiful Spanish slaver-brig of 303 tons, 5 18-pounders, and 77 officers and men, in complete man-of-war order. The British in the struggle sustained a loss of 1 man killed and 7, including Mr. Ramsay, severely wounded; their opponents of 15 killed or drowned, 4 desperately wounded, and several others severely and slightly so. On board the Marinerito, at the commencement of the conflict, were 496 slaves, 46 of whom, on the vessel being taken, were found dead, and 107 in such a state from confinement and want of air that it was thought advisable to land them at Fernando Po.[1] Being rewarded for his valour on the occasion by a Commander’s commission bearing date 15 Aug. following, Capt. Ramsay, in Feb. 1832, returned to England. From 28 May, 1834, until paid off in April, 1837, he commanded the Dee steamer in the West Indies; he attained his present rank 28 June, 1838; and since 5 Dec. 1845 has been in command of the Terrible steam-frigate, of 21 guns and 800 horse-power, now in the Mediterranean. Agents – Messrs. Ommanney.
- ↑ The particulars here given of the action between the Black Joke and Marinerito differ from those detailed in our history of the services of Capt. C. J. Bosanquet, but we believe are the more correct.