A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Read, William Viner
READ. (Commander, 1846. f-p., 20; h-p., 16.)
William Viner Read entered the Navy, 21 April, 1811, as Sec.-cl. Boy, on board the Diana 38, commanded in the Channel by Capt. Wm. Ferris; and from the following Nov. until Dec. 1814 was employed in the Mediterranean in the Malta 84, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Benj. Hallowell; under whom he served at the investment of Tarragona, and witnessed the destruction of the fort of St. Philippe in the Col de Balaguer. In May, 1815, he became Midshipman of the Royal Sovereign 100; in which ship, and in the Tonnant 80, Bulwark and Gloucester 74’s, and Prince Regent 120, he continued (with the exception of 12 months passed in 1819-20 on the American station in the Active 46, Capt. Sir Jas. Alex. Gordon, and of about 21 that were not employed) to serve under his patron, Admiral Hallowell, in the Channel, and at Plymouth, Cork, and Chatham, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 5 Sept. 1823. His subsequent appointments were – 26 Nov. 1823, to the Ramillies 74, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, lying in the Downs – 11 Jan. 1824, to the Britannia 120, bearing the flag of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane at Plymouth – 7 June, 1825, to the Albion 74, Capt. John Acworth Ommanney, on the Lisbon station – 4 July, 1827, to the Revenge 76, Capt. Norborne Thompson, in the Mediterranean, where he remained upwards of a year – 26 Oct. 1839, to the command (which he retained until the following March) of the Prospero steamer at Pembroke – 13 July, 1841, for six months, to the Thunder surveying-vessel in North America and the West Indies, Capt. Edw. Barnett – and 19 April and 19 Aug. 1842, 1 Jan. 1843, and 1 Aug. 1845, as First, to the Sylvia surveying-vessel. Rocket steamer, and Fearless and Dasher surveying-steamers, all commanded by Capt. Wm. Louis Sheringham, with whom he served until promoted to his present rank 9 Nov. 1846.