A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Roberts, John Charles Gawen
ROBERTS. (Captain, 1815. f-p., 18; h-p., 35.)
John Charles Gawen Roberts, born 25 Aug. 1787, at Salisbury, is eldest son of the late Capt. Wm. Roberts, ot the 2nd Dragoon Guards, by Sarah, daughter of the late Jeffery Gawen, Esq., of Salisbury; brother of Commander Wm. Gilbert Roberts, R.N. (1815), who served as Lieutenant of the Asia 74 in the operations against Washington and Baltimore, at the capture of the American gun-vessels on Lake Borgne, and in the attack on New Orleans, and died 4 Oct. 1843, at Bath, in his 53rd year; and nephew of Retired Commander Jeffery Gawen, R.N. (Lieutenant 1793), who died in 1837. His ancestors were related to the former Earls of Radnor.
This officer entered the Navy, 12 May, 1794, as a Volunteer (under the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke), on board the Hazard sloop, Capt. John Loring, lying at Chatham. From Nov. 1794 until Aug. 1797, and from May, 1799, to Nov. 1800, his name was borne on the books of the Defiance gun-vessel and Vulture store-ship, both commanded by his relative Lieut. Gawen. In Nov. 1801 he joined the Dreadnought 98, Capt. Jas. Vashon, employed off Cadiz and Gibraltar; and in March and Aug. 1805 he was nominated (after having served in the Channel as Midshipman in the Naiad 38, Capts. Jas. Wallis and Thos. Dundas) Sub-Lieutenant of the Volunteer gun-brig and Viper cutter, Lieut.-Commanders Thos. Foulerton and Dan. Carpenter. He was made full Lieutenant 12 Oct. in the same year; and was subsequently appointed – 4 Nov. 1805, to the Pompée 74, bearing the flags of Admirals Sir Wm. Sidney Smith and Henry Edwin Stanhope – 1 Feb. 1808, to the Foudroyant 80, flag-ship of Sir W. S. Smith on the coast of Brazil – 2 Dec. 1809, after seven months of half-pay, to the Shearwater 10, Capt. Edw. Reynolds Sibly, in the Mediterranean – 19 Nov. 1810 and 16 May, 1811, to the Hibernia 120, flag-ship of Sir Sam. Hood (at whose particular request he was appointed), and Centaur 74, Capt. John Chambers White, on the same station – and, 17 April, 1812, to the command of gun-boat No. 22, employed at the defence of Cadiz. While serving with Sir Wm. Sidney Smith in the Pompée he assisted at the defence of Gaeta; commanded a division of the storming party at the reduction of Capri; was present at the battle of Maida, and when the Pompée sustained a loss of 42 men killed and wounded in the attack on Fort Licosa; aided in disarming the coasts of Naples and Calabria from the Gulf of Salerno to Scylla; and contributed, during Sir John Duckworth’s expedition against Constantinople, to the destruction of a Turkish squadron off Point Pesquies. Under Admiral Stanhope we find him present, in the same ship, at the siege of Copenhagen, where he came into frequent contact with the enemy’s flotilla. On the surrender of the Danish squadron he assisted in fitting out the Christian VII. of 80 guns. He was First-Lieutenant of the Shearwater when that vessel and the Euryalus frigate, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, effected a wonderful escape from a powerful division of the Toulon fleet, consisting of six ships of the line and four frigates;[1] and when Senior of the Centaur he co-operated with the patriots on the coast of Catalonia, and, on the fall of Tarragona, assisted in rescuing the inhabitants from the fury of the French. Being confirmed, 23 July, 1812, in the rank of Commander (a few weeks after he had been ordered to act as such) in the Merope 16, Capt. Roberts continued employed on the east coast of Spain, under Rear-Admiral Benj. Hallowell and Capts. Edw. Codrington and Chas. Adam, until the peace of 1814. His exertions during that period, particularly at the unsuccessful siege of Tarragona by Sir John Murray, on the failure whereof he embarked the advanced portion of the troops, were of a very high order and had the effect of obtaining for him the glowing eulogiums of the different naval and military authorities. On his removal, in April, 1814, to the Pylades 18, he proceeded forthwith to the coast of North America and joined the squadron under Rear-Admiral Hon. Henry Hotham, then employed in the blockade of New London and New York. On 8 of the ensuing Sept. he succeeded, in command of his own boats, in retaking, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, after much resistance, the Betsy, a fine teak-built ship of 600 tons, with a cargo of spices, which had been taken on the coast of Sumatra by an American privateer. On this occasion he was severely wounded and 2 of his men were also hurt. After conducting the blockade of Newport, in Rhode Island, and destroying many of the enemy’s vessels, he was sent with despatches, at the conclusion of the war with the United States, to Cumberland Island and the West Indies. He left the Pylades on the occasion of his promotion to Post-rank, 13 June, 1815; and accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
Capt. Roberts married, 31 May, 1817, Charlotte, eldest daughter of the late Sir Robt. Dallas, Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and first-cousin of the present Sir Robt. Dallas, Bart., brother-in-law of Rear-Admiral Hon. Geo. Poulett, and of Sir Peter Parker, Bart., Captain R.N., who fell in an affair with the Americans at Bellair, near Baltimore, 30 Aug. 1814. By that lady he has issue a son and daughter. Agents – Goode and Lawrence.
- ↑ The Shearwater was at one time within half-gun-shot of the enemy’s van-ships, who kept up a constant fire, but did not once strike her.