A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Schaw, Frederick David
SCHAW. (Retired Commander, 1844. f-p., 10; h-p., 44.)
Frederick David Schaw, born in March, 1781, at Albury, co. Surrey, is of the family of Sir John Schaw of Greenock, whose heiress married, in 1718, Charles, eighth Lord Cathcart, grandfather, through a second marriage, of William Schaw, first Earl Cathcart, who commanded in chief the military part of the expedition against Copenhagen in 1807. His father, having succeeded to landed property in Ireland in right of his wife, a sister of Sir Brydges Baldwin, was appointed a Colonel of the Wicklow militia on the first formation of that body.
This officer entered the Navy, in Nov. 1793, on board the Excellent 74, Capts. Hon. Wm. Clement Finch and Rich. Rodney Bligh, the latter of whom he followed as Midshipman, in April, 1794, into the Alexander 74, which ship, on her homeward paasage, after having escorted convoy to a certain latitude, was captured, 6 Nov. in the same year, despite a glorious resistance, attended with a loss to her of 40 men killed and wounded, by five French 74’s and three frigates under Rear-Admiral Nielly. During the height of the conflict a piece of the foremast was carried away, and passed so close to Mr. Schaw that he fell senseless on the gangway. On being exchanged, after several months of painful captivity, he was received, about July, 1795, on board the Dryad 36, Capts. Hon. Robt. Forbes, Micajah Malbon, and Lord Amelias Beauclerk, with whom he served in the North Sea and on the coast of Ireland until the summer of 1796, when he sailed, in the Brunswick 74, bearing the flag of his former commander, then Rear-Admiral Bligh, for the West Indies. In the ensuing Oct. he was nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Dictator 64, Capts. Wm. Geo. Rutherford and Thos. Western – a vacancy on board that ship being the first that had occurred since his arrival. Rear-Admiral Bligh being soon, however, succeeded by Sir Hyde Parker, Mr. Schaw was by the latter, in Dec. 1796, superseded and ordered to do duty as Mate of the signals on board his flag-ship the Queen 98. In the spring of 1797 a coup de soleil occasioned by constant observations made through a telescope at the mast-head under a broiling sun, having rendered imperative a change of climate, he returned home on board the Canada 74, Capt, Thos. Twysden. Previously to this he had been nominated by Sir Hyde Parker Acting- Lieutenant of the Hermione 32, Capt. Hugh Pigot, at the time on a cruize; but the appointment being cancelled before her return in consequence of the advent from England of an officer, Mr. Douglas, on the Admiralty list for promotion, he never joined, and he was thus preserved from sharing in the untimely end which the officers experienced at the hands of their mutinous crew. Continuing in the Canada under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren, Mr. Schaw saw much boat and other service on the coast of France.[1] While lying on one occasion in Cawsand Bay he was attacked so severely by the measles that he was under the necessity of being sent to the hospital. Anxious to return to his duty, he obtained leave to do so before his strength had been sufficiently recruited, and the result was a disease of the chest, from which he has never since recovered. After assisting in the boats at the subsequent capture, off the Gironde, of a convoy, protected by a gun-brig, which was driven on shore, he was sent home in charge of one of the prizes. With much difficulty, owing to the badness of the weather, the inefficiency of the crew, and the rottenness of the sails and gear, he succeeded in reaching Plymouth, but in such a state that the vessel was run on the mud to prevent her sinking in deep water. On his passage to rejoin the Canada in a ship, the name of which we do not happen to possess, Mr. Schaw contributed to the re-capture of an English brig, in command whereof he returned a second time to port. On 12 Oct. 1798, being again on board the Canada, he aided at the defeat of the French squadron under Commodore Bompart, intended for the invasion of Ireland. In the early part of 1799 he became attached, first, to the Cambridge 74, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Pasley at Plymouth, and next, as Master’s Mate, to the Doris 36, Capt. Lord Viscount Ranelagh, which frigate, during a proximate cruize off Cape Ortegal, lost her bowsprit and fore and main masts, and was in consequence towed into Plymouth by the Endymion 40. Owing to a recommendation from Sir John Warren, Mr. Schaw, a few weeks after he had passed his examination, was made Lieutenant, 8 Feb. 1800, into the Pomona hired armed-brig, Capt. Thos. Innes, employed in convoying the trade to the Baltic. His next appointment was to the Hydra 38, Capt. Hon. Chas. Paget, under whom he attended on the royal family off Weymouth, and cruized with activity on the Lisbon station. When watering, about Jan. 1802, at Tetuan, preparatory to proceeding up the Mediterranean, an attack of typhus fever obliged him unfortunately to invalid home on board the Ajax 74, Capt. Hon. Alex. Cochrane. Until placed, at this time, on half-pay, he had not been ten days absent on leave since he had entered the service. At the commencement of the late war he volunteered to serve on half-pay in any of the ships more immediately opposed to the force destined by the enemy for the invasion of England; but the state of his health not being such as to permit of his continuing at sea, he was appointed, in July, 1803, to the Sea Fencibles on the coast of Yorkshire between Whitby and Redcar. While there he conceived the idea of capturing a French privateer hovering off the coast, and for this purpose proceeded, accompanied by several volunteers, on board an English merchantman in the offing. The Master, however, considering that he was not warranted by his instructions in risking the co-operation that was desired of him, declined lending his ship, and the intention was therefore frustrated. For his conduct on this occasion Mr. Schaw had the satisfaction of receiving the approbation of the Admiralty. His exertions on different occasions, particularly in saving life and property from wrecks, brought on at last an attack of spasmodic asthma; and in Oct. 1804 he was compelled to seek half-pay. He became a Retired-Commander on the junior list 26 Nov. 1830; and on the senior 26 July, 1844.
In 1803 Commander Schaw proposed to the Admiralty a plan for annoying the fleet in Brest harbour by means of a fire-ship – but the execution was considered fraught with too much hazard. He also suggested the possibility of seizing a large quantity of timber collected periodically in different ports of Norway; whither their Lordships, adopting his views, despatched a small squadron under the late Sir Robt. Stopford. On the arrival of the latter, however, it was found that the timber had been removed from within his reach. At the commencement of the general peace Commander Schaw made two propositions to the Government – one, to the effect that a certain amount of compensation-money should be given, towards the reduction of the half-pay list, to such as chose to accept it; and the other, that the rank of Retired-Commander should be conferred on those Lieutenants who, unfit for service, were willing to assume it without increase of pay or expectation of future promotion. On the accession of William IV. to the throne the latter measure was introduced. Commander Schaw has long been in the habit, we understand, of devoting the whole of his pay to charitable purposes, especially to those connected with the naval service. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
- ↑ In one instance in particular, the Canada, having chased some men-of-war into Brest Road, had much difficulty in working out. At a most critical moment, and when under fire from the batteries, the main-tack was let po by a fellow of the name of Brady, for the purpose of throwing the ship into confusion, and, if possible, of occasioning her capture. Good management, however, saved her, and, as soon as inquiry could be made, Brady was found on his back near where he had let go the rope, with a foot cut clean off by a coil of it.