A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Searle, Thomas
SEARLE, C.B. (Rear-Admiral of the White, 1846. f-p., 26; h-p., 32.)
Thomas Searle was born 29 May, 1777, in Devonshire.
This officer entered the Navy, 21 Nov. 1789, as Ordinary, on board the Mutine cutter, Lieut.-Commander H. West, attached to the force in the Mediterranean, where he remained until Nov. 1791. In Jan. 1792 he joined the Sprightly cutter, Lieut.-Commander R. Reeve, in the Channel; and from April, 1793, until Dec. 1795, he was employed on the coast of Ireland, in the North Sea, and at Newfoundland, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the Sphynx 20, Capt. Rich. Lucas, and Artois and Active frigates, Capts. Lord Chas. Fitzgerald and Thos. Wolley. After again serving in the Channel on board the Royal George 100, bearing the flag of Lord Bridport, he was (at the recommendation of that nobleman and of his Captain, Wm. Domett) made Lieutenant, 19 Aug. 1796, into the Incendiary fire-ship, Capt. Henry Digby, as a reward for the intrepidity he had exhibited in saving the lives of seven persons swamped in a boat alongside. On leaving the Incendiary Mr. Searle, in Dec. 1796, joined the Prince 98, flag-ship of Sir Roger Curtis, also on the Home station; whence, in 1798, he escorted convoy to Quebec in the Nemesis 28, Capt. Robt. Dudley Oliver. On 31 Oct. in the same year he was placed in command, in the North Sea, of the Courier cutter, mounting 12 four-pounders, with a complement of 40 men. While in that vessel he pursued, 12 May, 1799, and for an hour and 40 minutes fought a close action with, a French privateer brig, carrying 16 long nines and sixes, whom superior sailing and advantage of wind enabled to escape. When first observed, off Winterton, on the coast of Norfolk, the enemy’s vessel was in the act of recapturing an English merchant sloop. A privateer lugger, during the whole of the conflict that ensued, was in sight to leeward, but did not attempt to interfere. The British on the occasion had 5 of their number wounded.[1] In the course of the following day the Courier made prize of Le Ribotteur schooner of 6 guns and 26 men. On 10 July in the same year she assisted at the capture of three valuable merchantmen, and the destruction of a galliot laden with ordnance stores, near the island of Ameland; on 11 Aug., having out-sailed her consorts, the Pylades and Espiégle sloops, she was for some time, before those vessels could arrive to her assistance, very gallantly engaged with the late British gun-brig Crash (carrying twelve 18, 24, and 32- pounders, with a crew of 60 men), moored in a narrow passage between the island of Schiermonikoog and the mainland of Groningen;[2] and on 23 Nov. she took (with a loss to herself; incurred during a 50 minutes’ action, of her Master killed and 2 men wounded, and to the enemy of 4 killed and 6 wounded) the French cutter privateer Le Guerrier of 14 four-pounders and 44 men.[3] In one of the above affairs Lieut. Searle was severely burnt by an explosion of gunpowder. For his services he was, at the recommendation of Admiral Lord Duncan, promoted, 26 Nov. 1799, to the rank of Commander. His succeeding appointments were – 1 June, 1800, to the Transport service, in which he continued until 16 Oct. 1802 – 13 July, 1803, to the Sea Fencibles at Portsmouth – 26 April, 6 Sept., and 10 Oct. 1804, to the Perseus bomb, Helder defence-ship, and Autumn 16, all on the coast of France – 22 Jan. 1806, after three months of half-pay, to the Fury bomb, off Boulogne – and, 6 Nov. following, to the Grasshopper of 18 guns (16 32-pounders and 2 long sixes) and 120 men, fitting for the Mediterranean. While commanding the Helder he was intrusted with the charge of one of the principal explosion-vessels employed in the celebrated catamaran attack on the Boulogne flotilla. His career in the Grasshopper was dashing in the extreme. On 11 Dec. 1807 he fought an action, off Cape Palos, with three Spanish vessels-of-war, carrying in the whole 30 guns and 226 men, the largest of which, the San Josef of 12 24-pounders and 99 men, was in 15 minutes compelled to strike her colours. The other two were the Medusa of 10 24-pounders and 77 men, and Aigle of 8 guns, of the same calibre, and 50 men. In reporting this performance to the Admiralty, Lord Collingwood took occasion to refer to it as “an instance of the zeal and enterprise which marked the general conduct” of Capt. Searle. On 4 April, 1808, the Grasshopper, in company with the Alceste and Mercury frigates, made an attack, off the town of Rota, upon a Spanish convoy passing along shore under the protection of about 20 gun-boats and a numerous train of flying artillery on the beach. “At 4 p.m.,” says Capt. Murray Maxwell, the senior officer present, in his public letter detailing the particulars of the affair, “the enemy’s shot and shells from the gun-boats and batteries going over us, H.M. ships opened their fire, which was kept up with great vivacity until half-past six, when we had taken seven of the convoy and driven a great many others on shore in the surf; compelled the gun-boats to retreat, which they did very reluctantly, and not until two of them were destroyed; and actually silenced the batteries at Rota; which latter service was performed by the extraordinary gallantry and good conduct of Capt. Searle, who kept in upon the shoal to the southward of the town so near as to drive the enemy from their guns with grape from his carronades, and at the same time kept in check a division of the gun-boats that had come out from Cadiz to assist the others engaged by the Alceste and Mercury. It was a general cry in both ships, ‘Only look how nobly the brig behaves!’”[4] Nineteen days after the event we have just recorded, we find the Grasshopper, in company with the Rapid 12, Lieut.-Commander Henry Baugh, effecting the capture, at the end of a severe action of two hours and a half, fought among shoals and within grape-shot distance of a battery, of two Spanish vessels laden with cargoes worth 30,000l. each, and further protected by four gun-boats, two of which were forced to surrender, and the remainder driven on shore.[5] The collective loss of the Grasshopper in the affairs we have here sketched amounted to 1 man killed and 10 wounded, including, in the last one, her Captain, who, with much modesty, although shot through the thigh by a musket-ball, only reported himself as “slightly wounded.” In the action which preceded the capture of the San Josef he had been wounded by a splinter in the head, but had not made any allusion to the circumstance. His valour was at length rewarded by a Post-commission dated 25 April, 1808. He left the Grasshopper in the following July; and was subsequently appointed – 18 Feb. 1809, for 9 or 10 months, to the Frederickstein 32, in the Mediterranean – 6 July and 1 Aug. 1810, to the Hannibal and Elizabeth 74’s, the latter employed on the North Sea and Lisbon stations – 8 May, 1811, to the Druid frigate, in which he co-operated in the defence of Tarifa, and served in the Mediterranean until 28 July, 1812 1 Sept. 1818, to the Hyperion 42 – and, 1 Aug. 1836, to the Victory 104, Ordinary guard-ship at Portsmouth, where he remained three years. While in command of the Hyperion, which frigate was paid off 25 April, 1821, he was in attendance upon George IV. during an aquatic excursion in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth, and made a voyage to South America, whence he returned with specie to the amount of half-a-million sterling. He was nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815; and advanced to Flag-rank 9 Nov. 1846.
On leaving the Grasshopper, in 1808, Capt. Searle was presented by the crew with a sword, valued at 80 guineas, as a mark of their respect and attachment. In the course of the same year he received a piece of plate from Lloyd’s, worth 100 guineas. He married a daughter of Joseph Maddock, Esq., of H.M. dockyard at Portsmouth, and has issue. One of his daughters, Jane Splatt, was married, in 1828, to the late Capt. Rich. Dickinson, R.N., C.B.; a second, Amelia Emma, in 1831, to Major Henry Semple, of the 35th Foot; a third, Charlotte Augusta, in 1838, to Capt. Henry John Worth, R.N.; and a fourth, Cecilia Caroline, in 1841, to H. Burney, Esq., LL.D., of Gosport. Agent – J. Hinxman.