A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shortt, Charles
SHORTT. (Lieut., 1821. f-p., 31; h-p., 9.)
Charles Shortt was born 3 June, 1791.
This officer entered the Navy, 20 April, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Flora 36, Capt. Loftus Otway Bland, in which frigate he was wrecked on the coast of Holland while holding the rating of Midshipman 19 Jan. 1808. On being released after a few months of captivity, he was received, in July of the same year, on board the Aboukir 74, Capt. Geo. Parker, attached to the force in the North Sea. He was subsequently employed – from 24 March, 1809, until 18 March, 1813 (on the Baltic and Halifax stations), in the Africa 64, Capts. L. O. Bland Geo. Fred. Ryves, and John Bastard, flag-ship for some time of Rear-Admiral Herbert Sawyer – from 19 March, 1813, until 25 Oct. 1815, in the Rippon 74, Capt. Sir Christopher Cole, and Amphion 32, Capts. Jas. Pattison Stewart, John Brett Purvis, and Wm. Bowles, in the Channel and among the Western Islands – from 26 Oct. 1815 until 3 Aug. 1819, in the Magicienne 42, Capt. John Brett Purvis, in the East Indies – and, from 30 March, 1820, until 21 Aug. 1821 in the Pandora 18, Capt. Chas. Grenville Randolph, on the Irish station. In the Rippon, Amphion, and Magicienne he held (as he had latterly done in the Africa) the rating of Master’s Mate, and in the Pandora that of Admiralty Midshipman. He saw much boat-service in the Africa on the Danish coast, and was much employed in her in chasing American frigates and privateers; and he was present in the Rippon at the capture, 21 Oct. 1813, of the French frigate Le Weser of 44 guns. On leaving the Pandora he took up a commission dated 19 July, 1821 – awarded in honour of the coronation of George IV. From 9 Jan. 1827 until Dec. 1830, he served in the Coast Blockade, with his name on the books of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye; and, since 14 Oct. 1834, he has been in charge of a station in the Coast Guard.