A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Smith, Thomas (b)
SMITH. (Captain, 1841. f-p., 17; h-p., 31.)
Thomas Smith (b) was born 1 Feb. 1786, in Middlesex, and died 9 Jan. 1846, at Stoke, Plymouth. This officer entered the Navy, 10 July, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Dragon 74, Capts. Geo. Campbell and Fred. Lewis Maitland, employed in the Channel, off Cadiz, and in the Mediterranean, where, from July, 1801, until Oct. 1802, he served as Midshipman (he had attained that rating 2 March, 1800) in the Camelion sloop, Capts. Lord Edw. O’Bryen and Jas. Hawes, and Carrère frigate, Capt. F. L. Maitland. Joining next, in Aug. 1804, the Adamant 50, Capt. Geo. Burlton, he assisted in the boats in the ensuing Oct. in the celebrated catamaran attack upon the Boulogne flotilla. After serving with Capt. Burlton in the North Sea in the same ship and in the Resolution 74, he was nominated, 1 Aug. 1807 and 13 May and 5 Nov. 1808, Acting-Lieutenant of the Agincourt 64, Capt. Henry Hill, Hound bomb, Capt. Nicholas Lockyer, and Agincourt again, Capts. Robt. Henderson and Wm. Kent. Under Capt. Hill he escorted convoy to and from St. Helena; and under Capt. Lockyer he aided, in Aug. 1808, in embarking the Marquis de la Romana and his patriot troops from the vicinity of Nyeborg. He was confirmed to the Agincourt 29 Nov. 1808, and was subsequently appointed – 7 Jan. and 9 Oct. 1809, to the Nymphen 36, Capt. Keith Maxwell, and Blake 74, Capt. Edw. Codrington – 10 April, 1811, four months after he had left the Blake, to the Briseis 10, Capt. Edw. Thurlow Smith, stationed in the North Sea – in 1812-13, to the Venerable and Bulwark 74’s, Capts. Sir Home Popham and David Milne, the latter of which ships he left in Oct. 1814 for the purpose of attending a trial – and 26 Oct. 1824, to the Genoa 74, Capts. Wm. Cumberland, Walter Bathurst, and Hon. Leonard Chas. Irby. In the Nymphen and Blake he took part in the operations connected with the expedition to the Walcheren – the Nymphen being one of the frigates which, under Lord Wm. Stuart, forced the passage between the batteries of Flushing and Cadsand. During the time he continued in the Blake Mr. Smith was also present at the siege of Cadiz, and was actively employed on the coast of Catalonia. At Cadiz he was intrusted with the command of a Spanish gun-boat, in which he came into almost daily collision with the enemy’s batteries. In the Venerable he assisted at the capture of Santander and Castro, and otherwise cooperated with the patriots on the north coast of Spain; and, while stationed in the Bulwark on the coast of North America, he contributed to the capture of a great variety of the enemy’s vessels, and witnessed the surrender of the towns of Castine and Machias. As a reward for his services as First of the Genoa at the battle of Navarln, he was promoted to the rank of Commander 22 Oct. 1827. He afterwards, from 9 March, 1828, until 3 June, 1829, commanded the Brisk 10 in the Mediterranean; and, on 23 Nov. 1841, he was advanced to Post-rank.
Capt. Smith married, 24 Oct. 1814, Agnes, youngest daughter of the late Mr. Thos. Langdon, of Devonport, formerly of Barnstaple.