A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Spiers, William
SPIERS. (Lieutenant, 1811.)
William Spiers entered the Navy, 4 Feb. 1804, as Ordinary, on board the Conqueror 74, Capt. Israel Pellew, employed in the Channel and Mediterranean. Removing, in July, 1805, to the Canopus 80, Capts. Fras. Wm. Austen, Thos. Geo. Shortland, and Chas. Inglis, he fought in that ship, as Midshipman, under the flag of Sir Thos. Louis, in the action off St. Domingo 6 Feb. 1806, and was Master’s Mate of her at the passage of the Dardanells and in the expedition to Egypt in 1807. He co-operated also in the capture, in June, 1809, of the islands of Ischia and Procida; assisted in causing the self-destruction of the ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion off Cape Cette 26 Oct. following; and, besides contributing to the annihilation of a gun-boat fiotilla on the coast of Italy, assisted, as Acting-Lieutenant, in the defence of Messina against the French in 1810. He subsequently acted for three months as Lieutenant in the Termagant 18, Capt. Henry Evelyn Pitfield Sturt; and on 3 Jan. 181 1 he was confirmed into the Leyden 64, Capt. Edw. Chetham. In the course of the same year we find him serving off Cadiz in the Columbine 18, Capts. Wm. Shepheard and Geo. Augustus Westphal; and, in Feb. and Nov. 1813, appointed to the Minos 12 and Cornwall 74, Capts. Jas. Aberdour and Edw. W. C. B. Owen, on the Newfoundland and North Sea stations. While in the latter ship, in which he continued until April, 1814, he landed at the head of a division of seamen on the island of South Beveland, and was publicly thanked for the conduct he displayed. Since he left the Cornwall he has been on half-pay.