A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Swainson, William
SWAINSON. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 14; h-p., 26.)
William Swainson entered the Navy, 14 June, 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Princess floating-battery, Capt. Sam. Martin Colquitt, lying in the river Mersey. In the course of the following month he removed to La Pomone 38, Capt. Robt. Barrie, and with that officer (deducting a few months passed in 1811-12 on board the Tigre 74, Capt. John Halliday) he continued to serve, as Midshipman and Master’s Mate, in the same ship and in the Grampus 50 and Dragon 74, until nominated, 12 Nov. 1814, Acting-Lieutenant of the Devastation bomb, Capt. Thos. Alexander. In the Pomone, in which frigate he continued until wrecked on the Needles Point 14 Oct. 1811, he cruized with activity in the Mediterranean, where, besides assisting at the destruction of L’Etourdie national brig of 18 guns and 200 men, and being on many occasions employed in the boats, he participated, 1 May, 1811, in a gallant action of an hour and a half in Sagone Bay, in which the Pomone, in company with the Unité 36 and Scout 18, effected the annihilation, with a loss to herself of 2 men killed and 19 wounded, of the two armed store-ships Giraffe and Nourrice, each mounting from 20 to 30 guns, and defended by a 5-gun battery, a martello tower, and a body of about 200 regular troops. In the Grampus he served off Cadiz and made a voyage to Barbadoes; in the Dragon he took part in a variety of operations on the coast of North America, including a highly successful expedition to the Penobscot; and in the Devastation he was present at the capture, 14 Jan. 1815, of St. Mary’s, the frontier town of the state of Georgia. A few days after the latter event he removed, again as Acting-Lieutenant, to the Terror bomb, Capt. John Sheridan. He left that vessel in the ensuing April; and on 13 June, 1815, he was made Lieutenant, officially, into his former ship the Devastation, Capt. Geo. Martin Guise, then lying at Portsmouth. He was placed on half-pay in the course of the same month; and was afterwards employed – from 26 Sept. 1830 until 1834, as a Supernumerary, in the Cockburn schooner, Licut.-Commander Chas. Holbrook, on the lakes of Canada – and, from 30 Nov. 1846 until Nov. 1848, in command of the Penguin packet, on the Falmouth station. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.