A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Symonds, William
SYMONDS, Kt., C.B., F.R.S. (Captain, 1827. f-p., 21; h-p., 32.)
Sir William Symonds was born 24 Sept. 1782. He is brother of Rear-Admiral T. E. Symonds. This officer (whose name had been borne, from 1785 until 1788, on the books of the Solebay and Charon, both commanded by his father, Capt. Thos. Symonds) embarked, 27 Sept. 1794, as Midshipman, on board the London 98, Capts. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, Edw. Griffith, and John Child Purvis; in which ship, bearing the flag of the late Sir John Colpoys, he witnessed the capture, in Ajiril, 1795, of the French corvette Le Jean Bart, and 40-gun frigates La Gloire and La Gentille, took part, 23 June following, in Lord Bridport’s action with the French fleet off Ile de Groix, and was present in April, 1797, in the mutiny at Spithead. He served subsequently off the port of Cadiz; and in the course of the year last mentioned and of 1799 and 1800 he joined the Cerberus 32, Capts. John Drew and Jas. Macnamara, Cambrian 40, Capt. Hon. Arthur Kaye Legge, and Endymion 40, Capt. Philip Chas. Durham. In those ships he cruized with great activity on the western and Irish stations, in the Channel and Bay of Biscay, and on the coast of Spain. In the Cerberus he contributed to the capture, among other vessels, of L’Epervier of 16 guns and 145 men, and Le Renard of 18 guns and 189 men; and on 20 Oct. 1799 he participated in a very gallant action fought near Cape Ortegal between that ship and five Spanish frigates, one of whom was completely beaten. The enemy on this occasion had a merchant-fleet of 80 sail under their convoy, protected also by two brig-corvettes. In the Cambrian Mr. Symonds accompanied the expedition sent under Sir Edw. Pellew and Major-General Maitland to co-operate with the French royalists and Chouans in Quiberon Bay and the Morbihan. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 14 Oct. 1801, he was appointed in that capacity – 21 June, 1802, to the Belleisle 74, employed in the blockade of Toulon and in chasing the French fleet – 15 March, 1804, to the Royal. Sovereign 100, stationed in the Mediterranean under the flag of Sir Rich. Bickerton and for some time off Corunna – 9 Sept. 1805, to the Inconstant 36, Capt. Edw. Stirling Dickson, lying at Portsmouth – 13 Jan. 1806, as Senior, to the Scorpion 18, Capts. Philip Carteret and Fras. Stanfell – 9 March, 1808, to the command of the Violet lugger, on the Guernsey station – 22 Nov. following, again as Senior, to the Brilliant 28, Capt. Thos. Smith, on the coast of Brazil, whence he returned to England and was paid off in Oct. 1809 – 1 April, 1811, to the San Domingo 74, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Strachan off Flushing – 2 Nov. in the same year, to the Pique 36, Capt. Hon. Anthony Maitland, under whom he served as First-Lieutenant in the Channel, off Lisbon, and in the West Indies, until Jan. 1816, and assisted in making several captures – and, 1 Jan. 1825, in the capacity last mentioned, to the Royal George yacht, Capts. Hon. Thos. Bladen Capel and Sir Michael Seymour. In the summer of 1806 Mr. Symonds, then in the Scorpion, was actively engaged in the West Indies in watching the movements of the celebrated French squadron, under Rear-Admiral Willaumez, in which Jerome Buonaparte had embarked. He aided in the same vessel at the destruction of several forts on the Spanish main; and was in her at the capture, near Scilly, of several famous privateers, including La Favorite of 14 guns and 70 men, Le Bourgainville of 18 guns and 93 men (taken after a long chase and a running fight of 45 minutes), La Glaneuse of 16 guns and 80 men, and Le Glaneur of 10 guns and 60 men. From 1819 until appointed, as above, to the Royal George, Lieut. Symonds filled the situation of Magistrate and Intendant of the Police, and Captain of the Ports, at Malta; and on 4 Oct. 1825 he was promoted to the rank of Commander. About this period he was allowed, under, we are told, a very unusual and restrictive penalty, to construct a corvette, the Columbine. To her he was appointed 4 Dec. 1826; and so great was the Success which attended him in the different experimental cruizes he made during the next 12 months that he was advanced, as a reward, to Post-rank by a commission bearing date 5 Dec. 1827. At the commencement of 1831 Capt. Symonds was enabled, through the munificence of the Duke of Portland, to build, as an improvement upon the Columbine, the l0-gun brig Pantaloon; the triumph of which vessel led to the construction, under his superintendence, of the Vernon 50, Vestal 26, Snake 16, and others. On 9 June, 1832, he was offered and accepted the appointment of Surveyor of the Navy, which he continued to fill until 1847. It is here worthy of remark that out of 180 vessels of different kinds built during that period (all of them upon the principle of the Pantaloon) not one has yet foundered. In June, 1836, Capt. Symonds received a very flattering letter from Mr. Tufnell, Private Secretary to the Earl of Minto, then First Lord of the Admiralty, enclosing an extract from one addressed to his Lordship by Sir Herbert Taylor, of which the following is a copy:– “His Majesty has ordered me to state to your Lordship that, considering the situation which Capt. Symonds holds, the able manner in which he fills it, and the necessity of upholding him in it. His Majesty conceives your Lordship will concur with him in the propriety of conferring upon him the honour of Knighthood, which was given to his predecessor; and His Majesty wishes you would desire him to attend his levee on Wednesday next for the purpose of receiving it.” On 15 of the same month Capt. Symonds was accordingly invested with this mark of royal favour. We may add that he received the thanks of the Admiralty in July, 1830, for a ‘Memoir containing Sailing Directions for the Adriatic Sea;’ and again, in Oct. 1837, for “the valuable qualities of his several ships, and for improvements introduced by him into the Navy.” He was elected a F.R.S. 4 June, 1835, and nominated a C.B. on the Civil List 1 May, 1848.
Sir Wm. Symonds married, first, 21 April, 1808, Elizabeth Saunders, daughter of Matthew Luscombe, Esq., of Plymouth; and, secondly, 10 March, 1818, Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret,[1] of Trinity Manor, Jersey, and sister of the late Sir Philip Carteret Silvester, Bart., Captain R.N. By the former lady he had issue four sons and one daughter. His eldest son, William Cornwallis, a Captain in the Army, and an officer of surpassing merit, was the founder of the town of Auckland, in New Zealand, and Deputy Surveyor-General of that island, where he was drowned, 23 Nov. 1842, in the Bay of Manakan (since called, out of respect to his memory, Symonds Bay), while attempting, regardless of the weather, to cross over in a boat for the generous purpose of visiting a sick friend. Sir William’s next son, Thomas Matthew Charles, is a Captain R.N.; and his youngest, John Jermyn, is a First-Lieutenant in the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, and was lately Secretary to Capt. Robt. FitzRoy, Governor of New Zealand. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
- ↑ Rear Admiral Carteret was a Lieutenant in Boscawen’s action, and with his own hands burnt the 70-gun ship Redoubtable. In 1764-6 he made a voyage with Byron round the world; and in 1766-7-8 he again in the Swallow 16, circumnavigated the globe under very distressing circumstances. During the first American war he commanded the Endymion 44; in which ship he contrived, during the hurricane of 1780, to capture the Marquis de la Fayette of 64 guns.