A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Trounsell, George Patey
TROUNSELL. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 26; h-p., 17.)
George Patey Trounsell was born in June 1793.
This officer entered the Navy, 3 Dec. 1804, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hibernia 120, Capt. Wm. Bedford, successive flag-ship, in the Channel, off Lisbon, and in the Mediterranean, of Lord Gardner, Earl St. Vincent, Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, and Sir Chas. Cotton; the latter of whom he followed, in May, 1810, as Midshipman (a rating he had attained in Feb. 1806), into the San Josef 110. While attached to the Hibernia he witnessed the flight of the Royal House of Braganza to the Brazils, the landing of the British army in Portugal, and the surrender of the Russian fleet in the Tagus; he united, too, in Oct. 1809, in the pursuit which led to the self-destruction, near Cape Cette, of the ships-of-the-line Robuste and Lion; and, besides serving at the blockade of Toulon, he aided in rescuing two Spanish first-rates from the French at Carthagena, and in conducting them in safety to Cadiz. In the San Josef Mr. Trounsell continued employed on the Mediterranean and Channel stations, latterly under the flag of Lord Keith, until Feb. 1813. He then removed with his Lordship to the Queen Charlotte 100; and from the followmg April until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 20 Feb. 1815, he served with Capt. James Galloway in the Despatch 18, and with Capts. John Campbell and Dowell O’Reilly in the Sparrow 16 and Lyra 10. In 1812-13 he took part in a variety of operations on the north coast of Spain, including the siege of St. Sebastian. He was likewise, in the early part of 1814, present when the flotilla under Rear-Admiral Chas. Vinicombe Penrose crossed the bar at the mouth of the Adour. After having spent nine years in the merchant seryice he procured, in 1828, an appointment in the Coast Guard. He commanded next, from 1 July, 1830, until June, 1833, the Fox Revenue-cutter of 86 tons and 20 men; and from 6 Sept. in the latter year until the end of 1843 he was again employed in the Coast Guard. During his command of the Fox he detained and brought into Plymouth the Java Dutch Indiaman, of 800 tons, 6 nine-pounders, and 33 men. He received a medal from the King of the French, and a letter of thanks from the Russian Ambassador for services rendered by him to vessels wrecked on the coast of Cornwall; and he obtained the acknowledgments of the magistrates of that county for the protection he afforded to property during the corn riots.