A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Vallack, Richard Glinn
VALLACK. (Lieut.,1807. f-p., 22; h-p., 27.)
Richard Glinn Vallack entered the Navy, in 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol, on board the Concorde of 42 guns, Capt. Robt. Barton; in which ship he was employed, until 1802, on the West India, Lisbon, and Newfoundland stations – part of the time in the capacity of Midshipman. On 27 Jan. 1801, having fallen in, off Cape Finisterre, with a French squadron under the orders of Commodore Moncousu, the Concorde was pursued by one of the latter, the Bravoure, of 42 guns and 320 men. With her the British frigate, as soon as she had sufficiently distanced the rest, came to a close action which lasted for about half an hour, when the enemy’s fire was completely silenced. The Concorde’s rigging being much damaged, the Bravoure, whose loss had amounted to 10 killed and 24 wounded, succeeded in making off and rejoining her consorts. The loss to the British in this affair is stated to have been 4 killed and 19 wounded, out of a crew of 224. Mr. Vallack was subsequently, from 1802 until 1805, employed in the Channel and West Indies in the Révolutionnaire 38, Capt. Walter Locke; and from 1805 until May, 1807, off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean, as Master’s Mate (a rating he had latterly held on board the Révolutionnaire) in the Queen 98, flag-ship of Sir Rich. Bickerton and Lord Collingwood. Being made Lieutenant, on 17 of the month last mentioned, into the Seahorse of 42 guns and 281 men, Capt. John Stewart, he was afforded an opportunity of sharing, on the night of 5 July, 1808, in a desperate conflict of three hours, in which that frigate singly, with 30 of her crew absent, defeated a Turkish force, consisting of the Baddere Zaffer, of 52 guns and 543 men, and Alis Fezan, of 26 guns and 230 men, both of which were at length reduced to perfect wrecks. The enemy in the Baddere Zaffer alone – the ship captured, the other having effected her escape – sustained the prodigious loss of 170 killed and 200 wounded; while that of the Seahorse did not exceed 5 killed and 10 wounded, although her mizenmast was shot away and her hull and rigging suffered severely. In May, 1809, Mr. Vallack accompanied the boats of the Seahorse and Halcyon brig, under the present Capt. Thos. Bennett, to the attack of the small island of Pianosa, near Elba, known to be defended by upwards of 100 veteran troops, and the town by a regular fortification. On landing, a carronade was mounted under his directions on a rock in front of the town; and a simultaneous attack being made on the enemy’s battery, the latter, after six hours’ hard fighting, was taken and destroyed, the French Commandant killed, and the guns disabled. Within 24 hours the whole island was brought under subjection to the British; whose loss was confined, though the enemy’s was great, to 1 man killed and 1 wounded. The Seahorse being paid off in June, 1811, Mr. Vallack was next, 2 Feb. 1813, appointed to the Aetna bomb, Capts. Rich. Kenah and Fras. Fead. In that vessel, in which he served on the Baltic and North American stations until she was put out of commission in Aug. 1815, he attended the expedition sent up the Potomac against Alexandria; and after sharing in the attack upon New Orleans, assisted at the capture of Fort Bowyer, On Mobile Point. In Feb. 1820 he obtained an appointment in the Coast Guard in Cornwall. He left that service in 1826, and has since been on half-pay.