A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Walcott, John Edward
WALCOTT. (Capt., 1822. f-p., 14; h-p., 31.)
John Edward Walcott is third son of Edm. Walcott Sympson, Esq., of Winkton, Hants; brother of Capt. Chas. Walcott, R.N.; and brother-in-law of Rear-Admiral Geo. Henderson.
This officer entered the Navy, 19 Oct. 1802, as Fst.-cl. Vol. (under the patronage of the late Right Hon. Geo. Rose, Treasurer of the Navy), on board the Blenheim 74, Capts. Philip Turner Bover, Murray Maxwell, Henry Matson, and Thos. Graves, in which ship, bearing the broad pendant of Sir Sam. Hood, he sailed for the West Indies. On his return thence he joined as Midshipman, in June 1804, the Lively 38, Capts. Graham Eden Hamond and Geo. M‘Kinley. In company, in her, with other ships, we find him, 5 Oct. following, present at the capture, off Cape St. Mary, of three Spanish frigates laden with treasure, and the destruction of a fourth. He also, 29 May, 1805, bore a part in a very spirited skirmish, in which the Lively, alone, sorely galled near Cadiz, the Glorioso Spanish 74. Being again, in Oct. 1806, placed under the command of his friend Sir Sam. Hood, he continued uninterruptedly to serve with that estimable officer, until the period of his death, which took place at Madras 24 Dec. 1814, in the Centaur 74, Hibernia 120, Tigre 74, Owen Glendower 36, Illustrious 74, Clorinde 40, and Minden 74. While on board the Centaur he accompanied the expeditions of 1807 against Copenhagen and Madeira, and performed the duties of Signal-Lieutenant at the capture, 26 Aug. 1808, in sight of the whole Russian fleet, near Rogerswick, of the 74-gun ship Sewolod, which surrendered after a close and furious conflict, productive of a loss to the Centaur (in company with whom was the Implacable 74) of 3 killed and 27 wounded, and to the enemy of 180 killed and wounded. Twenty days previously to the latter event he had succeeded, on the death of Lieut. Jas. Shea, who was killed, to the command of the ship’s cutter in an attack upon a Danish despatch-boat, which had in vain sought security under the fire of a body of troops and two field-pieces stationed upon a high cliff on the island of Möen. As soon as he had passed his examination he was ordered by the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Jas. Saumarez, 18 Oct. 1808, to act as a Lieutenant in the Centaur; and on 25 Nov. following he was confirmed. In recommending Mr. Walcott for this promotion, Sir Sam. Hood, in a letter to the Comptroller of the Navy, Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, thus (after alluding to “his very gallant conduct” in the boat-affair just mentioned) expresses himself:– “I can say no more to you in his favour than that I hope he will not quit me until he can get another step. A more deserving, good, young officer does not exist.” At a subsequent period, Sept. 1814, Sir Samuel, who was then Commander-in-Chief in India, and had it in contemplation to return overland to Europe, addressed a communication to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Melville, of which the foBowing is a transcript:– “My Lord – The time of the approach to the termination of my command on this station being near, and, having been enabled only to promote two of my Lieutenants, who had been with me many years, I have to entreat your Lordship, should I not have the chance of another vacancy, to do me the kindness, before I strike my flag, to promote to a Commander my Flag-Lieutenant (John Edw. Walcott). He is an officer whose attention and ability in his profession caused me to place him in that station; he served with me in the Baltic, Mediterranean, and this country, in the same situation; and, when my Secretary was obliged to return to England from ill health soon after my arrival here, seeing me in distress, he volunteered his services for both situations, which he has filled with much capacity and judgment. He is the son of a very respectable gentleman in Hampshire, and will do honour and credit to the service whenever he is advanced. I have therefore to request your Lordship’s protection towards him.” As a further illustration of the nature of the position held by Mr. Walcott near the Admiral’s person, and of the circumstances which, as far as he was concerned, attended the latter’s death, we may quote the following passages from Capt. Basil Hall’s third series of Fragments of Voyages and Travels:’ – “When, unfortunately for his profession and for his country, Sir Sam. Hood fell sick at Madras, and knew that his last moments were fast approaching, he called his faithful friend and old follower in many ships and many actions, Lieut. Walcott, to his bedside, and said to him – ‘It will be too hard, Walcott, to die in this country; but, should it so please God, let nothing deter you from going home and accounting to the Admiralty for my command of the East India station.’ These were nearly the last intelligible words he uttered; and they serve to show how strong, even in the hour of death, was his sense of professional duty. As Lieut. Walcott had served during the whole of Sir Sam. Hood’s India command, in the double capacity of Flag-Lieutenant and Secretary, and had enjoyed the Admiral’s entire confidence, he, and he alone, possessed the means ot accounting to the Admiralty for the measures completed or in progress for the good of the service; and therefore the Admiral suggested to him the propriety of his voyage home to report matters in person. The senior officer, who succeeded to the command in the Indian seas (Commodore Geo. Sayer), felt so desirous of following up the friendly intentions of his lamented predecessor that, knowing the late Admiral’s attachment to Lieut. Walcott, he offered to promote him into a death vacancy, which had either taken place or was certain to fall within a week or two. Moreover, he assured him that, after the necessary time had been served, he should have the first vacancy for Post-promotion. These were, indeed, tempting offers to a young officer devotedly attached to his profession; but they had no influence over a man bred in the ‘Sam. Hood School.’ The Admiral’s dying injunction appeared to this right-minded officer fully as binding, or, if possible, more so, than a written command must have been in his lifetime. To England Walcott went accordingly; and the difference in professional standing which it made to him was this: – had he remained in India, as Sir Sam. Hood’s successor proposed, he would undoubtedly have become a Post-Captain of 1816, instead of which his name now stands in 1822 – six years later on the list! Had it been sixty times six, however, it would have made no difference in his conduct.” Mr. Walcott returned home in the Malacca 36, Capt. Geo. Henderson, bringing with him, addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty, a letter from Commodore Sayer, proclaiming, in terms of high panegyric, the opinion in which he had been held by the Commander-in-Chief, by himself, and by the Captains of the squadron who had had any opportunity of witnessing his worth. His promotion to the rank of Commander took place 6 June, 1815; but from that period until appointed, 14 Sept. 1821, to the Carnation 18, he remained unemployed. Sailing, in Jan. 1822, for the West Indies, he fell in with, in the following Aug., off the west end of Cuba, and gave protection to, the trade passing through the Florida Stream from Jamaica to England. A mistaken and singular opinion having been adopted by the Committee at Lloyd’s as to the degree of attention he had paid to the mercantile interests on this occasion, gave rise to a correspondence between that body and the Board of Admiralty, and led to a discussion in the House of Commons (on the motion of Mr. Joseph Marryat, the Chairman of the Committee) in March, 1823, when Sir Geo. Cockburn, in addressing the House on the subject, declared “that Capt. Walcott’s conduct had been in exact accordance with the duty he had to perform.” In Dec. 1822 Capt. Walcott joined the Tyne 26, into which ship he had been Posted 6 May preceding; and at the commencement of 1823 he again escorted a homeward-bound convoy through the Florida Stream. He was subsequently sent, with the Thracian 18, Capt. John Walter Roberts, under his orders, to endeavour to effect the extirpation of the pirates cruizing in the old Bahama Channel and on the coast of Cuba, adjoining. After searching 400 miles of coast, in order to examine the different creeks and inlets where small vessels could be sheltered and concealed – an operation that occupied two months – he gained sight, 31 March, 1823, off Baracoa, of the Zaragozana, a notorious schooner of 120 tons, carrying 1 long 18-pounder on a swivel, 4 long 9-pounders, and 8 swivels, with a crew of between 70 and 80 ruffians, who, aware that their atrocities had placed them beyond the reach of mercy, had bound themselves by oath, in the event of their being at any time successfully boarded by the British, to blow up not only their own vessel, but themselves and their assailants. On perceiving the schooner, of which they had been several days in quest, the two men-of-war, under the guise, as much as possible, of merchant-ships, stood towards her under easy sail. On ascertaining, however, their real character, the Zaragozana crowded all sail to the eastward, and succeeded in gaining the difficult harbour of Mata, where she was soon moored, head and stern, with her broadside commanding the entrance, little more than a cable’s length in breadth. At about 1 30 p.m., the ships being far in the offing, Capt. Walcott, wishing to avoid delay, ordered the boats, armed with two carronades and manned with 47 hands, to be hoisted out, and in person led them to the desperate attack. At 3 p.m., having arrived within gun-shot, the British became exposed to a galling fire from the schooner[1] and from several of her crew, who had been sent on shore and stationed among the bushes at the harbour’s mouth. Having sustained and returned the fire for three-quarters of an hour, the boats, availing themselves at length of a favourable opportunity, gave three cheers, and dashed with impetuosity alongside. Panic-struck at their determined spirit, the pirates attempted to save themselves by jumping into the sea. Twenty-eight of them, however, including their villainous chief, Cayatano Arogonez, were secured, and the whole of them (with the exception of five, admitted as King’s evidence) ultimately hanged at Port Royal, Jamaica. Sixteen, who escaped from the vessel, were taken in the woods by troops sent against them by the Governor of Baracoa. The loss of the enemy during the fight amounted at least to 10 killed and 15 wounded; while that of the British was confined to 1 man killed and 5 wounded.[2] The “courage, perseverance, zeal, and abilities” displayed by Capt. Walcott in the execution of the orders he had received for the extirpation of piracy drew forth the highest commendation and praise of his Commander-in-Chief, Sir Chas. Rowley; and the Admiralty, to mark its approbation of his conduct, promoted his Senior Midshipman, Mr. Henry Shapland, and confirmed in the rank of Master the officer, Mr. Thos. Bull, who had been acting as such on board the Tyne, and who throughout the cruize had repeatedly brought both her and the Thracian in safety through an intricate and dangerous navigation. Capt. Walcott’s impaired state of health obliging him, in the ensuing May, to invalid. Sir C. Rowley appointed Capt. Roberts his successor in the Tyne, and gave to Mr. John Delanoey Robinson, Midshipman, who had assisted at the capture of the Zaragozana, an order to act as Lieutenant. Capt. Roberts and Mr. Bull had been left during the engagement on board their respective ships; but by the time the capture was completed, having followed the boats, they had reached nearly within gunshot. We may add that, during his examination of the different creeks, Capt. Walcott had found on an island in the port of Maranjo a cargo consisting of 1100 casks of wine and spirits; and that, upon his own responsibility, considering the concealment of the wine suspicious, and believing it to be some of the captured property taken by the pirate, he had embarked it. It was afterwards condemned and sold at Jamaica for 6000l., two-thirds of which were deducted from the captors for government and colonial duties, leaving only 2000l. to be shared; whereas, had Capt. Walcott failed to establish the cargo as the property of the pirates, he would have been liable to the full extent of 6000l. Since he left the Tyne he has been unsuccessful in his efforts to procure employment.
Upon the appointment of the Duke of Clarence to the office of Lord High Admiral, Sir Chas. Rowley brought under the notice of H.R.H. a statement of Capt. Walcott’s services while under his command, claiming for him at the same time the decoration of the third class of the Order of the Bath. In an official letter[3] subsequently addressed by the Duke to the Secretary of State for the War and Colonial Department, Viscount Goderich, H.R.H. desired that Capt. Walcott’s name and services, accompanied by his recommendation, might be submitted to the King, with the view of obtaining for him the distinction he solicited. Unfortunately the Lord High Admiral went out of office before the arrangement could come into effect, and Capt. Walcott’s claims have not been since attended to. He married, in Feb. 1819, Charlotte Anac, daughter of Colonel John Nelley of the Bengal Artillery, and has issue a son and two daughters.
- ↑ She had hitherto displayed Spanish colours, but now substituted the black flag.
- ↑ Among other preparations against boarders, the decks of the prize were found covered with bottles full of combustible materials, which might have proved destructive had not the bravery first manifested evaporated.
- ↑ Dated 22 June, 1827.