A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Watling, John Wyatt
WATLING. (Captain, 1830. f-p., 16; h-p., 30.)
John Wyatt Watling was born in 1789, at Leominster, co. Hereford. He descends from the family of Sir Thos. Wyatt, who was beheaded in the reign of Queen Mary, for leading an insurgent force into London.
This officer (he had previously been in the merchant- service) entered the Navy 4 March, 1801, as Ordinary, on board the Veteran 64, Capt. Archibald Collingwood Dickson, and sailed shortly afterwards with the expedition against Copenhagen. On the memorable 2 of April, having rendezvoused in the launch on board the Elephant 74, bearing Lord Nelson’s flag, he was successively employed in rendering assistance to the Bellona and Russel 74’s, both which ships had grounded, also in towing the disabled Monarch out of action, and in taking possession of several of the prizes. He continued to serve in the Veteran in the capacity of Midshipman until July, 1802; and on then removing to the Acasta 40, Capts. Edw. Fellowes and Jas. Athol Wood, he sailed for the Mediterranean. He was subsequently, from Nov. 1803, until March, 1805, employed in the Goliath 74, Capt. Chas. Brisbane, and from the latter date until June, 1808, in the Iris 32 and Virginie of 46 guns and 281 men, both commanded by Capt. Edw. Brace. In the boats of the Goliath he aided, in the early part of 1804, in cutting out a French brig from under the protection of a national cutter of 10 guns, and of the powerful batteries at Sable d’Olonne; an affair in which the British sustained a loss of several men killed and wounded, including among the former a First-Lieutenant of Marines, Mr. Kent. While belonging to the Virginie, which ship was stationed chiefly on the coast of Ireland, Mr. Watling contributed to the capture, 19 May, 1808, of the Dutch frigate Guelderland, of 36 guns and 253 men, after an obstinate conflict of an hour and a half attended with a loss to the latter of 25 killed and 50 wounded, and her opponent of only 1 killed and 2 wounded. On leaving the Virginie he was nominated, having but just passed his examination, Acting-Lieutenant of the Hero 74, Capt. Jas. Newman Newman. He was confirmed, 22 Sept. in the same year, 1808; and on 22 of the following month, he was appointed to the Sirius 36, Capt. Sam. Pym. Proceeding in her to the Cape station Mr. Watling was afforded an opportunity, 21 Sept. 1809, of assisting at the capture of the town of St. Paul’s in the Ile de Bourbon; on which occasion the Sirius stood into the harbour, anchored within half-musket shot of La Caroline French frigate, two prize-Indiamen, and a brig-of-war, and opened so heavy a fire that in 20 minutes the whole of them struck their colours. In June, 1810, we find Mr. Watling commanding the pinnace, in company with the other boats of the Sirius under Lieut. Wm. Norman, and displaying conduct that did him great credit, in a successful attack made upon a deeply-laden three-masted schooner, which the enemy had run aground in a creek near Port Louis, within 200 yards of the shore, and under the protection of about 300 troops and several strong batteries. In face of all the opposition that could be made the vessel was boarded and burnt; and this with no greater loss to the British than was experienced by the pinnace, namely, 1 seaman killed and a Midshipman severely wounded. In the following July, preparations being made for the subjugation of the Ile de Bourbon itself, Mr. Watling was intrusted with the duty of superintending the debarkation of the whole of the troops, in number 950, who, under Lieut.-Colonel Frazier, were destined to accomplish that Enterprize; and in such an “astonishing fine style,” to use the words of Capt. Pym, did he and the seamen under him perform their part, that in less than two hours and a half the entire body was landed in safety and on its march, despite the heavy surf and rolling-stone beach. With his small-arm Mr. Watling afterwards succeeded in keeping possession, during the night, of the heights between the town of St. Paul’s and Colonel Frazier’s rear, and prevented thus any reinforcements being sent from the former to St. Denis. He also drove in all the enemy’s sharpshooters and took several cavalry horses. On 13 Aug. 1810 Mr. Watling, who was Second-Lieutenant of the Sirius, proceeded in her boats under Lieut. Norman, accompanied by the launch and cutter of the Iphigenia under Lieut. Henry Ducie Chads, to the attack of Isle de la Passe, the key to Grand Port, in the Isle of France; the batteries at which place being stormed and carried, after a desperate resistance on the part of a very numerous garrison, the commandant surrendered at discretion. In the midst of the conflict Lieut. Norman was killed, and Mr. Watling (who with Lieut. Chads, was warmly recommended for his conduct to the Commander-in-Chief[1]) succeeded in consequence to the command of the party landed from the Sirius. As described by Capt. Pym, his conduct throughout the whole of this important service was truly gallant. Immediately subsequent to the capture of Isle de la Passe we find him entering, in command of the boats, the port of Sud-Est for the purpose of attacking a ship of 18 guns and 60 men, bound to Madagascar for slaves; but the latter, on the approach of the British, cut her cable and ran on a coral-reef, under the protection of the land-batteries, where, the enemy not being able to get her afloat, she was ultimately broken up. On 21 Aug. 1810, having followed into Rivière Noire a large ship (which proved to be the Windham, an Indiaman recently taken by the French, mounting 30 guns and manned with the same number of hands), Mr. Watling, with but two boats, containing between them a Midshipman, Mr. John Andrews, and 9 men, armed with no other weapons of offence than the stretchers, succeeded in obtaining possession of her, although exposed to a severe fire from the batteries on shore. Towards the close of Aug. he was engaged, in company with the 36-gun frigates Néréide, Iphigenia, and Magicienne, in a series of gallant but untoward operations which terminated in the self-destruction, at the entrance of Port Sud-Est, of the Sirius and Magicienne, the capture of the Néréide, and the surrender, to a powerful French squadron, of the Iphigenia. During their progress he was employed in a boat in conveying to the different ships the instructions of Capt. Pym, the senior officer; and when it became necessary to destroy the Sirius to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy, he nearly lost his life through his intrepidity in going below, after she had been abandoned, and opening the magazine-doors, in order that the flames which had been kindled might the more readily communicate to it and accomplish the object in view.[2] As soon as the frigate had been blown up he volunteered to convey Capt. Pym’s despatches in an open boat to the Ile de Bourbon, a distance of 140 miles; on his arrival there he was presented by Governor Farquhar with the sura of 200l., and sent in the Egremont, a prize schooner fitted for the purpose, to Madras, with intelligence of the disasters which had occurred. After enduring many hardships he reached Madras, where, in acknowledgment of the services he had rendered to the East India Company, he had the gratification of receiving from the Governor-General in Council a further sum of 200l. In the following Oct. he was made the bearer of a strong letter of recommendation from Lieut.-General Hewett to Lieut.-General Abercromby and ordered with despatches to the island of Rodrigues; but by the time he gained that destination the fatigue he had undergone had so reduced his health that he was under the necessity of being sent to sick quarters at Bourbon. The Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Bertie, on this occasion publicly expressed to him, on the quarterdeck of his flag-ship the Africaine, the regret he felt at the circumstance, especially as it would deprive the expedition then about to sail for the Isle of France of the intimate knowledge he possessed of the coast: he assured him, however, that on the reduction of the colony he would promote him, for his meritorious conduct, to the command of a ship. While at Bourbon Mr. Watling was appointed by Governor Farquhar, in consideration of his former exertions, Captain of the port. On afterwards repairing to the Mauritius, to the government of which island his Excellency on its conquest had been removed, he was placed by him in command of the Wellesley, a large American prize-schooner, for the purpose of conveying home important despatches to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and to the Hon. Court of Directors. Prior to his departure for England he had the good fortune, in a 4-oared gig, to rescue from apparently inevitable destruction the wife of a Major in the Army and 15 other persons, who had been wrecked on a coral-reef near Port Louis in a vessel over which the waves at the time were dashing with awful fury. The devoted heroism he displayed in achieving this act of humanity was witnessed by thousands of persons from the shore, and had the effect of drawing a glowing eulogium from the Governor. On his return to England Mr. Watling was appointed, in Dec. 1811, to the Aquilon 32, Capt. Wm. Bowles, on the North Sea station. In the summer of 1812, a representation of his services having been made to the First Lord of the Admiralty, he was ordered on promotion, in the Minden 74, Capt. Alex. Skene, to the Cape of Good Hope; where he continued to serve as a Supernumerary in the Lion 64, flag-ship of the Hon. Robt. Stopford, Astrea 36, Capt. Chas. Marsh Schomberg, Harpy sloop, Capt. Allen, and Racehorse 18, Capts. Geo. Fred. Rich and Jas. De Rippe, until at length advanced to the rank of Commander 1 Dec. 1813. His next appointments were, 23 June, 1815, to the Volcano bomb, fitting at Portsmouth, and 6 Sept. following, to the Julia 16. In the latter vessel he was employed off St. Helena for the security of Napoleon Buonaparte until April, 1816, at which period the state of his health obliged him to invalid. He afterwards, from 1824 until 1827, performed the duties of an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard. He was promoted to the rank he now holds 22 July, 1830; arid hassince been on half-pay.
Capt. Watling was wounded, during the war, in the right hand; so severely indeed that the two fore-fingers have been rendered stiff in the joint. He is at present a Justice of the Peace for cos. Denbigh and Caernarvon; and a Deputy-Lieutenant for the latter. He married Martha Hayles, eldest daughter of Peter Titley, Esq., of Penloyn, co. Denbigh, a Deputy-Lieutenant for that shire.