A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wemyss, Robert
WEMYSS. (Lieut., 1814. f-p., 10; h-p., 31.)
Robert Wemyss died in May, 1846.
This officer entered the Navy, 15 Oct. 1805, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Resistance 38, Capt. Chas. Adam, under whom he was for about eight years employed in the same ship and, as Midshipman, in the Invincible 74. The Resistance, while he was in her, was present at the capture, 13 March, 1806, of the Marengo 80, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois, and 40-gun frigate Belle Poule. She brought a considerable quantity of freight home, also, from Vera Cruz; made prize, 27 Dec. 1807, of L’Aigle privateer of 14 guns and 66 men; conveyed a large body of general officers to the coast of Portugal in 1808; bore the late King of the French from Port Mahon to Palermo; and was otherwise actively employed. Co-operating, in the Invincible, with the patriots on the coast of Spain, Mr. Wemyss assisted at the defence of Tarragona in May and June, 1811; at the capture of the town of Almeria, and the destruction there of the castle of St. Elmo and the different batteries protecting the anchorage; and at the reduction, after a siege of five days, of the fort of St. Philippe, in the Col de Balaguer, near Tortosa, armed with 12 pieces of ordnance, including 2 10-inch mortars and 2 howitzers, and garrisoned by 101 officers and men. After serving for a short time, still in the Mediterranean, in the Goshawk sloop, Capt. Hon. Wm. John Napier, he joined, in June, 1814, the Venerable 74, of which ship, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Philip Chas. Durham in the West Indies, he was nominated, 23 Aug. following, Acting-Lieutenant. He was confirmed 5 Nov. following; and from 11 of that month until 30 Aug. 1815 he served in the West Indies and on the coast of North America in the Norge 74, Capt. Chas. Dashwood, part of the force engaged in the attack upon New Orleans. He did not afterwards go afloat. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.