A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Whitehead, Abraham
WHITEHEAD. (Lieutenant, 1815. f-p., 15; h-p., 28.)
Abraham Whitehead entered the Navy, 1 Feb. 1804, as A.B., on board the Triton 32, guard-ship at Waterford, Capt. Wm. Cashman. In the following April he was rated Midshipman; and in May, 1805, he removed to La Flèche 18, Capt. Thos. White; under whom we find him, 18 July in the same year, present in a gallant, attack upon the French flotilla near Blanc-nez, in which La Flèche, assisted in driving on shore six of the enemy’s vessels, and, besides having her running-rigging much injured, sustained a loss of 5 men severely wounded. From Aug. 1805 until Nov. 1812, Mr. Whitehead served in the Dictator 64, Capts. Jas. Macnamara, Donald Campbell, Wm. Harrison Pearson, Robt. Williams, and Jas. Pattison Stewart, chiefly on the Baltic station. In 1807 he united in the operations against Copenhagen; and on 6 July, 1812, he contributed, in company with the Calypso 18, to the gallant capture and destruction, within the rocks off Mardoe, on the coast of Norway, of an entire Danish squadron, consisting of the Nayaden of 48 guns, the Laland, Samsoe, and Kiel sloops, and several gunboats, at the close of a long conflict, productive of a loss to the Dictator of 5 killed and 24 wounded, and to the Danes of 300 killed and wounded. On leaving the Dictator he became Master’s Mate of the Heron sloop, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, in the Channel; in the year following he sailed for the West Indies in the Gloucester 74, Capt. Robt. Williams; and in June, 1814, having volunteered for the Canadian Lakes, he joined the Prince Regent 56, Capt. Henry Thos. Davies, on Lake Ontario; where he removed, 15 July, 1815, to the St. Lawrence 98, Capt. Chas. Fred. Payne. He went back, 23 Oct. ensuing, to the Prince Regent, then commanded by Capt. Wm. Fitzwilliam Owen; he was nominated, 12 Nov. in the same year, Acting- Master of the Montreal, Capt. Allan Otty; he returned, as Acting-Lieutenant, 21 Feb. 1816, to the Prince Regent, Capts. W. F. Owen and Wm. Augustus Baumgardt; and on 25 Aug. and 9 Nov. following, he assumed command in succession, with the rank last mentioned, of the Sank and another vessel, stationed on Lakes Erie and Huron. In the summer of 1817, having been promoted at home by a commission bearing date 20 March, 1815, he returned to England in the Prévoyante store-ship, Master-Commander Thos. Stokes. He was afterwards, in 1824-5, employed in the Coast Blockade, as a Supernumerary Lieutenant of the Ramillies 74, Capts. Wm. M‘Cullooh and Hugh Pigot. He has since been on half-pay. He was often during the war engaged in cutting-out enemy’s vessels. Agents – Hallett and Robinson.