A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wolrige, William
WOLRIGE. (Captain, 1818. f-p., 19; h-p., 30.)
William Wolrige is brother of the late Capt. Thos. Wolrige, and of the present Lieut. Chas. Wolrige, R.N. This officer entered the Navy, in Feb. 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Jason 38, Capt. Chas. Stirling. On 21 April following he was present, in company with the Mars 74, at the surrender of the Hercule 74; in the ensuing June he assisted (the Pique 36 and Mermaid 32 in company) at the capture, with a loss to the Jason of 7 killed and 12 wounded, of the French 40-gun frigate La Seine; and on 13 Oct. in the same year he was wrecked near Brest. With the rest of the officers and crew he was taken prisoner. On his release from captivity he joined, in 1799, the Révolutionnaire 38, Capt. Thos. Twysden. After having served for about two years in that ship on the Cork station, part of the time as Midshipman, he removed as Master’s Mate, in 1801, to the Donegal 74, Capt. Sir Rich. John Strachan, with whom he continued employed in the Caesar 80, chiefly on the Channel station, until there nominated, 30 April, 1805, Sub- Lieutenant of the Viper cutter, Lieut.-Commander Daniel Carpenter. On 23 March, 1807 (he had been then serving for six months, again as Midshipman, in the Hibernia 110, flag-ship of Earl St. Vincent in the Channel), he was made full Lieutenant into the Volage 22, Capts. Philip L. J. Rosenhagen and Phipps Hornby, on the Mediterranean station. Under Capt. Rosenhagen he contributed to the capture, 28 July, 1808, of the French brig-corvette Le Requin of 16 guns and 110 men; and under Capt. Hornby, besides co-operating in the defence of Sicily against the threatened invasion of Murat, he took part, 13 March, 1811, in the celebrated action off Lissa, where a British squadron, carrying in the whole 156 guns and 879 men, gloriously defeated, after a shattering battle of six hours, and a loss to the Volage in particular of 13 killed and 33 wounded, a Franco-Venetian armament, whose force amounted to 284 guns and 2655 men. As a reward for his gallant conduct on the latter occasion, as First-Lieutenant of the Volage, Mr. Wolrige, whose name was mentioned in the warmest terms,[1] was presented with a Commander’s commission bearing date the day of the action. His subsequent appointments were – 6 Aug. 1812, as Acting-Captain, to the Stag 36, in the Channel – 1 Jan. 1813, to the Bermuda 10, in the Downs – 20 June, 1815, to the Albacore sloop, at Plymouth – and, 18 Aug. ensuing, to the Wasp 18, in the Mediterranean. He paid off the vessel last mentioned 9 Sept. 1818; attained Post-rank 7 Dec. following; and accepted the Retirement 1 Oct. 1846.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1811, p. 804.