A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Woodman, William Ingle
WOODMAN. (Lieutenant, 1804. f-p., 14; h-p., 36.)
William Ingle Woodman entered the Navy, 23 July, 1797, as Midshipman, on board the Centaur 74, Capts. John Markham and Bendall Robt. Littlehales, employed at first in the Channel and then in the Mediterranean. While on the latter station he was present at the surrender of the island of Minorca, in an attack made on the town of Cambrelles, on the coast of Catalonia, at the destruction of the Spanish frigate El Guadaloupe of 40 guns, and at the capture of a French squadron of three frigates and two brigs commanded by Rear-Admiral Perrée. After again serving in the Channel he joined, in June, 1802, the Ulysses 44, Capt. Edwin Henry Chamberlayne; in which ship he continued employed in the West Indies as Master’s Mate, Acting-Lieutenant, and Lieutenant (order and commission dated 1 Nov. 1803 and 3 May, 1804), until Oct. 1804. His subsequent appointments were – 28 Nov. 1804, to the Scout sloop, Capt. Hon. Donald Hugh Mackay, in the North Sea – 6 June, 1805, to the Woolwich 44, armée en flûte, Capt. Fras. Beaufort, fitting in the river Thames – 3 Oct. following, to the Princess Royal 98, Capt. Robt. Carthew Reynolds, in the Channel – 23 June, 1807, to the Laurel, of 22 long 9-pounders on her main-deck, with 6 18-pounder carronades and 2 long 6’s on the quarterdeck and forecastle, Capt. John Chas. Woollcombe – 31 Jan. 1811, to the Thais 20, Capt. Edw. Scobell, on the coast of Africa, whence ill health obliged him to return in March, 1812 – and 6 Aug. 1813, to the Hydra 38, Capt. Joseph Digby, in the Bay of Biscay. In Aug. 1808 the Laurel, with only 145 men, was captured off the Isle of France by the French frigate Cannonière of 48 guns and, including troops, full 420 men, after a close and gallant action of nearly an hour and a half, in which the British had but 9 wounded, and the enemy at least 5 killed and 19 wounded. Mr. Woodman, who was at the time Senior Lieutenant (and who, on being conveyed on board the French ship, had had his sword returned to him, as was Capt. Woollcombe’s, by the French Captain), was in consequence detained a prisoner of war until March, 1810. He left the Hydra from ill health in Dec. 1813; and has since been on half-pay. Agent – Fred. Dufaur.