A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Wyke, George
WYKE. (Lieutenant, 1840. f-p., 11; h-p., 13.)
George Wyke was born in 1805 in Somersetshire, and died in 1840.
This officer entered the Navy 20 Sept. 1822, as Midshipman, on board the Alligator 28, Capts. Thos. Alexander and Henry Ducie Chads, stationed in the East Indies, where he took an active part in the hostile operations against the Burmese,[1] and suffered much from constant boat-service on the river Irawady. Immediately prior to a successful attack made, 5 Feb. 1825, upon a formidable stockade at Than-ta-bain, mounting 36 guns, with the hope of getting on shore before any of his companions, he jumped overboard from the Alligator’s launch, holding his sword, by the becket, in his mouth. The strong tide and great depth of water rendered his situation extremely dangerous; but he fortunately succeeded in getting hold of an oar, thrown to him by a brother Midshipman, Mr. Valentine Pickey, and was rescued in time to enable him to enter the stockade among the foremost of the assailants. While he was resting on the oar, the loom of it was carried away by one of the enemy’s shot. In Jan. 1826 he commanded a cutter at the capture of Melloone, the defences of which place were considered a chef-d’oeuvre of Burman fortification. In Feb. 1827, having returned to England with a constitution much impaired, he was received on board the Gloucester 74, Capt. Joshua Sydney Horton, lying at Sheerness; and in the following July he joined the Isis 50, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines. On 18 Dec. in the same year, being at the time in the Mediterranean, he jumped from the taffrail of the latter ship and saved the life of a valuable seaman, although the wind was blowing strong, the weather cold, and the ship in stays. He was subsequently, 31 Jan. 1828, present in an attack made by a squadron under Sir T. Staines on a fort and several vessels in possession of the pirates at Carabusa. In the summer of the same year he returned home in the Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. Jas. Ashley Maude; he then went back for a short time to the Gloucester; and on 10 Feb. 1829 he passed his examination. He was employed afterwards as Mate – from 23 Sept. 1830 until 4 Feb. 1832, in the Rainbow 28, Capt. Sir John Franklin, in the Mediterranean – from 3 April, 1834, until 1 Feb. 1835, in the Gannet 16, Capt. John Balfour Maxwell, in the West Indies, – and from March, 1840, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 4 Nov. following, in the Revenge 76, Capt. Hon. Wm. Waldegrave. In 1841 he was appointed to the Howe 120, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Mason in the Mediterranean; where he was lent to the Beacon surveying-vessel, Capt. Thos. Graves. Symptoms of consumption, induced by the nature of his services, caused him, about May, 1842, to invalid. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1826, p. 2278.