A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Young, Robert Benjamin
YOUNG. (Commander, 1810. f-p., 26; h-p., 39.)
Robert Benjamin Young was born 15 Sept. 1773 at Douglas, Isle of Man, and died in 1846. He was son of the late Lieut. Robt. Parry Young, R.N., who was for many years Resident Agent for Transports at Southampton, and died in 1798 in command of H.M.S. Vigilant. His grandfather died First- Lieutenant of the Cumberland 66, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Pocock in the East Indies in 1755, on the very day of his promotion to the rank of Captain; his uncle, Jas. Young, was a Lieutenant-Colonel of Marines; and his brother, John Jas. Young, a Lieutenant R.N., died afloat in 1796. His father’s only sister was the wife of the late Admiral John Brisbane.
This officer entered the Navy, in 1781, on board the Severn, in which vessel and in the Triton (or Sabina) and Echo, all commanded by his father, he was for some time employed at Liverpool. He served next, from 1786 until April, 1795, on the Home and West India stations, as A.B., Midshipman, and occasionally as Acting-Lieutenant, in the Cruizer cutter, Lieut.-Commander Arthur Haynes, Standard 64, Capt. Chas. Chamberlayne, Culloden 74, Capts. Sir Thos. Rich, Collins, and Thos. Mackenzie, Cumberland 74, commanded by the late Admiral John M‘Bride, Carnatic 74, Capt. Ford, Drake and Swift sloops, both commanded by Capt. John Dolling, Invincible 74, bearing the flag of Admiral M‘Bride, Echo sloop, Capt. Peter Halkett, Minotaur 74, flag-ship again of Admiral M‘Bride, Thorn sloop of 16 6-pounders, Capt. Tillson, and Majestic 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Benj. Caldwell. He then went back, as Acting-Lieutenant, to the Thorn, commanded at the time by Capt. Robt. Waller Otway; by whom we find him mentioned in honourable terms for his conduct at the capture, 25 May, 1795, of the French national corvette Le Courrier National of 18 guns (8 and 6 pounders) and 119 men; which vessel (7 of whose people were killed and 20 wounded) was taken after a spirited night-action of 35 minutes, attended with a loss to the British of not more than 6, out of 80, wounded. During the Carib war in the island of St. Vincent, Mr. Young also distinguished himself, particularly in the attacks upon Owia and Château Bellair, the success of the British at which places compelled the enemy to retire into the interior. At Owia, where he was opposed by 400 of the enemy, he landed (through a heavy surf) a detachment of 100 men from the 46th and 60th Regts. On this occasion his own boat, the leading one, had 8 men killed and wounded; and he himself but narrowly escaped, having had his hat and clothes shot through. He was promoted by the Admiralty 26 Jan. 1796; he returned to England in the ensuing spring with Rear-Admiral Sir John Laforey in the Majestic; and he was appointed afterwards – 25 June, 1796, to the Bonne Citoyenne 20, Capts. Chas. Lindsay and Rich. Retalick – 7 Oct. 1798, to the Colossus 74, Capt. Geo. Murray – 5 April, 1799, 18 June, 1801, and 1 Sept. 1803, as First-Lieutenant, to the Savage sloop, Capts. Norborne Thompson and Wm. Henry Webley, Goliath 74, Capts. Wm. Essington and Chas. Brisbane, and Windsor Castle 98, Capt. Albemarle Bertie – 1 Feb. 1804, to the Foudroyant 80, flag-Ship of Sir Thos. Graves in the Channel – 4 Feb. 1804, to the command of the Entreprenante cutter – 13 July, 1809, as Senior, to the Ulysses 44, Capt. Hon. Warwick Lake – and 10 Jan. 1810, in a similar capacity, to the Princess Caroline 74, Capt. Chas. Dudley Pater. In the Bonne Citoyenne Mr. Young saw much active service. He fought in the action off Cape St. Vincent 14 Feb. 1797; was severely contused some weeks afterwards (by the falling of the heart of the foretopmast, shot away during the contest) in an attack made, in company with a squadron under Lord Garlies, on a Spanish ship of the line off Cape de Gata; contributed to the capture of several of the enemy’s vessels, including the privateers Le Pluvier and La Carnarde; and, in volunteered command of a division of gun-boats, was twice, while in escort of convoy, engaged with the Spanish flotilla in the Gut of Gibraltar. Immediately after the battle of the Nile the Bonne Citoyenne joined Lord Nelson, from whom she had been separated in a gale, and rendered much assistance to his fleet. During his passage home from the Mediterranean in the Colossus Mr. Young was wrecked, 10 Dec. 1798, on a ledge of rocks in St. Mary’s Road, Scilly. On that occasion, having volunteered, he succeeded in conveying a warp on board a gun-brig; an operation which would have ensured the safety of the crew, 600 in number, who were confined to the taffrail by a heavy sea, had not the timely arrival of some fishing-boats rendered its use unnecessary. In the Savage he was for upwards of two years employed on the coasts of France and Holland; and in the Goliath he was again stationed in the West Indies; where, in June, 1803, he aided in making prize, near Cape Nicola Mole, St. Domingo, of La Mignonne corvette of 16 guns and 80 men. During a midnight hurricane, encountered on her voyage home, the Goliath was laid on her beam-ends and dismasted; but through the highly-lauded exertions of Mr. Young, who, as we have said, was her First-Lieutenant, she was enabled, within 24 hours, to go in full chase of and recapture a merchant-vessel of considerable value. In the Entreprenante Mr. Young was at first employed, in company with the Aeolus and Crescent frigates, in attendance upon the King off Weymouth; but although others, junior to him, were for this service promoted, he was passed over. After having convoyed some provision-transports to the squadron off Quiberon, and made some captures in the neighbourhood of Havre-de-Grace, he was sent to the Mediterranean. The day before the battle of Trafalgar he received directions from Lord Nelson (who had years before declared that, knowing him to be a good officer, it was his intention to serve him) to keep close to his flag-ship, as it was his Lordship’s intention to send him home with the intelligence of the victory he anticipated. Towards the close of the action the Lieutenant had the good fortune to save as many as 168 of the crew of the French 74-gun ship Achille, which had caught fire and in an hour blew up. During the tremendous gale that ensued, although crowded with prisoners and, in great distress for want of water, he was indefatigable in ascertaining, and in correctly reporting, the position of the prizes, one of which, the Bahama 74, whose crew had overpowered their guard, 40 in number, would have succeeded in effecting her escape into Cadiz, had he not, by affording telegraphic intelligence of the circumstance, prevented her. The 40 men alluded to were by him received on board his vessel; and among these, as well as the captives, he distributed, with a degree of humanity that did him credit, but for which he never obtained the least compensation, the linen, the wine, and all the necessaries he had. Notwithstanding that it had been arranged that he was to carry home the despatches relative to the victory, he had the mortification, instead, of being sent with the duplicates of them to Faro; whereby he lost both the promotion and the handsome donation that must otherwise have fallen to his lot. All the reward he got, indeed, for his services at Trafalgar, was a sword valued at 100 guineas from the Patriotic Society. He was afterwards, for nearly two years, attached to the blockading force off Brest, and was often during that period within range at once of four batteries. From the effects at length of ill health, produced by fatigue and disappointment, he was obliged, in Dec. 1807, to leave the Entreprenante. On being subsequently appointed First-Lieutenant of the Ulysses he accompanied the expedition of 1809 to the Walcheren. While there he served with the flat-bottomed boats, and was the senior officer of his rank so employed. During the time he belonged to the Princess Caroline he was stationed, for the protection of trade, in the Gulf of Finland. On the occasion of the jubilee he was promoted at last to the rank of Commander 21 Oct. 1810; but his efforts thenceforward to procure employment, although incessant, were unavailing.
Commander Young was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital 20 April, 1839. He married, 10 March, 1810, Mary, daughter of Capt. Ellis, of the Army, and has left issue two sons and two daughters. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.