two boats under his immediate orders, we find him, after a sanguinary contest, destroying a pirate-vessel on the coast of Malacca. Having obtained, 25 April, 1805, the acting-command of La Concorde 36, Capt. Coghill, on 1 Feb. 1806, received an Admiralty commission confirming his appointment to that frigate, in which he continued until Sept. 1807. On next joining, 2 Oct. 1809, the Diana 38, he forthwith proceeded to join the armament then off Walcheren, and arrived in time to perform service marked by the approbation of the Commander-in-Chief. Capt. Coghill left the Diana in Feb. 1810, and remained on half-pay until 7 Oct. 1813, when he was appointed to the Ister 36, in which he served on the Leeward Island station until July, 1815. He has not been since afloat. His promotion to Flag-rank took place 23 Nov. 1841.
Sir Josiah Coghill, who is Deputy-Lieutenant for co. Dublin, married, first, in March, 1803, Sophia, daughter of Jas. Dodson, Esq., by whom (who died in 1817) he had three daughters; and, secondly, 27 Jan. 1819, Anna Maria, eldest daughter of the late Right Hon. Chas. Kendal Bushe, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench in Ireland, by whom he has living two sons and seven daughters. Agents–Messrs. Halford and Co.
COGHLAN. (Commander, 1843. f-p., 22; h-p., 18.)
Francis Rogers Coghlan is nephew of that intrepid veteran, the late Capt. Jeremiah Coghlan, R.N., C.B. (1810), who died 4 March, 1844, at the age of 69.[1]
This officer entered the Navy, 18 May, 1807, as a Supernumerary, on board the Dædalus 32, Capt. Fred. Warren, and, on proceeding with convoy to the West Indies, obtained, 11 June following, a Midshipman’s berth on board the Elk 18, commanded by his uncle, Capt. J. Coghlan. After serving for some time in the Polyphemus 64, Capt. Wm. Pryce Cumby, he returned home with that officer in the Hyperion 36, early in 1812, and, then joining the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. Pellew, witnessed, 5 Nov. 1813, a partial action with the French fleet off Toulon; immediately subsequent to which he became attached with his relative to the Alcmene 38, and assisted, 23 Dec. in the same year, at the capture of La Flêche national schooner, of 12 guns. Being promoted, 18 April, 1814, to a Lieutenancy in the Pylades 18, Capt. John Chas. Gawen Roberts, he sailed for the coast of North America, where he contributed to the capture of many of the enemy’s vessels, and was employed in the blockade of Newport, Rhode Island. The latter vessel having been paid off in July, 1815, Mr. Coghlan, on 4 July, 1816, joined the Minden 74, Capt. Wm. Paterson, then on the eve of her departure for Gibraltar, where, on his arrival, he assumed command of No. 23 gun-boat, and shared in the glories of Algiers. On his return to England in the Queen Charlotte 100, Lord Exmouth’s flag-ship, he was appointed, 19 Oct. 1816, to the Prometheus sloop, Capts. Wm. Bateman Dashwood and Constantine Rich. Moorsom, with whom he successively remained until paid off in Aug. 1818. His appointments afterwards were, to the command–10 July, 1832, of the Hornet 6, on the South American station–18 July, 1837, and 13 May, 1841, of the Lapwing and Linnet Falmouth packets–and, 28 June, 1843, of the Anson convict-hulk, at Hobart Town. Since his last promotion, which took place 2 Sept. 1843, Commander Coghlan has been unemployed.
He married, 4 Sept. 1830, Jane Matilda, only daughter of Fras. Henry Beall, Esq. Agents–Hallett and Robinson.
COHAM. (Lieutenant, 1828.)
Lewis Heysett Coham entered the Navy 22 June, 1813; passed his examination in 1823; obtained a Lieutenancy, 26 June, 1828, in the Magnificent, Capt. Geo. Wm. Conway Courtenay, receiving-ship at Jamaica; and was next appointed, 11 Jan. 1829, to the Mersey 26, commanded by the same officer. He has been on half-pay since 1830.
COLBY. (Commander, 1814. f-p., 17; h-p., 33.)
Thomas Colby, born 6 Jan. 1782, at Great Torrington, co. Devon, is second son of an eminent surgeon, now deceased, by Mary Copplestone, of the ancient Devonshire family of that name; and brother of Mr. Henry Colby, midshipman R.N., who perished, 19 Feb. 1809, in a prize belonging to the Sheldrake sloop.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 March, 1797, as Midshipman, on board the Bedford 74, Capt. Sir Thos. Byard, part of Admiral Duncan’s fleet in the memorable victory achieved off Camperdown, 11 Oct. 1797. On subsequently accompanying Sir T. Byard into the Foudroyant 80, he witnessed the defeat of Commodore Bompart’s squadron on the coast of Ireland, 13 Oct. 1798; after which he joined in succession the Hazard sloop, Capt. Wm. Butterfield, Prince and Prince George 98’s, flag-ships of Sir Chas. Cotton in the Channel, St. Fiorenzo 36, Capt. Joseph Bingham, with whom he sailed for the East Indies, and Centurion 50, Capts. Jas. Lind and John Sprat Rainier. On 18 Sept. 1804, he bore a part in the gallant and successful defence made by the latter ship, when attacked in Vizagapatam Roads by the French 80-gun ship Marengo, bearing the flag of Admiral Linois, and frigates Atalante and Semillante, all of whom sheered off after maintaining a furious cannonade of nearly two hours. Having been promoted, 8 April, 1805, to a Lieutenancy in the Thunderer 74, Capts. Wm. Lechmere, John Stockham (Acting), and John Talbot, he next, on 22 July and 21 Oct. 1805, shared in Sir Robt. Calder’s action and the battle of Trafalgar, and was present, in Feb. 1807, at the passage of the Dardanells, on which occasion he boarded and destroyed one of the Turkish frigates, and received two splinter-wounds.[2] Mr. Colby–who, as we should have previously stated, formed one of a party that boarded and carried a French national lugger in the East Indies in Jan. 1804, and had taken an active part in the defence of Gaeta in 1806–further assisted in the expedition, of 1807, to Egypt, where he was for three weeks employed in an open boat on the river Nile. In July, 1809, he joined the Cadmus 10, Capt. John Williams, through whose directions he brought out, 4 Oct. following, a national armed transport from under the batteries in Quiberon Bay. We subsequently find him appointed–14 Dec. 1809, to the Hyperion 36, Capt. Brodie, on the West India station–12 Aug. 1810, to the Rainbow 28, Capt Jas. Wooldridge, in the Mediterranean–19 Aug. 1811, to the Ajax 74, Capt. Sir Robt. Laurie, on the same station–and, 7 March, 1813, to the Prince of Wales 98, Capt. John Erskine Douglas, in which ship he beheld the fall of Genoa in April, 1814. He then returned to England in acting-command of the prize-brig Sphynx; and, on 17 May, was promoted to his present rank. He has not since been afloat.
Commander Colby has received a pecuniary reward from the Patriotic Fund. He married, 26 April, 1826, Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Palmer, of Torrington, and niece of the late Marchioness of Thomond, by whom he has had five children.
- ↑ Capt. Coghlan entered the Navy in Jan. 1796; and when he had been only four years and a half in the Service, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, as a reward for his heroism in having cut out, on the night of 29 July, 1800, with a single boat containing only 20 men, a fully prepared and desperately defended gun-brig, La Cerbère of 9[errata 1] guns and 87 men, moored with springs on her cables in a naval port of difficult access, within pistol-shot of three batteries, surrounded by several armed craft, and not a mile distant from a 74, bearing an admiral’s flag, and two frigates. Continuing his gallant career with equal fortune and success, he was further advanced to the rank of Commander 1 May, 1804, and on 27 Nov. 1810 to that of Post-Captain. He afterwards commanded the Caledonia, Sir Edward Pellew’s flag-ship, in a partial action with the Toulon fleet, 5 Nov. 1813, and the Alcmene frigate in a variety of detached services.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1807, p. 597.
