the naval service Feb, 7, 1797; obtained the rank of Lieutenant May 1, 1804; was made a Commander, into the Elk sloop of war, Nov. 1, 1805; and posted into the Mediator 44, on the Jamaica station. May 18, 1806. A gallant exploit performed by a detachment of seamen and marines under his directions, at Samana, in Feb. 1807, has already been described at p. 973 of our second volume.
From this period we lose sight of Captain Wise, until his appointment to the Granicus frigate, in 1813. On the 2d Dec. 1814, he captured the Leo, American privateer, of 6 guns and 76 men, near Cape Spartel.
Captain Wise was re-appointed to the Granicus, Oct. 27, 1815; his dashing conduct at the battle of Algiers is thus handsomely noticed by a contemporary writer:–
“The Granicus and Hebrus frigates, and the smaller vessels (except the bombs) being considered in the light of a corps-de-reserve, had not had any particular stations assigned to them, but were to bring up abreast of any openings they could find in the line of battle. Impelled onward by the ardent desire of filling the first of these openings, the Hebrus got becalmed by the heavy cannonade, and was obliged to anchor a little without the line, on the Queen Charlotte’s larboard quarter. The Granicus, finding herself shooting fast ahead, hove to, with the intention of waiting until her companions had taken their stations. As, owing to the dense smoke which prevailed, nothing beyond the distance of a cable’s length could be seen, except the Queen Charlotte’s mast-head flag. Captain Wise allowed 10 minutes to elapse for the ships to anchor. The Granicus then filled, let fall her fore-sail, set top-gallant-sails, and, soon gaining fresh way, steered straight for a beacon that, phoenix-like, seemed to live in the hottest of the fire. With a display of intrepidity and of seamanship alike unsurpassed. Captain Wise anchored his frigate in a space scarcely exceeding her own length between the Queen Charlotte and Superb; a station of which a three decked line-of-battle ship might justly have been proud[1].”
The Granicus, on this brilliant occasion, sustained a loss of 16 killed and 42 wounded; amongst the latter were Lieutenant Henry Augustus Perkins, and Messrs. Lewis Punbar Mitchell, Lewis Tobias Jones, George R. Glennie, and Dacres Furlong Wise, Midshipmen. On the second day after the battle, the following correspondence took place between her crew and the Superb’s:–
- ↑ James’s Nav. Hist. 2d. edit. Vol. VI, p. 678. et seq.
