ship of Rear-Admiral (now Sir Charles) Tyler, April 6, 1813. The Harpy assisted at the reduction of Java, in 1811.
Captain Bain married, April 3, 1821, Sarah, eldest daughter of the Rev. W. Haggitt, Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital.
RICHARD SPEAR, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1813.]
Was originally a banker’s clerk at Dublin. He entered the naval service under the auspices of the first Lord Gardner, and was subsequently patronized by the Marquis of Hastings. We first find him serving as lieutenant of the Conqueror 74, Captain (now Sir Israel) Pellew, at the glorious battle of Trafalgar.
After that tremendous conflict Lieutenant Spear was entrusted with the charge of the Bucentaure 80, (Mons. Villeneuve’s late flag-ship) in which he was wrecked, on the 22d Oct. at the entrance of Cadiz bay. His promotion to the rank of commander took place Dec 24, 1805.
On the 2d Sept. 1811, Captain Spear, then in the Chanticleer brig of 10 guns, was attacked, and nearly captured, by a Danish squadron. The very gallant defence made by his consort, Lieutenant Richard William Simmonds, of the Manly gun-brig, will be seen by the following extracts of a letter from that officer to Sir Henry Edwin Stanhope, the commander-in-chief at Sheerness ; dated Christiansand, Norway, Sept. 4:–
“We exchanged numbers with the Chanticleer at 5-30 P.M. on the 1st instant, Drommels bearing N.W. by W., distant about 12 leagues, when she made our signal to pass within hail, which I accordingly complied with, and after waiting on Captain Spear, having no surgeon on board the Manly, and both vessels being bound to one port, I thought it prudent, through his advice, to remain in company with the Chanticleer that night, for the purpose of her surgeon visiting my sick people the next morning. Captain Spear informing me, at the same time, he meant to sail along the coast during the night: the superior sailing of the Chanticleer occasioned me to carry a press of sail, against a heavy head-sea, to keep her company.
“At 1 A.M. she was a long way a-head; and at 2, I observed three strange sail close to her, but could not now discover which was the Chan-