EDWARD COLLIER, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1814.]
Was born at Blockley, co. Worcester, in 1783. He entered the naval service, Feb. 26, 1796, under the patronage of the late Hon. Sir George C. Berkeley, and served his time as midshipman on board the Formidable 98, Maidstone and Seahorse frigates. Victorious 74, and Centurion 50, the two latter ships bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral Peter Rainier, commander-in-chief in India, to whom he had been recommended by Captain Edward James Foote, of the Seahorse.
The alarming situation of the Centurion, in a tremendous hurricane, off Ceylon, in Dec. 1802, has been noticed at p. 144 of Suppl. Part I. For his exertions on that occasion, Mr. Collier was immediately afterwards promoted into the Arrogant 74. In Feb. 1803, he accompanied an expedition sent against the pirates on the Guzzurat coast, the result of which has also been stated in our memoir of Captain Dobbie.
About Nov. following, Mr. Collier exchanged into the St. Fiorenzo frigate, of which he was third lieutenant at the capture of la Psyche French 36, commanded by Mons. Bergeret, Feb. 14, 1805. The “able support” he afforded his captain on that occasion is duly acknowledged in the official account of the action, as will be seen by reference to p. 347 of Suppl. Part II.
From this period. Lieutenant Collier served as second of the St. Fiorenzo, until Mar, 1808, when he left her at Point de Galle, in consequence of a very severe indispositon, and returned home invalided, in the Monmouth 64. Early in 1809, he was appointed first of the Thames 32, Captain the Hon. G. G. Waldegrave, with whom he continued until promoted for his gallant conduct at the capture and destruction of a Neapolitan convoy, near Amanthea, July 25, 1810[1].
In Sept. 1812, Captain Collier received an appointment to the Manly brig, in which he was ’successively employed off the Scheldt, in convoying the trade to Newfoundland, and as a cruiser on the North American station. On the 13th
