(third Baronet and grandson of Sir Bibye Lake), by Joyce, daughter of John Crowther, of Bow, co. Middlesex, Esq. He was born about the year 1773, and entered the naval service under the auspices of Captain Andrew Snape Hammond[1], with whom, and his gallant nephew the late Sir A. S. Douglas, he served successively, as a Midshipman, in the Irresistible, of 74 guns, Southampton frigate, and Goliath, Aleide, and Vanguard, ships of the line, until his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, which took place Nov. 21, 1790[2].
On the war breaking out with France, in 1793, Mr. Lake obtained an appointment to the Russel, a third-rate, commanded by Captain J. W. Payne, in -which ship he remained till the ensuing autumn. He afterwards served as Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Macbride, removing with him from ship to ship, and occasionally commanding an armed cutter, during the operations against the French at Nieuport, Ostend, &c.[3] In the spring of the following year, he was appointed first Lieutenant of the Minotaur, 74, bearing the flag of the same officer, and chiefly employed in cruizing off the coast of France[4].
On the 25th Nov. 1794, Lieutenant Lake was advanced to the rank of Commander, in the Weazle sloop of war, stationed between Yarmouth and Flamborough Head, for the protection of the fishery. His next appointment was to the Rattler, of 18 guns, a Channel cruizer, under the orders of Admiral Sir Peter Parker. From that vessel he appears to have been posted into the Proserpine frigate, by commission
- ↑ The present Sir A. S. Hamond, of whom a memoir will appear, under the head of Retired Captains, in our next volume.
- ↑ The Southampton, of 32 guns, Captain Andrew Snape Douglas, was sent to the Mediterranean about the autumn of 1786, and returned from thence at the period of the Dutch armament, with an account of the state of the French and Spanish fleets in that quarter. The disturbances in Holland having ceased, she was again ordered to the same station, and remained there some time. We subsequently find her attending on the Royal Family at Weymouth; and it is worthy of remark, that she was the ship in which our late Sovereign commenced those marine excursions for which he ever afterwards evinced so decided a predilection. She had also the honor of carrying the Royal Standard on the occasion of his Majesty reviewing the squadron under Commodore Goodall, off Plymouth, Aug. 18, 1789. See Retired Captain Sir Francis J. Hartwell, in vol. II.
- ↑ See note ‡ at p. 569.
- ↑ See p. 502.
