JOHN CHAFIN MORRIS, Esq.
[Commander.]
Only son of the late Jeremiah Morris, Esq., of Mere, co. Wilts, (whose immediate ancestor emigrated from Ireland during the great rebellion, about anno 1040) by his first wife, Jane, eldest daughter of the late Chafin Grove, Esq. of Chantry House, Mere, (descended from the ancient families of Chafin and Grove, of Zeal’s Manor House, in the parish of Mere, and Chisenburg House, Wiltshire). One of his maternal ancestors was beheaded with Colonel Penruddocke, for excessive loyalty, during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and lies buried in the church of St. Sydling’s, Exeter, where a brass plate, with the following inscription, records his melancholy fate:–
“Hic jacet Hugo Groves, de Enford, in comitate Wilts, armiger, in restituendo ecclesiam, in asserendo regem, in propugnando legem, et libertatem Anglicanam, captus, et decollatus 16° Mali 1665. ‘Pro Lege et Rege.’”
Mr. John Chafin Morris entered the royal navy in 1797, under the auspices of the late Admiral Sir Roger Curtis; and served during the remainder of the French revolutionary war as midshipman on board the flag-ships of that distinguished officer and his successor, the late Sir Charles Cotton, in the Channel fleet, off Cadiz, and on the Mediterranean station. In 1802 he joined the Donegal 80, Captain Sir Richard J. Strachan, which ship, on the renewal of hostilities, was employed in watching the motions of a French squadron at Cadiz; off which port she captured the Spanish frigate Amphitrite, Nov. 25th, 1804[1]. She subsequently, when commanded by Captain (now Sir Pulteney) Malcolm, accompanied Nelson in his memorable pursuit of the combined fleets of France and Spain, to and from the West Indies. On the 23d Oct. 1805, she captured El Rayo, a partially dismasted three-decker, forming part of the Spanish squadron under Don Frederico Gravina, who, on his return to port after the battle of Trafalgar, had been ordered to sea again, for the
