WILLIAM CLEMENT SWINFEN, Esq.
[Commander.]
Entered the royal navy in Jan. 1816; obtained his first commission on the 29th April, 1825; and was advanced to his present rank, Aug. 26th, 1829.
RUSSELL ELIOTT, Esq.
[Commander.]
Entered the royal navy in Nov. 1815; obtained his first commission in Jan. 1825; and was made a commander on the 6th Sept. 1829.
JAMES PULLING, Esq.
[Commander.]
Passed his examination at Portsmouth, in April 1810; obtained his first commission on the 23d Feb. 1815; and was subsequently employed in the suppression of smuggling on the coast of Hampshire. The following account of a trial which took place at Winchester, in July 1825, is taken from the Hampshire Telegraph:
“James Pulling and William Young, the former a lieutenant in the navy, the latter a seaman employed in the preventive service, were charged with having, at the parish of Milton, wilfully murdered James Reade.
“John Goddard, of Christchurch, surgeon, deposed that on the morning of the 4th June last, he was called to attend on the deceased, who he found had been shot in the belly, just above the navel: deceased was in great pain, and witness extracted a leaden ball from the right buttock, soon after which he died of the wound. During his illness, deceased told witness, on inquiries from him, that it was a person by the name of Evans, on the preventive service, who had shot him, and that at the time they were about four or five yards apart: that he was positive of the man, but he did not think the aim was taken at him (deceased) in particular; that no goods were landed at the time; that there was an assembly of about sixty persons; that he was paid for going out at nights, and was owed thirty shillings for seven nights; that on being shot he fell senseless, and on coming to himself, crawled away from the spot on his hands and knees. – Timothy Dawkins had often worked at Hurst Castle, and knows the prisoners. About eleven o’clock in the