Royal Naval Biography/Bowker, John
JOHN BOWKER, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1811.]
This officer, the second son of the late Robert Bowker, Esq. of Queen’s County, Ireland, was born Dec. 1, 1770; and he entered the naval service, in Aug. 1785, as a midshipman on board the Trusty of 50 guns, commanded by Captain William Wolseley, and then fitting for the broad pendant Mr. Bowker, who had commanded a party of seamen on shore during the occupation of Toulon, was promoted into the St. Fiorenzo frigate, Captain Sir Charles Hamilton, Bart. July 10, 1794; and paid off from her in the month of Nov. following. On the 8th Dec. in the same year, he received a commission appointing him to the Mars 74, Captain Sir Charles Cotton, Bart, to whose notice he had been recommended by Rear-Admiral Cosby, and under whom he served as fourth lieutenant during the memorable retreat of Cornwallis, on which occasion the Mars, it will be remembered, bore the brunt of the enemy’s attack, she being the sternmost ship of the British line[1].
On Sir Charles Cotton’s advancement to the rank of Rear-Admiral, he was superseded by Captain Alexander Hood, under whose command the Mars pursued and engaged l’Hercule, a new French 74, which ship was ultimately subdued and taken possession of by the subject of this memoir, then second lieutenant, who on boarding her after the republican crew had cried for quarter, was met in an hostile manner by the first and second French captains with about 60 men, whom they had treacherously rallied around them.
This latter circumstance has never yet been noticed by any naval historian, nor was it even mentioned by the first-lieutenant of the Mars, in his official letter to Lord Bridport; it therefore becomes our task to relate the fact as it occurred.
Towards the close of the battle Captain Hood received a mortal wound, and was consequently carried below. The yards of the hostile ships had been for some time locked together, and Lieutenant Bowker, who commanded on the lower-deck was obliged, at all risks, to fire the guns under his superintendence at nearly the whole length of their breechings, as they could not be run out without bringing them in contact with those of l’Hercule. Finding that the enemy’s fire had at length ceased, and imagining that she had surrendered, he proceeded to the quarter-deck for the purpose of receiving further orders; but seeing no officer there senior in rank to the acting-master, and the prize not yet taken possession of, he immediately jumped into her main-chains, followed by a party of boarders, and, although unexpectedly opposed, soon subdued the Frenchmen who had thus unwarrantably resumed their arms, driving the greater part of them into the main-chains of the Mars. In this hand-to-hand conflict he had the misfortune to miss his aim when making a thrust with his pike at the second captain, and his foot slipping, he was precipitated from the quarter-deck down to the orlop, by which fall he lost three teeth and received a severe contusion in the right knee, but luckily he was not incapacitated from retaining the charge of l’Hercule[2].
After finally subduing the enemy’s ship, and getting her clear of the Mars, Lieutenant Bowker and his followers, only one of whom was wounded, had to contend with an alarming fire in four different places; and from the great quantity of powder which they found, at day-light, had been spilled on various parts of l’Hercule’s decks, it may fairly be inferred that she was only saved from being blown up by the bodies of the killed and dying Frenchmen lying so thick in all directions as to prevent the formation of a continued train to the magazine.
After conducting l’Hercule to Lord Bridport’s fleet, the subject of this memoir returned to the Mars, and remained in her as first-lieutenant, until the spring of 1799. From that period till the peace of Amiens we find him serving in the Prince, and another second rate, both bearing the flag of his friend Sir Charles Cotton. On the renewal of hostilities, in May 1803, the same amiable officer being appointed second in command of the Channel fleet, was pleased to select Mr. Bowker to be his first lieutenant, in the San Josef of 120 guns; and in the autumn of 1806 he gave him an order to act as commander of the Atalante brig, forming part of a squadron stationed off Rochefort, under the orders of Sir Samuel Hood.
Shortly after this appointment, and during a dark night, Captain Bowker fell in with a French coasting convoy, consisting of twelve sail, eight of which he had the good fortune to capture and destroy.
In Feb. 1807, the blockading squadron, then under the command of Commodore Keats, being blown off the land, and the Atalante being the first of the inshore division to regain her station. Captain Bowker observed two French ships under weigh in Basque roads, and all the other men of war at that anchorage with their top-sail-yards at the mastheads braced up ready for casting. Not one of his fellow-cruisers being then in sight, and fearing the enemy would effect their escape, if not intimidated from coming out, he instantly adopted the expedient of hoisting flags and firing guns, as if making signals to the British squadron: this stratagem perfectly succeeded – the Frenchmen, already under sail, let go their anchors, and the whole were soon in the same order as though a start had never been contemplated.
After the performance of this service, Captain Bowker proceeded to place his brig in a proper position for watching the enemy’s motions during the night, but in doing so the Atalante unfortunately got aground, through the ignorance of the coasting pilots; and at day-light next morning, the enemy, instead of sending boats to rescue her officers and crew from their deplorable situation, inhumanly opened a heavy fire of great guns and musketry upon them, which was kept up till two British frigates arrived to their assistance, and succeeded in taking them from the wreck.
On the 23d of the following month, the minutes of the court-martial, assembled to enquire into the circumstances attending the loss of the Atalante, being received at the Admiralty, and Sir Charles Cotton having interested himself in behalf of his old follower, their lordships were pleased to confirm Captain Bowker’s commission as a commander, at the same time appointing him to the Epervier brig, then employed at the Leeward Islands, from whence he was obliged to return home, for the recovery of his health, in Feb. 1808.
Captain Bowker’s next appointment was, in Aug, 1809, to the AEtna bomb, forming part of the naval force in the Scheldt, under the orders of Sir Richard J. Strachan, whose thanks he had the honor of receiving in public orders (conjointly with other officers serving under the immediate directions of Captain George Cockburn) for silencing the batteries of Doel, and covering the retreat of the advanced squadron of frigates.
The AEtna was subsequently employed in the defence of Cadiz, on which service Captain Bowker remained till about Oct. 1810, when he was removed, by Sir Charles Cotton, into the Wizard, a 16 gun brig, on the Mediterranean station. In the spring of 1811, we find him acting as captain of the San Josef, once more bearing the flag of his staunch patron, with whom he soon afterwards returned to England, as a passenger in the same ship. His post commission bears date Aug. 16, 1811[3].
From this period Captain Bowker did not obtain another appointment till Feb. 12, 1817, when he was nominated by Vice-Admiral Pickmore, governor and commander-in-chief at Newfoundland, to command his flag-ship, the Sir Francis Drake, of 46 guns. On the demise of that officer, Feb. 24, 1818, he hoisted a broad pendant as commodore on that station ; and early in the following month he was, by virtue of the king’s letter-patent, sworn in as governor, pro tempore, of the colony, the duties of which high office he discharged with great credit until the arrival of Sir Charles Hamilton, Bart, at the latter end of July following.
Having then resigned his trust into the hands of Vice-Admiral Pickmore’s successor. Captain Bowker resumed the command of the flagship, and continued at St. John’s till Nov. 1819. when he embarked in the Egeria 24, for a passage to England, the Admiralty having thought proper to reduce the Sir Francis Drake’s establishment, and to place her under the command of a lieutenant. The other officers, and surplus part of the crew, returned home with their Captain, and were paid off at Portsmouth, Jan. 1, 1820.
In 1825 Captain Bowker was appointed to command H.M. Ordinary at Plymouth, where he continued during the customary period of three years. He married, in 1801, Mary Beckford, eldest daughter of Thomas L. Yates, Esq. who was purser of the Mars when she captured l’Hercule, and is now the senior officer of that rank in H.M. navy. Captain Bowker has one son and one daughter.
- ↑ See Vol. I, note † at p. 354.
- ↑ Errata – Vol. II. Part II. note † at p. 616 – after wounded, insert officially reported; and after second lieutenant, insert who had a fair claim to be included in the report.
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. note † at p. 447.