Royal Naval Biography/Gage, William Hall

by John Marshall

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WILLIAM HALL GAGE, Esq
Rear-Admiral of the Blue.

This officer is the sixth son of the late Hon. General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief of the forces in North America, by Margaret, daughter of Peter Kemble, Esq., President of the Council of New Jersey^[1].

He was born Oct. 2, 1777; entered the naval service in 1789, as a Midshipman, on board the Bellona, a third rate, commanded by the present Admiral Bowen; and subsequently served under Captains Dickson, Alms, Montgomery, and Purvis, in the Captain 74, Proserpine and Inconstant frigates, and Princess Royal, of 98 guns, on the home station, at the Leeward Islands, at Jamaica, and in the Mediterranean. The latter ship bore the flag of Rear-Admiral Goodall in the actions of March 14, and July 13, 1795, the result of which was the capture of the Ca-ira, a French 80, and the Censeur and Alcide, 74’s^[2].

From the Princess Royal, Mr. Gage was removed to the Bedford, 74, commanded by his former Captain, Montgomery, which ship was soon after ordered to England in company with several others, as convoy to the homeward bound trade. On the passage they fell in with and were attacked by the French Admiral Richery, who succeeded in cutting off the Censeur and many of the merchantmen^[3].

On his return to England, Mr. Gage appears to have joined the Lively, of 32 guns, Captain Lord Garlies. In that frigate he went back to the Mediterranean station with Sir John Jervis, by whom he was removed into the Victory, a first rate, and from her promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, in la Minerve, of 42 guns.

The “gallantry and zeal” displayed by Lieutenant Gage in the actions fought by la Minerve with two Spanish frigates, when on her way to Porto Ferrajo with Commodore Nelson, in the month of Dec. 1796, was highly applauded by that hero, as will be seen by an extract from his official letter to the Commander-in-Chief, inserted at p. 521 of this volume; where the reader will also find an account of those actions, and the manner in which la Minerve was employed from that period until the close of the battle off Cape St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797.

On the 28th May in the latter year, Lieutenant Gage distinguished himself at the capture of la Mutine, a French corvette, cut out of the bay of Santa Cruz by the boats of the Lively and Minerve^[4]. He was soon after advanced to the rank of Commander, and appointed to the Speedy sloop of war; but, as we have reason to believe, never joined that vessel. His post commission bears date July 26, 1797.

We next find our officer commanding the Terpsichore frigate, and accompanying a squadron sent under the orders of the present Sir T. B. Thompson, to take possession of some French vessels lying at Tunis; a measure adopted in consequence of a previous breach of neutrality committed there by the enemy and connived at by the Bey, who, with the duplicity so peculiar to his countrymen, appears also to have sanctioned, if not invited, this retributive proceeding on the part of the British. After executing the service on which it had been sent to Tunis, the squadron cruised about the Balearic Islands, and on the south coast of Spain, where it made several captures.

In May, 1798, when Sir Horatio Nelson was sent from the fleet off Cadiz to ascertain the object of an armament preparing by the enemy at Toulon and Genoa, the Terpsichore was placed under that officer’s orders. She accordingly proceeded with him to the Gulf of Lyons; but unfortunately parted company there during a heavy gale of wind^[5], and being afterwards taken off the rendezvous by a senior officer, on the presumption that Nelson, from the disabled state of the ship bearing his flag, had been forced to return to an arsenal to refit; Captain Gage, to his great mortification, was prevented from re-joining the Rear-Admiral until some time after the battle in Aboukir Bay, although he had, in company with Captain Foote, discovered and closely reconnoitred the French fleet eleven days prior to that glorious event. Had the Seahorse and Terpsichore been able to form a junction with Nelson, it is more than probable that the Culloden would have avoided the accident which befel her^[6], and every ship of the enemy been captured.

Captain Gage was subsequently employed in the blockade of Malta^[7], and on various other services, till Feb. 1799, in which month the King of Sardinia, finding it impossible any longer to endure the exactions of France, and the insults of the republican commissary, embarked on board a Danish frigate at Leghorn, and was escorted by the Terpsichore to Cagliari – that part of his dominions, which the maritime supremacy of England rendered a secure asylum. On the 23d June following, our officer captured the St. Antonio, a Spanish brig of war, mounting 14 guns, with a complement of 70 men.

We are not aware of the exact period at which Captain Gage returned to England; but in the summer of 1800, we find him assisting at the detention of a Danish frigate, in consequence of her commander refusing to allow some merchant vessels under his convoy to be searched by a British squadron. This affair created considerable discussion, and was one of the principal causes of an expedition being soon after sent to the Baltic^[8].

On the 21st July, 1801, the boats of the Doris, Beaulieu, and Uranie, to which latter ship Captain Gage had been appointed in the preceding spring, cut out la Chevrette, a French corvette, of 20 guns and 300 men, from under the batteries of Camaret, near Brest, and in presence of the combined fleets of France and Spain. This daring exploit stands as high in point of credit to the British arms, and glory to the officers and men who so nobly achieved it, as any of the kind ever performed. The particulars thereof will be given under the head of Captain Keith Maxwell, in our next volume.

The Uranie was paid off at Plymouth in May, 1802; and we have no farther mention of Captain Gage until July 1805, when he obtained the command of the Thetis, another fine frigate; in which, after serving for some time on the North Sea station, he was again sent to the Mediterranean, from whence he returned with Sir Arthur Paget, who had been on an embassy to the Ottoman Porte.

Our officer’s next appointment was to the Indus, a new 74, in which he served off the Scheldt, and in the Mediterranean, until the end of the war. His promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral took place July 19, 1821.

Residence.– 47, Dover Street, Piccadilly.

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1. General Gage was the second son of Sir Thomas Gage, Bart., (created a Viscount in 1720) by Benedicta Maria Theresa, sole heiress of Benedict Hall, of High Meadow, co. Gloucester, Esq. The subject of this memoir is consequently an uncle of the present Lord Gage.
2. See pp. 237, 254, and 340.
3. See pp. 485 and 610.
4. See Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, in our next volume.
5. See p. 181.
6. See p. 183.
7. The blockade of the island of Malta, which had been seized and garrisoned by Buonaparte when on his way to Egypt, was entrusted to the vigilance of Captain A. J. Ball, of the Alexander, 74; and is dated by Lord Nelson, in his memoir, as taking place from the 12th Oct. 1798. The state of the islands of Malta and Gozo on that day, with an account of the revolution that had taken place, is given in an interesting report which was sent to his Lordship. The French force in Malta then consisted of about 3000 soldiers and sailors, and of 100 Maltese; the only part of the inhabitants who would take up arms for the republicans. About 10,000 of the Maltese were armed; they had 23 guns on the island, of which 12 were mounted; they had also two gallies and four gun-boats. The French, in addition to their usual professions in the Gazette, had issued a manifesto declaring that they should consider the plate and riches of the church as sacred, promising neither to take nor request any thing: the very next morning, however, when the churches were opened for public worship, they began their plunder. The Maltese, injured and irritated beyond bearing, immediately flew to revenge themselves. Amongst the French whom they put to death, was a General-Officer who had been very active; with his wife they found a plan for entering all the towns in the island, murdering the strongest and richest of the inhabitants, and taking possession of the best houses. They also found a paper in which the various classes of the people were assigned different employments; 60 Maltese had been destined to bury the dead. About eight days previous to this event there had been an action between the French and Maltese, in which the former had lost 800 men, the latter had only 10 killed and wounded it lasted between three and four hours. Above 50 of the enemy threw down their arms, and begged to join the islanders; but they were fired on indiscriminately with the others. The Maltese decapitated their victims on the spot, and carried their heads about the island with parsnips in their teeth, as the French had given out that they had no provisions at Malta but parsnips.

   The island of Gozo contained 16,000 inhabitants; it surrendered by capitulation to the British squadron, sixteen days after the commencement of the blockade. Malta, as will be seen at p. 281, held out until Sept. 5, 1800.

8. See note †’ at p. 348, et seq.