Royal Naval Biography/Geary, John
JOHN GEARY, Esq.
[Commander.]
Was wounded while serving as midshipman on board the Monarch 74, Captain (now Sir Richard) Lee, in action with a squadron of French frigates, Sept. 25th, 1806[1]. His promotion to the rank of lieutenant took place on the 29th May, 1807. The following is taken from the Naval Chronicle, vol. 24, p. 434:
“On the 9th, 10th, and 12th Nov. 1810, a court-martial was held on Lieut. John Geary, of H.M. schooner Mullet, for not having done his utmost to execute the orders of Sir Robert Calder, in proceeding with the mails to Surinam, Berbice, and Demerara, but returned twice to port. Lieutenant Geary’s defence was, that the sickly state of his crew prevented him. The Court sentenced him to be severely reprimanded.”
We next find Lieutenant Geary serving under Captain Robert Henderson, in the Tigris frigate, on the Irish station, and at the Leeward Islands. In April 1818, he was appointed first of the Phaeton 46, Captain William Henry Dillon, fitting out for a voyage to the East Indies; and on his return home, in Oct. 1819, he was dismissed from that ship and severely reprimanded, by the sentence of a court-martial, for having concealed two deserters from the band of H.M. 18th regiment, whilst under sailing orders at Portsmouth. He appears to have subsequently commanded an East Indiaman. His advancement to the rank he now holds took place on the 17th Feb. 1831.