Royal Naval Biography/Halsted, John
JOHN HALSTED, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1808.]
Third son of the late Captain William Anthony Halsted, R.N., by Mary, only daughter of Charles Frankland, Esq., nearly related to the ancient Yorkshire family of that name[1]. This officer was born at Gosport, co. Hants, in 1768; and at the early age of eight years we find him embarked on hoard the Jersey of 60 guns, commanded by his father; whom he had the misfortune to lose, at New York, in 1778.
Mr. John Halsted was then removed to the Amazon 32, Captain M. Jacob, under whose care he remained until that ship was paid off, in the course of the following year. He subsequently served as a midshipman on board the Blenheim 98, Captain (afterwards Lord) Duncan; Princess Royal, of the same force, Captain Jonathan Faulkner; Queen, another second rate, flag-ship of Admiral John Montagu, Commander-in-chief at Portsmouth; Ganges 74, successively commanded by the Hon. James Luttrell and Sir Roger Curtis, Bart.; Hebe frigate, Captain Edward Thornbrough; Perseverance 36, Captain Isaac Smith, on the East India station; Crown 64, Captain Robert Manners Sutton; Brunswick 74, Sir R. Curtis; and Queen Charlotte first rate, bearing the flag of Earl Howe; by whom he was made a Lieutenant, and appointed to the Suffolk 74, in Sept. 1793[2].
A few months after his advancement. Lieutenant Halsted again sailed for the East Indies; Captain Peter Rainier, of the Suffolk, having been ordered to hoist a broad pendant as commander-in-chief on that station. During the operations against Ceylon and the Spice Islands, the Commodore entrusted him with the command of 100 seamen serving with the troops on shore ; and on their return to Madras, in Mar. 1797, promoted him to the command of the Swift sloop, which vessel he gave up at the request of his patron, who was anxious that he should assume the government of the naval hospital, then newly established at that place, having witnessed with great satisfaction the salutary measures he adopted when landed in charge of the sick at Amboyna.
Shortly after this appointment, the government of Bengal determined to send an expedition against Manilla, in consequence of which Captain Halsted was ordered to proceed to Calcutta, and there take the command of the Vulcan bomb, a vessel purchased and fitted for that service. The enterprise, however, was abandoned before the armament left Prince of Wales’s island; and in Nov. following, he was appointed to succeed the Hon. George Murray in the Heroine 32, the latter being removed by the Admiralty to the Crescent frigate, on the Cape station; but as that officer had some private affairs to settle in India, Captain Halsted exchanged with him at the particular request of Rear-Admiral Rainier, and lost no time in proceeding to join his ship, the commander-in-chief having charged him with despatches for Europe, to be forwarded from the Cape.
On his arrival there. Captain Halsted was informed that Rear-Admiral Pringle had sailed for England, with his flag in the Crescent; and as an opportunity offered, he felt it his duty to follow with the despatches, which he delivered at the Admiralty in June, 1798; when, to his great mortification, he found that instead of confirming his post commission, the Board would only grant him the rank of Commander from the date of his arrival.
Captain Halsted was next appointed, in 1804, to the Lord Nelson, defence ship, on the Downs station; and, in 1807, he accepted the situation of principal agent for transports in the expedition destined against Copenhagen; but was again unfortunate with regard to his promotion, owing to the Captain of the Fleet having failed to report his meritorious conduct on that extremely arduous service, for which neglect Sir Home Popham was very justly censured by the Transport Board, and also by Lord Gambier.
Captain Halsted subsequently proceeded to Gibraltar, and was very actively employed until after the Convention of Cintra, when he at length received a post commission, dated Nov. 21, 1808. In the following year, he gave up his appointment as agent for transports; and towards the close of 1810, we find him commanding the Bellerophon 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Ferrier; with whom he continued, in that ship and the Scarborough, on the North Sea station, till the commencement of 1814; from which period he regulated the impress service at Gosport until the final cessation of hostilities, in 1815. Whilst thus employed, he had the honour of kissing hands on being introduced to the Prince Regent and his august allies, during their visit to the fleet at Portsmouth, an act of reverence which he was afterwards most graciously allowed to perform, as one of the deputation sent over from Gosport, with an address to our beloved Monarch, when his Majesty first visited the former town after his accession to the throne.
The subject of the foregoing memoir married Miss A. Fowler, by whom he has issue two sons and one daughter. The eldest, Lawrence William, holds a commission in the 87th regiment of foot; the youngest, George Anthony, is a Lieutenant, R.N.[3]
- ↑ The Halsteds are descended from a highly respectable family, long settled in the county of Buckingham.
- ↑ The Amazon formed part of the squadron under Lord Howe, when that officer prevented M. d’Estaing, with a very superior force, from passing the bar at Sandy Hook. When discharged from that ship, Mr. Halsted was placed at school, where he continued until 1782, at which period he joined Captain Duncan, and proceeded with him to the relief of Gibraltar. The Blenheim was Lord Howe’s second, and bad several men killed and wounded in the subsequent action off Cape Spartel.
- ↑ Captain Halsted’s brothers were all devoted to the naval profession, viz. – Charles, a Lieutenant, perished in the Blanche frigate, 1780; Lawrence William, a Vice-Admiral and K.C.B., now on his return from holding the chief command in the West Indies; and George, a Commander of 1809.