Royal Naval Biography/Keele, Charles
CHARLES KEELE, Esq.
[Commander.]
Fourth son of John Keele, Esq., many years a respectable surgeon at Southampton.
This officer entered the royal navy in April 1807, as midshipman on board the Superieure sloop, commanded by his gallant relation, the late Captain Edward Rushworth, and then fitting out, at Portsmouth, for the West India station; and continued to serve under the same gentleman, in various vessels, until he gave up the command of the Satellite sloop, in April, 1809. He next joined the Caledonia 120, flag-ship of Lord Gambier, commander-in-chief of the Channel fleet; and afterwards the Boyne 98, bearing the flag of Sir Harry Neale, off Rochefort, in which ship he continued until July 1811. We afterwards find him on board the Barbadoes 28, Captain Rushworth, off Cherbourg.
On the 7th Sept. 1811, the Barbadoes, then in company with the Goshawk sloop, and cruising to the eastward of Cape Barfleur, fell in with seven French gun-brigs, coming from Boulogne, each mounting three long 24-pounders and a mortar, and manned with 75 men. These the Barbadoes and her consort immediately attacked and chased into Calvados, driving one of them on shore. On the following day, one of those vessels was sunk, and two others driven on the rocks, by the Hotspur frigate, Captain the Hon. Josceline Percy, which ship unfortunately grounded when within gunshot, and lay exposed to a heavy fire from the brigs and the shore for four hours, sustaining a loss of five men killed and twenty-two wounded[1].
The Barbadoes subsequently escorted a large fleet of merchantmen to Jamaica, where Captain Rushworth was prematurely cut off, June 14th, 1812, in the twenty-fifth year of his age[2]. From thence, Mr. Keele returned home in the Thetis frigate. Captain W. H. Byam, which ship was paid off at Chatham, in Sept. 1812[3]. He then joined the Java frigate. Captain Henry Lambert, fitting out for the East India station; and on the 29th Dec. following was very severely wounded in action with the United States’ ship Constitution[4]. Among the mortally wounded on this occasion was his brother Edward, only thirteen years of age, and then on his first voyage:– The following is an extract of a letter written by one of the Java’s officers, dated at St. Salvador, Brazil, Jan. 26th, 1813:–
“My dear friend, – I have a most unpleasant commission for you, or rather, it would be better for B. to break it to his father, which is the death of poor young Keele; he was badly wounded in the action, and obliged to have his left leg amputated, and in consequence died the next day:– he was a fine courageous little fellow. The elder Keele also, poor fellow! was very severely wounded in the arm, but is now quite out of danger, and the limb safe. The youngest continued to shew the same undaunted spirit to the last; when the action was over, he enquired if the ship had struck, and seeing a ship’s colour spread over him, he grew uneasy, until convinced it was an English flag. The wound the elder received must have proceeded from a shot passing between his arm and side; he was particularly noticed by his superior officers, for his great coolness and bravery in action.”
On his return to England, after being exchanged, Mr. Charles Keele joined the Rivoli 74, Captain (now Sir Graham E.) Hamond, fitting out for the Mediterranean station; where he was serving when the war with France terminated, in 1814. He then, together with many other young men who, like himself, had passed their examination, volunteered his services against America, and was returning home from Genoa, passenger on board the Edinburgh 74, Captain John L. Manley, when he found at Gibraltar an official notification of his promotion, by commission dated Sept. 24th, 1814, appointing him lieutenant of the Rivoli.
The rock being then under quarantine, and having no immediate prospect of obtaining a passage to Genoa or Malta, Lieutenant Keele continued in the Edinburgh until her arrival at the Motherbank, when he reported himself to the Admiralty, and was immediately ordered back to the Mediterranean, in the Clorinde frigate. Captain Samuel G. Pechell. In the mean time, Rear-Admiral Penrose had selected an officer to supply his place, and although Lieutenant Keele presented himself on board the Rivoli, he was told that he must await further orders before he could be received, except as a supernumerary. In consequence of this, he was precluded sharing prize money as a commissioned officer for the capture of the French frigate Melpoméne, intercepted on her passage from Elba to Naples, during the 100 days war[5]. In the short but spirited action which took place on this occasion, Lieutenant Keele, who invariably performed the duty of a commissioned officer, received a severe blow from one of the gun-breechings giving way. The Rivoli brought her prize to Portsmouth in Feb. 1810; and was soon afterwards paid off.
Mr. Keele remained on half-pay from this period until Nov. 1823, when, after repeated solicitations for employment, he was applied for by his friend Captain H. D. Chads, and accordingly appointed first lieutenant of the Arachne sloop, fitting out for the East India station. The manner in which he acquitted himself while serving under that officer will be seen by the following outline of the operations in which he was engaged during the Burmese war.
After touching at Lisbon, the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Trincomalee, and Madras, the Arachne proceeded to co-operate with the expedition under Sir Archibald Campbell, K.C.B., at Rangoon, where she arrived, and her commander assumed the direction of the naval force attached to the invading army, Sept. 15th, 1824.
On the 21st and 24th of the same month. Lieutenant Keele, then commanding a division of gun-vessels and row-boats, assisted at the destruction of eight stockades on the Panlang river[6]. He subsequently commanded the naval part of an expedition sent to reduce and occupy the city of Martaban, situated at the bottom of the gulf of that name, and about 100 miles to the eastward of Rangoon. The force under his orders consisted of six gun-vessels, one mortar-boat, seven row-gun-boats, (and an armed transport; the latter having on board four hundred and fifty troops, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin.
On the 27th Oct. this little armament entered Martaban river, and succeeded in destroying about thirty of the enemy’s war-boats, two of them pulling fifty oars each, and the whole armed with muskets, spears, and swivels. On the 29th, when closing the town, the transport grounded too far off to make use of her carronades with a good effect. The Burmese then opened their fire from a stockade, which was returned by all the row-boats, forming a line close along-shore, until after sunset; the mortar-vessel likewise took her position, under Captain Kennan, of the Madras artillery, and kept up a well-directed fire the whole night, killing, from report, great numbers of the enemy. The defences of Martaban are thus described by Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin:–
“The place rests at the bottom of a very high hill, washed by a beautiful and extensive sheet of water; on its right a rocky mound on which was placed a two-gun battery, with a deep nullah under it. This battery communicates with the usual stockade of timber, and behind this a work of masonry, varying from twelve to twenty feet thick, with small embrasures for either cannon or musketry. The stockade runs along the margin of the water for more than three-quarters of a mile, where it joins a large pagoda, which projects into the water in the form of a bastion. The defences then continue a short distance, and end at a nullah, on the other side of which all is thick jungle. The town continues to run in an angle away from the pagoda for at least a mile, and terminates in the house of the Mayoon, close to a stockade up the hill. The whole defence is the water line, with its flanks protected. The rear of the town and work is composed of thick jungle and large trees, and open to the summit.”
“At 5 o’clock in the morning of the 30th,” says the lieutenant-colonel, “the men composing the first division were in their boats – ninety-eight of H.M. 41st regiment, seventy-five of the 3d native light infantry, eight of the Bengal artillery, and thirty-eight seamen of the royal navy; and I was fully aware that these men would have the business to themselves, as I had no where to wait for the remainder of the force, and every boat was already occupied.”
“The advance sounded a little after five, and the boats rowed off, and soon came under a very heavy fire of all arms. On approaching the shore, I perceived there had been a misunderstanding with respect to the spot at which I wished to land, and that we had got on the wrong side of the nullah. As we could not carry the ladders through the mud, I ordered the boats to push off and put in at the place I appointed; at this time a heavy fire of artillery and musketry was on us, and the Lascars would not face it. Lieutenant, Keele, of the Arachne, commanding the naval force with me, pushed on shore, and gallantly went to see if the nullah could be passed: he came back almost directly, and informed me there was a boat in the nullah, over which the men could go, and that the side of the rock to the battery appeared practicable. Trusting to the gallantry of the people with me, I determined to try it; and from the men getting on shore, there was not a halt till we had possession of it. It was stormed under a heavy fire of musketry; the enemy did not leave the fort till we were within a few paces of them, and they even threw stones at us, when we were too much under the fort for their fire to reach us. It is due to Lieutenant Borrowes of H.M. 41st regiment, and Lieutenant Keele R.N., to say they were in first. I now felt secure of the place, and after waiting till the men had recovered from the exertion, and to get them together, they marched down along the works, and cleared all before them. On marching through the town it was, as usual, deserted, except by a great many women. The emptiness of the houses shewed every preparation had been made, if the place was captured, to prevent our getting any property. I enclose a return of the guns taken, as also the ordnance stores; the quantities of the latter are immense, kept in a stockade about half a mile up the hill, and a regular manufactory to make the powder. Our loss has hecn comparatively small – seven Killed and fourteen wounded. In this immense place, with so many facilities to escape, I cannot guess what the enemy’s loss may have been; but from the prisoners, of whom we have a great many, and from other sources, it must have been great; as allowing that two-thirds of the number reported were within this place at the attack, there, must have been between three and four thousand.”
The ordnance and stores captured at Martaban consisted of sixteen guns of various calibre, one hundred wall-pieces, five hundred muskets, seven thousand round shot, one thousand five hundred grape, one hundred thousand musket balls, nine thousand rounds of lead, twenty thousand flints, ten thousand musket cartridges, six thousand ditto for wall-pieces, twenty-six thousand five hundred pounds of loose gun-powder, ten thousand pounds of saltpetre, and five thousand pounds of sulphur. The Hon. Company’s gun-vessel Phaëton was found at this place, with her crew in irons. Her commander had put into Martaban by mistake, and was then a prisoner at Ava.
The loss sustained by the naval detachment was two men killed, one dangerously wounded, and three severely. In concluding his report to Sir A. Campbell, the lieutenant-colonel expresses himself as follows:–
“Where every one contended honorably, it would be difficult to select for your particular notice. * * * * Lieutenant Keele, of the Arachne, Lieutenant Bazely, of the Sophie, and their respective crews, behaved with their usual gallantry. Lieutenant Keele’s unremitting exertions with this little force, as also the share he has taken in the fall of the place, together with the good understanding kept up between the services, I leave for you. Sir, properly to appreciate.”
At the same period, Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin addressed the following private letter to Lieutenant Keele:–
“Martaban, Nov. 1st, 1824.
“My dear Sir,– the events of yesterday, in which you bore so conspicuous a part, call upon me thus early to offer you my warmest acknowledgments of your gallantry and judicious conduct, which tended so much to place this town in our possession, and I shall be most happy to state to Sir Archibald Campbell how much he owes to your bravery and talents on this occasion. Believe me, my dear Sir, ever most faithfully yours,
(Signed)“Hy. Godwin, Lieut.-Col. 41st Regt.
Sir Archibald Campbell describes the capture of Martaban as “an achievement no less honorable than beneficial to the British arms, reflecting the highest credit on every individual composing the force employed.” On the 26th Nov., Mr. Secretary Swinton wrote to Sir Archibald as follows:–
“The Governor-General in Council commands me to express his fullest concurrence in the tribute of applause which you have bestowed on Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, and the officers and men under his command, and on Lieutenant Keele and the seamen of the royal navy, composing the expedition fitted out against Martaban.
“The ability and judgment with which Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin planned the attack, and the gallantry with which the place was carried by the small force of 220 men, against the numerous and well-armed troops of the enemy, reflects the highest credit on the professional character of the officers in command, and the cool and resolute intrepidity of the handful of men by whom so important and brilliant an exploit has been achieved.
“His Lordship in Council accordingly desires, that you will be pleased to express to Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin the very high sense which Government entertain of his conduct on this occasion. You will also be pleased to convey to Lieutenants Keele and Bazely, of H.M. sloops Arachne and Sophie, the acknowledgments of the Governor-General in Council for the zealous and gallant exertions of themselves and the British seamen under their command.”
After arranging matters at Martaban, Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin despatched a party against Yeh, situated to the eastward, which fell without resistance. By the capture of these places, the British obtained the command of all the Barman sea-coast to the eastward of Rangoon.
In Jan. 1825, shortly after his return from Martaban, Lieutenant Keele, with forty-eight officers and men under his command, accompanied Lieutenant-Colonel Elrington to the attack of a strong hill fort, situated on the left bank of the Pegu river, about eight miles from Rangoon, and the pagoda of Syriam, five miles in the interior. The troops employed on this occasion landed on the 11th about three quarters of a mile from the fort, and the advanced party moved on until stopped by a deep, unfordable nullah, the bridge over which had been removed, purposely to check their progress: to make another, with planks brought for the occasion, gave the blue jackets an opportunity of displaying their usual activity, skill, and steady courage. On this point the enemy kept up a very galling fire, by which nearly thirty men were killed and wounded, including six belonging to the navy. In a few minutes, however, the bridge was laid, by the sailors swimming across with planks; two gun-boats were also brought up the creek. On the soldiers gaining the opposite bank, and rushing upon the works, the enemy instantly fled, although the place was capable of making a formidable resistance. Four guns were found in the fort, and upwards of twenty swivels. At the attack of the Syriam pagoda, next morning, the sailors assisted in manning the scaling ladders, and “Lieutenant Keele was the first over” the outer stockade. “Here ended the military operations, for the enemy made no further resistance, and parties were immediately formed to burn and destroy the works.” Lieutenant-Colonel Elrington, in his official letter on this occasion says, “the naval part of the expedition, under the orders of Lieutenant Keele, was most nobly conducted.” In a letter from Commodore Coe, to Captain Chads, dated Mar. 29th, that officer says:– “I have to acknowledge the receipt of your communications of the 14th and 17th Jan. last, and feel much gratified by the continued and successful exertions of the officers, seamen, and marines, under your command, to whom I am again to request you will convey my warmest thanks, more particularly to Lieutenant Charles Keele, of the Arachne.”
On the 5th Feb., an expedition was sent to open a passage up the Lyne river; the military part under Lieutenant Colonel Godwin, and the naval, consisting of the Satellite armed transport, the Diana steam-vessel, the Hon. Company’s cruiser Prince of Wales, fifteen row-gun-boats, seven boats belonging to H.M. squadron, and several flats and canoes, under the command of Captain Chads. On the 6th, at five p.m., the Satellite, towed by the Diana, advanced upon Than-ta-bain, a strong and imposing position, upon the point of a peninsula, measuring three-quarters of a mile on its water front, built of teak-timber, very high, strongly stockaded, and abattised down to the water’s edge, but entirely open in the rear. The boats, in three divisions, were led by Lieutenants Keele, Kellett, and Fraser. The result is thus officially stated by Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, who was with Captain Chads on board the armed transport:–
“The Satellite laid her broadside on so admirably, as to enfilade the whole of the principal works. At half-musket shot we were received with thirty-six pieces of artillery, independently of jingals. This was forcibly replied to by the guns of the Satellite, assisted by Captain Graham of the Bengal rocket troop, who by his most excellent practice, from the steam-boat, surprised them with an arm of defence that will prove a most formidable weapon. I soon perceived the work all around was easily assailable, and in ten minutes after the signal was made the place was stormed. The resistance within was trifling, although the place was garrisoned by two thousand fighting men. The enemy suffered severely, and were followed for a mile and a half. I have again the pleasure to mention the name of Lieutenant Keele, of H.M. sloop Arachne, who with Lieutenant Hall of the Alligator, were the first to enter the enemy’s position, and their conduct was most conspicuous: these were followed by Captain O’Reilly, with the grenadiers of H.M. 41st regiment. Our loss, I am most happy to say, is comparatively nothing; and this is accounted for by the boats containing the troops being kept under the land, out of the enemy’s fire, till they were ordered to storm by signal[7].
Immediately after the capture of the Than-ta-bain stockade, Captain Chads sent boats up both branches of the river, under Lieutenants Keele and Kellett, who took and destroyed many of the enemy’s war-boats. On the morning of the 7th Feb., Lieutenant Keele was again sent up the Panlang branch to explore; and Captain Chads, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, went up the main branch for the same purpose. Both parties met with and destroyed hundreds of fire-rafts and canoes similarly prepared, lying on the banks for upwards of fifteen miles, some of which the enemy lighted and launched as the boats approached. The following is an extract of a letter from the Secretary to Government at Calcutta, addressed to Sir Archibald Campbell:–
“I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch relative to the capture of the strong post ot Than-ta-bain or Quangalee, by a detachment of troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, aided by a party of seamen under Captain Chads, and Lieutenants Keele and Hall.
“The Governor-General in Council is happy to observe in the signal and complete success which attended the operations against Than-ta-bain, the same judgment, energy, and skill, on the part of Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, which distinguished his conduct on the occasion of his being detached against Martaban, and which again demand the unqualified approbation and applause of his Lordship in Council.
“To Captain Chads the Governor-General in Council desires to express his constant acknowledgments for the distinguished share he bore in the action. His Lordship in Council has also noticed, with particular satisfaction, the characteristic gallantry displayed by Lieutenants Keele and Hall, of H.M. ships Arachne and Alligator, who, with their boats’ crews, were the first to enter the enemy’s post, followed by Captain O’Reilly of the grenadiers of H.M. 41st regiment. His Lordship in Council requests that these sentiments of the Supreme Government may be conveyed to Captain Chads, and Lieutenants Keele and Hall, through the senior officer of His Majesty’s ships, &c.”
(Signed)“Geo. Swinton.”
“Fort William, 18th March, 1825.”
From this period Lieutenant Keele appears to have been thrown somewhat into the back-ground; captains senior in rank to his gallant friend having successively arrived in the Irrawaddy, and naturally placed in the most prominent situations those with whose merits they were better acquainted. Had Captain Chads retained the uninterrupted command of the naval force in Ava, it is not to be doubted that the “fire eater,” as he was once so aptly designated by a late witty member of parliament, would have invariably selected him to be his second in every hazardous enterprise. During the advance upon, and operations against, Donoobew, he was attached to the light division of the flotilla, under the orders of Lieutenant (now Commander) William Smith, of whose services at that period we have recently made mention[8]. On the 14th April, 1826, Sir Archibald Campbell wrote to Captain Chads as follows:–
“Dear Sir,– In observing with the greatest pleasure the promotion which has taken place in the navy lately serving with the army in Ava, I much regret to remark the name of your first lieutenant, Mr. Charles Keele does not appear in the list of promotions, feeling as I do the meritorious services of Lieutenant Keele, than whom no officer had more frequent opportunities of distinguishing himself, and having been chief in naval command at the taking of Martaban, on which occasion Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin acknowledges the important aid he derived from the seamen under the command of Lieutenant Keele: that service alone win, I should hope, still insure him his promotion. In conclusion I have only to add, that if it is in any way in my power to contribute the name of Lieutenant Keele to the favorable notice of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, it will afford me much pleasure. I remain, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully,
(Signed)“Archibald Campbell, Major-General.”
On the 22d July, 1826, Lieutenant Keele, then first of the Alligator 28, to which ship he had been removed with Captain Chads, was advanced to the rank of commander, but he did not hear of his promotion until her arrival at Portsmouth in the end of that year. Previous thereto, Captain Chads had addressed a letter to the Admiralty, of which the following is an extract:
“I beg leave to bear most ample testimony to his forward gallantry on all occasions. From the time of my going to Rangoon till the final treaty of peace at Yandaboo, he was with me, and by his steady good conduct tended very considerably to procure for the naval service those high encomiums that have been bestowed on it, and to myself individually he has been of the greatest service.”
On the night previous to his arrival at Spithead, the subject of this memoir nearly lost his life in attempting to save a shipmate from a watery grave. The Alligator was paid off at Plymouth on the 3d Jan. 1827, since which Commander Keele has made many applications for employment, but without success.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part I. p. 187.
- ↑ Captain Rushworth was the eldest son of Edward Rushworth, Esq., by the Hon. Catherine Rushworth, daughter of the late Lord Holmes, and grandson of Captain Rushworth, R.N., who died in 1780. His remains were deposited near those of his maternal great uncle, who died at Jamaica in 1760, when commander-in-chief on that station. See Nav. Chron. vol. 28, p. 264.
- ↑ See Suppl. Part II. p. 313.
- ↑ See Vol. III. Part I. pp. 247–251.
- ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 298.
- ↑ See p. 162.
- ↑ One seaman drowned; four sailors, three soldiers, and two lascars wounded.
- ↑ See p. 187, et seq.