Royal Naval Biography/Lowcay, Henry
HENRY LOWCAY, Esq.
[Commander.]
Son of a respectable warrant officer, who died at Portsmouth, Feb. 5, 1827, aged 87 years.
Mr. Henry Lowcay entered the royal navy previous to the Spanish armament, and served as midshipman on board the Duke 98, successively commanded by Captains Robert Kingsmill, Robert Calder, and John Knight (and bearing the flags of Vice-Admiral Roddam and Admiral Lord Hood), in 1791 and 1792. On the 27th Aug. in the latter year, he was discharged, by particular desire of his lordship, into the Juno 32, Captain Samuel Hood, then employed in attendance on King George III. at Weymouth, but subsequently as a cruiser in the Channel, where she captured several of the enemy’s privateers and other vessels, at the commencement of the French revolutionary war.
The Juno was next ordered to the Mediterranean, and formed part of the squadron under Commodore Linzee, at the capture of St. Fiorenzo, in Corsica, Feb. 19th, 1794[1]. Her previous extraordinary escape from Toulon harbour has been described in our memoir of Captain W. H. Webley Parry, Vol. II. Part II. pp. 645-648.
On the 6th Mar. 1794, Mr. Lowcay followed Captain Hood into l’Aigle 36, in which frigate he was present at the reduction of Calvi, a service effected on the 10th Aug. 1794, after a siege of fifty-one days[2].
During the whole of 1795, Captain Hood had the command of a small detachment in the Archipelago, for the purpose of protecting the trade, and watching an enemy’s squadron of superior force. In April 1796, he was appointed to the Zealous 74, and again followed by Mr. Lowcay, whom we find serving as a volunteer at the attack made by Nelson upon Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe, July 24th, 1797[3]. On this occasion, our young officer appears to have had a very narrow escape; the boat under his command having been sunk, and one of her crew killed, by the enemy’s first shot. In consequence of this disaster, he was obliged to swim to the shore, under a tremendous fire of round, grape, and musketry; nor was it until after he had repeatedly been washed away from the beach, by the very heavy surf, that he succeeded in effecting a landing. He then joined Captain Hood, and remained by his side, as aide-de-camp, during the whole of the subsequent proceedings.
On the 5th Oct. following, Mr. Lowcay joined the Ville de Paris, first rate, bearing the flag of Earl St. Vincent; by whom, on the 25th Dec, in the same year, he was appointed acting lieutenant of the Culloden 74, Captain Thomas Troubridge.
After the battle of the Nile[4], we find Mr. Lowcay daily volunteering his services to intercept the enemy’s boats attempting to pass from Rosetta to Alexandria, with provisions, letters, &c. Many of them he succeeded in capturing, and the sick and wounded of the British fleet were thus supplied with refreshments which could not otherwise have been procured: he also recovered possession of a quantity of church plate taken from Malta, part of which was afterwards presented to Captain Troubridge by the authorities of that island.
The Culloden was next employed on the coast of Tuscany, and from thence sent to blockade Alexandria, off which port she continued until Mar. 5th, 1799. On her return to Palermo, Captain Troubridge was entrusted with the command of a squadron destined against Procida, Ischia, and Capri; which islands were recovered from the French, and restored to His Sicilian Majesty, before the end of April[5]. In June following, the same able and gallant officer was selected by Nelson to direct the combined operations then about to be commenced against the fortresses of St. Elmo, Capua, and Gaieta; by the reduction of which the kingdom of Naples was, for a time, “liberated from anarchy and misery.” Lieutenant Lowcay having acted as one of his aides-de-camp during those operations, we shall here give his official account of the siege of St. Elmo, together with an outline of his subsequent proceedings:
“Antigniano, near St. Elmo, July 13th, 1799.
“My Lord, – Agreeable to your lordship’s orders, I landed with the English and Portuguese marines of the fleet, on the 27th June; and after embarking the garrisons of Uovo and Nuovo, composed of French and rebels, I put a garrison in each, and, on the 29th, took post against Fort St. Elmo, which I summoned to surrender. The commandant (Mejan) being determined to stand a siege, we opened a battery of three 36-pounders and four mortars, on the 3d instant, within 700 yards of the. castle; and, on the 5th, another, of two 36-pounders. The Russians, under Captain Baillie, opened another battery of four 36-pounders and four mortars, against the opposite angle, intending to storm it in different places as soon as we could make two practicable breaches in the work. On the 6th, I added four more mortars; and on the 11th, by incessant labour, we opened another battery of six 36.pounders within 180 yards of the wall of the garrison, and had another of one 19-pounder and two howitzers, at the same distance, nearly completed. After a few hours’ cannonading from the last battery, the enemy displayed a flag of truce, when our firing ceased, and their guns being mostly dismounted, and their works nearly destroyed, the terms of capitulation were agreed to and signed. * * * * * *. The very commanding situation of St. Elmo, rendered our approaches difficult, or I trust it would have been reduced much soon. * * *.
(Signed)“T. Troubridge.”
“Right Hon. Lord Nelson, K.B.
&c. &c. &c.”
On this occasion, the loss of the allies amounted to 37 officers and men killed, and 85 wounded. Lord Nelson, in a letter to his commander-in-chief, says, “The very great strength of St. Elmo, and its formidable position, will mark with what fortitude, perseverance, and ability the combined forces must have acted.”
The siege of Capua next ensued, and was crowned with equal success. On the 19th July, a party of Swiss, commanded by Colonel Tschudy, some Neapolitan cavalry under General Acton, two corps of infantry under General Bouchard and Colonel Gams, accompanied by the British and Portuguese seamen and marines, began their march from Naples, and were followed by a body of Russians. During that night and the next day, all the troops, &c. arrived at Caserta, and were employed in reconnoitring the ground and erecting batteries: with their head-quarters at St. Angelo. The enemy’s force, under General Girardon, consisted of about 1200 French infantry, 50 cavalry, 600 Cisalpines, and 200 rebels. On the 25th, the trenches were opened, with one battery within five hundred yards of the glacis. In private letters to Nelson, Troubridge said,
“Our battery was finished by four o’clock yesterday afternoon, but I did not think it advisable to open until this morning, at half-past three o’clock. After three rounds from the guns and mortars, I sent Hallowell to propose the terms your lordship directed. They answered,they could not surrender, and hardly believed that St. Elmo was taken: nothing but the sight of Mejan’s signature could make them believe it. Our batteries are again opening; but the powder is so bad, that the shells hardly breach; many fall short, though not above three hundred toises; I really suspect some treachery. If your lordship could spare us forty casks of our powder it would be very useful for the mortars. If you comply, it will be necessary that some person belonging to us should accompany it, or they will steal one half and change the other. I have moved the camps, to enable us to erect two more batteries in a very commanding situation, within two hundred yards of the work. July 26th, 1799, eight a.m. – As there is no dependence to be placed on the metal of the Neapolitan mortars, I submit to your lordship if we had better get our 10-inch sea mortars fitted in land beds. Pray lend us all the spades and iron shovels from the ships; the tools those country people have, work too slow for us. Nine p.m. – We gain ground daily. If we can complete the trench to-night, for two batteries of four guns each, I think, with the mortars, to bring the governor to his senses. The difficulty is, to get the workmen to stand a little fire. July 27th, 2 p.m. – The French sent out this morning, in their usual way, demanding protection for the patriots; I answered, inadmissible, and offered the terms of St. Elmo, and to include Gaieta in the capitulation. They desire until to-morrow morning, to hold a council. July 28th, – I have the honor to enclose your lordship a copy of the capitulation. I had gone too far before your letter reached me, at midnight, to insist on Gaieta. The governor offers, if His Sicilian Majesty will let that garrison take their arms, he will give orders for its immediate evacuation. July 29th, – There are immense quantities of powder and fine ordnance. Colonel Gams has just sent me word, that he is obliged to form a hundred stratagems to get clear of the Calabrese; these vagabonds have killed sixteen of their officers within this month.”
In his official letter, Captain Troubridge expressed himself much indebted to Captains Benjamin Hallowell and James Oswald, to whose abilities and exertions he attributed the reduction of Capua in so short a time, “as they staid night and day in the field to forward the erecting of the batteries.” Lieutenant Lowcay was also highly praised. The ordnance, &c. taken at this place amounted to 118 pieces of cannon, 12,000 muskets, 414,000 musket cartridges filled, and 67,848 pounds of gunpowder in casks. In Gaieta, which fortress surrendered by capitulation on the 2d of August, were found 58 battering brass guns, 12 iron ditto, 2 brass field-pieces, and 19 mortars for ramparts.
The subsequent expulsion of the French republicans from the Roman territory has been noticed in Vol. I. Part II. p. 470 et seq., and Vol. II. Part II. p. 829 et seq. On the termination of these arduous operations. Lieutenant Lowcay was sent by Captain Troubridge, from Naples, in an open boat, to Palermo, with despatches for Nelson, and the different colours which had been taken from the enemy. The latter he had the honor of presenting to His Sicilian Majesty, and received in return a valuable diamond ring.
The Culloden continued in the Mediterranean until the summer of 1800, when she returned to England and was put out of commission. Mr. Lowcay’s next appointment appears to have been to the Prince of Wales 98, bearing the flag of Sir Robert Calder, in which ship he was present at the capture of two Spanish third rates, July 22d, 1805[6]. He afterwards served as flag-lieutenant to Rear-Admiral (now Sir George) Martin, at Portsmouth; and in 1810, rejoined Sir Robert, on his assuming the chief command at Plymouth. By the latter officer he was successively appointed acting commander of the Favorite, Sealark, and Achates, sloops; and on the flag of his patron being struck, he obtained his present rank; his commission bearing date Oct. 29th. 1813. His brothers, William and Robert, are lieutenants in the royal navy.