Royal Naval Biography/Mends, Robert
SIR ROBERT MENDS, KNT.
Knight of the Royal Spanish Order of Charles III.; and late Commodore of the Squadron employed on the African Station.
[Post-Captain of 1800.]
This officer, we have reason to believe, entered the naval service without any thing in the shape of interest whereby to procure advancement. He lost an arm during the American war, previous to the completion of his 14th year, and suffered amputation twice before his recovery could be hoped for[1]. In 1786, we find him serving on the coast of Africa, in the Grampus, a 50-gun ship, bearing the broad pendant of Commodore Edward Thompson, by whom himself and four other young gentlemen were directed to do duty as Lieutenants, wear a peculiar dress to distinguish them from the other Midshipmen, and form a separate mess in a cabin allotted them for that purpose.
Soon after his return to England, Mr. Mends presented a petition on his knees to our late monarch at Windsor; and in consequence thereof, was most graciously recommended by his Majesty to Earl Howe for promotion. Previous, however, to his obtaining a commission, in 1789, he served as an Admiralty Midshipman on board the Colossus 74, where he was allowed the sole use of a cabin in order that his situation might be more comfortable to him than it could possibly have been in a cockpit berth.
Mr. Mends’ first appointment as a Lieutenant was to the Childers sloop of war, commanded by Captain (now Sir Robert) Barlow, and stationed on the coast of Cornwall for the suppression of smuggling. Whilst thus employed, he gave repeated earnests of that zeal, activity, and spirit of enterprise, by which he afterwards distinguished himself. In the action off l’Orient, June 23, 1795, Mr. Mends was a Lieutenant of the Colossus 74, and narrowly escaped death in consequence of applying the match to a gun which hung fire; on which occasion he was so dreadfully burnt by the explosion that took place, as scarcely to have preserved any skin on his body[2].
On the 3d March 1797, our officer, then commanding the Diligence of 16 guns, on the Jamaica station, fell in with, and after an action of forty-five minutes, captured la Nativetas, a Spanish ship of 500 tons, 16 guns, and 50 men. He subsequently assisted at the capture of a Spanish armed packet. His post commission bears date May 2, 1800; and he continued to serve in the West Indies, commanding successively the Abergavenny of 54 guns, Thunderer, a third rate, and Quebec frigate, until the conclusion of the war. He arrived at Plymouth in the Nereide of 36 guns, and was paid off in Sept. 1802.
Early in 1805, Captain Mends was appointed to the Sea Fencible service in Ireland; and about Sept. 1808, to the Arethusa frigate. On the 26th Nov. following, he captured the General Ernouf, a French privateer of 16 guns and 58 men. In the following year, we find him co-operating with the Spanish patriots.
On the 15th March 1809, a party of seamen and marines belonging to the Arethusa, were landed under the command of Lieutenant Hugh Pearson, and destroyed upwards of twenty heavy guns, mounted on the batteries at Lequito, defended by a detachment of French soldiers, 21 of whom were made prisoners, the rest escaped. The British had only 3 men wounded. A small vessel, laden with brandy, was found in the harbour and brought away.
Captain Mends having received information of two other vessels being up the river Andero, laden with brandy for the French army in Spain, the same party landed in the evening of the following day, and finding them aground about four miles up, destroyed their cargoes, and delivered the vessels to their proper owners, from whom they had been forcibly taken.
On the 20th, a party under Lieutenant Elms Steele, destroyed the guns at Baignio, and captured a vessel laden with merino wool; whilst Lieutenant Fennel of the royal marines, accompanied by Mr. Elliott, the Purser, and a boat’s crew, ascended the mountain and destroyed the signal-posts. The same evening, Lieutenant Pearson took possession of the batteries of the town of Paisance without opposition, and destroyed the guns; the small parties of the enemy stationed at these places, retiring as the British advanced.
On the 6th April, 1809, the Arethusa joined the Amethyst, just as the latter had silenced the fire of a large French frigate, which soon after surrendered: an account of this capture will be found in our memoir of Sir Michael Seymour, Bart., who commanded the Amethyst on that occasion. Whilst proceeding to attack the enemy’s ship, a block struck Captain Mends on the back of his head, knocked him down, and for a short time deprived him of his senses. The effects of this blow he felt and complained of during the remainder of his life[3].
Captain Mends was afterwards entrusted with the command of a squadron stationed on the north coast of Spain. On the 24th June, 1810, after a consultation with the Junta of Asturias, he consented to embark the Spanish Brigadier-General Porlier, and 500 of his soldiers, with the intention of beating up the enemy’s quarters along the coasts of Cantabria and Biscay. The result of this expedition was the destruction of all the batteries (with the exception of Castro) from St. Sebastian to St. Andero, on which were found altogether about 100 pieces of heavy cannon; a loss to the enemy of more than 200 men; and an addition of nearly 300 volunteers to Porlier’s little army. Communications were also opened with the patriots in the interior, and that part of the sea-coast now laid entirely bare of defence; the zealous attachment of the inhabitants to the independence of their country, was ascertained; and two good anchorages for the squadron in westerly gales were secured, until the French could re-mount heavy cannon on the various eminences near Santona and Bermeo, which necessarily occupied much time and required great labour, the country being so extremely mountainous, and the roads so bad, as to render carriage by land almost impracticable; the whole of which was happily accomplished without the loss of a man on the part of the British, and only 7 Spaniards wounded. The proceedings of the seamen and marines landed from the squadron, will be detailed in our memoir of the Hon. Captain Aylmer, who commanded the brigade on shore.
Towards the latter end of July, Captain Mends received the following letter from the Junta of Gallicia, dated on the 22d of that month:
“Sir. This Junta have the satisfaction of acknowledging the receipt of your letter of yesterday, in which you have the goodness to communicate the particulars of the expedition to Cantabria, undertaken by yourself and General Porlier, combining with his operations the activity and force of the squadron under your command. He has also made a report to this Junta, of the great attention you have been pleased to shew to his officers and people; thus giving fresh and undeniable proofs of a generous protection and support to the just cause we defend, correspondent with the noble sentiments of your nation, and magnanimity of your Sovereign.
“The Junta of Gallicia, in the name of their government and country, to which they shall make known your distinguished services, offer you in return their warmest acknowledgments, and are anxiously desirous of an opportunity of being able to give you irrefragable proofs of their gratitude, high consideration, and of that respect which you merit.
“Notwithstanding every object of this glorious expedition which was wished, could not at the time be accomplished, still the great advantages of which it has been productive are very evident, by the annoyance it has occasioned to the enemy throughout the whole of these coasts, in opening the port of Santona, and compelling him to withdraw from other points, where his progress would have occasioned greater evils.
“The threatened situation in which this kingdom of Gallicia stands in all its frontiers, does not allow the Junta, at present, completely to avail themselves of all the advantages which you and General Porlier have opened, but of which more favorable circumstances will put them in full possession. But notwithstanding the present delicate state of affairs, the Junta had determined on sending some aid and succours to Santona, which the success of the expedition has rendered unnecessary.
“The Junta particularly congratulate themselves on the prophetic eulogy which you bestow on General Porlier, and boast of having a son in him so worthy of his country, enjoying the greatest satisfaction that his achievements and military conduct have met with your approbation.
“The particular recommendation which you make of the Captain Oslara, is very strong in every sense of the word; and should he have occasion to solicit any thing which this Junta have the power of bestowing, they will not fail of giving you a further proof of the respect they bear to your recommendation, in attending to your wishes.
“Finally, Commodore, this Junta entreat that you would, in their name, and in that of the whole Spanish nation, make known to the captains, officers, seamen, and marines of the squadron, the satisfaction and obligation which is felt by them for their great services, and the valour with which they have accomplished a glorious and a useful enterprise; desiring, at the same time, to acknowledge the gratitude they feel for such distinguished actions.
| (Signed) | “Don Raymond De Castres “Jose Antonio Rewadengra |
Secretaries.” |
On the 14th Oct. following, Captain Mends effected a partial landing of troops, &c. at Gijon, when the enemy were driven out of the town, all the stores destroyed, and the cannon thrown into the sea. Early in the following year, he was appointed to the command of the prison ships stationed at Portsmouth; where he continued till the conclusion of the war. On the 25th May, 1815, the honor of knighthood was conferred upon him on his obtaining permission to wear the Cross of the Spanish Order of Charles III. In April, 1816, the pension granted him for the loss of his arm (originally seven pounds) was encreased to 300l. per annum.
Sir Robert Mends obtained the chief command on the coast of Africa, in June 1821; and died on board the Owen Glendower frigate at Cape Coast, Sept. 4, 1823. An attack of cholera morbus had for the two preceding days slightly incapacitated him from his usual active attention to his duty; and on his partial recovery, he was proceeding from his cabin to the quarter-deck, in conversation with his eldest son, when he was seized with an apoplectic fit, from which he never recovered.
This lamented officer married, Sept. 29, 1802, a daughter of the late James Butler, Esq., of Bagshot, Surrey. His brother, W. Bowen Mends, Esq., is a Captain, R.N. Another brother holds a situation under government in North America.
- ↑ Mr. Mends, on being asked after his recovery how he felt whilst the surgeon was performing the painful operation of removing his shattered limb, replied, “Very well until I saw my arm lying on a table beside me I then became sick.”
- ↑ See Hants Telegraph, Jan. 19, 1824, p. 2, col. 3.
- ↑ See Hants Telegraph, Jan. 19, 1824.